Black is Back

How dearly I missed this black gem of mine which succumbed to the desert heat of Abu Dhabi some two months ago. The feeling of envy whenever I saw the same piece in someone else’s hand (and the feeling to grab it by force!) is now placated for sure.

The good guys at Nokia have replaced my faulty N95 8GB with a brand new one In this interim period, I used an N95 (borrowed from my dad) which is almost identical in functionalities, looks, size and weight but there is something about the black color which makes the latter version much more attractive.

I hope to stick with this handset for a much longer time than the previous one.

First Post Using N95

This turned out to be much easier than i thought. I tried the Nokia Lifeblog client earlier, which I managed to configure after some effort, but it’s limitations instantly turned me off. I’ll post a review on the available methods for mobile blogging in a couple of days. For now, I hope this post goes through to appear on my blog

N95 Goes in ICU !!

Just when I was blabbering about the lack of temperature sensor in cell phones, my N95 8gb succumbed to extreme heat, high humidity and started malfunctioning. The handheld device began to restart abruptly and most of the keys were performing all other functions than those which they were supposed to perform. Basically, it got screwed up.

Ironically, while riding outside earlier in the day I, along with my dad, spotted a new Nokia Care Center in Abu Dhabi. My dad immediately commented that now it’ll be easier to get the phone fixed if anything happens to it (never happened before!).

Anyway, knowing that my warranty card was lying comfortably in my closet in Karachi, I went to the new Nokia Care Center and to my utter surprise they verified that my phone is still under warranty using the IMEI number There were two phone doctors (the engineers, who were wearing lab coats) who gave the reasons for the phone’s malfunctioning. However, the phone will remain under doctor’s observation for the next weeks.

Luckily, I do have an older N95 to fall back on. It’s not black though

Automatic Screen Rotation on N95 8gb

With the release of the latest firmware (v20.0.016), the good guys at Nokia have officially added the Automatic Screen Rotation (ASR) feature to N95 8gb phone. It is located in Tools->Settings->Personalisation->Display->Rotate Screen. This feature uses the built-in accelerometer on the phone, which Samir used earlier in his software RotateMe for the same functionality. The update is available for all unlocked phones via NSU.

Other updates include bug fixes and stability issues, but frankly I never experienced any bugs before. So for me highlight of the update is the ASR and it works very neatly.

N95 Accelerometer Applications

An accelerometer is a device used to measure the vibration or acceleration of a structure. It is a micro elctro-mechanical system device available in a wide variety of ranges. For more information about it, refer to Wikipedia’s article on accelerometer.

Recently, it has been used in sports watches, Nintendo Wii and more famously (and pertinent here) in Apple’s iPhone. People have been fascinated by the advertisements of iPhone in which the screen auto-rotates when the user turns the phone by 90 degrees (landscape). This, sensing of rotation, is performed by a small accelerometer embedded in the phone.

Nokia’s N95 has been bundled with one too, however, its use was limited to camera app only to determine whether the user has shot a portrait or a landscape photo. The shrewd ones already knew about the presence of accelerometer, probably. But, it came as a surprise only when applications began pouring out from different directions. So what sort of applications does accelerometer lend itself to? Well, the sky is the limit! Here are some of them, that I’ve come across. Note that all applications require the Nokia N95 Accelerometer Plugin to be installed on the phone to run these applications.

Activity Monitor from Nokia Research Center. “The Nokia Activity Monitor displays charts and statistics, in real-time, about your movements while walking or running. It counts the number of steps, and determines the distance covered and the energy expenditure…..”

Nokmote (set to release soon), is the one I’m looking forward to. It is THE most intriguing display and use of accelerometer that I (and everyone else) have seen. Words, alone, can’t do justice to this one. Check out the video of nokmote in action. Hats off to Samir for pulling this one off.

RotateMe (by Samir, again) replicates the screen auto-rotation feature of iPhone. An unsigned version is available for download at Samir’s website.

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