The ONE - Long Awaited N-gage Game Released

For those of you who have been waiting month after month for this game, wait no more!
without a doubt this is one of the most eagerly anticipated N-gage game ever since the new generation of N-gage was announced, and that was was back last year. Just update your N-gage on your compatible device and ther you will see it.
I'm downloading the game as i speak, so comments will come later.




A few minutes later..............

Ok i have finished installing the game. Just clicking "Start game" and looking at the intros flooded my head with images and memories of combat game si used to play as a kid.
King Of Fighters, Mortal Combat, Street Fighter, and some PS2 games like Tekken, suddenly i have to summon up my brain and fingers to get ready for a lot of action - again... so i hoped...

...and The ONE certainly did not disappoint. Graphics are pretty good, but not as good as it could have been with the processing power of Nseries phones these days. Still, it's a pretty good job, and i would say the line between console gaming and gaming on Nseries devices is really starting to blur with this game. The gaming experience is absolutely phenomenal.
The gameplay is pretty cool too, no superpowers or range attacks, all hand to hand combat. So if you played Tekken before you'll feel right at home with this ONE.
Extra care has been taken to enhance the feel and experience of hand to hand combat. For instance the screen shakes when you take a hard hit. Shadows, good 3D camera action and snapshot feature if you want to caoture the moment you kick the AI's ass in style, dust when you finally pound him down,
all these little feaures really has taken the N-gage gaming to a whole new level, a level users expected in the first place!

Good job with this one Nokia, i hope i will stumble across more exciting features of this game, but even now i'm already urging to grab my credit card and buy this ONE.
Sweet dreams for me tonight!~

Zi, signing off.

Why you should think before you act - Lightsaber mishap

Hey guys, i apologise for the lack of presence lately, as this will be the final hurdle for me to cross in my high school days. Big, no wait, HUGE exam coming up next month so blogging isn't really my priority at the moment.
Anyway, the amount of unnecessary applications for both the iPhone and the Nseries phone, the N95 in particular have been blooming like mad the past few months. Each developer fanboy wants to develop something just for fun as if to say "haha! can the iPhone do this?" and vice versa.
Look, for the N95 we have applications like nGun, nWhip, WaterBox, LightSaber which do nothing more than make a few cool sounds by detecting movements with the accelerometer. The iPhone fairs no better, with applications like I Am Rich (basically it's just a wallpaper of a Ruby) going on the Apple app store selling for USD999.99. Call me crazy but i can't imagine how Apple would allow something as rediculous as this to be on their app store, c'mon! Who is going to pay that much just to have a red dot on his iPhone?!!?
Coming back to our topic, you lot should really be careful how you play around with these fun but useless applications, particularly the ones which utilise the accelerometer of either phone.
I have heard several stories of N95 users who end up throwing their beloved N95s on hard concrete after a few drinks in the bar because they were flinging the lightsaber around like crazy...but i've never actually seen it.
Well, here's a video of something similar happening while a couple decided to have some fun with the lightsaber.
You perverts, that's not what i meant!

Best iPhone Comparison - ever!

Unless you've been living under a rock the past few weeks, you'd know that Apple released a "new iPhone" with added 3G support. Essentially it's the same iPhone with added 3G support, but still, no MMS, same crappy camera, no flash, no video recording, no copy/paste function, no changeable battery.... and so many more. -probably not even worth wasting the space in this post to list it all out.

Let's have a look at the best iPhone 3G comparison out there, courtesy of kylepsp from N95users.

I think even a stone's texture feels better than the iPhone's touchscreen.. but nah, i'll let Steve have this one. ;D

Oh wait there is good news though, you can get a white edition of the iPhone 3G for only a hundred dollars more! :D

DontTouch and AlertMe released (nAlertMe clones)

Samir Oueldi, a highly acclaimed Symbian developer stole the limelight last month, when he announced his new website aikonlab dedicated to the development and testing of revolutionary symbian s60 applications. Along with the release of his website, Samir posted 2 videos of his new concepts, boldly publishing a release date at the end of the videos. Supposedly released at 13th september, his applications Handwave and nAlertMe instantly became subject of symbian and Nokia discussions throughout the world, and excited pretty much every Nseries user out there. 2 days after that, the added subject of "opening in a few hours" on Samir's new website got users even more excited, and practically checking his website very hour.

...but after 3 grueling long weeks, i think the world is tired of waiting for Samir. Perhaps Handwave was just a cheap gimmick done using a bluetooth keyboard, to survey the acceptance of such an application, perhaps Samir still hasn't gotten over his divorce, perhaps Samir just needs more time to code the programs? We will never know. But one thing is certain, users out there have gotten so sick and tired of Samir's delays that they have literally taken matters into their own hands and started coding applications that mimic Samir's concept.

I'm proud to announce AlertMe by Ahmed Yildrim(a.k.a. Mclightning) and DontTouch by zoellner86. Both applications are theft alarms that utilise the built in accelerometer of the N95 and N82, much like Samir's concept. Basically the phone records a set position by taking in data from the accelerometer. When the phone is moved, or disturbed by even the slightest movement, the accelerometer will detect the change and immediately trigger an alarm. The thing i absolutely love about both apps is the ability to run these applications in the background with the keypad locked. Not only does this give you more time in an event of a phone theft, it also "child-proofs" your phone from unwanted itchy fingers. Well enough chit-chat, here are the applications, and what the developers had to say:

1.AlertMe by Ahmed Yildrim (Mclightning)

Mclightning: As u can know we wait so long time for nAlertMe and i get bored of this. i created an app. like nAlertMe 3 days ago and i wrote a topic to get help about making sis file from py files.then today i solved how to make sis from python files and thanks JimmPoo and pocketsly for helps.

How To use:

• First of all you need to save the position of the phone from the "Save Pos." menu

• Then when you press start button it will start the protection
  if phone moves it will start to alarming

• You can change the sensitivity from the menu by writing a number between 0 and 10.but Please dont write numbers lower than 5.write 10 for low sensitivity. 5 is default

My personal opinion: This came before DontTouch, so it is a little unstable, most importantly AlertMe is overly sensitive.

2.DontTouch by zoellner86

Zoellner86: 4 People who can never wait for Samir's nAlertMe,..
This is my try to make a "clone".
U can feel free 2 use it.
Ahmet YILDIRIM (AlertMe) was quicker than me, but i think my one is ok too.
u need MegaPyModulePack and PyS60
have fun.

How To Use?

• Set sensitivity by clicking "Sens"
• Press start and place phone in desired position
• Countdown will start and initiate the alarm

  

My personal opinion: This was just released today and is a much more stable version. I'm also digging this background image. I highly recommend you try this one.

Additional installation notes:

• Before you install anything, remove RDaccelerometer and axyz (if you have them) from the app manager
• Install Megapymodule pack 1.4.1. This is very important!! If you have v1.4.2 installed, uninstall that version and install this one instead.
• After those preperations, you can now install either AlertMe or DontTouch to phone memory.

Download Links

**Update: AlertMe v2.0 (Improved source code, collaboration of the two developers, password protection added. Default password is "0")

AlertMe v1.5

DontTouch v1.0

MMpack 1.4.1

Nokia 5800 official video and interactive demos galore!

Here's the link to the Interactive demo

...and here are the videos, have fun!

Nokia Tube slides it's way into the heart of Nokia users

The eagerly anticipated Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, codenamed "the Tube" is finally out! According to Nokia, the target audience for this phone is the mid range market and The price is 279 Euro before tax.

The 5800 will feature a screen with resolution 640*360px. It’s is also called the nHD screen because it is basically 1/9th of a HD screen. Let me show you a diagram I drew prior to this post.

 

The 5800 will be the first S60 touchscreen phone from Nokia and it will also be the most advanced XpressMusic device in it’s category.

Some of the features of the 5800 includes the new S60 5th edition and the latest version of the Symbian OS, 3.2mpx Carl Zeiss Optics camera, 30fps DVD-like video recording, dual LED flash and GPS.

Connectivity wise, it supports 3G, Wifi, Bluetooth and USB.

3.2inch wide screen… dual speakers

The top part of the phone spots an on/off button, 3.5mm headphone jack and a micro USB port.

The phone will come in 3 XpressMusic colours… yes you’ve guessed it. haha… red, blue and grey.

As you can see, the right side of the phone places the camera shutter button, touchscreen slider lock and the volume/zoom keys.

2 new innovations I like about the 5800.

- Haptic feedback: It feels very different from the other touchscreens I’ve tried. This one doesn’t feel like vibration. It feels more like erm… a 0.5mm nudge.. which feels a lot more solid than the rest. (Edit: The haptic felt like a general one.. not specifically at the spot you touch)

- Touch media bar key: Can you see the bright little logo next to the word “XpressMusic” above the screen? Thats the touch sensitive key. Once touched, the quick access media bar will appear.. (the red vertical bar in the photo) and gives access to Music, Photos, Share Online, Videos and Internet.

I’m sure by now you would have noticed the 4 little photos on the main screen.

You can actually set the photos to display the 4 most frequently contacted person so when you touch on their faces, the call logs, sms history and RSS feeds will be shown respectively in tabs.

The 2 keys at the bottom of the screen are dial pad and phonebook respectively.

Now ready for some videos?

In this post, I will show you guys 2 videos.

Video 1: Nokia 5800 XpressMusic accessing OVI Share Online.

Prefer to watch it on Youtube? Click here.

Video 2: Nokia 5800 XpressMusic playing music.

Prefer to watch it on Youtube? Click here.

---adapted from-yes, you've guessed it-symbian.smashpop.net----

From what's shown on his website, the Tube does not support the n-gage gaming platform, however Nokia has preinstalled the device with Bounce: Boing Voyage as well as Global Race, both of which incorporate fresh new ways of playing the games, a bit iPhone-ish I might add.

Received prize for N95 photo competition

Today i woke up with a great feeling... perhaps it was the melodious sound of birds chirping outside my window.

Nah, it was the sweet small of the green stuff, and i'm not talking about the plants in my garden either. To my pleasant surprise Brandon, the administrator of the wonderful site N95users.com today credited 100USD to my paypal account as the prize for 2 months of photo competition i have won. One with the theme "flowers" in june and the other "animals" in august. Feel free to check them out on my Flickr profile and comment on them.

Why the N96 just isn't set to win the hearts of Symbian power users

The new Nokia N96 has just been launched some time ago, and as usual Nokia has devised quite a number of promotions to boost it's sales. The N96 is marketed as Nokia's next flagship device and said by some to be the successor to the now 2 years old N95. Over several firmware updates and device releases, the N95 literally become Nokia's most successful and powerful devices, and perhaps is the only mobile device manufactured that is still up to date after 2 years since it was first announced. but with the bar raised so high by the N95 8GB (N95-2), can the N96 top what the N95-2 already offered to users?

...and so the debate between the old and the new continues.

Thanks to the people at Gadget Information, there's now a clear list of the major differences between the N95 and N96. Perhaps one of the most notable differences is the CPU. Surprisingly, the N96 does not have a graphic accelerator as on the N95, and is furthur hindered by the fact that it's CPU is less powerful, yes less powerful than the one on N95s. The N96 has a ARM9 264MHz onboard while the N95 has a Dual 332Mhz ARM11 based CPU. Was Nokia so desperate to increase battery life they actually resorted used a lower powered CPU? If yes the decision is almost laughable to power users. However, the fact that the N95 has such powerful hardware only highlights its ability run amazing game like Quake 2 and Global Race, which are pretty much the only two games that fully utilise the N95's potential.

Coming back to the N96, Nokia doesn't really care about those two measly games because the know they can WOW regular users with the N-gage 2.0 series of games. As posted in several youtube videos, the N96 seems to run N-gage games just fine, which is pretty much good enough for the average user. So it all comes down to the way Nokia markets these devices, which is what Nokia has done quite well. Instead of marketing it as a "do-it-all" device like the N95, the N96 has been targeted more as a web browsing and primarily a mobile video device, hence the large screen, kick-stand and 16GB of storage space.

In my opinion the N96 is not targeted to replace the N95 and it's fan base of Symbian power users at all, instead it is aimed for users who want a phone which looks good, and still be "as powerful" as the N95. The reason i say this is because the design of the N96 itself and the build quality has improvised and from the N95s. The edges are rounder, it looks classier and even the operating user interface(UI) looks much fancier and smoother. However these are just all eye candies which will come back to haunt a user. There have reports on the net which show the N96's beautiful front glossy design being scarred with scratches after just weeks of usage, and how the fancy UI causes it to lag and be less responsive to he N95.

With all this said, to me the only true advantage the N96 seems to have is the claimed "optimal GPS reception without slider being open" which sometimes can be annoying on the N95. I think the N96 will no doubt be on the "want" list of many Nokia users, however not be enough to attract the current N95 fan base nor Symbian power users. Bear in mind that all this is currently based on the early stages of the N96's software, which i'm sure Nokia will vastly improve and work on, just as they have transformed the N95 from train wreck to mobile legend.

Seeing is beleiving - here are several video comparisons between the N95 and N95, as well as Spec comparisons

N96 VS N95 (Major differences)

Positive

• 16GB of integrated memory (as opposed to 8GB for N95 8GB), plus further extensibility via microSD memory card
• 2.8 inch display with 16 million colours (same as N95 8GB, versus 2.6" display for original N95)
• Camera flash is a dual-LED in the N96 while it is only a single LED in the N95
• New audio DSP for improved audio quality and longer playback time
• New version of Nokia Video Centre
• Longer music playback time (14 hrs) and video playback time (5 hrs)
• Windows Media WMV9 video codec is added
• Hardware acceleration for video codecs for H.264 and WMV (as well as MPEG4 as before)
• Location tagging (geotagging) of pictures, using the integrated GPS
• Mobile TV DVB-H receiver is built into N96
• New release of Nokia Experience Software
  • Maps 2.0 with satellite images, upgrade to pedestrian mode and voice-guided car navigation
  • Internet Radio pre-installed
  • Home Media Solution (sync with DLNA / UPnP devices over WLAN)
  • Online sharing of pictures with plugins for Flickr, Ovi Share and other services (Can be added on N95 with newer version of Share Online Application)
• S60 3rd Edition is upgraded from Feature Pack 1 to Feature Pack 2
  • Symbian OS is upgraded from version 9.2 to 9.3
  • The Java ME engine is upgraded from MIDP 2.0 to MIDP 2.1
  • User data is preserved when upgrading firmware (This feature is also present on the N95-2 as v21 installs UDP base files)
• The FM radio is upgraded with RDS
• Limited graphics acceleration (only for internal apps)
• N96 is a dual-band HSDPA (900 and 2100 MHz) while N95 was a single band (2100)
• MicroSD memory card slot (as in original N95, while N95 8GB has no card slot)
• No need to open the slide for optimal GPS reception
• New design
  • Landscape-oriented design (landscape oriented speakers, connectors and buttons located optimally for landscape use)
  • Flip-out kickstand
  • Media keys available in all modes (even when slide is closed, for background control of music)
  • Media keys on short side can transform into gaming keys
  • Lockswitch (enables quick lock / unlock of keypad)
  • Thinner and lighter than N95 8GB
• N-Gage included. About 5 games preloaded and one free game coupon (varies by country).

Negative

• CPU downgraded to ARM9 264MHz for N96 (N95 have Dual 332Mhz ARM11 based CPU)
• Same battery as original N95 (950 mAh), but the N96 reportedly has a much better battery life using the same battery (Nokia N95 8GB has 1200 mAh)
• No infra-red port on N96
• No Hardware 3D graphics accelerator for N96
• Built-in support for VoIP telephony (and thus cheap Internet Calling) removed from N96 (N95 has Nokia VoIP 2.1)
• Digital zoom is only x10 on N96, while it's x20 on N95 8GB
• Camera Lens in the N96 is 2.8/5.2, and in the N95 2.8/5.6 (N95 have more apperture)

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N96 Slow response time

N96 facing trouble running 3D graphic accelerator games

N96 running N-gage 2.0 games just fine