Digital Rover

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.

Finally, India maps are back on the Nokia Map Loader. You can use these maps with the built in GPS system on the Nokia N95 or through an external bluetooth GPS receiver on other N Series handsets.

Unfortunately, the maps are not very detailed and many cities are missing. The whole India Map is only 10.9 MB in size, which is a tell tale sign of the details in this map. Compare this with the 1.3 GB US map!! I will check the details of the Bangalore map and report soon.

Related: Navigation using Nokia Maps in India

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!

Here we go people. One of the ugliest smartphone ever created by homosapiens (There were some earlier contenders. including the i-mate JAQ). In the days of the iPhones and Motorola Qs, Palm has got the guts to introduce such a hideous looking gadget. I don't care whether it runs Palm or Windows Mobile or OS X. I don't care whether it is 3G or 2.5G. I dont care whether it has a 2 MP or a 10 MP camera. I just don't want to see this device in real life.

What you see above is the Palm Gandolf, a rumoured Palm OS based smartphone. 

[via Engadget] 

After using Windows Mobile devices for half a decade, I finally changed my religion. I bought the Nokia N95 over the weekend.

Not that I suddenly started hating Windows Mobile - The Nokia N95 is one heck of a mobile device that no geek can live without. At a price point of INR 27.7k (Approx US $690), it is an irresistible package. In terms of hardware specifications, the N95 is generations ahead of a certain phone that people are often talking about these days. Sample this:

• 5 MP camera with Carl Zeiss lens.
• 3G with HSDPA
• Built-in GPS receiver
• Dual Slider
• TV Out [Love this! I have a portable DivX player now!]

I bought a plum colour one (looks too good to my eyes when compared to the sand colour version). Surprisingly, the build quality of this seems to be way better than the ones from earlier batches. I will post more about this phone in the coming days.