11 May 2012

My Nokia Blog

My Nokia Blog

Video: The Nokia Symphony Orchestra

Posted: 10 May 2012 04:35 PM PDT

Here’s an interesting take on the Nokia tune – the Nokia Symphony Orchestra – a symphony using the Nokia tune.

Sounds pretty great to me :)

Hello, I hereby present my new Soundtrack which is based on a Symphony Composition and Arrangement. Composing and recording this track was an amazing experience as I used the simple ‘Nokia Cellphone Ringtone’ as the focused tune while making it. You’ll get to know as you’d move on listening to the content. The Original Nokia Tune was composed by the Spanish classical guitarist and composer ‘Francisco Tárrega’. I hereby would like to dedicate this Soundtrack and Video to him being the original composer of the Nokia Tune. I hope you’d like this one. Thank U. -Sagar Siddham.

 

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Windows Phone Myths Debunked- The Truth

Posted: 10 May 2012 03:16 PM PDT

Okay guys, at the risk of being called out as a Paid Microsoft Fan-Boy; I’m gonna address the so-called “Devastating Problems in WP” that everyone has been talking about. First off I’d like to point out that some of them are just plain ridiculous, and the author obviously has never tried a WP and is practically talking out of his @$$ but whatever- these “101″ problems are mostly 2 or 3 issues stated in a  different form but I’ll do my best to answer them; I respect anyone’s decision who thinks WP isn’t for them but please don’t start any flame wars; this is supposed to be a factual post. True I like WP but If I see something wrong I will say it, there’s nothing wrong with admitting when there’s something good in a phone/OS -( even though I hate Android I still applaud the OneXs design and looks, I’m not the biggest fan of Meego but I still admit it has some killer features…)

-Also I’m not a WP professional; so I might get some of the points wrong, if I’m mistaken please rather than starting a crusade against me correct me kindly (I have a weak heart and am extremely emotional) in the comments section.

My response will be written in Bold after each statement. (most things that I say “No Idea for” are features that most users probably won’t care about-in my opinion)

Before we start some features are part of WP as it is and basically part of the package deal (if they go against your believes by all means buy an Android or N9 or 808 or whatever floats your boat) Such as:

  •  Closed OS- yes it is get over it
  • Multitasking- WP uses it’s own “App freeze” I find it’s perfectly useful and plays nice with hardware.
  • BT transfer- currently not part of WP, but it’s rumored to come soon- if not –> android/Symbian.

OS LIMITATIONS
1. No true multitasking – apps are frozen in the background. - Although this has been covered a thousand times WP does have multitasking (fetching emails in background, playing MP3); the apps frozen in the BG are a way of quickly jumping from task to task without losing battery and Ram.
2. No Divx/Xvid video codec support. Zune will convert with loss of quality. Zune conversion depends on the output you choose (also DivX/Xvid are a thing of the past- what OS in the world supports them natively?- seriously I don’t know)
3. No mass storage mode. There is Mass storage mode but it has to be tweaked- regardless this is a WP “Feature” if you can’t live without it WP sin’t for you.. move on
4. No micro-SD card support. Coming in Windows 8
5. Only support up to 16GB storage . As far as I know that’s not true- there is no storage limit; just no current phones with larger storage- if there is then keep in mind SKydrive can be used as an alternative (not a true alternative but it helps)
6. No filemanager. Directory system is totally opaque. Same point as No mass storage
7. Need Zune to transfer files. Zune will only transfer photos, videos & music. All other files need to email/upload to yourself. Once again same point as before- WP is a closed system, files can be shared through skydrive though. 
8. Your contact details are automatically uploaded to cloud service whether you like it or not. -how is this an issue?
9. Limited to 800×480 resolution. - Newer resolutions coming in Windows 8- and it’s still a higher resolution thant Symbian which is stuck in nHD
10. No wi-fi hotspot. – Yes there is, the Lumia 900 and 610 come preoloaded with it and Lumia 800 & 710 are getting an update soon 9already rolling out) other WPs (sammy/LG) have had WiFi sharing forever- Keep in mind Symbian only allows Wifi sharing through apps that are paid (and I’m yet to get it to work on my N9)
11. Cannot use any MP3 file as ringtone except those with strict constraints. true- but there are multiple apps that allow you to set custom ringtones
12. Cannot set static IP address so no connection to ad-hoc networks. No idea
13. No VPN support for this "corporate enterprise" phone. No idea
14. Cannot sync with Outlook. Outlook is synced with your live account which is constantly synced with your phone (wasn’t this considered a problem in number 8?)
15. Totally closed OS, cannot sideload apps outside MS Marketplace. How many times are we gonna cover the same point? and there are legal ways to sideload apps
16. System font size cannot be changed. Seriously? it’s a hell lot nicer than Nokia Sans
17. Images and photos cannot be renamed in the phone. Not sure- but it’s not the end of the world and def. no where near a “devestating Problem”
18. Windows Live ID account cannot change country once set. that’s  to figure out which version of the marketplace you get- legal obligations or something
19. No centralized notification page. Who else has that other than Meego? Your tile page acts as a notification page – each respective tile shows respective alerts (phone = missed calls, Messaging = Messages & Chat.. etc.)
20. Alarm clock cannot work when phone is turned off. All Nokia Symbian and Meego phones can do this. I agree here- this is a needed feature
21. The idle screen is completely blank and cannot display time or notifications. One of my beefs with the Lumias, hopefully will be changed in Win 8- but still it’s not considered devastating, just tap the lock screen and it’ll pop up
22. Only photos allowed as email attachments, documents not allowed. - I’m pretty sure that’s not true.
23. Bluetooth cannot stream to car audio devices (no rSAP). Yes it can- i hook my Lumia up to my car daily- and it even automatically plays music once it’s conencted
24. Cannot stream audio from video to Bluetooth devices (No A2DP). Haven’t tried it
25. No support for full on-device encryption required for secure applications like mobile banking and online payment. Yes there is, the Lumia 610 with NFC is a mastercard approved payment device
26. Cannot use Bluetooth keyboard. No idea
27. Cannot silence ringtone or alarm by flipping the phone. A missed feature, hopefully to come (it was one of the thigns we discussed at MWC with the Lumia device team)
28. Very limited customization option. What does that even mean? Tiles look nice unlike the default Symbian theme (until Anna came along with squircles)
29. Ugly 2D flat interface. Oversized fonts for headings treat you like an idiot. The author of the article is obviously unbiased. 

USABILITY ISSUES
30. No always visible status bar for battery life, signal strength, carrier, 2G/3G wi-fi, Bluetooth on. bar is easily accessible by tapping the top of the screen anywhere
31. Taskmanager has no option to shut down apps you don't want running in the background. No need as it doesn’t waste any battery or Ram- if you’re going to rant show some consistency- this is a direct contradiction of #1
32. Search and Back button cannot be de-activated in apps or games and easily touched by accident which interrupt your user experience. Not all WP have capactive buttons (710 & 610 have hardware buttons)
33. Lockscreen need to be activated to show missed call/sms notification. how is this different than #21?
34. No way to close an app except pressing back button all the way to the first screen. Apps can be closed by pressing the windows button- and they dont need to be closed since freezing them doesn’t use any battery or Ram
35. Tiny fonts in messages is very hard to read for those over 45. Nice you scientifically found the age where WP becomes garbage..aslo WP supports reading all messages out loud
36. Cannot edit playlist or create new playlists from phone. This is true
37. Cannot delete a song from phone. Actually you can
38. Cannot search your music collection on the phone. Yes you can. 
39. Cannot close music player, can only pause. Music player on lockscreen will stay until you reboot. Why is this an issue? 
40. No progress bar for current track playing and no indication which track in an album is playing Obvious proof that author ahs never used a WP- of course theres a progress bar and Album name
41. Cannot lock screen orientation. Wp (like Meego) is mostly used in Portrait orientation- no need to lock as only games and some apps use landscape
42. Online and phone contacts are mixed together with no ability to filter. Settings- Contacts Filter.
43. Cumbersome dialing with no smartdial. No way to create a 'Favourites' list of phone contacts Favorites lists are known as groups, and Symbian is the only OS with smart dial
44. Cannot save draft sms messages. True
45. Call history only show phone number type. If a contact has multiple phone nos. for a type the number used is unknown. Not true- contacts can have as many numbers as you like and they all show as the contacts name
46. Cannot recognize phone numbers in sms or email to save or use as calling number. Also incorrect. 
47. Text messages can only be deleted one by one. No full threads of texts can be deleted
48. Cannot select multiple pictures for deleting, sending or uploading. They must be done one at a time. This is true, hopefully theres a fix coming soon
49. Notification for recurring events is only given once and none thereafter. Incorrect
50. Apps are listed alphabetically with no way to group by category. Can be hard to find if you don't remember the name. games are automatically grouped together- and how is alphabetic organization a problem? I
51. Calendar scheduler has no weekly view and monthly view is non-zoomable. Yes it does
52. No peak/off-peak scheduling for email downloads. You can choose the push notifications for instant or a custom interval time- no idea what Peak/no peak means. 
53. If both wi-fi and data connection are available which one it chooses to use is unpredictable. User experiences don't agree with Microsoft that it "typically" choose wi-fi over 3G. From what I’ve seen when WiFi is available it’s always used. (try active connection to check) 

FEATURE LIMITATIONS
54. No video call. Supports skype video calls, and normal video calls coming soon
55. No haptic feedback for keyboard. Theres a noise feedback on Lumias, but I’m pretty sure other WPs have haptic feedback
56. No Swype. No need, WP keyboard is effin brilliant 
57. No flashplayer support. True
58. No support for Java apps. Java apps are probably the lowest quality apps in the world in my experience- thank god they’re not supported
59. No call recording or app to do it. yes there is
60. No call blocking or app to do it. I believe there is , but I’m not sure
61. No screenshots or app to do it. Yes there is- but requires unlock
62. No auto wallpaper changer and no app to do it. what OS in the world has that??????????
63. Totally locked down os means apps which interact directly with hardware not allowed. Once again just repeating points
64. No equalizer for Zune music player. Only On Lumias- other OEMs have equalizers 
65. FM radio doesn't work on speaker. Pretty sure it does (but not 100%)
66. IE browser has no text reflow, no download capability and no offline reading. All incorrect
67. No 3rd party browsers allowed except those based on IE. Doesn’t matter IE on WP is brilliant- no need for anything else
68. No built-in pdf file reader, need to buy app. Adobe reader is free and works beautifully.
69. Cannot open zip or rar files received as email attachment. Haven’t tried it

70. Cannot send or receive video by MMS. Haven’t tried it
71. Office Mobile has much less features than 3rd party Office editors like SmartOffice, QuickOffice and Polaris. Shame on you, Microsoft! ridiculous- office mobile is awesome
72. No native Google maps and Bing maps is useless for most countries outside U.S. Actually Bing maps is pretty decent, ans Lumia phones have Nokia maps which trumps any other map system
73. Email time stamp does not show the year. OH NO!!!!!! How will I find the attachment of the constitution 
74. Wide difference in apps availability in different markets and users locked to one market. As is the same with every single other Marketplace in the world (including symbian and meego) 
75. Not all Bing features available outside U.S. Can’t be sure but Bing features work fine in Jordan/MEA & Gulf)

DUMB AND DUMBER
76. One volume control for all functions including media playback, ringtones, alarms, notifications. Notifications have a separate Volume than media/games- but partially true 
77. Wi-fi disconnects when screen sleeps. Too bad if you are in the middle of a download. True, this is probably the only feature on the list that is a major issue for some, (although Push notifications wills till work while locked)
78. If you receive a text message when talking on the phone an audio alert will blast your ear at the full volume set. All other phones will give a soft beep. No idea where you got this from, you get a nice littel *teet teet* to notify you
79. Can only enter one mobile phone no. for each contact. Mobile nos. entered in other fields will not accept sms. Nonsense- all my contacts ahve multiple emails, Numbers, and live Ids
80. Cannot send/receive MMS without enabling 3G data connection. MMS does not use 3G data. Haven’t tried it
81. Phone cannot be charged when off. Seriously?? At this point I think he was running out of points- please explain how you would charge your phone if the battery died? or do you go buy a new one everytime?
82. Need to be plugged in to wall charger to sync wirelessly (a funny definition of wireless). At the same time if it synced in the night and drained your battery this would be considered a bad thing- the point of this is to make sure that battery life isn’t wasted so your ready to go in the morning- point of WIRELESS sync is that you dont have to bother connecting to the PC to get it done. 
83. Volume up/down buttons cannot operate when screen is off. Uhmmmm yes they can
84. Phone will wake up and display sms content on lockscreen when locked – a privacy violation. No it won’t it will only notify you of an SMS but to fully view it you ahve to enter pass code
85. Phone can be rebooted without unlocking to bypass security lock. BS- pass-code required on reboot

FEATURES EVEN DUMB PHONES HAVE BUT WP7.5 DOESN'T
86. No bluetooth file transfer. Supposed to come soon- once again if that’s a major thing for you get an android or an 808 with my full blessings
87. Cannot handle USSD codes necessary for prepaid users to obtain services. No idea what that is
88. Cannot save new contacts from call history. Yes you can
89. Cannot sms contacts from call history. Yes you can
90. Cannot show call duration in call history. True
91. Cannot delete individual calls in call history. Long press- Delete item
92. Call history does not group calls by contact. Uhmmm how is that bad?? if it didn’t tell you how many times a contact called you would be calling it another “devastating flaw”
93. Call history does not show the time of call for calls older than current day. Yes it does
94. Cannot set custom sounds for different types of notifications.  True- a feature I sorely miss (wish I could differentiate SMS notification from Whatsapp or IM)
95. No ringer profiles. True
96. No silent option (no vibrate and no ring). FALSE, you can quickly switch to silent by tapping the vibrate icon (pops up when pressing volume button)
97. Cannot send/receive contact as a csv file. Haven’t tried it- but a workaround is syncing the contacts through email
98. Cannot backup sms to PC. True
99. Cannot save contact to SIM card. Not sure
100. Cannot change alarm ring tone or use a MP3 file. Not sure- but probably true
101. Cannot set alarm snooze interval. Yes you can

As mentioned if there’s something wrong please point it out (I’m sleepy and have loads of studying so I’ll get back to you in the morning)- or if there’s something you would like proof of or to double check just ask.

Cheers, Ali

Delusional list here

KONKA The Android Running Nokia You Never Wished for

Posted: 10 May 2012 01:06 PM PDT

Ok, So technically not true, alot of people out there might want an Android Nokia- But let’s be clear; this isn’t the one you want to buy; With a name Like KONKA (ditch the “I” from Nokia and scramble the letters) that uses the same Nokia font you can’t go wrong right?

As is usual with these Konka-Offs they’re pretty Ballsy, the phone above is a direct copy of the Lumia-900 crossed with the Sony Xperia S (which in itself isn’t too far away from the N9/Lumia form factor).  At least the Chinese still think Nokia is worth copying; which is always flaterring right?

Engadget; 2

Nokia Marketplace instead of WP Marketplace seen again

Posted: 10 May 2012 08:42 AM PDT

 

Back in April, we saw a video that showed a Nokia Lumia with a Nokia logo for Marketplace.

http://mynokiablog.com/2012/04/02/nokia-store-instead-of-marketplace-for-lumia-in-nokia-lumia-video/

This was later re-mentioned as something that will come (and not simply a simulated screen error).

http://mynokiablog.com/2012/05/07/rumours-bluetooth-file-sharing-for-lumia-lumia-marketplace-renamed-as-nokia-marketplace/

Now TheVerge confirms that this is indeed the case, spotting another Nokia marketplace on a Nokia Lumia 900.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/5/10/3011492/nokia-windows-phone-marketplace-branding-lumia-900

This tile works the same way, updating you with the number of app updates available.

Tom Warren reiterates that this was part of the original plan – to have a Nokia specific store in the WP Marketplace infrastructure.

Don’t worry. This won’t technically cause fragmentation. All apps can still work on any WP, it’s just that Nokia are working to bring exclusives for Lumia users, and those apps will show up only at Nokia marketplaces. There is already a section in marketplace for each manufacturer (e.g. Nokia Collections) but this would make it more prominent that this is about Nokia. With Nokia the only manufacturer really putting an effort into WP, why the heck not. Lumia is synonymous first with tiles and Metro now.

Also of interest is how this gives a bit more strength behind the rumour of BT file sharing for Lumia, one of the many features our readers have mentioned the Lumia needs to get from previous Nokias.

Source: theverge.com

Cheers Prashant for the tip!

Nokia Lumia 900 and Lumia 610 coming to Australia

Posted: 10 May 2012 03:28 AM PDT

Got an email this morning from Nokia, letting me know they are having a media event next Thursday (17th May) to introduce the Lumia 900 and Lumia 610 to the Australian market. If my uni schedule lets me, I will be going and hopefully get a hands-on with both these devices. Not really a shock that these have been announced, especially as the 808 PureView is said to not be coming, in order for Nokia Australia to focus on the Lumia line-up. I wonder if we will get the ROW version, or a 4G version, now that the largest operator offers 4G (although the frequency is different to the US LTE).

I will ask about WP8 and the Apollo upgrade path, as well as try and get some info about the choice of not bringing the 808 downunder, as well about the rumours floating around regarding discontinuing the N9

Got any other questions? Let me know

Michael

Lumiappdates: Portals 2D with new levels to download + level editor

Posted: 10 May 2012 02:00 AM PDT

I don’t normally write posts about WP app updates (there’d be too many) but this is one I wanted to share because it makes the game more usable (again).

Actually I missed the 1.3 update (I may have blindly clicked update as it’s too easy to update stuff).

http://mynokiablog.com/2012/03/12/lumiappaday-118-portals-2d-demoed-on-the-nokia-lumia-800/

I loved the game ‘Portals 2D’ but the game ended a little too quickly for me. Fortunately from 1.3 onwards, you can create your own levels and download some more online from other users. What’s cool is that even on the online levels, you can still see a mini animated demo of the level, which wil start instantly when you tap it (no downloading? :S).

Ah, pretty much endless supply of levels means I can always use this as an occasional time waster. (So many times portals 2D has helped me kill time waiting for things, appointments, delayed trains etc :p)

Update 1.4: Minor fixes; screen should not go black after restarting some levels, playing your own levels does not count toward its popularity, author name shown above level name. Also a server-side fix stopping levels from appearing multiple times.

Update 1.3: Sorry for the slow update, I’ve been busy with University. This release has a Level Editor and online directory of levels, fixed portal bug, a few animation / sound fixes, small performance optimisations. Hopefully coming soon: Resizable custom levels, ability to pre-place portals in levels, more details about plays/completes/dificulty of custom levels, ability to search custom levels by ID, save custom levels locally and share level files with friends.

To update, just go to marketplace (Live Tile tells you how many updates you have available) Scroll to Portals 2D or update all of them.

MNBIMG_7079 MNBIMG_7080 MNBIMG_7082 MNBIMG_7083 MNBIMG_7084


808 Pureview Launching In Lebanon Today?

Posted: 10 May 2012 01:28 AM PDT

I’m not sure exactly what this tweet means but I take it to mean that the 808 is launching in Lebanon Today; earlier Jay posted that the 808 is up for pre-order in the UAE. After which the following tweet popped up in my twitter feed:

Nokia Lebanon ‏ @NokiaLebanon

Something BIG is launching tonight :)  http://nokia.ly/JhzcRf#NokiaPureView#Lebanon

With a link to the pureviews MEA page (there was never any doubt that the 808 was coming to the MEA & Gulf since we don’t have any Lumias here so nothing to ruin the sales). Also worth mentioning that there was a Pureview event in Lebanon a couple days back but I didn’t find any pictures or official blog about it so I didn’t think it was worth posting about. Update: Apparently this is the event that I thought had already occurred; follow it on twitter at 5 today (MEA time) with the “#NokiaPureView ” hashtag.

Twitter

Image stolen from Antoine Naaman ‏ @_Ant1_

Nokia Lumia 900 available at Phones4U UK (Free Monster Nokia Purity HD)

Posted: 10 May 2012 01:10 AM PDT

Well, what would you know – the Nokia Lumia 900 is already available in the UK.

Phones4U are offering a snazzy free Nokia Purity HD if you buy before May 31st. Pretty awesome headset to match the stormstrooper 900 or the Vader one.

Someone at NokiaInnovation said they got to play with it yesterday and instantly fell in love with it!

Here is a product page:

http://www.phones4u.co.uk/nokia/lumia-900/?intcid=sec3_lumia900_03052012

Cheers DKM for the tip!

Video: Remoter: Powered by Qt

Posted: 10 May 2012 12:40 AM PDT

A new video from Nokia Dev Forum in the Powered by Qt series, this time, ‘Remoter’.

Remoter” is a Qt-based app which lets you remotely control your computer via virtual touchpad and keyboard. It’s a clever way to control slide presentations, music, videos, browse the web, or write text without needing to be near your PC. Remoter has already exceeded 1.2 million downloads in the Nokia Store.

The app was created by Zlatko Stapić and Boris Tomaš, teaching assistants from the Faculty of Organization and Informatics (FOI) in Croatia, as a model for their students how to program an app from scratch using Qt and Qt Quick Components. They found Qt Quick Components really useful when making the UI look professional and modern.

They have now taken the learnings from their Qt development to port to other platforms including the recently released Remoter for Windows Marketplace. For more information check out:http://www.developer.nokia.com/Develop/Qt/

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Cheers NokiaDev and Dave for the tip!

Video: A Vision of London’s Future – Street artist visualizes for Nokia

Posted: 10 May 2012 12:30 AM PDT

Saw this video yesterday but it wasn’t my alloted ‘revision break’ time so I didn’t get around to posting it. Fortunately, NokiaConnects mailed a remainder about the video.

Hope you’re well! I thought I’d get in touch and let you know what we’ve been up recently here at Nokia Connects. We created a video this week that you might find interesting – it’s all about London and young people’s vision for the future of the city :-)

@EnfuseYouth help 14-19 year olds focus their ambitions and develop their skillset to start on the path to their "dream job". Last month they invited 300 young people to London South Bank Uni to take part in a debate with senior political figures on the future of London and how to tackle youth unemployment at grass roots level.

We wanted to do something cool that Enfuse could use to raise awareness of their latest challenge 'National Enthusiasm Week' (#NEWUK) – so we asked attendees what they thought London would be like in 10 years' time and filmed a street artist interpreting their vision. This is what came back…

 

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