The issue of the N95 8GB camera cover, or the lack thereof, has repeatedly come up many times over. Most people want the camera cover back, because it keeps the camera window from getting dirtied and scratched. I kind of think so too. It’s a pity that the N95 8GB, with a pretty fine camera and lens for a camera, should have been designed without any protection for the camera.
The Nokia N95 8GB seems to be getting fairly regular software updates. That’s a good thing, since each new version introduces new features, updates existing features, improves functionality, or fixes problems. The last software update was v20.0.016 and was released about 5 months ago. The latest software is now v30.0.018 which seems to have been released since 4 September 2008 (yeah, I’m a bit slow to pick it up this time around).
Hello, Singapore. SingTel has announced their iPhone 3G prices. You could get the phone free, if you’re willing to shell out $205 every month for the next 24 months. The prices are high, but not unexpected (see here and here). Once M1 and StarHub get into the fray, the prices might fall. Or it might drop anyway soon after launch, because Singaporeans are not going to fall simply for the iPhone “wow” factor.
Yesterday was a software upgrade day. Mozilla released Firefox 2.0.0.13, Apple released Safari 3.1.1, and finally Nokia N95 8GB software v20.0.016 became available for update through the NSU. Many N95 8GB owners were eagerly anticipating the availability of this software update, because one of the new features included automatic screen rotation. I haven’t seen the official update announcement from Nokia’s Device software update website, but you can check the unofficial changelogs from Symbian Web Blog.
RotateMe, a screen rotation application written by Samir, rotates your phone’s screen to portrait or landscape mode depending on the orientation of the handset. It is a fun application, particularly to show off to iPhone owners who think only the iPhone does this. A cool trick to have on your phone. The problem is that it isn’t so simple to get RotateMe installed. There are endless forum postings about installing RotateMe. In fact, I too had been struggling to figure it out, until now. Well, here’s my simple straightforward guide to help you get RotateMe installed in your Nokia phone (compatible with N95, N95 8Gb and N82).
Quite often here in Singapore we find ourselves paying more for the same thing than others overseas might pay. For example, the MacBook starts at US$1099 from the Apple Store in US, but S$1688 in Singapore (should be only S$1517 based on xe.com’s currency conversion). So I’m quite pleased to notice that N-Gage game titles actually cost less in Singapore than the European market has to pay. The only excecption is the 1-day game pass.
The full version (unlimited time) of the N-Gage titles currently cost between 7 Euros (S$15.21) and 10 Euros (S$21.73). In the UK, they are offered between 6 GBP (S$16.52) and 8 GBP (S$22.03). Guess what’s the price in Singapore? Just S$15 to S$18!
After having gotten my N95 8GB camera window replaced, I’ve decided to pay a bit more attention to protect the clear plastic camera window from damage. Now, there are all sorts of screen protectors for all kinds of gadgets. But has anyone seen tiny screen protectors specifically for the clear plastic camera windows? This camera window is just 1.5cm diagonally across only.
Nokia Nseries phones now have a new feature to talk about. The N-Gage 2.0 gaming platform is finally released and available as a free 7MB download for N95 8GB, N95, N82, N81 8GB and N81 phones. The N-Gage website says the N73, N93 and N93i will be supported soon. N-Gage 2.0 is the reincarnation of Nokia’s largely failed N-Gage handheld gaming consoles, now manifested in the form of a mobile gaming service for a bunch of Nokia Nseries phones. Read more about it from Wikipedia. I’ll update more information after I’ve gotten some time to take N-Gage out for a spin!
Information from several sources (mostly referencing the post on Symbian Web Blog) revealed the upcoming v20.0.016 software update for the Nokia N95 8GB. The new features include, among many others, Automatic Screen Rotation. This is looking to be a much anticipated update, just like v15.0.015 is. Check out the link for changelog details.
One of the most frustrating things with being a Nokia phone owner is to visit Nokia Care service centres. Nokia Care is so overcrowded, one wonders if Nokia really cares about their customers. In the past, I’ve waited like 15 minutes to get a queue number, before spending another 1.5 hours or so before it was my turn to be served. Then, getting even the simplest of phone repairs to be done would still take 2 or 3 working days. Then, the madness of queuing to collect the phone repeats itself again.
Vanessa's hand picked selection of flowers from the garden.
— Posted from my N95 Lifeblog.
This scholarly chinese restaurant at the new NUS Guild House serves up pretty good coffee flavoured pork ribs. The other dishes were quite mediocre though.
— Posted from my N95 Lifeblog.
