N86: “The Nokia N86 8MP outguns the iPhone 3GS in terms of hardware gadgets, camera, and battery life”...

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:38:29 +0100

Steve Litchfield over at All About Symbian compares the Nokia N86 with the iPhone 3GS.

“The one is the classic one-handed 'phone', the other is the classic two-handed 'PDA/tablet. Yes, never mind that over-simplification, in the feature below I look in detail at every aspect of the two devices and try to see where comparisons can be drawn. I'm not looking for an overall winner, but am genuinely interested in the areas in which each device and form factor wins out.”

Sinclair vs. Commodore, Nintendo vs. Sega. Psion vs. Palm... There's nothing quite like a large helping of tech competition to fire up the brain cells on a Monday!

As with all good tech battles, both competitors are worthy and both competitors are much loved by their legion of fans. To be honest I didn't quite expected Nokia and Apple to be in the same arena so soon. Things move so fast these days... But here we are with the N97 taking a swipe at the iPhone and the iPhone 3GS striking back at the Nseries with some surprisingly good content creation features.

The N86 clearly sees off the competition in low/artificial light. I'm now even more keen to get my hands on this classic Nseries device.

Check out the rest of Steve’s comparison - which includes sample video and photos from devices devices - over at All About Symbian.

What do you think? Is it right to compare these two devices? Is this the start of a bigger move by both Nokia and Apple into imaging. Have your say by commenting below.

Photo: The Final Nokia Creative N95 Photo Awards!

Wed, 8 Jul 2009 11:29:11 +0100

Would you believe that these awards have been running since September 2007! Amazing isn’t it? In those 2 years, we’ve witnessed the N95 go from strength to strength, selling by the millions and cementing its place in gadget history. But all good things must come to an end and with the introduction of the N97 and N86, the N95 is no longer the flagship device it once was.

But the N95 will not go quietly into the night. With this last Nokia Creative N95 Photo Awards we celebrate the device that introduced photography into the lives people the world over. We are reminded how the N95 established a whole new order of resolution, colour and detail, initiated a wave of phone photography not hitherto seen before. In short, it changed people’s perceptions of what a camera phone could do.

And so to the final winners.

Deciding on the winning 9 photos from amongst the Nokia N95 User Group was difficult. As you can see from the montage above, there were well in excess of 50 exceptional images to choose from. In the end however, it was the images that exhibited good colour and detail as well as a pleasurable composition that naturally rose to the top. These were the images the literally jumped off the screen and commanded attention.

From top left to bottom right, the winners are...

Flickr User ID’s...

.Larissa Grace.
teachernz
alilbitofhumor_i
mondays child
teachernz
lubimaer
alilbitofhumor_i
edie209
kuytu

Many thanks to everyone over at the group, all 1794 of you. The group will stay active indefinitely. And although there won’t be any more N95 photo awards here at Nokia Creative, if you’ve taken a shot that you believe to be particularly stunning please do let me know.

If this is your first visit to Nokia Creative, why not take a look at the previous awards, the links came be found over on the left.

N97: Day 3. Flash Test

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 10:12:38 +0100

Can one extra diode make a difference?

The purpose of this test is to gage the depth and power of the dual LED flash. Shot in a lightly painted corridor, these flash photos represent a best case scenario, especially in regard to the range of the flash.

Be sure to check out this Flickr set for the full resolution photos.

Clearly, and unsurprisingly, the N97 is no match for the N82 when capturing scenes that have very little or no natural light. I think it’s safe to say that most potential N97 owners are already aware of this weakness, so perhaps what will be of more interest is whether the dual LED flash makes the N97 camera good enough. Let’s find out.

Nokia N97 (Dual LED Flash)

Nokia N95 8GB (Single LED Flash)

Nokia N82 (Xenon Flash)

Nokia N97, Nokia N95 8GB and Nokia N82

Hmm... I have a confession to make. I’m just not a fan of flash photography. As I look through my digital photo collection (8,000+) dating back to 1996, I can only find about 100 photos that I would class as decent photos that were taken with flash assistance, and over half of those are pictures of friends pulling stupid faces at the pub, etc.

So, is the N97’s flash unit good enough for you? That depends of your camera usage. If you take a lot of shots of your mates at the pub or on the town and enjoy removing all the red eye effect (the achilles heel of the N82), then you’ll probably want to consider some other device.

However, if you’ve already come to the conclusion that the N97 does everything that you want in your next smartphone to do, and having the ability to take one or two indoor low light shots every now and then would be a nice bonus, then you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the N97. The extra LED does make a difference and with some adjustments the final result is not that bad. In the example below, all I did was perform a single click ‘Enhance’ in iPhoto. As you can see, the N97 is still no match for the N82, but it does hold about twice the detail of the N95 8GB.

(Enhanced) Nokia N97, N95 8GB and N82

Next up, Video capture. What does 3 years of video capture innovation bring to the Nokia N97?

Further reading:
Nokia N95 8GB Review
Nokia N82 Review
Nokia 6220 Classic Review

N97 Video: “It’s not just ironing alfresco, it’s extreme ironing”

Tue, 9 Jun 2009 20:55:56 +0100

Mr. James Whatley has been putting his N97 to good use.

What’s next? Extreme weeding?! ^_^

N97: Day 2. Photo Quality

Sat, 6 Jun 2009 00:06:20 +0100

No alarms and no surprises

I’ll try more creative shots later, but for now let’s get started with the very basics, a colour and resolution test. Be sure to download the full resolution versions of each photo. Note that I’ll be using a trusty N95 8GB for comparison.

In the colour test below we find the N97 has a slightly more saturated image. Zooming in to full resolution we see that there is less noise in the blue areas. This might prove handy for landscape photos that feature a clear blue sky. A noisy blue sky is always a dead give-away of a camera with a small lens/sensor combo. This tweaking of the image processing software may alleviate this problem in some instances.

Nokia N97

Nokia N95 8GB

Nokia N97 (Left) Nokia N95 8GB (Right)

I don’t have much to say about the resolution test photo. Apart a difference in colour temperate, the final image detail in practically identical to the N95 8GB, which in turn is extremely similar to the N82. Is anyone else still amazed at level of detail that Nokia manage to cram through that tiny Carl Zeiss lens? Think how far camera phones have come in such a short space of time. The mind boggles.

Nokia N97

Nokia N95 8GB

Nokia N97 (Left) Nokia N95 8GB (Right)

Based on these preliminary test shots, I’m of the opinion that the N97 takes superb 5 mega pixel photos, has great colour rendition and possesses a good balance between detail and noise reduction. For a great many people the N97 will be all the camera they need. Combine this image quality with the powerful pocket computer capabilities of Nokia’s new flagship device and you have a package that is hard to resist.

Unsurprisingly it looks as if the N86 will trump the N97 in the camera department, but until then, for natural light photography the N97 is just about as good as it gets the Nseries.

Next up, Flash photography. Should the N97 be afraid of the dark?

Further reading:
Nokia N95 8GB Review
Nokia N82 Review
Nokia 6220 Classic Review
Interesting Photo Tests

N97: Day 1. Search For N

Fri, 5 Jun 2009 17:45:26 +0100

The N97 finally sets sail

The search for N competition came to a conclusion on Tuesday with hundreds of rabid Nokia fans rummaging through the undergrowth looking for one of the 7 elusive silver N’s.

As is the case with so many of these treasure hunts, success is as much about effort and good communication as it is about knowledge and insight.

With a final nudge in the right direction from Neil at iGadget Life, my friend Dave and I set about to capture our nearest N. Sadly, I had no transport, but Dave did, and he was due to leave work shortly.

Guided by me, his N95 8GB and a couple of handy Google Maps satellite image printouts, Dave made his way to a field just off the M27. Within the hour he had found the New Forest Nokia prize and was busy claiming his N97.

Am I gutted that I am not the proud owner of Nokia’s latest flagship device? Totally. It’s gorgeous! However, having an understanding work mate with a N97 does mean I'll get to borrow it once in a while...

Next up, Photography. How does the N97 compare to the N95 8GB?

N97: Flagship? Oh yes!

Thu, 4 Jun 2009 13:47:48 +0100

First impressions:

I’m holding the final production N97 and it is glorious! The hardware is stunning and as far as I can tell the software isn’t too shabby either.

There will be loads of photos and videos on Nokia Creative over the next few days, but for the time being I thought I’d leave you with my very first N97 photos. All macros and all extremely detailed.

Photo: Last chance!

Thu, 14 May 2009 13:51:38 +0100

Calling all Nokia N95 fans, this is your last chance!

Can you sense it? I can. Yes, the legendary N95 is about to move into retirement. I don’t know how much longer Nokia will continue to the sell the N95 8GB, but recently I’ve noticed that many Nokia fans are selling their Classics and 8GB’s in order to make room for the next über-phones, the Nokia N97 or N86.

Next week will see the last ever Nokia Creative, N95 Photo Awards. To be a part of this important moment in Nseries history and to be in with a chance of winning, you need to add your best N95 photos to the Flickr Nokia N95 User Group.

Thanks again your continued support. Head back at the end of next week to bask in N95 photo glory!

SPECIAL REPORT: Nokia & the Road to HD Video Capture. Chapter 9

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 23:48:31 +0100

When is HD video capture not HD? Answer. When it's being filmed using the new Samsung i8910.

I had my suspicions right from the start. At the beginning of February I wrote. “I’m guessing that the 720p HD capture of the i8910 is going to be below average, it seems most unlikely that Samsung squeezed HD video capture into this slick unit without some serious compromises.”. Then came the All About Symbian 'first look' at the i8910 (then titled the Omnia HD). Viewing the video samples provided by Rafe and Steve it was clear that something was amiss. Then, just this evening, I followed Ricky's link to the YouTube video entitled "HD Camera Trick Challenge". After downloading and viewing the source video, I'm now convinced that the Samsung i8910 is *not* the world's first HD video capture smartphone. Why?

Look around on Wikipedia or any other HD video forum or resource. I did, and I did not find any mention of an HD video standard that allows for a frame rate that is less than 24 frames per second.

In both the examples mentioned above the actually frame rate is well below 24 and probably closer to 16. Don't be fooled by what VLC or Quicktime might report, simply advance the video one frame at a time and count the dropped frames for yourself. There are plenty.

UPDATE: I’ve been through the first 3 seconds of actually footage on the “Trick” video. Out of the 72 frames displayed, only 37 show any change from the previous frame. In short the *actually* frame rate of that small section of video is 12.3 frames per second.

This general disregard for video frame rate is something that I have chastised Nokia for over the years, so it would be wrong of me to hold back in regard to this new Samsung device. As much as I wanted it to be the next step in smartphone video capture, it really isn't.

I guess that many bloggers will say that the i8910 video capture is impressive and 'good enough', but think about this for a moment. The videos that you capture in 2009 will become part of the record of your life. When you are watching them in years to come, on a massive flat panel display that supports 60, 100, and even 200 frames per second, any video at less than 24 FPS (the minimum for fluid lifelike motion) is going to look cheap and nasty and you'll be wishing that Samsung had addressed these frame rate issues much sooner, rather pushing for still photo capture at resolutions 3 times higher than your display can actually output.

Unexpectedly, this leaves a window of opportunity wide open for Nokia. On launch the Nokia N93 was an equal to a mid-range Canon camcorder. If Nokia can manage a similar level of performance in their first HD video capture device it would blow the i8910 clear out of the water!

Over to you Nokia.

Note: The creators of the "HD Camera Trick Challenge" video clearly state that the video has not been altered in anyway, does that include that soundtrack?

Previous chapters in this series...

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8

Just what is openness?

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 23:05:26 +0000

It was the watchword of MWC 09, but what does openness really mean and is it truly a rallying call for the mobile industry?

I guess you could say that openness - in this context at least - refers to the willingness to accept ideas, technologies and services from sources outside the R&D labs of the mother company.

The might mean a willingness to allow other hardware manufacturers to license your operating system for their own kit, or it might mean native support for a competitors mapping service.

That’s all well and good but what does is *really* mean? When OPK and Ballmer talk about their companies ‘openness’ what are they actually referring to and why mention it at all?

Microsoft are is a sticky situation right now. At the one end open source is eating away at their profit margin and at he other end faster *closed* competition is making their efforts look somewhat tired. Hence, in my opinion, when Microsoft talk about openness, it’s really nothing more than a cry for attention. Anyone who knows the history of Microsoft knows that they have gone to great lengths to kill off many proper open source projects of the past.

When Nokia talk about openness I’m much more inclined to believe that they truly mean it. There is something quite different about Finland’s finest. Their unusual - and sometimes bizarre - approach to new feature implementation is one of their most appealing quirks. They exhibit a diffidence that doesn’t always service the best interests of their customers, but is nonetheless endearing and often entertaining.

Regardless of the way in which both companies express their openness, the reasons for promoting it in 2009 are identical. The AA; Apple and Android.

Think about it. Apple historically maintain a closed system and Android is an open source OS that many believe (myself included) has the most potential for market dominance in the next 5 years.

By proclaiming your commitment to openness you’re attempting to box up the iPhone is its own little proprietary make believe world and at the same time effectively de-claw Google’s open source Android project.

The big problem with this strategy is that outside a handful of industry geeks and open source nuts nobody cares about your openness. What they care about is humanness.

Does this device, system or service bring joy or inflict pain? That is the *only* question that means anything. For Microsoft it’s easy to see why they would want to avoid this question, Microsoft and joy are not words that natural bond together. For Nokia however, I worry that they are becoming distracted from the real question. Up until about 2003 their products had a pleasure rating of about 89%. These days, whether because of increased expectations or simply because of poor decisions, I would put that rating somewhere in the upper 60% bracket.

Nokia, please focus on Joy. Start with one application, device or service and make it a thing of joy. Refine it and refine it and refine it again until it is a near perfect thing. Stop at nothing in your quest to make it joyful.

Blog: Bite Sized

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 21:54:36 +0000

I really dislike blogging about blogging, there’s someone really self-indulgent about it. But please allow me to indulge myself this one time.

There is only so much geek ‘output’ that any one person can manage. For the last few weeks I’ve found that most of my output has been directed towards my Twitter stream. So, I thought to myself, why not review my remarks on Twitter every other day and see if I can expand on some of my more provocative Tweets.

So that’s the plan. Whether I stick to it or not will depend entirely on how easy it is and how lazy I am!

There is so much to write about these days. If it’s not the persistent march of the iPhone into Nokia’s (and everyone else’s) territory, then it’s probably the stunning Nokia N86. So many topics, so little time...

I haven’t properly tested a new Nokia device since the N82 way back at the beginning of last year. The devices that I’d most like to test are (in order of preference) the N86, N97, E55 and E75. So if anyone at WOM World or Nokia would like to loan me one of the said devices I’d be most happy!

I apologise in advance for my poor spelling and grammar on occasion. If I had the time to produce a weekly video podcast instead of this blog I think I would, written language was never my forte. If you spot any spelling errors and the like, please feel free to overlook them at your discretion. (^_-)

Follow me on Twitter for a sneak preview of what’s to come, or just for some light entertainment for the those mind-numbingly boring last 2 hours of weekday work.

Video: Optoma Pico Projector Review

Mon, 2 Mar 2009 22:45:07 +0000

Watching video on the move is becoming a common practice. Services like the BBC's iPlayer have advanced this new frontier quite rapidly in the last year, but mobile video is still very much a personal experience. The screen just isn't big enough for more than a couple of people to enjoy a short video together.

The Optoma Pico Project PK101 provides a remarkable solution to this antisocial problem.

In a pleasingly designed case, not much longer than the N95, the PK101 contains a cutting edge projection unit based on LED and TI's DLP technology. Capable of projecting an image about 1.6M across, the PK101 uses 3 LED technology to produce an image that has the kind of colour accuracy you'll not see from other lesser pico projectors such as the 3M's Mpro.

There's is a lot to love about this tiny marvel of technology. It's certainly not hard to imagine that someday practically all handheld video devices (capture and playback) will have some form of pico projector built into the body of the device, but until that time you can take a quick pico into the future with the Optoma Pico Projector.

Check the video above for a full review, but if you're in hurry here are the main points you need to take away with you...

Projects an image up to about 1.6M across!
Works best in a very dark room.
The built-in speaker is almost useless.
Battery life is around 45-60 minutes for each battery.
Can be charged via USB.
Has manual focus, but no other image controls.
Is shockingly good quality for the size of the unit.
Can be used for a quick family photo slideshow, 1978 style!

Pico PK101: A Pico into the future!

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 20:15:17 +0000

Only a handful of gadgets have made me re-evaluate the possible. The Optoma Pico Projector PK101 is near the top of that list.

I’ll be totally honest, as I connected the Pico PK101 to my N95 8GB I was preparing myself for a major disappointment. It’s not that I’m a pessimist when it comes to new technology, it’s just that I’ve come to expect that technology usually ascends the ladder of the Singularity one rung at a time. However, the Pico PK101 reminded me that sometimes, just sometimes, technology leaps forward in a way that few expected.

I’m going to be testing the Pico PK101 thoroughly over the next couple of weeks, but for now let me just say this. It really is quite stunning!

If you would like to know anything specific about the PK101, or you have an idea for a Nokia N95 8GB/Pico test that you would like me to perform, then please do let me know in a comment below.

SPECIAL REPORT: Nokia & the Road to HD Video Capture. Chapter 8

Fri, 6 Feb 2009 21:18:01 +0000

Well well, I honestly thought that Nokia would be the first to offer a smartphone with HD video capture, but it appears Samsung will get there before Finland’s finest. Or will they?

The first hint that Samsung had something special up their extraordinarily long sleeve came to me via my friend (and Godfather of Nokia Creative) Ricky Cadden of Symbian Guru fame. But just minutes ago Daily Mobile confirmed the specifications of the Samsung i8910. Go there now to check out the many photos and specs, then head back here for a quick chat about what all this means... All done? Excellent.

Yes it’s a Symbian device and yes it has HD video capture!

At last! HD video capture on a smartphone. But strangely, it’s not the 720p capture that has me enthralled. Look at the Daily Mobile photos again, notice the reference in the video capture menu to Resolution D1? That, ladies and gentlemen, is proper DVD resolution, not near DVD (640 x 480) but proper DVD quality.

So what is the exact resolution of D1 and why is it so exciting?

D1 can be either PAL (720 x 576) at 25 fps, or NTSC (720 x 480) at 29.97 fps. So which one is it on the Samsung? Fortunately it‘s dead easy to work out due to the fact that they have included a total pixel count in the menu item. 0.35 mega pixels per frame, so it must be D1 in the NTSC spec, 720 x 480 = 345,600, whereas PAL D1 = 414,720.

I’m guessing that the 720p HD capture of the i8910 is going to be below average, it seems most unlikely that Samsung squeezed HD video capture into this slick unit without some serious compromises. Conversely, I’m expecting the D1 capture to be nothing short of stunning, the best quality video capture available on any smartphone. Also, notice the mini HDMI output? Nice touch.

Where does this leave Nokia?

The truth is we simply do not know. We still have, *goes to to check countdown timer*, some 10 days, 11 hours and 12 minutes until we find out if Nokia have something similar to announce at MWC 2009.

What is particularly striking to me is that Samsung have chosen to push imaging, whereas Nokia--with the N97 at least--appear to be pushing the slide out keyboard and Ovi services. It seems that Nokia are pushing hard to become a big player in the emerging pocket computer market at the expense of the smartphone. I don’t doubt for one minute that this is the correct strategy, but it will certainly cost them sales in the short term.

2009 is shaping up to be one BIG year for mobile technology.

Have I missed anything? What do you make of Samsung’s wonderphone?

Previous chapters in this series...

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7

Comment: 8 mega pixels or bust?

Wed, 4 Feb 2009 09:44:48 +0000

It's all about human nature.
A woman walks up to the salesman in her local phone shop. She says, "I want a new phone, do you have any suggestions?". Like any effective salesman he asked her what features are important to her. She says, "It must have decent camera." He shows her a Samsung with an 8 million pixel camera and a state-of-the-art Nokia Nseries with a 5 million pixel camera. Any guesses as to which phone she goes home with?
If you find yourself having to make a purchasing decision for a type of product about which you have no passion for, you'll invariably make your decision based on two factors; The opinion of friends and a bulleted list of impressive sounding features. Of course we all know that what you should really do is look for extensive reviews and user opinions on Amazon and the like. But life is short and making 'real world' sense of some of the more capacious reviews can be a hard slog, even for a geek!
So you find yourself in the fall-back position of looking at the bulleted features on the box and checking in with a few friends to gauge opinion.
The trouble with phones is that there are so many of them, updated so frequently that often you'll be hard pressed to find a friend who can give you their first hand experience of that exact device. You ring your friend and the conversation goes something like this. You say, "Well it's either going to be this new Samsung or this new Nokia". He says, "What are the cameras like?". "The Samsung is 8 mega pixels and the Nokia is 5 mega pixels", you reply. He says, "I'd go for the Samsung, it *must* be good, it has more mega pixels than my Canon digital camera!". In reply you say, "I know, but the Nokia has something called N-Gage and Ovi which sounds pretty cool. Oh, and the salesman says I can watch BBC TV shows on it". In reply he taunts, "Yeah, but it's only got a 5 mega pixel camera".
You walk away with the Samsung.
Now obviously this would never happen to anybody reading this. You know your stuff and you are not fooled by the mega pixel myth. But for everyone like you and me there are about ten others that will be having that very conversation in 2009.
It's sad but true, Nokia will loose a lot of money this year to Samsung because of an almost negligible difference in camera quality. As much as I hate to say it, Nokia would do well to reclaim the mega pixel crown and do so promptly. 17th February would be perfect.
For the record, I’m not referring to the low to mid range phones, I’m talking about the flagship devices, the Nseries range, which is has to be said has become somewhat diluted in the last year or two, but that’s for another day.
Your thoughts please, do you know of people who have purchased a phone in the last year or two simply because of the amount of pixels available to the camera.

N97: Be a part of history!

Mon, 2 Feb 2009 23:10:46 +0000

Nokia are currently running an N97 homescreen widget design competition for the upcoming Nokia N97 Be a part of this next exciting chapter of Nokia’s history and win a N97 whilst you’re at it!
What is a Widget?
“A widget is a time-saving element of the device’s user interface, a visual building block that provides an easily accessible single interaction point with an application, which holds and processes data. There are thousands of types of widget.”
Nokia are providing examples of previous designed widgets and also a template to get you started. There are no programming skills required, just a core understanding of human nature and a half decent image editing app is all that’s needed for this competition. Better hurry though, the competition closes on 27th February, 2009.
I’ve already entered my own widget design. It’s entitled Snake Diddy! The classic Nokia game for a Nokia hardware classic of the future. I’d include the link to my entry on the Nokia competition website, but unfortunately Nokia had yet to include it. Anyway, here is my entry.

If you do have a go at this widget competition (and why wouldn’t you?) Please be sure to attach your design and/or link to your entry on the official site when you comment below.

MWC 2009: The countdown begins!

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 20:50:02 +0000

On the morning of the 17th of February 2009, “Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, President and CEO of Nokia will participate in the Tuesday morning keynote session entitled "Driving an open mobile ecosystem".”
So dear readers, I have two questions for you. What would you like to see OPK announce when he takes to the stage in Barcelona and what are you expecting him to announce?
These events are always so much more fun when someone throws in a juicy prediction or two. Go crazy! If you’re not in the mood to go crazy, watch the video below then go COUNTDOWN CRAZY!
I’ll start things off with a quote from The Nokia Blog’s very own Mark Guim, “Why do I have a feeling Nokia will announce something big at MWC next month?”

MWC Barcelona 2008, in summery

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 19:42:55 +0000

It’s like a city within a city, Mobile World Congress is a massive sprawling event like no other. In the run up to MWC 2009, I’ll be making some predictions and highlighting a few things to look out for in 2009. But for now, get a flavour for this behemoth of a show by checking out some of the Nokia Creative posts from MWC 2008.
Click the screen grabs below to check out some of the juicy details.