Applications: Ovi Maps 3.0 (on the Nokia N97)

July 6, 2009 at 12:19 am | In 5th Edition, Applications, Nokia, Nseries, Reviews, S60, Symbian | 3 Comments
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Ovi Maps 3.0 is the latest edition of Nokia’s free Sat-Nav software. Below is a screenshot taken from Ovi Maps 3.0 on the Nokia N97.

The improvements with Ovi Maps 3.0 are well worth the time to upgrade because the interface is much improved, requiring much less menu wading and button pressing than the previous Nokia Maps 2.0. Note the following:

  • [Top Right] My Location button. Pressing this red dot (inside the square) centres the map to your current location. When you move away from your location, as I have, it will show you the arrow of your location and how far away you are from it. It disappears once the other red dot (indicating your GPS location) is visible on the map.
  • [Bottom] Search Button. Pressing the magnifying glass allows you to either search for an address or categories of places. As with 2.0, this is most/only useful when you have an internet connection.
  • [Top] Location bar . Pressing gives you a range of options to do with named location: Walk/Drive, show details, add to route, send location and explore. This is a very simple change but makes so much difference in terms of making actual navigation and using Ovi Maps so much easier.
  • Only an options button is available. No toolbar to waste space, or exit button to press accidentally.
  • Kinetic scrolling of some sort. If you flick the map, it moves slightly, gradually slowing down to a stop instead of just stoping the moment you lose contact with the screen.
  • Zoom bar on the left. For me, that is a better location as a right handed user, it makes for less accidental zooming in/out. As with before, you can either hold + to zoom in, or – to zoom out. Alternatively, a downward swipe zooms you out, and an upward swipe zooms you in.
  • Compass. As with Nokia Maps 2.0 on the N97, after around a minute, this gets a lock and rotates your map to match the actual alignment of the streets/roads/you.
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Basic view, no location set.

From the options button, you get a similar standard menu as the previous Nokia Maps 2.0. Some worthwhile additions include:

  • History. -  Locations previously  navigated to (walk/drive to)
  • Favourites – Access your saved landmarks or routes, plus Sync your favourites with Ovi
  • Dashboard – gives quick GPS info of speed, pace, altitude and GPS coordinates, and changes when you’re in the middle of navigation, giving you trip distance, time, average speed, total distance, time and total average speed.
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Dashboard

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Options

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"Walk to"

In action, Ovi Maps 3.0 turns your N97 or other compatible phone into a very capable Sat-Nav device. Directions for driving/walking appear pretty much instantly and you’re off on your way. The interface has been given a slight rehaul which makes it much more finger friendly on touch devices such as the N97.

Note, though none of the screenshots show GPS lock, that’s because they were taken within a couple of seconds of the app starting. The N97 is pretty quick at getting a GPS signal when outside. (Though there is a slight delay when in a vehicle)

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"Drive to" options

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"Drive to"

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"Drive to" dashboard

Installing Ovi Maps 3.0

You’ll need two parts:

1. Nokia Maps Updater

- this will install Ovi Maps 3.0 onto your compatible phone.

dl maps

Follow the download instructions  >>here<<

Once downloaded, install and connect to your phone, preferably by cable. After restarting your computer, run the “Nokia Maps Updater” software. maps updater

Next, complete the installation on your phone. MNB000027

When you first start Ovi Maps 3.0, it will ask you to delete older maps. Once that’s done, from your phone you can start downloading maps via WiFi or Mobile Internet.

Alternatively, you can do this from Ovi Suite. >> Download here <<

2. Nokia Maps Loader (3.0)

This will install Nokia Maps Loader for your computer.

maps loader 3.0

To save time (and money) it’s advisable to use Nokia Maps Loader 3.0 which will let you load the maps you want onto your phone so you won’t have to download them on the fly later on. You can also download the voice navigation from here too.

Follow the download instructions >> here <<

Video: Nokia N97 Review

July 4, 2009 at 9:21 am | In 5th Edition, Nokia, Nseries, Reviews, S60, Symbian, Video | 1 Comment
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This is TeknoReview’s review of the Nokia N97.

Part 1 covers the hardware aspects of the phone including:

  • build quality/aesthetics
  • slide mechanism
  • keyboard
  • screen
  • speakers

They also cover the S60 UI slightly.

Part 2 covers most of the N97 software.

  • User interface/Homescreen
  • Ovi Store
  • Web Browser
  • Camera
  • GPS Navigation
  • Video Playback (ooh, I felt the pain when he talked about the lack of codec support. DivX player, for S60 5th

Finally, the conclusion

TeknoReview via @MickyFin

___

You might also want to check out their reviews of the HTC Touch Pro2; another tilt screen + keyboard device similar to the N97.

Here’s Part 1:

In TeknoReview’s next video, the N97 is pitted against the Pro2

Video: The Phones Show – Episode 84 (Review of Nokia N86 and

July 2, 2009 at 10:32 pm | In 3rd edition, 5th Edition, Nokia, Nseries, Reviews, S60, Symbian, Video | 2 Comments
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In episode 84 of The Phones Show, Steve:

  • takes a quick look back at the E75
  • reviews the Nokia N86, 8MP camera phone
  • interviews Lee Williams, Executive Director of the Symbian Foundation

The interview of Lee Williams is slightly disheartening as there are various indications that Symbian will predominantly focus on hard key input, and not the growing trend in touch.

When asked about where he stood on Touch vs Hardware button control [at 08:04], Williams answers,

“Well I think when you look at the total size of the smartphone market and the types of products that are relevant for consumers in that market place, I speculate that no more than 30% of that overall market will actually end up being occupied by touch screen products and display only products. So I think you have at least 70% market place out there that will always be well represented by products of a different form factor where people really like their QWERTY, really like their hard inputs and really like the fous that shows up in the UI so that you can one handed and use it in many different aspects of your life”

I’m sure one handed use is not a virtue of hardware keys alone.

Right now, touch screen handsets are the ones bringing innovation to the mobile phone world in terms of changing how the masses perceive how we interact with phones. If Symbian is going to try and entice developers into producing apps, those apps MUST be optimized for touch.  Maybe it shouldn’t be touch vs hardware input, but a combination of the two – but both being equally optimised forms of input, e.g. Palm Pre, G1 and perhaps even the N97.

The interview also covers the new branding of Symbian Foundation, with images that “look like something my four year old can draw”. Hopefully, it is meant to say that the future of Symbian is something so user friendly, that even a four year old can pick it up and use it.

Another interesting part at 10:40, Williams shows us his Samsung i8910 and Nokia N97, but doesn’t show us  the prototype he’s carrying. Maybe the Sony Ericsson Satio? Or could it be a new Nokia? That’s not really the interesting bit – it’s that Williams favours the Samsung product over the Nokia handset – that’s right. Not Nokia….the manufacturer that SHOULD be the king of Symbian handsets.

via 3lib

Video: Nokia N97 Startup time (V10.0.009 and V10.0.012)

June 26, 2009 at 10:22 am | In 5th Edition, MNB, Nokia, Nseries, S60, Symbian, Test, Video | 4 Comments
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This was just to test the startup time of the N97 (RM-505) on:

  • V10.0.009, 12-05-2009
  • V10.0.012, 15-05-2009

From pressing the button and getting the vibrate buzz to switching to the visible homescreen it’s about 28 seconds (and that’s pretty much the same over 3 repeats, on both firmware).

V 10.0.009, 12-05-2009

V 10.0.012, 15-05-2009

As for comparison, CNET did a test of the Palm Pre, iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS start up times:

  1. First is iPhone 3GS at 19 seconds
  2. Second is iPhone 3G at 48 seconds
  3. Third/last is the Pre at a painful 1 minute 46 seconds! Imagine being in an emergency and needing to turn it on?

The N97 did ok at 28 seconds. Previous S60 3rd edition phones (N93) were capable of sub 19 seconds on certain firmware. Fingers crossed we’ll see improvements in the next major firmware upgrade (V11.0.021) in terms of:

  • faster startup
  • bug fixes
  • new “features”/UI tweaks.

Videos and Photos: Nokia N97 vs Nokia N82 in low light.

June 26, 2009 at 12:29 am | In 3rd edition, 5th Edition, MNB, Nokia, Nseries, Photos, S60, Symbian, Test, Versus, Video | 8 Comments
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[Sidenote: This test was done with pre-release early edition firmware V10.0.009, and not the "final" firmware V10.0.012]

Just before we went to see “The Hangover”, we went to the pub for a quick drink. Here were three shots I took with the N97 and the N82 in your average moderate/low lighting pub.

Preferably, for a comparison, I would have actually tested it on a proper night out in a club (like the collection here with the N82)- with much less light and a little more thought into certain making the tests fair.

Nevertheless, here’s what I managed with 5 minutes to spare – some “real world” testing of the N97 and the N82 in low lighting conditions (with flash).

N97 (and dual LED Flash)

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N82 (And Xenon Flash)

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N97

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N82

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N97

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N82

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For me – I prefer what the N82 produces. Crisp, non blurry, well lit images as opposed to the N97 under low lighting appears to be taking pictures through a murky muddy bottle.

Video

Supposedly – the LED light is meant to help, but as you can see – the N82 manages fine without it (seen in first few seconds of N82 video, thereafter “assisted” by N97). But the focus is blurry, the video is grainy and overall poor. I guess if it was pitch black then the N97 may have won slightly by having the LED light to give your face a slight gray halloween tint.

Sample from a Nokia N97

Sample from a Nokia N82

I really want to get the N97, but it kills me that for something so important to me (people photos – nights out – I am a student :p) there’s a lot I’ll have to sacrifice in terms of no longer being able to carry just one device again. Unless that is, I go and wait for the Satio. Hmm. It’s early days yet. I’ve not even had the N97 for half a day.

(Note though, it’s not all bad, the N97 performs well in optimum conditions – i.e. bright sunlight – something of a rarity in Wales)

Review: Engadget’s surprisingly positive review of the Nokia N97

June 22, 2009 at 9:47 pm | In 5th Edition, Nokia, Nseries, Reviews, S60, Symbian, Video | 1 Comment
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With Engadget receiving pretty much a less than satisfactory experience with the 5800, then the Nokia N97 getting a scathing review over at Boy Genius Report together with some voiced disappointment in blogs and forums over the N97, it was indeed a surprise to read Engadget’s weighty review of the N97 and see it receiving such a fair and frequently positive analysis.

nokia-n97-review-999-sm

The >5000 word length is itself quite astonishing. The review is in the format of Dicken’s pen-pal conversation novel (A tale of two cities), with the shared and contrasting opinions of Thomas Ricker and Chris Zeigler.

There’s a lot of praise and enthusiasm for the form factor and build quality of the device. The keyboard problems that appalled BGR, the Engadget guys (like most N97 users) found to be an absolute non issue. It seems that on the face of it, a lot of the things on the N97 look odd and misplaced, but eventually you get used to it and realise it’s actually the best place it can be (given the other constraints), e.g. placement of the spacebar, arrangement and feel of keys, placement of D-pad and stereo speakers.

“The keyboard — a major concern for everyone prior to launch with the left-aligned directional pad and right-aligned spacebar — turns out to be a joy to use in practice, with plenty of tactile response, and I found that it really took me no time at all to get fast on it. In fact, it’s as good of a landscape QWERTY keyboard as I’ve ever used on a phone. Some will complain that the numeric keys would be better served in a traditional keypad pattern instead of being lined across the top row, but once you get past that, you’re good to go….”

Engadget

That’s much of a stark contrast to The Boy Genius Report’s take on the keyboard:

“It’s hilarious that when Nokia finally listens and tries to make a somewhat normal QWERTY keyboard layout (we bitched and moaned that the Z key was always incorrectly right under the A key on previous devices) they mess it up even more. Like honestly, you’re expecting people to use something with the spacebar key stage right? If the layout isn’t bad enough, the keys certainly are. While the texture of the keys is actually pretty stirring, there’s absolutely positively the smallest tactile feedback imaginable when pressing in a key. For comparisons sake, the T-Mobile G1, whose keys aren’t the best in that department, is worlds better than the N97’s keyboard. It’s really disappointing because Nokia just can’t seem to nail this keyboard area”

nokia-n97-review-chris-01

The N97 may not have the best QWERTY keyboard out there, Nokia and Symbian fans admit to having better experience on an E90/E75, but it does have a pretty decent QWERTY keyboard and it’s great to know hear it echoed from such influential reviewers that it is no where near as bad as BGR had made it out to be – and in fact was actually pretty good.

With such high praise on the N97’s hardware, you’d expect them to come down on the software for not delivering a commited finger friendly touch UI that we’ve seen from iPhone and Pre. Well, for Chris at least, a user familiar to S60, there’s some reasonable comments on the shortcomings of S60 5th edition, with a lot of love for the Homescreen and widgets.

However, for Thomas who’s used to the fluidity of iPhone OS and WebOS, Symbian’s S60 UI is just a pain.

“Having gone through this learning procedure several times on several platforms, I can say with absolute clarity that this is the least intuitive smartphone OS that I have come across in the last two years and suffers dearly by comparison to what’s available right now on the market”

- Engadget

nokia-n97-review-chris-17-sm

Frankly, as harsh as the next few paragraphs are, I whole heartedly agree with Thomas. For a seasoned S60 user, the N97 is absolutely fine.But for those new to the smartphone world or are coming from an environment where that manufacturer spoon fed you such a delightful user interface, it’s hard to attempt in using anything less user friendly.

“Unfortunately, Nokia’s widgets are just a thin veneer upon an otherwise rotting OS. As powerful as it is, S60 5th’s convoluted interface ensures that all that power shall remain unknowable to the vast majority of people looking to switch platforms or enter the smartphone market for the first time. It’s impossible for me to imagine a prospective first-timer choosing the N97 over the Palm Pre, iPhone 3G S, BlackBerry Bold, or any QWERTY phone running the latest Android build.”

- Engadget

This is what Symbian (and Nokia) crucially needs to address. With all those features, bells and whistles (Not just in Nokia’s hardware, Symbian is an extremely capable OS) – the N97 on paper should be the ultimate smartphone – but if you cannot get to those features because the UI is so inconsistent and confusing, you won’t/can’t use them. Since 2007, people have began expecting phones you can just pick up and know how to use it without going through the manual – and it has to do that with extreme elegance. Something, right now is lacking in Symbian.

Read the full review of the NAM Nokia N97 over at Engadget.

Oh, for more contrasting opinions of the N97, check out this video by James and Ben from The Really Mobile Project.

Nokia N86 Review by Rafe Blandford

June 22, 2009 at 12:08 pm | In 3rd edition, Nokia, Nseries, Reviews, S60 | Leave a Comment
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If there was one person in this world I would trust on having an overwhelming understanding of Nokia and Symbian, it would be Rafe blandford. What Rafe doesn’t know about Symbian isn’t really worth knowing.

n86-tb

You may have read his review of the Nokia N86 already, but if you haven’t, please check it out >>click<<

There’s a brilliant introduction to the history behind the N86 and Nseries as well as the climate of competition the N86 is entering.

The portion that interests me the most is the camera stills section, afterall, being the “imaging flagship”, camera stills is in essence, the purpose of being of the N86.

Although slow in joining the megapixel race to 8MP (very 2008), Nokia hasn’t done it mindlessly, just to attract and blind consumers into the ever increasing numbers game. There appears to be (at least on paper) many attempts at improving the image quality, making more efficient use of each frame and each pixel.

Side Note. This video interview, back in February, accounts Nokia’s vision for the N86.

You’d expect that the N86 should be the best 8MP camera phone on the market. In fact, as you’ll remember, it won the TIPA 09 Best Mobile Imaging Device.

In early preproduction review of the N86 by Mobile Review however, the result was inconclusive, with Samsung’s INNOV8 sometimes having the upper hand in picture quality. The N86 is available now so there should be a lot of reviews out there of the actual production version to see if the N86 has really risen the bar for still images.

Please check out the rest of the review at AAS.

Via All About Symbian

________________________

AAS will be doing a test of the “third generation” Dual LED flash.  According to Rafe, “Nokia continue to persevere with dual LED technology rather than Xenon for their flash units, quoting size and power efficiencies”.

Perhaps with the improvements to the sensor, the N86 doesn’t need Xenon?

For me, a camera phone is for memories – taking snaps of friends and families. i.e. people. Yeah, there are occasional scenic images, random attempts of being artsy, but most of my gallery is filled with people. I don’t know about you, but in most of those cases, where they’re within 1-3 metres, half the time in not the most ideal lighting situations, Xenon flash really does help – pushing the colours from slightly washed out to something more vibrant and changing possibly a blurry mess to a crisp, clear moment frozen in time.

Maybe, like the N85, N96, the N86 is another interim solution to a true successor for ground breaking N95, therefore for the expectations of the N86, Dual LED was the best choice.

Stephen Fry’s Review of the Nokia N97 (and also iPhone 3G S) and awfully long rant.

June 20, 2009 at 8:31 am | In 5th Edition, Nokia, Nseries, Rant, Reviews, S60, Suggestions, Symbian | 7 Comments
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As a long time Nokia fan, it is disheartening to hear such crushing words about what’s meant to be Nokia’s best ever phone to date.

stephen-fry-and-iphone

FryPhone

What’s worse is that we all knew what Nokia needed to do, yet for purposes beyond our comprehension (perhaps to cut costs in an attempt to be mass market friendly), there were too many compromises in the Nokia N97. That just should not have been for the flagship!

Here’s the flesh slicing snippet from Stephen Fry’s review, just about the N97:

….I am panting to try out the Palm Pre and the HTC Magic and have been looking forward to Nokia’s new entry for months and months.It distresses me more than I can say therefore to announce that the N97 is a crushing disappointment. The candybar design is handsome enough (not dissimilar to the iPhone and also available in white or piano black) and offers the best slidey-outy keyboard I’ve yet come across. Nokia’s Ovi Marketplace (their equivalent of the iPhone App Store) allows the simple OTA downloading of apps (including live-streaming Facebook and news widgets) which is all good. But the Symbian S60 operating system that drives the device is achingly old-fashioned, sluggish and unfriendly.

Setting up ‘access points’ is fiddly and horribly yesterday. I am aware that Nokia want to position this as a kind of ‘My First Smartphone’ for users who might be put off by the radical nature of the iPhone or the businesslike qualities of the BlackBerry, but a resistive touchscreen (another way of saying a touchscreen you have to keep tapping until it decides to obey you – damn it, they even include a stylus) that displays blocky icons that remind you of the ugly horror of their E63 unit is no way to inspire confidence in the Finnish giant’s commitment to modern smartphones.

It really pains me that I can’t rave about this device. I love what Nokia has given to the market – I was devoted to the Communicator for years – but no one who has used an iPhone would do anything other than laugh, weep or bray with contempt at the N97. It just isn’t good enough and that is a terrible pity. It is nothing like as godawful as the BlackBerry Storm, but then nothing is.”

Stephen Fry.com

Oh dear, here comes the rant.

A lot of of the ground achieved by the hardware of the N97 is absolutely mauled by the pathetic looking Symbian S60 5th Edition UI. Although S60 OS is very mature and has been able to do a lot of things Apple’s iPhone is taking years to put in, the UI for the most part appears to be old S60 3rd edition with a touch screen just slapped on. Very few things are optimised for finger friendly gestures. A lot of things are buried in a labyrinth of menus.

Don’t get me wrong. I love S60. But as I may have mentioned before – right now, to Nokia, S60 is a limb gone gangrene that just absolutely needs to be amputated. It does not have the slickness that people (er iPhone users) have become accustomed to.

Maemo Harmattan?

I am very doubtful that S60 will ever receive an overhaul overwhelming enough to rival iPhone’s UI, and hoping that the rumoured Maemo Harmattan (or any other New OS built from scratch) will be the “salvation” Nokia so desperately needs .

OS and UI aside, I really do hope that Nokia will resolve the issue of just making one badass device with the best hardware (just having capacitive would have appeased some of the anger of having to add a tad bit more force when poking the screen). Nokia  – until you make a phone all other manufacturers can look up to:

  • Please, save the whole sifting and separating of devices to meet different markets when it comes to your bloody flagship. We know Nokia’s capable of making the ultimate convergence smartphone. Do it!
  • Don’t make a half-assed flagship phone that’s just “good” in the knowledge that in 6 months you’ll announce a better one which is what the predecessor should have been. Focus all your attention on getting one phone right and be totally amazing, than have several “just good/great” phones. [See rumoured N900/Rover]

Hopefully, Nokia can do this before Apple’s grip with their App Store becomes too great. Apple could, right now, release a pile of shit and call it iPhone 4, but it will still be extremely desirable to many, simply due to its bountiful library of Apps. It’s a bit sad that Nokia used to appeal to customers that way – you bought a Symbian S60 phone because of it’s Apps, even if another handset may have superior hardware. A bit like as Fry said, Apps go beyond what the phone could do (as set by the manufacturer), instead flourishing and evolving with the ingenuity and creativity of the new applications. The problem with Nokia is that really, only people “in the know” could actually find and install those applications.

Now, with Ovi Store, Nokia is trying to reclaim what little presence they had in terms of apps, (and also with ringtones and wallpaper -_- ). But it’s doing it with a fragmented base (different phones/different OS), and spearheading it with S60. Yes it’s good, in that there are a lot of S60 devices. It allows Ovi Store to somehow grow some roots with people, and establish an awareness of Nokia’s services. But being S60, it also embeds a rot. A rot that will continue to harm Nokia’s position in the high end smartphone war if S60 UI remains prehistoric. To get rid of the rot:

  • Nokia needs to relegate S60 to lower end devices, focusing resources on maybe a new OS for higher end handsets (with emulation capabilities to run S60 library of apps)
  • S60 UI needs to get a bigger face lift than Joan Rivers and Michael Jackson combined. Either be up to date with current expectations in UI or totally blow us out of the water by exceeding the expectations on how intuitively users can interact with their devices (instead of hopelessly attempting to catch up and cringe-worthily failing).
  • (Deserves own post, but the implimentation of Ovi Store – yes it’s in its infancy and desperately needs guidance to maturity)

Maybe the answer will not come from Maemo Harmattan, but what ever the Symbian Foundation is cooking up?

We can just wait; in hope that Nokia will pleasantly surprise us.

Although, with all the wait and hope for an improved/revamped/brand new Nokia OS, I’d sooner just love to see a Nokia Smartphone with WebOS/Android or even iPhone OS. But that is but a dream.

HD Video: Nokia N86 Review and Unboxing (In Italian)

June 19, 2009 at 3:17 pm | In 3rd edition, Nokia, Nseries, Reviews, S60, Symbian, Video | Leave a Comment
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The N86 is available today, but has been and will be overshadowed by the N97 for quite some time. Telefonio.tv has an unboxing and video review of the Nokia N86, and although it’s in Italian is still an interesting watch.

Pretty much same old contents in your standard Nseries package, except that decent looking silicone in-earphones and remote control combination [Nokia Wired Headset (AD-54+HS-83]. Much better than standard earphones with foam buds.

It’s accompanied by an 8 Page review, which can be translated via babelfish or google translator.

Here’s a video sample from the N86:

Telefonio.net Via Spaziocellulare

The Gadget Show: Nokia N97 Special

June 19, 2009 at 1:53 pm | In 5th Edition, Nokia, Nseries, Reviews, S60, Video | 2 Comments
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I always like reviews from sources that are not necessarily Nokia/Phone/heavy tech centric as they focus on things that the “general public” are more concerned about, and these are the type of reviews that (have more chance to ) filter to them.

Jon from Channel 5’s The Gadget Show takes a closer look on the N97 – pretty much resonating the great points and short comings of the N97 of previous reviews.

He also asks if the N97 was worth the wait – and surprisingly after the negative points he says yes it is!

Why?

“I think you have to overlook the negatives, because take it as a whole, it has a very comprehensive range of features and is probably one of the best phones you can buy at the moment.”

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