I helped my mum to get herself a 5800 2 days ago and she let me use it for a few days to test and to help her set up the phone (so that she doesnt need to go thru the hassle)

Well after 2 days of using the 5800 XPM, I have to say that I love and hate it at the same time.

LOVE:

- The high resolution screen: It’s one of the best screens I’ve seen so far for video playback and I have been watching my movies and podcasts with it whenever I have the time.
- The haptic feedback: The little vibration never fails. I feel it everytime I press a key on the screen… now touching the buttons or typing on the keyboard does not feel like touching dead glass anymore.
- The keyguard switch: I just love to lock and unlock the phone now as the switch is placed at the spot where my thumb is and it’s super convenient unlike my N96, the keylock switch is at the top of the phone.
- The media bar: It’s the shortcut to all my media! Photos, videos, music, web, share online… Thanks Nokia for adding this feature.. hehe.

HATE:

- Video recording: I have never seen a DVD-like video recording as grainy/noisy as this one! Seriously.. The videos will only look good if they are recorded under bright sunlight.. and bright sunlight only…. anything other than that you will notice graininiess in the video.
- Mark several: Do you know that in order to mark several photos/contacts in the gallery you have to go thru this? > (options > mark/mark all > mark > click on a photo > go back to options > mark/mark all > mark > click on another photo… ok I think you know what I mean by now)

More soon!

Have you got your 5800 yet? I know I havent. Cos it will only launch here on 9th January.

Even though it is still not out for most countries, Nokia has already released a firmware update(v11.0.08) to fix quite a number of bugs in the current version.

Changelog from s60inside

• Homepage is not defined for Vodafone Live!
• Last word disappears when selecting receiver in SMS
• My Nokia: phone displays “#” in front of Application name.
• During Back-Up & Restore operation, calendar entries are not restored
• Operator menu link within Welcome application
• Invalid message pops up before playing the file received via Bluetooth.
• Input Method, VKB just display number when selecting a WLAN access point which contains a password.
• Chinese box HWR control buttons and FS HWR control bar are too small.
• Unable to add image to Contact bar from Gallery when there is about 5 GB of data in memory card
• In Arabic UI, in calendar, the arrows on the top are reversed in week view and day view
• UI-rotation is too sensitive
• Search: Google search service is missing in Search.
• Contact could not display when switch numbers in Singtel 2-in-1 SIM card
• Maps: Wrong layout of the strings in the Maps search and favorites views
• Could not send new email if user name and password is not pre-defined
• Phone drops from service when both A5/3 +GEA3 used simultaneously with WLAN
• The Messaging application crashes a lot specially when replying or trying to send SMS you have to remove battery to be able to use the device again
• License Manager for Maps is not integrated to SW
• 5.0 Touch: Phonebook crashing when adding detail: Birthday, Anniversary
• Web screen is messed up
• Non stop Music Player “Library update”
• Clock, Alarm is inactive when phone is power off.
• APN Configuration Settings Update to be used for the Setting Wizard
• Ex-Factory settings are wrong
• UE unable to open Setting Wizard
• StartUpSettings version updated.
• Phone lost correct time during power off
• USSD - “Call Control Send USSD” command
• UE drops from 3G, then cannot sync to 3G cells
• Browser: Flash objects causes problems while browsing

Those of you who are currently having the 5800 please go and update the firmware ok?

Omg this is madness! I don’t know about you but I think this might be the best app for Nokia touch devices so far.

Nokia Beta Labs has rolled out this awesome app called Handwriting Calculator. This app allows you to write out your calculations on the screen and it is smart enough to convert and understand your handwriting and produce the math solution at once.

Watch this video to find out how to work with this brilliant calculator.

Check out Handwriting Calculator and download it for your Nokia 5800 or N800 now!

Here are 2 videos of the N97.

Video 1: Official Demo Video

Video 2: The great Fondle Video

Nokia N97 Photos

Nokia Announcement and Specs

Hot out from the Oven!

Photos of the 2009 Nseries Flagship Touchscreen, N97.

Nokia N97 Announcement and Specs

Nokia N97 Videos

At the Nokia World event in Barcelona, Spain, Nokia today unveiled the Nokia N97. Designed for the needs of Internet-savvy consumers, the Nokia N97 combines a large 3.5″ touch display with a full QWERTY keyboard, providing an “always open” window to favorite social networking sites and Internet destinations.

Nokia’s flagship Nseries device introduces leading technology – including multiple sensors, memory, processing power and connection speeds – for people to create a personal Internet and share their “social location”. The Nokia N97 introduces the concept of “social location”. With integrated A-GPS sensors and an electronic compass, it intuitively understands where it is.

The N97 makes it easy to update social networks automatically with real-time information, giving approved friends the ability to update their “status” and share their “social location” as well as related pictures or videos. The home screen of the Nokia N97 mobile computer features the people, content and media that matter the most. Friends, social networks and news are available by simply touching the home screen. The 16:9 widescreen display (640×360 pixels) can be fully personalized with frequently updated widgets of favorite web services and social networking sites. The N97 is also perfectly suited for browsing the web, streaming Flash videos or playing games. Both the physical QWERTY and virtual touch input ensure efficiency in blogging, chatting, posting, sending texts or emailing.

The N97 supports up to 48 GB of storage, including 32 GB of on-board memory, expandable with a 16 GB microSD card for music, media and more. This is complemented by excellent music capabilities, full support for the Nokia Music Store and continuous playback time of up to 1.5 days. The N97 also has a 5-Megapixel camera with high-quality Carl Zeiss Tessar optics, 16:9 and DVD quality video capture, and support for services like Share on Ovi for immediate sharing over HSDPA and WLAN. Based on the S60 5th Edition platform, the N97 measures 117.2 x 55.3 x 15.9 mm and weighs 150 g. Available ports include TV Out via standard 3.5 mm audio jack.

The phone provides access to world-class game titles with its N-Gage support. The BL-4C (1500 mAh) battery provides about 400 hours of standby time, 320-400 (3G/GSM) hours of talk time, 4.5 hours of video playback and over 37 hours of audio playback. The Nokia N97 is expected to begin shipping in the first half of 2009 at an estimated retail price of EUR 550 before taxes or subsidies.

Source

Nokia N97 Photos

Nokia N97 Videos

I have the sudden urge to write a post to recap the launch of the 5800 XPM launch that took place in Hongkong recently.

Here goes.

On 24th November 2008, Nokia held a launch event featuring 3 famous HK celebrities, William Chan, Lam Fung and Charlene from Twins.

Here are 2 videos taken at the event.

General video covering the performances, the model and the phone.

Cantonese narrated video report done by Scoop TVB.

Some close up photos of the 5800 at the launch.

On 29th November 2008, a Nokia 5800 parade cum celebration was held at night in conjunction with the 5800 going on sale when the clock strikes midnight. Below are some photos.

At midnight, everyone was already queueing to buy the 5800 at phone shops.

This is CRAZY! (All photos above supplied by Keith.)

On 30th November 2008, someone who was at the midnight event bought the 5800 and posted photos of his experience and unboxing process on the net. Check out the photos below.

“Its 11:54pm. I m waiting 4 my 5800 to come^^”

“Yeah! Got You!”

“5800 and accessories in the package”

Thanks hidetoshi for sharing his experience.

So there you go! Super Coverage Post: Nokia 5800 Launch in HK.

I found 2 somewhat related videos on Youtube.

Video 1: Taiwan students doing dragonball performance at the recent Nokia 5800 Xpressmusic event held at their university.

Video 2: An unboxing video of the Nokia 5800….

It’s not in English.. but who cares right? Hahahaha

Yes, in HongKong, that is! The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic touchscreen phone will be available on sale in HongKong market starting tonight midnight!

If you are in Hongkong, you can purchase the phone at HK$3980.

Here are some press photos of the launch event help recently, featuring artists like Ah Sa from Twins, Lam Fung and William Chan.

Thanks to my buddy Keith for providing these information to me.

Found these video reviews by Mobile Burn and thought I should share with those that have not seen them.

Here you go. Enjoy the videos.

Design and Standby Screen

Messaging and Text Input

Menus and Web Browsing

Camera, Music and Apps

Source

When Nokia announced that the 5800 XPM will come with a 3.2megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, I was stunned… cos originally, I didn’t expect it to come with an Nseries level camera.

Anyways, when I got to preview the 5800 back in September, I tried taking some photos using the camera and I have to say, even with its very early firmware, it could take very good shots.

At 3.2megapixels, the 5800 can take photos up to 2048*1536pixels in resolution. That’s big enough I think (although it’s better if it’s a 5 megapixel camera but that also mean the price will increase).

Now let’s have  a look at 2 photos shot using the 5800.

A macro shot taken indoors. (Click here for a larger version)

Some of you might be worried that the photos do not look good.. but with some editing, a good photo will eventually become a great photo.

Edited brightness, contrast and blurred the sides of the photo a little. Now isn’t that a great photo taken using the 5800 XpressMusic?

Now this is an outdoor shot. (Click here for larger version)

Bear in mind that the original photo looks great… but you can always make it look better with some editing.

Looks great? Haha… added saturation, increased levels and added a little sharpness.

Now does the 5800 take good shots?.. or great shots?

Hi all,

Firstly, I’d like to thank Nokia for inviting me for a special preview of their upcoming device, the 5800 XpressMusic touchscreen phone.

According to Nokia, the target audience for this phone is the mid range market and youths. The price is 279 Euro before tax.

As usual, there has to be a photo of me holding the device. ahah

The 5800 will feature a screen with resolution 640*360px. It’s is also called the nHD screen because it is basically 1/9th of a HD screen. Let me show you a diagram I drew prior to this post.

The 5800 will be the first S60 touchscreen phone from Nokia and it will also be the most advanced XpressMusic device in it’s category.

Some of the features of the 5800 includes the new S60 5th edition and the latest version of the Symbian OS, 3.2mpx Carl Zeiss Optics camera, 30fps DVD-like video recording, dual LED flash and GPS.

Connectivity wise, it supports 3G, Wifi, Bluetooth and USB.

3.2inch wide screen… dual speakers

The top part of the phone spots an on/off button, 3.5mm headphone jack and a micro USB port.

The phone will come in 3 XpressMusic colours… yes you’ve guessed it. haha… red, blue and grey.

As you can see, the right side of the phone places the camera shutter button, touchscreen slider lock and the volume/zoom keys.

2 new innovations I like about the 5800.

- Haptic feedback: It feels very different from the other touchscreens I’ve tried. This one doesn’t feel like vibration. It feels more like erm… a 0.5mm nudge.. which feels a lot more solid than the rest. (Edit: The haptic felt like a general one.. not specifically at the spot you touch)

- Touch media bar key: Can you see the bright little logo next to the word “XpressMusic” above the screen? Thats the touch sensitive key. Once touched, the quick access media bar will appear.. (the red vertical bar in the photo) and gives access to Music, Photos, Share Online, Videos and Internet.

I’m sure by now you would have noticed the 4 little photos on the main screen.</