I have finally got the time to do photo quality comparison among these devices.

In this ‘battle’, we will be comparing the camera samples from N97, N96 (both 5mpx) and a Sony T900 Cybershot Camera (set to shoot at 5mpx).

These tests below also mimics real world usage of the phones as cameras and find out if camera lens cover(on the N97 and T900) really makes a difference in the photo taking experience.

Here we can see the 3 contenders, (clockwise) T900, N97 and N96. Since the T900 is a proper compact camera, we will set it as a benchmark and decide if the N96 or the N97 produce photos closer to the T900 quality.

The battle consists of 5 tests: Scenery, Macro, Colour Production, Indoor Flash Portrait and Backlit Portrait. All photos below are unedited. I only resized them to 1200px wide and added captions.
Click on the thumbnails to enlarge.

Test 1: Scenery

Nokia N96	Nokia N97	T900 Cybershot

Test 2: Macro

Nokia N96	Nokia N97	T900 Cybershot

Test 3: Colour Production

Nokia N96	Nokia N97	T900 Cybershot

Test 4: Indoor Portrait with Flash

Nokia N96	Nokia N97	T900 Cybershot

Test 5: Backlit Portrait

Nokia N96	Nokia N97	T900 Cybershot

My verdict:
N96 - Lack of camera lens cover exposes the camera to handprints that can create bluriness in photos. Colour production is the worst among the three. Cannot expose dark subjects with bright background well. Quite noisy when photo taken in low light condition.
N97 - Great scenery shots. Able to bring out the colours of scenes and objects captured. Low light photos are good, but white balance might need to be fixed to produce more natural-like indoor ambiance. Noise control is very effective. Photos are more natural in daylight. Quality is very close to the T900.
T900 - Undoubtedly, produces the best photos. Very natural colours when light source is sufficient. Bad indoor shots.

What are your opinions? Share with us by leaving a comment or join the SymbianpOp community and chat by clicking on the “FB Community” button at the blue bar attached to the bottom of the browser.

Remember to share/tweet this article!

Seems like not only the N97 received new firmware.

The ex-flagship device, the N96 and also the E51 got firmware updates too.

The new version for N96 is v30.033.

Apparently the official changelog is not found anywhere but from the Nokia Software Update website, the changelog was listed quite briefly:

• Imaging - take sharper photos through improved imaging quality and autofocus accuracy
• Mail - Nokia Email service compatibility
• Other - Improvements speed up your phone through system wide speed improvements

The new firmware version for E51 is 400.34.011.

Changelog brief:

• Increased stability in Mail for Exchange
• SMS reception improvements
• Stability and usability improvements for VoIP and WLAN
• Robustness improvements when pressing the Home key.

More info at www.nokia.com/softwareupdates.

You can update the firmwares on your phones via FOTA by pressing *#0000# n then click “check for updates” or you can get it via the Nokia Software Updater. Step by step here.

After months of waiting, Pizero has finally produced another high quality theme.

As usual, this theme is made compatible for both S60v3(N96, N78, N85, E71 etc) and S60v5(5800, N97) devices.
The name is “Solstice”.

Check out these screenshots for both S60 versions.

* SOLSTICE by PiZero is compatible with all Symbian Os 3rd edition and 5th edition phones.
* Lite version included, with default icons.
* Fits both portrait and landscape modes
* Compatible with Symbian Os 3rd edition, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, and Symbian 5th edition, 9.4.
* 100% compatible with Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and N97.

Download Solstice theme for S60v3(N96, N78, N85, E71 etc) and S60v5(5800, N97) devices now!

We’ve all heard that it’s coming.

We’ve seen leaked information on whats in the v11 firmware.

Now that it’s revealed, I am dissapointed.

Check out the changelog for N97 firmware V11 below.

USB detection error fix
-PC does not detect N97 or USB charging connection not detected.

Widget
-Home screen online/offline widget crash fix
-Fix for “Alphabetical and Number input are mixed in facebook until end key is pressed.
-Widget UI improvement – New facebook widget fixes a problem of Home Screen background visible on soft-key area.
-Browser fixes to improve widgets stability.

MfE related fixes
-Partial fix for Messaging/calendar entry lost.
-Mail for exchange calendar entry synchronization error fix.

UI transition error fixes (Portrait <-> landscape transition, there is a home screen corruption.)
-UI transition (Slowness and bad effects)
-Slow Touch UI response
-Picture of the device lock appears half of the screen when transitioning the UI sometimes
-Landscape: in some cases the soft buttons on touch (right hand) show the Home Screen in background (install maps.google.com)
-Photos thumbnail performance and stability improvements
-Device performance deteriorates when lots of content in the device - especially photos
-Partial fix no display backlight illumination when unlocking lock-key – CAP Genius reported already
-New version of Accueweather to improve the “Connection error” situation
-Device reset when browsing with high speed packet access (for Malaysia)
-“Browser soft key UI doesn’t work after putting Chinese character with qwerty keyboard”
-Java fixes (TCK, Pre-install app disappearing, *#7370#*)
-Operator fixes (CMCC, Hutchson and Telefonica, Vodafone)
-Ovi store client now embedded in the core image

Where’s the kinetic scrolling? Where’s the homescreen-like left/right swipe for phonebook? Where’s the video and gallery fix? Wheres the screen lock fix?

Source

I have never thought of writing a post like this until 2 days ago when the N97 ruined one of the most memorable photo of my life.

Since I am writing about it, I might as well include a few other things on the N97 that are quite disturbing.

1. 2 of my photos were ruined by a mysterious grey bar. Check this photo below.

I was running at the Marathon event and I thought of relying on the N97 to take photos of me and my friends there. When I got home I realised 2 of the photos could not be viewed. After transferring to the PC, I notice 2 of the photos did not process correctly, resulting in a grey bar appearing across the photos.

2. The keylock is weird.

To lock the screen, I slide the keylock once. That’s fine…. but to unlock the screen, I have to slide 3 times. First time: does not do anything. Second time: Screen lights up, but the lock icon is still on. Third time: finally the screen is unlocked.

3. Photo processing/rendering on the gallery is faulty.

Photos in the gallery look good originally, but once we zoom in, the phone just increased the size of the preview image instead of rendering the photo according to the zoom level, resulting in pixelated stretched out image. (My current solution: view photos using the Photo Browser from Betalabs)

4. SMS memory changes everytime I charge the N97.

I have been charging my N97 via USB cable plugged to my computer since it now supports USB charging, but this also causes the SMS storage memory to change from Mass Memory to Phone Memory. I have to manually set it back to the original storage location everytime I unplug the cable off my computer. Irritating.

5. Favourite contacts limited to calling only.

I admit that the favourite contacts feature on the N97 is great. Once we set it up, the contacts will appear at the top of the phonebook so we can call them without the need to scroll through the list of contacts. On the other hand, after composing an SMS, pressing the green button will bring up the same phonebook for us to select the recipient. The favourite contacts are not available here, hence we have to scroll through the list again. Cant they just make this feature universal across all applications?

6. The magnetic compass is wonky.

As some of us know, the N97 has built in compass feature. Sometimes it gets activated within 5 seconds… but sometimes it takes about 15 to 20 minutes. Annoying.

7. Copy/paste shortcut is not available via the the full QWERTY keyboard

I’ve been trying to figure this out since the day I got the N97 and seems like Nokia has left out the shortcut keys to copy and paste text by just using the keyboard. Well we can definitely highlight text by holding the shift key and pressing the navipad… but then how do we copy the text that we have highlighted? The only way is to go through “options > editing options > copy” on the touchscreen interface. So dear Nokia, can we have shift+C and shift+V? Please?

These are the 7 flaws/bugs I can think of as of now. Hope the new firmware that’s coming out tomorrow will fix these problems.

Do you have any problems like these? Do share with us by leaving a comment. Thanks!

Hour Power, the app that tells time is now compatible with the s60v5 devices.

It’s a simple app that utilises the built in text-to-speech engine to tell time.

When you open the app for the first time, you will get to choose the time mode, 12h or 24h clock.

How does it work? Just press on the app shortcut to hear the time. Exactly what you need when waking up and unable to focus on an alarm clock display. English, German, French, Italian and Portuguese language are currently supported. It’s recommended to place the app shortcut on the homescreen for easy access.

Source

Do you have a Nokia N97 or N78… or whatever phones that has FM transmitter built in?

A) Yes I have but never used it
B) No and I don’t know what it is.

Which ever your answer is, here’s a guide on how to use the FM transmitter feature on the N97.

Basically, it transmits whatever audio from your phone as radiowave in a certain frequency so that other radio receivers can tune in to that particular frequency to receive the audio.

In order to get it to work, just go to FM transmitter menu on your phone and then set the frequency that you like it to transmit at, and then switch it on. It’s that simple. Now your radio will get to stream mp3s and other audio from your phone.

Check out the video I have recorded on how I use FM transmitter in my car to watch videos.

———– Below are the 5 lucky readers who won a license for the MyPhone app each.

1. Chow Yao Fong
2. Vigneswara Rao
3. Go WenJing
4. Mohd Norhisham
5. Mohammad Khair

Congratulations!

Woot! 5 lucky readers will get a license each for the MyPhone app!

What’s MyPhone? Read my previous post about it.

Now do you want one for yourself? If yes… read on. lol (Open to all S60 users… E71, N95, N85, 5800 etc etc etc)

To get yourself 1 of the 5 licenses, send me an email NOW with the following content:

Email title/subject: I want MyPhone for my phone!

Name: ________
Where are you from: ________
Phone model: ________

What is MyPhone?
________

The fastest 5 to submit the email to me at smashpop [at] gmail [dot] com with the exact email format will get a license each.

One of the reasons why every phone that I change to is a Symbian OS operated phone… is because of the “Switch” feature. If I’m not mistaken, Nokia added this feature to their S60 phones since the N95.

What’s Switch? Here’s a scenario.

You are using an S60 phone, say N95 or N82 or N78 or N96 or 5800…. and then you bought a new S60 phone… say… N86.. or N97… and you are frustrated cos you have no idea how to transfer all your data (contacts, SMS, MMS, media, etc) from your old phone to your new one.

Switch is your solution. It has been lying deep inside S60 phones for a while now and I see a lot of people are still unaware of this great feature.

To access Switch, go to Settings > Connectivity > Data Transfer > Phone Switch. (The location of Switch varies… if you don’t find it here, try looking under tools or utilities folder)

Switch allows you to transfer data like Contacts, Calendar entries, SMSes, MMSes, Notes, Bookmarks , Photos and Videos from one S60 phone to another. Usually the the transfer (via bluetooth) takes about 3 to 5 minutes only (depending on how much data you are transferring)

Here are 2 screenshots from the Switch menu on N97. How do you get Switch to work? Follow these simple steps:

1. Switch on bluetooth on both phones.
2. Select “send” or “transfer” on your old phone (should be the 3rd button on the Switch screen).
3. Select your new phone from the “bluetooth devices menu”.?
4. Click on “accept transfer” on your new phone and WALLAH!

It will then begin transferring and after a few minutes, your new phone will have every single data from your old phone! Try it!

What do you think of this feature?

How many of you here hope to have the iPhone interface experience on your Symbian devices? Yes? Yes?

How many of you want the “slide to unlock” feature on your S60 phones(especially touchscreen devices like 5800, N97 n OmniaHD)?

Well, now you can, with MyPhone.

Check out my iPho… I mean.. my Nokia N97.

MyPhone only works on S60 OS and it turns your Series 60 phones interface into an ‘i’Phone UI. You can have a smart phone enhanced with TWO user interfaces! Once installed, the first thing you see is the slide to unlock screen. Trust me.. the sliding does work… haha..

The menu will present you with iPhone like icons that gives you access to various features on your phone. You can actually customize it to show 3(or 4) icons in each row in the menu.

They guys at MMMOOO have also added some customized interface and apps in the software like the call screen, RSS reader and the sketch pad.

After using it for a few days, I think MyPhone works very well and also very stable. The sliding menu animation is very smooth… (although there might not be any flicking interface yet).. and I like the fact that we can have the 4th screen all for ourselves… which mean we can fully customize each and every icons on that screen to link to any apps we want.

Check out the video below.

Interested? SymbianpOp will be giving out 5 MyPhone licenses on 26 June 2009 for 5 lucky readers… remember to check out SymbianpOp to get yourself a full version of the MyPhone app!)

Well… not to that extend, but the guys at N97Geeks have been putting the Nokia N97 under some stress tests to see how durable it is.

Can the N97 survive screen scratch?

Can the N97 survive wash test?

Or will it still be functional after a few drop tests? Check out the videos below.

Screen Scratch Test

Pocket Test

Paintwork Scratch Test

Wash Test

Drop Test

Conclusion? Nokia N97 survived it all. It is still functional after all these critical challenges. Surprisingly, the screen is unscratchable..Nice.

What do you think?

Source

Following from my recent post on N97 camera samples and thoughts, many have been asking for some sample photos taken under low light condition. I then slowly took some shots here and there using the N97 and below are some of them.

Have a look. Click to enlarge.

This is a photo I shot in a restaurant that has yellow lighting. Taken using auto mode with no additional settings.

Outside a shopping mall… was standing on the roadside. A little handshake.

I thought I got a nice shot of these 2 buildings but then realised it was blur. Weird.

OK here are 2 shots of a very dimly lit meeting room.

Without flash. I half pressed the shutter until it turned green before taking. Came out not focused.

With flash. Again not focused even though the focus points turned green before I shot this.

Conclusion? Low light photos are not up to expectation. Focusing mechanism might have difficulty judging the focal range in low light. Hope future firmware can fix this problem.

What say you?

Just in case if you have missed your scoop on the Search for N contest held 2 weeks ago, here’s another chance for you to win the Nokia N97.

Create a widget [web version, for blog or websites.. not for N97 homescreen], submit, embed and pray hard you will be the selected 10 and win the phone.

Nokia has come out with a site that let’s us create widgets that captures data via RSS feeds, put them in the gallery along with creations by other people in the world.

There are only 4 simple ways to create a widget… that means you can quickly create hundreds of them in just a few minutes. lol

Once your widget is created, you can have the option to embed it in your blog.

Check out ONLINE AS IT HAPPENS site now!

I got an email today from N-gage with an invitation to sign up to get game trials when new games are available.

The perks of doing this? Get to play new games and of course… getting FREE N-Gage game codes.

Here’s a screenshot of the email.

Click here if you wanna sign up for game trials and get free game codes too!

Since we are on the topic, here’s my top 3 favourite N-gage games so far.

1. Reset Generation

2. Star Wars: Force Unleashed

3. Metal Gear Solid Mobile

What’s your favourite N-gage game?

At the Nokia Connection 09 event currently held at Singapore, Nokia announced the 2nd Xpressmusic touchscreen device, the 5530 and also the successor of E71, one of the best selling Eseries device, the E72.

Nokia 5530 XpressMusic toucscreen

Taking its cue from the Nokia 5800, the 5530 has a full touch interface and a new home screen and Contacts Bar. The phone is now sleeker and smaller in size. Similar to the 5800, it has a large touchscreen with tactile feedback, 3.2mpx camera with LED flash, bluetooth, Wifi and EDGE. It also runs on the same OS as the 5800 and N97, which is Symbian S60 5th Edition.

This music device comes with all the music features one needs. The 5530 comes with a music player for all the stuff you download from the Nokia Music Store; widescreen video playback at 640×360; hot-swappable MicroSD slot (4GB included); and a standard 3.5mm audio plug for your rocking headsets.

The homescreen is all about quick access. The media bar shortcut available on the 5800 is still here on the 5530, but on the Nokia 5530 XpressMusic, you can also define 4 shortcuts for the home screen (say, for Facebook or MySpace quick links). Also, one of the big additions, is the new Contact Bar that lets you have up to 20 contacts, making it easy to quickly call or send a message, review conversation history, or follow the contact’s feed. It’s like a quick dashboard on your 20 most important people. What’s more, add a pic to those contacts and your peeps are front-and-center.

Here’s a live shot of the 5530 at the current Nokia Connection 09 event at Singapore taken by Davidlian.

Now check out this hand on video of the Nokia 5530.

The Nokia 5530 XpressMusic should start shipping in the third quarter of 2009 at around €199, retail, before taxes and subsidies.

Nokia E72

The all new Nokia E72 boasts a host of new features including optical scrolling and a 5 megapixel camera. The E72 bring the most successful QWERTY device from Nokia, which was the E71 and makes it even better. It’s super slim at only 10mm thick and has been refined with some sleek design touches and inside the device is treated to a range of user interface improvements too.

The optical navigation key makes scrolling through emails a breeze and also helps bounce around the menus quickly and easily. Imagine it being the optical mouse on your computer, or rather.. the trackball on IBM laptops… or something similar. The camera has been upgraded to a full five megapixels and heavy data users will love the support for up to 10.2Mbps connections over HSDPA. It also comes with a 3.5mm headphone jack so you can plug in any headphones you like to the E72.

Nokia Messaging is pre-installed on it (with a lifetime license) and now supports access and easy set up for Instant Messaging accounts including Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk and Ovi, amongst others. Email set up is even easier than before through Nokia Messaging, Mail for Exchange and IBM Lotus Notes Traveler.

The E72 also comes with a magnetic compass, similar to the one on N97 and the 6210 Navigator. Maps is integrated and comes with a lifetime walk and 10 days of turn-by-turn navigation, if activated within the first three months. You don’t need to be worried about getting caught in the dark either - a single press on the spacebar key will activate the torch!

Here’s a live photo of the E72 from the same event by Budip

Now check out the hands on video.

The Nokia E72 is expected to begin shipping late in the third quarter of 2009 at an estimated retail price of €350 before taxes and subsidies

Source

Charles from Nokia Conversations has been touring Helsinki with the 8mpx powerhouse from Nokia and he has some high resolution photos to show us.

He also included a video recorded using the N86 for everyone’s viewing pleasure.

According to him, the N86 is just like the N85 but with tons of new tweeks including the 8 megapixel lens.

Click on the photos below to enlarge.

Now check out this video he recorded.

More here

As we all know, the facebook app was recently released for the S60v5 platform and it comes pre-installed on the Nokia N97.

5800 XPM users may have to download it from the OVI store, its free!

Remember my post about trying out the facebook app on my 5800? Now here’s a preview of the app on the Nokia N97.

Check out the video below.

I personally love the facebook integration with the phone calendar. When we click on “attend event” in FB, the event will be inserted as an entry in the phone calendar. Cool!

What do you think?

Check out what I found on youtube…

“Don’t call it a comeback!” - LL Cool J sets the scene for the arrival of the new Nokia N97

What do you think about this ad?

Dance Fabulous, the one of a kind dance party game is finally out on N-Gage!

It’s a dancing game that lets you dance to your own songs. You can also create your own unique dance moves and boost your music experience to a totally new level!

Connect this game to the network and beat your friends’ score points!

You wont see it on the N-gage website for now, since it’s scheduled launch date is 11th June… but you can get this game now by accessing the “showroom” tab on the N-gage app on your Nokia phones. Just make sure you click on options > update now!

Here’s the official trailer for Dance Fabulous.

Check out this video too! It’s Rafe from AllAboutSymbian trying to beat my high score (spot my name Jason G at the high score chart on the left of the LCD) at the Dance Fabulous party, Monaco recently.

Check out Dance Fabulous Official Site now!

Here are some of the little features on the N97 that I like. I have actually complied a list of things that differentiates the N97 from the 5800… but today, I will be showing just 4 of them, hence this post being the 1st part.

Note that these are not obvious/notable features ya.. just something that adds up to the usability of the interface. All 4 features below have been recorded in a demo video at the end of this post.

I Like #1: Sliding Homescreen

We can actually slide the homescreen left or right to hide the widgets. It also serves as a blank screen that displays nothing but the wallpaper and time/date.

I Like #2: Mark Several

Finally! The option to mark several files! 5800 users know that the ‘mark several’ feature is not available for the S60v5 platform and it’s nice to see it again on the N97. Now, a firmware update for the 5800 please?

I Like #3: Video Play Button

In certain folders we might encounter media files like photos and videos. Users might not know which one is a photo and which is a video. Nokia has actually added ‘play’ buttons on each of the video thumbnails and we can click on the button to start watching them.

I Like #4: Favourite Contacts

Now we can set anyone in our phonebook as favourite contacts! Once we have set it, these people will appear at the top of the contact list for easy access. There’s also a favourite contacts widget that we can place in the homescreen for one touch access to call and sms to that particular person.

Check out all these features in a video I recorded.