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.

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.

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)

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.

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.
   

Occasionally in classes I find that there's a need to take electronic notes - and what better tool is there than with my trusty N82? Paired up with a Bluetooth keyboard, it's quite a mighty mobile device to take notes in - you can type just as quick as you do on the desktop, and data can be preserved and accessed on the go.

Although Nokia offers its own SU-8W Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard for Nokia S60 and S40 devices, it's very costly and limited in availability. It's not available even at the Nokia flagship store here in Hong Kong.

After some testing with a friend at the computer mall, it turns out that you can pair a Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard with the Nokia N82, N95, or any of the S60 devices - as long as the Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard supports the HID profile. Just follow the instructions below to get started:

1. Get the Nokia Wireless Keyboard software for S60 v3.1 devices. Install it on your phone.
2. Turn Bluetooth on from the Bluetooth menu on your phone.
3. Open up the Wireless Keyboard application from Menu >> Tools >> Connectivity >> Wireless Keyboard. Click on "Find Keyboard" and then follow the instructions provided by the Keyboard instruction manual to get your Keyboard to pair with your phone.

And there you go - the Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard will be paired with your phone. If you've got any questions on setting this up or any questions on which brand of keyboard to get, feel free to email me.

If you've been curious and delved around on the N82 and other Nokia N-series phones, you've might have realised that you can stream music from the phone to another device on your 'Home Network' - one that supports UPnP protocol, mind you; and you can also stream music from your PC to your phone via the same 'Home Network'. (Just take a look under Tools >> Connect >> Home Media).

So what is this UPnP? It stands for Universal Plug and Play, and basically it's a networking standard to allow different devices to connect to each other and implement data sharing, streaming, etc.

So first of all - streaming from your PC to your phone
Ewan Spence from AllAboutSymbian has just written up a guide on linking your PC's media library to your N-series device, so it's worth taking a look. I will be looking at the Mac side of things for Mac users to stream from their iTunes library to their N-series phone in the meantime, so stay with me!

Streaming from your phone to a UPnP compatible device
Unfortunately I currently don't have a compatible UPnP device, nor do I have the funds to purchase one. However, do expect a guide on this over the summer, when I'll get something with the money earned from my summer job.

The S60 Browser is almost perfect, except for one thing - not allowing the user to open new tabs even though the browser itself supports it. This is because in previous phones, the lack of RAM coupled with the opening of more than 1 tab could cause the browser to crash all the time.

Not that it's a problem anymore on the N82. It's got huge amounts of RAM (relative to other phones) with more than 80MB free even when web browsing, so I should be entitled to open as many tabs as I want, no?

Mark from the Nokia Blog has found an excellent way to get over Nokia's flaw: the multimedia button (the little one stuck between the delete and right key) contains a tile for websites. Apparently when clicked on the sites open in new tabs rather than changing the page you're on. Yep, this means that if you want a separate tab, simply click on the multimedia button, go to your Internet tile, and click on a site. Voila!

I know there's plenty of places and people that make excellent themes, but it is general consensus that the top 2 S60 theme creators are Babi and P@sco, both veteran Nokia theme creators.

Babinokia has been around for quite a while and most of his/her developed themes are associated with quality. There's even themes around for S60 v2 Nokia phones, so it's definitely worth a look for those with an old phone lying around - you'll never know when it'll come in handy. As for the S60 v3 themes, it looks excellent on the N82, so I definitely recommend the themes to everyone.

P@sco is another well known theme creator and publishes a Nokia / S60 blog in addition to his themes. His themes range from the abstract to the cartoonish; but whatever the theme is, it's got this aura of professionalism that makes others feel that its well designed and created.

Kudos to both theme creators for promoting and designing better themes for the S60 platform. Their themes are also available via Symbian Themes, so why not take a look there too?

So you've just downloaded and installed a nice theme, with good looking icons in the main menu. You apply the theme and all is fine - except, to your dismay, that the main menu icons are not the same as the screenshots that accompanied the theme.

It so happens that if you turn on "icon animation" in your S60 device, it automatically changes the icons of the main menu and subsequent menus back to the default ones - as those are the only ones that are equipped to animate on your phone.

So, if you want to get the nice looking icons from your theme rather than the default Nokia ones, simply head to the main menu, select Options >> Icon Animation >> and turn it to "Off". And enjoy.

Note: S60 theme above is "Entangle", created by Inanov from S60Theme.

Okay, maybe the title is a bit of an overstatement; but what I'm trying to discuss here today is to see which one takes better photos for a camera phone.

Since I don't have the funds to purchase a Sony Ericsson K850, (nor do I have a sponsor to take care of my costs), I've scoured the web to find comparisons. Over at SMAPE, they've got a decent review of the N82, along with a photo shootout with the Nokia N95 and the Sony Ericsson K850.

On the whole, I feel that photos taken with the N82 (and the N95 for that matter, as they share the same camera chip) tend to capture images at a more natural colour and lighting, as opposed to the K850, where the colours are slightly darker. Although there are exceptions, it seems quite noticeable in most shots - especially images capture indoors.

The tests for the flashlight definitely showed that the Xenon flash on the N82 seems much stronger than the K850. I mean, it really is indisputable. Look at the sample photos and see for yourself.

I'm not saying that the K850 is all rubbish compared to the N82. From past experiences and several of the photos, the auto-focusing of the N82 also has much to be desired compared to the K850; however on an overall level, I think it would be safe for me to say that the N82 has the edge so far over the K850.

One point I feel that I should mention: compression algorithms. It's terrible on the N82 how a 5 Megapixel image is compressed to less than 1MB. Considering the fact that I have a 8GB microSDHC stick in the phone, I do wish Nokia had the option to let me choose how much compression is applied to the image. Not sure if this is an issue on the K850 though...

For anyone who's interested in programming for the Nokia N82 out there, I highly recommend this book. It's more of a novice's guide in to starting mobile phone programming (providing you've got the programming knowledge beforehand) using Java.

Why Java? Well, with Java you won't have to deal with a lot of root level issues and commands which may take up the majority of the application; instead you can concentrate on the solution. And it's cross platform - which makes it an added bonus as it can benefit other manufacturer's phones and platforms.

It costs US$43.80 for a new copy, but it can come for as cheap as US$8.98 if you opt for one that is sold 2nd hand. Now that's value for money.

There's a brilliant guide from the N82 Forums on changing the font of your Nokia N82, so for all the adventurous enthusiasts out there, this is definitely worth a look. It's quite a safe method without needing to tamper with system files of anything, so there isn't any chances of voiding your warranty with something like this.

Note that this only works for the Nokia N82's which are sold WITHOUT East Asian Font support. This is because for the N82's with Asian firmware, a different font is used so Asian languages can be supported by the phone. If you own one with Asian firmware (that is, one that can read East-Asian languages), then await my guide (which I shall be posting up shortly) on changing the font for your N82.

And please, don't use that hideous font in the picture. It totally ruins what the N82 should be.