Nokia Mobile Gaming - Master Plan?

Nokia is to relaunch is N-Gage gaming service in November, with an added feature that it will be compatible with all N-Series devices. With 40 million N-Series units already sold, the new service Nokia is offering represents an attractive prospect to users of Ngage and the N-Series. Devices compatible with the service will include: Nokia N73, Nokia N81, Nokia N81 8GB, Nokia N93, Nokia N93i, Nokia N95 and Nokia N95 8GB.

To gain customer interest, Nokia is offering free trials of all well-known games including FIFA 08 and gamers can then chose to buy the complete title at a later date. Capcom, I-Play and EA are amongst the firms developing games for the service, with EA preparing FIFA 08, The Sims 2: Pets, Tetris and Tiger Woods PGA Tour for the format.

“With the new N-Gage experience, fans of some of our most popular franchises like FIFA or The Sims can play and stay connected with other fans. With millions of compatible Nokia devices already in the marketplace, we’re very excited to help bring quality mobile gaming expriences to the fingertips of a global audience,” said Barry Cottle, senior vice president and general manager at EA Mobile.

Nokia plans to offer games at an ultra low price of €10 (£6.78) and daily and monthly rental options will also be available - thus making it an affordable option for all gamers on the move.

If things continue like this, I predict a War to be started in the Mobile Arena. Something similar to the those being fought in the PC Gaming Market. And the first strike will probably be by NVidia onto PowerVR.

Courtesy David Gibbon.

Personalising the N95 - the Brando way!!

It's always great to own a N95, more so when it's different from the one that everyone else owns. The standard N95 that comes with the silver face is nice but how would you rank one that comes with a black MusicEdition style face? or a pink one for gifting your girl? or how 'bout a blue one that looks super cool?! Wouldn't it be great?? Ofcourse it will - and that's why I decided to review some cases from Brando.

The cases i received are from Brando - and I must say that I really
liked their cases. The case package includes a front plate, and a
battery cover for added customisation(you could perhaps put your own
graphic or text on it if you have the time and creativity to do it),
but I don't use the battery cover..I'm happy with the face housing
alone.

The silver housing is sort of like a ditto of the Original Nokia
Product and is an excellent cheap replacement part which will save you
the trouble of dealing with the Nokia Care Center which I absolutely
detest(of all the cases that i have had with the NSC only a rare few have
been positive). And i must say that with the complete silver suiting on the n95 it does look kinda sporty !!

Then comes the Black Housing. Put it on and you have a phone that
could easily be mistaken for the much hyped Music Edition itself! The
finish is excellent with a slightly glossy effect similar to that of
the actual Music Edition about to be released.

Gifting your girl friend a N95 would be the best gift ever. But what
if you have it with a cute lil' pink housing that comes with a soft
smooth finish? Now that would be really something 'cuz she'd know that
you really put your mind into giving her something nice, rather than
just spending money on the best in the market. And when her friends
see the pink N95 they're bound to ask about it. nice eh? ;) Did you know that Darla Mack also has a pink one!!

Finally comes my favourite - the Mystic Blue colour gives the N95 just
the effect that it needs! Coming in a matt finish this is the ultimate
touch that you can give your beloved phone. LUV IT!!

So what are you waitin' for?? Go get yourself one of these chic
housings and get all the bragging rights that you deserve. Even the other N95 users will be there looking in awe at your handset :D
Bathe yourself in the glory of your creation!!

Price: 9 US $.

Pros: Finish, Price.

Cons: Durability.

More N95 Style Tips??

Note: All the Panels used in the above pictures have been supplied by Brando. If you are interested in any of the panels you can order them at Brando.

Nokia N95 8 GB ?

Is it really the Nokia N95 8GB or just a color change on the N95 3G US Edition?? An N95 music edition is seriously going to blow away the happiness of a lot of N95 users - were fed up wih the US edition of the N95 being launched with the same name as it is.

I did expect something like this to happen when they launched the N95 with users manual stating that the technically the N95 would be known as the N95-1. But i didn't expect anything of this magnitude !!

The FCC website (US regulator) currently has some information about the Nokia N95 8GB on its website. Hardware changes include a reworked back section with the removal of the camera lens cover to allow for a bigger battery. The top slide media keys are now slightly raised and the phone itself is black. There are also some interesting hints about the software in the manual with references to N-Gage gaming and the Nokia Music store.

The soft keys have become smaller - god knows why they did that, making keys smaller just increases the difficulty in using the already awkard design of the keys. When i say awkard i don't mean they're awkard to look at but awkard to use. Another thing is that this wasn't done to increase the screen size - it was merely done to include the NOKIA tag beneath the screen.

The black color also looks tacky and cheap. It just doesn't match the phone, and doesn't reach anywhere near the grandeur of the dual tone colors of the Classic N95.

On the software part there seems to be new additons to the phone like the inclusin of the N-Gage Application with which you can test drive N-Gage applications as well as play some of the games when they get released. I'm talking about the new N-gage here!.

There also may not be any MicroSD support fot the phone as it includes Mass Memory support.

The phone is said to be due for release by the 29th of August, so if any plans to buy it please let me know.

courtesy allaboutsymbian.com

N95 - Customise the Look

When I tried to take apart my N95 the other day, I found that the (back) cover can be easily popped out. This makes it easy to customize and change covers... I don't think the other N-Series phones have this cool feature..

I'l be putting up a few reveiwed panels within a few days. Damn, it'll be cool to have a N95 that looks different than the rest. With a few lil' tweaks we could even morph it to look like a Music Edition !

Shouldn't be long before different covers reveiw start appearing over here - so don't forget to check this place for any updates !!

Nokia 5700 - The good, the bad & the ugly..

A few days ago, I had the chance to use the Nokia 5700 ExpressMusic courtesy my friend BinuRaj. This one was black in colour and had a 1GB microSD - filled to the brim wih music(obviously). The 5700 is kind of like the update to the Nokia 5300..but sometimes i wonder whether it really is good enough to be considered as a successor.

Most music fans usually crave for a simplistic music device that can play great music as well as provide sufficient bragging rights - which is why the iPod is such a hit.

The 5700 doesn't seem to work that way..it's music output through the ear phones is excellent, more so if you use your favorite headset but it's loudspeaker's performance is..uhm..minimal. The volume is low ant the sound hazy. I considered them as a bad omen for the things to come.

The menu & delete buttons were'nt friendly at all - you had to practically aim first before hitting the key(i really felt like hitting it!). And it's revolving bottom is about sa reliable as the N95's dual slider. Both are unique - not only in their features but also in their complaints...

On the other hand the body materials are really good, i particularly liked the matt finish in the middle. The phone's processor is above 350mhz which makes for a real smooth OS - the S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1; which is one of the reason why i got interested in this particular smartphone.

The screen is crisp and brings out the colours vibrantly. Movie playback was also good - excelt the sound when you put it in speaker mode. The 3.5mm jack lets you plug in your favourite headset easily - you are not restricted tot he Nokia headsets alone, which i must say is a very good move.The 2MP camera also does a good job in aking those precious moments with panache, the flash kicking in whenever you need it the most. Moreover the battery compartment is placed neatly and holds the BP-5M battery snug and cosy. Mind you - it ain't easily removable! And the battery life is pretty good too..especially compared with that of the N95 Euro Edition. The USA Edition is ofcourse a different story...

Overall the 5700 is a nice phone, but it ain't gonna woo anyone away from an iPod.and be carefull when you twist it !!

5700 Wares:

Games ( Symbian S60 v3 )

Softwares ( Symbian S60 v3 )

New N95 coming to town !!

A few days ago i had blogged about a rumour concerning another N95 coming to town. And it's turned out to be true! Not only that, but it's coming out with the same name as well!! And Nokia says that they respect Customer Satisfaction.

:(

But the thing is, the new n95 seems to be the perfect phone to be nokia's flagship. The nokia team has sorted out all the problems that had been plaguing the old n95 ( OLD?? i jus' bought it a few months ago!! ) .

For instance the battery problem has been solved by including a far more powerful battery in the phone that has around 1200 mA. The battery problems had been a major part of all debates concerning the N95, especially in the N95 VS iPhone fights.

Also improved is the multimedia buttons and the back part of the phone. I really like the new multimedia keys - the old ones were a little more difficult to press as they were in the same level. The new ones protrude out thereby increasing it's usablity.

The rear end has also been modified to accomodate the new bigger battery - by removing the camera cover as well as sinking the camera set-up into the body removing the protrusion that used to be there thus making it comparatively thinner than before.

The graphic work has also changed comparatively with an added nseries spoiler in addition to the usual NOKIA(see the images).

According to Ricky Caden of SymbianGuru the old battery can be used in the new phone but the new battery can't be used in the old phones.. sheesh..nokia is gonna be gettin' some real sad customers...

Courtesy SymbianGuru and Ricky. thanks buddy :)

Nokia calls back BL-5C !!

Just as Dell had recalled thousands of it's laptop batteries the other day because of certain "explosive" reasons, Nokia seems to have the same problem as well and will be calling back it's batteries too.

They will only call back betteries of the BL-5C type that were produced by Matsushita Battery Industrial Co., Ltd. of Japan between December 2005 and November 2006.

If you have one of the models listed below you can go here to enter the serial number and then your address and a replacement battery will be shipped out to you.

Handsets using BL-5F:

Nokia 1100, Nokia 1100c, Nokia 1101, Nokia 1108, Nokia 1110, Nokia 1112, Nokia 1255, Nokia 1315, Nokia 1600, Nokia 2112, Nokia 2118, Nokia 2255, Nokia 2272, Nokia 2275, Nokia 2300, Nokia 2300c, Nokia 2310, Nokia 2355, Nokia 2600, Nokia 2610, Nokia 2610b, Nokia 2626, Nokia 3100, Nokia 3105, Nokia 3120, Nokia 3125, Nokia 6030, Nokia 6085, Nokia 6086, Nokia 6108, Nokia 6175i, Nokia 6178i, Nokia 6230, Nokia 6230i, Nokia 6270, Nokia 6600, Nokia 6620, Nokia 6630, Nokia 6631, Nokia 6670, Nokia 6680, Nokia 6681, Nokia 6682, Nokia 6820, Nokia 6822, Nokia 7610, Nokia N70, Nokia N71, Nokia N72, Nokia N91, Nokia E50,and the Nokia E60.

These new batteries are starting to scare me nowadays.. i mean first they blow up your computer, and then they blow up your cell phone - how do they expect me to live without both of 'em???!

MWN - Mobile Wrestling News

N95 vs iPhone
Hey, what i think is both these phones are for different segments. I mean the n95 is usually bought for it's features by people who understand computers and modding. People who have n95's usually mod and customise them heavily and have(2have) an indepth idea of softwares and computers. Also the styling is way off when compared to the iphone.

The i-phone on the other hand is aimed at the cool dudes out there. These people don't need a 5mp camera( cuz they're not photographers?) nor the gps(not going trekking!) nor the dual slide...which is a waste of time and very clumsy too - being full of bugs. And besides.. who needs a double slide when you have a super cool touch screen that even lets you pinch it!


But in the end i bought myself a n95 :P..

Why i bought it??..

There are 4 problems for the average iphone user, and they are:
1. Virtual keyboard, how fast can you write on this ? Teens and a lot of adults today are SMS maniacs.
2. You can't use it with one hand.
3. No 3G. "What's the point of a multi-media device that can't deliver rich content!"
4. Low camera resolution.

100 iPhones in a stack would be: 1160 mm tall
100 N95s in a stack would be 2100 mm tall

Clearly the iPhone fails to stack up to the N95.. ;)

Read the next instalment ->here<-..

N95 Processing Power !

Only when i blogged about the NviDia 6100 GoForce Graphics solution for smartphones did it cross my mind to check about how the N95 did it's number crunching, not to mention how it supported the 5MP camera and that 3D snake and System Rush game.

So i did some research and i must say i was really impressed with what had turned up!

The N95, Nokia's answer to multimedia computers, runs on a very interesting combination of hardware. As you know it has 64MB of RAM and 160MB of flash memory. It's CPU works on a Texas Instruments OMAP microprocessor known as the OMAP 2420. The OMAP 2420 features 332 Mhz clock speed, PowerVR features (3d and 2d accelerator) and High speed peripheral interconnect while running on the ARM11 architecture. Per the TI website, the OMAP families are broken into "High Performance", "Basic Multimedia", and "Modem and Applications". I smiled a bit when i saw that the OMAP 2420 is listed under the High-Performance segment - that explains the smooth graphics on system rush and snake. Oh yeah.. and it has 2 of these processors too...

PowerVR's latest designs on the portable market, the low power PowerVR MBX and high performance PowerVR SGX, which have become the de facto standards for mobile 3D, having been licensed by six of the top ten semiconductor manufacturers including Intel, Texas Instruments, Samsung, NXP Semiconductors, Freescale, Renesas, and Sunplus, and is in use in many high-end cellphones including the Apple iPhone, Nokia N95, Sony Ericsson P1i, and Motorola Z8. The thing is the N95 runs on the low-power MBX version.. i shudder to think what would happen if it were using the power hungry SGX. We would then almost certainly have to go Yoobao then.

Thanks to all these cool hardware the N95 packs a punch for handling graphics - Fully HW accelerated 3D OpenGL ES 1.1 and HW accelerated Java 3D go a long way in re-defining gaming on the n95 and mobile phones as way we know them today. It probably won't be soon before we start seeing hi-graphic gaming phones on the market - a new NGage maybe?

NVIDIA GoForce 6100

the Highly Integrated and Power Optimized Mobile Multimedia Experience

Running highly integrated media features on your phone often meant that there had to be a trade off between battery life and multimedia content processing and voice calls. This no longer has to be the case. The GoForce® 6100® is a highly integrated multimedia applications processor that combines the flexibility of highly optimized DSP technology with hardwired acceleration to deliver the ultimate power optimization – consuming less than half the power of other application processors available on the market today. As a result, the NVIDIA GoForce 6100 delivers rich multimedia features to the mobile entertainment and communications market, enabling mainstream users to enjoy more – more moments in their life with more time left on the battery life. An ideal mix of interfacing, connection, integration, multimedia and ultra-low power features, GoForce 6100 has been designed from the ground up to enable fast time to market for award-winning connected and mobile products in 2007 and 2008. Key Features

Dedicated high performance 250MHz ARM1176JZ-S core Hardwired acceleration for all processing-intensive multimedia and security functions H.264, WMV9/VC-1, and MPEG-4 at up to VGA resolution, 30fps Up to 10 megapixel camera sensor support Support for all available DRM formats Fully integrated, high quality analog audio subsystem Integrated TV encoder and video DACs

Key Benefits

Ultra low power consumption even when running high-performance media features Compatible with multiple network standards, including DVB-H, ISDB-T and DMB Turn key, flexible and highly optimized software and multimedia firmware platform for shorter design cycles iPod quality audio playback Dedicated imaging pipeline for high performance mobile photography Drives LCD displays up to WVGA resolution S-Video TV-out Connects to any network – Up to 3G cellular (HSDPA), WiFi , Bluetooth, GPS, WiMax

With chips as advanced as this already in the market, i think it will probably drive out PowerVR out of the mobile market just as it drove them out of the PC market. Probably within the next few years we may have ultra-portable gaming consoles. Come to think of it, the N95 is already a small gaming console by it-self!

I mean with the TV out cables and the advanced high-performance chip that drives it, the N95 did give pretty impressive results when i played System Rush on the TV. Try it out sometime - i'm sure you'll like it.

US 3G Nokia N95 Getting Battery Upgrade!

It seems Nokia has upgraded the N95 for the US market, taking care of most of the problems that it had faced earlier.

The first is that the thing finally has US 3G. It's 850/1900, so you're cruising on AT&T's HSDPA network at speeds up to 3.6mbps. That's fast.Of course, you can still fall back to EDGE, if you're out of area. Worldwide travelers should know that they did remove the 2100 HSDPA.

Then, the battery. Oh, that puny battery.. it's been upped to a whopping 1200 mAh!! That's a competition to the add-on battery released by Yoobao even!!! 'Course the Yoobao battery is at 1400mAh - but it destroys the looks. The Nokia BL-6F fits in there all snug and gives the N95 the power it so desperately needs. Compare that to the previous N-series Battery Overlord, the N73, with 1100 mAh.

The phone is said to be shipped along with a 1GB microSD to take care of the memory needs that it's 5MP camera would want.. not to mention the rate at which the camera sucks up memry when in video mode with it's 30FPS shooting rate.

There are also rumours going around that the RAM has been boosted up to 128MB. Qith that kinda power i wonder why they didn't add that NVIDIA GoForce Graphics too.. then the n95 would be the ultimate multimedia device on the face of this planet!!

Oh and by the way, the BL-6F doesn't get into the old n95s :( . From what they've said the BL-6F needs more space in the battery compartment. If this phone does come out, then it'l be a really bad day for all euro n95 users out there..

Symbian-Guru says:
Finally they're throwing the US a bone and giving us a leg up over the European market.

Oh well..i guess life's like that...sniff

courtesy symbian-guru.com