Lord of the Web

The Nseries blog has a new post answering various questions regarding the N8 and since I had raised few of these issues in my Reasons not to buy the N8 post, I thought I will go ahead and analyze the answers against the issues.

The Prodigal Fool: Can you tell us how the virtual keyboard works in Symbian 3? Does it look like the one we’re used to from Symbian 1?

Nokia: The virtual keyboard layout has changed for some parts and we have predictive/corrective text input there as well. The capacitive keyboard is also a step forward in usability. We’ve received encouraging results in user tests.

This is the major reason that I said that might make one to stay away from the N8. This is somewhat promising, but we all know what happened with the N97.

Dan @WorldOfNokia: I have a question about the camera. Was there a specific reason the lens cover was left out on the N8 when it was on a lot of previous camera phones. This would help prevent scratching.

Nokia: There are many contributing factors here:
1. The availability of new highly scratch resistant materials to protect the lens.
2. The ease of cleaning the camera cover Vs. deep set designs.
3. The increase in size of the raised camera area.
But most importantly:
4. The evolution in applications which make use of the camera e.g. Facebook applications as well as augmented reality applications. Removing the cover means these emerging applications, as well as existing applications, are more seamless in their usage flow.

A very satisfactory answer. But what about the ugly looking camera section? And why was it raised in the first place?

Envutec: For how many years do you think the battery can last?

Nokia: It is hard to say exactly. How long battery lasts depends on many variables, for example, how often you charge the battery and if you’re using it in a hot environment.

You can prolong the battery life by using the device until the battery is empty and then recharging that to full.

Other ways for you to save energy and battery life are:

- Using the conveniently located ‘lock’ key as often as possible; this shuts down the device display immediately saving energy.
- Activating the power saving profile; this optimizes the functionality and energy consumption for prolonged battery life.
- Adjust the backlighting brightness to change the update interval for e-mail and the browser
- Switch off applications when they’re not needed,
- Switch off W-LAN and Bluetooth when not being used.

Everyone knows these points. But I don’t want battery to be non user replaceable.

Thanks Nokia for answering many of the nagging question among Nokia fans. Waiting for the part 2!

Part 2 is here. Let’s analyze them as well:

Sheridan01: Is the N8 upgradeable to Symbian 4?

Nokia: We have not announced any such plans.

Ability to upgrade to Symbian ^4 is one thing I was really hoping for. This almost seems like a no. Let’s wait and see. If it turns out to be no, I will be very careful about buying the N8.

Aditya Singhvi: Just wanted to know if the N8 employs a mono speaker or stereo?

Nokia: There is a boosted D-class mono speaker for hands free. It means there’s a better audio quality and volume even with a single speaker.

Don’t know the technical aspects of what a D-class mono speaker is. “Better” - better than what? I definitely don’t believe it’s better than some of the Nokia phones with stereo speakers including the N73 - I love the speakers on the N73. The speaker on the N-gage QD ( the previous phone that I owned for long time ) was mono and loud, but that’s not quality. We have to hear to know in this case though.

More questions answered and seems like more answers are on the way as well!

While some might call the Nokia N8 as Nokia’s Swiss army knife, there are some reasons why you might have to stay away from it.

Foremost is the absence of a physical QWERTY keyboard, mainly because the virtual version on Nokia’s touch screen phones, including the N900, haven’t been upto the mark. While the N8 is the first phone to have Symbian^3 and the virtual keyboard could come out to be top class, I would say that Nokia are more likely to mess it up on the N8 as well. And if you are like me, who feels really uncomfortable while typing on a virtual on screen keyboard with no proper feedback and the keyboard taking much of the screen real estate, you should stay away from the N8. And, despite having a capacitive touch screen and multitouch support, the virtual keyboard will not have multitouch capabilities. Initially at the least.

I love the awesome stereo speakers on my N73. They are loud and the quality of the audio output is pretty impressive. The N8 will come with a single speaker, which is a big negative for someone accustomed to the awesome effect of the N73 speakers.

And there is something that I did not expect in a Nokia. The battery is not user replaceable. There are certain reasons why I have stayed away from the iPhone and this is one of them. And there is no reset button on the phone. You will have to press the power key for 8 seconds for a reset, which is lame!

There is no word on whether the N8 will be provided an upgrade to Symbian^4 which is not very far off from the phone’s release date. I don’t want to be in a position where my phone’s OS is outdated within 6 months from when it was released. This would affect developer support as well, despite having QT on board. Symbian^3 by itself doesn’t seem to be revolutionary like the Symbian^4 would (hopefully) be and a lack of an upgrade would effectively kill the phone.

The N8 has only a 680MHZ processor and despite having hardware accelerated graphics, I suspect with the paltry CPU and RAM ( 256mb) the phone will not be as zippy as modern Androids.

It also has a non standard HDMI connector, god knows why!

If you look at the images of the phone (http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/11/nokia-n8-hands-on/) you will see that the camera part looks real ugly and could actually be uncomfortable while carrying the phone in your pant pockets. And where is the len’s cover? My N73 lens owe a lot to the cover for being alive and functional to this day. Scratches to the outer glass will make it worse to look at and also might damage the camera lens as well.

While the N8 has some awesome pros and a good price, it still has some major cons. So make sure that you have analyzed the phone thoroughly and know that it is what you need before you go ahead and buy the N8. I dearly need a replacement for my N73 and the 12 mega pixel camera with wide angle optics and the price of the might might just swing me towards it. Afterall, I am a Symbian buff and this seems to be the best Symbian mobile ever.

Looking for new spectacles is an evergoing process. Evergoing because this could be due to a variety of reasons. The most common reason is that the old glasses were damaged or broken. Wearing the same eyewear with the same frame kind of gets boring and you may want a change. The power for your eyes(s) might have changed. Or you might even be looking for backup glasses.

I had always found that looking for new spectacles is arduous. Mainly because I cannot decide on the frame. I always feel that there isn’t much variety at the current opticals and would try to go to another one where the story continues. Also, the kind of frame decides the kind of lens that you can use. Say you wanted photochromatic lens. Then you cannot use certain types of frames and you would have to start all over again. And dont get me started on the cost. Just when you think that you have found your perfect eyeglasses, you get to know that it will burn a hole through your pocket.

I have found that online opticals like the one at the link above, have lots of frames to choose from and the most important thing is that they are within my budget. The range starts from $8 and its a wide range at that!

Now thats spectacular!

I had (finally!) decided to get the N900 and would have soon placed the order for it. Yesterday, came the announcement of the Nokia N8 and now am all confused. I am in need of a phone to replace my N73 and though the N8 is still some months away, the N8 has somehow made me rethink on my decision to get the N900.

The major point I think is the Symbian OS inside the N8. I have been using one Symbian device or the other for the last five years. Switching to the N900 was thinkable only because it was from Nokia. While the Symbian and Series 60 phones may not have had the “mindshare” I always found that the platform was a good enough one. Developers might have taken to the iPhone and to a lesser extent to the Android platform, but Symbian still has the highest market share and there has not been a lack of application and games for it. With Symbian becoming open source, the lost mindshare might well be gained and the N8 is the first step towards that.

While I would be the first one to say that the Symbian / Series 60 mobiles are slow and the GUI is not as intuitive as other platforms, I still love it. With recent improvements to the GUI, especially with Symbian^3, there is no reason why someone who is already satisfied with Symbian should move towards seemingly greener pasture.

Not that I am just stuck to a particular platform / manufacturer. I had tried the iPhone for a while, but never liked it a lot and could not think of it as my primary phone. Android mobiles like the G1, and recently the Nexus have all caught my attention, but despite having a good software platform, these phones ( and the iPhone included ) were not very good on hardware, the kind that I need. The Nexus one had 1GHZ processor, but only a passable camera and no flash. I dont even have to talk about the iPhone on the hardware front. It is crap!

The Carl Zeiss camera on the high end Nokia phones is a major selling point for me. The N73, with 3.2 megapixel camera, paltry by today’s standards, still continues to give good pictures. I still use it as my music device. I have never owned a camera or an mp3 player. My phone was the all in one device that I used and found to be adequate. My N73 had served me well, but with the changing times, I have to move to a better phone.

The N900 seemed like the successor to my n73. Great new platform that could match Android, awesome hardware specs and what not. The announcement of MeeGo and also upcoming Maemo 6 made me do a rethink on N900 slightly, since end of the day, the N900 is more like a protoype, which can be upgraded to Maemo 6 / MeeGo, but is not the same as a more fine tuned phone. Nevertheless, the N900 is a pretty good phone for a mobile aficionado like me and I was ready to go for it.

But the N8 announcement has left me utterly confused. With 12 megapixel camera, 720p video capture at 30fps, HDMI out, FM transmitter, capacitive screen with multi touch and most importantly Symbian, the N8 is truly my kind of phone. Being integrated with QT and all the improvements that are being made to it, the N8 interests the Developer side of me as well.

While it took me all this time ( since November 2009) to get over Nokia’s policy to not release N900 in India, I hope they will release the N8 in India. I hate it when I cannot feel and use the mobile for sometime before I go ahead and buy it. I went to over 5 mobile outlets and tried the N73 for over 4 hours (and this after a month of online research) and decided to buy it. Now, after three years, I still love it. Buying a new mobile is a big decision for me and I dont take it light. If the N8 is not release in India, no Nokia for me again.

I think my adventures with my N73 will continue for some more months though.

It was 2:30 am. I was terribly sleepy and was about to crash for the day. As has become my custom, I started checking my mailbox ( yeah I check my mail till I fall asleep.)

There was this mail from PayPal:

Dear P ayP al member,

You have a new message concerning your online security.
In order to read it, please login to your account by clicking the link below:

http://www.paypalus.com.profile.qwjh5gewg.eu.com/us/webscr/

Thank you for your co-operation.

The from, in the main mail page was PayPal and the subject was P ayP al Important Notification [ref id: VZXBV]

I have had looked at various types of phishing ( tried a few myself, and successful ones at that), but I was totally groggy and started opening Paypal on another tab. But then I noticed that the To field had many mail IDs. PayPal wouldn’t send such a mail and expose all it’s client ids to other clients. Now I was wide awake. The from was Pay Pal” and of course the link was some crap link. I realized it was a phishing attempt.

The scary part is that the website at that link looks just like Paypal login page. I logged in with a userid and password consisting of all expletives I know of and as expected the login worked and I was taken to a page asking all my credit card information and stuff.

Even though I was extremely sleepy, I think I would have never fallen for this as it had the following mistakes:

1) It did not do a bcc to the recipients
2) It said to login by clicking the link below. Once I read the word login, in my sleepy state, I opened a new tab and tried logging in to Paypal before reading rest of the mail with the link. It should have said something like read it at the link below. That would have prompted me to click the link.

If the mail was crafted a little better, I would have clicked the link and actually logged in with my Paypal account. I wouldn’t have given my credit card information, but the damage would been done already.

No more checking mails just before going to sleep!

Update: The site has now been blocked as a fraudulent site. That was quick work!