The boffins over at Nokia Beta Labs have just released a clever little photo application for the Nokia 5800. Imaginatively called “Nokia Photo Browser,” the application adds a flashy looking interface to your photo gallery. To view your photo’s you can now just swipe your finger across the display and all of your images will flow nicely across your screen. Double tap to view an image, and you can now tap your photo to bring up a magnifying glass to zoom in.
The cleverst part of it though seems to be the face recognition. When you double tap on a face in a photo it zooms in to the face, and as you swipe the display, it moves to the next face in the photo. No more scrolling around to refocus on people faces! The Photo Browser is only available at the moment for the Nokia 5800 (and N97 when released) and is available now to download from the Nokia Betalabs website.
Nokia have put this video together to show it in action:
This time though, they’re not all singing all dancing multimedia phones, instead Nokia have concentrated their efforts on lower end phones with a few less features. UK release dates haven’t yet been confirmed, but details of the new handsets announced are listed below:
Nokia 5130 XpressMusic:
This is one of the most affordable Nokia music phones so far. It has a 3.5mm headphone socket so you can use any standard earphones with it and has dedicated music keys. As with most Nokia camera phones now, it comes with a 2MP camera and has an FM radio. Now that Nokia have rolled out their OVI services, they are building support for it in most of their new handsets. The 5130 has built in support for Mail on Ovi and share on Ovi. These new services will add simple email setup and the ability to upload images directly to Ovi or other Social Networking sites such as Facebook. Read more on Ovi The 5130 should be released in the first 3 months of 2009.
Nokia 7100 Supernova:
Another handset for the Supernova line up! The 7100 is the starter handset in the range and features a high resolution display along with a 1.3MP camera. As with the 5130, it has FM radio and support for Mail on Ovi and Share on Ovi. The 7100 Supernova is expected to be available before Christmas.
Nokia 2320 Classic, Nokia 2323 Classic, Nokia 2330 Classic: These 3 handsets all look the same, but vary slightly in their features. They all support Mail on Ovi and Nokia Life Tools. Read more on Life Tools The Nokia 2323 adds FM Radio, and the 2330 adds a basic camera. All three handsets are expected towards the middle of 2009.
Nokia 1202 and Nokia 1661: The final two from Nokia are very basic handsets. Featurewise they have Flashlight, loud ringtones, phonebook and extended battery life. The 1661 also has FM Radio and a colour screen. Both are due early 2009.
Mail on Ovi, which is enabled on Nokia Series 40 devices, offers the possibility to create an email account directly on the mobile phone without having to use a personal computer, giving millions of users the possibility to create their first internet identity and communicate in new ways. Mail on Ovi is easy to find, set-up and use, for immediate email access from your mobile phone. The global rollout of Mail on Ovi will be available on all currently shipping Nokia Series 40 devices by the end of 2008.
Share on Ovi makes it easy to post photos and videos from your mobile device straight to your photo sharing site, blog, or other online community. Learn how to set up Share Online with your chosen service so that you can, post photos and videos, and view your site, even when you’re on the go.
Nokia Life Tools is a range of innovative agriculture information and education services designed especially for rural and small town communities in emerging markets. Nokia Life Tools helps overcome information constraints and provides farmers and students with timely and relevant information. These services use an icon-based, graphically rich user interface that comes complete with tables and which can even display information simultaneously in two languages. Behind this rich interface, SMS is used to deliver the critical information to ensure that this service works wherever a mobile phone does, without the hassles of additional settings or the need for GPRS coverage.
Barely a week goes by without at least one new handset being leaked on the internet. Well, this week it looks like its the turn of Nokia to have their thunder stolen, with the unofficial leak of two new E-series devices. Currently dubbed the E72 and E75, these two handsets build on the current successes of the E-Series but add higher spec and better usability.
Nokia E75
Nokia’s new E75 features a unique slide out QWERTY keyboard, I say unique, but this style of keyboard has been around for many years on HTC devices and is about to make its debut with Sony Ericsson on the Xperia X1.
Nokia E72
This appears to be an upgrade to the recently announced and extremely popular Nokia E71. The only differences we can see so far are slight cosmetic changes to the keyboard with the introduction of a couple of extra keys and a possibly a higher megapixel camera.
Can Nokia beat its rivals? With the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 due in a matter of weeks, and the HTC Touch Pro already doing well, it will be interesting to see if Nokia can attract any more users. The E-Series platform works well, runs smoothly and is already proving to be a successful platform for business users.
Here’s the leaked footage! Let us know what you think.
Whether you are a phone user or a gadget lover, one of the most annoying things about getting a new device is having to replace all of your chargers. For my current phone I’ve got a car charger, a spare mains charger at work and a USB charging cable that I carry around in my laptop bag. But what if I carried my iPod and PSP with me, or if my Bluetooth Headset takes a different charging connector to my phone – thats another charger I’d need to carry around with me! Thankfully PowerBloks make it easier to charge multiple devices with just one charger.
PowerBloks are simple adapters that convert any standard Mini USB cable into a USB charging cable, and can also be used to convert Mini USB Mains and Car chargers to work with your device. This is great news, as it completely removes the need to have a seperate charger for each device you own. I’m pretty sure that you will already have a spare Mini USB cable lying around at home that you can use to charge your phone, MP3 Player or games console – they even work on the new iPhone 3G. If you want to use this cable in the car or at work, just connect your cable to a USB Mains Adapter or USB Car Charger Adapter and you’ve got a fully functional charger that you can update as often as you like for a fraction of the cost!
When you’re in the car you can now use the same charger on your TomTom, your phone, your iPod and your Bluetooth Headset, just change the PowerBlok adapter to switch between devices.
PowerBloks are available now for Classic Nokia, Nokia 2mm, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, Sony PSP, iPod and iPhone, with other manufacturers due shortly. We’re looking at putting together some bundle packs on the tips – which ones do you think we should do? What other devices should we offer adapters for? Feel free to add your suggestions below!
Nokia have just announced a second software update to their latest N-Series handset, the N78. Version 12.046 was released on the 14 July 2008, giving a number of performance improvements:
Softkey selection
Bluetooth Stability
Video Playback
Email Sending
Alarm Clock Functions
Unlike the previous update, Version 12.046 will be available to download via the Nokia Software Updater, as well as Over the Air – removing the need to connect to a PC.
To download directly to the N78:
Click Menu > Tools > Utilities > Device Manager.
Select Options > Check for updates and follow the on-screen prompts.
The file download for this may be quite large, so we’d suggest connecting to a Wi-Fi network if you don’t have an unlimited data plan. This update may not be available for users of network branded handsets.
To check what software version you are currently using enter *#0000# on your handset.
Nokia have just launched a Beta version of their free push email service. Users with mobiles running Symbian 60 3rd Edition software, such as the Nokia N95, can sign up to use it on the Nokia Email website.
Once you’ve created your account, and entered your existing email details, you are sent a link to download the application to your phone. The service works by checking with your existing email provider for new messages and then pushing them over the air to your handset.
Push email works in a different way to email on your Desktop PC. Rather than logging on and retrieving your emails at specified intervals, the email application maintains a constant connection to the email servers so emails are delivered straight to your handset almost as soon as they are sent.
The great thing is that its doddle to set up, unlike the native email application on Nokia Handsets. You don’t need to change your email address and the service works with all POP3 and IMAP email providers. Corporate email and Hotmail are yet to be supported, but this could change in a future version.
The application runs quietly in the background, without any noticable drain on your battery. Emails can be set to come through instantly or you can manually check for new emails.
The one slight negative that I’ve found so far, is that it doesn’t mark emails as read on the server only on the handset. Not a problem for me, as I only get about ten emails a day, but for heavier business users this could lead to spending extra time sifting through the inbox figuring out which emails have been read. Hopefully this is something that will be addressed in future versions.
With Nokia Email you are able to:
View, respond, forward, compose and delete emails.
Manage your email inbox, outbox, drafts, and sent folders.
Set the days and times your device receives email.
Search contacts already stored on the handset.
Call the sender direct from the email.
Currently there are 11 officially supported handsets, the E51, E61, E61i, E65, E66, E71, E90, N73, N80, N81 8gb and the Nokia N95. We’ve also tried this on the N82 and the N95 8gb, and it seems to work fine.
Mobile Fun have put together a simple guide to help you to determine which type of Nokia Charger you need for your phone. This simple guide lets you know exactly which charger you will need and shows you all the different charging options available. Check out our full guide to Nokia Chargers.
Everybody knows that a Nokia Charger is a general household item and can be found lying around in most homes. Great if you’re often out and about visiting friends or family and running out of power, but as the phones have become more advanced, Nokia have changed and improved their charging connections.
Classic Nokia Charger
This is the original Nokia Charger connector, the one that everyone will have lying around at home. No longer used on any of their current handsets, this is a 3.5mm connection used on handsets from the original Nokia 5110, right through to the Nokia 6230i.
2mm Nokia Charger This is the current Nokia Charger, used on most of their handsets. With phones getting smaller in size, Nokia reduced the size of the charging pin down to 2mm. If you have the classic Nokia mains or car charger, you can use the Nokia CA-44 Charging Adapter to reduce the size of the charging tip from 3.5mm to 2mm.
Micro USB Nokia Charger Starting to appear on the higher end Nokia phones, the Micro USB Charger uses the same port as some handsfree kits and data cables (not at the same time!) These ports provide a faster transfer rate, which is why they can normally be found on the latest Multimedia handsets.
Charge Anywhere
Historically you could only ever get chargers to use at home or in the car. Now you can charge your phone just about anywhere. You can now use a USB Charging Cable connected to a spare port on your PC or Laptop, an Emergency Charger that uses a standard AA Battery, a wind-up charger or even Solar power.
This weekend I decided to take a break from my Nokia N82 and spend a little time with the LG KF600.
The KF600 is the latest handset from the Korean manufacturer and is trying to change the way that we use our phones with the introduction of its “InteractPad”.
The phone looks stylish, is a decent size and weight and feels well built. The one thing you notice immediately is the lack of keys on the front of the phone. The KF600 is a touch phone, but with a twist. Rather than having a large touch screen display that drains battery power, the screen has been split into two parts, the display and the InteractPad.
The InteractPad is a unique way of using your phone, from the standby screen you have 6 touch sensitive keys, and as you move through the different screens of the phone, these buttons move and adapt to suit the application you’re using. In some cases I found the InteractPad to be a bit awkward, but in other applications it works really well.
I tend to use my phone mainly for photo’s, music, email, internet and texting rather than making calls. The camera on the KF600 is a 3 megapixel and has an LED flash. Photo’s come out clear and pretty sharp, and if you print them out they will be of a decent quality at 6″ x 4″ size. The flash is ok for taking photo’s in low light close up, but if what you’re taking photo’s of is more than a metre away, it probably won’t be much use.
The KF600 works really well as an MP3 player. There’s a dedicated shortcut key on the side of the phone for quick access and I found it easy to transfer tracks to the phone using Bluetooth or the data cable and software that came with it. The music interface is probably the best use of the InteractPad, you have the usual play/pause, forward and rewind, as well as a track progress bar. Normally these just scroll along with no purpose, but with the interact pad you can simply drag the slider to get to the part of the track you want – great if you want to skip sections of podcasts.
Email and texting works well too. Predictive text meant writing messages is quick and easy, and setting up POP3 email was very straight forward. The only thing I found to be not so great here was the handwriting recognition. In theory it sounds great, but in reality, writing with the end of your finger just isn’t accurate enough, and for hardcore texters, you’ll be able to text using the keypad a lot faster.
Internet access on the KF600 is pretty standard, it runs off a GPRS connection, so a fairly slow connection, but if you just want to check the odd train time or find out what’s on at the cinema then it does the job with no problem at all.
Overall the KF600 is a good all round handset. It will take a little getting used to with the InteractPad, and for the first few days I can guarantee you’ll be touching the top half of the screen and wondering why nothing is happening, but give it a week and you’ll be flying through the menus, but once you’ve got used to the interact pad, you may struggle to go back to a conventional phone.
Good Points:
MP3 Player
User Interface
Adjustable haptic feedback (vibrates on key press)
Along with the announcement of 4 new handsets at the Mobile World Congress, Nokia also announced the arrival of Nokia Maps 2.0 – an upgrade to the current version of their mapping software found in some of their N-Series and E-Series devices. Nokia Maps 2.0 promises to be more pedestrian friendly, and be clearer to see while driving. The full version is available to download now, so we thought we’d try it out and see what’s new.
2D Map View
3D Map View
3D Night View
Arrow View
Maps
When Nokia Maps 2.0 loads, the differences are noticeable almost immediately. The search bar is now a permanent feature in standby and a data counter has been introduced to help keep an eye on your data usage, especially handy if you aren’t on a fixed rate data plan. Two icons on screen tell you which keys to press to zoom in and out of the map. The signal strength indicator has been improved to show more than just 3 bars of signal reception. Locking on to signal is much faster too – I normally manage to achieve signal lock on my Nokia N82 in 5-10 seconds and often get a signal indoors.
The map views are pretty much the same as before, with the choice of alternating between 2D/3D and day/night view. On screen navigation display has been improved considerably too – you now have the choice of Manoeuvre view, Birds Eye view and Arrow view. Arrow view is a much simpler way to navigate; it shows an arrow facing in the direction you need to travel. Interesting additions are Satellite and Hybrid views, very much along the same line as Google Maps, although you can’t zoom in as far.
Satellite View
Non-Major Cities
Major Cities
Navigation To set your destination is extremely simple. If you know the address or postcode of where you want to go you can simply enter this into Nokia Maps. Once it has confirmed the address and shown you on screen, simply select “Drive to” or Walk to”and away you go.
Navigate to Address or Postcode.
The built in search has also been improved in Maps 2.0, if you don’t know the full address or postcode, you can now enter part details in and the application will look it up and give you a list of possibilities. The search includes Transport, Restaurants, Cash Points, Post Offices and many more. You can also search by category, such as Eat & Drink, and you can set filters such as Fast Food, Restaurants, Italian etc, and it will just show the locations close to your current location.
“On Foot” directions
Local Search
Extra Services
Pedestrian Navigation One of the biggest problems with previous versions of the pedestrian mode was that you never really knew if you were walking in the right direction until you’d walked far enough to notice the difference on the screen. Maps 2.0 has managed to fix this by using the inbuilt accelerometer to create a magnetic compass – This tells the phone which direction you have turned. Walk mode also has information built in on rail transport systems for some of the worlds largest cities to make commuting even easier.
Compatibility Nokia Maps 2.0 is compatible with S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1, including N81, N81 8GB, N82, N95, N95 8GB,E51 & E90. If you are using a Nokia N95 you will need to using the latest firmware (Version 20.0.015 or newer). You will also need to have either an in-built GPS receiver (N82, N95, E90) or a separate Bluetooth GPS receiver. You will need to buy a license for the Voice Navigation, this can be done directly through your handset using premium rate SMS or by purchasing a Nokia Maps Drive & Walk Voice Navigation License.
Download You can download the full version of this software from Nokia Maps website.
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Nokia have just launched a Beta version of their free push email service. Users with mobiles running Symbian 60 3rd Edition software, such as the Nokia N95, can sign up to use it on the 
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