Today Nokia released the firmware version 2.1, for the N97 classic and it’s smaller brother, the N97 mini v1.1. Been trying the whole evening to install it but was having problems with my internet connection. After 2 hours of trying I finally managed to update it. Only my N97 mini was updated since my other big N97 is at my girlfriend’s house. Remember that they run the same software.

Been testing it the whole day and so far I have found the next improvements.

1. Better RAM management: This alone is an excelent improvemente. Since the release of the N97, we have been having problems with multitasking. Because it has only 128MB of RAM and just 45MB free after a boot, apps would close without warning losing everything we were doing. A big headache, I know. But I just tested and found that it is now possible to run more apps at the same time. Had web browser, ngage, and msn messenger running at the same time without issues, even the web browser displayed all the images on the site, something that wouldnt be able when running out of RAM

2. A new default theme. Actually not new, the Nseries 2 (black) theme has been modified slightly. The background is now real black and not the grayish, silverish background. The buttons, and widgets are of the same color as before, so you can compare the change.

old theme

3. Smoother scrolling. Before the update scrolling on the app folder would result in a slugish experience. But now you can scroll smoothly and fast.

As now those are the only updates to be discovered so far, still no official changelog but we will keep an eye on it. A good update, nothing too big, but surely will improve the perfomance and the user experience. If you want to upgrade hook your phone to the PC and run the nokia software updater and it is 161MB, you wont regret. You cant get the update over the air yet, so time to plug it in!

David Castro

This time Im reviewing a great piece of software, its Remind Me V3.53 by MobiFun Soft. Im using a N97 for testing so its working for S60 5th edition, but it shall work on 3rd edition also. Something that I find funny is that I was just thinking about an app that would do what this one does just days before I knew this one existed. Cool!

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

As most of you who follow me on twitter know, i have been testing emoze for the last few weeks, and now after weeks of testing, here is my review of emoze.

What is it*

Emoze is an email client but it’s not just a email client, it’s the  ultimate push email client, emoze allows you to get email from several types of email accounts which includes gmail, yahoo,outlook & hotmail just to name a few,  you can also get social network massages from facebook.

One of the things i like most about emoze is that it works with wi-fi, yes! so if you’re like me and you don’t have a data plan, emoze will still work

Setting up emoze took  longer then i expected, that being said it was also a lot easy-er then i expected, thing i liked most about emoze were the customization options, this is by far the most customizable software that i have ever reviewed.

there is nothing easy er then using emoze, i tried using  nokia’s mail for exchange and i got it up and running but the time i spent on it, lets just say i could have installed and setup emoze 12 times. “yes! it took that long”

What i liked*

• power saving mode

Power saving mode is one of the best things in this app, it allows you to pick how offing emoze will check for a new email, i found this very useful when using wi-fi, this lets you get your mail with out killing your battery.

• Customization options

From picking the folders at the mail comes from, to  picking a notification tone, emoze is yours to control.

I would’t list out everthing i liked because….  ”lets just say i liked everthing”

What i didn’t like*

I llike ever thing about this software and this one thing that i didn’t like is a not a big deal but i still have to tell you what it is, as i said before you get email from “gmail, yahoo,outlook & hotmail” that is ture but to get email from more then one of your accounts,you will have to upgarde to Pro,

The bottom line and Score*

all and all emoze is a great app with a world of customization options. it’s by far one of the best push email client out there. and i think that you should give it a try.

Links*

• Try now

• Emoze website

• Emoze on twitter

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