Nokia N96 game review: Freeflight

Name of game: Freeflight

Version: Not listed (latest is v1.01)

Description: FREEFLIGHT brings the fun and the emotion of flight simulation to a J2ME mobile phone like Nokia N96, capable of 3D rendering (JSR-184).

Advantages: Freeware, Four aircraft, lessons, pretty basic, and for fun only.

Disadvantages: No goal in the game.

Ratings:

Features: 8/10 (Four aircraft, four lessons, but no goal in the game)

Controls: 8/10 (Easy to follow lessons that teach control manoeuvring. No complex actions for aircraft enthusiasts)

Price: 10/10 (Free)

Final rating: 8.7/10 – Easy and fun game for Nokia N96 devices, which is free. Unfortunately it is not complex, does not have a goal or complex missions/targets. Very recommended.

Download it at GetJar

Would you recommend this game? Do you have others that are of the same genre?  Want to know a bit more about games before you buy Nokia N96? Comment here, or at the games forum!

Nokia N96 app review: GCalSync

Name of application: GCalSync

Version: Not listed (latest is v1.1.1) Works pretty well on Nokia N96.

Description: S60 application that synchronizes your Google Calendar with your S60 phone calendar entries.

Advantages: Easy straight-forward sync only.

Disadvantages: Slightly buggy, according to known issues at official website.

Ratings:

Features: 8/10 (Sync only, in few phones it duplicates entries or doesn’t upload entries)

Ease-of-use: 10/10 (Self-explanatory options)

Source code availability: 10/10 (Source code available at Subversion repository in Sourceforge)

Price: 10/10 (Free)

Final rating: 9.5/10 – Straight-forward application of which the use is pretty simple, and to which anyone can contribute. Extremely recommended for Nokia N96 smarthphone.

Download it at GCALSYNC

Would you recommend this application? Do you have others that do the same job?  Do you want to know more about applications before buying Nokia N96? Comment here, or at the applications forum!

Nokia N96 app: Conversation

This application comes fresh out of the Nokia Beta Labs. It is still in public beta, even though this is not the first release. We haven’t reviewed it, maybe you want do it? Remember that this is a blog for all Nokia N96 users!

Conversation transforms SMS into a sort of IM conversation, which is very useful in countries where SMS is cheap or even free. The app appears in a tab in the built-in Contact app, or you can set a shortcut to it, or even place it in active standby on your Nokia n96.

It is still untested on the N96, but let us know if it works, it should, according to Nokia. (Blame them if something happens).

Take notice of these:

Installation instructions: First, do a reboot for your terminals, it is recommended to use latest PC suite to do a Content Backup for your terminal and then reset your terminal to original factory settings using Menu Settings. Second, install the Conversation application.

Known issue: In SW release 4.xx of Navigator 6210 model, Conversation can’t be integrated to the phonebook. As a result, you won’t see Conversation appear as an extra phonebook tab after successful installation. But it should work fine in SW release 3.xx of the Navigator 6210. This could also apply to some SW releases of other S60 3.2 devices.

Download here

Nokia N96 application review: Joikuspot Light

Name of application: Joikuspot Light

Version: Not listed (latest is v2.1)

Description: Mobile software solution that turns mobile phones instantly to WLAN (Wi-Fi) HotSpots.

Advantages: Any device that has WLAN will be able to have Internet connection as long as your S60 phone has Internet access and WLAN. Nokia N96 is one of those devices.

Disadvantages: Only HTTP(S) support on Light version. Premium version costs 15€

Ratings:

Features: 10/10 (Encryption included)

Ease-of-use: 10/10 (One-step actions, full log data)

Source code availability: 5/10 (Only Premium version is customizable)

Price: 10/10 (Free, unless you wish to have the Premium package)

Final rating: 8.8/10 – Award-winning developers that update the application as needed. Very recommended for your Nokia N96 mobile phone.

Download it at JoikuSpot

Would you recommend this application? Do you have others that do the same job?  Want to know more about apps before you get Nokia N96?Comment here, or at the applications forum!

Nokia N96 application review: Wavelog 2.01

Name of application: Wavelog

Version: 2.01

Description: Blogging client application for mobile phones

Advantages: Full blogging client on the move

Disadvantages: Poor User Interface

Ratings:

Features: 10/10

Usability: 8/10 (contains almost every function in a blogging platform, the latest version includes geo-tagging)

Ease-of-use: 5/10 (user manual needs to be consulted, User Interface not very intuitive)

Source code availability: 0/10 (No tools for the developer)

Price: 9/10 (Cheap, but not free)

Final rating: 6.4/10 – Recommended, no other application allows such functionalities

Download it at Telewaving

Would you recommend this application? Do you have others that do the same job? Comment here, or at the applications forum!

Make your N96 look like an iPhone

Most of N96 users are iPhone haters, and vice-versa. However, if you are not part of these, and wish to try something new, or you’re just a fan of iPhone’s excellent user interface, give this a shot!

MyPhone was developed by MMMOOO, and instead of being just a theme, skin, flash app, it’s actually a native S60 application. Follow this link for more information.

Here are the features:

• 1. [new] Real worldwide weather on hand
• 2. [new] RSS reader inside the app, accessing feeds even more friendly & easy
• 3. [new] Improved MyApp section, support 3rd part apps and bookmarks
• 4. [new] Improved make call interface
• 5. [new] Improved Sliding effect of menu
• 6. Fully emulates i-Phone UI
• 7. Rearrange every single icon as your will
• 8. Fully functional, all operations can be done via MyPhone
• 9. You can switch i-Phone UI into S60 UI and the other way round seamlessly.

And here is the video:

[via The N82 Blog]

How to update Nokia N96 software?

For those that aren’t aware of how to update the Nokia N96 firmware/software, Mark Guim has posted a vlog post on how to do it via the OTA (over-the-air) method. This method saves 97% of the size of the update, saving you money and time, as jonbaker explained in a forum post.

The latest version is v12.0.43, different from the v12.0.35 available from an “illegal” update. If it isn’t available for you, consider changing the product code, and if you don’t know how to, follow the guide how to change product codes, and choose from which Nokia N96 product codes you will use to update.

What to try if you have a strange problem with the N96

N96 user, jonbaker to the rescue, posted from the forum:

In most cases the following should fix any issues you are having with the N96. Firstly you must get the latest firmware, if the firmware isn’t available for your product code then change it using the guide on this forum (this will invalidate the Nokia warranty though)

If you have the latest firmware then try this:

1. Format mass memory (back up your files first because you will lose them)

2. Format the phone memory (hard reset) again backup your files

3. If the above didn’t fix it, re-install the firmware.

4. Still no fix? Take it back, it is knackered!… probably

From personal experience a mass memory format sorted out my phones problem of not refreshing the music library and not being able to delete music. My wife’s phone wouldn’t light up most of the time and the formatting wouldn’t fix that so we went with option 4 and got a new one, problem solved!

If you have any doubts or questions, feel free to ask jonbaker or any other of the forum members.

Cool Nokia N96 theme: Black Candy

These cool 3D abstract Nokia N96 themes that you can see below can be downloaded here. They are available in green, pink, and gold colours.

What theme do you use?

[via Nokia fanboy]

Nokia N96 will come with music

Pocket-lint reports that UK consumers will be able to purchase the Nokia N96 as part of the Comes with Music campaign.

The service is already enabled on the 5310 XpressMusic, and should come this Christmas to the N96 as well, a sign that you won’t go wrong if you buy a N96 instead of waiting for the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic or recently-announced Nokia N97.

So, how does a full-year of 16GB+ of free music sound to you?

[via UnwiredView]