So the two that went down Face to face in gizmodos gadget of the year come face to face in another video (this time they play nice); The Galaxy Nexus being Androids latest flagship and running Ice-cream sandwich while of course the Lumia 800 is WP Magno 7.5.

If the Lumias camera is as he said “Definitely takes a better photo” then I shutter to think of the quality of the Nexus’s images…

Thanks to Adobe for the tip-off

Jay:

Before going into the video, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is rather impressive no? 720p display, 4.65″ and it kinda looks like the sexy N97 (from the front. Am I the only one that thinks it looks like a N97). At the back it’s rather ugly, like it was an afterthought and just moulded the phone to where stuff would fit. This goes up against the Nokia Lumia 800, Nokia’s top-mid tier device.

• He says with the 4.65″ screen, he has to hold it a different way. I know a lot of you have commented on 4.3″ already being too big. I dunno, I like it. I kinda like the big Note as well. Impractical but great for a geek to whip out a mini tablet as a phone.
• Screen on both is amazing. He says the Lumia surprised him as he didn’t expect it to look that good.
• 5mp on the Galaxy, 8MP on the Nokia.
• Photos better on the Nokia.
• Has not noticed once that the Nokia is only single core, extremely smooth. Everything he’s done it has handled.  You can’t notice any kind of lag. Nexus also fast and stylish.

So… The moment of truth, what does Engadget ( = general American Public) think of the Lumia 710; well they quite like it actually!

Nokia’s first stateside Windows Phone Mango handset is an all around solid performer and for the budget price, it’s a must-have.

• Even though it doesn’t have an Amoled Screen (no mid-range phones do)

The 710 isn’t privy to that oversaturated treatment, but its 3.7-inch 800 x 480 ClearBlack LCD does a surprisingly good job

• However they did state that the colors on the screen seem a bit washed out; but with decent outdoor viewing:

Viewing angles hold up just as well as they do on the 800, though you’ll notice the 710 falls prey to significant washout

• They didn’t seem to impressed by the camera though, claiming that the auto-focus sensor is basically rubbish

 The Lumia 710′s five megapixel rear shooter with f/2.2 lens is a massive underwhelmer and stops just short of being totally unworkable. It’s a confounding experience, with a hit-or-miss autofocus sensor that borders on schizophrenic, occasionally resulting in decent to above average shot.

• On the otherhand they seemed to like the video shooting abilities of the 710 quite a bit.

 Video on the Lumia 710 however, seemed to be just the opposite. As you can see in our brief clip above, colors appear bright, moving objects remain mostly in focus and, although there are minor issues with image stabilization, the frame rate holds up well. Similarly, audio recording was excellent, with our voice coming across crisply.

• Of course everyone hates bloatware that comes pre-installed on Carrier subsidized phones, but the 710 seemed to be quite the opposite, carrying useful high end apps that can be removed if you want

Nokia and T-Mobile have both pre-loaded a good amount of apps onto the 710 and thankfully most of it harbors on the solid end of desirable. There’s an exclusive ESPN app for scores, news and video, Netflix, Xbox Live, Nokia Drive and Maps, Slacker, T-Mobile TV and The Weather Channel. That’s certainly a long list of apps, but with the rare exception, they’re also miraculously uninstallable.

• Warp-up is that they basically liked the 710, especially considering it’s low-low pricetag; however this ISN’T the phone that’s going to bring Nokia back into the game, (which is obviously no surprise, this is just a water tester)

Contrast the 710 with its other budget WP 7.5 peers, factor in that super affordable $50 on contract pricing and, hands down, it’s easily the most attractive of the single-core lot. Will it succeed in giving Nokia the US market traction it’s long sought after? Probably not. The Mr. and Mrs. Johnny-come-latelies of the mobile world will neither make nor break the company’s stateside success. That heavy lifting will surely fall to future Lumia progeny of the higher-end sort. No, the 710 is a solid smartphone for first-timers marred only by its faltering camera and nondescript construction. If you’re just learning how to surf the internets and / or send a text, this phone’s for you.

Check out the rest of the review down below:
Engadget

*Note: Me stating that Engadget = American Public; is basically because engadget have always had a sort of ‘hostility’ towards Nokias, meaning that if the 710 impressed them it might have a chance with the less opinionated public.

Anyway, I am not here to talk about the success of these devices or the Nokia “ecosystem” and their strategy. I am here though, to share a comparison between the N9 and Lumia 800, MeeGo vs. Mango, Swipe vs. Metro. I won’t bother with the hardware a lot, just mainly when it comes in conjunction with aspects of the software.

Jay: Michael asked me to just take a look but I decided to butt in and interrupt now and again instead of waiting to comment later :p I’ve grayed it out though so you pay attention more to Michael’s stuff.

Likes about N9 and MeeGo

• Swipe: So simple and so easy to pick up. It has definitely become second nature. In fact, I swipe on my N8 and on any other phone I use, because it has become a habit. [Jay: It's amazing. Really. Except in some games where you accidentally swipe away, other than that, everywhere else, swipe is just very, very awesome]
• Double tap screen to wake: Like swipe, second nature. When I first opened the Lumia 800′s box, booted it, I double tapped the screen. I got frustrated that it wasn’t working, until I realised, “Wait, it’s not my N9″. [Jay: This and the swipe to unlock is actually not a natural movement at first. Everyone I've shown N9 to can't unlock the screen. However, once they get it, they find it very straight forward. This like pinch and zoom (which is also unnatural at first) becomes a must have gesture when you learn it.]
• Unique: It is the only device of its kind. (Sorry N950, you don’t count! )
• Three Homescreens: These views are so easy to use and get used to, I am having trouble living without it on the Lumia. (Live tiles helps and I’ll talk about that too.)
• Hackability: I know this isn’t for everyone, but neither is the device. The N9 does target a niche market. I like the inclusion of developer mode. Although the OS isn’t as user customisable as Symbian and Android, you can still modify the system A LOT. ( Like I’ve shown you with adding IM accounts, changing icons from static to dynamic etc.)
• No self reboots: The only reboots I ever do, are after I use terminal, and the restart is needed for changes to take effect.
• Real Multitasking: This is probably the largest thing that I forget about when using multiple devices. MeeGo-Harmattan doesn’t “freeze” the applications. They indeed run in the background, visible when you navigate to a webpage, swipe away, and watch it load in the Multitasking homescreen.
• Screensaver: I struggle to live without this. It is so handy just pick up the device, look at the screen and see the time, as well as any new email, call or message notifications.
• Laminated Screen: It just feels so nice under your fingers. I know I said I wouldn’t talk about the hardware, but it relates to software. It makes those swiping action so much easier and smoother

Dislikes about N9 and MeeGo:

• “Dead OS”: Although Nokia continually states it will get support, many are skeptical. This mainly impacts developers. No users, No developers, No apps. And consequently, No apps, No Users.
• Battery Consumption: The N9 has decent battery life, but I expect it to be better. In the current times of smartphones, battery is a major part that influences user decision. (Android is renowned for being heavy on the battery, thus many people will go elsewhere.) I tend to get at least a day ( my day is usually 13+ hours switching between 3G, WiFi and no signal at all, so that is something to consider) out of it. Which is still good don’t get me wrong. I am just greedy and want more. For most people, this will be enough.
• Ringer Volume: I find it is way too soft, even on full. I had to go through some terminal commands, to up the volume. (Yes, even though it is full, the volume can go higher? ) [I find speakers on both Lumia and N9 to be quite poor. There's no body to the sound and they're kinda quiet. Tinny and quiet. It's annoying to hear punchier sounds from my Omnia )
• Keyboard: It is way better than Symbian Anna/Belle, but I tend to, more often than not, hit the full stop/period ( . ) instead of a space. It is quite annoying. (At least some apps let me use landscape keyboard so this alleviates the issue a bit, but still, it is annoying.) No, I will not use Swype, it is even worse. [Haha, agree. It's the best Nokia virtual keyboard by far, but usability pales in comparison to Lumia/4S]
• Messaging: I love it. You can have Skype, MSN, Facebook chat, etc. in the one app. (“Wait, why is this in the dislikes?”)  I dislike that each service is separated. It would be nice if (like iOS and Mango) the services where in the same thread or linked contacts, just differentiated by a line across the thread saying “Text”, “Skype”, “Facebook” or whatever, or even, a thumbnail icon next to the time stamp.

Likes about Lumia 800 and Mango:

• Live Tiles: Okay, they aren’t the widgets you are used to on Symbian or Android, but they are still very helpful. Its simple, and elegant, looking a lot less cluttered than Symbian.
• Metro UI and Minimalism: Something I wasn’t sure about using at first was the whole Metro UI (Tiles and panoramic view), but I am warming up to it. It is incredibly fluid and simple to use.
• Camera UI: I like the way you swiping from the top(or left if in landscape), to view previously captured items is a really polished and fluid feature. Saves having to select gallery and scroll through items.
• 270 Degree Screen Rotation: I like it because it is different from what I am used to. It helps in bed sometimes as whilst it is charging, the phone can rotate so the cable isn’t being pulled as much.
• Pictures: This is super cool. The gallery actually connects to your Facebook account, and populates itself with the albums you have shared with your friends.
• Messaging: Like I stated above, I like how Mango groups your chat messages and texts in the same thread, and it is so simple to switch between the two.
• Build Quality: I know it isn’t SW related, but I must say, the glass on the Lumia 800 flows seamlessly into the body. I cannot feel the edge of the glass. Sadly, I can’t say the same for my N9. Maybe I am just unlucky?
• “Me” Tile: This is really handy. It retrieves notifications for you automatically, and will inform you when you have “new items”. Helps when your Facebook tile isn’t up the top and you forget to scroll down and look.
• Keyboard: This is by far, the best keyboard on a touch screen I have ever used. I think I have spelt two words wrong so far. That is way better than the constant full-stop instead of space that happens with my N9.

Dislikes about Lumia 800 and Mango:

• Random Shutdowns: Within the first two days, the device shut itself down about a dozen times. The first was during installing apps, so I shrugged it off. Then they became more random, not having a common cause. (During messaging, calling Voicemail, WhatsApp, Facebook, XBox Live!, Standby and surfing the web.) [Jay: I'd just like to add that another Lumia from Nokia Connects, the one we're using with Steve is experiencing similar random shut down problems. Mine and my batman lumia have had none at all. Never had it in 10 months with Omnia. Batch problem?]
• Arranging Live Tiles: When you arrange the tiles, there can sometimes be blank spaces where the tile once was, due to shifting it around. Tiles don’t just move to the next spot, pushing everything over one, instead creating a new gap. Some people may like this, I sadly don’t. [Jay: I would also like live tiles to have a scroll bar at the side so when I have filled my screen with tonnes of tiles, I can quickly jump to particular group of tiles via scrollbar]
• Contact Transfer: This was shocking. I had the vast majority of my contacts entered as “<unnamed>” or just the number. Even after using it for a week or two, my contacts differ between Lumia and N9, even though it is the same Sim-Card. [Jay: I love Contact Transfer. It's what my Omnia dearly misses and is a great Nokia asset to transfer contacts. It works a treat for me, and Steve even managed to get his to pick him his LG dumbphone contacts]
• Call Quality: This is shocking. Even when I have full signal, (which is rare on the Lumia), I can barely hear the recipient of the call, and they can barely hear me. [No issue with call quality on mine. Normally on HSDPA but it depends on T-Mobile which seems to have a 70% suck rate in the UK. My Lumia on O2 always has signal, like N9 and N8]
• Signal Strength: I know it is supposed to be the same as my N9, but I doubt it. Maybe the indicator is too weird for my liking, as it is greyed out all the time, and I’m not sure if that is for 2G connection, or no signal :/ I find I need to reboot the device for it to fetch a signal and download text messages backed up for days.
• No Screensaver/Standby Screen: Extremely hard to get used to, coming from the N9. It is so useful as I take a glance at my phone and I know the time, and if anyone has contacted me. Okay, I know I can tap the lock button on the 800, but it is just that one less task that, for me, would make the experience a bit more pleasant and refined. [Jay: I love the N9/Symbian's AMOLED standby clock. I like seeing it when the light is off and I don't know where my Lumia/Omnia has gone but can see N8/N9. Or if just at a glance, I can look at the time, no button pressing necessary]
• Tethered Software Updates: The “luxury” that I have grown accustomed to on Symbian and MeeGo, of updating OTA through the device, is a must. Forcing the user to connect the device to a computer to update, is stupid. It will most likely mean that the user won’t update for a while, because of the hassle, or won’t update at all. (App updates happen on device, so why not FW? Besides more complex etc. )
• Ringtone Customisation: As far as I can tell, and I’ll be happy to be wrong, the only way to add additional ringtones, is through apps. This is stupid. If the app doesn’t have the latest tune you’re looking for, you can’t set it as your tone. [Jay: Whilst WP has done themselves a service by making ringtone apps, the whole act of adding a ringtone yourself is a little cumbersome. Pus you don't get to set it as a message tone. It's a little annoying and needs to be addressed in Tango/Apollo. Seriously, it's not difficult to do, right?]

I could definitely go on and on about both for hours. But I think I have put you readers through enough torturous reading. You are probably thinking, “well, what is Michael’s verdict?” The answer isn’t simple. If you want different, you go for the N9. Completely different experience (at least for now) than anything else you will find. If you want something with apps, and that will get all the love and support you want, go Lumia 800. Personally, I love both. I have been swapping them around every few days, spending more time with the Lumia 800. (Maybe because I know I have to give it back soon ) I like the simplicity of the Lumia 800, but then again, why “use the front door when you can use the back, or side doors” of the N9, thanks to Swipe?

I do know I will miss some things from the Lumia, mainly the Virtual KBD, “Me Tile”, push notifications for Facebook, sync/backup to skydrive etc, but they are all things that can be added to the N9 in updates, and also will be improved upon in the Lumia devices to come and WP Apollo and Tango updates.

Michael

Below I have comparisons of the N8 and N9, taken at night (actually it was just after dusk to be exact), using the same settings. The difference, Xenon flash vs. Dual LED, 12MP vs. 8MP, Symbian Belle vs. MeeGo. (I know Symbian Belle has camera clarity issues, so it may not be an accurate test but it’s what I had.)

These are the best photos from each phone, with the N8 on the left, and the N9 on the right.

Sorry that the images are a little bit squashed and stretched, but as you can see, the N8 captures more colour and it appears it also captures more light. The N8 is still the winner. However, the N9 still has a very good camera, seeing as the flash and pixel resolution is nowhere near on par with the N8.

I’ll try to bring a comparison of the N9 vs. iPhone 4, and also the HTC Desire within the next week. Also, look out for a post regarding the N9 detailing my experiences after two weeks of daily use.

Michael

Subraj found this video demo by Jade of Symbian World showing the differences between the Nokia C7 and Nokia 701 which share a very similar appearance.

Even just looking it, your eyes are attracted more to Belle. She’s just hotter, smarter, quicker than Anna (not to mention the CPU/GPU/RAM improvements in 701 also help a lot). Well in the image below anyway, the wallpaper above in 701 is hideous.

On the face you’ll notice slight differences in menu button arrangement:

Hardware wise:

C7 vs 701

• ARM 11 680MHz vs ARM 11 1GHz
• BCM2727 vs BCM2763?
• 256MB RAM vs 512MB RAM
• AMOLED VS IPS LCD CBD
• Menu button more centre vs Menu button closer to the screen. Note this was already visible in that leaked image of the 701.

Hello fellow Mynokiablog readers!

Today we present an honest (harsh?) video comparison of Asphalt 6! The nitty-gritty details can be found in the video description below.

From MrNokiaTech:

“NOTE: Gameloft “ported” Asphalt 6 to the Symbian^3 OS. It appears that they were not able to harness the power of the Broadcom GPU and decided to leave out a LOT of graphical detail in order to achieve a smooth framerate. This video is NOT about which OS or phone is better but to simply show the quality of the Asphalt 6 port.

From Deaconclgi at Mynokiablog.com:

“…..The textures are all low-res, there is pop-up, there are slowdowns in places, the look around controls in the garage are choppy, the ingame lighting is dramatically reduced.

The biggest offender is that HALF of the trackside detail is MISSING/LEFT OUT!!! So much so that I initially wanted a refund. Buildings, trees, boats, planes, fish, flags and whole sections of track detail has been REMOVED!

With half the details, no wonder it runs smoother than Asphalt 5. Even the in-race cars don’t have the same detail as they did at the car selection screen.

This is a sloppy effort. It seems that Gloft can’t code for Synbian^3 that well or just doesn’t want to invest in a proper port. Even the menus and colors are low res and watered down.

Ultimately, I am glad to see more HD games on Symbian, but Asphalt 6 for Symbian^3 is more SD than HD.

And yes, the 32 million polygons per second GPU in Symbian^3 phones could handle A6 as originally made, with full detail. I chalk the reduction in detail to the fault of the developers.”

I still recommend buying Asphalt 6 for Symbian^3 as it is the best Arcade racer for the platform, has loads of content, a great soundtrack and at the very least, it can be played on the big screen via HDMI/RGB, finally, it is a million miles better that the HORRIBLE, low framerate Asphalt 5 Symbian^3 port from 2010.”

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

In my hands-on time with A6 S^3, I have also noticed that Multiplayer has more options than the Android version. S^3 has Local via Bluetooth and Wifi and Online via the Mobile network and the Android version just finds an available connection.

Has anyone else noticed any differences not mentioned in the lengthy video description above? Let us know in our comments section!

You must be living under the rock to not to have noticed something called CES (Consumer Electronics Show) is happening in Las Vegas right now and something that has the bloggers sphere excited about is Android 3.0 aka “honeycomb” the tablet version of Android. It certainly is impressive from the videos we have seen. We instantly thought about the MeeGo tablet UI and started comparing. So what we where curious about was what you preferred and why. Of course the MeeGo UI is pre- alpha and the Android 3.0 is only a sneak peak. But we are still interested what your first impressions are when comparing the two.

I will give you some of my opinions. I am really impressed with Honeycomb, there are interesting ideas that Google have implemented but my after thought was that its a bit too much like a desktop if you know what I mean, and not much innovation.

I am really one of the people that believes that tablets will replace laptops and desktops as our primary machines in a couple of years, but I also believe that tablets should have a complete new UI not a UI scaled down from desktops like windows or scaled up like iOS .

Call me crazy but my impression from the video was that, as good the Android 3.0 looked the pre Alpha version of MeeGo was better. It is actually a new UI rather than scaling existing UI’s that Apple and Microsoft are doing.

Android 3.0 preview

Pre -Alpha MeeGo for tablets

anyway what do you think which one do you prefer and why and any other thoughts you might have on tablets in the future

BlackBerry

BlackBerry Bold 9700

BlackBerry Torch 9800

BlackBerry Curve 9300

BlackBery PearlDell Streak

HTC LEGEND

HTC Desire

HTC HD Mini

LG Viewty Smile

LG Optimus GT540

Nokia X6

Nokia C3

Nokia 5230

Nokia E72

The N8 Bretherin

I was so shocked to see the N900 still on sale that I didn’t get a comparison photo.

Palm Pre

upside down

Palm Pixi

Samsung Galaxy S
Samsung Genio

Samsung Monte

Samsung Wave

Sony Ericsson X10 Mini

Sony Ericsson Zylo

Sony Ericsson VivazSony Ericsson X10

Tomi Ahonen is a Mobile consultant for handset manufacturers and is a really respected man with a good amount of knowledge  and of course I follow him on Twitter. Today he made some very interesting comments on Nokia and their success in making camera phones.  Its no secret that Nokia are in a sort of trouble regarding their position of the world’s largest with Samsung breathing down their necks a lot of people have been suggesting that Nokia don’t innovate. Well I disagree Nokia does innovate but at a much slower pace and in places that people might find not that important. One area is camera and I have an interesting proposition or an idea or whatever you want to call it.

Back to Tomi’s comments, someone on twitter mentioned the only reason they haven’t moved to Android yet is the N8′s camera. After that tweet Tomi revealed some of the camera successes Nokia has had.

• “Nokia understood the camera phenomenon early by studying deeply in Japan where it was invented and then did the carl zeiss partnership” (I wish Nokia would study smartphone users in America now)
• “Since 2005 Nokia’s top camera phones have been at the top range of all the best camera phones on the planet definitely up there with Sony Ericsson cybershot”
• “Apple obviously leads touch screen internet devices, RIM leads QWERTY and Nokia leads in camera phones”
• “camera phones are most compelling as it is most people’s first phone”
• “There maybe a Nokia ‘comeback’ opportunity as US consumer ‘rediscover’ the ‘good’ camera on the iPhone 4″ ( I am sick and tired of people calling the iPhone 4 camera the best camera on a smartphone it makes me sick especially as those people have never tried camera’s on a Nokia)
• “For 90% of people living on the planet, the only camera they have ever used is camerphone camera”

He also mentioned that he owned a Nokia N93 and he loved and found the form factor really cool and he wished a return for the phone. (me too, never owned one)

When it was my time to buy a new before I settled with the Nokia E72 I was thinking *In what areas is Nokia better than their competition* these where the things that came into my camera..camera…camera…camera…free Ovi maps… camera…camera….. price…..camera….iPhone owners are annoying…….camera….good hardware.

Nokia make terrific cameraphones everyone knows that so I was thinking with the N8 about blow up the competition when it comes to cameraphone technology wouldn’t it be a great idea if Nokia just concentrated making cameraphone’s, it already feels like it with Nokia boasting about the camera N8′s capabilities, seems like all their energy went into that area.

Wouldn’t be also great Nokia made a successor to the N93 with a 12 megapixel camera Symbian 3, xenon flash, same hinge design, optical zoom kick ass video editing software, touch screen come on we can all dream

The only thing which is keeping me interested in the N8 is the camera, I am sure I am not the only person on that, what do you guys think should Nokia just concentrate making high end camera superphones? as it is the only area Nokia seem to have made progress in the last few years

Let us know in the comments below

One thing I’m envying terribly on the Evo 4G – Those who love surfing the web within their browser (not via apps) will just love that mahoosive 4.3″ screen!

Big screens aren’t for everybody, but I’m definitely a big fan of the 4-4.3″ category.

Look how huge the keyboard is (and note that like N8, it doesn’t show the page you’re typing at behind it, instead showing a textbox). Must be amazing for video/photo viewing. :O

If only it had Nseries grade imaging.

via Mi5t4k3

There’s also another video showing Evo on 3G and N900 on 2G. That’s not even worth posting.