when its come to business features the e72 disappoint, with apps like font magnifier,multi-scanner, Wireless presenter pre-installed  along side a full version of Quick-office and the ever impressive nokia email app makes this phone one of the most feature picked business device on the market

Being a big fan of nokia’s Eseries line of phones, i know the good, the bad,  the advantages & the disadvantages of  having an Eseries device, my self and any other Eseries fan would tell you that opening the  media folder is never a happy time, mostly because of the lack of media features but just like barack obama the e72 promises change.

The first big improvement that i found was to Image gallery, its the same as the one found in Nseries phones with the same horseshoe shape and it looks just as great,in the Image gallery is also one of the few places that  the optical trackpad is put to good use,  sweeping to the  left or to the right to get to the next image, makes photo browsing almost effortless, picture tagging and a nice slide show feature with some nice effects are also worth noting.

The Music player is nothing special and has nothing new to offer, still we are happy to see the same decent Music player that was found on the e75 and the other N-series devices. I was a little let down by the video player when i tried to playback video that played on my 5800 as  smooth  as day but had really bad slowdowns and lagging problems on the e72, still videos don’t look bad, actually when there isn’t any lagging videos look pretty good.

The camera is by far one of the best things on the e72 and im very happy to see an eseries device with a great camera and with 5MP of image snapping and video recording goodness who would’t be happy,the camera has the same tabbed interface as seen on the N-series phone and its very much welcomed, in genially the camera works well, and  pictures taken with it look pretty damn nice

but that’s if you actually get to take the picture the lack of a dedicated shutter key means that you have to use optical trackpad,  just touching it works as a half-press and pressing it all the way takes the picture, its sounds easy and it is easy but there is nothing on the phone or in the manual telling you how to do that,  with in 15 minutes after i getting the phone, i had put it down and go on internet to figure out how the optical trackpad & autofocus worked, ( that’s not cool in my book ) after i found out how it worked it was all smooth sailing from there.

video capture is limited to VGA videos at 15 fps but its still does a good job  if you ask me.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WF-k09cE6Z0[/youtube]

The Web browser is top-notch with fast page load times and a desktop like experience on most pages, the optical trackpad isn’t of much use here because its much smoother just use the D-Pad, the mini-map and toolbar also  work well, better then they did in past nokia devices if you ask me, the browser as has full flash support, so youtube is a most, will videos playback just like your desktop.

When all is said and done, the e72 is the best nokia device that i have ever used (maybe that will change when i get my hands on the n900 or the n97 mini), its everything that  you could want in and from a phone and much much more, i know everyone is not gong like it as much as i do but i give it a 5 out 5

look out for the video review that will be posted at a later date Big Thanks to WomWorld Nokia

David Castro won the Nokia n97 Widget Competition back in april, and now he posted a full review of the N97 over at my blog. In the review he talks about the home screen widgets, build quality, processor power & more.

Following is a video preview:-

Let me introduce you to the E66 3.2 MP Auto Focus Camera. Yes, its NOT a Carl Zeiss. It has a single LED Flash which works fair enough within a distance of 1m. It has a Landscape orientation and unlike the E71 has a dedicated camera key. It has a descent set of customizable options as in the Nseries devices viz. – White balance modes: automatic, sunny, incandescent, fluorescent – Center weighted auto exposure; exposure compensation: +2 ~ -2EV at 0.7 step – Capture modes: still, sequence, self-timer, video – Scene modes: automatic, user defined, portrait, landscape, night, night portraits – Color tone modes: normal, sepia, black & white, negative – Full-screen viewfinder with grid – Active toolbar etc. Tip: Try to use these camera options to the full. For a quick trick on clicking Black & White Pictures Click here.

E66 Camera really surprised me. I was not expecting it to produce pictures as good as the N95, but it did. I clicked pictures in different lighting conditions and in different scenarios to test it to the limits. I was happy with a certain set of results and at the same time was even more happy to see what I expected to find.

1. Day Time

2. Dim Light

3. Night Shot

4. Using Macro

5. Black & White

6. At 100 km/hr Speed

The colors have been beautifully brought up and are truer. The work captured by the camera in the day is super. The Macro more is not up to the mark. The single LED works great for short distances and captures pictures well. Moving or clicking pictures in burst go blur more often and tend to render the moving subject blur many a times. After seeing the above pictures, you can formulate your own opinion but the point to note is that most of the pictures clicked at night were very descent when steady. At times they were even comparable to the night shots of Nokia N95 8GB and N96 (not as good as a digital camera). Thus, all in all a great show by the camera and it made me completely reject my null hypothesis that Non-Carl Zeiss mobile phone cameras can’t perform. For the size and functionality the E66 offers I would give this a Thumbs Up and Rate it 3/5. Well Done Nokia. Tip: Avoid clicking pictures with sun rays are directly hitting the lens. If you plan to take pictures in Dim Light or at Night for some important event then please take your Digital Camera along as E66 fails to take quality pictures at Night. The single LED is just too weak.

On a Final note, please let someone else do the clicking if you intend to drink cause the camera needs a little steady hand or you might end up with the following pictures

Following is as posted by Rav at his Symbian-LifeBlog:

1. Active Standby Screen

Options Softkey Function is replaced by a set of customizable applications(Lets Call it to be a Start Menu),preferably the ones you have as Active Stand By Apps.The functions offered in the Options menu is moved on to the topmost Fixed app slot in this Start Menu.Where a dual function is offered Lock Keypad and Option Menu Functions.See the Illustration below. (click pictures for larger view)

And the latter part of the Menu is adjustable with required applications and can be accessed with just pressing the relevant number key after launching the start Menu.

This Flash Slideshow illustrates the Startmenu functions.

Advantages,

1. The Left soft key is effectively used to yield more productive output.
2. Easy access to applications or Menus even Sub Menus and further more instantly from the Stand by Idle screen mode.
3. Lesser number of Keystrokes Required.
4. Keypad lock is made easy.
5. Can Stack more applications than the usual Active standby mode (Subject to change with the screen orientation used)

2. Standby Screen

Few Changes have been introduced to the Shell standby Screen with some additional features. The Main change is the Active Standby application pluggin location is replaced with a “Scrollable Taskmanager Pluggin”

Advantages,

1. You will not encounter memory overloads that arises due to the Shell screens Automatically appear feature,resulting high number of simultaneously running applications,And some times repetitive application launches,I’ve written about this here.
2. The user is always aware of whats running in the background and can access the recently used applications instantly.
3. The Scroll Function overtakes the list limitations,a feature present in S40 devices.

3. Tabbed Navigation

A new Tabbed Pluggin is introduced to bring the missing features of the Shell window like Share online,WLAN Scanning,Search online also a new one called Memory info and Calendar entries field is also embedded to it.And the priority field will be automatically popped into the front panel.

Advantages,

1. Effective Space Usage.
2. Gives the total control over the default Standby Screen,as there is nothing missing in this.
3. Share online lovers will see there comments and WLAN access is just a keystroke away.

OK, so this what my suggestios for the next Handy Shell Update,but I don’t have any contact with Epocware so don’t know will this make any difference.So if any one out there can help me to reach them I appreciate it greatly.Also please Let me know what you think about this by comments and participating in this Poll.Whatever it is all are warmly welcome.

With this detailed and illustrative post, I’m sure Epocware will consider updating the present version. Lets hope they give credits to Rav for his innovative thinking and I’m also pretty sure that there’s lots more that Rav is still keping from us. So keep a check on his blog for more insightful posts.

So the next day in Delhi I wanted to check out the Bose Ear On Headphones and compare them with the Nokia Bluetooth Headset BH-604 so we headed to the Connaught Place showroom while I was busy taking a look and making a comparison Rishita was all busy with the Bounce Game on my N95 8GB. She was so in love with the concept of the Gaming Keys that the device had to offer and gave her thumbs up (Thumb relief for someone with the Nokia N82 ). Bounce on a whole has added a new dimension with its improved graphics and gameplay. The levels are very addicting and easy to understand. The game itself ticks off with the story background but you really don’t need it as things are self explanatory. The games takes a little while to load but after it has done loading it runs flawlessly and with great smoothness in transition of graphics. The big screen adds to the experience and makes mobile gaming a totally refreshing thing.

With you having to go through some exciting regular levels plus you get bonus levels to play around too. Your score keeps on piling and you can sure upload it to your profile on N-Gage Arena. So summing my bounce experience in a nutshell, it was a game filled with lively graphics and music that was to the theme. The game never crashed and is a good start for new beginners who want to adapt to the concept of N-Gage. I personally would rate it a Thumbs Up and 3 stars out of 5 to Nokia for bringing back the bounce game, something that was a whole new refreshing experience. I also feel that the game on a whole is very easy and there are no hidden secret places that you can find which would have made the game a more thrilling experience. I hope they are reading this and in the future Bounce we might get some more amazing concepts. Well, at some point I do feel that Nokia should come up with a help guide for each level as well, if by chance you get stuck, something like a Tricks Page would might just come in handy

On a final note, this is a great game and a must have for someone with an N-Gage device. So as I was experiences something which was taking me and my ears to a whole new level, I actually noticed something about the Bose On Ear Headphones that I will put up in my coming post. This sure will be a battle. After that I and Rishita had some final moments to kill before we started out journey back home. I wanted to see the airport and Rishita wanted to catch some Lime ice at Barista, well, so we did both. Now why the airport, well, not that I was going to receive someone there but to test the BH-604 Headset and see if it had a descent noise cancellation in that horizon. The results were pretty amazing so keep up for the next post on this if you are planning to get this big toy. And not only the Headset, but I wanted to check in general how people waiting outside at the arrivals spent their time and it was pretty amazing.

While I was talking and chatting with a bunch of teenagers about what if they had a mobile that came with whole lot of 3D games with them right now and that’s what they wanted right then. So, a lot of people were positive on having an advanced game in their mobile. But there were a lot of things that prevented them to get one. Most of them even on having an N-Gage enabled device were unaware of what N-Gage was. Will come up with a separate post on why Nokia N-Gage is still not creeping in as it should, so keep checking. Anyways, Rishita was altogether on a new level of street racing the mobile gaming has seen. Yes the Asphalt 3 Street Rules is the one here.

Unfortunately I had forgotten to put my codes in for the game so will do a quick general review for you guys, which I feel is whole lot more important than the real game review as the Trial is the one that actually kicks you to buy the full version . So getting on to things a few things that I noticed from the previous version were well, nothing as much. The graphics were still the same, the same trial level was there, although now the game was a little tougher and now the opponents were more advanced. The sound too was same overall on the initial impression and I could see anything coming from inside that wanted me to buy the full version. So people listen up, you have to give something good in a trial if you want people to buy your product. Well this is coming from a guy who has been a die hard fan of Need For Speed and has completed all games they have come up with so far. So the game was lacking that punch. So Asphalt goes in for my next post plus a review of the game I had been waiting for i.e. ONE. You guys can catch a few screenshots below. Looking forward to your feedback. Till then, Take care and Tachu

Nokia E75 (The Physical)

1. The Screen Size does appear to be bigger than E72 but compared to the amazing brilliant screen of E90 it stands no match. Don’t know what People at Nokia were thinking but if this helps to reduce the thickness of the device then its a thumbs up. In simple words the compromise of the screen size is justified only if the device is sleek, which i feel will be the case.

2. The outer keypad looks pretty solid and the device too looks quite satisfactorily spectacular when compared to the outer face of E90 as it looks more filled and space utilization has been done well and thus empty spaces don’t appear as they are in E90. It reminds you more or less of the E51.

3. The Side QWERTY slider is also a thing with a twist. the QWERTY is a discontinuous flow with a hint of design separating T from Y, G from H and B from N, which is visualized by the bright white line in the center. Thus with this difference the QWERTY is more or less the same.

4. Improvement in the field of Camera Optics is also anticipated with the likes of the 5 Mega Pixel and Carl Ziess, but its too early to say but none the less if we are looking towards the future then I’m pretty sure on this.

5. The E75 too will feature in Red and Black Colors.

6. On a final note the E75 will rather be a compact version of E90 with better Camera optics and probably Feature Pack 2 trasitions as well. The side QWERTY will sure trake a little while to get a hang at first. On my personal take I still like the E90 which has a bigger screen and the elaborate QWERTY which i feel are missing in the new E75. (If in case E75 too has the same appx. dimensions).

I know a lot of us do have the high end Nokia phones that come with an inbuilt GPS and the Nokia Maps Software but we have hardly explored it. The same was with me until lately when I accidently opened the application and gave it a shot. So after using it for about a month today I finally sat down to write about it in detail. Now it was an intentional accident and I�m glad it happened as I was on vacation being unfamiliar with the neighbourhood made me feel a little insecure. Simply, you feel more in place when you know your way around and professionally it saves you a lot of time. So here is a Real Time Experience of Nokia Maps & GPS bundled together to see if the Navigation is worth or just another money minting technique by Nokia.

The events hereafter are based on my experiences with S60 based Nokia N95 8GB with the inbuilt GPS and Nokia Maps application.

1. LOADING

So it was time to get myself familiar with the neighbourhood and plan for a few outdoor events too. I clicked on the icon of the Nokia Maps, which displayed the following screen showing the Maps to be loading. It took exactly 6 seconds to load 100%, which is not bad at all.

2. ACQUIRING LOCATION

As soon as the home screen loads, three yellow dots start to flash one at a time going from left to right indicating that the GPS is trying to access the satellite in order to display your current position. Once the GPS acquires your current position, it registers it by displaying all three dots as Green and you can locate yourself by just pressing the 0 (Zero) button which will take you to your current location which is displayed on the map in a + sign. Now it was a pretty dicey for me as sometimes the GPS worked really quick and sometimes it took a little while, but on whole it gave me a satisfactory experience in terms of showing you your current position, after all you can’t compare a Cell Phone to offer you the likes of a GARMIN or TomTom. But once it acquired your location, it then functioned pretty smooth.

3. THE OFFSIDE RULE

Before we go any further i would like to add (a little offside) that even if your phone does not have an inbuilt GPS, you can still carry around Nokia Maps application on your s60 or s40 enabled cell phone and download Maps for free an view them using the Nokia Maps Loader. So in this way you will have all the Maps you need with you that you can view offline, a pretty amazing feature (but you need a huge memory card or the 8GB memory to preload all the maps.) Only thing you would miss out on is Navigation. Now coming back to the main part, the reason why I started this post was to tell you about Naivigation and a real time experience with the GPS.

Some N95 8GB versions in some countries come with a free trial of Nokia Maps with Voice Guided Navigation for a limited period of time and as for me I didn’t get one, even though my box said that I had a free trial, so the first Negative score and that too a big one as I so wanted to have a go at it. If you too are in my shoes, then don’t worry as you can always pay some money to get a Liscence Or keep Reading this to know how you can get a demo of the Voice guidance. To know more about costs and pricing click here. You can also buy City Guides, which will tell you about various locations of a city viz. Food, Theater, Malls, Banks, Clubs, Hotels etc.

4. FEATURES & SHORTCUTS

Navigation with voice guidance is by far a hit and a miss feature but pretty good considering that it is an early effort by Nokia. Ability to have your personal Landmarks on Maps is also pretty cool and time efficient feature. You can also save Map as an image. Alternative Route Selection, Choice between fastest/shortest routes, Nearby search, etc are a few more to mention.

Following are a few shortcuts with screenshots i have found while using Nokia Maps and they have been really useful.

0 (Zero) = GPS Position

* = Zoom In

# = Zoom Out

1 = Switch Between 2D/3D Modes while in Navigation

2 = Change background Between Light/Dark while in Navigation

3 = Send Map via test, bluetooth, e-mail or multimedia message

6 = Recieving Satellite Status

7 = Increase/Decrease Volume of Voice Guided Navigation

Also you can search a keyword by pressing any numeric key (apart 0) in the default home screen.

5. THE NAVIGATION

From the Screenshots above it would be pretty cleat that how efficient the navigation system is, telling you exactly what route to take. To use the navigation all you have to do is to select Options>Use this place>Route from and then just punch in the place you want to go and select Search Route. The application according to your settings will give you the fastest/shortest route between the two places with a set of complete instructions. Once the route is displayed, you can select Options>Start Navigation. The navigation screen will appear which on top bar will display the nest street to turn on. On top left it will display the direction of the turn you need to take with the distance to go. The bottom part will display the current street you are on below which your will be your car speed total distance to go and time passed. The ‘N’ with the white arrow is the compass pointing towards the north direction and the three green dots is the GPS. The voice only tells you to make a turn and after what distance, but it does not speak the street names. You can also use the Simulation mode to have an experiience of the real time voice enabled demo of the navigation system. During my use the Navigation was Spot on most of the time. The GPS followed us through, only missing out in tunnels and sometimes in downtown and when the phone’s lights went off.

The battery consumption was nominal as it is expected to be but surprisingly gave more backup from the regular GARMIN nuvi 660 after one complete charge to total die out. The overall performance was a bit slow. The routes were accurate almost every time.

6. THE ADVANTAGES

1. Portable
2. Offline Maps Available
3. Good Batter Life
4. Accurate Coverage
5. Pedestrian Mode
6. Live Traffic Feeds (Limited)
7. Nearby Places
8. Can be used any car
9. Additional Features – Phone, Text Message, Camera, Video, Songs(MP3), Internet, Games etc.

7. THE DISADVANTAGES

1. A Little SLOW
2. Expensive
3. Complicated GUI (Graphic User Interface)
4. Small Screen
5. No Street Names in Voice Guided Navigation
6. Not Global
7. Only Few Handsets are Compatible

8. FINAL VERDICT

You can’t beat the fact that it is not only a GPS device but a phone as well, despite a few drawbacks, i would rate it a “BIG Thumbs Up” to Nokia for providing a complete package with a rating of 8.0/10 overall. So the money minting text i wrote in the opening paragraph has been drained down as the device comes with descent quality of service on which I’m satisfied. On a final note, i personally love this application and recommend it to all. To really know what it is like you guys should give it a try and I’m sure it will totally take you in the drivers seat for a long drive to explore new boundaries.

For More Info On Nokia Maps Click Here>>

Let’s peek into the meat of the matter now. Ask yourself in what ways can you possible use a cell phone apart basic calling and text messaging? Yes, that is correct the review will go in depth of all the features and functions that a sane person can think of. Okay we here would focus on the main applications supplied and some of which I love to use, if you want a certain application to be reviewed please leave a comment. Also if you feel I missed something, I would willingly add it provided I get your feedback. If you want to share your take, you are most welcomed to reply with comments. First and foremost thing that comes to the mind is Camera, so let’s get on with it right away and other things would follow accordingly.

CAMERA

This is the number one priority these days in a cell phone. You guys better check out some tips here in case you don’t own a N82, I’m sure you would need them as I did with my Nokia N73. Okay, the 5 MP (2592 x 1944 pixels) Autofocus is what everyone knows needs no introduction but what people don’t know that it is a Tessar 2.8/5.6 Carl Zeiss. Wow… and to add the cherry on top we have the Xenon flash. To be more specific, the camera has a Sensor: CMOS with the Carl Zeiss Optics: Tessar lens having an F number/Aperture: F2.8 and Focal length 5.6 mm. The focus has a near point of 10 cm and infinity as the far point but 50 cm in Macro mode.

Now having good optics is important but it only completes half the story. We need to have an equally good image processor to bring out the best final image. I have seen cameras with quite some pixels but really sloppy images in terms of final finish; just because the image processor was big dud. Well, this one does in fact have a great image processor. The easiest way to start the camera feature is to open the protective lens cover which will display the view finder.

The view finder can be used to select the object of which you desire to click a picture of. In more technical words it is WYSIWYG display. Like all regular digital cameras the picture is in horizontal plane and the buttons which are used to take a shot are located on the top (right) side which makes it very easy to operate. The buttons on the left part of the top side (which normally work to increase or decrease the sound) are here used for the purpose of Zooming In and Zooming Out. The button to click picture resides on the right part of the top side. Being a bit big it is easy to locate and use even for a new user. The conditioned reflex to click pictures using a digital camera is same here and requires no readjustment. Thus the layout of the basic keys is simply superb. When you hold down the capture key with light finger for a couple of seconds the inner box goes green and Auto-Focuses the main object in frame and if the focus is not possible it goes red, thus a great feature for noobs to play around with.

Now let’s focus on the editing features and other key points which are provided on board with the Nokia N82 here. The display on the screen when we select the camera option is as follows.
On the top left corner we have the sign which tells us if we have selected the image mode or the video mode. The bottom left tells us about the resolution we have selected and the number/time period left to click pictures/make video. The top right corner has the exit tab and the bottom right has the Options tab. A standard bar with various options is present on the right side the functions of which can be selected to alter the final results of the picture or frame.

These features from top to bottom are Mode selector, Scene mode, Flash mode, Self-timer, Sequence mode, Colour tone, View finder grid, White balance, Exposure compensation, Sharpness, Contrast and Light sensitivity. (Only Scene mode, White balance and Colour tone options are available in video mode)

Mode Selector
Simply used to switch between Image and Video modes. When you change between these modes a slight amount of Noise is produced by the device which is very minute but it is there. Something similar to when the camera is activated from a Stand-By Mode or Started from point zero.

Scene Mode

The scene mode provides a collection of pre-defined setting options for the camera which can be selected in various light conditions and object behaviour settings such as Macro (used to capture intricate detail of small objects. Used between 10 to 60 cm), Portrait, Landscape (used to shoot distant scenery or skylines. Increases sharpness and increases focusing through glass), Sport (used to capture fast moving objects with vivid sharpness), Night (used to take pictures in low light conditions without flash. Enhances detail in dark conditions where flash cannot be used), Night Portrait (used to take portraits in low light with flash) and User defined (make your personalized settings).

Flash Mode

Choose from Automatic, On, Red Eye and Off options. These are self explanatory and need no description of what they are for.

Self-timer

If you want to be in that picture with all your buddies all you have to do is to set up a self timer which will automatically click picture after a certain seconds which can be manipulated from 2, 10 to 20 seconds.

Sequence Mode

Click pictures after a preset time frame gap. The Burst mode will give you 6 images in one burst or you can hold down the key to click pictures until the selected memory runs out of space. Other time frame includes 10 sec, 30 sec, 1 minute, 5 minutes, 10 minutes and lastly 30 minutes. In all these selections the camera will take a picture automatically after the desired time till it runs out of the selected memory or battery power.

Colour Tone

You can select from Normal, Sepia, B&W, Vivid and Negative options. This is again a lot to choose from and self explaining.

View Finder Grid

The view finder grid can be turned on to click pictures more precisely. The grid makes 9 squares on the view finder for more accurate picture clicking.

White Balance

Sunny, cloudy, incandescent and fluorescent are the options from which you can select the white balance depending upon the lighting conditions.

Exposure Compensation

From 2.0 to � 2.0EV at 0.5 step is the range provided in the exposure compensation or the light correction. This feature is not very marked as in digital cameras but never the less it is worth having one.

Sharpness

From hard to normal to soft is the sharpness options we have for selection.

Contrast

It has a descent + range and an equal and opposite range in the negative as well.

Light Sensitivity

The ISO which can be used to click pictures in varying light conditions with the inbuilt Low, Medium and High options used for Bright light, indoors and low light respectively.

These modes can be very handy in an advanced camera user to capture wonders and at the same time the picture quality clicked by a rookie is also not bad, in fact it is great with the automatic settings and auto-focus the results are very pleasing.

The options tab on the right bottom corner can be used to change other settings of the camera such as the resolution (Ranging from 5 to 3 to 2 to 0.8 to 0.3), the location where images would be saved, hide icons, use the secondary camera, show preview on/off for the captured image, capture sound and extended digital zoom. Settings for video option are also there and the video resolution can also be altered from TV high quality to Email to sharing. Video stabilization is a neat feature as well. Well summing up in short, we have Image resolution: up to 5 megapixels (2592 x 1944 pixels), Auto focus, Amber coloured auto focus assist light and recording indicator, Still image file format: JPEG/EXIF , Auto exposure – centre weighted, Exposure compensation: +2 -2EV at 0.5 step, White balance: automatic, sunny, cloudy, incandescent, fluorescent, Scene: automatic, user, close-up, portrait, landscape, sports, night, night portrait , Colour tone: normal, sepia, black & white, negative, vivid , Zoom: digital up to 20x (5 megapixel up to 6x), Xenon flash and On-device photo editing, these are the features that are provided with the camera and can be used at your discretion.

Following are a few shots clicked with Nokia N82. The one on the bike was clicked at 75 miles/hr and the ice cubes in total darkness. The lowlight ones were clicked indoors.

In Daylight

In Lowlight

In Darkness

The flash is Xenon one which makes the camera and surrounding panel hot after repeated used but this does not have any effect on the picture quality, I thought I’d just mention that, just for the sake of it. Anyways, the secondary camera can be used to take pictures too. It has a resolution of CIF (352 x 288 pixels). It’s in place for video telephony.
The video recorded from the mobile is also good. From video resolutions: up to VGA (640 x 480 pixels) at 30 fps and Audio recording: AAC (AMR for MMS) the after finish is amazing. The Recording indicator is a good feature which tells you that the process of making a video is on. The red light is simply a cool feature. Digital video stabilization is yet a bonus to the N82 list of camera features. The Video file format .mp4 (default), .3gp (for MMS) and other editing features are White balance, scene and colour tone setting, Zoom: Digital up to 10x (VGA up to 4x) and finally On-device video editing, which are all great features.

To sum up my final take on the camera of the Nokia N82, I would keep it short and simple, thus I have two S words “SIMPLY STUNNING”

A huge 9.3/10 (missed out a complete 10 cause of camera noise)

Well guys I am feeling really sleepy so ill leave you now with this. In my next part I will take on the other aspects of this device.
Ciao

This is no ordinary battle as the best in the market are here to battle it out for the top spot in this Pre-Release Review. At one side we have the Resilience & Durability of Nokia and on the other side we have the Elegance & Charm of Samsung both being backed by the Symbian S60 platform thus making the comparison even more interesting. Lets build up a few introductory points before we go on for the real comparison.

We all know that Nokia have been boasting about their much awaited Nokia N96 S60 device for over more than 6 months but still have at the same time failed to get it into the hands of the consumer. On the other hand we were totally surprised by Samsung which announced the launch of their stunning INNOV8 (unorthodox way to spell INNOVATE) an S60 based device. So on initial thoughts the N96 has already started to fade away into the blue before actually going public.
I have used Samsung devices in the past which I felt were rather rigid and monotonous in user experience and less diverse in terms of software, games & skin (customization) compatibility as compared to the varied diversity of Nokia phones which have been providing with rich user experience and great multimedia support with the support of the Symbian platform. Well the past is now a past and Symbian is no longer restricted to Nokia so lets look into both these devices without wasting any time.

Before we begin let me add that I in no way was paid by Nokia or Samsung to write this post and I do not work for either company. This is my personal take on both the devices.

Anatomy & Histology (Built, Design & Microscopic View)

The Nokia N96 is a more bulky looking device as compared to INNOV8 which is theoretically correct as it is 0.8 mm thicker but at the same time is amazingly light in weighing only 125g compared to the 140 g of INNOV8. Thus Nokia continues its streak of bulky looking phones but INNOV8 is a fresh solid design with a more masculine effect. The Black colour of both the devices looks good but the silver Rim of the N96 seriously needs a second thought. This puts N96 into a back seat when it comes to the First-Look-Effect. The built of INNOV8 is more solid and sleek compared to N96. On the other hand the back support provided to the N96 adds to another feature to the design of Nokia device. Both devices are based on the Slider concept. Starting with Nokia N96 first, it is a dual slider on the path of Nokia N95 with dedicated music keys contrasting with the INNOV8 which is a uni slider. The keys are laid in regular fashion and are pretty much the same. The dual slider of the N96 gives it an extra edge when it comes to music playback. When both the phones are in the smallest dimensions i.e. keypads closed the keys defined outside are more or less the same.
On final grounds of built and design INNOV8 has an edge with its solid, statement making Anatomy.

Network Support & Data Transfer

Both the phones are capable of high speed connections with range spanning from 2G to 3G which includes GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 and HSDPA 2100 / 900. Well, there appears to be no point of discussion here as things are pretty much the same but putting the things under the microscope we find that 3G speed of INNOV8 are much more than N96, nearly twice as fast. The N96 has a 3.6 Mbps HSDPA where as the INNOV8 has 7.2 Mbps HSDPA. Considering that 3G is the future INNOV8 has put in another 100% to that score but none the less has compromised in other data transfer speeds which include EDGE being just Class 10, 236.8 kbps as compared to N96 which boasts of a Class 32, 296 kbps; DTM Class 11, 177 kbps. Not only has this N96 had support for HSCSD which the INNOV8 lacks completely. The GPRS too has been on a back seat in the INNOV8 with speeds only up to 32- 48 kbps which is no way near to the N96 GPRS of Class 32, 107 / 64.2 kbps speed. Bluetooth and USB are the same in both the devices, being v2.0 with A2DP and v2.0, microUSB respectively. The last point and a very important one is the WLAN support which by much is the same as Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, only contrasting with the UPnP technology which comes with N96 and DLNA which is packed in INNOV8.
On final grounds on the Network & Data transfer issue N96 has a much better and diverse Network support.

Display

Interestingly both phones feature a 2.8 inch TFT display screens with 240 x 320 pixels resolution. It is good to see both devices with big screen display units which will bring a better user experience. Nothing more can be added here as yet because I had not had hands on experience with any of them but I will update it as and when I do.
On final grounds of Display issue both are same more or less.

Camera

There is a huge contrasting difference between the cameras on the both devices. Where N96 has a 5 MP, 2592×1944 pixels, Carl Zeiss optics, Autofocus, camera with a movie recording video(VGA 30fps), a flash; and a secondary VGA videocall camera. On the other side INNOV8 boasts a 8 MP, 3264×2448 pixels, Autofocus, camera with Image stabiliser, with a movie recording video(VGA@30fps, QVGA@120fps), a flash; and a secondary videocall camera.
I really dont know how the lone 8 MP would stand out against the 5 MP Carl Zeiss and having experienced the latter already I would balance them as same with a little edge by INNOV8 only on Video Recording at QVGA.

CPU & Memory

This is the most important point of the battle as this would eventually decide the capability of the device to work with utter smoothness. The CPU and RAM are crucial factors which pave the way of a fast user experience and application workload on the device processor. The N96 has a 128MB RAM and a Dual ARM 9 264 MHz CPU which would sure speed things up. Also the extra 256MB storage memory provided on board would make multimedia a great experience and graphics would truly come alive whether you are playing a game of watching a video clip. The INNOV8 has a 128 MB RAM which is ok but lacks a dedicated memory for multimedia experience thus this might make the INNOV8 to move at a slow pace than anticipated as it is packed with high 3D graphics and galley features. The Internal memory on the N96 is 16 GB which can be expanded to 24 GB with a microSD (TransFlash), i.e. up to 8GB which is same as the INNOV8 (it comes in either 8 GB or 16 GB internal memory)
On final grounds pertaining to the CPU & Memory issue the N96 scores more than the INNOV8

Features & Software

Both phones run on the Symbian OS v9.3, Series 60 rel. 3.2 operating system which makes both the phones highly diverse with the amount of application, themes, games and ringtone support. Thus the operating system being the same will make the user experience more or less the same but its integration in the INNOV8 with some amazing 3D graphics will certainly turn a lot of heads and eyes wide open. It will be a rather new experience for a S60 user from the daily cup of espresso to feel at home after a all new interior decoration. Messaging features are the same which include SMS, MMS, Email, IM in both the devices. INNOV8 has a little more with the built in Push Email already present. Both have Browser application which is WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML ready with N96 having an extra feature of RSS feeds too which I feel is pretty awesome. Games like FIFA 2008 and Asphalt are provided and more can be downloaded over the air as well, with Nokia N96 having an edge with their N-Gage portal up and running. Common feature share by the two include a Built-in GPS receiver with A-GPS function. Support for Java MIDP 2.0 and MP3/AAC/AAC+/eAAC+/WMA. Both feature a 3.5 mm audio output jack and a TV out with Stereo FM Radio with RDS. Features like Organizer, Voice dial/memo and Built-in handsfree are present in both. Accelerometer and Auto-Rotate are again a common feature to both.

Apart from the above features the INNOV8 has a multitude of other unique features tagged only to its name, such as
1. Camera geo-tagging, auto-panorama shot, face, smile and blink detection
2. Business card scanner
3. DivX/H.263/H.264/WMV/MP4 player
4. Video editing
5. Optical mouse
On final grounds of features and software INNOV8 is clearly superior.

Battery Life

The N96 and INNOV8 phones will only be useful if the battery can support their features for long. The earlier phones too we have are provided with good multimedia features but they lose out on stand-by time. Featuring here with a Standard battery of Li-Ion 1200 mAh the INNOV8 gets a boost of Stand-by Up to 310 h Talk time Up to 8 h 30 min contrasting with the Standard battery of N96 featuring a Li-Ion 950 mAh (BL-5F) which can provide a descent Stand-by Up to 220 h Talk time Up to 3 h 40 min.
On final grounds pertaining to the battery life INNOV8 is a clear winner.

UPDATED: As pointed out by Andrei on the price

Price

The INNOV8 is expected to be priced at appx 620 Euros where as the N96 is expected to be priced appx 640 Euros. Thus INNOV8 Wins the price battle.

Picture Gallery

N96

INNOV8

Final Verdict

Some of my friends have called INNOV8 as the N96 Killer Phone and other have mentioned that Nokia is no longer a leader in the S60 Smartphone world need to read this pre-sales comparison review and see for themselves.

Thus adding up the above individual point to point verdicts INNOV8 only has a BIG edge over N96 in this Pre-Release Battle. Given me a chance to buy the INNOV8 now or wait till the N96 is released (somewhere in October I suppose), I would pick the former and go for it as INNOV8 has got me good.

SAMSUNG WINS

For all of you who are unaware of this 3rd party application i would love to tell you that this application works on phones having Accelerometer (currently in N95, N82, N95 8GB).

Click Here To Download

This application allows you to just flip your phone and change the profile, it can also mute the incoming call or even hang up the call, it can put the alarm on snooze. It is a very useful and a must have application.

As� you can see in the above screen shots you can change the profile it gives a lot of options and even when you are getting a call you can either mute the ringer or jut hang up the call. So the next time you are sitting in an important meeting all you have to do is Flip your phone.

You may also find this Video helpful. Take a peak and tell us what you feel.