Using the Nokia N82 for casual shots is fine, but what about for some hardcore photography? Apparently there are suppliers trying to fill in the void by supplying the 2 add-ons Nokia N82 users are craving for - a 6X optical zoom lens and a tripod mount. However, even with optical lens and a tripod, it probably remains no match for a dedicated digital camera.




A camera phone was never meant to be a complete substitute for a digital camera, but with this kit the Nokia N82 is getting closer to that aim. Still, the size of the body and the inconvenience to the user will definitely put off all except the most hardcore photography lovers.

The above is a unit on eBay Malaysia going for 83 Malaysian Ringgits (or US$26); its a real shame that the seller is only shipping within Malaysia. Any readers in Malaysia willing to give this kit a try?

For those Olympics enthusiasts, keeping track of the events happening on different days is already a challenge within itself. So here's an excellent application developed by GameDreams to keep track all the events starting from the 6th of August (Football Qualifiers) to the ending ceremony on the 24th of August.


The application shows the events occuring on a specific day, followed by the location and the round that occurs on the day. The times for the events (local time) are also listed as well.

Although the UI could be slightly improved in this case of events to allow for more customisation, I'm not really complaining much as it's a free application. A slightly larger issue would be the fact that the developers did not build in a function to allow for updating of scores and results as well as upcoming schedule changes, should any occur. And with the event's times stuck to the local Beijing time, you've also got to do a tedious conversion each time before you can figure out when it's happening at your local time.

Nonetheless, it's a pretty polished app ready for use, and it's surely a must-have for those who are hardcore Olympics fans - particularly if you've got tickets to watch it live at the stadium too.

I'm not such a big fan of Nokia's automatic keylock system. The main flaw is that the automatic keylock only activates if your phone is on the standby screen; incidentally, I suppose most of us might have our screens stuck in the Music Player or perhaps the browser. Since the Nokia N82 has no media buttons, staying in the Music Player Now Playing menu is always nice as I can switch songs readily in a few clicks, but without a keylock in the music player I usually end up nudging the buttons.

Autolock can solve this dilemma by allowing the user to set the timeout period before the automatic keylock kicks in for all applications. It's very nifty and runs in the background unobstrusively while getting the job done. This app is particularly well for those who use their N82 as their Music Player as a timeout of 15 seconds is just about enough time to choose your song and shove it back in your pocket without the problem of nudging buttons when playing music.

Are you always on the move, to the extent that you don't have time to charge your beloved Nokia phone? Or are you, being the power user that you are, always depleting the batteries of your N82 / N95? Or do you simply find the short battery life on the N82 / N95 really annoying? In all these cases, there's a quick and cheap solution to this - a mobile charger for your Nokia smart phone powered by AA batteries.


Although there are many options, this one from Energizer is rather eyecatching - it's going for a retail price of HK$168 (14 Euros, GBP 11, US$22) at large electronics retail outlets around Hong Kong (Fortress, Broadway...the likes of Dixons in the UK). What makes this better than Nokia's DC-8 is that an adapter cable at the top of the unit allows one to charge virtually all phones. Included as part of the pack include an adapter cable for Samsung and Old Nokia phones; a separate pack includes cables for Sony Ericssons, LG's, and Motorolas.



It's also great for travellers and backpackers, who don't have easy access to power plugs in the midst of their adventure. All they need to do is stock up on AA battery cells which can be easily obtained in all parts of the world. And if everyone in your party uses a different brand, all you need are different adapter cables - no need for individual chargers for everyone.

Don't expect it to charge your phone as fast as it does with a normal charger connected to a power socket - it's much slower. While I can probably get a full charge on my N82 in roughly just over an hour, it takes at least twice the time using this gadget; but at least you can still charge your phone while you're backpacking.

The unit gets slightly hot while the charging takes place; no, not scalding hot, but just nice and warm on a cold winter's day. Just ensure that you're not baking the charger under the sun and everything should be fine.

It's available on Amazon for all interested readers.

Over at Phonedaily (a local site on mobile phones in Hong Kong) the editors managed to pull a few strings to get a LG Viewty (also known as the KU990 in some markets) to do some extensive testing, particularly on the camera. With both phones supporting a maximum of 5 megapixels, there's definitely room for a review, particularly in determining which smartphone can take up the position of being the King of the Camera Phones.

In addition, both phones are branded by specific lens makers - in this case, the LG Viewty has it's lens developed by famous lens makers Schneider-KREUZNACH while the Nokia N82 smarts Carl Zeiss Optics for it's camera lens (Though of course, both can't compete with the quality of lenses found in digital cameras, no matter which brand they're from).

Just in case you're wondering, the photos come from Phonedaily's review of the 2 phones; I've added my own opinions of the pictures both phones took to this review in addition to the Phonedaily review.

Nokia N82	LG Viewty KU990

The white balance for the Nokia N82 seems to set daylight pictures slightly darker (as in the first picture), taking in to account the brightness of the sky. In comparison, the KU990 leans heavily in focusing on the subject it's focused on, creating a situation where the sky is overexposed. The N82 definitely gets higher marks there for managing to preserve more data in the photo (also managing to capture a more realistic image of the subject), but on the other hand it's also slightly tedious for the user who would probably need to touch up the photos on the PC after the photo is taken.

And this is further supported by picture 3, where the N82 clearly takes a much more balanced photo as oppposed to the Viewty. The Viewty appears to overemphasise the yellow (light) colour, which overall definitely affects the balancing of photos, particularly in indoor scenarios (picture 5) and perhaps also when taking photos of others (the skin may appear to be tinted yellow, etc).

From the above sample photos, it seems that the Nokia N82 is a clear winner against the LG Viewty KU990 in terms of taking realistic photos - and so far stands unchallenged in obtaining the status of being the "King of Camera Phones" for the time being; although that should probably change in the short term when Sony Ericsson launches their brand new imaging flagship slider phone.

For more sample photos and the original PhoneDaily review, click here.

Since the announcement of the accelerometer on the N95 and the games that appeared to take advantage of the iPhone's accelerometer, I've decided to compile a list of games that works on the Nokia N82 and utilises the built-in accelerometer so more of us can be aware of the N82's full potential. Granted, not all games are free, and not all are problem-free; but here's just a preliminary list:

• Marble Maze is a labyrinth game that includes over 40 different labyrinths to solve. 3 difficulty levels are present in the game, by the means of using 3 different 'types' of balls to solve the labyrinths.
  
  
  
  It's a great idea, and definitely rivals the labyrinth game available on the iPhone - but it comes at a cost.
  
  
• 
  
  BallGame is another labyrinth game - but a free, Java version. Although it lacks the graphics muscle of Marble Maze, the very reason that it's free should be able to entice you to give it a go.
  
  
• Groove Labyrinth is the one listed on the Nokia website and has been around since the age of the Nokia 5500 (for which it was developed for). Fast forward 3 years, and here we are trying it out on the Nokia N82 - but it suffers from resolution issues because it was developed for a much smaller screen resolution in mind. Not recommended as the screen resolution problem is really hard to swallow.
  
  
• Space Invaders has just been redesigned for accelerometer supported phones, and it doesn't get any better than Accelerinvaders.
  
  
  
  It's a good way to kill off boredom in those long commutes, especially since it's free. But it might get a bit repetitive at times...
  
  
• If the above games aren't your taste, you might want to try this questing game called PandaManda. Basically, you're using your accelerometer to try and find an escape route for the main protagonist, the Panda. Despite being similar in aim to a labyrinth game, it offers a lot more; for example, collecting diamonds/coins (similar to Super Mario), defeating the panda's enemies, clearing various other obstructions, etc.
  
  
  
  A new revolutionary concept for gaming, and it's going only for 7 Euros. Dirt cheap for a game of this calibre, in my opinion.
  
  
• 
  
  PySnake is a Snake game with added accelerometer support. Although it's not the same as the 3D Snakes game that comes included with your Nokia smartphone, simplicity is the key to success in this case. It's a free game so kudos to the developer ariek44!
  
  
• 
  
  Remember the game 15-Puzzle, where you would scramble up a picture and then try and shuffle and jiggle up the pieces so you end up with the complete picture, save for the square on the corner? It's been recreated for the Symbian S60 smart phone, along with accelerometer support so now you can just twist and turn your phone to solve the puzzle. Another one of those brilliantly done free (and open source) softwares!

I think that's more or less the popular and available accelerometer supported games for the Symbian S60 platform and for the Nokia N82. If I've missed anything, please post it in the comments below!

If you've been a long time user of Nokia phones, then you might know what Active Standby plugins are. Currently an exclusive feature to the Nokia E-Series S60 phones, it's basically an option within the Control Panel to allow to user to control what they want to see on the Active Standby screen.

For example, if you're using an E-Series phone, you could opt to disable showing your To-Do list, or your WLAN scanning in the Active Standby Screen if you don't find a use for those features. Any aspect of the Active Standby screen can be changed to your personal taste and preferences.

So it is a crying shame that Nokia decided not to include this feature on the N-Series smartphones. In my opinion, it should be a standard feature across all Symbian S60 smartphones - it allows for greater personalisation and general aesthetics, especially if you don't want to see a certain feature on the Active Standby home screen.

But I digress. There is a method for N-Series users to change your Active Standby screen and strip out the elements you dislike; in the screenshot below, I took out the Search feature in the home screen, along with the WLAN scanning as an example.


It's not a very complex procedure to get this done: all you need is ROMPatcher (Only for S60v3 FP1 Smartphones) and the CleanActiveStandby Patches, and follow the instructions below. Oh yes, and you need a Windows PC too (sorry to all Mac users). It's a completely safe and reversible process.

1. Unzip the 2 files
2. Transfer s60_3_1_app_trk_2_7.sisx from the ROMPatcher package to your phone via Data Transfer Mode, then run it. Don't install it using your PC Suite.
3. Connect your phone in the PC Suite mode with your computer.
   
4. Execute TRK from your applications folder. By default it will try to turn on your Bluetooth; just cancel that. Go to Options >> Settings and set the Connection to be "USB".
5. Now find the Port number that your phone is connected to. Open up Device Manager in the Control Panel (or Start Menu >> Run >> devmgmt.msc). It should be under COM & LPT or an option like that.
   
   
   
6. Now run RPInstaller.exe from the ROMPatcher package and enter the correct COM port number. Click on "Install" and let it do its job. When you see the following, then the process is done.
   
   
   
7. Check your Applications folder. There should be a new application called ROMPatcher sitting there, if no errors occurred during the installation process.
8. Close RPInstaller on your PC, the TRK application from your phone, and connect your phone in the Data Transfer mode.
9. Make the folder /Patches/ in the root menu of the memory stick. Throw the 4 files from the CleanActiveStandby Patch in there.
10. Turn off Active Standby on your N-Series smartphone.
11. Open up ROMPatcher - you should see the following screen:
    
    
    Select the patches which you wish to apply - you can apply all 4 if you want - and then minimise ROMPatcher. Don't click on "Exit" because there is a problem of it restarting your phone once you click on the button "Exit". If the patch correctly applies you should see a green tick as the icon next to it. Likewise, if there's a problem, you should see an icon with an exclamation mark.
12. Turn on Active Standby again and it should be complete. If, for any reason, you wish to get your normal screen back, just reboot your phone.

There, the patch should be done. Now you can sit back, relax, and enjoy a clutter-free Active Standby home screen.

The Nokia N78's newest firmware has just been released - however, what's unique about this firmware update is that it's the first update offered by Nokia that can be done over-the-air; rather than requiring you to go to your PC and open up Nokia PC Suite to update, it can now be done if you can access the Internet (via WLAN/3G/EDGE/GPRS).

This would probably mean that future N-series S60 updates can also be done directly on your N-series phone rather than requiring a Windows PC connection. Looks like Nokia finally understood that many of it's N-series users also use Macs, making firmware updates extremely inconvenient for them...

I've been trying out this software called PanoMan lately, which enables the user to take panoramic photos on your mobile phone. This software, paired with the Nokia N82 which has a beast of a camera, unlocks another dimension for N82 users; even though the Nokia N82 is marketed as the "crème de la crème" camera phone, it sorely lacks what most Sony Ericsson phones include - the ability to take panoramic photos.

What's great about the Symbian S60 platform is that even if a particular feature is sorely lacking on a Nokia phone, there's always software (freeware or shareware) to make up for it. Again, taking panoramic photos is no exception - PanoMan costs roughly 10 Euros, which may seem quite a large sum for a feature that should have been included in the phone, but I would think of it as money well spent, as it does an excellent job of taking panoramic photos.

It's extremely simple to use. As soon as you start the application, choose the resolution and quality you want your photos taken in, and where it should be saved, you can start snapping away. Using it's unique algorithm in stitching photos together, all the user needs to do is start the "capture" button, then move your camera across the subject or landscape they're capturing. At the end, click on the "finish" button and save your photo - there is no need to take individual frames and ensure you stitch them together accurately, the software automatically does all that for you.

If you want to see more photos before purchasing the application (which is always a good idea), there's also a Flickr group dedicated for photos taken using PanoMan.

Seems like there are quite a few misconceptions these days about the various GPS options one gets on the Nokia N82 or the Nokia N95, so I've asked a Nokia rep at their Customer Care Center to clarify the different GPS options that's available on the phone.

You can go to Tools >> Settings >> General >> Positioning >> Positioning Methods to either enable or disable the different GPS methods the N82 supports.

Bluetooth GPS: This should be pretty much straightforward; if you set it to enabled, it allows for a Bluetooth GPS receiver to be paired with the Nokia N82. Instead of using the phone's integrated GPS chip, it'll be using the Bluetooth GPS to get a fix on your current location.

Assisted GPS: Otherwise known as A-GPS, this works by getting data from an assistance server, and then comparing the satellite fix on the assistance server with the fragments of GPS data the phone is receiving. A position can then be fixed based on the data supplied by the server to the phone. You can read more about it here; however it is important to note that it uses small amounts of data (less than 10 kb) to get a fix on your location. While this may be acceptable for local use, it is rather costly if you end up roaming and using AGPS to determine your location.

Integrated GPS: Needs no further elaboration. It's the integrated GPS chip that allows your phone to get a GPS fix. Without AGPS turned on, it might be minutes before you get a fix, providing that you're not obstructed by buildings, trees or any objects blocking the line between you and the GPS satellite.

Network Based: This collects data from the mobile phone towers your phone is connected to and gives an approximate location based on the tower's supplied data. Note that it's not the same as AGPS as it receives no GPS data - rather it's just based on your connection with mobile phone towers to triangulate and get an approximation of where you are. It does not utilise any data in getting your position - and hence its safe for use when roaming in foreign countries. Think of the LocateMe app from the original iPhone...

Hope this does clear up any questions or misconceptions people had on the various GPS settings the Nokia N82 offers. If you've got any comments or have any doubts about the above, feel free to leave it in the comments. I will be getting back to the Nokia rep soon, so I'll pass that on for him to further clarify.

If the Nokia N78 was released at just about the same time as the N82 was, I'd have a hard time in choosing which Symbian smartphone to get. Here's just some pros and cons of both phones for those who are considering getting one or the other:

Pros of the Nokia N82:

• Xenon Flash, as opposed the LED flash on the N78
• 5 Megapixels vs. 3 Megapixels
• TV-Out cable support (the 3.5mm jack to the Component cable, so you can show the N82 screen on a TV)
• Accelerometer - potential for accelerometer-supported games on N-Gage? RotateMe and ShakeLock support. Coolness factor :)
  

Pros of the Nokia N78:

• Symbian S60 FP2 - which provides new features, such as nice looking transition animations, a larger range of standby screens, a more convenient interface in general.
• A larger capacity battery - 1200mAh against the N82's 1050mAh. This should translate to a longer standby time.
• Built-in FM Transmitter, so you can beam all those tunes to a empty radio station and annoy all the other cars around you on the highway.
• Up to 24 hours of Music Playback (quoted by Nokia) vs. N82's max of 12 hours or so
  

That's about all the major differences on the Nokia N78 and the Nokia N82. And here's just a few words from me if the specs don't mean a lot to you: if you're looking for a powerful, all-in-one device that is slightly future-proof as well as being able to replace your MP3 player, your camera, your PDA, then by all means go for the Nokia N82. It can perform all these duties admirably and efficiently, with some getting used to on the user's part. Otherwise, consider the N78 - it should be more than enough for the average user.

And an indication of the prices:
Suggested retail price of the Nokia N82: HK$4188 (US$536, GBP 272, 344 Euros)
Suggested retail price of the Nokia N78: HK$3988 (US$511, GBP 259, 328 Euros)

Recently a video of Google's OS Android running on the Nokia N95 has surfaced; would this mean that it's also possible to get Android running on other Symbian smartphones?

With the iPhone's release, more and more people are now aware of how a 'good' interface could be on the mobile phone. The Symbian S60 platform is extremely versatile and powerful; but if you asked any average user, they wouldn't be able to customise or change things as much as they wanted to as the options are nested deep within the different menus.

Google's Android is reminiscent of the iPhone's simple but effective interface where everything can just be accessed via a few clicks rather than being nested within menu after menu - perhaps this will see a change in Nokia's S60 platform, such as creating a overlying application like HTC's TouchFLO technology which allows everything to be accessed in a few clicks (on the WM platform)?

If Android could be allowed to run alongside the Symbian S60 platform (i.e. "dual-booting" the mobile phone) I would definitely be in favour of it; after all, the S60 platform has a huge number of applications, is extremely powerful (and relatively more complex to use), while the Android platform can make up the shortcomings of the S60 platform (such as browsing experience compared to the iPhone, and ease of use of the platform).

What's your take on the matter?

It doesn't matter if you have no idea how to create your own, personalised themes for your Nokia N82, as long as you have the images you want for the background. OwnSkin is an online tool which allows users to upload their images to create their own personal theme. It's fairly easy to use, and virtually every aspect of the theme can be edited, from the battery icon colours, to individual icons lying in the main menu.

The process only relies on the user clicking on each part of the theme that they want to change and from then on they can choose the colour, the image that be used to replace the icon, etc. It's extremely nifty and intuitive. When you're all done, the theme can be downloaded to the PC or either sent to your phone by providing your telephone number.

The online tool comes free of charge (which is quite a steal, as it's extremely customisable), so why not try it out now via this link.

For those N82 users who insist that the given Nokia battery provides poor performance, this battery may be what you're looking for...


It's a 2000mAh BP-6MT Lithium-ion Battery (as opposed to Nokia's 1050mAh BP-6MT), which basically means it's roughly twice as durable as the Nokia one. Notice that it's also physically twice the size of the Nokia one - meaning that if you feel that your Nokia N82 is already very thick, you probably shouldn't get this, or people will start to wonder what you have hidden in your pockets...

It's going for US$9.99 from Hong Kong, and to be honest I'm not exactly sure whether this battery is reliable or not; although I'm tempted to purchase this since it's going for a rather cheap price, and to do a complete review on the battery unit.

Oh, and if you do intend to get it, a word of warning - if you're doing any firmware updates, you MUST place your original Nokia battery in your N82 before conducting them. This is because the upgrade checks for the battery, and if it's not the official Nokia one, the update will terminate, screwing up your phone. Don't say I didn't warn you...

After several weeks to months of use of your brand new N82, you might be finding that accessing your memory stick is no longer as fast as it used to be when you just got your phone. If you regularly take photos, transfer videos and music on and off your phone, this is a particularly frustrating issue.

A solution to the issue would be to defragment the external memory of which you store all these files every few weeks to a few months, depending on how often you delete and replace files on the memory stick. Defragmentation sorts the data on the external memory in to a sequential order, thus improving read performance of the external memory as data is now grouped together in chunks.

It's also beneficial to check the external memory for errors to ensure that your memory stick doesn't have any problems or bad clusters/sectors which may cause data on the memory to screw up or go missing / end up corrupted.

This can be done in Windows XP by going to My Computer (after connecting your phone as a USB Mass Storage Device, or by taking the memory stick out and putting it in a card reader), right clicking on the external microSDHC card, going to Properties >> Tools >> Error Checking or Defragment.

When the N82 was in it's proto stages, testers commented on various aspects of the phone - including this new feature dubbed "the Navi Wheel". Incidentally the Navi Wheel is also a feature on the other Nokia N series phone released during the same time - the Nokia N81.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, just take a look at the following YouTube video...

As you can see, this is also one of the main selling points on the Nokia N78. Anyhow, despite the feature being on the N82's proto units, even Nokia's managers claimed that the hardware was removed in the final retail version of the N82, unlike on the N81, where it was only disabled. (This was widely covered by a number of prestigious blogs, such as the Nokia Blog and Me and My Phones, as well as in a number of forums. Just Google "N82 Navi Wheel" and you'll get what I mean).

However, one of the forum users on EverythingN82 has confirmed the existence of the Navi Wheel on the Nokia N82 after he took his N82 apart to change the exterior housing.

Hopefully we can see it in action on our N82's in the next firmware update - which seems to be almost ready for release, according to a Nokia Care rep that I met yesterday...

Today I had to make a stop at the local Nokia Care center because I had a rather annoying problem. Everytime I clicked on the WLAN shortcut on the N82 standby screen - the one which allows you to switch WLAN on and off - the phone would be stuck in a loop of "System Error" prompts, which would only stop if you pulled the battery out from the phone.

Turns out that this is just one of the few bugs that most users would experience if they updated their N82 firmware to v20.0.062. The Nokia Care representative said that a firmware update to solve this issue is 'in the works', but again who knows when Nokia will release an update?

In this specific case, the Nokia Care rep said the way to avoid the "System Error" prompt was to go to Menu >> Tools >> WLAN Wizard and find the WLAN access point to define it. Tedious but it avoids the "System Error" pop-up, which is extremely annoying.

Any other readers facing issues or problems since updating to v20 for their N82? Feel free to share your experiences and see how others go around the problem.

I'm no expert photographer, so please don't expect me to offer advice on how to take award-winning photographs; I'll leave that to the professionals to teach everyone. But here's some tips on making the most out of your N82 camera phone when you're on holiday on the sandy beaches of Koh Samui:

1. Try to use specific scene modes for the various photographs you are taking. You would be surprised at the difference of the tone and colour between the "Auto" mode and "Portrait" mode when taking photos of friends, etc.
   
   
2. However, 2 scene modes are exceptionally poorly defined - the "Landscape" mode and the "Sports" mode - as they don't allow you to focus on a particular subject. This means that you're going to get out of focus images in those modes, and so you should avoid those 2 modes.
   
   
3. Use the viewfinder grid. It basically creates a 3 x 3 grid on your screen so you can position your subjects in a photograph. It's also a very handy way to ensure your N82 is not slanted when you're taking photos.
   
   
4. Set the ISO to "Low" when possible. This reduces the amount of noise you get when taking a picture of darker subjects.
   
   
5. When taking pictures of subjects at night, apart from setting Night mode on, remember that you should have something to rest your camera phone on to stabilise it. This is because the Night mode allows more light to the lens by slowing the shutter speed, so if you jerk or move the camera slightly, you're going to get blurred images.
   
   
6. Remember that you can define your own mode as well - albeit not as customisable as many digital cameras offered in the market. However, it's useful for defining your own profiles for particular types of photos that you take a lot of; for example, images of sunsets or sunrises.

If you've got more tips, feel free to share them!

Echoing some of the problems of my last post regarding restoration of your N82 back to its original settings, here's an issue most of us will probably have: having the trial, pre-release N-Gage and the new, full version N-Gage sitting side by side in the Applications folder. Furthermore, the full version N-Gage now doesn't appear to work.

This issue can be tackled by uninstalling N-Gage from your phone using the Application Manager.

1. Remove "RGA APIs and Repository Files" from the phone first.
2. Now remove "N-Gage" from your phone.

Next is to download N-Gage from the official site and then install it via the PC Suite. Remember to install the file ngage.sisx to your MEMORY STICK and not your phone memory.

One problem solved :)

Lately I've been having troubles on my Nokia N82, and trying to find instructions to fix them was living hell. I kept getting random "System Error" messages, to the point that the phone was merely a 100 gram brick, albeit an expensive one. So I decided to do a factory reset - and here's a guide I've made from the 5 resets I had to do last night...

1. First off, back up everything you have. Use Nokia's PC Suite to backup all your settings, messages, contacts, user files on the phone, etc. You can restore this at a later point in time.
   
   
2. Factory reset your phone. Enter *#7370# in the standby screen and you'll be prompted with a menu asking if you want to restore your phone to its original settings. Click yes.
   
   
3. Wait for everything to be done - this should take about 10 - 15 minutes.
   
   
4. Check to see if your problem has been resolved - if not, maybe you'll need to do the entire thing again. Or perhaps visit the Nokia Service Center, if its a convenient walk/drive away.
   
   
5. Restoring everything - plug your N82 back to your computer, and click on the Backup tab. There's a restore option there. Note that if you've previously installed applications on your phone memory, it will all be backed up and restored. However, there might be slight problems with apps such as N-Gage, Nokia Maps and Fring.