Personalising the N95 - the Vaja way !!

Pamper your N95 with the new leather cases from Vaja. Known as the
"Ivolution Holster" these cases are way cool and are practically the next
best thing to naked ;)
They gaurantee to give you some really serious bragging rights(as if havin a
n95 wasn't enuf :D).

One of the other things that i found amusing is the fact that the
phone when equipped with the vaja case takes on the look of a US
Edition N95. And all these days i was sad thinking of how i'd show my
face in front of those with the US phone.

Another thing that I like most about all Vaja cases is how perfectly well
they are designed for their particular SmartPhone. Rather than a standard
"sleeve" design that would work with all the models, Vaja has taken a
different strategy - they create cases that are completely customized to the
device.

The Vaja case adds bulk to the N95, but because the leather is thin it
doesn't make any difference.

As usual the Vaja leather is superb. It's superbly soft with excellent
finishing, it lies perfectly taut on the phone, giving it a really
beautifull face-lift. After using the N95 for a few minutes with the
ivolution holster, the regular matt finish looks extremely boring.
Another feature that demands to be praised is that the standard
buttons are cloaked by a leather and fabric jacket that morphes the
buttons to a way cooler design. I loved the way how the leather bends
and weaves around the phone in a smooth curvy kind of way.

Chek 'em out guys and you'l know why I'm so happy, I always liked my phones
to be as close to the real thing as possible and not like people in jackets
looking like Eskimos with all that thick covering. If you don't get what i
mean you could go here. Check out the post, especially the 1st pic shown there - it looks like a burger with a n95 fillet!

Well, fear no more with these chic casings from Vaja. They'l protect your
phone and look good doing it!

Pros: Looks Good, Feels Good, Beautifull Leather, superb fit, gives it the look of a US edition n95 or even the 8GB if you try.

Cons: Tad too expensive - but the value ain't bad, there are some creaks initially - but they soften up with use.

Verdict: Go For It!

MSN Live! on the Nokia N95!

The title kind of rhymes doesn't it ! Wow - this could be the start of a beautiful relationship between me and poems ;)

Anyways, moving onto the topic, i just found an app for incorporating MSN Live! onto out N95s. I installed the Windows live app and I now have an authentic MSN Messenger running on my N95.

I tries to run and it did run albeit slowly, but that's probably because I only has a plain vanilla GPRS signal - EDGE in Kerala is only available rarely(don't even think about 3G!People will laugh at you!!). It looks good but I'd prefer the Agile Messenger any day.

You can Download Microsoft Windows Live Client v1.0.614 to your PC here.

or

You Download the client directly to your mobile from http://file2mobile.com/get and enter this key: 853651.
Important: Install dep.sisx before the other file.

New Version of Nokia Maps - v1.2

A new version of Nokia Maps is now available for the N95, in addition to a new version of the Nokia Map Loader. Unfortunately the Map Loader's working also recquires the installation of the .NET framework 3.0 on a Windows XP computer, don't ask me why..

You can get the updates here.

I recommend downloading both of them as having the latest version always has it's benefits.

THe new app is very different on my N95. Start-up splash screen shows Nokia Maps and there is the usual network question to click through (I have mine disabled).

The globe screen is also different, scrolling East/West and North/South now follows the long and lat axes and there is a three dot icon in the lower left that cycles red until a lock is achieved, when they all turn green. The cross-hair did NOT zoom in automatically to my GPS position either, so I had to do this manually with the * key and when I did this, none of my map data was available. SO i had to re-install all the maps... such a pain..

Which is when i found that there are new maps available for the new Nokia Maps..to download these this is what you've gotta do:

Method 1

1 - download and install Maps 1.2 to your phone BUT DON'T RUN IT YET.
2 - download and install Map Loader to your PC, connect your phone and run it.
3 - select the option to delete/remove the existing maps from your phone.
4 - Disconnect your phone and run the Maps program once allow it to get a fix and then exit Maps
5 - Reconnect your phone to Map Loader and download your maps, you should now get the latest maps.

Method 2

1 - download and install Maps 1.2 to your phone BUT DON'T RUN IT YET.
2 - download and install Map Loader to your PC, DON'T RUN IT
3 - connect your phone in mass storage mode and find the old maps folder, should be in E:/Private/20001f63 - Delete it
4 - Disconnect your phone and run the Maps program once allow it to get a fix and then exit Maps
5 - Reconnect your phone to Map Loader and download your maps, you should now get the latest maps.
In N95 the GPS receiver is located in the bottom of the device, below the numeric keyboard. When using the receiver, slide the numeric keypad open
and hold the device upright in your hand at an angle of about 45 degrees, with a clear view of the sky. Make sure, that your hand does not cover the GPS receiver.
Establishing a GPS connection may take from a couple of seconds to several minutes. Establishing a GPS connection in the car may take longer.

If your device cannot find the satellite signal, consider the following:
- If you are indoors, go outdoors to receive a better signal.
- If the numeric keypad slide is closed, open it.
- If you are outdoors, move to a more open space.
- Check that your hand does not cover the GPS receiver of your device.
- If the weather conditions are bad, in such a case the signal strength may also be affected.
- Establishing a GPS connection may take from a couple of seconds to several minutes.
- Avoid to use screen saver when GPS connection is establishing.

That's ol folks, have a great mapping time.. :)