The end of the line is here.  For this blog at least.

Don’t worry though, the new home is now http://thenokianetwork.com/

Yes that’s right, I’ve moved it over to it’s nice new shiny hosting, and tweaked the title slightly to allow for all the different avenues that Nokia is exploring these days.

If you are reading this in an RSS reader, then now is the time to update that feed to http://feeds.feedburner.com/thenokianetwork

See you over at the new site!

If you have any troubles, be sure to email me on steve [at] thenokianetwork.com

It is being reported in the Nokia Users Forum that a new camera module is now being fitted into customers Nokia N86 which are suffering from lens scratching problems.

Both the N97, and the N86 have been criticised by owners due to the camera lens cover sitting too close to the glass, and causing dust and dirt to be ground into the surface, causing scratches which are affecting the quality of the photo’ being produced.

It would seem that Nokia have made some design changes to the updated camera module to hopefully eliminate this widespread problem.

The photo at the beginning of this post is of my N86 which is only a few days old.  This would suggest that all new N86 are shipping with the update already in place.  This may not be the case with some branded handsets, as the operators are more likely to buy in bulk, so may take a little while longer to filter through the supply chain.

You can easily tell the difference between old and new, by the fact that the new module has a square opening built into the camera glass, rather than a round opening in the older units.  The photo below is of the older unit.

It would seem that this update is beginning to become available to the Nokia Service Centre’s, so if you are affected by this problem, be sure to check that they will be putting the new unit in your device, before sending it in for repair.

[Hat Tip: Nokia Users]

Have you been affected by this problem?  Let us know in the comments.

Ok, I admit it.  I can’t stand the N97 any longer.  It has tested my patience almost every day.

Not just the N97 though.  Oh no.  Symbian 5th Edition, which is the OS running on the N97, is equally to blame in it’s current guise.

So it’s time to look for something new.  A step forward?  Some would argue, a step back.

I plain and simply do not get on with touch screens.  They may be nice for browsing the web, but pretty much useless for me in every other way.

I popped off to the Nokia Store, and after much deliberation, picked myself a Nokia E52, and here is my mini review.  It’s only a mini review, as I only had the device for a few days, before I had to return it.  More on that later.

The Nokia E52 is a primarily business focussed device, running Symbian 3rd Edition OS.  It has a great feature set, with lots of nice software, backed up by a hardware engineering masterclass.

The E52 is quite literally a stunning piece of design.  In it’s beautifully formed frame, weighing only 98g, it houses 3G (HSPA), WiFi (b/g), EGPRS and Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity.  It has a 3.2 MP camera, standard T9 keypad, 2.4″ QVGA screen, and also lugs around the monstrous, but legendary, BP-4L 1500 mAh battery.  How on earth Nokia managed to fit all this, into a gorgeously slim and light chassis, barely bigger than the actual battery itself, is beyond me.

For the full specification sheet from Nokia, CLICK HERE (PDF)

In the box (contents will vary dependant on region) you get, micro USB charger, a convertor cable so you can still charge it will any of the older style Nokia chargers, USB sync and charge cable, headphone/headset combo, and all the instructional paraphernalia.

For an in depth tour of the Nokia E52, you really need to watch Rafe Blandford’s video of the E55.  They are essentially the same device, just with a different keypad.

Now, I said earlier that I actually returned the E52 after only a couple of days, hence this being a ‘mini’ review.  I had to return the device because of callers reporting an echo (ie, they could hear their own voice) during calls.  Now, I must stress that this may well have been a faulty handset, BUT, on digging around on the internet, I’m not the only person who reported this.  The fault also didn’t manifest itself in every phone call, only maybe 25% or so.  Granted, it doesn’t seem like a wide spread problem, but ultimately I decided to return the device.

So, in line with this being a mini review, I’ll outline my pro’s and con’s that I found with the device, to help you decide.

Pro’s:

• Great engineering and build quality
• Amazing battery life
• Great software set
• The V22 firmware was very stable
• No ‘lag’ noticed in the menus
• Surprisingly good camera, both still images and video
• Best T9 keypad I have ever used
• Superb call quality (apart from occasional echo mentioned above)

Con’s:

• Questionable use of some materials, for instance, light plastic used in the bevel
• Stiff to operate D-Pad
• Hard to read key legends
• No podcasting or internet radio applications
• Slightly awkward to use call send and end keys (Very easy to hit menu or backspace keys by accident)

So there we have it.  My small summation of what I felt about the E52.

Ultimately, I took it back to the store, and changed it for the N86, so stay tuned for my full review on that device.

I’ve already downloaded and installed it to my trusty steed running the generic Euro product code, and rumour has it that UK and US versions also have the update available.

No internet point for guessing that Vodafone UK does not seem to want to make the new V20 update available to it’s customers.  After all, they only just bothered to release V12 a couple of weeks ago.

First impressions of mine are that if you are expecting V20 to solve all your N97 woes, then sadly you will be disappointed.  The kinetic scrolling is not very nice, and painfully slow scrolling through the menu’s.  Free RAM has not changed, and for me shows up at about 40MB after a reboot.  C: free space has been improved slightly, and mine is showing 47MB free just now.

Overall snappines of the N97 seems to have got slightly better, and I’m not sure if it’s just me, but the screen seems a tiny bit more responsive than before.

Oh, the numbers now show up if you do a long keypress now, so no fannying about pressing the blue shift key anymore, which is very handy.

Conclusion:  Better, but still some way to go.  Roll on V30 please!

Device Info screenshot after the jump…….

Ever since the N97 was released I’ve seen a fair amount of owners complaining about terrible battery life.  Typically not even lasting a full working day without the need for a top-up along the way.  It is all well and good having one of the most capable smartphones on the market today, but if the battery life is so bad that you are afraid to use some of it’s features, then you must ask yourself, what is the point of having it in the first place?

Whilst we must not overlook the possibility that there will be some N97’s (and lots of other devices) that will arrive at their new homes with a potentially faulty battery on board.  This is an inherent problem with the process of mass manufacturing, limited amount of in-factory testing, and the relatively volatile medium of batteries in the first place.

However, we must also take into account that there are area’s with your device that you can quite obviously cut back on power hungry tasks, without having an effect on your productivity to any given degree.

Taking the N97 as a case in point, lets start with the new widgetized homescreen.

Now, having widgets on the homescreen is a new feature for Symbian.  I am personally a great fan of them.  We need to strike a balance though.  Some of the widgets for the N97 will need access to network data (be it WiFi, or GSM, it’s not relevant in this particular case) in order to function.  For instance the Facebook widget is a cool item, and seeing how Facebook is immensely popular, I’m sure is a very common item on many owners homescreens.  It lets you see at a glance your 3 most recent friends status updates, and whether anyone has poked or sent you a message.  On the surface this seems brilliant, but I do question the need to know ‘instantly’ (and this is the focus here) whether one of your old school pals from 10 years ago is going out to wash her car.  Will your life be more complete by knowing this frankly quite useless status?  Probably not.  Will your life be more complete by knowing, right now, that 7 of your work colleagues have poked you?  Probably not.

The point I am trying to make is that, do you need to know this information immediately?  Couldn’t it just wait until you next log into your Facebook account from either your mobile device or your computer?  Maybe I’m just being cynical because I’m not a heavy Facebook user.

It’s not just Facebook though.

I am actually questioning the fact of all the frequently updating, data intensive widgets that are available for the N97.  You need to weigh up whether battery life, or access to this data is more important to you.

Obviously the more data you have passing through your device, the more battery power is going to be used.

To this end, I only have one widget on my homescreen (as you can above) that has access to data.  That is the Nokia Messaging one.  I have decided that from my own personal stand-point, email updates are important.  Tomorrows weather, Facebook, the stock markets etc etc are not.  So I have decided that having more battery life, is more important, to me, than these items.

Now, bringing Nokia Messaging into the battery eating argument is going to have even more of you up in arms.

Push email is all well and good.  Though it’s not for me.  Setting Nokia Messaging to receive your email ‘soonest’ is a sure fire way to demolish any milli-amps being stored in your device.

I find that setting Nokia Messaging to check for messages every hour is perfectly adequate for me.  If for any reason I am awaiting an important email, I can quite simply change to the battery munching ‘soonest’ setting.

Just incase anyone is interested, I have included a screenshot of my Nokia Messaging settings for reference.  With these setting, I can usually get 2 days of use out of my Nokia N97.  This includes a fair bit of internet browsing, some sort but frequent phonecalls, and the odd spattering of text messaging.

What tips do you have for saving your battery life?  Let us know in the comments.

The application itself looks pretty good, and definately in it’s final stages of beta, ready for launch.

There doesn’t seem to be any word on pricing yet though.

For me personally though, this is going to have to work very hard to get me to replace Gravity on my N97.  Jan has just recently added support for Google Reader into Gravity (alpha testing only right now), and although lacking on a few features right now, I’m sure will get up to speed soon.

Definitely go and check out Rita’s preview of gReader though.  It is well worth a read.

Some of us are off to the Symbian Exchange and Exposition 2009 event next week, and the excitement surrounding the build up is starting to flourish.

Ivan from Symbian’s Technical Communications Team has developed a small widget to help you plan how you will spend your time a the event.  It includes things such as what is happening on the main stage at any one time, and also has a Twitter plug in, which, I presume, will be linked to the #SEE09 hashtag.

If you are off to SEE09, and have a Symbian device, this may well be a worthwhile download.

So I’m sitting here in Starbucks irritatingly eyeing the Macbook Pro user across the way.  He has an advertised 7 hours, or some other random figure of battery life in his laptop, but yet he is sat next to the power socket.  This irritates me, because, as a fellow human being he should automatically know that because I have an Dell XPS laptop I cannot stray away from the 50Hz boog-a-loo juice for more than about 10 minutes.

I know he has seen what type of laptop I’m using, because he had that sly raising of the eyebrows as he saw me sit down.  Every Mac user suffer from this affliction when they come across a PC user.  I know he’s muttering under his breath “I’m a Mac, and that muppet is the PC, in this towns Starbucks”.  Hell, he probably even Twitter’d, “LOLZ, PC just walked in, and I’m hogging the power socket.  Steve Jobs 4eva”.

What do I do?  Well, I do what any self-respecting PC owner does, and put my laptop into ‘Power Saver’ mode.  What this does is clamp the CPU to 800MHz maximum ceiling, dims the display, turns off any unnecessary ports, and a few other bits of trickery that I don’t have to worry about.

Easy.

My laptop battery should now last 20 minutes, instead of 10.  Just long enough for me to drink my coffee, and then head off to the Apple Store.

Job done.

Or is it?

What do I do when my Symbian powered smart phone powerhouse starts to run low in the juice department?  Well, surely that is obvious isn’t it?  My N97 is advertised as a mobile computer.  Therefore it will have a power saver function, just like my laptop, won’t it?

Nope.

What I want to be able to do, is give a quick press of the power button, and then select a ‘Power Saver’ profile.  Wouldn’t this be cool?  Not to have to worry about anything.

It’s 3pm in the afternoon, and I’m worried that my phone battery won’t last through the commute home.  What will I do for an hour on the train?  What will I do to stop me having eye contact with the weirdo sat in seat 12?  Pick up the mangled copy of this mornings The Sun, only to find it’s got the remains of a builders cheese and pickle sandwich smeared between pages 5 and 6?

Of course I’m not.  I want to do something to my phone to ensure that I’ve got enough power to make it through a quick email checking, Facebook browsing train ride home.

I suppose I could turn my phone off until said commute.  That wouldn’t be productive.

I tell you what.  I could:

• Dim the screen
• Turn off WLAN searching
• Stop Nokia Messaging
• Turn off the 3G radios
• Etc etc etc

You get the idea, but the problem is, I have to do all these things individually.  I want a centralized option, where I can tell my phone to do all of these things, without having to muck about for half an hour trying to remember where all the setting are, seeing as the menu structure seems to blooming change, just slightly, on every different Symbian phone I use.  By the time I’ve found the bloody option to dim the screen, the screen, at full brightness, will have already chomped it’s way through a sizeable portion of my already precious milliwatts.

Many years ago, we sent a man to the moon.  Sure adding a Power Saver profile to Symbian isn’t beyond the realms of possibility is it?

Comments on whether you think I am taking rubbish, or “There’s an app for that”, are, as always, welcome.

Yes, that’s right folks, V20 firmware for the N86 has been released a full week or so earlier than it had been planned.

As ever, Steve Litchfield over at AllAboutSymbian.com got wind of the news first.

Updates to the firmware include things such as face detection, and general all round improvements to the camera software, and then a whole raft of bug fixes throughout the rest of the operating system.

User data prevention should work just fine, but, as always, best to be pre-cautious with a back-up beforehand.

What are you waiting for?  Go get it! If you can of course.

The long awaited Qwerty monster that is the Nokia E72 is now available for pre-order on play.com, priced at an eye watering £329.99.  This is advertising a saving of £20 over it’s RRP, so expect it to show up in the Nokia shop soon for £349.99.  These prices are obviously before any discounts the networks may well offer.

As usual, this price will almost certainly reduce over the next couple of months.

Release date is showing as 12th October 2009, which is right on the money for when it was predicted some time ago.

The underlying good thing about the release of the E72 is that this will certainly push the price of it’s very popular older sibling the E71 down even further, possibly making it ones of the best bargain Nokia’s available on the market today.

Vodafone UK apparently have the exclusive on the black version, but for how long?  Who knows?