Got Me N95 Back - A Whole New World.

So after an excruciating 5 weeks without my N95 due to water damage.... erhmm.. twice, I finally got it back from NSC on Monday. in that period I got myself a 5310 XpressMusic, a phone I've been eyeing for quite some time now as a spare phone. I expected the radical switch from the N95's feature packed S60v3 OS 9.1 Platform to the 5310's S40 5th edition platform to be a gruelling experience, but at that instance of "life or death" it wasn't really that bad.

The 5310 was a comfortable phone in my hand, though it felt a little feeble compared to what I'm used to. The 3.5mm jack and playback keys made me feel "at home" with the device instantly. ...To bad i couldn't say the same for the UI. Admittedly at first it was rather confusing at annoying at times because everything was so simple and constrained in the S40 platform. After a few hours though, i started getting the hang of things and the only setback was the poor camera quality. During that 5 weeks i literally fell in love with the slimness of the phone, being only 1cm think (Nokia prefers to call it 0.99mm) it makes for a pretty good style accessory for certain events. ;D

Being a music phone, the 5310 truly shines in it's audio quality. The on-board music chip really does make a difference. When i connect it to my BOSE speakers and headphone for comparison, the results and stunning. Sadly i have to say in terms of output quality, the 5310 actually beats the N95. However, the built in speakers are not as satisfying. Treble is good, but when it comes to bass the 5310 has less of it than a 1985 transistor radio.

             As i mentioned earlier, i my N95 was subjected to water damage twice. In it's second trip Nokia actually had to have the entire motherboard replaced, not just the LCD. Yea sure, getting a fresh motherboard and LCD is good stuff, but i got the shock of my life* when i switched it on. MY IMEI HAD BEEN CHANGED. Suddenly it struck me, all the joy of having my phone back suddenly smashed by a harsh realization of the work ahead to restore my phone's software. All the apps i had, all had to be signed again, all software bought had to be requested to suit and compensate my new IMEI.

*I did not actually get the shock of my life. ;D

             Arrggghh!! symbiansigned...... What took me long enough to figure out how to apply for a devcert last time, now took me the just as long to figure out the total opposite - they don't give away free devcerts anymore -. In fact not only do you need to have a Published ID, but you have to pay $200 just to get one! Obviously i was not going to pay *DUH*. Instead, pushed by sheer determination to get all those lovely apps back into my N95 again, i searched for an alternative. Yes, i hacked my phone.        

             Thanks to BinPDA and ZORN, hacking the S60 platform nowadays was literally a breeze. The only setback was that i had to Rootsign everything all over again, but that certainly beats paying $200, no complaints then! Now, i have Full N-Gage games installed, 13 additional custom folder icons, and so, so much more to come. Of course, you all can count on me to bring you all the goodies and latest news in the S60 and N95 world. Till next time!