The Handheld Blog » Reviews

The In-Depth Nokia Lumia 800 Review

Vaibhav Sharma — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 12:05:39 +0000

For a long time now, Nokia has been the company responsible for both the hardware and software on their devices but the Nokiasoft announcement in February changed all that. Nokia decided to concentrate on their strengths in hardware and design and let Microsoft take care of the software.

At the time when this decision was taken Windows Phone had just come out, was missing a ton of key features like multitasking, copy/paste and so on. However Nokia obviously was given a look at the long term plans for Windows Phone and they liked what they saw. Then Windows Phone Mango came out and for a lot of people, it marked a level of maturity where they could begin to start considering Windows Phone as a serious challenger and here we are a few months later with Nokia’s first Windows Phone.

Lets kick off the Lumia 800 review with a quick unboxing that will give you an idea of the box contents and a look at the silicon cover that Nokia ships with each Lumia 800. It offers great protection without adding to the profile of the device and if you are worried about being clumsy, Nokia has you covered. Also inside is a set of stereo headphones that come with a microphone to let you make calls, a micro USB cable, and a charging head that uses the micro USB cable as a lead, making it very portable and convenient.

HARDWARE & DESIGN

While the Lumia 800 is by no means a culmination of what that partnership can achieve, it marks a monumental step for both Nokia and Microsoft. It is the first device that will get attention purely because of its looks and draw a user in, letting Mango take it from there. Nokia’s created a top spec Windows Phone in what is my favourite design across all brands and platforms, nothing comes to the premium feel this device projects. Inside is a 1.4 Ghz Qualcomm processor, 512 MB of RAM, an 8 megapixel camera, a beautiful 3.7” AMOLED Clear Black Display.

The screen is a pentile based AMOLED and to the spec police that’s old technology. I personally haven’t felt any difference at all and text feels nice and sharp to my eyes and I have perfect vision. Infact, the whole pentile debate is a non issue for more than the vast majority of people. The colours are rich, the contrast deep and the blacks are truly black. You cannot tell if the screen is on or not if its just showing the a blank black screen.

The Lumia 800 comes in pink, blue and black, all of which look exceptional. The material used in the Lumia 800’s construction is polycarbonate, which is technically plastic, but feels far from it. The devil is in the details and Nokia has left no stone unturned to make the Lumia 800 feel special. The holes for the loudspeaker are all individually drilled into the unibody enclosure after it is made and the colour of the body isn’t paint that will flake off, its part of the material itself. If I were to really try and pick faults with the design, it’d be have to be with the shiny chrome strip that proudly says Nokia and Carl Zeiss at the back. If you are not careful it will pick up the odd scratch. Another thing which isn’t really a problem for anyone, but can scare people is the lid that covers the microUSB port. You need to open it everytime you need to charge the phone and in that position it feels a little flimsy. However, since you’ll have the charger plugged in that time, the obstruction from the cable being plugged in will act as a protector for it, preventing breakage.

The left of the device is completely plain, while the right houses the volume rocker and power button on the top and middle. The camera button is located on the bottom right hand side and is a very welcome addition. The curved display merges into the unibody casing seamlessly and there’s no edge that you can feel, adding to the great feel that the device projects. Since there are literally no moving parts, the build quality is the best you’ll have experienced yet on a Nokia, and that’s saying a lot.

In terms of thickness, the Lumia 800 is 12.1 mm but the rounded design created the illusion that it’s thinner. Even using the super slim Galaxy S2 (8.5 mm) side by side doesn’t make you say that the Lumia 800 is fat at all.

SOFTWARE

This is where it’s over to Windows Phone Mango and time for Nokia to take a back seat. For a while I have maintained that Windows Phone is not an OS you can play with for a few minutes and then take a call on whether you like it or not. Infact, for a little more perspective, here are my detailed impressions of the Lumia 800 when I first started using it.

The first thing you’ll notice with Mango is how incredibly smooth it is, we’re talking about zero stutter territory here. The dual core 1.2 Ghz processor, 1 GB RAM packing Galaxy S2 isn’t that smooth. If you are used to Symbian devices, you’ll feel as if everything is literally flying with no lag whatsoever. Come over from iOS and you’ll feel the same way.

Once you are done flicking around, you’ll notice the tiled Windows Phone UI that makes WP very distinct. The first page is a set of live tiles that can serve as shortcuts to frequently used apps and also inform you about those apps’ current status. For example, you could have a live tile showing you the current weather, the Inbox tile showing the number of unread emails, the foursquare tile showing you your current position on the leaderboard and so on.

Flick to the right you’ll see a list of alphabetically ordered apps. You can choose to scroll to get to the app you are looking for, or jump by alphabet. This approach does take a little getting used to, especially if you’ve been using a grid-based layout for ages. Overtime you get used to it, and the jump to alphabet option does make getting to the app you want much quicker.

SOCIAL INTEGRATION

The core strength of Windows Phone is its inbuilt social integration with Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Windows Live. All you need to do is sign into these respective services and the phone populates your phonebook, links your friends’ Twitter and Facebook accounts, pulls your Facebook photos in, and populates each contact with their latest social network activity. No other operating system even comes close. Microsoft’s philosophy is to make the OS more than just about apps.

Seeing your Facebook photos on your phone’s gallery, waiting to be accessed is great. The phone won’t download all pictures in advance, so you’ll need a fast data connection/WIFI, but it does make everything a lot easier. Want to look at photos your friend uploaded? No going into Facebook and searching for him/her and then loading the photos. Just goto the People hub, and search for your friend and all their uploads will be a flick away, waiting there. There you can also write on their wall, or mention them on Twitter making the whole experience very seamless indeed.

If you are a Google user, you’ll be glad to know that both contact and calendar sync works well. Again it’s only a matter of signing in and the phone does everything else. The only thing is that Windows phone will only pull one number associated with the field ‘Mobile’, so if you have two number with the same ‘Mobile’ field, you’re out of luck.

In addition to the People’s Hub that pulls in all your contacts’ Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin activity into one list is the ‘Me’ tile. The ‘Me’ tile lets you update your status across all these services and also set your chat status. A flick away is the notifications section that tells you of all Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter activity about you, mentions, wall posts, likes etc. This is where Windows Phone finally misses a trick or two. The ‘Me’ tile won’t tell you about Facebook messages or Twitter DM’s, otherwise its almost perfect. You can reply to the activity from the ‘Me’ tile itself and there’s no need to jump into another app. The ‘Me’ tile notifications also aren’t instant, but the phone periodically checks for updates and there’s no option to change that.

The web browser on Windows Phone is based on the IE engine and performs well. It’s smooth, scrolls fast and you’ll never seen those check boxes while zooming in or out. There’s no flash support, and that’s no longer a big deal at all. There is HTML5 support and that’s enough on most occasions. The one gripe I have is that the touch.facebook.com website hasn’t been optimised for it yet, its more to do with Facebook’s inaction than a ‘problem’ with the browser. Their website it seems is still only optimised for webkit and not the IE9 engine. The Windows Phone browser can also surprisingly handle a bunch of tabs easily without losing the loaded information.

The email client on Windows phone is also excellent. Emails arrive instantly and generally faster than Gmail arrives on Android devices. Setting up accounts is a breeze, including Google Apps accounts. The approach Mango takes to having a all-in-one inbox is the best implementation across platforms. You can choose which inboxes to join selectively, or have all merged into one. You can have as many linked inboxes as you like and even name them, great if you want to keep work and personal emails separate, yet combine the odd accounts.

WHAT COULD BE BETTER

Windows Phone has a bunch of things going for it, the core social experience, a great email client, a full-fledged office app, speed, the Metro UI and a capable web browser. That said there are a few things Windows phone needs to improve.

First is notifications. Currently we have Toast and Tile notifications. The former is a pop up on the top of the screen that stays for a couple of seconds giving you a snippet of the text message etc that you have received. The second and permanent mode is the tile count. The live tile shows the number of unread notifications and it disappears once you have seen them. The problem with this method, and the lack of a centralised approach in general, is that you need all your important apps on the homscreen as otherwise you’ll be missing notifications. It’s the same problem iOS had before the iOS 5 update, it’s not a deal breaker but something that can be improved. The lockscreen also shows unread notifications about emails, calls and texts, but third party apps don’t get plugged in, so a unread Whats App message will only show up on the live tile and nowhere else, forcing you to give that live tile a prominent position.

I’d also like Windows Phone to give third party apps a little more ability to run in the background. For example I’d like the twitter apps to keep loading tweets in the background so that they are waiting for me when I open the app. Although, this may be due to how developers have coded their apps, and not just the platform’s limitation. The whole experience is therefore better with a faster connection (3G/WIFI) as you don’t see the phone waiting for the network to load tweets and so on. Inbuilt apps like the web browser can load in the background so that’s not a worry.

The next ‘feature’ of Windows phone is that it resizes the images taken from the camera before uploading, doesn’t matter if you’re uploading to Facebook, Skydrive or Twitter. On most occasions this is great, because uploads are faster and loading times low, but sometimes you just want access to full resolution pictures and Windows Phone gives you no way to do that. I hope that a future update will fix this.

Like iOS, Windows Phone too has taken the closed approach. You cannot sideload apps, send files via Bluetooth, access the file system or use the device in the ‘Mass Storage’ mode. However, the restrictions aren’t as strict as Apple’s. You can sync your Windows phone with multiple computers, copying images and music. With the ChevronWP7 unlock, you can also side load apps after paying a small fee and bluetooth transfers aren’t there not because Microsoft is against them, but because they weren’t a priority. Given the influence Nokia has on Windows Phone development in the future, I expect that some of these restrictions might not survive.

But as things stand, you can use the Zune client on a PC and the Windows Phone connector on the Mac to manage your files. On the Mac, it uses iPhoto and your iTunes library, so if you’ve become used to these apps, you won’t mind this one bit.

All in all, I found Windows Phone to be a fresh platform that gets a lot of things right, while taking a different approach from what iOS, Android or even Symbian look and feel like. With just a few more tweaks, it’ll be truly impressive. As it stands today, I have had no problems using it as my daily driver and for a mainstream user it presents a very compelling argument.

BATTERY LIFE

Nokia promises a 9.5 hr talk time on 3G networks, with a 335 hr standby time. The Lumia 800 according to Nokia also capable of an impressive 55 hrs of music playback and 6.5 hrs of video. In the real world, all of this translates to about one day of power user usage. This includes 3-4 email accounts syncing, Facebook and Twitter apps checking for notifications, in addition to the phone’s own ‘Me’ Tile. Add to that a healthy amount of web browsing and general fiddling. The odd weather app checking for the latest updates every 30 minutes doesn’t really tax the battery. With moderate usage, you can expect it to last more than a day.

Now Nokia did have some trouble with an early batch of the Lumia 800 with the presence of a bug that prevented full utilisation of the battery, that issue has now been fixed and Nokia is going the extra mile to ensure that the small amount of users who are affected can get replacements. So if I were buying a Lumia 800 today, I’d be pretty certain that I would enjoy great battery life.

CAMERA

The Lumia 800 packs an 8 megapixel camera with a Carl Zeiss lens and a dual LED flash. The module is similar to the one found on the N9, and as such capable of some excellent shots. However, it seems that the software on the Lumia 800 isn’t able to utilize the full potential of the unit as yet. The N9 with the same module gets better shots.

Nokia has already stated than future firmware updates would improve camera performance and going by Nokia’s camera history, I have no doubt in their ability. The device can also shoot 720P HD video at 30 frames per second. It uses continuous auto focus during video capture, which means there may be some focus hunting but that guarantees that everything will be focus despite the fact that you are panning around or shooting closeups and also in the distance. Here are some camera samples from the Lumia 800 camera, both pictures and video.

DIFFERENTIATING THE LUMIA 800

Android manufactures skin their devices, Samsung has Touch Wiz, HTC has Sense and so on. On Windows Phone that isn’t a possibility and the only real way you can distinguish yourself is via apps, design and camera performance.

The Lumia 800 in addition to coming in an incredible design comes with trademark Nokia services that I have really come to enjoy in the last few years, Nokia Maps and Music.

The Maps section is actually divided into two, first there is the Nokia Maps app that will eventually become available for all Windows Phone devices, and the Nokia Drive App that’s exclusive to the Lumia series. On the maps app you cannot pre-load maps so you will need a data connection to search for information, routes etc. But Nokia’s tie-ups with Lonely Planet etc mean that they have a very strong POI database and for popular tourist places you will find a ton of information, more than what Bing or even Google Maps provides.

Nokia Drive on the other hand lets you pre load as many countries as you like for free and then navigate them in any language that you choose. The app alone is reason enough to justify buying a Nokia Windows Phone, over any other.

But there’s more, Nokia Music. Alongside the Zune app is the Nokia Music application that lets you buy music from the wide range of tracks that it offers. But what really differentiates this service is the Mix radio client. It lets you stream music based on a genre you like for free, and you can even download it for offline listening. You can save upto 4 such stations, each of which is good for about 2 hours of playback.

In India, we’ll see Nokia Music launch in a big way next year and all indications point to a DRM free all you can eat subscription model. If that becomes a reality, then along with Mapping, Music will become a killer app for Nokia.

CONCLUSION

The thing about the Lumia 800 is that it is a great fit for a lot of different sets of people. For those looking for a great work phone, the free office functionality on the Lumia 800 is huge draw, not to mention the excellent email client and the Microsoft integration that comes with it. On iOS or Android, you’d easily be paying 10$ plus for ability to edit documents and spread sheets on the go.

For youngsters it has a fantastic auto correct keyboard that is unparalleled across all platforms. Then there is also the tightly integrated social experience, right from tagging photos before you upload them, to not having to jump between apps to keep an eye on Facebook and Twitter. If you are a professional, then there is Linkedin support as well.

For those in their middle ages it has a sneaky clean UI that is easy grasp, along with all the polish and flare of a great looking OS. For somebody looking for a high end premium device that gets the job done, the Lumia 800 is a huge box of eye candy.

The Marketplace has matured over the last few months and now boasts of about 45,000 apps. This means that almost all of your essential/big brand apps are already available for Windows phone. But both Microsoft and Nokia are only stepping up their developer engagement and we are sure to see the numbers pick up quickly. Next, a lot of local apps are also coming, for example official Times of India and Book My Show apps are already underdevelopment, so you probably won’t be missing much.

The Lumia 800 is priced at 29,999 INR in India, while Nokia would like to blame the rising Dollar for this, the customer doesn’t care. At about 26-27,000 the Lumia 800 would have been far easier sell for Nokia. So the question we need to ask ourselves is whether the Lumia 800 worth the extra 3-4 thousand? After all the Galaxy S2 sells for around that price too.

Apple has effectively priced itself out of the competition, so for anyone who was looking to pick up a iPhone, the Lumia 800 is a great buy, after all he was already willing to live within Apple’s walled garden and Windows phone is a lot less restrictive and the Lumia 800 has the same premium feel to it, not to mention the extra value.

No high end Android comes close to the feel of the Lumia 800. If you look at the raw Galaxy S2 specs, it wins. But when it comes to performance, the Lumia 800 is just as fast, and at times smoother. The advantages that the S2 does have are apps, a bigger screen and an open approach which allows for side loading apps, mass storage etc. Having used both devices, it again comes down to apps. Its good to know that your phone has mass storage and side loading, but the number is times I’ve used those options is very low indeed.

In the end, the Lumia 800 is an excellent device from Nokia, one I have thoroughly enjoyed using. The out of box Windows phone experience is great and the OS definitely grows on you. The device gets a solid 8.5/10 from me, putting the Lumia 800 squarely in the recommended category. The third eco-system that Stephen Elop talked about in February, is well and truly here to stay.

Hands On With The Symbian Belle Powered Nokia 603

Vaibhav Sharma — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 13:25:42 +0000

The Nokia 603 is a mid-range Symbian Belle device that presents a compelling mash up between price, functionality and style. Powered by a 1 Ghz processor, the 603 packs a 3.5″ capacitive Clear Black LCD display, NFC, a 5 MP ‘full focus’ camera comes in black and white, with a choice of back covers in six different colors ranging from black, white, fuchsia, green to yellow and blue.

Announced in October 2011, the device will go on sale in the next two weeks at around the Rs. 15,000 mark. I got some hands on time with the great looking 603 and here are my initial impressions.

What do you think of Symbian Belle?

In-Depth Look At The Lumia 800 On Video: Hard To Put Down

Vaibhav Sharma — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 05:02:28 +0000

With the Lumia 800, Nokia and Microsoft’s synergies have finally been able to intersect after months of anticipation and the end result is nothing short of impressive. With the Nokia N9, we saw Nokia create a new class of device that was designed with the ‘eyes up’ philosophy in mind, with Windows Phone Microsoft tried to put people first, giving you the ability to quickly glance at information which is relevant to you.

We all know that the Lumia 800 is one amazingly beautiful device, but since this was going to be my first real experience with Windows Phone Mango, I was curious about what to expect. What would be the notifications like? Is the Metro UI really as good as it is made out to be? Are there any niggles which could threaten to be show stoppers? Will Nokia’s device be differentiated enough from other manufacturers like Samsung and HTC?

So in the following video I go over all of these questions and try and answer them. The video plays for just over 16 minutes, and should give you a fair idea of what to expect from the Lumia 800.

Without giving away too much, all I can say is that I was having a hard time putting the device down.

(Video available in HD)

The Lumia 800 is already on pre-order in France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and Britain and is expected to hit stores sometime mid-week in November. It is also coming to Hong Kong, India, Russia, Singapore and Taiwan before the year-end.

Based on what you have seen so far? You do want one? More Lumia 800 stories here.

Have any questions? Let us know below!

Nokia N9 Review: Swipe UI, Apps & Hardware

Vaibhav Sharma — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 14:28:43 +0000

In my last post about the Nokia N9, we went through a customary unboxing and a quick overview of the device. I also shared a few initial impressions.

This time, we delve a little deeper into the N9′s Swipe UI, go over some of its settings and look at the best ways to setup the N9 for daily use.

I also look at two must have applications for the N9, Swipe Manager and Shortcuts. Swipe Manager brings consistency to your swipes and with the ability to define what action each directional swipe does. For example, you can set it to open the app drawer if you swipe from bottom to top, events view if you swipe from right to left and so on. This makes sure that no matter what you want to do, close an app, goto the launcher, the app switcher or the events view, everything is just a single swipe away.

Next is Shortcuts, it lets you change the four default quick access app on the N9, which the phone won’t let you change otherwise.

What follows is the ten minutes with the Nokia N9 video:

Want me to cover something specifically? Let me know in the comments section below!

The Nokia N9 Unboxing & Overview: In A Class Of Its Own

Vaibhav Sharma — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 16:24:29 +0000

The N9 is here, I have the black 64 GB variant and I can tell you that the moment you lay your eyes on it, you will be able to say that the N9 in a class of its own. It is easily the best looking device on the market today, truly a pinnacle of Nokia’s design prowess. It feels very premium, the curved display looks spectacular and the whole distraction free (read button free) surface is a real pleasure to look at.

With that in mind, I put together a little unboxing video (available in HD) for you. In addition to the obvious unboxing, I give you a bit of an overview of the product along with a look at the rubber case that Nokia ships with it. Also included in the box are brand new accessories that Nokia specially designed for the N9, all of which look great.

That aside here a few quick initial impressions as precursor to the detailed review which will follow:

The N9, owing to the unibody design and the polycarbonate finish feels incredibly solid in the hand. Since there are literally no moving parts, it feels great in the hand.

The display on the N9 is terrific, the screen very close to the surface of the glass and it feels as if you’re touching it directly; almost makes you feel like its floating on top. Easily gives the Super AMOLED Plus on the Galaxy S2 a run for its money, and because its almost the same resolution on a smaller screen (3.9″ v 4.3″), its a lot more crisp.

The phone feels responsive, and you’re at home with the Swipe UI in a matter of minutes. Its very intuitive and makes you wonder why nobody else thought of it before. Enabling swipe down to close an app from the settings is recommended, it makes the experience better. There are two more apps that help tremendously, Swipe Manager and My Moves, more on them later.

The camera is FAST. The shot to shot time is incredible and you want to keep taking pictures once you get going.

The pre-loaded Twitter and Facebook apps are capable, they cover all the bases. The only thing missing is the ability to share pictures on Twitter and that ability is apparently coming in a future update.

The out of box service support is great, you can directly upload to Flickr or YouTube. Have multiple Mail for Exchange accounts, other email accounts, and even make Skype calls from the dialer itself. There is also support for IMs on Facebook, Skype and Gtalk.

The N9 makes it hard for you to find a fault with it, if you forget the direction Nokia is going in for a minute.

Please let me know if you have any questions in the comments section below, or on Twitter @v4ibhav.

The In-Depth Samsung Galaxy S2 Review

Vaibhav Sharma — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 14:30:42 +0000

The Galaxy S was a runaway success for Samsung, infact they couldn’t make enough of them. It went off the shelves for a little while and only returned with a Super LCD display, Samsung clearly wanted to concentrate somewhere else and the only thing that would make a company divert its attention from its most successful smartphone ever, would be its successor.

That’s exactly what the Samsung Galaxy S2 is, Sammy’s new superphone that aims to rule them all, if the original Galaxy S sold 10 million units, they want to sell even more of these. So does the Galaxy S2 live up all the expectations? We find out in our review.

Lets start with a quick unboxing and overview to give you an idea of the box contents of the S2, it comes with a pretty nice leather case that doesn’t add to the bulk too much, check it out in the video below. The device also comes with a microUSB cable and stereo in-ear headphones which will suffice for casual playback.

HARDWARE

The Galaxy S2 is Samsung’s premium smartphone, their most expensive and most powerful, so you would expect they would want to cram in everything under the sun. A 4.3” Super AMOLED Plus display, a dual core Exynos 1.2 Ghz processor, 1 GB RAM, 16 GB of inbuilt storage with a microSD card slot, an 8 Megapixel Camera with an LED flash along with the usual set of connectivity options like WIFI, GPS, Bluetooth and so on. When announced, the Galaxy S2 was supposed to have NFC chips as well, but that’s been left out from the current batch of Galaxy S2 i9100 models that have hit shelves the world over.

Building on such great hardware means that Samsung could add a bunch of features most other Android manufacturers haven’t incorporated. Things like 1080p HD video recording at 30 frames per second, WIFI Direct, support for USB on the go, Bluetooth peripherals like mice, and DLNA support that’s continued from the original model. To keep all the above humming along nicely, Samsung’s put in a 1650 mAh battery.

DESIGN

The Galaxy S line of phones from Samsung is focused on making fast, elegant and slim smartphones and the S2 has started from where the original left off. The device is slightly larger on account of the bigger 4.3” screen as compared to the 4” on the original, but is surprisingly even slimmer at just 8.5mm, compared to the 9.9mm on the S1, making it the thinnest and most powerful smartphone on the market today.

The design language is still very similar, a front occupied mostly by the screen with a physical home button at the bottom, flanked by the menu and back keys. No place for the search key means that the menu key doubles up to perform those functions as well, a long press on the menu touch sensitive key and it begins to work like the search button, working across all applications. Personally I like this setup as that makes for a cleaner design, and you won’t accidentally press any keys as the touch sensitive keys are separated by the physical home button.

The sides have minimalist buttons with the left packing the volume rocker and the right holding power/lock key, there is no camera key. The positioning of the power button is perfect, it is much easier to hit, immaterial of whether you are left handed or right, compared to a position on the top of the device where you’d generally find the power button. Reaching across a 4.3” display won’t have been a joy if it had been placed on top. Speaking of the top, all that it carries is a 3.5mm jack for plugging in your favourite headphones, while the bottom of the device holds a solitary microUSB port, which can also be used with the HDMI connector to connect to an HDTV.

The back of the device holds an ever so slightly protruding 8 Megapixel camera with an LED flash. The bottom of the device bulges out towards the back and holds a mono loudspeaker. As you can imagine, keeping the device faceup blocks the loudspeaker and can cause you to miss calls, this problem is however mostly evident on soft surfaces.

SOFTWARE

The S2 runs the Gingerbread 2.3.3 release out of the box, with Samsung’s proprietary TouchWiz 4 overlay. The latest version of Gingerbread is 2.3.4, and the Galaxy S2 is expected to receive the update in the coming weeks, even otherwise 2.3.4 isn’t something you would miss dearly.

TouchWiz 4: What deserves special mention is the TouchWiz 4 interface that adds a lot of value to stock Android. A lot of people prefer a stock UI, but TouchWiz 4 really makes you reconsider that stand. It brings quick WIFI, GPS, Rotation and Bluetooth toggles to the pull down notification bar. Also present there are forward, back and pause buttons while the music is playing, you can even control music from the lockscreen without having to unlock the device.

Next, it gives you upto 7 homescreens and plenty of widgets to play around with including agenda widgets with month and today views along with a bunch of clocks etc. Some widgets are resizable, so you can decide how much of the screen should say the weather widget occupy, or if you want to make the today view larger. You can quickly jump between homescreens by pinching out or dragging your finger across the dots on the bottom to glide between homescreens.

The apps are presented in a page based format, much like iOS and I am personally a huge fan of this approach. No need to keep scrolling up and down, and you can organize your apps by moving them across pages or within folders. You can glide between pages in the same way as homescreens. TouchWiz also has bunch of other tricks up its sleeve with a brightness control that can be activated to holding the pull down notification bar for a second and then dragging right to increase and left to decrease.

TouchWiz 4 also introduces motion based gestures, for example you can move widgets between pages by holding them and then moving the phone left or right to jump pages, or holding down two points on the screen to zoom in and out of the browser, pictures and so on. These things are more for fun than actually helping you save time, but nevertheless make for a great way to show off your new device to friends.

All in all, I’m a huge fan of the TouchWiz 4 interface and as surprising as it may sound to some of the Android purists, it adds a lot of value to the device. If you don’t like it, you always have the option to choosing a new launcher from the Android Market and forget about TouchWiz completely. Here is a video that takes you though some of the lesser know tips & tricks that are available of the Galaxy S2.

The one things that I don’t like about Samsung’s software is that they want to control how I use my battery once it is running low. Beyond a certain point, the camera kicks you out because the phone is running low on battery, or the music player shuts down and so on. Samsung does it to protect the basic function of the phone i.e. make and receive calls, but if I want to take a picture, the phone can simply warm me and then let me take the shot instead of blocking me completely. Fortunately, there are workarounds to this problem. A camera app from the Market solves the purpose, so does a third party music player.

Flashing: But if that’s not enough, you will be pleased to know that the SGS2 comes with an unlocked bootloader and is one of the most mod friendly Android devices on the market. There are already custom ROMS and hacks available, so if you ever feel something is amiss or you that would like to try something new, the modding community will keep you satisfied.

Some custom ROMs and hacks also let you get rid of the battery limitations I described earlier.

On the software front, as I mentioned earlier, the S2 brings new functionality such as USB on-the-go, so that you can plus in flash drives, portable hard disks etc to copy data across without needing a PC. There is also support for WIFI Direct, a technology that lets you copy data wirelessly, much like Bluetooth but at much faster speeds using an adhoc WIFI connection. Find a detailed write up here, and following is a video showing it in action:

PERFORMANCE

Considering it runs on a dual core processor and a gig of RAM, you would expect this thing to fly, and fly it does. Despite the days of rigorous tests, app installs and non-stop use, the SGS 2 has performed with flying colours. Everything is fast, there are no lags whatsoever, and even after days of use you do not need to reboot. The booting time for SGS 2 is a breath of fresh air and it takes about 10 seconds to get upto speed from a cold boot. The annoying Android file keeping on boot is also a matter of seconds.

The device has about 833 MB of RAM available and on a fresh boot you will generally find that around 650MB is free, more than enough for anything you might want to throw at the phone.

If you had worries about TouchWiz slowing things down, you can get rid of them. The browser is fast, most apps load almost instantly, the camera takes 2 seconds to get ready to shoot, the scrolling is smooth and you don’t see jerks.

The browser despite being blazing fast to load pages, does manage to show a few check boxes while scrolling, this is a software bug and I would think that Samsung would be working to get it fixed with subsequent firmwares. Otherwise it handles flash just fine and that doesn’t really affect the overall smoothness of the phone. The Gallery app sometimes take a second to load, but once inside, flicking though pictures is instant.

But if you really cut to the chase, I’m yet to come across a single app that actually needs a dual core processor to show its true potential, the dual core chip is more for about being future proof than being a requirement for today. Still you feel good knowing its there.

CAMERA

The auto focus camera on the S2 is an improvement from the 5MP shooter on the original, and possibly one of the better ones across all Android devices. The S2 does not have a physical camera button, so all the controls are on the screen itself. You can touch a particular area to focus or use the camera key and let the phone take that into its own hands.

With stills, there are a lot of options available, right from taking panoramas, to an action mode for fast shutter speeds and even a cartoon mode. Also present is a macro (close-up) mode, a Face Detention mode and the usual auto mode. For most documents scans and closeups, the auto focus mode is enough and you are saved from the bother of having to switch to macro each time. When you exit, the camera remembers your settings.

The UI of the camera app is clean and simple, you can select which controls to show on the left hand side while the right holds the toggle for switching to video, taking a picture and jumping into the Gallery.

The S2 also has a 2 Megapixel front facing camera that is a very welcome improvement from the VGA shooters that we see on most smartphones. It is passable for portrait shots and will help improve video call quality if our networks and apps are upto it.

ISSUES?

When the Galaxy S2 launched there were quite a few rumors surrounding the screen, heating and WIFI performance, so its best to put those to rest as well.

First the screen, the alleged problem being that there is a slight yellow effect on the left hand side of the display. I have played with two Galaxy S2 devices and on both occasions I had a very hard time locating the yellow batch, sometimes I see it, sometimes I don’t. It is allegedly visible in low brightness with a solid grey colour in the background. But for me it is not a problem, the screen looks great, even better than the original Super AMOLED display on the S1 and I am yet to see any the issue in any real world scenario.

Next is talk that the Galaxy S2 gets excessively hot. In peak of the Indian summer, my device has held up well, it does get a little warm at times, specially when you are charging it and using it at the same time, but this is no deal breaker and expected to an extent. Bottomline, don’t worry about it.

Next, some people are having problems with WIFI reception. In my tests using the default India firmware, the SGS2 performed well enough. My N8 and the the iPad 2 had better reception at the edge of my router’s range, but the SGS2’s performance is still passable. You’ll only have problems if you try and leech off your neighbour’s WIFI.

Last, the original Galaxy S had problems with GPS performance and it looks as if Samsung has gone to great lengths to make sure that the GPS performance on the S2 is stellar. Infact after the using the device as my primary smartphone for the last 4 weeks, I am yet to see a show stopping bug, or even something that is a minor annoyance.

Battery Life: Finally lets talk battery life. After a few recharge cycles, the Galaxy S2 possibly has the best battery life of any similar device in its class. With 4 email accounts, WhatsApp, Gtalk and Tweetdeck running continuously in addition to a few calls, a bunch of texts, moderate browsing and 20 minutes of light games I still get a day’s usage from the device.

So if you leave the house at 8am with a full battery, you should still have some juice left over when you get back at 8 in the evening, it might even get you through the after work parties unless you really hammer it. Considering the S2 has a 4.3” display, it manages to last for an impressive amount of time.

GALAXY S v GALAXY S2

At this point a lot of original Galaxy S owners are wondering if it is worth it to update to the successor, here is what I think:

CONCLUSION

The good: While the S2 excels in most aspects, the following stand out:

Screen, the colours really pop out and the blacks are seriously impressive.

Size, super thin and very light.

Blazing fast, with a useful TouchWiz overlay.

Great call quality, one of the loudest in, in-call volume.

The bad: There’s hardly anything bad, but the following things would have been better:

The camera while being one of the best ones on an Android device, still doesn’t match up to the likes of Nokia’s N8. The single LED flash could have been brighter as well.

Some people would have preferred a more metallic finish, but Samsung’s compromised on that front to keep the weight and antenna performance better.

A loud enough mono speaker, let down by the placement on the bottom where it gets muted easily. The same plastic bottom is also prone to scratches if you aren’t careful.

The TouchWiz overlay will mean that updates come to the SGS2 a little later than the Nexus series of smartphones, but Samsung’s been stepping up its game recently with their speed of updates and judging by how popular the S2 will be, you can rest assured about getting the updates sooner, than later.

One the whole the Samsung Galaxy S2 is a superphone, to call it a mere smartphone would be an understatement. It has its niggles, but they are far outnumbered by the overwhelming positives in its favour. It is without a doubt the best Android smartphone on the market and depending on how you feel about Android, perhaps even the best smartphone today, certainly the most powerful.

So if you were in the market for a high-end smartphone, would I recommend the Galaxy S2? Definitely.

Nokia N8 v Nokia N9 HD Video Capture

Vaibhav Sharma — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 17:27:41 +0000

If you are wondering about the all new Nokia N9′s video capture capabilities, and how it measures up to the reining king, the Nokia N8, then this post might be able to help. The Nokia shoots 720p HD video at 24 frames per second out of the box with, while the Nokia N9 will be capable of shooting in 720p HD at 30 frames a second. Another difference is that the N8 uses an active hyper focal video focus system, which means that everything beyond 60 cms will be in focus, while the N9 will use continuous auto focus while recording to keep track of objects up close and afar.

However, the thing to be noted is that the N8 post the Symbian Anna update will also get video capture at 30 FPS along with continuous auto focus, bringing it on par with the N9. Meanwhile video samples from the russian website allnokia.ru have popped up on YouTube, one from the N8 and another from the N9 shooting the same room. The Nokia N8 is running Anna, but it isn’t clear if the camera update has been installed. Also, the Nokia N9 is still running proto software, and when it comes to camera settings, things keep improving till the minute the device starts to ship, so this sample in no way represents the finished product. But if you’re curious, watch the samples below.

Nokia N8

Nokia N9

Please take these with a pinch of salt, given the state of the N9 development, its probably too early to post samples, but its not as if we’re judging!

Hat tip to @Camb078.

MeeGo v Android v iOS HTML5 Test [N9 v SGS2 v iPad 2]

Vaibhav Sharma — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 10:59:12 +0000

HTML5 seems to be the new buzz word for the cool kids, with most manufactures moving from Flash to HTML5 for their video streaming and other needs. So with that in mind, I though it’d be good to see how MeeGo/Harmattan, Android and iOS perform in an HTML5 faceoff.

The devices used for the purpose are an N9, the Galaxy S2 and Apple’s iPad 2. Here is how each of them perform. The tests were done by pointing the browser to html5test.com and noting the score out of a maximum of 450 points. You might be surprised by the results!

Lets start with iOS and the iPad 2, running iOS 4.3.3:

Followed by Android and the Galaxy S2 running Gingerbread 2.3.3:

And finally the MeeGo/Harmattan and the Nokia N9 running pre-release software:

Winner!

Surprised by the results? Its some times hard to believe that Nokia is the same company that makes the Symbian browser! To recap:

MeeGo/Harmattan: 283 and 14 bonus points.
iOS: 217 and 7 bonus points.
Android: 184 and 1 bonus point.

Finally some trivia, the latest Firefox 5 turns in a score of 286 and 9 bonus points, Safari tuns in 253 and 10 bonus points and the Symbian^3 browser, barely manages 36 points!

The Nokia N900 had a great browser and it seems Nokia’s made it even better with the N9!

[Update: Some people will say that its unfair to compare existing products with upcoming ones, and I agree. So for some perspective, as @coolkamio informs me on Twitter, iOS 5 manages a score of 304 + 9].

[Update 2: I've updated the N9 scores, based on the results from the Nokia Conversations post].

With The N9, Nokia Shows The World Its Still Got It

Vaibhav Sharma — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 06:38:55 +0000

The N9 release is a monumental step for Nokia, it is the culmination of the years Nokia has spent creating a premium high end smartphone that not only excels in hardware, but also shows that when it comes to software, Nokia’s still got it. Feb. 11 changed everything inside of Nokia, yet Nokia’s MeeGo Harmattan project was not killed completely. Perhaps Stephen Elop felt that it would be a good way to demonstrate to the world what Nokia is capable of, or perhaps it was the internal resistance that forced him to release this one last MeeGo Harmattan device, the end result of the sweat and blood of hundreds of Nokians who had devoted themselves to create what in their mind was the pinnacle of modern smartphones.

What happened inside of Nokia, we’ll never know, but the N9 is now real, being demoed in Singapore as I write this and it looks delicious. A beautiful monoblock design, a 3.9″ AMOLED display with curved gorilla glass, an 8 MP Carl Zeiss auto focus 16:9 camera with f2.2 for great low light photography, Dolby Headphone and Dolby Digital Plus support, NFC, a 1 Ghz processor with 1 GB of RAM, and most importantly runs Nokia’s MeeGo 1.2 Harmattan.

Nokia for long has said that its MeeGo/Harmattan vision was about a new UI, a UI that would make one handed use a breeze and at the same time make getting to our favourites apps faster, and with the all new Swipe UI Nokia is doing just that. The N9 doesn’t have even a single physical button on the homescreen, it is even unlocked by tapping the screen twice. Once unlocked, you have three basic views, the app view, the events view which pulls in things from Facebook etc and the multitasking view where all your recently used apps reside. In order to get to these, all you need to do is flick from one side of the phone to another depending on which view you would like to go to. The UI is best experienced yourself, and I recommend going through this detailed demo that Nokia has primary created for developers, but it also gives you a great look at the device. Then there is Nokia’s brand new swipe.nokia.com that has everything that you’ll need to know about the N9, pictures, demos, features and videos.

You will also be pleased to know that the N9′s super wide 28mm 8MP Carl Zeiss camera is also the fastest smartphone camera there is in the market, and it lets you shoot in true wide screen, not the cropped wide screen modes that all smartphones have these days. Thankfully no EDoF and HD video at 720p with 30 frames a second with continuous auto focus. And if you every drop it, feel safe in knowing that the unibody design is all polycarbonate material solid colour right till the inside, so dropping the device will not chip the paint off it. This material, according to Nokia also means that the N9 will have superior antenna performance over most other competitors’ smartphones.

But lets come back to software, as that’s where Nokia’s been taking a hit recently. You look at one video, and everyone will agree that the UI looks great, but what about core apps and functionality? First, Maps and navigation is a go, then there is the Web Browser that is built using the latest Webkit 2 technology and support for HTML5 which translated to access to rich web applications and fast video playback. Then not only does the N9 support Qt, but a lot of its core apps are written in Qt. But what really wows you is the integration of the third party services like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Vimeo, Skype all of which support a single sign on and work out of the box. For example you can sign in once with Facebook and you will have access to Facebook events and notifications in the N9′s events screen, have integration with your address book in contacts, have Facebook chat and so on.

Infact, Nokia has a special page to show the preloaded apps, which include Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, AP Mobile, AccuWeather, Angry Birds, Skype, Vimeo and so on. There is also support for WIFI Hotspot functionality out of the box, which is great. They have really done a good job in getting the basics covered, all of the above is pretty much everything you use on a daily basis. The real challenge is to get developers to build for the N9, knowing its the last MeeGo product to come out of Nokia. Because there is Qt, some apps that work on the N900 and Symbian^3 should also be easily ported onto the N9, but you will have to reign in the optimism when it comes to quality third party apps that Nokia isn’t involved with. That being said, there is still hope, Nokia is making available N950 devices to developers to get their apps ready for the N9.

At the end of the day there will be people who will buy one right now if Nokia made it available, there would also be people who would have bought it with their eyes closed had Feb 11 not happened, there will also be those who are torn, torn because they would love to have what is one of the finest phones to come out of Nokia, but are worried about future updates and support specially when Nokia itself has clearly said the N9 will be the last of its kind. Finally there will be those to diss the N9 completely, because from their perspective MeeGo/Harmattan is dead. Where you stand depends on what do you want from the device, Nokia has the basics covered with great support for the popular services, knowing Nokia, it’ll also have a great camera and judging by the N900, a great browser. If that satisfies your priorities, then the N9 will be great. The community has made the N900 much better with time, and because the N9 will be as open you can expect all sorts of hacks and apps from the devs. But if you want a phone which will have all the latest apps the day they come out for iOS, then this phone isn’t for you.

For Nokia, the N9 is their statement to the world that look, we can still innovate and create class leading products. We can not only do great hardware, but kick ass when it comes to software too. It is also about pride for a lot of people and for the rest, a look at what could have been.

Nokia, you’ve still got it!

Head To Head: Samsung Galaxy S v Galaxy S2

Vaibhav Sharma — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 07:34:29 +0000

The Samsung Galaxy S2 just hit the global markets a few days ago after having sold in the millions in Samsung’s own country, South Korea in under a month. A lot of people are looking at what is essentially a superphone, as their next smartphone and why not! It packs a 1.2 dual core processor, 1 GB of RAM, a beautiful 4.3″ Super AMOLED Plus display, is thin as you like, feels extremely light and is power by the latest in Google’s software.

But there are also a lot of people who still like the predecessor to this device, the original Galaxy S. Some would wonder if it is worth the upgrade if they already own a Galaxy S and some would wonder if it makes sense getting the now much cheaper Galaxy S original if it meets their needs. In this post I’ll attempt to put the two Galaxy S devices head to head to see if the successor has enough extras to make it a compelling upgrade. You can jump directly to the all encompassing video, or get the background in text below.

Physical: The all apparent physical bits first, both devices have essentially the same design with the S2 going a little easy on the curves. However, the S2 is slightly larger on account of the bigger 4.3″ display as compared to the 4″ display on the original. But the thing to note is that despite the boost in specs, its now much thinner 8.5mm v 9.9 mm and is also lighter by 3 grams, 116g to the original’s 119g, making it the thinnest and most powerful smartphone on the market.

Finally, because of the light weight and the slim profile, the Galaxy S2 doesn’t feel much bigger than the original. If you are used to the S1, you shouldn’t have any problems adjusting to the S2.

Display: Its not just the size of the display, but the technology behind it that’s improved as well. The 4.3″ screen on the S2 is ‘Super AMOLED Plus’, compared to the original’s ‘Super AMOLED’. Does this make a difference? Yes. Everything is better, the colours, the sunlight visibility, the viewing angles, the blacks. When you first move from a Galaxy S to a S2, the difference isn’t obvious, but when you move back to the Galaxy S, it then that you realize that Samsung’s new display does deserve the ‘plus’ moniker. That’s not all, the sub-pixel count has improved from 8 to 12, so this means that despite having the same resolution 800 x 480, the S2′s display will be sharper and the corners smoother than the original.

Power: The S2 is powered by a 1.2 Ghz dual-core exynos processor that literally blows the competition away on benchmarks. It also comes with a gigabyte of RAM with about 833 MB being useable. Compare this to the 1 Ghz processor on the original and the 329 MB of available RAM on S1.

Camera: The S2 comes with an 8MP auto focus camera with a single LED flash. It also shoots in video in 1080P at 30 frames per second. The S1 on the other hands has a 5 MP AF camera without any sort of flash and shoots at video at 720P, 30 FPS. Needless to say, the camera on the S2 is better, but the one thing to note is that when shooting at 1080p, the frame is slightly zoomed in, watch the video below to get a better idea of what I’m taking about.

Software: The S2 runs Gingerbread 2.3.3 out of the box with a TouchWiz 4 overlay. The S1 originally ran Eclair, but with the recently leaked 2.3.4 Gingerbread release, the S1 runs the absolute latest in Google’s software, even bettering the S2, which is supposed to get 2.3.4 is the coming weeks. Officially the S1 now also runs Gingerbread and newer units ship with it. TouchWiz 4 on the other hand is a very welcome improvement over TouchWiz 3 that runs on the S1, making it my favorite Android launcher/skin by far. A bunch of things have changed, the messaging app has skins, the memo app is better, the homescreen layout and switching is faster, you have music control from the lockscreen which itself has improved and looks much better. See the video to get a better idea.

Battery: The S2 comes with a 1650 mAh battery (compared to 1500 mAh on the S1) and slightly better battery life than the original running the latest Samsung ROMS. Also, the back on the S2 is matte and non glossy, giving it a premium feel. However, removing it does show you how thin it is and that can cause some anxiety. Overall, its still a definite improvement.

Connectivity: The S2 immensely benefits when it comes to connectivity. First it has HSDPA support for speeds upto 21 MBPS, compared to the 7.2 MBPS cap on the original. It also has USB on-the-go and WIFI direct support (more on that later today), not to forget the HDMI out with the microUSB adapter.

So these are the broad difference/improvements that the Galaxy S2 brings compared to its predecessor, I have outlined all of these and more in the video below. What is my final conclusion? Watch the video to find out!

Already have a Galaxy S2? Then check out some little known tips & tricks or our In-Depth Samsung Galaxy S2 Review.

Video: Swype For Honeycomb Demo – Much Better Than The Default Keyboard

Vaibhav Sharma — Tue, 24 May 2011 06:07:49 +0000

Swype for Honeycomb is still in development, but early indications point to a all new experience which will better the default Honeycomb keyboard by far. Swype for Honeycomb not only brings the ability to swype to enter text quickly, but will also include the option to use it as a normal keyboard that supports predictive text and auto corrections. Add to that the fact that it can be resized and moved left or right on the fly and you have the makings of a truly wonderful offering. Swyping on a large display doesn’t make sense as you hardly save time, but with the resize options, it becomes relevant once more.

I caught up with Brian Lysak of Swype and he was kind enough to give me a demo of the yet unreleased Swype for Honeycomb offering running on a Motorola Xoom.

Just like other versions, Swype is looking to enter into deals with manufactures to pre-load Swype onto their devices, and I am hoping companies like Samsung carry forward their partnership with Swype from smartphones to tablets. It is that good.

Nokia Offering MeeGo Devs A 50% Bonus To Stop Them From Going ‘Mee-Go’

Vaibhav Sharma — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 08:32:25 +0000

According to the Finnish site, Taloussanomat, Nokia is offering its in-house MeeGo devs a salary plus 50% bonus to continue with the company and help avoid a mass exodus after the Feb 11 announcement that Nokia was moving to Windows Phone as its primary operating system.

With the help of Google Translate, it appears that the bonus is structured on a quarterly basis. The first slab being end July, followed by September and brought up by the year end. If an employee resigns before a deadline, he/she stands to loose the entire bonus for the said period.

According to Taloussanomat, Nokia has about 13,000 engineers in Finland, half of whom work on MeeGo. Nokia had also been hiring a lot of talent for MeeGo development recently, but because of the February announcement that Nokia was virtually making MeeGo a research project, a lot of people have considered moving on.

Nokia still plans on delivering its first MeeGo smartphone, possibly the N950, later this year and loosing top brains certainly wouldn’t help. But perhaps, the bigger question is, what happens once the phone is ready?

Nokia E7 Unboxing & Hands On

Vaibhav Sharma — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 14:31:48 +0000

The Nokia E7 is one device that feels absolutely great in the hand, it is built like a tank, feels a little heavy in a good way. You actually feel as if you are carrying an impressive piece of technology along.

At Nokia India’s E7 event, we got to to play with a bunch of E7′s and I must say they even felt better than the first time I had played with one at Nokia World. Friend of the site, Clinton Jeff was also at the event as we decided to do a joint unboxing and a quick hands on.

Since this was completely hands on and a spur of the moment thing, there may be times when the video feels a little less than coherent, therefore if you think there are things we missed, let me know in the comments section below.

Watch it the E7 unboxing and hands on in HD here.

The Apple iPad Review: The Good, Bad & The Ugly

Vaibhav Sharma — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 08:01:41 +0000

The iPad just went on sale in India today, and if you have been itching to get one for months now, this should come as great news. First things first, the iPad is shinny, its Apple and thus virtually irresistible once you play with it at a store. To top is all, Apple has priced the iPad well, very close to the US prices and cheaper than for what it sells in Europe, but does that mean you should run and grab one now? I recommend reading through this page before you make up your mind.

Apple’s iOS has been around for quite sometime now, acting as a catalyst for others to get their act together and innovate on whatever OS they were resting on. It soon became the benchmark against which all the other efforts were appraised and established itself as king when it came to ease of use and a glorious UI.

I for one was never smitten by the ‘beauty’ of it all, and the walled garden approach made me uncomfortable. Yes, there would be jailbreaks but with Apple looking to patching one exploit after the other, I didn’t want to enter into a world where the sum on my hopes rested on a jailbreak and thus the iPhone never really enticed me.

Then came the iPad. It was thought to be a large iPod Touch in sum and substance, but it sold. Sold very well. The iOS developer community, which was finding it hard to get visibility among the millions of apps on the store, suddenly has a new cat to bell. The result was that we saw some exception iPad only apps on iOS. Soon Apple gave in and added pseudo multitasking, this was when I seriously considered getting the iPad. The lure of a large multitouch screen was too great to pass and I ended up picking one up while in Dublin recently, partly because I wanted to see why there was so much hoopla about iOS and partly because Apple’s shinny new hardware is very hard to pass up once lay your hands on it.

It was finally time to find out what the big deal about iOS was. I had used it in the past, a few days at a time but its only when you use it consistently that you truly appreciate the strengths and weaknesses. A casual play will tell you that it is great for web browsing, email and photos. Play a few pre-loaded games and almost everyone is virtually sold. But own one for a few weeks, you realize that you cannot download files using Safari, deleting and adding music to it is a pain, and that the iPad is dependent on your computer for a lot of things.

1. Activation. The iPad need a computer to start up for the first time, I wasn’t such a fan of this approach. But the activation was painless and look a few seconds in total. The date and time were automatically pulled and this was a nice touch.

2. The Apple ID. This is what makes Apple what it is. It asks you for your credit card the moment you sign up and keeps your information for times to come.

3. The App Store. The famed App Store in all its glory doesn’t disappoint when you open it up. Look for an app for any service that you use and you will see an app for it. But once your done with the essentials, you move onto discovery. There you come across great like Flickpad (which makes looking at your Facebook and Flickr pictures a real pleasure), Flipboard (Facebook & Twitter as a magazine), Pulse and a few others. These apps then become a part of your daily iPad habits and you slowly come to realize that despite installing a hundred apps in the first few days, you’re only using a select few. At that time you think that may be Apple’s App Store is just a little overhyped.

But what you have to give credit to Apple for is the fact that they make it very easy for you to give them your money. To buy an app, all you do is click ‘Buy’ and enter your Apple ID password as you would for a free app and before your realize it money is gone from your account and you have the precious app already downloaded. You don’t even realize money is being spent. Nothing else on Android Market or the Ovi Store comes close to the sheer ease.

4. Notifications. There are push notifications from apps like Facebook, News apps along with the usual ‘you have mail’ kind of notifications and this is iOS’s weakest aspect. There are no symbols at the top bar telling you that you have unread messages, facebook notifications, tweets and so on and the only indicator is the number symbol that pops up into the app icon. The on screen notifications get hidden if another notification comes in and the system is not elegant. Fortunately, this something you won’t have to worry about much on the iPad, in most cases it is a secondary device to your phone and won’t be receiving anything your phone won’t.

5. The Polished UI. Yes it is very slick, but then so is Android and infact I prefer Android because it has a dedicated back button while on iOS you generally need to reach across to the top of the app to go back on most occasions. It terms of UI polish I’d prefer Android on my phone as compared to iOS where as on the iPad I’ll probably be happy sticking to iOS. Infact, in my book the iOS is better suited to the iPad than to an iPhone. Where iOS really shines is the fact that it never lags. Android and Symbian both have a tendency to cram up after a few days without a reboot and even the system apps struggle, but on the iPad everything remains speedy.

6. Dealing with Files. This is the problem area. The iPad doesn’t pop up as a flash drive when you connect it to the computer and all your transfers have to be done via iTunes. You need apps such as ‘Download HD’ to transfer files across effectively and this is a native weakness. No dropping music or video or documents anywhere and expecting that various third party apps will pick them up automatically. Similarly, if you want download video or documents using Safari, you will hit a wall. Again, third party apps come to the rescue.

7. Lack of Flash. We all know that the iPad doesn’t support Adobe’s flash. This means no flash games, and restricted flash video playback. But in the real world, it doesn’t make such of a difference. The games are still out, but because of Apple’s considerable influence, most websites offer iPad friendly versions on the video, especially YouTube so you are never missing much.

8. Jailbreak. For power users Jailbreaking the iPad is almost second life and they feel very restricted without uprooting Apple’s walled garden. Since the iOS 4.2.1 firmware, jailbreaking the iPad isn’t child’s play and most of you couldn’t be bothered. So does the iPad still remain an attractive proposition? Yes. The major reason people jailbroke the iPad was for the multitasking and since Apple has included this itself, we won’t have such a problem anymore. However, since VLC is off the App Store, new users who want to use the iPad as a video machine will have to go the Cydia route.

9. Which iPad to buy? The iPad comes in a bunch of configurations, all powered by Apple’s A4 1Ghz chip and 256 MB of RAM. The difference lies in storage space and whether or not you want a 3G enabled version. I choose a 16 GB WiFi only model for the simple reason that I am happy using my phone as a WIFI access point for the iPad, thus not only saving on monthly 3G costs, but also the INR 5000+ upfront. If you are serious about gaming on the iPad, you might want to consider getting a 32 GB version as some games are a whopping 600 MB+ in size.

10. But should you buy one at all? The answer of course depends on how much you want one. The iPad has come to India at the end of its life cycle, with the new iPad expected to be announced and made available in the next 2 months. However, chances are that the new iPad won’t be coming to India anytime soon and unless you or friends/family is planning a trip to the US, you can forget about getting one at a reasonable price any time soon.

All in all, the iPad is a great web browsing tool that lasts for about 8-9 hours easily, can play video for a solid 7 hours and serves you well as a bedside, couch or travelling device. The email client is solid, the web browsing limitations can be overcome and the app ecosystem is as good as it gets. No other tablet, even the Android Honeycomb powered ones, will come close to the iPad in the next 3-4 months, the time it takes for the developers to catch up.

If you have money to spare, the iPad is a great way to indulge yourself. It will not replace your laptop, but for most tasks it will come pretty close.

So, do you plan on getting one in the next few days?

Review: Travelling With The Nokia N8

Vaibhav Sharma — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 12:32:13 +0000

Almost whole of last week I was in Dublin for the first ever MeeGo Conference (more on the conference later) and had with me the N8 as my primary device. I was also carrying the Samsung Galaxy S as a side phone. While back home, the way I use both devices is that my main SIM remains in the N8, while a 3G SIM is placed in the Galaxy S for data purposes only.

All through the flight I was debating where to put the local SIM I bought in Dublin in the N8 or the Galaxy S. To help decide, I made a list of priorities – battery life, followed by camera, navigation and Twitter of course to help live blog the event. At that point the N8 with its 12 MP camera, promise of better battery life, Ovi Maps and Gravity virtually because the only choice.

(Aviva Stadium Dublin, Taken With The N8′s Panorama App)

At the airport I found out that the only SIM the retailer had was an O2 with 50 MB of data a day, not a lot obviously. But since the only other choice was getting a data only Vodafone SIM, I preferred having the voice capabilities of the O2.

It is at this point that I started to realise how efficient the Symbian operating system is, and how Nokia makes incredibly data frugal devices. For browsing, I turned off the images in the browser and downloaded Opera Mini and because of this I had virtually consumed no data at all despite all the browing, Facebook and Foursquare activity on the one hour ride to the hotel. Here is my tweet appreciating that.

Once at the hotel, Gravity with its super low data consumption and images turned off mode was helping me keep in touch with people at the MeeGo Conference and follow updates. Next, I decided to head out and look at the city a little. Since it was my first time in Dublin, I had no clue of where everything was and needless to say it was time for some Ovi Maps action. Fortunately, I had pre-loaded Ireland before I flew out so navigation was not going to blow a hole in my pocket. If I had been using the Galaxy S with Google Maps, I would have run out of the day’s data limit by the time I got home that evening.

The thing about having Ovi Maps handy is that even if you are not driving or walking, you can still keep track of where you are within the bus and that way help predict the stop you need to get off at. The N8 even within the bus, and not necessarily near the windows, had no problems keeping a fix and informing of my whereabouts. That one feature alone, made me glad.

While I was checking out the city, I was of course taking nicely Geo-tagged images. A good thing about the N8′s camera is that you can take a picture, hit the camera button and its again ready to fire away, but if you don’t want to take another shot then and there, you can simply lock the device with the dedicated switch and the camera goes into standby, ready to spring into action the moment you unlock. This is much faster than having to relaunch the camera everytime and is a great way to take pictures while exploring a city with no hit on the battery life.

(Geo-Tagged upload to Flickr)

While at the conference there was WIFI, so I do admit using TweetDeck on the Galaxy S because its honestly a wonderful app. But when it came to Twitpicking or uploading pictures to Facebook, I did find myself going back to the N8, not just because of the camera but because Gravity has a pretty solid image upload section and PixelPipe is a great way upload quickly and fast to multiple destinations.

On the day before I had to fly back, I met with a friend in Dublin and he was showing me around in his car. Having an FM transmitter meant that I was playing all my favorite tunes and he thus got a taste of the latest trends in music back home.

Last, how can I forget the battery life on the N8. It kept going throughout the day despite all the above activities that I mentioned, I feat very few smartphones of today can boast of. Infact, on Day 2 of the conference I even forgot to put it on charge before I slept but come 6AM the next morning, the alarm was still ringing. Lifesaver. Add to that the speed at which it charges, and you can feel pretty confident about not running out of juice.

Despite all the Facebooking, Tweeting, image uploads (when the WIFI broke), browsing, email and navigation, not once did I run over the 50 MB limit and this is where I think the N8 really shone. Plus travel is mostly about content creation and that again is one of the N8′s strengths. With the new browser and portrait QWERTY options coming in PR 2.0 next year, I can only see the N8 going from strength to strength.

When you travel is the time when things like a shiny UI take a backseat and the core functionality of a device comes out. If on such a day your current device makes you feel handicapped, then perhaps its time to look at something else.

Looking for more in-depth coverage on the N8′s individual features?

Initial Impressions: Nokia N8 Review: First Look
Camera & Photos: 75 Photo Samples, Photos App On The N8, HD Video Samples, N8 v Canon 550D DSLR
Gaming: Serious Gaming Potential
Bluetooth Support: Bluetooth Mouse & Keyboard Support
Apps & The Ovi Store: Ovi Store 2.0 On The Nokia N8
Mapping & Navigation: Ovi Maps With Search Assist & Pinch To Zoom
Ovi Music: Deserves More Credit Than It Receives

Still have questions? Let me know in the comments section below.

The Nokia N8 v Nokia C7 Debate

Vaibhav Sharma — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 18:35:36 +0000

The Nokia N8 has been available for just two weeks and there’s already a new Symbian^3 handset that’s hitting the market in the form of the C7. Both of them run the same OS, share the same guts and are priced pretty near to each other. So if you are in the market for a new Nokia, which one should you be looking at?

What’s same:

The internals. Both devices have the same processor, GPU, pentaband chips and so on. This means that there will be no performance differences between them.
They also share similar capacitive touchscreens which are roughly 3.5″ in size.
They also have the same 1200 mAh BL-5K battery, which in the C7′s case is user replaceable.

What’s different:

NFC. The C7 has some hidden hardware. It packs a NFC chip that the N8 doesn’t, but as of now its just lying there serving no purpose. May be a future firmware enables it, but considering the fact that there won’t be many NFC use cases in the near future, its not a major win for the C7 in my book.

Dimensions. The C7 is also slimmer at 117.3 x 56.8 x 10.5 mm compared to the N8′s 113.5 x 59 x 12.9 mm. Its also lighter by 5 grams, 135 g on the N8 to the C7′s 130 g. This might not seem much, but the C7 does feel a lot thinner in the hand and the pocket bulge is virtually non existent. That being said, the N8 has reasonable dimensions itself and feels great to hold in the hand. Plus the metallic feel adds a premium element to it.

HDMI. The C7 is also missing the N8′s HDMI out slot. It still features the ability to use TV-out via the 3.5mm jack.

Price. The Nokia C7 is just about 3000-3500 INR ($70-80) cheaper than the N8 in the real world and that’s as far as Nokia can probably push the price difference on bill of material costs alone. The only major things they save on are the camera module, HDMI port and the part plastic construction as both phones have practically the same guts.

Storage. The C7 comes with 8GB on inbuilt storage, compared to the 16GB on the N8. Both have support for microSD cards of upto 32GB.

Camera:

The real toss-up for most people would be whether to go for a slightly cheaper, thinner C7 with its 8 Megapixel EDOF camera or pay a little more for the metallic N8 with its best in class 12MP auto-focus camera. EDOF stands for extended depth of field, this means that most images taken from the C7 will be in perfect focus provided you are not taking close-up shots. It will also mean that the shot to shot time on the C7 will be pretty good because the camera is not having to focus everytime you take a shot. More on EDOF cameras by Nokia’s camera boss Damian Dinning right here.

Both devices shoot video in 720P HD at 25 frames a second and the quality should be comparable. But because the N8 has an auto-focus camera, it is possible that future firmware updates or even hacks bring the ability to focus during video capture at objects up-close. The C7 will never be able to do this.

If you are not going to be taking pictures of documents or other objects placed close to the camera, the C7 will do just fine. It doesn’t have the N8′s wide angle lens or huge sensor so don’t expect great shots in low light but compared to the competition, the C7 will do just fine.

Personal Observations:

Having played with both devices, I may be one of the few people in the world who doesn’t like the C7′s design too much. Based on that alone, I would pick the N8. Its far better looking, feels great in the hand, because of the aluminum has greater resistance to scratches and in black looks outright classy. The C7 with its slightly plastic design and plentiful curves isn’t bad, but why get the second best, when you can have the N8. That being said, if you like the way the C7 looks, feel free to ignore this paragraph, the C7 too, after-all does feel solid in the hand.

To sum up, lets see what does the extra $70-80 get you:

A far superior camera, capable of some great results.
HDMI out, turning your smartphone into a virtual DVD/Blueray player replacement. Not to mention the Dolby support.
Premium design in an aluminum construction.
An extra 8GB of onboard storage.

In my book, all of those together are easily worth the extra money. No point compromising for such a small price difference. It is only when the difference reaches about $120 that you should weight your options, otherwise the N8 wins, hands down.

In-Depth Look At The Video Editor On The Nokia N8

Vaibhav Sharma — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 09:21:47 +0000

One of the new things that the new Symbian^3 OS brings is a pretty capable video editor that allows you to edit HD video right on the mobile phone. You can merge clips, add images, throw in transitions, replace the audio with music, trim clips, add titles and captions, pretty much everything that you’ll want to do before you share the glorious video that you have shot on the phone.

The whole process of manipulating video is pretty simple and you feel at home the moment you start the application. Here is an in-depth look at the Nokia N8′s video editor in glorious HD.

Considering the fact that event my Macbook screams when it comes to editing video in HD, the results and speed the N8 manages to pull off is pretty impressive. Some transitions, specially in the photo slideshow look a little jerky, but it may just have been the style of that particular theme.

Here is a video that I produced on the N8 immediately after recording the demo that you saw above, it took me under 5 minutes to produce.

Added a Title screen with a transition.
Selected two clips, trimmed one down to include just the middle part of it.
Added another transition.
Added background music.
Ended with another text based slide.

With an upload service such as pixelpipe running, the N8 becomes a true multimedia sharing powerhouse. For a long time image and video editors on the device have been more of gimmicks than actually usable apps, riddled with stability issues. But it looks like onboard editing on the Nokia N8 not just does the job, but impresses. After all, the application came for free, inbuilt on the phone and you didn’t have to buy it, unlike Apple’s iMovie for iPhone.

A Look At Web TV On The Nokia N8 – In Video

Vaibhav Sharma — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 15:44:07 +0000

Web TV is Nokia’s new video on demand application that will be pre-loaded on the Nokia N8 and possibly other Symbian^3 devices when they ship. To put it simply, Web TV is basically Flash lite video streamed over WIFI or 3G from a host of different content providers that vary from country to country.

There are a bunch of channels pre-loaded on each device based the regions the device is shipping to and you can even download more from the Ovi Store from right withing the Web TV application. While the app will come pre-loaded with CNN, National Geographic and Paramount in most parts of the world, Nokia is also working with content providers in more than 28 different countries to provide local content.

Nokia is looking at all sorts of content for the application, be it episodes of popular TV series, movie trailers, short clips, news and so on.

So what did I think of the application? Here is my overview in glorious HD.

If you are not too keen on watching the video, here’s a quick summary:

The quality of the content is good and videos look great on the N8′s screen. Also, because the N8 has a pretty decent loudspeaker, you can keep yourself entertained without needing headphones.
One irritation is that you still need to allow access to data everytime you launch a new channel, even on WIFI.
The video can be played on a large screen via HDMI, however the quality understandably doesn’t look as pleasing but remains watchable.
Apart from that the service is solid, how successful it will be depends on the content Nokia is able to attract. In India,from what I recall channels like NDTV and CNBC are going to be made available in-addition to others.

What I’d like to see next?

The possibility to buy paid content such as movies and episodes of popular series from within the app, possibly via the Ovi Store.
This is stretching it, but if Nokia can offer HD streaming via their partners, that will really make great use of the N8′s HDMI capabilities.

Are you looking forward to Web TV?

Shootout: Nokia N8 v Canon 550D DSLR

Vaibhav Sharma — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 07:44:54 +0000

You know what, forget the iPhone. Lets put the N8 up against some serious firepower, a DSLR which in this case is a 18 Megapixel Canon 550D, fitted with the 18-55mm kit lens. You’ve seen unedited pictures and video that Iain and I took with the N8 around Edinburgh. However I was also carrying my Canon 550D along and we decided to put the N8 to test and see how it fares against a full blown DSLR, nevermind those pocket point and shoot cameras. The results may surprise.

But before we proceed to the 20 different sets of images, lets clear a few things first. The N8 is not intended to replace a DSLR and as a blanket rule it will not. The N8 has the largest sensor on a mobile phone but even that is nothing compared to a DSLR’s sensor. This means that when it comes to low light photos, it will not even be a competition. Then what is the point of doing this shootout you ask?

I am doing this to see if there is a possibility of leaving a bulky DSLR home when you know you will be taking shots mainly during the day and do not intend to shoot landscapes at night. Lets face it, no matter how much you love taking images with your DSLR, carrying it around is a pain. There were a lot of times when despite having my trusty Canon 550D slung on my back I was happy using the N8 to take photos. Its too much of a pain to take it out of the bag every 5 minutes when you want to take a snap and lugging almost a kilo (800 gms.) around my neck also isn’t something I particularly look forward to.

Right then, the images. To fit this webpage I have resized the images, if you want a look at the larger version, just click on each image. But if you are still not satisfied and want the absolute unedited shots, I’ve uploaded all of them here, the ones with ‘DSLR’ in the name are from the Canon 550D and are numbered in co-relation to their N8 equivalents.

Nokia N8

Canon 550D

Once resized, there isn’t much to choose between the shots. The Canon has better lighting, but that could also be because the shot was composed a little differently.

Nokia N8

Canon 550D

With the sun playing hide and seek from the opposite direction, photography is always tough. It slid out a little to make the N8′s task even more hard.

Nokia N8

Canon 550D

This is where the Canon takes the clear lead with much better exposure, a lot more of the picture is visible.

Nokia N8

Canon 550D

If I didn’t label these images, you would be stressed to tell which was which.

Nokia N8

Canon 550D

The sun again playing spoil sport with the N8, but I’m glad to see that it has still been able to get a pretty decent shot in despite it blaring into the sensor.

Nokia N8

Canon 550D

At this point I was pretty happy with how the N8 was coping with virtually shooting into the sun, in the above shot its been blocked by the building.

Nokia N8

Canon 550D

The Canon may have gotten much more natural colours, but I like how the N8′s version pops up.

Nokia N8

Canon 550D

This time the Canon wins for me with better exposure.

Nokia N8

Canon 550D

Again a slight victory for the Canon because of the fact the greater detail visible in the houses.

Nokia N8

Canon 550D

Personally speaking, I’d like to give this round to the N8. The Canon has over-exposed it for my taste.

Nokia N8

Canon 550D

Both great looking pictures, but I love the deeper blues on the N8.

Nokia N8

Canon 550D

On this one, I prefer the N8′s version. Better colours and exposure.

Nokia N8

Canon 550D

Nokia N8

Canon 550D

Nokia N8

Canon 550D

Nokia N8

Canon 550D

Nokia N8

Canon 550D

Nokia N8

Canon 550D

Nokia N8

Canon 550D

Nokia N8

Canon 550D

Not natural, but I prefer the deeper blues that the N8′s post processing algorithm creates.

I personally don’t put too much value in actual size crops that are done to show how much detail could a camera capture as there would hardly be an occasion when I would need a 12 Megapixel image at its 100%. However, for those of you who care, here are ‘actual size’ crops from the Canon 550D (18 Megapixel) and the Nokia N8 (12 Megapixel).

Nokia N8

Canon 550D

Nokia N8

Canon 550D

Nokia N8

Canon 550D

Nokia N8

Canon 550D

As you can see for yourself, the detail on the N8′s shots is very impressive indeed.

Who would have thought that the N8 could even give a DSLR a run for its money. There will be things the N8 will not be able to match such as depth of field, low light performance, speed and sometimes even detail but for something that stays in your pocket 24/7 and weighs nothing compared to a DSLR, I’d say the N8 has come out with flying colours. The results have shocked me as well, even while I was taking the pictures I could not imagine that the results the N8 produces can look good to an untrained eye, even when put up against a DSLR. Remember, all the untouched, full resolution images from both devices are here.

After all the images I have taken with the N8, after the tons of video that I have seen it produce; I can only come to one conclusion, the N8 is the best camera phone on the market today, don’t let anyone tell you different.

Looking for more N8 coverage?

Nokia N8 Review: HD Video – Samples Across All Conditions

Vaibhav Sharma — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 08:12:45 +0000

Yesterday you saw the beautiful pictures the Nokia N8 is capable of producing, today we put its HD video capture to test. The N8 is Nokia’s first device that is capable of capturing video in the 1280 x 720 resolution. It records at around 90MB a minute capturing 25 frames a second. Another thing that Nokia has brought back from the N93/N93i era is stereo audio capture, powered by its dual microphones.

To give you a real world scenario of the quality you can expect from the Nokia N8′s video camera, Iain and I shot video in low light, bright light, daylight, at night, in noisy places, with stabilization, without it, with digital zoom, without it, panning, speaking, testing – in short trying to cover virtually all the different conditions the N8 could be used to shoot video in. The result ran into Gigabytes with over 30 clips. But instead of uploading them separately, I decided to capture the essence of each and mix them into one 8 minute video that should give you a taste of what to expect.

Do keep in mind that the video has been reprocessed twice, once in iMovie and then by YouTube, so you will see a slight drop in quality. I have also created the following timeline, to give you an idea of the conditions the N8 was filming in. Make sure you watch it in HD.

00:10 Nokia DLR Station: Video shot waiting for the DLR at the station right next to the venue for Nokia World. Broad daylight, moving train. Gives you an idea of how smooth the video from the N8 can be, you might see the odd jump though.

00:40 The English Countryside from a fast train: Video shot from inside a train to Edinburgh, you will see the reflections from the window. But despite the speed at which we were traveling, the N8 seemed to hold its own.

01:00 In very windy conditions: Right on top of a hill overlooking Edinburgh, no protection from the wind, making it very hard to keep the phone still and rendering the audio capture ability of most phones useless. The N8 manages to get a bit of my voice in, no mean feat at all.

01:20 Digital Zoom in Action: The thing about the N8′s digital zoom is that it offers around 3x zoom at negligible quality loss. At about 2x, its almost as if you were using an optical zoom. If you’re wondering how this works, this post is a must read.

01:50 Panning the N8 in windy conditions: Probably the time at which the N8 will be at its worst, not even dedicated devices hadle pans well and the wind makes the phone very shaky.

02:35 Very Noisy Conditions: Gives you a good idea of the N8′s dual microphones’ capabilities. One microphone is situated on the back, under the camera while the other is on the front. Great for capturing your own voice/commentary and the background collectively.

03:00 Flowing Water: A look at the amazing detail the N8 can capture, smooth as you like.

03:30 Following a subject around: A slow pan.

04:10 Digital Zoom: The N8′s brilliant digital zoom in action again, birds at the beach.

05:25 Chirping Birds: Gives you a good idea if the sensitivity the microphones posses.

05:40 A road scene, in broad daylight: Gives you an idea of what a steady hand can produce.

06:20 The road again, but this time at night: What really impressed me was the minimal noise and how well the N8 handled all the lights directed at its sensor. Amazing performance for a handheld device, dedicated flip HD camcorders would be proud.

07:25 Scenes from the Nokia World party: Virtually no noise in low, moving lights. Then we head into the Nokia World party’s famous Gin & Tonic cloud, a room full of vaporized Hendrick’s Gin. The air was so dense that you couldn’t see properly with your own eyes, wonder what the N8 saw?

When you buy the N8, not only do you buy a great digital camera but also a very handy camcorder. No dedicated pocket digital camera (sub $200) that I have used came close to offering quality similar to the N8′s, specially when it comes to audio capture. The N8′s Active Hyper focal distance video focus system doesn’t allow it to focus closer than 60 cm, but anything farther than that remains in sharp focus throughout. This is a bit of a trade-off, but one that will help the majority of the people get great video without thinking about it. In any case, Nokia is still working on making this better and we can look forward to new firmwares that will make this functionality even better.

Looking for more N8 coverage?

The Handheld Blog » Reviews

The In-Depth Nokia Lumia 800 Review

Similar Posts:

Hands On With The Symbian Belle Powered Nokia 603

Similar Posts:

In-Depth Look At The Lumia 800 On Video: Hard To Put Down

Similar Posts:

Nokia N9 Review: Swipe UI, Apps & Hardware

Similar Posts:

The Nokia N9 Unboxing & Overview: In A Class Of Its Own

Similar Posts:

The In-Depth Samsung Galaxy S2 Review

Similar Posts:

Nokia N8 v Nokia N9 HD Video Capture

Similar Posts:

MeeGo v Android v iOS HTML5 Test [N9 v SGS2 v iPad 2]

Similar Posts:

With The N9, Nokia Shows The World Its Still Got It

Similar Posts:

Head To Head: Samsung Galaxy S v Galaxy S2

Similar Posts:

Video: Swype For Honeycomb Demo – Much Better Than The Default Keyboard

Similar Posts:

Nokia Offering MeeGo Devs A 50% Bonus To Stop Them From Going ‘Mee-Go’

Similar Posts:

Nokia E7 Unboxing & Hands On

Similar Posts:

The Apple iPad Review: The Good, Bad & The Ugly

Similar Posts:

Review: Travelling With The Nokia N8

Similar Posts:

The Nokia N8 v Nokia C7 Debate

Similar Posts:

In-Depth Look At The Video Editor On The Nokia N8

Similar Posts:

A Look At Web TV On The Nokia N8 – In Video

Similar Posts:

Shootout: Nokia N8 v Canon 550D DSLR

Similar Posts:

Nokia N8 Review: HD Video – Samples Across All Conditions

Similar Posts: