Posts Tagged: N95

Nokia’s Updater

Posted by & filed under moleskine to mobile, tech + web dev.

Nokia N800

One of the things that I love about Nokia’s Nseries line of phones is that they are mini-computers with a phone, camera, and internet connection. On top of all of that, one can update the firmware / software of the mobile device just like one can update their computer’s firmware or software.
Does your mobile start to get a little slow after a while or have blips & burps or freeze or crash? Well, if it is a Nokia, you can download the Nokia Updater to your PC, plug your mobile into the data cable and then into the computer, back it up, and then Update. Couldn’t be simpler, right?
Well, if you are me, an ardent Nokia fan, but also an owner of 2 Mac computers (15″ MacBook Pro & a 12″ PowerBook G4), you have a wee bit of a problem when it comes time to update one’s phone or internet tablet… it is called… how to borrow a PC… Trust me, do not, DO NOT, whatever you do, think you can run Nokia’s Updater from the Windows install of Parallels on your MacBook Pro. JUST SAY NO. I have a lovely little N80 brick that no amount of the Kings Men or repair people will put back together again…
Now every time an update is announced for the N95 or N800 tablet, I am VERY VERY VERY reluctant to even think about updating, even though both need it. I call my brother, ask if I can borrow his work PC laptop, drive over there, run the Nokia Updater application and find out if there is an update available. The N800 has had several updates since it arrived in October and the N95 (RM-159) has only had one last July, even though all the other N95’s in the world have had at least 3-5 updates since then.
My N95 is starting to sssslllllloooowwww down. It really needs a good firmware shot in the arm or in the patooty. I would love for it to focus and shoot a photo faster than its current stop, focus, focus, focus, pick nose, focus, focus, hey-look-theres-a-squirrel, focus, focus, hey! maybe I should take a photo speed. It is driving me crazy. The lower the light, the slower the focus with our friend the N95 v.1.
Mind you, my N95 is faster than my N80 was, but now that I have tasted the delights of the N82, the N95 is looking and working old & slow. Dang! It is only 6 months old and cost me a lot of $$$. Where is my update? Where is my update that I can do natively from my Mac?
A few days ago, I went and checked to see if there was an update available on the local borrowed PC for my N95. No new update. So sad.
But there was an update available for the N800 tablet. Ok, let’s update.
Updating. Updating.. Updating…
Nokia’s software tells me to turn off Tablet, disengage the cable, and reboot. Ok.
No go. No turn back on. Oh crap. Oh crap. Oh crap. Look at borrowed PC. Swear. Swear again. Crap.
Google problem. Find that there is a Mac hack to flash the firmware updates for the Nokia 770 and 800 available. So, I download it to my MacBookPro, download the last update and the newest update. Use my Mac to flash the N800 to its last update and… it turns back on… it works… it restores its data. All is well in N800 land, thanks to Mac!
Then I try to use my Mac and the flasher software to update the N800 tablet to the OS 2008 Tablet software. All is well. It works. Birds sing.
Then I use the Mac flasher to send it back to OS 2007 as a test. All is well. Take N800 tablet to borrowed PC, attempt to flash the OS 2008 tablet firmware using the PC. Bricked again. Crap. Use Mac to reflash. All is well again. Birds sing.
Moral of Story? Use a Mac. PC’s suck, esp. ones running MicroSquash. (My Dell with Ubuntu Linux is very nice. Linux gets less love from Nokia than Macs do.)
Moral of Story? Hey Nokia, increase your market share and profits by supporting Macs! Give your Mac owning fans some love. Do not accede all the market to Steve Jobs and the iPhone.
Moral of Story? I would like to see all Nseries devices get updates at least every 3 months. If I am going to spend over $500 US, I would like consistent support for at least 2 years.
Moral of Story? I want a Nokia Updater that works with my Nseries mobile device natively on my Mac.

Nokia N95 versus the N82 – Any Questions?

Posted by & filed under art + photography, moleskine to mobile.

Irish Brothers - Nokia N95 Irish Brothers - Nokia N82
Photos of the Irish Brothers taken on Thurs., Dec. 27, 2007 at Alex’s Bar in Long Beach, Calif.

The true test of any camera is shooting movement indoors at night in low light situations with no flash. The ultra true test of any camera is shooting a band at Alex’s Bar in Long Beach, Calif, as there are no windows, the interior lights are low, the walls are all painted dark red, and there is no stage lighting whatsoever unless the band brings their own. Shooting live band photos at Alex’s is a huge challenge without a pro-sumer SLR camera with external clip-on flash, but extra flash is a no-no in rock photography as it distracts the band, and at many concert venues will get one kicked out of the photo pit for using a flash.
Any good music photographer worth their salt learns how to push one’s camera to shoot in any nightclub or concert venue situation without a flash early in their career. I learned how at age 15 with 400 iso film and setting my f-stops and shutter speed for low light but fast movement. With the advent of digital photography in the late 1990s, this became a challenge as most early digital cameras were point & shoot for daylight at best.
One of the fun & challenging parts of mobile photography with my various Nokia camera phones has been concert photography. To see how I can capture a photo with a camera that was never designed for low light / fast movement situations. Two of my favorite concert photos I have taken in 24 years of shooting shows were two photos I took with my Nokia 7610 – one of Social Distortion’s Mike Ness and one of Mike from the Riverboat Gamblers. The fact that the little kickin’ 7610 could get those photos… rock on! Rock on!
The big disappointment of the Nokia N80 and Nokia N95 is the delay between pressing the shutter button and … and… and… and.. and.. focusing… and… and.. and… photo taken. Many times this can take up to 15-30 seconds, esp. in low light situations. How many times did I wish it would just trust me and snap, like the 7610. Stop over thinking, just do it.
The glories of the Nokia N82 is that it just takes the photo. Rarely is there a delay while it thinks, focuses, and snaps. In most situations, even at night with the flash off, it trusts that I know what I am doing and takes the photo without fuss. Without the big delay to focus and refocus and pick its nose and refocus again, like the N80 or N95 does, the N82 about 90% of the time will take the photo that you saw through the viewfinder at the time of pressing the shutter button. Yay!
In the above two photos (double click for the larger versions) I took the one on the left with my Nokia N95 with no flash and the one on the right with the trial N82 with no flash. The Irish Brothers kindly made my job easier by bringing in their own bluish halogen lights that that cast a strong upward light. In the above photos, the N95 was able to capture the two front men clearly and the background decently. The N82 blurred the Keith & Karl a bit, but captured David the drummer and the background with great clarity and lighter than the N95 did.
I also used the flash on both camera phones, of which I am not displaying the results as it was not conclusive in this case. The N95’s flash did not add much illumination or significant difference, as the dark red walls of the room and lack of light eat up any of the N95’s flash real fast. The N82’s powerful Xenon flash was actually too bright and gave both Keith and Karl glowing red eyes, as well as added some flash light bubbles to the photo. In this case it was better without the flash for both Nokia camera phones.
Using the Nokia N82 to take photos at night and at a show was a delight. This is a big step towards camera phone I have been dreaming of, except for the fact that the N82’s pre-installed Lifeblog is not interfacing with this MT4 powered blog when there is not good reason why it shouldn’t.
******
Up next in Ms. Jen’s review of the Nokia N82 – all the night and indoor photos that I have taken with the Nokia N82.

The Nokia N95 vs. the N95 8GB, Part I

Posted by & filed under moleskine to mobile.

The Nokia N95 vs. the N95 8GB, Part I
Photo of the Nokia N95 8GB and the N95 taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia 7610.

While the original Nokia N95 (aka “The Classic” or the N95-1) was released to European and Asian distribution in March of this year, I did not order mine until July of this year due to my Nokia N80’s meltdown. I have truly enjoyed and loved my N95, it is a great machine – the 5 megapixel camera, GPS, internet, and all. I have a 2 GB microSD chip in the add-on memory slot and have not filled it up as I download my photos and videos every day or two to my laptop.
When WOM World’s Donna offered to send me the Nokia N95 8GB (aka the N95-2) for a two week trial, I took her up on the offer. I had read many reviews comparing the two devices (pretty darned similar but a few tweaks – bigger screen and more memory on the #2) and wanted to try out both devices at the same time.
Two days after I returned from England, when SoCal was getting a much needed rain storm, the DHL fellow dropped of the package in front of my door step and did not knock to see if I was in. Luckily I heard him and rescued the box containing WOM World’s £500 phone before it was soaked through! I quickly evacuated the N95 8GB box from the soggy shipping box and there it was! with a Mobile Video Hat (?!?!?)*.
Over the course of the last two weeks, until shipping the N95 8GB back to the UK yesterday, I have had the opportunity to use both devices at the same time and give them a good comparison. The short version of my review is this, I wouldn’t trade in my Nokia N95 v. 1.0 for the 8GB model, as there are not enough new features to entice me and the 8GB N95 is a wee bit too big to fit comfortably in my hand.… –>

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Boogie Woogie #5 – A Great Version!

Posted by & filed under fun stuff.

Ernie was kind enough to post this great version of Boogie Woogie #5 by Puffy Ami Yumi on his Tumblrblog. I love how Puffy Ami Yumi have taken the spirit of boogie woogie and completely updated it. Very nice. And cute dancing boys. ;o)
I have two blog posts to be posted today, one on Nokia’s Nseries Urbanista Diaries and one on the photo / camera comparison that I put my “classic” N95 and the WOM World trial N95 8GB through this weekend, but before I can post either, I have to return to and finish in the PHP / PEAR salt mines by the end of the day.