I really don’t get it, and it’s not even funny anymore. Few weeks ago, bloggers like Darla Mack, Symbian-Guru, and others reported people selling free email addresses from Nokia N96, and people actually buying them.

These auction “experts” have gone in-depth in their technique, and bought the domain nokian96.info and selling emails from it. Don’t forget the that NokiaN96.NET doesn’t have any connection with the NokiaN96.INFO subjects.

You can check this wacky auction here: Nokia N96 on eBay

Do comment about what you think of these schemes here

Rafe over at All About Symbian has reviewed the Nokia N78. The important relation between the N96 and N78 is definitely the Operating System.

I decided to provide the readers with some extracts of the software bits contained in his review. A lot of this is ungrouped, and everything is really Rafe’s words:

The usual standard suite of software is present, including the PIM trio of Contacts, Calendar and Messaging. Web, Search and various office applications are all present. Feature Pack 2 brings a number of minor updates to these applications, but it is usability changes to the user interface that get most of the immediate attention.

The most obvious user interface change is the addition of a central softkey. This, for the most part, explicitly labels functionality that was already there, but should make things clearer to new users. Multi-tasking is made more obvious thanks to a redesigned task-switcher and the addition of an ‘Open applications’ item to the top of all Options menus.

Other changes that should be popular among N78 users include support for progressive downloads (start playing media during download), faster loading Java applications, full-screen picture caller ID for incoming calls, the inclusion of Flash Lite 3 (watch YouTube and other Flash videos in the browser), and inclusion of the WRT runtime (widgets).

The N73’s Gallery application was notorious for being sluggish, especially when viewing carousels of photos (thumbnail drawing rarely kept up with on screen movements). The good news is that the carousel has been re-designed from the ground up for the new Photos application and it also benefits from the faster processor of the N78. The end result is much better performance, with little or no lag time when moving around the carousel or viewing photos. A nice touch is the inclusion of an on-screen indication of where you are on a carousel, making it easy to navigate around large groupings of photos. When viewing an individual photo, you are able to add album and tag information, as well as the usual send, print, edit, slideshow and use image commands.

Share online, which allows the upload of media to online services such as Flickr, Share on Ovi, and Print online, which allows you order prints directly from your phone which are subsequently delivered by post, are all available out of the box and serve as ways of getting photos off the phone. Share online is particularly important here, as it integrates with both the Camera and Photos application, allowing for one click uploads to the web. Read more »

Symbian software has no limits, pretty much everything that you do on the computer, is possible to be done on your phone. With the upcoming release of the Nokia N96, users new to Symbian, or even Symbian experts can look forward to these programs. Not everyone has a taste for music, especially for writing and mixing it. Turn tables and DJ components are often too expensive, and even computer software for that purpose is overpriced. Now you can have it all in the phone, and compose music on the move, without disturbing anyone if you use your earphones.

Syntrax has all modern musician wants when away from the studio. A sequencer, sound synthesis and sample editor all wrapped up in a nice little package.

Features:

* Up to 8 stereo audio channels simultaneously (previously only 6)
* Playback of samples with bi-directional looping support
* Realtime sound synthesis with 15 sound generation effects
* Realtime effects like filters, morphs and echoes
* A built in small sample editor
* A full featured sequencer
* Dynamic playback options (songspeed, groove, muting etc..)
* Realtime instrument parameter changing
* Full library of preset songs and sounds for you to start working with
* User adjustable sound quality for slower devices
* MIDI compatibility.

Download it here

Source: The Nokia N82 Blog

Comment and Discuss here

Nokia sheds more light on its upcoming phones, software and services at the recent Showcase Nokia 2008 event held in Sydney, Australia.

NOKIA unveiled some of its much-anticipated mobile phones, including the N96, the successor to the popular top-of-the-line N95 It also previewed three other feature-packed phones – the N78, 6220 Classic and 6120 Navigator.

The dual-slider N96 is optimised for video and TV thanks to its large 2.8in screen, 16GB of internal memory, built-in DVB-H tuner and support for high-quality videos in a wide range of formats.

N96

The N96, which supports common video formats including MPEG4, WMV and Flash video, can store up to 40 hours of content.

And for added convenience, the phone features a ”kickstand” on the back that allows for hands-free viewing.

The storage capacity of the N96 can be further expanded with an optional microSD card, such as the new Nokia 8GB microSD which increases the available memory of the phone to a total of 24GB.

The phone has a 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens, dual flash and video light. It can also record DVD-quality video at 30fps (frames per second).

N78

The phone also has an integrated GPS, so users can tag their pictures with location data and share them with their online communities.

Its lesser sibling, the N78, features a 2.4in display, 72MB internal memory, an integrated GPS, WiFI, HSDPA, a 3.2-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens, and a microSD slot.

The novelty of the N78 is its integrated FM transmitter that allows music to be played on any FM radio, in a car or at home.

Guiding hand(phone)

The 6210 Navigator is the company’s first GPS-enabled mobile device with an integrated compass.

6210 Navigator

Combined with an accelerometer which measures changes in direction and orientation, the built-in compass makes it easy to follow the map on the phone when strolling about on foot.

Also, the integrated Maps 2.0 application will plot the quickest route to the desired destination and illustrate it on the map.

The phone is ready for use out-of-the-box, even without a SIM card, and local maps will be preloaded on the 1GB memory card that will be bundled with the phone.

6220 Classic

The 6210 Navigator also features a 3.2-megapixel camera, MP3 player and stereo FM radio.

Moving on, the highlight of the 6220 Classic is its 5-megapixel camera with Xenon flash and Carl Zeiss lens, which Nokia claims is on par with many single-purpose digital cameras on the market.

It features an integrated TV-out which allows photos on the phone to be viewed on a TV.

Plus, the phone’s high-speed HSDPA connection makes it easy to update blogs and upload photos and videos online.

Also, the phone uses Adaptive Multi Rate-Wideband speech coding technology to give a more natural sound to human voice in phone calls. This helps when having a conversation in a noisy environment, according to Nokia.

All the phones are expected to be available locally in the second half of the year.

New Maps

At Showcase Nokia 2008, Nokia also announced it has updated its mapping and navigation software, Maps 2.0, by improving its pedestrian navigation, adding multimedia city guides, offering satellite images, and redesigning the user interface.

The pedestrian navigation feature or “Walk” will help users find their way when they are on foot by giving them visual turn-by-turn guide. It also helps you to locate yourself by giving information about the surrounding buildings, streets and parks.

In newer handsets, like the 6210 Navigator, it will point the direction in which you are walking by using the handset’s built-in compass for orientation.

Users will also be given the option to purchase multimedia guides that feature photos, videos and audio streams, which are supposed to make the journey more enjoyable.

A beta version of Maps 2.0 can be downloaded from www.nokia.com/ betalabs.

Meanwhile, Nokia’s Ovi Internet services gets a boost from Share on Ovi, a new free personal media sharing service that makes it easy to upload, manage and share files through a mobile, desktop or other connected device.

Share on Ovi offers allows users to socialise, interact and collaborate and is designed for more than 100 different media types with unlimited storage and unlimited uploads.

To sign up for an account go to http://share.ovi.com.

Source: The Star Online

Comment and Discuss here

…in the world. Nice Isn’t it.

I have just found this RSS button in a Portuguese website, yes I am Portuguese, and I think it would be nice to exhibit it right here and to remember you that we have more than 130 readers right now and continue growing, but do not forget that we are online in less than 2 weeks.

Don’t lose anything about Nokia N96 and other mobiles.

Subscribe the RSS here.

And they keep on coming…Will at IntoMobile has posted tons of pictures comparing the N95 to the N96, and also a video where he plays around with the unseen jewel.

The glossy-black finish hides buttons that illuminate from below…so cool. The sliding mechanism is much improved over the N95 - springy and snappy at the same time, it’s incredibly satisfying. The music controls illuminate upon sliding the N96 down. A kickstand pops out from the rear, making video and TV viewing convenient. Oh yea, and the TV (DVB-H) is smooth and crisp. Overall, the Nokia N96 is slightly (emphasis on slightly) longer than the N95, with about the same width and thickness, but feels lighter and more solid. And, speaking of solid, did I mention that much improved sliding mechanism? If you just bought a Nokia N95, I’m sorry to say that the Nokia N96 is the new hotness. The Nokia N95 is still the cat’s meow, but the N96 gets the lion’s share of the glory. That glossy-black finish might not be your cup of tea, but damn if I didn’t love it.

Source: IntoMobile

Comment and Discuss here

Martin Letis has posted a great way to download the Nokia Maps directly. Personally I don’t like the Nokia MapLoader, as the downloads are extremely slow, the application is strict on the Map downloads, and there is low functionality.

It seems that Martin agrees with me, so he went for a search on an alternate way to download the maps. He analyzed the HTTP traffic and found out what the GET requests were. He then parsed the HEX strings and got the Maps’ numbers. With this, you can just download them with a HTTP browser that supports downloads.

Inspired by this, Diabo, also know as 666, posted all the links on his website as well as few simple steps:

Run Nokia Maps on your phone once before you add any maps. This will create the required folder structure on your memory card.

Download, unzip, and drop into the appropriate folders on your memory card. On my Nokia the folder structure is cities with a subfolder called diskcache filled with subfolders called 0 to 9 and a to f, i.e. /cities/diskcache/0 to /cities/diskcache/f.

You can download maps for entire continents, individual countries, or individual regions within some countries. Download sizes range from one megabyte (Gibraltar) to over a gigabyte (europe or america). You’ll need a 4 GB card to fit the entire planet.

All links look like http://static.s2g.gate5.de/maploaderzip/0.0.9h/*.zip, where * is a number of two to seven digits. If a map doesn’t work properly on your phone (e.g. street names appearing at the wrong place), copy the URL into the address bar of your browser, change the URL to http://static.s2g.gate5.de/maploaderzip/0.0.8h/*.zip or http://static.s2g.gate5.de/maploaderzip/0.0.7h/*.zip, and try again.

Source: Martin Letis, Diabo

Comment and Discuss

Edit: Thanks to Diabo for the clear up on the links

Maybe you have not seen yet but we also have a web forum where you can discuss and create your own topics with the subject you want. You can discuss about applications, games, multimedia, themes and other specific things related just to Nokia N96 mobile phone.

In this forum you will have all kind of support to your Nokia phone, just tip your question and let the discussion begin.

If you are bored or if you don’t wanna talk about Nokia N96 smartphone, you can just put whatever bothers your mind in the Off-Topic sub-forum.

Register here.

You can also go directly to the forum, here.

This is the most viewed topic.

The application fetches you the latest text messages from your connected Nokia device. Naturally, the latest messages are displayed first.

A gadget for Windows Vista, Nokia Text Messenger comes in two different sizes. If you want to place the application in your Windows Sidebar, you can opt for Nokia Text Messenger in a smaller size. The sidebar gadget lets you view three text messages at a time.

If you want Nokia Text Messenger in a slightly larger size, you can have it floating freely on your desktop. In this case, text messages can be browsed in groups of five.

It should work on all Nokia devices compatible with PC Suite. Just make sure you have 6.85 or later installed.

Source: Nokia Beta Labs

Comment and Discuss here

I decided to interview a great man I admire, for developing the application that all us reviewers love, Screenshot. Antony has been in the software business for long, and is and important developer at Nokia.

Good evening Mr Antony Pranata, I am really glad that you accepted my invite. The readers and I are expecting to find out quite a lot about you and your contribution to the Symbian society.

To start, would you care to tell us what which phone was your first?

My first mobile phone was Siemens C25.

When did you acquire this mobile phone, and what was the price (comparing to the prices today)?

I bought my Siemens C25 in August 1999. At that time, I was still living in my home country, Indonesia. The price was around US $135.

What phone are you using at the moment?

I am currently using Nokia N95 8GB. Read more »