Article Archive

Firefox Mobile for N900 full release 1.0 now available and much faster

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the latest Release Candidate 2 of Firefox Mobile for Nokia N900 owners and installed it on my N900. It was faster than the previous version, that was very slow and unusable, but I did not use it that often. On 28 January, Mozilla released Firefox for Nokia N900 v.1.0 so I just downloaded it this morning.

As mentioned in the recent RC3 update post, Flash support was pulled out of the Firefox browser to improve performance.

We’ve decided to disable plugin (not to be confused with add-ons, which are supported) support for this release. The Adobe Flash plugin used on many sites degraded the performance of the browser to the point where it didn’t meet our standards. If you wish to enable our experimental plugin support, you will be able to manually via about:config, but do so at your own risk. We are working on an add-on that will allow the user to have control of which sites to enable plugins for, as some sites, like YouTube, do work quite well.

While Flash support is no longer supported in the final release, add-ons are quite compelling and there is one for YouTube called YouTube enabler. As stated above, you do still have the option to enable the Flash plugin (check out this post for specific instructions) if you desire and you can still get Flash support in the default microB browser loaded on the N900 if you want to visit Flash-based sites. Other than YouTube, Flash is really not much of a concern for me so I now plan to use the N900 as my primary browser on the N900.

As stated on the Mozilla site, these are the features of the Firefox browser:

• Awesome Bar – Go to your favorite sites in just a couple of keystrokes with intelligent and personalized searching
• Weave Sync – Sync your Firefox tabs, history, bookmarks and passwords between your desktop and mobile device for a seamless browsing experience
• Add-ons – Customize your Firefox by adding small pieces of functionality, like games and news readers, that help make the mobile Web browser your own
• Location-Aware Browsing – Get maps and information relevant to your location
• Tabbed browsing – View open tabs as thumbnails to easily identify and select the Web page you’d like to go to next
• Safe Browsing – Get an Instant Web Site ID and easily access and edit security settings
• Available in more than 30 languages and counting

Visit firefox.com/mobile in your N900 web browser to install the latest version.

There are currently over 40 Firefox mobile add-ons for the N900 and I personally have the following loaded on my device:

• Weave
• TwitterBar
• Lazy Click
• URL Fixer
• Hold4Tab
• YouTube Enabler
• Google integrated search
• Amazon integrated search
• Twitter integrated search
• Wikipedia integrated search

If you want the best web browser experience on a mobile phone, then the N900 is clearly the leader in this area and even has browsers better than the recently announced Apple iPad.

Apple iPhone review – Smartphone Round Robin

It was dark and rainy night back in June 2007 while my two oldest daughters and I huddled under umbrellas as the first people in line at the AT&T store waiting to buy the original iPhone. I had my Mac in the car so as soon as I bought the iPhone I went online to activate it and get it up and running. I still remember that first minute when I turned on the iPhone and how it radically changed everything I thought and experienced on smartphones to date. The iPhone just flew like wind with immediate response and reaction to my finger presses. I remember how easy it was to take a call and then switch between Bluetooth, speaker, and headset speakers. Then there was the drop dead way to transfer music and video content to the iPhone and enjoy it on airplane trips. The iPhone has only gotten better over the last two years and I enjoy most everything about my iPhone 3GS, except that it doesn’t work with 3G on T-Mobile. I had the pleasure of talking with and getting to know Rene Ritchie from The iPhone Blog to hear more about the iPhone since he lives it every single day. I posted some questions over on a TiPB forum to see what his readers had to say about the iPhone too. I’ll give my take on the iPhone 3GS and iPhone OS below, but also make sure to check out the TiPB full iPhone 3GS review too.

Hardware: iPhone 3GS

The original Apple iPhone was an elegant device with sleek aluminum back and the first capacitive multi-touch display we were ever treated too. The iPhone 3GS is only slightly different than that first iPhone with an oleophobic display and better 3 megapixel camera. The display on the iPhone 3GS (480×320 pixel resolution) was outstanding a year ago, but with new devices showing higher resolutions that look fantastic Apple needs to update to higher resolution soon. There is a single front button, volume button, ringer switch, and power button on the iPhone 3GS, which is much different from Nokia devices where we see buttons everywhere. I love the fact that Nokia is standardizing on microUSB connectors and wish Apple would adopt this standard, but they are standardizing on a fairly typical 30-pin iPhone connector.

The iPhone 3GS has an ARM Cortex-A8 processor similar to what we see in the Nokia N900 and it is very fast. The 3 megapixel camera takes surprisingly good photos, but is not as good as the 5 megapixel Carl Zeiss cameras we see on higher end Nokia devices. 32GB of internal flash memory is good to have, but the flexibility in also having a microSD card slot is something I would like to see in the future. The iPhone models also all have integrated non-removable batteries and thus you need to have some kind of external battery source for extended periods of use while you can simply just carry extra batteries with Nokia devices.

Software: iPhone OS

The Apple iPhone OS is based on Mac OS X and in the year after its initial release Apple literature stated it run a version of OS X. It is now referred to as the iPhone OS though to differentiate it from what we see on Mac computers. In the first year, there was no support for 3rd party applications and Apple emphasized that you could use “web applications”, web sites optimized for the iPhone, as a way to get added functionality on your device. After the first year they released the SDK and support for 3rd party applications, which has taken off and the Apple App Store is easily the dominant smartphone application store in the market. The iPhone OS is heavily focused on ease of use with support for accelerometers, multi-touch finger manipulation, and multi-tasking limited to only Apple’s own applications.

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Nokia blows away Google Maps Navigation and PNDs with FREE Ovi Maps

In the past I have used Ovi Maps (then called Nokia Maps) on Nokia smartphone without a SIM card as my navigation solution in foreign countries. Today, Nokia took a huge step forward in making Personal Navigation Devices (PNDs) even more unnecessary with their free Ovi Maps walk and drive navigation offering. These advanced/premium navigation services used to have subscription fees (that were actually quite reasonable) and lately we have been seeing Nokia launch devices with free lifetime navigation (like the Nokia 5800 Navigation). Starting today, selected S60 device owners can download and install a new version of Ovi Maps that gives you all essential car and pedestrian navigation features, such as turn-by-turn voice guidance for 74 countries in 46 languages, and traffic information for over 10 countries, as well as detailed maps for over 180 countries for FREE. There are NO longer any costs associated with using Ovi Maps (includes traffic, city guides, etc.) on supported devices and there is no degradation of quality or loss of features.

As clearly stated by Anssi Vanjoki, Executive Vice President, Nokia:

We want to make using your mobile for navigation as familiar as using it to send a text or take a picture. We believe that making the best maps with voice guided navigation available for free will be the catalyst to do this. Why have a mobile phone and a separate car navigation system that works in only one country or region? Put the two together, make it free, make it global and you have something that is truly useful and can help you get round almost any city in the world whether you’re on foot or driving.

The big news before this announcement was the Google Maps Navigation beta that is on the latest Google Nexus One and available for Android 1.6 devices. I have used this free service and it is quite good, but it does require a data connection since maps and voice navigation is streamed to your phone and there is no offline capability.

IMHO, this new offering of Ovi Maps from Nokia takes what Google offers to the next level with global coverage (over 180 countries), offline navigation support, and unique hybrid technology. One of my favorite features, rolling out on other platforms as well, is the

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Nokia N900 firmware PR 1.1 rolling out across the world

At the beginning of this week we saw a minor update to the Nokia N900 that we learned gave us access to the Ovi Store. It is a great week to be a Nokia N900 owner as we see official word that Maemo 5 PR 1.1 is rolling out now across the time zones, starting in Finland. Mine appeared early this morning and I am updating the 90MB update at this time.

If you want to know all about the changes in this update check out the changelog list. My update hasn’t arrived yet, but I understand there is a manual method available for US devices. Here are some of the new and updated features in PR 1.1:

• Support for MS Exchange 2003
• Performance improvements in the browser
• Fast SMS rejection of incoming call
• Silence ringing by flipping phone face down
• OVI Maps updated for route calculation and search performance
• Added voicemail shortcut support
• Lots of other improvements

We are not seeing MMS support, portrait mode for text messaging, or other improvements we have been hoping for. I’ll explore it a bit more when it shows up on my device too.

Tips & tricks: Nokia Messaging reference guide

Last week I posted on the release of Nokia Messaging for Social Networks Beta 2 (now that is a mouthful) and mentioned I was going to create a post to try to clarify the Nokia Messaging brand and make it easier for readers to understand what it all means. Let’s take a look at the history, current branding and options, and what I am personally using on my devices and hopefully this post turns into a helpful resource for you all. Not all of the clients work across all S60 devices so I wanted to make that clear to you all as well.

History

Prior to August of 2008 I was very disappointed in the default Nokia Messaging/email client loaded on S60 devices. It supported POP and IMAP, but I never seemed to have it working consistently well and the interface was quite poor. In August of 2008 Nokia launched a beta of Nokia Email and I jumped on the chance to try it out. As I wrote about on my ZDNet site I was very happy with the look and feel of the beta client and it worked reasonably well.

We then saw Nokia Email graduate to a part of Nokia Messaging in December of 2008 and it has been known as Nokia Messaging since then. Davis Fields and the team at Nokia has taken the client/service that was Nokia Email and has continuously improved it over the past year and a half to the rather solid product it is today with three components now under the Nokia Messaging brand. You will still find the older Nokia Messaging client on older Nokia devices, but that is quite a different client than Nokia Messaging as we know it today.

Current Nokia Messaging clients

If you want to discover the available options yourself and make sure you have the latest clients, then a good Nokia resource can be found on the Nokia Messaging website. I pulled all of my information from this site and also communicated with the Nokia Messaging team to create this reference guide. There are three Nokia Messaging clients available for Nokia devices and they are:

1. Nokia Messaging for Email
2. Nokia Messaging for Instant Messaging
3. Nokia Messaging for Social Networks

There were different paths taken for each of these clients, but as we now see them all getting rolled into the Nokia Messaging brand the story is becoming clearer and I hope that users will be better able to understand and use the different services on their Nokia devices.

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Full Nokia N900 review now up on ZDNet

Readers here have been seeing my coverage of the Nokia N900 collected into my Definitive Nokia N900 Guide, but my readers over on ZDNet are a different base in most cases so I thought I needed to share my passion for the N900 over there. As a Christmas present to my ZDNet readers I just posted my full review of the N900 that includes six pages of text, over 70 photos and screenshots (including photos taken with the N900), and a video of some of my favorite aspects. I have now had the Nokia N900 for a couple of months so readers here may also find that review perspective helpful.

Now that my own personal N900 will be here in a couple of days, I plan to continue with some N900 tips & tricks posts to include in my N900 Guide so stay tuned for that in 2010. I chose to purchase the N900 over other devices like the N97 mini and E72 for the following reasons:

• T-Mobile USA 3.5G support
• Hardware has never limited me
• Fresh UI and prospect for amazing application development
• Best mobile browser lets me do what I could do on a PC in my hand

There are many other strengths of the Nokia N900, covered in my review too, so I look forward to seeing what Nokia brings to Maemo brings in 2010.

BlackBerry Review – Smartphone Round Robin

Those of you who read this site generally come here for coverage of all things Nokia, but as you know I am a part of the Smartphone Round Robin this year and we are looking at the five other platforms for the next five weeks. As you know this week I am looking at the RIM BlackBerry platfom, with a focus on the BlackBerry Bold 9700 and Storm2. I consider myself a pretty well-rounded smartphone user and have dabbled in the BlackBerry world from time-to-time, but it was great to spend time with the extremely knowledgeable Kevin Michaluk from CrackBerry.com a couple of weeks ago and find out more about the BB platform that I would like to share with you all below. So let’s take a look at some hardware, the OS, some capabilities/functionality, a comparison to S60 and Maemo, and  my closing thoughts before we move onto another platform next week.

Hardware: Storm2 and Bold 9700

I spent a bit of time with both devices at the Smartphone Round Robin event, but not enough to be an expert on both of them. For real in-depth reviews, I recommend you check out the reviews on CrackBerry.com for the BlackBerry Bold 9700 and BlackBerry Storm 2. That said, I do have some impressions from a heavy Nokia user that may interest you and mirror some of your findings if you pick up a BlackBerry and give it a go.

BlackBerry Storm2 This device is the second generation in RIM’s touchscreen lineup and I have to say I found it to be much improved over the Storm1. I tried the Storm1 and honestly had to put it back in the back after about 15 minutes and send it back to RIM since it was just a very frustrating experience with a display that moved too much and required completely distinct presses to enter text. I understand that the Storm2 improves upon the original Storm with a new display technology, WiFi radio added, increased memory capacity and response, and a better camera. When I first held the Storm2, as shown in my video, I was pretty amazed by the way the touch screen does nothing when it is off and then magically turns on and is pressable when the display is turned on. Kevin told me it uses four capacitors to enable the touchscreen and I have to say it works MUCH better than the first generation product as it allows simultaneous presses as well.

The Storm2 felt very solid and had that expected rugged BlackBerry feel to it. The camera seemed to take decent photos and video, nothing like a Nokia, so you could capture things on the go. The large high resolution display was very nice for viewing video content. I actually wonder where RIM can go with their touchscreen lineup next since this device pretty much has it all.

BlackBerry Bold 9700 I actually purchased an AT&T Bold just over a year ago and thought it had the best QWERTY keyboard on any smartphone at the time, but the device was quite wide and I couldn’t get over the lack of Exchange support. IMHO, the Bold 9700 is a nicer device than the Bold because it is much more pocketable, has an optical touchpad instead of a trackball, has a nice 3.2 megapixel camera, and has a slightly higher resolution (though smaller) display.

The 624 MHz inside this device makes it fly and I never saw any lag in using the device. I was just getting used to the trackball on BB and Android devices and now see that RIM is switching to an optical touchpad. I understand from talking with Kevin that the trackball has been an issue with many BlackBerry devices and replacement balls are one of the biggest sellers in the CrackBerry.com store. The touchpad offers a navigation method with no physical rotating mechanism and should require less maitenance. I was actually surprised how much I liked the touchpad and how responsive I found it to be compared to a trackball. I believe that people will prefer it over the trackball.

The keyboard is nicely designed and angled and RIM does have some nice shortcuts included in the OS. However, I don’t like that you have to press the alternate button to enter a @, period, comma, and question mark. The Nokia E71 is setup better for these common symbols and I wish RIM would setup their keyboards a bit better in this regards.

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BlackBerry Storm 2 and Bold 9700 Hands-on Video, Smartphone Round Robin

The Smartphone Round Robin officially begins today. This week I’m taking a look at the BlackBerry platform, including the Storm 2 and Bold 9700 – comparing it to Nokia’s Symbian and Maemo platforms. It is funny that I start out my first Round Robin week with the RIM BlackBerry platform since it is one of the “old” guys in the mobile business, much like Nokia. Both of their interfaces date back several years, but for some reason RIM is the ruler in North America and still gaining in market share here while Nokia is virtually non-existent in North America.

To get the conversation started I’ve started a thread over at the CrackBerry Forums to get feedback from BlackBerry users. Please participate in the comments section of this post here on Nokia Experts where Rene Ritchie from The iPhone Blog (TiPB) will be asking you to participate in the discussion. By participating in the discussion you will be entered into the drawing for your own Nokia smartphone (model to be determined) at the end of the Round Robin event.

Check out a video after the break of me using a couple of BlackBerry devices and talking to Kevin Michaluk about the devices and the RIM BlackBerry platform. It seems that BlackBerry Messenger is a major

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Announcing The 3rd Annual Smartphone Round Robin!

We are ridiculously excited to announce that today we’re launching the 3rd annual Smartphone Round Robin! If you’ve never heard of the Round Robin, buckle up: Each year the sites of the Smartphone Experts Network spend some time out of our comfort zone, examining the platforms of our sister sites and learning how other smartphone users live. This year, the event will span six weeks, eight sites, over a dozen phones, over five hours of video, hundreds of photos, several hours of podcasts, dozens of discussion threads, and of course dozens of comparison reviews. Seriously.

What’s in it for you? Plenty, we hope. To start with, each site will be giving away one smartphone (or your choice!) representing its platform. We have a Twitter contest for accessory prizes every week too. You can find contest details here.

More than that, though, every year we hear from grateful readers who have said the Round Robin helped them decide on their next smartphone, made them happier about the one they have, or even compelled some to switch outright. Researching and learning six platforms and all the phones on each is a massive undertaking – so we’re doing it for you and you can just follow along.

If you want to know more about how to play along with this crazy event, hit up SmartphoneRoundRobin.com, where we explain the contest, the schedule, the participants, and even have an archive of the last two events.

The event begins in earnest on Monday, but today we’re releasing the first of several podcasts, all of which are hosted by our friends at The Cell Phone Junkie.  We’ll toss direct links to download and subscribe after the break, plus let you know who’s playing along this year.

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Review: Nokia N97 mini is better than the original

I purchased the white Nokia N97 in June and have been pretty happy with it overall. The firmware 2.0 update made the N97 better than when it was released and I had planned on keeping it as my S60 5th Edition device for quite a while. We saw the announcement for the N97 mini at Nokia World in September, but I honestly didn’t give it much thought since it seemed to just be a slightly smaller N97 with a smaller capacity integrated flash drive. As I pointed out a couple weeks ago in my first impressions article I actually find the N97 mini to be better than the N97 for my usage. After using the N97 mini for the first week I found it so compelling that I sold my N97 and plan to buy a N97 mini soon. Check out more of my thoughts below and see how I rated the N97 mini.

BTW, stay tuned for some interesting videos and coverage from the other Smartphone Experts editors who had a chance to use the Nokia N900 and N97 mini. It was great to share my knowledge and enthusiasm for Nokia with these guys and they were all quite impressed with the capabilities of the device, especially given the way many in the US mobile community slam Nokia for their interface and functionality.

In the box

The N97 mini has that same cool black box with embossed N97 mini device on the front like the N97 had. It is very thin and reduces the packaging to just what is needed. Inside the box you will find the N97 mini, BL-4D 1200 mAh battery, AC charger, microUSB to USB cable, wired stereo headset, User Guide, and other pamphlets on the N97 mini. As you will note there is no stylus in the box like we saw with the N97, but I never pulled out the stylus from my N97 box so this is not something that is needed. The device supports TV out, but a cable is not included in the box so I used my other Nokia cables to test this capability out.

Specifications

• Intel ARM 11 434 MHz processor
• 3.2 inch 640×360 pixel resolution touchscreen display
• 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics
• 8GB integrated memory with microSD card slot
• 802.11 b/g WiFi
• Bluetooth 2.0
• A-GPS
• FM radio
• 3.5 mm headset jack
• microUSB port for syncing and charging
• QWERTY keyboard
• Proximity sensor
• Available in Cherry Black, Garnet, and White color schemes.
• Dimensions of 4.45 x 2.07 x 0.56 inches and 4.87 ounces.

Compared to the Nokia N97, the N97 mini is smaller (4.45 x 2.07 x 0.56 inches compared to 4.61 x 2.18 x 0.63 inches) and lighter (4.87 vs 5.29 ounces). The processors are the same, the cameras are the same, and the

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