A few weeks ago, David asked if I would like to play with a couple Nokia XpressMusic phones for review. Being somewhat a gadget junky, I take up the offer without any hesitation. He assured me that these stuff come in fantastic “review” package that will impress anyone.

Instead of a paper bag or cardboard box with phones inside, what I received was this mysterious looking briefcase with a very subtle Nokia logo on it. I thought it look more like those used by drug dealers carrying huge amount of cash instead, certainly makes me look a lot more cool than (I already am) if I were to carry this thing and walk around 1-U or something.

the mysterious briefcase

Inside the briefcase were two pretty cool looking phones, the Nokia 5610 and 5310 in slide and candy bar format. A set of very impressive Panasonic headphones, an Altec Lansing inMotion portable speaker, and the very neat JBL portable sound station for 5310 were included.

the impressive package design containing the two XpressMusic phones

The package looks great and all, but I was still very skeptical. I mean, what good are these tiny speakers compared with a traditional hifi system or even a boombox? And then I boot up the phones and hook it up to the speakers.

The very small Altec Lansing was actually very impressive, it doesn’t even come with battery and only draws power from the phones yet still able to produce very quality sound to reasonable volume. I can totally see this as a very compact solution for going to picnic or even listening to music in a hotel room when you’re travelling, a very portable solution. In fact, I would buy this now if I know where to find it! (I’ve searched the website to no avail, maybe I should tell David the dog ate it)

Nokia 5610 and Nokia 5310

The sleek 5310 and the JBL portable sound station combination is just perfect for someone who wants an uncomplicated phone with great music ability. Put the phone on the station and it instantly become both a charger and an impressive boombox solution, and I assume, a very good alarm clock that will surely wake you up in this morning. The station can be made portable by using AA batteries too. This baby can go pretty loud as well.

I love the 5310’s JBL Portable sound station

I shall not need to repeat the specs of these phones as you can easily find here: Nokia 5610, Nokia 5310. Both are Series40 phones that has a camera, cool design, and very great music functionality. I think they are reasonably priced too, my ex-colleague just bought the 5310 a month ago and is very happy about his phone, kept showing it off (especially to impress girls)

Tags:  5310,  5610,  altec lansing,  inmotion,  jbl,  mobile,  nokia,  phones,  review,  sound station,  xpressmusic

Posted by KY | 25 Comments »

Thanks to David Lian who initially got me a Nokia N95 to review, now I am a proud owner of the latest Nokia N-series phone, the N82. I guess I must be one of the earliest adopters of this little piece of mobile wonder. Less than a week into using it, and I am already very impressed.

I love the candy bar form factor

I first saw this phone during the Symbian Night last month. In essence, this phone is combined the best features of the previous two that I have used. The Nokia N95, and the Sony Ericsson K800i. As much as I like the N95, I have always enjoy the power of a xenon flash when it comes to low light photography, the LED illumination from the N95 just doesn’t have enough juice in certain conditions.

Carl Zeiss Tessar Lens with Xenon flash

The N82 basically has it all, other than the Xenon flash with 5 megapixel camera, it has got Wifi, HSDPA (3.5G), bluetooth, GPS, EDGE, NGAGE game engine, and all the multimedia features that matters. I think the only thing that they removed from the phone is the infrared port, something that I haven’t used in years anyway.

the N82 box

The package in the N82 includes a generous 2GB memory card, a stereo hands free earphones, a TV output cable, charger, and the new micro USB cable. I was at first a little disappointed looking at the new USB connector, thinking Nokia has gone back to the way of propriety interface.

After a little bit of investigation, I found out that it is actually a new USB standard that is geared towards mobile device. The mechanics of it is actually an improvement over the mini-usb, it has a little “click” feel to it when you insert the connector and able to “hold” the cable (or phone) much more securely.

what’s included in the package

A couple days after getting the phone, the good people at Carlsberg sent me 3 crates of Tuborg beer for the X’mas Eve Party tonight! For the first time in my life, I have more beer than my fridge could hold (that’s 72 bottles!), it’ll be a fun night with plenty of booze to go around. Thanks Carlsberg!

beer for party (picture taken with N82 with flash)

The picture is taken using my new N82 with flash. I don’t think it’ll turn out nearly as good without using the flash.

Tags:  3.5g,  edge,  gprs,  GPS,  hsdpa,  N82,  ngage,  nokia,  x'mas party,  xenon flash

Posted by KY | 22 Comments »

David Lian invited me to the Symbian S60 Night by Nokia, and since it was going to be at the Rick’s Cafe Casablanca at Bangsar One (with dinner included), I didn’t need to hesitate before jumping onto the opportunity. Plus, getting to play with some of the latest gadgets from Nokia doesn’t sound like a bad idea at all.

clockwise: Dinesh, Kim, David, KY, Suan (pic from david)

It was a pretty informal session, with Mr. Mahmood Kalantar (Nokia APAC BD), Dinesh (Nokia AP communications manager), Hazel (Nokia (M) communications manager) playing hosts. There was a presentation on the road map of S60, follow by feedbacks and discussions from us, and of course, there was also food and some of the latest phones, including the N82 to play with.

This baby was just released a few hours earlier by Nokia, it looks great, with Xenon flash, 5mp camera, GPS, HSDPA, and all that jazz. I like the candy bar format too, I’m just not as much a fan of slide & flip phones. The phone is solidly built, and the xenon flash really helps in super low light conditions. Get me one already, david!

Mr Mahmood doing his thing (pic from david)

The food served were mostly tapas , including salmon, meat balls, cold cuts, chicken pate, and even some spaghettis. Best of all, we had free flow beverages as well. The food was actually pretty good, though I wouldn’t really order the chicken pate myself as it was too much of a departure from foie gras with the latter being 50x better.

the food was pretty good too (pics shot with N95)

Overall I think the event was very enjoyable, we got to know a bit more about Nokia, and specifically the versatile platform that is S60. In return, we also gave our feedbacks and tell Nokia what we think of their products and directions they should pursuit. Suan, ST, Kim, James, David, Hazel, and Dinesh actually stayed until past midnight just chatting about various nonsense, I also met Cobalt Colbertand Jason there. It was awesome.

Tags:  N82,  N95,  nokia,  s60,  series-60,  symbian

Posted by KY | 18 Comments »

One of the many good things about hanging out with femes bloggers like suanie is that sometimes I get to indirectly enjoy some of the extra benefits she gets due to her fame. For example, I too was invited to the local movie Cinta’s premier; and thanks to her connection (which type I don’t know) to David Lian I get my hands on a review unit of Nokia N95 to play with.

Top of the line N series phone from Nokia, the N95

I have been using this phone for a better part of a week now, and frankly speaking, there isn’t much that this phone can’t do. I am used to the Symbian operating system as I had previously own a Nokia 7610 prior to the SE K800i.

While the K800i does take good pictures and have very good SMS features, it is lacking many extras the N95 offers. The N95 spots a higher resolution with the 5MP Carl Zeiss optics, then there’s the pretty useful Wifi connectivity, and on top of all these, there are GPS and push mail functions. It also supports HSDPA (3.5G), edge, bluetooth, and infrared.

The most interesting function has got to be the GPS. For the uninitiated, GPS, or Global Positioning System, is a set of satellites that allows the receiver to calculate it’s position anywhere on the surface of the earth with access to the sky. This phone includes the maps and routing program that is similar (or the same?) with the Nokia 6110 navigator that the hot chick has. I’m going to rely on the routing feature when I go to JB for a friend’s wedding and then to Penang this weekend since the Malaysian map is included.

That said, there are some minor weakness of this multimedia super phone. The most glaring being the battery life, while the basic phones could now last for almost a week on a single charge, I have to plug this thing to the wall at least every other day, but this is to be expected for something that packs so many features in it. I suppose if you are not a wifi junky and not using the GPS extensively, the battery should lasts for several more days. While the SMS function is superior to that of the iPhone (no forward, can’t send to multiple recipients), it doesn’t have the predictive words function like the newer SEs.

Still, this is a super phone and I really enjoy using it. I just got myself a car charger to eliminate the battery life issue of using GPS for hours. I wish David all the luck to pry the phone out of my cold dead fingers if he wants it back.

Tags:  3.5g,  3g,  edge,  GPS,  hsdpa,  nokia-n95,  review,  wifi

Posted by KY | 8 Comments »