A few days a go I picked up my Game Gripper for the nokia n900 and from the time that I unboxed it to now I have not taken it off my n900 (making it useless as a phone but……I love this thing!) I must say i’m really impressed with the simple yet very smart design of the game gripper.

The Game Gripper it self has no batteries or real keys instead it covers most of the key except for W,A,D,X,B,T,U,M,L,P,right & down, it uses those keys as up, down,left,right, start,select,A,B,C,X and two extras, which makes it very light and easy to carry around in your pocket or bag , this being a good this and a bad thing at the same time, a good this because its light and easy to pull off and put on when ever you want but i bad thing because you are still using the qwerty on your phone which mean you will be hit the same keys over and over causing them to wear very fast.

The game gripper over all has a nice grip and fell to it, I also really like the xbox style buttons and there are lots of other colors available as well. It makes gaming on the n900 a lot more fun and easy, games like mario,boom and supertux work very well with the game gripper and the playing Vgba roms with it is not bad at all, its a new easy & smart way to improve gaming on your mobile device and if you have  $14.99 I highly recommend that you pick one at Game Gripper.com

Buttons
Not one to scrimp on the detail, Nokia has made sure that all the bases – or more to the point, buttons – are covered. All the buttons along the side of the device are cut-outs from the same piece of aluminium, adding to the luxury feel of the device. Also, for the clumsy amongst us, the moveable buttons have been rubberised to save your digits from mishaps.

HDMI
Showing off your mobile content at home has never been easier. The HDMI connector allows you to connect your N8 to your TV and share all the pics from your travels. Alternatively, you can watch side-loaded true HD quality content in real time via HDMI at up to 30fps. Add to this Dolby Digital Plus Surround sound capabilities, and you’ve got the complete package. In the box, the N8 will come with HDMI adapter for you to connect with a standard HDMI cable.

Screen
With the capacitive touchscreen on offer on the N8, there’s the capability to pinch zoom in applications like Photos and Browser. Did you know that capacitive touchscreens will only respond to materials that are conductive?  Handy if you’ve got sticky fingers and need to give the screen a quick wipe with a cloth. It also responds to just a touch rather that a press on the screen. No worrying about oops-a-daisy inputs here. With a 3.5 inches screen estate, AMOLED, 16M colours and a resolution of 640 x 360 pixels, it’s perfect for watching widescreen movies too

Battery Life
Within the Nokia N8 is an integrated battery that’ll keep you in juice for days. Talk-time at its maximum is 720 mins (GSM) and 350 mins (WCDMA) and standby time comes in at 390 hours (GSM) and 400 hours (WCDMA). Not bad for a smartphone, we think.

Social Networking
We’re accustomed to keeping in touch with Ovi, on the Nokia N8 it’s even easier. Social networks can be accessed from multiple places such as the homescreen, maps and contacts. Live feeds from Facebook and Twitter are directly pushed to the homescreen for easy viewing. Also, you can comment, read and send messages, update your status and share your location, photos and more. Calendar events from social networks can also be added to the device calendar, so you’ll – hopefully – never miss an important date again.

Flash Support
YouTube fans and gamers rejoice – Flash is supported on the Nokia N8. It’s a Flash 10.1 compatible Flash runtime (ActionScript 3) and player, called Flash Lite. A point to note: the device does not support all of Flash 10 features for graphics but all video-related features are supported.

Email
Nokia N8 features a completely new email client combining several accounts into one. In addition to Ovi Mail, there is a large amount of supported email clients with POP3/IMAP. There is also support for the business email solution, Mail for Exchange.

WebTV
WebTV is another new weapon added to the Nokia N8’s arsenal. The Web TV application delivers TV programs, news and entertainment from channels like Paramount, E! Entertainment, CNN and National Geographic. Locally relevant Web TV content will also available from the Ovi Store.

Sensors
The Nokia N8 has backlighting and ambient light sensor, magnetometer (compass), orientation sensor and a proximity sensor. Both the orientation sensor and magnetometer come in very handy for finding your way around using Ovi Maps. The proximity sensor and ambient light sensor, on the other hand, are your battery’s best friend. The proximity sensor will switch off the screen every time you bring the phone to your face to answer a call and the ambient light sensor will adjusts the display’s brightness dependent on your surroundings.

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So today May 8th 2010, I started my Carpe Diem Daily and found today’s task which is “Record a small status video” and a small button saying ‘record’. I found nice to have camera integration, so I could record simple and easy. After recording a small 15 secs video, you are prompted to add a small note and then publish. Then you can share it via twitter.

You can watch my task here http://www.carpediemdaily.com/Tasks/08-May-2010/dcastrog

basically I was checking my facebook and took a small video of me with my booklet.

Suggestions for the developers? Well they could add a small homescreen widget to see the new tasks every day. That could make it better.If you want to make every day a bit more interesting you can find this app on the Ovi Store, and you can visit the Carpe Diem site to see new tasks and other user submissions.

So seize the day, it’s all yours!

dcastrog

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]

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

And this time Proporta doesn’t upsets anybody!  They are making sure that your E71 will be protected while keeping the good looks. Come and read the review of your soon-to-be case.

The packaging is the standard Proporta box with the silver card and the plastic window. This window should be strong enough to protect the content in the delivery. But, time I received my package with the plastic window all crushed, maybe because of the high transit on this holiday season. Lucky enough, the case was complete, and undamaged. Great!

Now, my favorite part: the case! This case is a flip type with a clip where the E71 slides in, when clipped in, the phone can only be released by sliding up again. There is no play or whatsoever, and dont worry about the dreaded clips, they wont scratch the metal body of the E71, which is way harder. The interior lining is of black and soft material.

The whole case clips with a magnetic brochure. At first it might need some practice to close it fast, but after a few days it will be automatic. Inside the front flap there is a aluminium sheet which is designed to protect the screen and the whole front device against hits or scratches.

On the exterior there is the black leather with white stitches. This leather is beautiful and gives the case a very stylish look. Im a big fan of leather, I love the smell and the touch, and it’s impossible to look away from it. On the back side there is windows specially for the E71 camera, it’s actually not very practical to use the E71 camera because you should hold the flap when shooting, but I believe most users won’t be concerned about it. Also the camera looks cool on the back of the case.

When it comes to functionality, the Proporta case does a great job, you can use evey port on the E71 while using the case, the only situation when you should remove it is when opening the battery cover.  Also when receiving a call you don’t get funny look that you get when using other flap type cases, this because the front flap can be bent backwards and held inside the hand.

The whole case adds minimun bulk, and since the E71 is already slim, this is not an issue in anyway.

Finally, this is one of the best cases I have reviewed, the only thing that might hold back some people is the lack of belt clip, but overall, the E71 Aluminium Leather Case is a great option for stylish and practical use. If you are loving the case as much as I am, drop a visit at our friends at proporta site and get your own!

David Castro

You can find this case at the CJsNB Store

Playlist Dj is a playlist creator that will “listen” to your emotions and select the music from your mp3 library, that easy. You may save the resulting playlist to listen at it anytime after. Also you may choose a song and let Playlist DJ select more songs that are alike the one you chose. This app runs only on S60 5th edition at this time, and its planned to be included on the Nokia’s upcoming music phone the Nokia X6.

So let’s start. After installing and running it you will be asked to let the phone connect to the Playlist DJ server in order to profile your music so it can identify them in the different emotions that you  may adjust later. This profiling has two phases, the first one is the shallow profiling and here, the app will put the known tracks in their mood levels. Then there is the deep profiling, here the tracks that were not recognized at the shallow profiling will be examined and after recognizing some music charateristics it will put them on different mood levels. This whole process might take some time and also needs data transfer to the server, so I highly recommend to profile the music at night, when sleeping and connected to the wifi, so when waking up you will surely find the music completely profiled. Also do not worry if your tracks aren’t properly tagged by genres (or titles Im guessing), there is no need for these tags, the app will get the info from its own server and scan the music by its own.

The next thing you might want to do is let the phone to find the music you want depending on the mood you have/look for. So there are this 4 sliders that refer to different emotions: joy, passion, anger and tempo. You can mix the emotions and get different playlists depending on the mix. You can add a lot of joy, a small bit of passion, with or without anger, and finally choose the tempo you are looking for, it coul be fast or slow music, you choose.

After mixing the emotions you will instantly get a new playlist that might be listened instantly or saved for later. One of the things that I miss here is the lack of the equalizer, I am not sure, but I do feel that the app doesnt share the saved equalizer settings from the default music player. Could be just my imagination, but anyways, if you do feel like me, you can save the playlist and play it from the music player.

Sometimes, when creating a new playlist, you may find tracks that have nothing to do with the mixing you were looking for, in example, when looking for passion songs I get Run to the Hills from Iron Maiden, so unless I’m missing the passion part of it, I guess that the profiling process is not without flaw. Still most of the songs (90%) do fit to the mix and if you feel that a song should not be there you can use the option “Remove song from playlist” before saving or playing the list.

Another feature from the Playlist Dj is that you can build up your own playlist by comparing it to another song. As easy as the first step, you may select any song you like and choose the option “Playlist of similar songs” . Instantly you will get a new playlist that contain songs that are very alike to the first one. This playlist can also be manipulated by removing songs you dont like or find apropiated and also might be saved to be listened later.

The interface is very simple with half of the screen with the mixing bars and the other half  for the playlist and options, the mixing bars are big and can be touched without problems. Something that I find curious is that there is no landscape view (yet).  Also I would love to see this app on other non touch screen phones, since there are lots of music lovers that will thank for this wonderful app.

In conclusion, with Playlist DJ you can let the phone play the music you want to listen at that moment, or set up the mood at parties, romantic dinners, roadtrips, or study sessions (if you have classic music). Anyways, its a great app for all the music lovers, who usually have thousands of tracks and cannot always handle them all. They will be so happy to have an app that will choose the music for them, which is sometimes a tiresome task. I find it way better than using the shuffle option, because I feel better control of my music.

So what are you waiting for? Rush to the Ovi Store and download this wonderfull app. Free until october 31st 2009, so get it while you can.

David Castro

MobiFun Soft has just released a  new version of Smart Settings, Smart Settings has been out on s60v3 for a while now and now its now available for s60v5, The main function of this software is to extend your existing shortcuts with something they call the “Smart Menu”, this smart menu will list your favorite apps and your favourite contacts all in one place.

The first time you open this app you will be asked to replace your right softkey shortcut on the home screen with the Smart Menu, if you do so, you will have the Smart Menu just one tap away. When opening the app you will find the app list, here you may choose what app to launch, on the other tab you will see the contact list, just like in the agenda, but with a smaller list, just to be sure that you have the most important ones in one place. You may edit everything here, by pressing the ‘edit key’ you may choose

1) Start menu- Which key will lauch the smart menu

2) Applications – Choose what apps will be listed, you may choose any app on your find and make a long list, but Im  sure you will only choose the most important ones.

3) Contacts – Select your best friends at a convenient place.

4) Show Tabs – If you enable this, you will show apps and contacts in different tabs, disabling it will make just one list with both apps and contacts together.

5) Content Manager – Here you may select the order of the apps.

6) Application icons – will let you remove of show the icons, a minor adjustment

These functions may not be very helpful on a phone with lots of widgets that may work as app shortcuts and contact shortcuts like the N97. But I consider that it might be a must have on other phones that lack all these shortcuts, the 5800 comes to my mind right now. Also might be a great tool for other models using s60 3rd edition.

But, smart settings doesnt only owe its name because of the smart menu, it includes a lot other settings that let you be more productive while on the phone. To find these settings you have to go to the app folder in your phone and run the Smart Settings app there.

The first one of them is the auto lock; just like the native phone auto lock, maybe not very useful at its own, but here you will find the option to lock the phone just when idle on home screen, or lock it always at a preset time, but you may include exceptions, like, imagine you are listening at music at your car and you want to keep your phone unlocked for a prolonged time so you can see the album art or imagine you are reading something at the browser and would like to keep the screen lit on a bit longer, while locking  phone faster when sending sms to a friend. This is a great idea but needs to be worked further. The phone native locker will turn the screen light off at 60 minutes of idling, and will lock the phone at maximum 5 minutes. Maybe add an override and let the smart settings to keep the light on indefinitely and same for the autolock, sometimes I find annoying that if I take more than 60 seconds to read a website, the lights will turn off before I’m done.

Another setting is the Easy Unlock, here you may choose how to unlock the phone instead of the regular sliding key (in the N97), you tap on options and choose “new” then the phone will give you 3 seconds to choose what keys should be used as unlock. You may choose any key or more than one key in an order. In example you may select the menu key plus the red key in order to unlock it. A great customization option.

The next one is the Smart Menu which I have already talked about in the first part. So I will skip it . The next and last one is the “Smart Settings” Settings (I know, it sounds weird). Here you may edit how the app will look like. The first option is the name, you may change the name displayed on the Smart Menu, so instead of it saying “Smart Menu” you may make it to say “Favourites” or “Shortcuts” or any crazy stuff you want, you are free to edit. The next setting is the App icon, there are 7 cute icons to choose from,  we have form a turtle to a zebra, a small customization, just to make a bit friendlier. And the last one is the master switch called “Smart Settings” (again, :p) you may enable the whole app or disable at wish.

So at the end this app adds a whole deeper level of customization to your device, even if you dont find useful another shortcut of apps and contacts, you may like the auto lock and unlock settings. As I said before, the autolock can be worked a little more to make it override the native autolock, that will make it a lot more useful. Give it a try at MobiFun Soft.

David Castro

So what is the premise for this software? As it name says so, Remind Me is going to remind you whether you have a new missed call, a SMS or email. You may say: But why would I need something like this if my phone already has homescreen popups, vibrations, breathing lights and tones?

can you see my breathing light?

Well, first of all, if you own a N97 you may have noted that the vibration alert is rather weak and the breathing light is too dim to be seen easily. So here is where Remind Me comes in. You can set up this app to make it in a way that, when receiving an SMS (ie) your custom tone and alert will play as usua l, but then Remind Me will vibrate every 2minutes until you check the new message. Also it can play a short beep, and the red and green button will blink until you have read the new items.

Everything can be edited, the time for beeping, the tone of the beep, time of vibration, everything! The interface is simple, after starting the application you will find a list; missed calls, sms, and email. These items can be edited in the following way

The alarm option is the master setting for the Remind Me, if you disable it, the app wont work in that section (ie SMS, or email) the period is the time in between every alarm. You can repeat this alarm in a preset time or indefinitely. Then you may choose what volume and what tone to play in every alarm and what profiles should it be played in. The vibration in every alarm may be edited, by profile and by times. The light alert is my favorite, you can choose in what profiles it should be used and what type of alert. You may choose the front keys for a more discrete alarm, or screen that will blink up if you have a new message.

On the setting tab you may choose to enable Remind Me completely. Then in what time it should be working, like say you don’t want it to be working at bedtimes and make it work while you at the office. Then you may choose what days should it be working, may it be weekend, always, etc. And then there is the option to stop alerts with a keypress or while reading the new message (or email or call).

So why is it usefull? Because imagine you are going to the bathroom and you receive a SMS, when you are back the first thing you are going to see is that green and red keys blinking, if you werent using the app you would only see the dimly breathing light trying to alert you. Another  case when you have your phone in your pocket and you receive another messager and you fail to feel the vibration or hear the tone, then the Remind Me app will remind you in 2 minutes (or any time you choose) that you have a new alert.

There are a few bugs but I’m thinking that it might be an issue with the phone firmware, rather than the software. When having an alert and unlocking the phone, the green and red keys will turn off and wont light up again until you lock/unlock again. The N97 has been having bugs with the lock/unlock key, so I wouldnt be surprised if it was a firmware issue.

Actually I have to confess that, before testing, I wasnt very convinced of the idea of this app because I thought it was redundant to have a 3rd party app to alert me when I have a new message. But I admit that I was wrong, this app has proven very usefull! I can go far to say that this app is a MUST HAVE.

If you want to test this great piece of software you may go to http://www.mobifunsoft.com/ and get a free trial, then you will know what I’m talking about

David Castro