My OVI store experience

Few days back I downloaded my very first application from OVI store.

To being with OVI store is Nokia’s virtual store where developers upload applications and consumers can easily download them.

I started off by using the OVI store shortcut on my N95

The application opens up with the below screen.

By default a list of Recommended downloads are shown along with a search bar on the top. Searching for Hi-N-Bye was quite quick and straightforward. The application was listed after search, clicking on which took me to the details page.

The Application Details page specifies all application related information in a neat layout.The cost of the application along with its rating is specified on top. There is a BUY button to continue with the buy process.

The button is followed by the application description section which allows informs about the application Type and Size. The description section is followed by some screen shots of the application and User reviews.The details page also has options to recommend the application to a friend. Lists of related applications are shown.

Clicking on the BUY link requires the user to be logged in. Once logged in the user is taken to the purchase page where in the mode of payment is specified and the purchase is completed subsequently.

Once the purchase is confirmed and completed the application is downloaded which is followed by the Installation procedure. The client takes of downloading and installing the application.

That is one less worry for the user who now does not need to search for the downloaded application and start installing it.

Ovi Store Impressions :

The store layout is well-organized. The applications are categorized into four main categories.

> Applictions
> Games
> Audio & Video
> Personalisation

There is also a Recommended category which recommends applications from the above categories.

Along with the categories there is another way in which the applications are catalogued in the store. They are the “Channels”

Channels are a way bringing together similar content together around a certain theme, more like grouping applications across categories into particular themes.

For Example consider the News&Sports channel seen above. Selecting the channel lists out applications from all categories which are into News and Sports. The result list out games like Ovi Maps Racing,Mini Golf Challenge ..etc,,Applications like Map My tracks,Endomondo Sports Tracker etc.. Personalization stuff like Asphalt 4: Elite Racing Theme and so on.

Cataloging applications through channels makes it easier to discover similar content in the Ovi Store but so far the potential is yet to be explored.At this point , Channels are only created by Nokia but it would be awesome if it goes public. Users can make a channel of the applications which can be shared. We can have locale specific channels, Model specific channels, Cost specific channels..so on the options are endless. If implemented through proper governance this would make the OVI store truly awesome and easy to use.

App Review: HI-N-Bye

This review is done as part of the competition being held at The Symbian Blog. There are 3 N900′s being given away. For more details head over to The Symbian Blog.

We downloaded Hi-N-Bye application from Nokia OVI store. Hi-N-Bye is a paid application which you can download from here OVI

Hi-N-Bye

Hi-N-Bye is a unique accelerometer based application developed by KEYnetik which makes use of the built in accelerometer in the phone to record gestures and translates them to phone friendly commands which take control of the call system.

The application records gesture inputs which allow you to answer phone calls with simple pick-up like gesture, End a phone call with hang-up like gesture and also allows turning loudspeaker ON/OFF and swapping/hold calls, all without pressing any hardware key.

The application is easy and intuitive to use once you learn about the gestures and their corresponding actions.

We downloaded the application from OVI store. The download and installation procedure is straightforward and hassle free.

Once the application is downloaded and installed, launch the application from the applications menu.

The application loads up with the below screen.

The main menu provide options to set 6 parameters which govern the application behavior

Auto Start

Options: Enabled and Disabled

Enabling Auto Start makes the application launch on boot.

Auto Starting the application works fine as the phone recognizes the input gestures of a phone received shortly after boot up.

Disabling “Auto Start” requires the application to be launched manually to take in gesture inputs.

Application type:

Options: Regular Application and System application

Choosing “Regular application” will make “Hi-N-Bye” to be treated a usual S60 application by the system. The application is eligible to be closed forcefully by the system in low memory conditions.

Choosing “System Application” will result in “Hi-N-Bye” running always once started and will not be closed by the system in low memory conditions.

Timeout:

Options: Enabled and Disabled

Enabling the “Timeout” requires the “Timeout Period” to be specified. The “Timeout Period” determines the duration of time the application will use the accelerometer service to register gestures during the call.

Disabling the “Timeout” option will allow the “Hi-N-Bye” application to use the accelerometer service through the duration of the call. This might result in increased battery consumption.

Timeout Period:

The “Timeout Period” is available when the “Timeout” is enabled. The timeout duration can be set from 1 to 30 minutes. For Ex: If the timeout period is set to 5 minutes then onwards the “Hi-N-Bye” application is put to sleep and you can no longer control the call using gesture inputs.

Shake Assignment:

The “Shake assignment” option defines the action to take when you shake the phone: either use the lower right button (option bottom right of the screen), use the green key or does not do anything.

Push Assignment:

The “Push Assignment” option works as same as “Shake Assignment”, difference being the action wherein the phone is pushed away and from the user. I.e. like an action simulation the push of a button.

Along with the options to set the above six parameter Hi-N-Bye also has an options menu to which provide user some more control options over the application.

Run in Background

Selecting the “Run in Background” option will minimize the “Hi-N-Bye” application. The application keeps running the background and can be accessed by long pressing the menu key.

Hide Application

“Hide Application” is another useful feature which will hide the application shortcut from the task list. Since the application keeps running in the background most of the time having it listed on the task list all the time is not really needed and will unnecessarily increase the task list length.

Selecting this option will make the application not to be listed on the open tasks list which is shown on menu key long press.

Save Settings

Once all the setting have been done they can be persisted by using the save settings options.

Usage:

Please check out my video of the application in action. The application was used on a Nokia N95 to control a call using the gestures.

We tried out Answering a call, turning ON/OFF the loudspeaker, swapping/Hold a call and also call hang-up.

Answering a call requires the phone turned up and facing the person and a moving it at an angle as shown in the video. The gesture is very intuitive and is same as if you look at who is calling and then take the phone towards the ear to answer back. Answering a call always worked for us and the application registered this gesture with 100% accuracy. Great!!!

Turning ON/OFF the loudspeaker requires the phone to be pushed down as if you are pressing a button. This action toggles the loudspeaker ON/OFF.

Swapping/Hold of active call is accomplished through shake gesture. The active call is placed on hold or call is switched to another waiting call if any.

Call hang-up is a simple step of just turning the phone upside so that the screen is parallel to the ground. Neat and easy!!!

The application works pretty flawless with little error. The gestures are registered on the first attempt 90% of the time. Keynetik have set the sensitivity to optimal values and does not require vigorous shaking or pushing of the phone to register a gesture. The application has been thoroughly beta tested and it works with minimal flaws. Kudos to the Keynetik team!!

All is well when we have the mobile in hand while getting a call. However, few times we did face the problem when the phone had to be picked up to see caller details which resulted in the call being received.

Wish list:

Keynetik can also provide user with an option to adjust the sensitivity of the application which will provide the users more control over the application behavior and definitely be helpful.

It would be great if Keynetik can also add in a gesture to silence a incoming call. This was one feature we missed a lot and would like to see it coming in the future release.

We would also love to see a pop up or a help menu explaining the above mentioned settings/options on what they do and how changing the parameters will affect the application behavior and also how one can save battery. This will very much help first time users a lot.

Conclusion:

There are many applications in the Symbian world like “FlipSilent”,”ShutUp” and ”LoudUp” etc.. which partially accomplish what “Hi-N-Bye” does.

However “Hi-N-Bye” is one neat application which takes care of almost all daily usage actions associated with a call. It also provide user with a host of options to tweak various associated parameters allowing user to answer a call with little hassles.

In its existing avatar the application is fantastic to use and is a definite recommend from us for anyone who like to use the gestures to handle their calls.

Thumbs up

N97 The GOOD and the BAD

I received a review unit from WOM world a few days back and it’s been a nice experience with the N97.
Note that I am also using the N900 all along. However this is a sole N97 review with the N900 in no consideration but I do have references of the Samsungs HD monster i8910 and the Sony IDOU/SATIO.

Some Flashback:-

Until a few months back just before the N900 was released, N97 was Nokia’s flagship phone and one amongst Nokia mobiles to sport a large touch display with Symbian tweaked to take in touch input. The N97 did create lot of curiosity and hype when it was first announced.
It’s been almost a year since the N97 has been released and has already receive a fair share of updates from the dellligent Nokia guys, which also includes the highly anticipated FW 2.0(God the n97 was very bad before 2.0)

Present:-
It’s just been sometime since we received an FW update for the N97 with the much awaited OVI maps with free navigation. I do feel that Nokia and N97 do have quite some weapons to hold their own amongst all the competitors around.

I played around with the N97 for 2 weeks as my primary phone. My usage included few phone calls and messages in a day, Average of 1 hour browsing over wi-fi,1 hour browsing over 2.5g, few images and videos, continuous access to exchange server over 2.5 g and few hours of music.

Physical Design:

Specifications:
Device Size 117.2 x 55.3 x 15.9[1] mm
Volume 88 cc
Weight 150 g
Input Method Touch Screen
Keypad Slide-out QWERTY Keyboard

N97 Unboxed

With a N900

N97 Front

N97 Slid Open

Left Side

Right Side

N97 Hinge

The Good:
The tilt sliding full QWERTY form factor is the best I have used in any mobile. (My previous dual sliding N95 was awesome for quick music access) For me a physical keyboard is a must (not necessarily QWERTY) and the N97 suits the bill perfectly,

The hinge mechanism is quite solid. The screen angles out with a proper thump and if feels as if it would last a hundred years. The angle is at around 30 degree inclinations and is perfect for watching movies and other phone operations. Steel bezel around the handset gives a class feel to the mobile.

The keyboard has the space bar placed towards the right. Again this is one topic of debate as to why Nokia has chosen to move the space bar towards one side when most of the users are quite used to having it at the center. It does take some time for getting used to, not much of a issue though.

The keypad also house a D-pad which is quite handy while browsing and playing games.

The power button and a 3.5mm headphone jack are on top side of the device. On the left side, you’ll a find a Micro-USB port, a lock switch, and the stereo speakers. The right side has a volume rocker that also doubles as zoom in/out buttons and a camera capture key. The camera is located on the back and both the lens and flash are protected by a sliding cover.

The bad:

Observe Camera Lens glass grained by the protective slide

Notice the spacebard placed towards the right

Accessories

The back cover is all plastic and does feel a bit cheap for a flagship smartphone. This can be forgotten if you are one of the earlier N97 owners (the review unit sent to me looks as if it’s from the earlier batch) and does have one serious flaw. CAMER LENS COVER!!! The lens cover slide open mechanism is flawed and instead of protecting the lens it ends up scratching it (checks the images below). However this has been rectified in the newer batch of mobiles.

I do have some gripes with the keyboard also. The keys do not provide proper feedback since they have very less travel. The spacing between the keys is adequate but it would have been awesome if the keys have a small bulge in the middle… A la N900.

Hardware:

Specs:
CPU Count Single CPU
CPU Type ARM 11
CPU Clock Rate 434 MHz
WLAN IEEE 802.11 b/g
Dual Transfer Mode (MSC 11),EGPRS, GPRS, HSCSD,HSDPA,WCDMA
Frequency Bands GSM 1800, GSM 1900,GSM 850,GSM 900,WCDMA 1900,WCDMA 2100, WCDMA 850
WCDMA 900
Screen Resolution 360 x 640
Screen Color Depth 24 bit
Memory 32GB of internal memory with Micro SD (up to 16Gbytes)
TV-Out Yes
FM Transmitter Yes

The Good:

Memory is one area in which N97 excels and has a huge 32 GB internal memory with support up to another 16 GB memory cards. This adds up to 48 GB of space for multimedia and files storage and is more than adequate for mobile needs. The resistive touch screen is quite responsive and usable though it’s not in the same league as the capacitive screens. Screen resolution is on par with the other phones in the market, has good brightness and legibility under sunlight. It also has a FM transmitter which is quite handy and TV out support.

The Bad:

Expect for the good memory capabilities it looks like Nokia have made huge compromise in all other hardware department. Here is my rant list:
1> Single ARM 11 processor with no GPU is mediocre and is not up to task.
2> 128 Mb of RAM for a Smartphone flagship is rubbish.
3> 128 Mb phone memory is again shocking as you end up filling it up in no time which results in annoying out of memory error.
4> 5 Mp camera with Carl Zeiss optics is a decent performer and is now been around for long time doing its duty in N95, N95 8 GB, N82…Etc. However they could have plonked in the 8 Mp unit from the N86 along with Xenon flash.
5> GPS takes ages to get a lock from cold start and frequently loses connection after getting a lock. This has also been rectified in the later batches though.
6> Lag when switching from portrait to landscape mode or vice versa

Well the above all problems directly result in the mobiles performance and have resulted in quite some unhappy users. The highly anticipated firmware 2.0 fixed some problems but still wish Nokia had made some better decisions in on the hardware part.

Home screen and widgets:

Specifications: The n97 runs Symbian OS v9.4, Series 60 v5 which is essential S60 v3 edition tweaked to take in touch input.

The Good:

The N97 has the best home screen implementation compared to other s60 v5 biggies like the i8910 and the Satio.

The layout is organized into sections with the status indicators (Clock, Date and profile) arranged at the top. Click on the status indicators and you are taken to their respective applications.

Widgets are quite popular nowadays and have been quite neatly integrated to the home screen. User can customize and add up to 5 widgets for quick access. Just swiping across the widgets switches makes the widgets disappear allowing a clean home screen. Neat! Turn the phone and the widgets organized neatly into landscape mode. Its easy to remove or rearrange the widgets. By default, our review unit’s home screen featured widgets for Facebook, AccuWeather, contacts, a shortcut bar to messages, the Web, maps and the media player.

The Bad:

Again, compromises on the hardware part has let down the otherwise beautiful home screen with some small niggles. Developers are forced to trade away transitions for performance and hence we see no transitions in the home screen provided. Transitions from landscape to portrait and vice-versa are sometimes not smooth when we have some applications open in the background. Not much of a pain though.

Operating system

N97 is powered by Symbian OS v9.4 (S60 V5) which takes in touch input. As I said earlier its essentially a S60 v3 with some tweaking to take in touch input. The grid based main menu can be accessed by clicking the physical button on the front of the phone. The menu button is slanted has no indication that it actually is a menu button. Go in and you see a familiar (if you have used an s60 v3 earlier) layout of icons. .. Here the icons are essentially OVI set of icons that have been pretty standard with the latest N series.

The good:

Well OS is good at multitasking and has no problems in opening more than 7 apps (It does support for even more simultaneous apps running) which included some resource hungry apps like maps, camera and video player. Switching between apps is done through press holding the menu button or through the options menu. The application menu is fast and smooth with the new kinetic scrolling added in 2.0 which make it even better.

One good thing about the S60 running here is that its supported big time by Nokia by providing frequent software updates (My two year old n95 8gb got a recent SW update..Take that…!) SW updates do iron out issues and also provide new feature. FOTA (Firmware Over The Air) update is also supported which is great step towards wireless updates. A far cry from some other manufactures who just seem to forget their products.

The bad:

The OS looks outdated when compared to other touch screen OS in the market. There are no theme effects and transitions incorporated which makes things bland. Probably Nokia had to do away with the transitions because of the RAM concerns. The icons are sometimes not finger friendly and navigation around some parts does require unnecessary additional clicks.

Also in landscape there is this list of buttons on the right side which are big and ugly and eat up screen estate. These though are essential buttons to navigate around the menu but the buttons are too big and somewhat misfit which make the landscape mode look portrait.

The problem here is that S60 has been around for long and it was also not developed as a touch OS. This shows off in quite some places.

Email and Messaging

The messaging is another are where S60 v5 hasn’t been modified at all. It’s essentially the same as what we saw in Nokia 5800.

The Good

No changes in messaging features means that there are no hassles in daily usage as it’s has been always on S60 V3. Once inside the messaging menu the user has access to the Messaging Inbox, Mailbox, Sent messages, Draft messages and outbox . N97 also has handwriting recognition software built in so that you don’t need to pop out the keyboard or struggle with the onscreen key board. The software is still being optimized I guess, but it does a good job nevertheless.

The email client also remains the same with some small tweaks in place to reduce the unnecessary hits to achieve particular tasks. Email client supports multiple clients with all standard features and other synchronizations options in place.

The bad:

Nokia should have gone down the threaded messaging approach path. Though this feature is not implemented by other manufactures running s60 it would have been really great for the n97 if it had the now famous conversations (N900). The messaging application is due for an upgrade and I hope to see the conversation in the next firmware..!! C’mon Nokia…

Again the only rant with the email client is it’s high time it needs a complete makeover. Yeah…Eagerly waiting for Symbian v4 for that.

Multimedia

Like its N-series predecessors multimedia capabilities is a critical for this segment and the n97 does not letdown though it’s no benchmark material in multimedia handling. There is no longer the cool shortcuts menu that usually accompanied the N series devices. Multimedia access is now through the Music and Videos&TV menus.

N97 has FM radio with RDS(Radio Data System) and also a FM transmitter which is a great feature. FM transmitter is missed out on both Omnia HD and the Satio.

The good:

Playback does look great on the 3.5 inch display with 16m colors and 640*360 pixels. Having 32 GB is on-board is pretty awesome and I don’t see the need for having an external card to store the digital content. Audio quality from the dual speakers is good and pretty loud. The earphones are the same as those coming with 5800 which does a decent job.

Default video codec’s supported are MPEG-4, mp4 and 3 GB. There is no DivX and XviD support out of the box, however there are quite a lot of apps in the Symbian market which do playback other formats.
Music codec’s supported are MP3, AAC, eAAC, eAAC+, WMA.

The FM radio interface is neat with support for automatic station scanning. RDS allows display of the Radio station name on the main screen.

FM transmitter is also a very useful feature and is nowadays becoming a standard in smartphones. It helps a lot when you have to stream music to your receiver in car. No need to burn your favorite tracks while planning for a long drive!

The Bad:

Again the problems with the S60 V5 in the multimedia department are lack of new features from S60 v3 and the boring interface. There is no 3D mode or any eye-candy of that sort. Both the Omnia HD and the SATIO have better looking video and audio players. Though the music performance is good its still not the benchmark and does fall behind the Sony Ericsson’s walk man series phone. There is no HD video playback, given the TV out feature this would have been awesome.

Though having FM transmitter is a great feature the transmitted signal is very weak and does cause lot of distortion while playback. Nokia probably limited the signal strength for battery concerns but an option for user to customize the signal strength would have been great.

Camera

N97 sports a 5 Megapixel Camera with Dual LED Flash onboard, Carl Zeiss opticis and Autofoculs.
The images are captured in 2584×1938) pixels and the videos are 640×480 High Quality with around 30fps.

Here are some samples taken from the N97:

Indoor shot

Outdoor Shot

Close-Up Outdoor

Outdoor- Low light

Outdoor

Indoor- Close Up in Artificial Light

Night Shot

Close-up Macro shot

Close-up Macro shot

Landscape

The Good:

Though on the specs the numbers might not be very impressive the 5 mega pixel unit does capture images of good quality as seen in the samples above.

The camera app loads up with the Interface shown below

The UI is similar to the one found in 5800 XpressMusic – albeit a few changes.
All the Camera settings except flash are squeezed into a single menu as below

There are a lot of settings available which are listed below:
• Flash – Automatic, On, Off, Red-Eye reduction
• Scene mode – User Defined, Macro, Portrait, Night Shot, Night Portrait, Landscape, Sports
• Video mode – switch between photo & video recording.
• Show grid – overlays a grid on the screen.
• Self-timer – off, 2s, 10s, 20s
• Color tone – Normal, Sepia, Black & White, Vivid, Negative
• White balance – Automatic, Sunny, Cloudy, Incandescent, Fluorescent
• Exposure – +2/-2 at 0.5 step
• Light sensitivity (ISO) – Automatic, Low, Medium, High
• Contrast/Brightness – 20 notches & 10 notches
• Sharpness – Hard, Normal, Soft
• Single/Sequence – Take a single shot or multiple shots

N97 also supports for Geo-Tagging of pictures.
The picture quality is good and quite detailed for a 5 mega-pixel unit. Nokia have managed to fine tune the image processing algorithm and have achieved a good balance between the image detail and noise levels.
The standout feature of the N97 camera is how good it takes images in close up mode. The macro mode captures some really great images and is comparable to standalone digi-cams.

The camcorder on N97 captures VGA @30 fps. The video is stutter free which is quite a norm now and is of decent quality. The color and white balance are optimized well.

The Bad

The first gripe is the delay in camera application loading up. When compared to other smartphones which have better load up times 3-4 seconds delay is too much.
The camera technology in N97 is old and lacks all the modern features that the other competing manufacturers are using such as face detection, smile detection and even blink prevention. As always with the N series line up Nokia has again been conservative in equipping their cameras with all the current popular features.

Though the 5 mega pixel unit equipped with Carl-Zeiss optics is up to task , five mega pixels don’t count as high-end anymore with all the latest tech missing. With N97 Nokia had a very good chance to bring in better camera unit and take on the other manufacturers.
Video recording is another area where Nokia have made no progress for the past several years, however we might see all of this changing with the now announced N8

Conclusion: IS IT GOOD OR IS IT BAD?

Thanks to WOMWORLD for sending me this trial unit for a review, I got to play around with N97 for over twenty days which is enough to know over way around the device and to gather information and opinions.

My experience with the N97 has been mixed one. Throught the post I have pointed out the good and the bad aspects of the phone in every department but I hate the fact that I have so many bad things experience in almost all the areas.

THE Nokia N97 is a that kind of a phone where you find all necessary features one would expect in a high end smart phone. Decent build quality, large screen, good hardware QWERTY keyboard, stereo speakers, Decent camera and Navigation and plethora of connectivity options.

However, the N97 excels in only few departments of a smart phone and performs rather average in other departments. With so many better offers from the competitors sporting much feature rich advanced Operating Systems the N97 does struggle with its weak hardware and a aging software which lets down what would have been a another N95 kind of success story from Nokia. Nevertheless, Its new iteration N97 mini has been a decent alternative with many of the original flaws of N97 ironed out and is a very good buy.

Also its high time that Nokia get their act right. Symbian^3 does look like a better feature rich Symbian iteration and the recently launched N8 looks like a good shot from Nokia to give a fitting blow to the competetions.

N900 AND HOW

It has been quite a long wait. I finally got my N900 from US on Feb 1,2010. I have been using it extensively since and it just doesnt stop amazing me.. A remarkable mobile truly.

Please check out some unboxing pics below.

Nokia’s Big News: Navigation on your Nokia. For free. Forever

Brilliant news !!!!!!!!!!

A game changer by Nokia. When Nokia promised ‘BIG NEWS’ on Thursday,Jan 21 who would have expected them to unleash the free navigation on OVI Maps.

This was one area Nokia was lagging behind the Android and other devices which had the already awesome Google Maps providing free turn by turn navigation.With this announcement Nokia have given a massive blow to Google maps and other navigation softwares.

Free turn-by-turn directions in 74 countries in 46 languages which will cover 20 million Nokia smartphones globally with Ovi Maps available in over 180 countries is awesome and will boost the sales of GPS enabled Nokia sets.

The download link for OVI MAPS is already live here. Some free features announced are

Free Drive navigation
Free Walk navigation
Free maps and map updates
Free Events guides
Free Lonely Planet guides
Free Michelin guides

Compatible devices:
Nokia X6, Nokia N97 mini, E72, E55, E52, Nokia 6730 classic, Nokia 6710 Navigator, Nokia 5800 Xpressmusic, Nokia 5800 Navigation Edition, Nokia 5230.

Note: No support yet for N97 and N900 yet but they will get for sure.

Nokia has upped the ante and it looks quite exciting. Cheers…!!!!!

[UPDATE] Its pre-loaded with local maps and it works offline meaning less battery usage and navigation even with no data(GPRS) …Awesome.. Google Maps ?????

Firmware update for N900 released:PR1.1

Nokia have just released a major firmware update for their flagship mobile computer N900. The update PR1.1 adds a lengthy list of new features and host of fixes which were reported for the n900. The update has been due for quite some time now and is supposed the make the already awesome n900 even better.

Check out the Changelog here :

Thanks for the update Nokia, Way to go…

N900 software update 1.2009.44.1 out

Nokia has released a new firmware update for N900. This is just a minor update(162mb) and has been released to prepare the n900 for a major update and including the OVI store launch. Though OVI store is not yet official for Maemo the app manager changes include the OVI icons hinting at the impending launch.

According to Nokia, “This software update prepares the Nokia N900 for opening the Ovi Store – watch out for a separate announcement for the store opening shortly.”

The rumored major update build 51 (PR-1.1) is the one supposed to fix lot of bugs and bring potrait mode to n900.

Check out the new Icons in App manager.

Google Attack : Web meets phone

This was imminent.. Google have their Andriod OS running on quite a lot of phones from different manufacturers.The hype and the anticipation of a google phone has been on for quite a long time.

Google has officially launched the NEXUS One running Android Mobile Technology Platform 2.1 (Eclair) and have also kicked-off sales of this handset via its Web site.

Nexus One is designed by Taiwan’s HTC and it boasts quite a impressive hardware setup under its hood.

This phone is powered by Qualcomm QSD 8250 1 GHz processor, which will be more than enough to handle the Nexus One’s 3D graphics, multiple applications running in the background and heavy browser usage simultaneously.It has 512MB Flash,512MB RAM and 4GB Micro SD Card (Expandable to 32 GB).

The screen is 3.7-inch (diagonal) widescreen WVGA AMOLED touchscreen with 800 x 480 pixels

Connectivity features include :

UMTS Band 1/4/8 (2100/AWS/900)
HSDPA 7.2Mbps
HSUPA 2Mbps
GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
Wi-Fi (802.11b/g)
Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
A2DP stereo Bluetooth

The 5 mpx camera with LED is on par with other phones in the market.

Nexus One is pitched directly against Apple’s iphone 3Gs. Iphone does have the backing of the ever growing app store but Android is catchin up quite fast. But the huge and beautiful 3.7 inch WVGA AMOLED screen, massively fast Snapdragon 1Ghz processor, brilliant Google Navigation, Live Wallpaper and the Voice Keyboard all make it look very exciting. Nexus One does have its advantages with far less shortcomings than many other smartphones in the market.

How will it compete against the N900?? Only time will say and it is also high time that Nokia have their ovi store up and running for maemo apps. We see the momentum growing for Maemo and it all looks like a exciting battle ahead.

Updating N900’s Firmware on Linux

Windows users can easily update the firmware with the Nokia Software Update but the the Linux and Mac loving N900 fans can get help from the article by guys at techie-buzz.com to help update N900′s firmware from a Linux and Mac machine. Head over for more information:
Updating N900’s Firmware on Linux

Great News:Firefox Will Soon Unveil its First Mobile Version

Our N900 happens to the first mobile playing host to the first release of Firefox’s mobile Internet browser.

Fennec, more than a year in development is initially exclusive to the Maemo-based N900  for a short time after its release, but versions for Android and Symbian mobiles are expected to follow in the first half of 2010.

Jay Sullivan who was in charge of the project said that the mobile version underwent various tests and would be launched by the end of the year. He also added a user would not have to sit in the evening and work on their PC, instead he would be able to walk. In case he received some urgent documents that he had to read there would be no necessity to back home and check his e-mail, as his mobile would be equipped with Firefox mobile version.

Owners of the Apple iPhone will be disappointed that Mozilla is not planning to release a version of Firefox for their mobiles, with the firm citing the restrictive nature of the iPhone’s platform as the main reason behind the decision.

Please head over to the below link for more information:

http://www.thelatestnews.in/firefox-will-soon-unveil-its-first-mobile-version/25115.html