Insights about Nokia’s sales trend are not that much good these days !. Nokia’s latest hi-end phone Nokia Lumia is generating a good sales in some countries ,but the result in Nokia’s own country ,Finland seems almost negative. Where do you go Nokia ?

Nokia have had a market share of  about 76 percent one year back and about 90% some more years ago in Finland.But the latest sales figures in Finland have fallen to 31%   that means 45% percent of  shares have been gone !

Read more about Nokia’s sales in 2010/2011

Click here to Continue with Nokia’s interesting insights at TecKdiary.com (my new blog entry about techno world )

Source : TecKdiary.com

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Choosing a better mobile application  has never been  easier to everyone . Sunday Times of UK made it simple for you now.The Sunday Times expert reviewers had handpicked over 500  best apps and listed in their web site  now.

Just visit the web site of best apps by Sunday Times and subscribe to their top apps list.You can let’s  know what is your top 10 apps  from the list of Sunday Times in our comments section .

Sunday Times App Awards

“These awards are different. We want you to help our team choose the apps that have amazed, educated or just plain entertained you. The best of your nominated apps will be selected for a special readers’ award and will also be considered by our judging panel in the main award categories”-Sunday Times

Sunday Times announced about their app awards for best applications and they received a lot of nominations from the readers ,the winners shall be announced shortly !

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It is interesting to read new fresh ideas ,specially when it comes from users of the mobiles !

MW is not a recognized name in the world of mobile technology I guess ,but he or she is a reader of Symbiandreams.com who offers some fresh good idea to Nokia !

I have written many reviews and arguments about the Nokia E7’s fixed focus camera in the recent past too.

MW wrote a nice  idea as a response to my post titled   Fixed Focus Cam on E7,C7 etc : Nokia Explains : “ It is different “

Let’s see what MW suggests to Nokia  about E7’s Fixed cam

“I own a Nokia C7. I think the camera performs well in most situations. however it is no good for photographing at close range. I agree that this is sometimes necessary. Since installing a AF camera may be to expensive and might be too bulky I think the only solution I can think of is to install two fixed focus cameras: one for close by (5 – 100 cm) and one for further away). The user should be able to switch between normal and macro mode via a hardware switch. This might still be less expensive than installing one AF camera and you also will not be confronted with protruding lenses. For phones like the E7 this solution may be the ideal compromise.” MW

What do you say about this idea ? is it very new or you have heard about it already ?

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This is a very short summary of the  open letter sent to the developers of Forum Nokia by the Vice President  (Forum Nokia) Purnima Kochikar.

What does this Open Letter mean to the User who is planning his next Smart Phone ?

Short Summary of Nokia’s Open Letter about Symbian Platform – March 2011

1. Nokia is selling around 1 Million Symbian Powered Smart Phones a day still.
2. Nokia expects to sell another 150 million Symbian powered phones than any others in the Market.
3. Nokia is working hard to bring new software updates for the recently released Symbian^3 powered phones like C7,N8,E7
4. Sooner we get (In this Summer ?!!!) new UI ,New Web Browser and more feast on Symbian platform via Firmware updates
5. Nokia even develops Software and Updates for the entire Symbian Platform like S40,S60 etc
6. Nokia will stop the Support for the Symbian after the last smart phone with Symbian sold and the Support period of that phone legally finished
7. Even Nokia does not know about the period , they stop supporting Symbian.
8. Already there are 600 million Symbian Series 40- devices in the market.

Ok ,Let us come to the conclusion ,(what I can understand from above statements are )

Shall I buy a new Symbian Powered phone in 2011 /12 ?

• Yes ,You can see the support for your device for minimum another 5 years I guess.
• Your device purchased now will be very older by that time (in another 3 or 4 years )
• So don’t worry about it and go ahead , buy  a Symbian phone  without worries

do you have anything to add here ,or not agree with me on any point ,let us know at the comments section please !

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Nokia has announced their decision of making Windows 7  phone on their own hardware on 11/02/2011 in London.

Nokia’s CEO Stephen Elop revealed the new strategic alliance for Nokia’s investors at Strategy and Financial Briefing event  in London.”Windows Phone becoming Nokia’s "primary smartphone platform" and Symbian becoming "a franchise platform, leveraging previous investments to harvest additional value” Told by Nokia.

There are lots of thoughts and insights about tis historic strategic alliance of two giants in the blogosphere .After watching tis video of Stephne Elop ,proceed to our insights of Symbian and Nokia on this stage.

Q&A Nokia and Microsoft Alliance:

How does Nokia and Microsoft partnership work ?

• Windows Mobile 7 platform will be continuously developed by Microsoft and used by Nokia on their hi-end smartphones instead of Symbian Operating System.
• Some parts of Software services like Search(Bing) etc will be handled by Microsoft in windows phone.
• Hardware fully developed by Nokia.
• Microsoft will continue to invest in the development of Windows Phone and cloud services so customers can do more with their phone, across their work and personal lives
• Nokia will get more powerful apps store via Microsoft[Nokia’s content and application store will be integrated with Microsoft Marketplace for a more compelling consumer experience-Nokia conversations]
• Nokia’s extensive operator billing agreements will make it easier for consumers to purchase Nokia Windows Phone services in countries where credit-card use is low
• Nokia Maps,and relevant services will be integrated by MS ad platforms [Maps would be integrated with Microsoft’s Bing search engine and adCenter advertising platform to form a unique local search and advertising experience.-Nokia conversations]

What happens to Symbian in the near future ?

• Nokia says that they are planning to sell another 150 million Symbian based phones on coming years.
• Entry level and mid range devices may have Symbian on them.
• Nokia signaling to stop Symbian development little by little as cutting down the investment for R&D
• Nokia re structured the company into two major divisions 1)Smart devices 2)Mobile phones

  Their Smart Device Units will consist of

  - Symbian Smartphones
  - MeeGo Computers
  - While Microsoft Windows Phone7 is the Primary Operating System .

• As per Nokia they are not abandoning Symbian or Meego Immediately ,but since their Major shift towards MS WP7 as the primary device there will be a sudden fall in Symbian based app developments and businesses

How Symbian will die ?

• Applications are important for Smart Phones. Developers target the hi-end smart phones as such users always interest on buying new innovative apps for their devices.
• Since Nokia is focusing on WP7,people work for Symbian know that there is no future for them.
• All third party developers will stop developing Symbian Based applications.[Hope @janole started to design Gravity for WP7 already !]
• Investing on Symbian Based app development,R&D is not wise anymore as plight of this OS is unknown and un stable .
• Nokia will be the sole  supporter of  Symbian based apps development for some time as they have to take care of their sold millions of Symbian Smart phones .
• Symbian community consists of developers,bloggers,writers ,designers will switch on to other platforms and more general areas of mobile technology in order to survive ,and lose interest on Symbian even Nokia produces new phones on it as plight is already known .
• Symbian is still used by DoCoMo ,the Japan’s biggest Mobile phone company and service providers successfully ,but for the rest of the world Nokia is the force behind Symbian. Symbian may die partly soon.

What will happen to OVI Store ,OVI Music Nokia Maps ,Beta Labs ?

• Nokia says to improve the Apps store with Microsoft ,the OVI Store client may run in two version to support WP7 platform and Symbian Platform
• Nokia Maps will be the core in Windows mobile ,I am scared some times you may have to pay some sort for services or forced to see advertisements as per the new alliance .
• Beta Labs will continue to offer Symbian and Windows based apps for Nokia Phones
• We may have some more new feature rich app sites for Nokia phones.

References : Nokia Conversations : Open Letter …,Nokia’ strategy 2011 ,Nokia’s Press Release ,my own insight

What would you like to say on this thoughts ?

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Are you offending Nokia in your blogs without any reason ?

Are you just tweeting like “Symbian is dead” without using the brain to defend it ?

Are you predicting that Apple iPhone  will rule the world soon ?

Are you suffering by Anti Nokia Syndrome ?

My Twitter time line is flooded with lot of tweets about an article “Why we blame Nokia?” written by the_ultimate111 at Livejournal.com . It is like slapping on your face ,the way this guy presented the truths .There are lot “yes I never noticed” types of truths and facts about Nokia.

The strategy planning of Nokia

Nokia started in 1865 as a paper mill and grown little by little reached this current position as a global leader of mobile phone because of the Vision it had.

So ,Nokia should have had a vision and the strategy to achieve it ! true.

1. Nokia is a major corporation and a quite recognized brand, which can be compared to Coca-Cola in terms of global penetration. Practically it is hard to find people in the world, who have access to cellular communication and aren’t aware of or haven’t used Nokia products. It appears that there is maximum people in the world, who have their opinion on Nokia products either it is positive or negative.

2. Nokia almost ultimately controlled the world’s cell phone market for more than a decade. People tend to think of Nokia as an undisputed global leader, so any negative information about it, no matter of its nature or impact is perceived as a sign of the company’s decline, regardless of what is really happening. For example the news about reformatting Ovi Music service are not negative, but it was perceived as negative just because there was a word “closing”.

3. Generally, people can’t understand complicated process and see nuances. They don’t want to get deep into details of events and don’t want to rank different factors according to their real importance.

4. People can’t understand that success and failure story have their temporal and relative dimensions. Many people tend to think that graphics showing up or showing down are illustrating a trend which will work forever, not realizing that it’s always a temporal phenomenon. – Written by the_ultimate111

The article contains 16 key points ,you may proceed now to the original post and let us know what do you like to add ,what do you agree and what not !

Bottom Line : I agree with this guy in all terms ,but I keep in mind that all companies have their on pros and cons while I tried to play a video in my Ill-fated N97 and got crashed .

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Symbiandreams too reported  leaked photos of Nokia X7 [Rumoured Nokia X7 Pictures ,and Specs Via US]  and the Rumoured Availability of the X7 via AT&T earlier this month ,but what we heard lately was not a good news for Nokia freaks.(and Nokia too)

Nokia’s Decision to Pull Back the X7 from AT&T and the US market

“Nokia decided to pull the phone because it believed the X7 wasn’t going to receive enough marketing and subsidies support from AT&T, said one person close to the company. Nokia still plans to launch the X7 in other markets “ : Roger Kay, president of tech consultancy Endpoint Technologies Associates Inc

There was an announcement jointly  made  by Nokia and AT&T during the Consumer Electronic Show (CES)2011,that there will be a QT based Nokia device soon on  AT&T for US customers .But later there was any follow up news .

Even though ,Nokia is a giant in mobile phone industry ,it performs moderately in US market ,which is not just small to ignore .

Nokia and US market. 2010/2011

Nokia tried to penetrate the US market earlier   by several attempts ,using some US specific phone models ,which was quiet  successful .Nokia E73 Mode (which is a modified E72 successor worldwide )launched in US in June 2010 via T-Mobile . It showed a reasonable attention by US users and threatened  Blackberry a little  .

Nokia N8 in US-Sales Figures

Nokia N8 is available in US as a SIM free Phone ,not bound with any carrier .The fate of N8 in US in still not measurable .Around 4 Million units of N8 sold  worldwide in the Q4 of 2010 according to a Finnish analyst firm. Nokia N8 outsells Android phones in many markets so far ,hopefully it would gain US market more strongly this time .

Reasons to the cancellation of Nokia X7 launch in US

There are few reasons and theories

Verizon Wireless to offer iPhone-4 from 10th of February 2011 .

1. Verizon Wirless’s decision to sell the hot iPhone 4 : Verizon Wireless is nation’s largest 4G network and one of the strongest company with millions of subscribers .
2. Apple-iPhone is a leading brand in US ,Verizon is a big network – It is safe to go out from the competition
3. AT&T’s marketing strategies and the urge to sell Nokia X7 is under estimated or found not enough “Nokia decided to pull the phone because it believed the X7 wasn’t going to receive enough marketing and subsidies support from AT&T, said one person close to the company. Nokia still plans to launch the X7 in other markets,” http://online.wsj.com.
4. Out dated X7’s OS and spec : X7 is running : as US people fond of IOS and Android phones ,Nokia is hesitant to offer the Symbian^3 ,where it will get a direct comparison with the latest iPhone 4
5. Nokia needs to find new strategies to face the challenge posed by the Android phones “In the third quarter of 2010, Nokia was still the world’s top maker of smartphones with 32.7% share, down from 38.3% a year earlier, according to researcher IDC”

Nokia X7 still available for the rest of the world

Ok let me stick to the title ,Nokia is about to announce the X7 in the upcoming Mobile World Congress 2011 that will be held in February 2011,predicted by lot of analysts . X7 will be a SIM free phone in most of the markets.

Expected Nokia’s Strategy for the US Market in 2011-Nokia’s 4G mobile phone

Nokia knows that the mobile internet use is higher in US and the growing 4G LTE mobile networks pave the way for a massive mobile data use. Nokia should come with it’s 4G mobile phone ,with a powerful OS [Meego?] or more tweaked / shaped Symbian^3 ,

Nokia E7 and Nokia’s shares

Nokia is launching the most waited Business Class Device E7 as now. Nokia put lot of effort on E7 and the release delayed few times due to the improvements made both on hardware and software .Nokia expects a boost in it’s market share among the Corporate Users against RIM’s Blackberry and Apple’s iPhone .

E7 variant is the answer to the US Market ? [my insight ]

Nokia numbered the E7 as E7.00 in their web sites . Like X3-02,C6-01 ,you may get Nokia E7-01 or an E7 Mode for the US market . E7 is a strong enough phone with a huge 4 inch screen,All the latest connectivity ,8 Mega Pixel EDOF Camera ,and encrypted data transfer ,Microsoft exchange server sync ,sliding out QWERTY key board with enhanced Symbian^3 .[E7 specs ] Nokia will do a study based on the E7’s performance in the market and will come up with a variant

What do you say friends ? Share your points here ,where do you agree with me ,and where you don’t ?

Stay Tuned : For further news updates relevant to this story and other phone stuff you may follow us on Twitter or  do Like our Facebook page ,even can Subscribe to our Email News letters – Make sure you don’t miss it !

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Mazelock is the Application  Downloaded more times ever from Symbiandreams.com ,Congrats Mr.Tong Ren !

Mazelock is a touch screen lock/unlock  application developed for touch screen phones including  Symbian S60V5,S^3 OS by Thinkchange.

Since I have written about the Mazelock app ,the article became like set on fire .Number of readers visit Symbiandreams dramatically increased . I have removed the download link of the developer and replaced with our own box.net account link in order to track the number of downloads.Within a period of 15/16 days it passed 1890 downloads .[I missed to count the exact number of downloaded via my post as ,earlier users were directed to the Thinkchange web site )

Nunlock is the ever best screen lock/unlock app from Tong Ren,C.E.O of the Thinkchange.mobi and became popular before the Mazelock.

Mazelock works fine in Symbian S60V5 phones like N97,Xpress Music 5800 .There is a small compatibility issue with Symbian^3 phones and Tong Ren is in the process of fixing it,even though the download and searches for Mazelock app on the Internet is very high [Data obtained from the keywords of the traffic to our site]

Thumbs Up to Tong Ren and Keep the Good work !

The lesson learned form this developer :

A mobile  application should be a real solution for a real problem

“In my case ,I use  a hardware unlock key missed N97 ,I cannot get it from the place I live ,the Mazelock is a life saver fast I can Lock and Unlock the N97 without a hardware key .”

Want to know more about Mazelock ? Want to download it now ?

• Read  our post about and download the Mazelock app here

(Mazelock supports : Nokia:  5228, 5230, 5233, 5235, 5250, 5530, 5800, N97, N97 mini, X6, C5, C6, C7, N8(at the moment have some compatibility issues with Symbian^3 devices ,please see the comments here for updates) ,Samsung:  GT i8910 Omnia ,Sony-Ericsson:  U1 Satio, U5 Vivaz, U8 Kanna)

• Read  our post about and download the Mazelock app here

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Nokia Phones and common problems 2010/2011

We all are Nokia and Symbian fans no doubt ,but we like to see improvements in a lot of areas as we have some draw backs in the lovely Phones from Nokia for years.This article is a reaction to Steve Litchfield’s  “ Ten things Nokia need to fix in their smartphone software in 2011” at Allaboutsymbian.com . Here is a list of Bugs that Nokia phones mostly have and need to be addressed immediately ,I did not mention the exact number in the title ,giving space for you all to add your opinions and the issues found on the Nokia . X- is a factor to be replaced with all of our comments !( Just click here to get our free email news updates ,so you will not miss any upcoming mobile news !)

Disclaimer : Some points are already mentioned in the Steve’s article but I take the key items, I too agree with him and something new from my very own brain )

No 1 ) Fix the RAM leakages and Ram Size Issues : Yes ,Nokia has to fix it and the number one priority given to this. Specially in Symbian S60V5 devices and Symbian^3 devices . Once I wrote that I am shamed to use the Nokia N97 in front my friends who use other devices ,as when ever I  want to show off them an application it gets stuck at the time of opening  . But the same app worked fine at home . Cannot predict when your phone goes crazy ! it is a painful experience really.

No 2) Fix the Nokia Phones by Offering Windows Like Time based Recovery System : Theoretically it is possible to offer a way to resume your phone to a prior stage. My friend uses a Samsung Galaxy S with Android 1.5 ,If it get stuck ,just restart the phone ,it will work like a charm .No need to do a hard or soft reset and loose all of you data apps like we do with out Nokia Phones . As most of the Nokia fans are applications junkies ,there are chances to get a OS crash ,Nokia can offer a System Restore feature like Windows OS does.

No 3) Fix Nokia Messaging : It sucks . Drains the battery. Stop listening to the commands . If you made it to off line ,have to restart the phone to make it online . Some times cannot add email accounts . Totally it is unstable at all.

No 4) Fix Memory Management :I run Free Memory Bars to see my N97’s memory status . When I start the N97 I have 40 MB free RAM , for instance ,I launch an app A then memory reduces to 28 MB ,I launch another App B ,now the memory becomes 14MB ,ok .. I quit the App B now and you should get back the RAM 14 MB ….it means 28 MB free right ? ,but you will not get such free RAM ,as the OS fails to manage the RAM properly ,like wise memory keeps reduced for some time and ends up with 8 MB free when you don’t run even a single app . This should be addressed with all New phones if it still continues .[I restart my N97 to regain the memory ,what do you do ? ]

There are many issues to address but I like to have a very important issues  that cannot be over come via third party software(if you say we should have better SMS system,we have lot of third party apps to do it ) .

And here my list ends for the moment ,I will update this post by picking up the major issues mentioned by you at the comments section here.

Let us know ,what problem of the Nokia phone should be fixed soon from your own experience .

Stay Tuned : For further news updates relevant to this story and other phone stuff you may follow us on Twitter or  do Like our Facebook page ,even can Subscribe to our Email News letters – Make sure you don’t miss it !

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Best of All in All Smart Phone Selection Guide

Happy new year folks ,Jut I want to know “What is your next mobile phone ? “(you may share at comments section with reasons ) , If I am the buyer how do I make my next selection ,some thoughts are listed here ,but I hope this will help to a lot of power users who like hi-end mobile phones

1) What is the input method you prefer ? Full QWERTY or Touch or Both .

For me I love QWERTY key board as well touch in some cases , better to go for phones with QWERTY and Touch combined  like N97 or E7 (Wait ,..I am not recommending this phones ,only examples )

But you can choose a full touch phone (like Apple 4 G or Nokia N8) if you are not much worried about the hardware key board.

2) Screen Size :

I prefer the biggest always for multimedia and games it is good.Currently screen sizes are available form 3.2 inches’  to 4 inches and above.Nokia N8 is available in 3.5 inches and upcoming E7 will have a 4 inch screen. Samsung and HTC always have a big range of big screen touch phones.

3)Multi Touch Screen Technology

You might have heard  about “pinch to zoom” (using two fingers to zoom out and zoom in the images,pages in the phone ), it became famous with Apple I-phones and now lot of manufacturers including Nokia offer this types of screens. Make sure that your phone screen is a multi touch capable device ,so that you can enjoy the technology like “Pinch to Zoom” and play lot of innovative games.

4)Camera

4.1)Mega Pixels of a phone

A 5 Mega Pixel Camera is more than enough for a personal photography ,but as competition grows the manufacturers introduces  more and more mega pixels cams in vain ,the minimum can be 8 mega pixel  as per the current trend(2011 1st Quarter ). Mega Pixel denotes the printable size of the image captured . for a 4×6 inch print you need a 1.3 Mega Pix cam ,so imagine if you want to print a poster in your wall only you have to worry much about the mega pix.But fore some good reason I suggest a minimum of 5 MPX cam in you phone.

4.2)Flash type of the phones

Xenon is  the better type of flash  than led flash lights,but check the results in dark and indoor shooting as there are lot of factors play role in good image output ,not only the flash.

4.3)Auto Focus /Fixed Focus

Definitely go for an autofocus camera ,a full focus camera or fixed focus camera cannot take close up shots (macro shots) you may read the following previous posts of Symbiandreams for more info

• Does auto focus or fixed focus matter ? E7 Vs N8 some insights
• E7 Camera The Fixed Focus , I may don’t buy it !
• Fixed Focus Cam on E7,C7 etc : Nokia Explains : “ It is different “

5)Connectivity

You need Bluetooth ,Wi-Fi,(infra red no more in new models) to share data ,access internet wirelessly (as there are lot of free internet access points available everywhere )

Go for a 3G model so that you get faster mobile broadband via your service provider ,where ever free wi-fis are not available .(Yes 4 G is growing faster ,but no mobile phones available up to now )

6)Operating System/UI

If you are a heavy user of applications ,it is wise to choose a phone with the operating system ,which has a wider choice of applications and good application store available for .In case of Symbian OS go for a Symbian^3 (the latest Symbian OS )and if you go for Android better to choose a phone with Android 2.2 froyo  ,if it is a windows phone go for Windows 7 Phone.

7)Hardware : RAM and Processor

If it is a Symbian-Nokia phone definitely go for phone with higher RAM (minimum 256 MB ) Processing power can be above 600++ MHZ. But there are phones from Samsung and HTC with above 1 GHZ processor and 512 MB RAMs ,but please note ,that Symbian Operating system runs better with minimum hardware requirements As Android and other OS requires more hardware specs to run.

8)Display Technology of your phone screen

Minimum ALOMED((Active-matrix organic light-emitting diode ) or equal technology to make sure that your display is viewable enough even in sunlight conditions . I don’t worry much about this
factor  and this is the least priority in our list.

9)Budget for your phone

You can find a Sim Free – mobile phone with all the hi specs above for not more than USD 550  (Original Price from the manufacturer before taxes )But you can get lower prices when buy via mobile phone plans

10)Sound quality

Speakers of the phone are not  important ,as you don’t play it for the public event.Check the sound quality using the headsets and find it by your self.

What is your opinion (and tell us what phone meets the overall  standards from the market currently –1s Quarter of 2011)

Ok now it is your turn ,tell us what phone do you like to buy ,and what phone not to buy with reasons and your assumptions.

If you find  this article  useful ,why don’t you share it with your friends or just leave your valuable comments here

Stay Tuned : For further news updates relevant to this story and other phone stuff you may follow us on Twitter or  do Like our Facebook page ,even can Subscribe to our Email News letters – Make sure you don’t miss it !

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Why Auto Focus Cam ? – In brief If you want more ‘close up shots’ ,shots of office documents you need an Auto Focus Camera

How to find out the availability of Auto Focus camera in a Nokia phone.

In most cases the specs available in the manufacturer’s web sites don’t reveal the phone camera’s focus technology ,just they describe the Mega Pixels and Flash types.Most of the sales people at retailers are not aware about this even.

Find the word A/F on Camera Area : When do you go for a Nokia phone,just see the back cover ,camera lens area, if you find a word A/F ,yes the phone camera is using autofocus technology

Only the hi end phones are  listed here ,as lot of people never expect a cheap camera in hi ends normally .

Top 5 – List of Fixed Focus Camera Phones from Nokia [If you want to avoid one ]

1. Nokia E7
   Coming soon this month (January 2011 ) got a QWERTY key board ,4” Touch Screen,Symbian^3 OS ,but coming with a Fixed Focus Cam ,where you cannot take Macro shots and close ups

2. Nokia C6

   

3. C7

   

4. C5 –03

   

5. E5

   

The list is growing…please feel free to add your list in the comments section .

Read our – Nokia Buying Guide 2011-How to choose a better phone Tips

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Image Credit: Symbianworld.org

Magnifying Glasses for sale

My good friend and Symbiandreams previous co-editor  Jade Bryan  has written an interesting guide on Symbianworld.org “ How To Take Macro Shots on Full Focus Camera” recently  and got some applause all around the corners. Congrats on the best post of the days.

Happy to see him like this ,but want to ask him back “ Hey Jade do you want me to carry a Magnifying Glass all the time with my Nokia phone?”

The tips Jade offered is simple and innovative ,of course !

• Go to your stationary shop
• Buy a Magnifying Glass of your choice
• Fix it with your Extended Full Focus Camera’s lens
• Put a rubber band to make sure ,it will not fall down
• Take the close up shots,yes it is better now

Nokia E7 and Fix Focused Camera

Nokia is offering Fixed Focus cameras with some Hi-End phones like E7 currently ,that is a definite disadvantage for people like us(We miss the document scanning function etc.)I don’t have any issues on Fixed Focus Cams on mid range phones .

I have had enough explanations and arguments about this E7 camera issues in Symbiandreams.com(as I love to have such a great phone with the AF cam too) ,if anyone out there with the same opinion please post your comments (opponents also welcome )

You may read the previous posts about the Nokia’s Fixed Focus Phones :

Does auto focus or fixed focus matter ? E7 Vs N8 some insights

E7 Camera The Fixed Focus , I may don’t buy it !

Fixed Focus Cam on E7,C7 etc : Nokia Explains : “ It is different “

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In the line of 3G,3GS networks the new member is 4G ,the higher speed mobile data connectivity ,that brings you the internet in lightning speed. Today  Verizon Wireless announced Launched their 4 G network that officially available from DEcember 5th  in US, as they said earlier:

“Verizon Wireless will launch the world’s largest 4G LTE network in 38 major metropolitan areas, covering more than 110 million Americans, before the end of the year….WHEN:12:00 noon EST on Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2010″

Sprint ,T-Mobile USA are the pioneers in 4G offering ,they have already launched their 4G mobile networks in US this year.

“Verizon Wireless will commercially launch its 4G LTE network in 38 major metropolitan areas, covering more than 110 million Americans, by the end of the year. In addition, the company is launching 4G LTE in more than 60 commercial airports coast to coast – both the airports within the launch areas plus airports in other key cities. In subsequent years, an equally aggressive growth plan will result in full nationwide coverage in 2013. The company’s 4G LTE network ultimately will connect a full range of electronics devices and machines to each other”.Verizon Wireless

Verizon claims their 4G will be 10 times faster than the existing 3G network . You can download 20 photos within 60 seconds from the 4G of them.

	3G Vs 4G Mobiles
3G	3GS	4G
Communication standard that includes W-CDMA, WLAN, cellular radio and many more Offers a transfer rate of 128 to 144 kbps for “slow” devices, and 384 kbps for “fast” ones Offers a fixed wireless LAN speed of more than 2 Mbps Requires a 3G compatible device such as a mobile phone Often comes with two cameras to facilitate video calls	Up to twice as fast as 3G devices Very good 3 megapixel camera on board, with auto-focus features Can be used to shoot video unlike many 3G models Offers voice control feature Much better battery life	Allows transfer of larger data packets with less bit errors Improved data throughput rate Allows faster and more stable access to multimedia and video content on the go Multitasking capability 5-8 Mbps Downstream and 2-5 Mbps Upstream Speed . And expandable up to 1GB downlink speed .
	Samsung 4 G Modem

USA is now getting the third big 4G network coverage but ,there is no  enough 4G supported devices at the moment. Tablet devices like Apple Ipad ,Samsung Galaxy Tab etc still have the 3G support only. Sprint offers only two supported mobile phones at the moment for their 4G service .Let us see what does Verizon have to the world.

Updated : Facts revelaed from the Launch of  Verizon’s 4G Launch today-1st of December 2010.

• Verizon officially start up their network as of December 5th 2010. (See the official launch cities below)
• A reporter from Pc Mag witnessed a 10 Mbps downlink in his device at the launch !
• The  4 costs  $50 a month  for max 5 GB data plan, while $80 cost for 10 GB Max Data Plan.
• The initial launch coverage will cover “more than one-third of all Americans”,
• Verzion has a  plan for the 4G network to outgrow their 3G network by 2013.
• 4G will primarily be for laptop connectivity at first, with two USB modems (Yes it does not mean mobile phones now)
• Verizon expects mobile handsets with LTE to start launching by mid-2011 (previous rumors had indicated that at least one HTC-made, Android-powered LTE handset would launch in the first quarter)
• Visit this Link for more details about the Launch – Press Release and the covered  City,Airport Lists

List of the Cities Verizon 4G  covers now :

Akron, Ohio
Athens, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Baltimore, Maryland
Boston, Massachusetts
Charlotte, North Carolina
Chicago, Illinois
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio
Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, Dallas, Texas
Denver, Colorado
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Houston, Texas
Jacksonville, Florida
Las Vegas, Nevada
Los Angeles, California
Miami, Florida
Minneapolis/Saint Paul, Minnesota
Nashville, Tennessee
New Orleans, Louisiana
New York, New York
Oakland, California
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Orlando, Florida
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Phoenix, Arizona
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Rochester, New York
San Antonio, Texas
San Diego, California
San Francisco, California
San Jose, California
Seattle/Tacoma, Washington
St. Louis, Missouri
Tampa, Florida
Washington, D.C.
West Lafayette, Indiana
West Palm Beach, Florida (Visit here for a completed list of 4G covered Air Ports in US )

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Image via Wikipedia

We   had lot of arguments about the Nokia’s new fixed focus camera on the new devices like E7,C7 etc. At Symbiandreams.com we have started the issue very early when saw the specs from the E7’s press release .We have sent some press enquiries to Nokia about the fixed cam on the E7 ,but it was not answered may be for the following reasons

1) Nokia was  not ready by the time with such explanations (read bellow )
2)Too many requests to serve regarding the Fixed Focus issue

But finally Nokia responded to the E7’s cam issue via their official blog Nokia Conversations yesterday !If you read the full text it may be a little complex as lot of technical things explained .  I try to give a simplified version here with our views .

You may have a look at the issue of the Fixed Focus camera discussed in our blog recently

1)Does auto focus or fixed focus matter ? E7 Vs N8 some insights
2)E7 Camera The Fixed Focus , I may don’t buy it !

Now let us have a look at Nokia’s explanation
Nokia Says that the Camera Technology they have used in E7 is “Full Focus “  and the similarity with the cheap quality old Fixed focus camera and Nokia’s full focus camera is “both don’t have moving elements “

“ However, the only similarity between fixed focus cameras of days gone by and Nokia’s Full Focus cameras is that they have no moving lens elements. That’s where the similarity ends. “-Nokia

• The Fixed Focus Camera used in E7 and so on have a full depth of the field technology that makes everything away from 50 CM to infinity become focused in the camera .
• Since no moving parts and extra time needed to focus ,the camera takes shorts immediately
• Full Focus technology brings a slim phone as no need for many parts .

“Here are the unique benefits of these cameras:

1. With a Nokia Full Focus camera you can simply grab moments without the fear of images or videos ever being out of focus for subjects from around 50cm through to infinity, regardless of lighting conditions or subject position in the frame etc.
2. No shooting lag waiting for autofocus. Despite the Nokia N8 featuring the fastest autofocus of any mobile at just 350ms (average), it’s still a delay.
3. Everything from approximately 50cm to infinity in the same picture/video appears in focus. Hence the name ‘Full Focus’ cameras. Conventional cameras have less ‘depth of field’ than Full Focus cameras and therefore, distant objects will appear blurred. Those more experienced photographers may – of course – prefer the reduced depth of field look. However, those less involved (the vast majority of those who take pictures) find the “everything in focus” look very appealing.
4. Slimmer camera modules – leading to slimmer product designs.” Nokia says.

• Full Focus camera takes pictures at any time , in any light conditions and very faster ,so Nokia does implement in E7 .
• And Nokia explains the complexity of the Full Focus camera module preparation in this post ,but who cares .Consumers want the results not the work behind it.

How  does Nokia Fail to Satisfy us ?

• But,since E7 is a business class device ,how many of us need to scan documents (close up shots)every day in the office (if you cannot take anything closer than 50 CM,you will miss all the nice Macro shots you have been taking in older Nokia devices like N95,N80 etc.. (Nokia don’t talk about this in the reaction )
• In terms of speed (requires to focus in AF cam),the advanced users who use the E7 will manage it always,if it could offer auto focus camera.
• The images shot with E7 spotted by Mark Guim at  thenokiablog.com from Flickr  recently,Images don’t meet the expectations ,not good as a N95 cam at all (The images have been removed from Flickr.com now !)
• C7 is a lessor priced device of mid range ,it is acceptable to have a Fixed or Full Focus camera there.

The implementation of some lesser hardware specs in an E series device should be Nokia’s business decision ,if it will have an AF camera that may affect the sales of the flagship device N8. Definitely you can expect a QWERTY keyboard ,and touch UI device with S^3 or Meego and Auto focus camera (including all other hi end hardware specs )soon after the release of E7(N ???) .

Overall ,you can understand, that  Nokia tries very hard to explain the implementation of the fixed focus camera in the hi end business device E7 ,but really failed to justify the reason. E7 is going to be a higher priced device comparing to the Nokia’s flagship device N8 ,but we are going to miss a useful camera and we will need to have one more camera phone always . This may lead to have some lesser number of sales in the Nokia E7 phones . I am waiting for E7 like phone with Auto Focus camera !

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Nokia E7 seems to be a promising business device with all the hardware capabilities I want and most of the gadget junkies like me want.

E7 has the new Symbian^3 operating system ,Clear Black Display,8 Mega Pixel Camera,slide out QWERTY key board,wi-fi,blue tooth and all the connectivity  you need now,4” AMOLED screen ,256 MB of RAM. All the specs are better than a high priced Nokia N97 ,and hopefully error less .

But the problem is as we mentioned all ready the Fixed Focus Camera E7 has. The main reason to go for a Nokia hi end device is ,the hardware richness . You don’t need to carry many gadgets with you ,as most of us gave up lot of gadgets after using the Nokia phones.

I scan a lot of documents using N97’s(earlier N80’s,N95’s and Xpress music 5800’s Cameras)close up mode  and email during my office communications. I planned to move to E7 ,but I will loss this feature badly.

E7 will offer you a long short capability and anything less than half a meter will be blurry in your shots.E7’s cam using a better technology called Extended Depth of Field (EDoF) to get better photo graphs ,so Nokia says that you don’t expect a very common fixed camera here in E7.But I dont see much hope in using some new terms instead of new definite technology .

In brief, Nokia agrees(see the answers by Nokia’s employee at the support forums ) that the E7’s camera is not capable of Macro shots and close up shots. You cannot take close up photos of your lovable faces ,flowers ,objects in the office ,on your desk etc..,then what is the point of keeping a camera with 8 mega pixel in your pocket .Nokia may expect you to have two phones as one is your primary and another one for snap purposes only.

In the net ,Symbiandreams started this issue very early to discuss and I can see it growing further in other blogs and forums as well .

The following table simply illustrates the differences between the Nokia Camera technologies (between fixed and auto focus,between c7,e72,e7,e63 etc )Thanks to Steve Litchfield at allaboutsymbian.com for the table.

We thought that Nokia may have a very special reason to have a fixed focus camera on E7 ,and tried to communicate with Nokia ,all attempts failed(even no reply for the press enquires ) as the subject was Nokia E7’s Cam. We got reply from Nokia indirectly(some one working for Nokia) that no reply will come regarding this at this point of time. May be their marketing related issues.

Nokia may have a policy that the N series should have all the perks of the hardware /Software as they maintain that as  a BMW series. But they should consider the mass failure of Nokia N97 and if they really want to compensate the customers,they should offer a device similar to N97 with some better specs like E7 has and with a better camera .

We predict ,that we will  have an E7-i or E7 mini with autofocus cam soon after E7 release (Or Nokia may have plans to release a similar device with different name and Auto focus sooner ).

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