TechnoBlabber

I witnessed a great fireworks show in DC with my friends on Saturday and was able to snap up a few videos. As always, the the Mall was packed with people. There were security checkpoints at every entrance and the lines to get in were long. It was a difficult day to roam about thanks to sweltering heat in the afternoon and the crazy showers in the evening. To beat the heat, we frequently took detours into the Smithsonian museums.

This was the first time I tried out the N95′s camera with the new firmware. I’ve always had the complaint that the N95′s camera was slow and unusable for quick shots. After the firmware update however, it’s a completely different beast! The camera is fast to load and quicker with the auto-focus. The image processing time has gone down as well. To put it simply, I did not miss my Casio Exilim 5 mp camera.

This was also the first time I tried out Flickr’s video service and Share on Ovi’s video service!  Share Online was able to upload the images, but I could not upload videos from the N95. I didn’t find a way to embed a slideshow of videos on my blog with Flickr videos, so I’m left with little choice but to load them manually.

Flickr has the better desktop experience for uploading videos, particularly via the browser. Uploads with Share on Ovi are simple too, but the browser uploader starts up a clunky java uploader that hung FF3 a couple of times. I switched to the windows explorer based uploader and it worked flawlessly, but I’m a little wary of anything that uses Windows Explorer to upload stuff.

The fireworks videos:

Museum of National History (Share on Ovi):

Tags:   fireworks · flickr · n-series · N95 · nokia · video · washington dcView Comments

Ever since I got the N95, I haven’t had the opportunity to use my N95 to take a lot of photos. I’ve been wanting to test out the responsiveness, the auto-focus, the flash and the image quality in varied lighting conditions. So here are random pictures taken at the air and space museum. Take a look and let me know what you think:

A couple of photos showing how the N95 works in low lighting conditions:

A few photos showing how well the N95 can capture text, thanks to the auto-focus. My N91 could never do it this well.

All photos can be seen on the flickr gallery.

The N95 is by far, the best camera phone I have owned to date! I enjoyed using the N95 as a digital camera. On the downside, however, I do think that the camera should be faster between pictures. The camera application does not remember the flash setting, which was irritating at times. I had to manually turn off the flash every time I wanted to take photos.

Tags:   n-series · N95 · nokiaView Comments

I don’t even remember the last time I tried booting up a symbian phone without a SIM card. I was pleasantly surprised when I (accidentally) turned on my N95 without a SIM card. The phone boots up as usual and activates the offline mode. All phone functions work just as great as they would with a SIM. You can surf the web, upload pictures to Flickr, navigate with Nokia Maps and play your favorite music. The phone can also sync with the PC in the PC Suite mode (It will, however, try to connect in Mass Storage mode by default).

FYI, The iPhone works without a SIM card as well (another suprise!).

Tags:   n-series · N95 · nokiaView Comments

Just a tidbit I thought I’d share:

I came across an interesting advertisement on cable the other day, an LG advertisement that talked about how LG is taking its commitment to music seriously and has donated money to reinstate music classes in schools where music classes have been discontinued. Intrigued as I was about Nokia’s involvement in initiatives such as these, a quick search on Nokia’s website revealed the Corporate Responsibility section. It lists some really cool initiatives that Nokia has founded and participated in. I believe this is not something that Nokia advertises a lot nor have I come across anyone who has participated in or benefited from any of these programs.

Nothing more to add on here, although it’d be really cool to hear about real-life experiences from people who have volunteered in these programs.

Tags:   blabber · nokiaView Comments

I realize I haven’t updated the blog in over a month now. I wish I could, but life’s been pretty hectic over the past month. I’ve taken up a new job, moved to a new state and I’m trying to settle into a new house. Besides all that, what’s keeping me busy are my new toys :

Hopefully, I will have some interesting articles in the upcoming week.

Tags:   iphone · n-series · N95 · nokiaView Comments

Buy.com is selling the N800 for $242.99 ($232.99 with Google Checkout). I would’ve definitely snagged it if I wasn’t getting the N95-3 this week.

Tags:   n-series · n800 · nokiaView Comments