So the Nokia Connects Blog released a post today about what Valentine in Finland is all about; apparently it’s based on Ystävänpäivä’ (when I see a word with that many dots and vowels I don’t even try pronouncing it) which is ‘friendship day’ where instead of getting your special someone a card or a gift it’s all about your friends; in the spirit of  Ystävänpäivä and connecting people (I added that second part) Nokia Connects wants us all to share stories about our friends be it on blogs, twitter, email or cave paintings.

Between now and the 14th, write a post on your blog or in the comments section below, about one of the best, most inspirational or caring friends in your life. Share your stories with us on Twitterwith #NokiaValentine and we’ll feature our favourites next week. If you don’t have a blog feel free to email me as well!

Well I’d like to give this a try but rather than a specific friend I’d like to single out I would Actually like to celebrate this Ystävänpäivä with my online friends that I’ve made in the past 6 months, here on the Blog as well as on twitter, so here it goes.

I joined this blog less than 4 months ago, yet I feel completely at home; if I had to choose an online community to be friends with all over again without a doubt it would be the Nokia/Nokia fans/Nokia Bloggers community, the support and well wishes you have for each other (turning a blind eye to favorite OSes today) and the fact that you’ll always find someone willing to answer a technical question in the comments section is simply amazing. To not have met any of you (Yes none!) and yet feel like I know you just because we like the same things and converse in a few lines of text is proof of how open the fans of the nokia community are.

If I were asked to be a bit more specific about some of the amazing people that I’ve grown to now here well of course there’s Jay who we all love, god knows where I would have gotten my Nokia news without him, so a special Ystävänpäivä greeting to Jay for giving me the opportunity to get to know all of you better.

On twitter I would be pressed to choose one person over the rest (everyone is simply so nice on twitter- is it some sort of “not knowing them” effect; cause I’ve grown to enjoy talking to these people who were strangers more than some of my friends on Facebook) anyways on Twitter I would have to pick @StephenQuin58 who is truly one of the nicest, funniest and all around amazing people I’ve ever gotten to know; also known as CarMan on the Nokia support forums Stephens always willing to help a fellow out through a Nokia problem (and he gets a freakishly large number of solutions right-!) so Happy Ystävänpäivä to you Stephen!

And of course all the readers at MNB who put up with my crazy delusions and Rants a  Huge Ystävänpäivä greeting to you!

Hopefully I’ll get a chance to meet alot of you at the next Nokia World wherever that may be and whatever we experience there from Nokia will sure to be as amazing as ever!

Go ahead and share your friendship stories with the Amazing Nokia Connects people (who get a  Ystävänpäivä Shout out as well for being one of the best at everything whether it’s giving us awesome competitions or giving us some information about the latest phones/updates) Here: NokiaConnect.com

So whether your a Symbian A Meego or A Windows Phone; Happy Ystävänpäivä  everyone

Here’s the second Nokia accessory we’re going to be looking at today that we received for review from mobilefun.co.uk.

Price: £14.95

Link: http://www.mobilefun.co.uk/nokia-cp-002n-nokia-lumia-800-airflow-case-black-p33184.htm

This is another case, but specific to the Nokia Lumia 800. It’s called the AirFlow case. It’s a hard shell that’s perforated with lots of pores – perhaps for design or for an actual airflow as indicated by the name.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xelsJGInQ_I

It’s real simple to clip on and off and protects the metal strip at the back from scratching by raising it off flat surfaces.

It’s quite discrete at the front, with the face of the Nokia Lumia 800 still entirely visible so it doesn’t even look like it has a case on really.

The buttons on the right of the Lumia are easily accessible as the case has cut out areas for them.

This also fits the N9 but of course, the LED hole would not be in the right place.

Whilst it’s relatively easy to clip on and off, it does hold firmly to the Nokia Lumia 800.

Top and bottom are still accessible as they aren’t covered up.

Here’s the gallery:

Be sure to check out mobilefun for other mobile phone covers and other accessories such as phone chargers.

Here’s an awesome app called Cocktail Flow. We heard about this back at Nokia World from Edward Umana who shared this app with us during breakfast. You can get a trial/free version but it is completely worth it downloading the app as it’s very polished and rather impressive.

Anyway, Cocktail flow is a cocktail recipe app that is just brilliantly put together.  The app works wonders with the Metro panoramic style. This is just a great example of how to take advantage of Metro. In the first ‘page’ you can browse cocktails from the list, by category, a random cocktail and you can even download packages (for free) that contain themed cocktails, (e.g. non alcoholic, valentines, st patricks, Superbowl etc).

Swipe over to the right and you can browse based on what you have in your cabinet. You can click on ingredients which are grouped into spirits, liqueurs and mixers (and arranged as if they were on a cabinet). Tapping lights up the black and white ingredients into full colour. Swiping eventually leads you to ‘my bar’ which shows what you can make. There’s an indicator in the top right corner that tells you how many cocktails you can make.

I was actually at an event last week where we the cocktail was made with this app.

Now when you click on a cocktail you can see a picture not only of the cocktail so you know what to expect but the ingredients as well. Not only that, you can tilt the phone  and you’ll notice a kind of parallax movement as objects in the foreground move more than those at the back. It’s pretty cool. Under the name is the ingredients list, and swiping over tells you how to prepare it (with clear icons as well to reinforce the instruction). There’s even a neat community feature where you can see user submitted photos and reviews and submit your own.

Particularly useful is the ‘Similar’ section so if you like a certain drink, you have plenty more to try that you might also like.

Other things to mention include the shopping portion where you are recommended ingredients (which also quite conveniently has price tags on them). I didn’t show this in the video but to favourite a cocktail you just tap the star next to the name. You can then browse favourites in the favourites section. You can also pin cocktails as tiles.

This app doesn’t end there. It has a Guides section that gives you some tips on getting started, barware, and garnishes. The app has push notification options when you set it as a live tile. If there’s anything you’re not sure about, check the app guide.

Overall, a brilliant app. It’s the first I’m giving 10/10 to in all categories. It looks great, it’s really simple to use, it performs great and is so much value for money.

#85) Cocktail Flow 

Price: £2.29 (trial available)

Link: http://www.windowsphone.com/en-GB/apps/ddd1ad08-d9d5-df11-a844-00237de2db9e

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgCRJmcyE1s

 

Developer Blurb:

Happy Holidays with the Festive and New Years cocktail packages!

Browse, find and discover cocktails with a continously growing collection of drinks. The application features beautifully presented recipes and identifies cocktails that can be made from ingredients in your bar. It also gives suggestions on what ingredients to buy next to make additional delicious cocktails.

The application is regularly updated with new cocktail recipes, the latest ones added include several themed drinks.

Rating:

Design: 10

Usability: 10

Performance: 10

Price: 10

Our first Nokia Accessory that we’re looking at today is the Lov Sleeve, DICOTA. This comes in Nokia colours of Pink and Blue with grey leather trim.  This is to fit the Nokia N8, though it can sort of work for the N9/800 too.

We’ve got the pink one in today, an idea as a valentine’s day gift?

Price: £11.95.

Pink: http://www.mobilefun.co.uk/dicota-lov-protective-sleeve-pink-grey-p31226.htm

Blue: http://www.mobilefun.co.uk/dicota-lov-protective-sleeve-black-blue-p31225.htm

The material is this sort of tweed thing, apparently back in fashion. It looks nice and feels nice too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diMRP9yDXFg

When the Nokia N8 is inside, you can’t really see the pink trim that’s inside. It meets the back of the case at the same height as the N8 when it’s inside.

The stitching looks to be very high quality.

The top bit you can see the dicota brand in leather and the pink behind.

Inside it’s all pink (or blue should you have picked that one).

With the 800 inside it’s a little short.

Same with the N9.

But if you’re just after a pouch for screen protecting whilst looking classy in tweed, this does a great job. It’s also easy to pull pout. Just pinch the bottom.

You’ll note that in the above picture, the case is long enough for the 800 but being curved at the bottom means it won’t fit all the way in. To be fair, the case mentions the N8 and not the 800.

Most interesting is that the case kinda grips the inside so it won’t fall out if you turn it upside down, but again, just a quick pinch and it slides the phone out.

Here’s the gallery.

Be sure to check out mobilefun for other mobile phone covers and other accessories such as phone chargers.

Here’s some more follow up to how the Nokia Lumia is doing on Nokia’s home soil. According to WMPoweruser who looked at Statcounter browser marketshare in finland, since the two days of launch, Nokia’s Lumia phones have now exceeded the browser share of MeeGo phones (N9). Now I’m not sure what other WP handsets are there (and look at how the N9 on it’s own still had more than other WPs there) but since the official launch of the Lumia it has taken almost 2.5% in 2 days.

http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_os-FI-weekly-201148-201206

Overall, iOS leads the poll, followed by Android and third is Symbian. I’m not exactly sure how statcounter works but when I checked it, it puts MeeGo over WP. At least on the key at the side. But mousing over the line graphs shows WP slightly ahead of MeeGo now. I’m suresome might be peeved that there’ll be repetitive discussions again about the lack of push for MeeGo/N9 and so it was inevitable got WP/Lumia to take over. Well, it’s good to have context I guess on what WP is taking over, but it’s still an achievement to take over 2% in 2 days especially as there were doubts as to whether the Finns would warm to this new device.

Also check out what’s been going on in Finland since 2008 (and 2008 because that’s the furthest back this can go).

Symbian is just at a constant decline. I did not expect it to have gone down to steadily and so quickly – I guess that’s the nature of strong competition. There looks to be a sharp increase by Maemo 5 but of course, that disappeared into delayland with MeeGo and as we know the bet went the wrong way with that one. Lol, before I go into another bitter rant about the disappearance of Maemo 5, I’ll got to bed as I have a ridiculously early start and long day.

Anyone hazard a guess what that random spike called 'unknown' is? Its spike has a distinct reflection to the Symbian one around W24 2009.

Source:   gs.statcounter.com  via wmpoweruser

Cheers jr for the tip

To those that managed to get the official Nokia Belle update yesterday, what is your verdict so far? I recorded a hands on video (twice in fact) using YouTube’s direct upload feature. YouTube failed the first time and then Chrome died the second time.

What I wanted to share from my end was that I’m really enjoying Belle. It’s amazing what they’ve managed to do on 2009 hardware. It’s smooth for the most parts, though it does stutter here and there, and gets worse if you have more things running in the background.

The web browser is much improved though it is not a fan of heavy websites at all. I like the new navigation bar that makes it much easier to browse the web. I detest that the browser bar still doesn’t fully incorporate search properly (instead you have to click ‘search for’ as if you don’t you’ll just lead yourself to an error page.

As mentioned, the phone is a lot smoother if you have less/no programmes running. I do dislike that I have to manage what’s open to get the phone running smoothly. I’m sure it’s less Belle but more the hardware that Belle has to deal with.

Other than that, I really like :

• the new homescreen with better widget implementation.
• easy shortcut addition – instead of having the shortcut bar and then editing it to look for shortcut – just add the shortcut app. And you can just have one if you want.
• the more consistent lay out – very important for overall experience.
• the drop down notification, nice quick access.
• Menu A-Z organization and the search button

I’m finding that having a lot of photos, you’re going to want to open Gallery for a while and leave it running whilst it refreshes your media. After getting the update, perhaps leave the N8 for about 20 minutes to sort itself out. If it’s still stuttering in places (like scrolling) then restart the N8. The whole update itself was pretty seamless. Connect to microUSB, check updates at Nokia suite, just click to accept the update and then done.

For those who are still waiting, it’s coming You definitely have a lot of good things to look forward to.

BTW, thanks to Yvonne from Nokia and co who have been replying to user questions in our comment section about Nokia Belle. That is pretty cool, no? (And yes, that is really Yvonne – confirmed in discussion through email).

• http://mynokiablog.com/2012/02/07/i-have-the-official-nokia-belle-update-d-nokia-belle-available-through-nokia-suite-d/
• http://mynokiablog.com/2012/02/07/nokia-belle-rollout-info/

So:

1. What do you like about Belle? What’s been done well?
2. What could do with improving?
3. Any bugs?
4. Any app incompatibilities?
5. How was the actual update process itself?
6. Are you still waiting?

Belle should appear soon, and I’m guessing most will have a reasonably positive response to the update, if not high marks then most will be in the category waiting.

You could in the mean time check out the availability Map for Nokia Belle

Vaibhav Sharma (or someone) tweeted about Belle availability maps yesterday and for some reason, I thought it was Maps for Belle. Well it is. Like the Lumia availability, you can see availability of Belle by checking out the link below.

Just choose the continent, and country and you’ll get a whopping list of handset info availability. Note that’s how many Nokia has to look after. No wonder Belle took so long. It reminds me of the Windows Phone update info – I think it’s great to let users know the status of the update (though I heard WP might discontinue that, which i think is stupid. Even if they have one guy who’s job is is to just work on that, that’s worth it).

http://europe.nokia.com/find-products/nokia-belle-update/nokia-belle-update-availability

Anyway, point is, kudos to Nokia for making this type of information more accessible to users.

This isn't the full list. It's too long to screenshot.

Hat-tip to Vaibhav

According to Forbes, Nokia is going to launch AT LEAST one high end mobile device at MWC 2012. High end as defined by Nokia or the industry?

Apparently the MWC announcements from Nokia might indicate their plans for 2012.

The upoming device was not confirmed to be a Windows Phone handset, but it was specified to run an ‘unusual software feature normally found only on high-end smartphones’. Unusual and normally high end. Is this Swipe?

Last year, we heard that Nokia were coming back to MWC in a BIG way for 2012. First their at an official MWC booth instead of having their own off site venue.

Details:

• App Planet (Hall 7)-7H30
• App Planet (Hall 7)-7H40
• App Planet (Hall 7)-7I10

Even if we can’t cover it from the show floor, we’ll still of course bring you news about MWC New Windows Phone handsets are expected, as well as possibly the N8 successor. Strategy wise, I’d like to hear more on S40/Smarterphone and the possible Meltemi project. It would also be cool to hear Nokia’s plans for the tablet. They’ve already made 3 internet tablets (6 if you count all maemo handsets), but that was way before its time, before tablets became mainstream – I want to hear how they’re going to take on iPad.

Source: Forbes

Cheers Drew and Cameron for the tip!

Another full day with hospital placement. 7-7. They’re really great learning experiences but they do take it out of you by the time you get home :s. Good thing Belle got released YESTERDAY.

So with MWC just around the corner (Feb 27th) rumors have started to surface about what Nokia might unveil there, according to a source at forbes Nokias presence at MWC will be in the shape of:

run an unusual software feature normally found only on high-end smartphones.

Way to leave our minds roam freely in the cursed Rumor/dream land, well we’ll try our best, as far as I know there isn’t a specific software feature that lays the claim to “high-end smartphones” of course you have Voice Command/ Siri but that is present on all ranges of smartphones and even some dumb-phones. Of course just to add to the agonizing speculation we have no idea which OS this ‘special software feature’ is destined for! Could it be a new Feature phone (S40?) or maybe a low end S^3 device? possibly even a low end WP considering how all the Tango rumors have lead us to believe that Tango will bring increased support for cheaper lower range phones (smaller screens, no camera required….).

Personally I think it’s either going to be a dedicated Voice control system that can take apple head on (except for the fact that it wont set you back 600 dollars- come to think of it that would be a killer idea) or maybe some sort of swipe Ui on Symbian 3 devices? (now that Belles rolled out they can work on making it more amazing rather than having a million bugs to fix). Or possibly a extremely advanced gesture controlled screen that could be fully functional without the need for any buttons at all (extending on the N9s swipe interface)??

What do you think?

VIA

I’m sure there are alot of you who like me couldn’t wait for the official Belle rollout and switched over to Symbian Belle along time ago (about 4 months for me), you’ll be glad to know that for alot of you switching over to the official Belle (Just because it’s official) shouldn’t be difficult at all. The latest version of Belle CFW I was running was Belle delight, where under Version number it said something like 111.28 something (forgot it completely); all I had to do was connect my N8 to Nokia suite and TaDa I got the prompt to update to Belle.

Obviously I was a bit cautious cause I though this might be considered a ‘Down Grade” which as we all know is a big no-no for symbian, but thankfully it worked fine without  a hitch. Obviously I can’t be sure if it works with all variants of the Leaked Belle but hopefully it should (TRY AT YOUR OWN RISK!!)

And here’s just a little change-log between the earlier releases of Leaked Belle and the Official:

• Nokia Pure Font is the default font on the phone now
• New start up tone basically just two Dings “Ting- Ting”
• Something called “Chat Apps” – takes you to the web Ovi store

• I’ll add more as soon as all my applications are restored (can’t use the phone while they’re restoring)
• Something called “Nokia Recommends” which appears similar to the app highlights that came on the stock S^3
• F-Secure anti virus comes pre loaded onto the device
• As Does Microsoft Communicator
• Shazam and Quickoffice & Youtube are also pre-loaded (probably on C which means bye bye RAM)
• Swype is the default keyboard
• better haptic feed back
• smaller icons for shortcuts on Homescreen (Thumbnail/image is smaller)
• “Search Widget Update” is available in software updater
• Smoother kinetic scrolling
• Still “Big Clock” is the only screen saver available (not sure if people who went official all the way have more options)
• The Widgets that were leaked from the E6 a while back (data monitor small Music player and many more ARE NOT available)
• If you had the beta Nokia store it’s now been replaced with ovi store again, however you’re prompted to update as soon as you run it.

Thats about it for now, might update this later if I find anything else; did you find anything else??