10 Things You Didn't Know About Nokia!

1) The ringtone "Nokia tune" is actually based on a 19th century guitar work named "Gran Vals" by Spanish musician Francisco Tárrega. The Nokia Tune was originally named "Grande Valse" on Nokia phones but was changed to "Nokia Tune" around 1998 when it became so well known that people referred to it as the "Nokia Tune."

2) The world's first commercial GSM call was made in 1991 in Helsinki over a Nokia-supplied network, by Prime Minister of Finland Harri Holkeri, using a Nokia phone.

3) Nokia is currently the world's largest digital camera manufacturer, as the sales of its camera-equipped mobile phones have exceeded those of any conventional camera manufacturer.

4) The "Special" tone available to users of Nokia phones when receiving SMS (text messages) is actually Morse code for "SMS". Similarly, the "Ascending" SMS tone is Morse code for "Connecting People," Nokia's slogan. The "Standard" SMS tone is Morse code for "M" (Message).

5) The Nokia corporate font (typeface) is the AgfaMonotype Nokia Sans font, originally designed by Eric Spiekermann. Its mobile phone User's Guides Nokia mostly used the Agfa Rotis Sans font.

6) In Asia, the digit 4 never appears in any Nokia handset model number, because 4 is considered unlucky in many parts of Southeast/East Asia.

7) Nokia was listed as the 20th most admirable company worldwide in Fortune's list of 2006 (1st in network communications, 4th ***-US company).

8. Unlike other modern day handsets, Nokia phones do not automatically start the call timer when the call is connected, but start it when the call is initiated. (Except for Series 60 based handsets like the Nokia 6600)

9) Nokia is sometimes called aikon (Nokia backwards) by ***-Nokia mobile phone users and by mobile software developers, because "aikon" is used in various SDK software packages, including Nokia's own Symbian S60 SDK.

10) The name of the town of Nokia originated from the river which flowed through the town. The river itself, Nokianvirta, was named after the old Finnish word originally meaning sable, later pine marten. A species of this small, black-furred predatory animal was once found in the region, but it is now extinct.

Hope all of you enjoyed this......

Skype Takes On S60

I'm sure everybody knows what Skype is and loves it dirt cheap call rates, so I wont go into detail there.

Anyway, Skype has recently released an application for the S60 platform which now allows us to get those dirt cheap call rats on our mobile phones!

You don’t need a computer to make free calls anymore. Use Skypephone instead. It’s a stylish mobile phone that calls, texts and takes pictures like you’d expect it to – but wait, there’s more – you can call and instant message your friends on Skype, free.

* Everything you’d expect from a mobile.
* Sign into Skype and make free calls to anyone else on Skype.
* Send free instant messages on Skype too.
* No computer necessary.

You're welcome to download it here.

N-Gage Catalogue "Complete" Once Again

After the N-Gage application was first released, we all missed the games we love introduced in First Access. Today, with the release of Tetris Deluxe and Block Breaker on N-gage, the Catalogue is complete once again! We now have a generous amount of 9 wonderful games! My personal favourite remains unchanged though - Space Impact: Kappa Base.

Of course, there is still a lot of work which needs to be done by the developers and Nokia to release all the games promised in the original catalogue of games on the n-gage web site. Games such as Brothers In Arms, ONE, Bounce Voyage and so on have been long anticipated but Nokia still hasn't feed our apetite for these games yet. Once can only hope they are released soon.

Go on then, what are you waiting for? Game on!

Got My N95 Back With New Slider Rails!

WooHoo!! I shouted in joy and danced in the Nokia Service Centre (well not really) when I got my N95-1 back today. It was truely hard living for almost 2 weeks without the do-it-all multimedia device. Due to water damage, i had to send it to get the LCD replaced, and i took advantage of the trip to have the new slider rails installed as well.

I have to say, the new slider rails behaved far from what i expected. i expected it to be even tighter and secure than the old ones, but it is not. Since pictures and videos can't show you how the slider rails feel and handle, i will simply have to describe it to you. The new rails are actually a whole lot smoother than the old ones. They are not so much as tighter, but rather more stable and slides really effortlessly. The "click" sound that you get when sliding the N95 all the way either up or down is sill there, but is not as loud as before. in conclusion My N95 Classic feels much classier than before.

For all you N95-1 users out there, i would really recommend you get the rails replaced.

Got your slider rails replaced and have something to say about it? Please feel free to comment!

Website Appearance Updated In Conjuntion With Earth Day

Hi fellow readers, by now you've probably realised that I've made a few changes to the site. I've changed the background colour to green as part of the "Go Green!" campaignes going on around the world right now. in addition, the header image which i have just completed yesteday night exhibit's the earth's natural beauty, and in contrast a few pictures of pollution that threatens to destroy this beauty. i hope the new image gives a stronger WOW! factor than the previous ones, and i'd love to hear your comments about it. The reason i'm doing all this is because Earth Day is coming coon and i thought the site could use a little bit of rejuvinating as well!

A bit about Earth Day

Each year, the April 22 Earth Day marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970. Founded by the organizers of the first April 22 Earth Day in 1970, Earth Day Network promotes environmental citizenship and year round progressive action worldwide. Earth Day Network is a driving force steering environmental awareness around the world. Through Earth Day Network, activists connect change in local, national, and global policies. Earth Day Network’s international network reaches over 17,000 organizations in 174 countries, while the domestic program engages 5,000 groups and over 25,000 educators coordinating millions of community development and environmental protection activities throughout the year.

Earth Day is the only event celebrated simultaneously around the globe by people of all backgrounds, faiths and nationalities. More than a half billion people participate in Earth Day Network campaigns every year. Earth Day 2000 sent the message loud and clear that citizens the world 'round wanted quick and decisive action on clean energy. Earth Day 2007 was one of the largest Earth Days to date, with an estimated billion people participating in the activities in thousands of places like Kiev, Ukraine; Caracas, Venezuela; Tuvalu; Manila, Philippines; Togo; Madrid, Spain; London; and New York.

Review And Opinions about the Samsung I450

 

Dominating TV ads, newspaper columns as well as gigantic billboard signs around the this round thing we call earth,  is the new dual sliding I450 from Samsung, also dubbed "the poor man's N95". First announced in October 2007, some of you might feel that it's a little late for me to be blogging about this ...but after actually getting my hands on this baby I felt i just had to tell you guys about it!

I have mixed feelings about this phone, as part of me feels proud (as the owner of the world's first dual slider (N95-1) ) to see this mobile phone concept continue to be developed and looked upon by other mobile companies. Yet, there's also a part of me that feels a little envious about this cool phone and it's touch sensitive, turntable-like wheel revealed when you slide the phone down. ..how it's all smooth and sensitive, effortlessly browsing through music... but more about that later on. As a new member to the dual slider species, the Samsung I450comes with a 2 meg camera with LED flash, a secondary camera for video calls, FM radio, and even HSDPA for the Internet addicts. Feel like having a better understanding of this phone, read on, sir!

General

Samsung i450 may not be the most compact handset around but it certainly won't tear a whole in your pocket either. It stands at 102 x 50 x 17.9 mm, which is identical to Nokia N81 with only a millimetre of difference here and there - nothing to fuss over.

The build quality of the Samsung i450 is good and high quality materials have been used for its finishing. The plastic is not too shiny, which makes it less prone to fingerprints. At least the fingerprints are hardly visible, except for the display area. We didn't fall in love with the slider mechanism. Not that it rendered any obstacles to usability but its spring was far too strained - resulting in an unusual rigidity when closing it. However that may as well be a subject to some fine tuning. The memory is expandable with a microSD and Samsung sets the limit at 4GB.

Another thing that surprises us is the fact that Samsung decided to use a Symbian Platform instead of their usual Java Rubbish, good choice! This will give users much, much more power and utilities to actually qualify it as a "device" and not a "phone" in this modern era. Just because it uses Symbian doesn't mean it equals the N95 however, especially since the I450 lacks WiFi, an accelerometer, graphic accelerators, and so on.

 

 

Music

 

Sliding the front panel down reveals the dedicated music controls - the Touch wheel key. It is a truly interesting and unprecedented feature. It allows easy browsing of the music player options for a more enjoyable sonic experience. While it looks like a fully mechanical key, in fact the Touch wheel key is a touch sensitive piece of machinery. Its response to touch works well, however the response to presses is not that fluent. It lacks positive feedback and it requires more pressure than one would expect from a touch-sensitive key. As this is meant to be a music device, Samsung obviously didn't care about using buttons instead, which could have double up for gaming and other functions (as on the N95).

The 3.5mm stereo audio jack is placed on the top of Samsung i450, which, as we see it, is the most suitable spot for the purpose. Furthermore, it is hidden under a black plastic lid so that it runs with the general design lines. You cannot use that port for plugging a hands-free set, you should use the universal connectivity port for that purpose and the supplied retail hands-free set. Next to the audio jack are the loudspeaker and the power key. The power key is also used for changing the phone's profiles, locking it and removing the memory card.

  The default music player

Samsung's own music player

The music player looks exactly like on other Symbian 3rd edition devices. At least, that's what you may think when you first look at it. In fact there are two different music players on Samsung i450. The first one is accessed from the menu and has only minor differences from the one on Nokia's smartphones for example. The other one is activated by sliding the phone down. It is controlled with the dedicated Touch Wheel key and is definitely much better looking.

Being able to listen to your favourite tracks is one thing but playing them properly is completely different. Samsung teamed up with Bang & Olufsen to produce some killer speakers, yet we were somewhat surprised to see that the results of Samsung i450 weren't the best around - and that's something unusual for the South Korean manufacturer.

Now, don't get us wrong they are not bad by any means and are still able to outdo most handsets. However every single Samsung we have tested so far has been exceptionally good. Therefore we are somewhat confused that a supposedly music-oriented handset as i450 falls a little short of that achievement.

Display

 

The display is not much of a treat. Samsung i450 is equipped with a 2.4" 256K colour display with QVGA resolution. It has good picture quality and made a decent impression overall. On a different note, sunlight legibility isn't among its strong sides and in a sunny day you will have some difficulties finding a proper angle for working with the phone.

Imaging & Photography

 

This is about as good as it gets, any larger and the pictures turn grainy

 

Samsung i450 is armed with a 2 megapixel camera with fixed focus and LED flash. Those surely aren't features to brag about and we're quite positive that the camera is the most disappointing piece of hardware in the phone. However, saying that without putting it to a test is by no means fair to this handset. 

Samsung i450 doesn't have the 3D rotating gallery of the Nokia N-series smartphones, which is our favourite among phones on this platform. Images and videos are presented in list view only. However, there are no differences in terms of functionality. You can view the pictures and videos both in portrait and landscape mode, as well as full screen. Once you pick a picture you can zoom on it and view it in greater detail. The actual zooming is also very fast, in line with the overall performance of the smartphone.

Key features

• Symbian OS 9.2, Series 60 v3.1 UI
• Dual slide design with unique Touch wheel key
• 2.4" 256K colour TFT LCD display with QVGA resolution
• 3G with HSDPA
• 3.5mm standard stereo audio jack
• microSD memory card slot reportedly accepting high-capacity cards
• FM radio with RDS
• Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP

Main Disadvantages

• No WLAN
• Average display quality
• Mediocre camera
• No camera lens cover
• 3.5mm jack cannot be used for plugging a hands-free set (sadly)

 

In a nutshell, the Samsung I450 is truly a cheap alternative for those who want a dual slider phone but can't afford an N95. Without GPS and WiFi, it certainly doesn't make it into the "what computer's have become" club. But with its above average sound quality, decent camera, and intuitive touch-sensitive wheel design, it is sure to be a winner for every Samsung Fan out there, as well as music lovers! Nokia and their line of Nseries devices can rest unshaken, but Sony Erricsson's Walkman series now has a worthy opponent.

VibrateCall From TongRen

Oo... someone's getting greedy.... TongRen, the Chinese developer started making his mark by copying Samir's ShutUp application for the N95 and making it his own (calling it FlipSilent). TongRen proved himself to be a capable and creative software developer when he later developed ShakeSMS, another accelerometer application which was an instant hit, and is now one of my favourite accelerometer applications. The reason I say he is becoming greedy is because he is charging money for his new applications. They are now sharewares (trial applications) instead of donationwares.

Today while browsing FlipSilent international I noticed that a new app is out, VibrateCall. This is not an accelerometer app, but is just as creative. VibrateCall basically makes your phone more user friendly and comfortable while making calls. Let me explain:

Usual Way of making a call (without VibrateCall):
Dial the number
Place the phone to your ear to wait for person on the other line to answer.
Talk when connected

 

but now...

 

With VibrateCall:
Dial the number, hold phone in your hand.
Phone will vibrate awaiting for person on the other line to pick up.
Phone stop vibrating when call is connected.
Place phone to ear to talk.

 

So,

Why use VibrateCall?
Safer : "Radiation emission by a mobile phone when a call is connected is found to be as much as 20 times the level during a call"
Easier : You don't need to stick your phone to your ear when calling somebody, just hold the phone in your hand, you will know exactly when the call is answered.

 

How it works:
When you are making the call, you mobile phone will keep vibrating. After the call is answered (or after a time-out), it stops vibrating. To make it easy for drivers, you can also dial a call with the loudspeaker on!

 

Benefits:
You will put your phone near your ear only after it is answered, which protects you from the high radiation emission when a call is connecting.
It also helps in the noisy environment, just hold the phone with your hand and wait until it stops vibrating..

Phones Supported:
List: Nokia N95(8GB), N82, N81(8GB), N76, E51, E90, 6290, 6120, 6121, 6110, 5700
Tested On: N95(8GB), N82, N81(8GB), E51, 6120, 6110, 5700

 

Remember what i said about it being a shareware, well there's a way around everything right? ;-)

You can download it here for free, this is the full version. However, you will have to sign it yourself.

**if you're really confused please post a comment here, i can guide you or even sign the file for you.**

Click Me To Download!

What I Did during CNY Part 3

This is probably running a little late, as Chinese New Year was almost 2 months ago but I'm the kind of person who likes to finish of what I started. This is the last and final chapter of my Chinese New Year activities this year and i must saw it really feels good to look back at these photos and blog about them.

It was the last week of CNY, and in the spirit of this season we wanted to visit our friends (and of course collect red packets in the process). Yet the shortage of time drove us to go suicidal in an attempt to visit over 15 houses, BY FOOT in a single day, spanning over a distance of more than 30 kilometres as recorded by my N95. Read on to see for yourself what CNY is all about, and what we did during the last few days of the season.

We went through all sorts of terrain from house to house, including this abandoned construction area

My friend (loy shine) trying to keep his cool in the heat of the Malaysian sun

Probably wasn't such a good idea for a bunch of teenagers to walk in a place like this, but hey it was the shortest route available, that counts right? ; )

All was good until we came across a bad omen...

A dead rat in The Year Of The Rat?!?! How ironic..

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Later that day I went over to my grandma's for prayers.

What's Chinese New Year without a little erhmm... Cards with money thrown in?

You get the idea.. i got myself a little extra pocket money that day. For those of you who don't know what the white tiles are, it is called Mahjong. Unlike the mobile and computer Solitaire Mahjong games which involves matching up tiles, this is the real deal. This is the traditional MahJong game that has been played by Chinese for centuries.

It is pretty much like cards but engraved on little tiles instead. The objective of the games is to get your tiles in a certain sequence (different sequences carry different points, and different cash value), by drawing new tiles and getting rid of the ones you don't want. Each player can take the tiles thrown by other players (under certain circumstances), so each player has to think carefully before throwing out a tile. Many different strategies mean the game and status quo of the tiles can change at any moment, thus making the game more interesting.

Justin staring in disbelief as I won and his pocket money turned into mine ;-)

The Chinese (including myself in the red shirt) are very superstitious and prayers is a must during this festive season

More symbolic than gambling, the colour red and loud noises from fire crackers was originally said to scare away bad spirits in the olden days and is still continued today. The story goes that there was a monster terrifying a Chinese town every new year, and finally the villagers managed to scare it away with the bright red coloured cloths and loud fire crackers. Today, rather than scaring away monsters, the chinese believe this will get rid of bad luck and bring us good luck to embrace the coming new year.

You'll notice there's no shortage of food on the table which is actually offerings to our ancestors and the Gods in the heavens.

No, we're not trying to contribute to global warming or start a camp fire, that's just part of the offerings as well.

Well, so that's pretty much what i did during this year's Chinese New Year season. For those who dont celebrate CNY, i hope this has brought some light as to what Malaysians do to celebrate CNY. I am sure people all around the world celebrate differently, so why not head over to the Comments section or cBox on your right to share the way your celebrated Chinese New Year this year.

Nokia 5800 (Codename: Tube)

SymbianFreak has the scoop on the rumoured first touchscreen device from Nokia.

Now whether the phone was inadvertently or deliberately leaked by Nokia and shown in a slide at the Evans Data Developer Relations Conference in Redwood City, Calif., I guess that I am now allowed to write what I know about!?

If Nokia didn't want it to be leaked out, then they shouldn't have said anything about it! When the gossip starts there is no stopping it, and they should have expected it to be broadcast all over the web.

I think that we all owe Nokia a certain degree of respect with their products, like the way that they respect us with their services, but I am journalist; I got hot information and information is supposed to be shared!!! Of course in respect to Nokia I will have to keep most of this information secret!

Actually I am still in doubt about writing this, I’m not sure what to do, whether to simply inform you that the phone is real and should be available in the first quarter of 2009 or maybe I should write the very first hands on and support it with a few world exclusives and real photos of the first Nokia 5th generation S60 phone also known as Tube!?

Anyway, speaking of the Tube, (I will keep the real name secret but apparently it will not be an Nseries phone) it is what we expected but somehow I am a little bit disappointed, it will be the very first touch S60 phone but I am afraid that it will not be a flagship device and we can expect that the real touch beast will be announced shortly after this one.

Of course, it has a pretty respectable list of features, starting with a great high resolution (16:9) touch screen, larger than 3" but still smaller than 3,5". Yes it has a camera, a decent auto focus one that is way better than the one that we can find on an iPhone but still not as good as on the latest Nseries devices!

It is a quad band phone that also has a wide range of connectivity options: Bluetooth, uPnP , GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA and WLAN. Furthermore it has built in GPS and will support geottaging. All of this is even more impressive considering that all of these features are packed into relatively small and compact body with size of "_ _ _ _ ".

I’ll only say that it is similar in size to the Nokia N73 but it is maybe a little bit wider. One more thing, NO, there is no multi touch and YES there is tactility feedback!

That’s all for now, the iPhone killer is born!!!!

N95, N95 8GB, N82 All On Par With Firmware Versions

Barely 2 weeks after The N95 classic (N95-1) had it's v21 firmware released, the N95 8GB (N95-2) as well as the N82 now have new firmware's as well. No change log whatsoever yet, which makes me wonder are these actually important firmware updates or does Nokia just want to line up all their firmware version to v2x?

Here are some screenshots for the N95 8GB and N82 on Nokia Software Updater.

 

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome & Relief Exercises

If you're like me and spend hours after hours in front of the computer, you're likely to experience wrist discomforts and maybe even pains. This is called Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Don't worry, you're not the only one, about 3 in 100 people develop carpal tunnel syndrome at some point in their life. Over half of these are women. While it can develop at any age, the chance of it occurring increases with age. It is most common in people in their 40s and 50s.

Sometimes carpal tunnel syndrome can be triggered by your job. It can sometimes be prevented by stopping or reducing the activity that stresses your fingers, hand, or wrist, or by changing the way in which activities are done.

What is the carpal tunnel?

The carpal tunnel is a channel in the palm side of the wrist (see diagram below). The bones of the wrist are arranged in a semi-circle, and a tough ligament called the transverse carpal ligament or flexor retinaculum forms a roof over them, creating a passageway (the carpal tunnel). Running through the carpal tunnel are the tendons that we use to bend the fingers and wrist, and the median nerve. This is one of three nerves that connect to the hand. The median nerve also controls some of the muscles that move the thumb.

What causes carpal tunnel syndrome?

Because there isn't much room in the carpal tunnel, any swelling around it can compress the median nerve, causing the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome.

Why does it happen?

For many people, it isn't known why carpal tunnel syndrome develops.

Some studies suggest that repeated activities requiring wrist movements can lead to inflamed tendons or swelling in the carpal tunnel, causing the condition. The movements may be related to your job or hobby, such as typing, knitting, manufacturing work or using small tools. People who use vibrating tools are particularly at risk.

The condition is more likely to develop if you have sprained or previously broken your wrist, which can lead to swelling. The carpal tunnel may also be compressed through rheumatoid arthritis, or in a condition where excess growth hormone is produced (called acromegaly).

Another cause is pressure within the tunnel due to fluid retention. This can happen if you have kidney failure, have an underactive thyroid, or are pregnant. Carpal tunnel syndrome is also more common in people who are very overweight, in women who are taking the contraceptive pill, and during the menopause.

It can be caused by changes to the median nerve itself, too, which may happen if you have diabetes or drink excessive amounts of alcohol.

Illustrations showing the carpal tunnel

To diagnose carpal tunnel syndrome, your doctor may carry out a nerve conduction test. To do this, wires are attached to your fingers and wrist, and small electric shocks applied. Your doctor can then assess nerve conduction and find out if there is any damage to the median nerve.

These exercises have been developed and tested by Dr. Housang Seradge at the University of Oklahoma Orthopaedic & Reconstructive Research Foundation. Studies there indicate that two out of three patients with mild to moderate carpal tunnel symptoms were able to avoid surgery by using these exercises - twice the success rate of other nonsurgical treatments. These exercises are more successful in patients with mild symptoms, and are not recommended for patients with severe symptoms. Patients who have persistent symptoms despite these exercises should discuss surgical treatment with their physician.

---

Here are some exercises intended to help prevent carpal tunnel syndrome. Remember doing a quick five minute exercise warm-up before starting work, just as runners stretch before a run, can help prevent work-related injuries.

Extend and stretch both wrists and fingers acutely as if they are in a hand-stand position. Hold for a count of 5.

Straighten both wrists and relax fingers.

Make a tight fist with both hands.

Then bend both wrists down while keeping the fist. Hold for a count of 5.

Straighten both wrists and relax fingers, for a count of 5.

The exercise should be repeated 10 times.
Then let your arms hang loosely at the side and shake them for a few seconds.

Of course, prevention is better than cure. Take 5 minute breaks from the computer every 15 minutes or so to prevent all this from happening and perhaps save your eyes as well - before it's too late.