by jaganath on January 23, 2008
If you are a GTD fan and purchased a Nokia N95 (or any S60 phone) you may be regretting your purchase now. That is because of the poor PIM implementation on these phones when compared to platforms like Windows Mobile and Palm. One of the main issues is that categories do not sync when you synchronize the device with Microsoft Outlook. Many users, and in fact David Allen’s Outlook 2003 guide for GTD implementation also suggest using the categories for the context.
I like my GTD list to be organized like this:
@Home
Water the plants
Pay Electricity Bills
@Office
Finish the proposal
Get a copy of salary slip
....
Here @Home and @Office are categories which I define in outlook. Without this support my synced up todo list in N95 looks like a plain and long shopping list. It is not easy to quickly look up pending tasks when you are at a specific location. So what is the solution? How do we setup a simple yet foolproof GTD system for the S60 phone?
I explored several options including using online tools like iNozbe and Remember the Milk. They are good tools with mobile interface too, but I hate updating and reading my list over a GPRS connection which is painfully slow. So after using them for a while, I gave up on online tools. I recommend Remember the Milk if you are using a faster internet connection and you are comfortable using a web based interface on a mobile device.
The included Todo application isn’t of much use as it does not optimize the view very well. Longer tasks get clipped off at the edge of the screen. You are better off using a replacement PIM application like the Papyrus or Handy Calendar. I use Handy Calendar which I got free through Handango.
If you can live without Outlook integration, Projekt is a nice list manager and will be excellent for GTD. You can easily create projects and all sub tasks can be added hierarchically below that. I enjoyed using this little software during a short evaluation period.
To work around the problem of category syncing from Outlook, I use a simple trick. When I want to add an item to my GTD list, I use File-> New -> New Task. In the Subject line, I first put the category and then type the full task. So typically my subject line looks like:
@Home Water the Plants.
Then I add the category from the category list also. This is double work, but it solves the problem with the S60 devices. After synchronization with PC, on my N95 I just sort the tasks on Handy Calendar and voila - I have a neatly organized list of tasks by category!
Related: Staying with GTD.
by jaganath on January 22, 2008
Here is a really impressive video which shows how can you share media on a N95 8GB onto a Playstation 3 console. In a snap, your N95 8GB becomes a media server to share content with any other UPnP enabled device.
At about 3.00 minutes on the video, you can see the presenter pushing photographs from the N95 to a Vista PC. Later you can see a similar demo on the Vista Media center too. Don’t miss this video if you are a N95 user.
The N95 8GB is the first DLNA certified mobile device!
[via Boy Genius Report]
by jaganath on January 18, 2008
Though Gmail provides a nice J2ME client for accessing email on your mobile device, some of you may prefer to use the IMAP interface, speed being one of the reason. Here is how I configured Gmail IMPAP on my Nokia N95. This may apply for other S60 v3 devices like N80, N73, N82, N93 etc., The instructions should be similar for E-Series devices too.
Go to Messaging -> Options -> Settings -> Email and add a new mailbox. Follow the Wizard. Select IMAP4:
For the email address, add your gmail id. It will be a good idea to copy the email id to your clipboard now as you will be typing it a couple of more times. (Select the text, hold down the pencil key till copy appears on the left soft key).
On the next screen, type imap.gmail.com as your incoming mail server.
For the outgoing mail server, type smtp.gmail.com. For the Access Point, select a predefined one or leave it at “Always ask”. On the next screen, give a name like Gmail etc., This completes the basic settings, but you need to specify the port and security settings also.
Click on the Gmail mailbox and select ‘Connection Settings’. For the username, enter your full email id as in xyz@gmail.com. Type also the password. Scroll below to select Security (ports) and choose SSL/TLS.
Make sure that the Port is set to ‘user defined’ and 993. Repeat all these steps for outgoing mail, but choose the Port as 587. You are done! Go to your main screen of Messaging application, select Gmail and select “Retreive Email” -> New. You can see all the new mails you received in the last 3 days.
Update: As per comments from one of the readers, Chris Moore, you have to select “StartTLS” for your security(ports) settings for outgoing email.
Related: Streaming radio on your Nokia N95
by jaganath on January 5, 2008
The final frontier in mobile web browsing has been conquered. The new firmware update (v15.0.015) that is now available through Nokia Software Update, enables you to play flash video content directly. No need to use the mobile version of YouTube, which has only limited content available. Wherever you see a flash video, you will be able to play it, just like the way you do it on your PC. The following screenshots show how I played one popular remix song from YouTube.Even though the mini-map view does not show the video as a thumbnail……
…….when you zoom in, you can see the video playing:
If you want to view the video optimally, just switch to fullscreen using the option on the extreme right of any video:
This automatically switches the video to landscape mode and plays fullscreen!Another notable enhancement to the new firmware is the addition of Nokia Web Runtime, which enables one to write HTML applications. This is very similar to the AJAX applications that are written for desktop based web browsers!I noticed that they have fixed one annoying bug: Turning on the stereo widening in Music Player used to introduce distortion in the media being played. This bug seems to have gone from the current build. The video editor (a very useful video editing application on the mobile itself) has finally returned!There is also a noticeable improvement in the speed and responsiveness of the phone.This is a second major update in the last one month, which is very welcome from Nokia. The best keeps getting better!
by jaganath on December 28, 2007
One of the advantages of using an N series phone as your portable music player is the support for a wide range of music formats. All modern N series phones support the eAAC+, which is a great format for providing high quality music at very low bitrates. This is in addition to MP3, AAC, WMA and real formats which are also supported by N Series phones. For most people, a 56 kbps Parametric Stereo encoded eAAC+ audio file sounds the same as a 128 kbps mp3 file. That means your 8 GB N95/N91/N81 phone is equivalent to a 16 GB iPod in terms of storage capacity.
Now, how to convert your music library to eAAC+ format? The Nokia provided Music manager can convert music to “mobile optimized” format, which is nothing but eAAC+. But the quality of the codec is not upto the mark. Music files encoded using this tool did not sound very nice and sometimes even had artifacts. In general, it is not a good practice to convert source music files which are encoded at less than 192 Kbps to advanced AAC Plus. Ideally, you should rerip your CDs to eAAC+ at 56 Kbps with Parametric Stereo option. This will give you the best listening experience.
The best conversion tool which provided excellent music quality is Poikosoft’s Easy CD-DA Extractor. Easy CD DA extractor is not free- it will cost you about $32, but there is a trial version available. The following procedure tells you how to convert our MP3 music to eAAC+ format.
Open Easy CD-DA Extractor and select the “Audio File Format Converter” tab. Drag and drop the music you want to convert into the “Drag audio files here” area. In the output tab at the bottom, select the output format as .aac (eAAC+) and the bitrate as 56 Kbps Parametric stereo. It is not advisable to go to a lower bitrate than this, as you will be able to notice the degradation in audio quality. To know more about Parametric Stereo, follow this Wikipedia link. Once you have dropped all the files that need to be converted, click on the big button at the bottom right to start the conversion process. It takes a while depending upon the number of songs you have selected. Once it is done, you can copy the music in USB mode to your phone. Note that N70 and N72 do not support the eAAC+ format. A 4 MB mp3 file converted using this method will usually be about 1.4 to 2 MB in size!! Go ahead and start enjoying more music on your N95 8GB!
Summary
- Always use source mp3/WMA with bitrate higher than 192 kbps.
- Don’t use the Nokia Audio Manager.
- If possible, rerip your original CDs to eAAC+. You can use Easy CD DA Extractor to do the same.
- The best bitrate setting without degradation in audio quality is 56 Kbps PS. It sounds better than eAAC+ 64kbps without PS as encoded by Nokia Music manager.
(I am not affiliated to Poikosoft in anyway)
by jaganath on December 27, 2007
The advertisements for N82 in India have a surprise item: Free voice guided Navigation for 3 months with preinstalled map for 8 cities. (which includes Bangalore). I have used Nokia Maps in the past and have been disappointed by it. Though I never tried navigation, I used the find location feature to find the current location and it never gave satisfactory results. For example, important places in Bangalore like Electronics city are not available in the map! So I never really bothered to test the voice guided navigation.
The advertisements for N82 made me wonder how good the navigation is. So on my N95 8GB, I opened Nokia Maps, got a position fix and searched for CV Raman Nagar(where I was headed for the day). Once it located the place, I selected Options -> ‘Navigate to’, which started the Navigation client. Surprisingly, the route selected by the client from Bannerghatta Rd to CV Raman Nagar was one of the shortest. The voice guidance was clear and loud enough.
On the way back, I took a different route using the Outer Ring Rd and the directions given by the Map were off the mark. The maps also seem to be pretty dated - there were several instances of non existent roads and roads which are not marked on the map.
GPS Navigation on the mobile phone is a highly battery consuming activity. So make sure you keep it charged using the Cigarette lighter on your car. Also, don’t just trust the Nokia Maps. It has a long way to go before becoming a useful tool in a city like Bangalore.
(On a side note, I am just wondering if these are the same maps that Nokia preinstalls on the N82. I will be surprised if Nokia gives such poor quality maps and then advertises loud and bold. Can any N82 owner in India confirm?)
Related: India Maps on the Nokia Map Loader
by jaganath on November 22, 2007
When it comes to mobile phone reviews, there is nothing better than Mobile Review. It is the Ars Technica for Mobile phones. This time around, they have published a detailed review of the Nokia N95 8 GB with plenty of photos and screenshots. Don't miss it if you are planning to purchase it.
by jaganath on November 17, 2007
…yes I am. Lots of updates and will post them in a couple of days. A major update is that I "upgraded" my classic N95 to the new N95 8 GB model. Believe me, the black beauty is worth every penny. It is faster and fixes most of the annoyances from the original model. Especially, the hissing during music playback is completely absent! I will write more about the phone in a future post.
by jaganath on August 18, 2007
Nokia provides a 1 GB microSD alongwith all the N95s sold in India. Eventhough 1 GB is good enough if you are going to store only images shot from the camera, if you are planning to replace your mp3 player with the N95, probably you need more storage. I searched for a 4GB microsd all of Bangalore, but could not find one. There was no one selling it in Ebay India too.
On the other hand, I could see plenty of sellers selling the Sandisk 4GB microSDHC in Ebay UK starting at a killer price of 25 UK pounds. Most of them were providing worldwide shipping too. Though I had some bad experiences in the past when I ordered electronics from abroad, I took a small risk and ordered one. That was on thursday evening (9th August) India time. I was expecting delivery in about 10 working days. Guess what? I had the item delivered at home on Monday morning (13 Aug). That means I waited for only one working day for the item to be delivered from UK through Royal Mail. It can't get better than this.
I loaded all my favorite music from the iTunes library into the new microSD card. The 1 GB card shipped with my N95 is happily serving in my Nikon D40 now.
By the way, don't be fooled by Nokia's specification which says that microSD cards upto 2 GB are supported. There are reports which say that prototypes of 8 GB microSDHC working like a charm in the Nokia N95.
by jaganath on August 7, 2007
The N95, as advertised by Nokia, is one device which tries to do (too) many things. While many such all-in-one gadgets fail miserably in doing anything useful, the N95 comes out with flying colors in most of the areas. Like the camera, for example.
Another area where the N95 tries to excel is the music department. The music player on the N95 is similar to the one on the incredible N91. The N91 is rated by many people as the best mp3 player in the market, rated even above the iPod and the Network Walkman's from Sony.
So how does the N95 stack up against these devices? The perception of music quality is very very subjective. It varies from person to person. As a owner of a 5th gen iPod and a 6 GB Sony network Walkman NW-A1000, I can assure you, the N95 sounds better than both of these devices, especially when you have tuned the equalizer to your preferences. The music player interface is pretty decent, though it may take time to navigate if you have stored your music collection on a 4 GB memory card. It obviously lacks the scroll wheel of the iPod or the intuitive alphabetic navigation of the network Walkman which enable you to locate your favorite song faster.
One negative is the low hiss you hear when there is no music playing. In my few days of usage, I don't find it very annoying. This hiss also goes away when the phone is idling - only to return when you press any key. The hiss is totally absent when the music plays. Some people may not even notice this at all. Another annoyance is the poor quality headphones supplied with the handset. I threw away mine and plugged in my favorite Senheiser ear buds.
And believe me, the multimedia keys which are revealed when you push the slider down, are indeed useful. While some dismiss this as a gimmick - since you can use the D-pad too to control the same - the real usefulness of it comes when you are doing other tasks, for example browsing. The D-Pad works only when the music player is the active application.
If your music collection is not very large, the N95 indeed can serve as an excellent replacement for your mp3 player. Don't forget to carry that extra battery though!
