my Computer Quest: Nokia

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19 February, 2014

My GT-i9103 on OmniROM vs CWM ROM

SAMSUNG GALAXY R (Photo credit: Monkeyy78)

I have been using CyanogenMod ROM in my android phones for quite some time now, and perhaps I got a bit tired of it, and I started checking on the other custom ROMs.

A check on some details and features, and I was off to trying OmniROM.

To be honest, I was impressed. I am actually using it in my Samsung Galaxy Note II.

But in my Galary Royale unit, it wasn't that smooth-running as in my Note 2 phone. There is one big problem that I actually found out - and only until 2 days ago - I confirmed where it was coming from.

OmniROM causes my Galary R phone not be to recognized by my laptop. And that is some major problem to me. While the unit isn't sporting some fancy features, this problem of 'unrecognized device' occurred at some critical time: just when I was starting on my self-study of Android mobile device programming.

And I thought it was the USB driver that was the issue. Or the unit itself.

Until I tried to look for Android 4.4 from CWM.

Since the unit isn't recognized, I had to disassemble the cover and the battery out in order to remove the SD card, so I can plug it in to another adapter, insert it into my SD card slot, and copy over the zip files.

And rightly so, after flashing my Galaxy R with a CWM customer ROM, it was immediately identified by my laptop. I didn't have to verify this 'restored' USB recognition with another laptop.

At any rate, I still run into some quirky problems. Yes, quirky.

With OmniROM, I am able to get the keyboard (AOSP) up and running. That doesn't work in CWM ROM. So while I am able to get the device recognized by the PC, I am not able to get google apps working, since I cannot connect to WiFi, or enter my user credentials.

Until I again found out that my CWM ROM 4.4.x must go with the GApps 4.4.x version. I was simply 'forcing' the one I already have, JB GApps 4.3.x, to work with the new CWM 4.4.x ROM.

After several tries, and confirming that CWM ROM gets my Galary R recognized by my PC, I looked for the rightful mate, GApps 4.4.x. I did another flashing, and this time, using the two 4.4.x versions, and voila!

The unit is recognized by my laptop, and at the same time, my Google account I can enter, and my apps all restored, and all.

This is my experience, so it doesn't mean it applies to all... but then again, I believe it is not an isolated incident.

Till then!

04 July, 2009

Prone to losing your mobile phones? Here are some solutions

(Willcom- NTT DoCoMo-..." style="border: medium none ; display: block;" width="300" height="209">Image via Wikipedia

If you lose your cell phone every now and then, and yours aren’t exactly the cheap ones especially, some tips are provided for you. See it here.

30 June, 2009

Europe getting a universal cell-phone charger

Image by KhE 龙 via Flickr

June 29, 2009 -- Updated 1627 GMT (0027 HKT)

Story Highlights

Apple, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson agree to charger deal

Mountains of incompatible chargers have been generated by wireless industry

Universal adaptor to be introduced in Europe on January 1, 2010

Rest of the world is unlikely to lag behind Europe in adopting universal charger

Most cell phones currently rely on different chargers, causing mountains of waste electronic.

(CNN) -- The frantic hunt for the right cell-phone charger will soon be a thing of the past -- in Europe at least -- as major manufacturers on Monday agreed to introduce a universal adaptor within six months.

Industry leaders, including Apple, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson, have struck a deal with the European Union to introduce the one-size-fits-all charger by January 1, 2010, offering a solution to one of modern life's chief frustrations.

As the number of cell phones has exploded over the past few years, so have the number of chargers -- generating mountains of waste technology as users change or upgrade handsets.

Now the cell phone industry has agreed to standardize its chargers, making all handsets compatible with a micro-USB plug already standard on handsets such BlackBerrys.

Last year an estimated 1.2 billion cell phones were sold worldwide, according to University of Southern Queensland data reported by industry umbrella group GSMA (Groupe Speciale Mobile Association), generating up to 82,000 tonnes of chargers.

With concerns over the level of waste generated by redundant or outmoded chargers, European legislators had, prior to Monday's agreement, considered forcing manufacturers to adopt universal technology.

"I am very pleased that industry has found an agreement which will make life much simpler for consumers," Gunter Verheugen, vice-president of the EU's executive arm, the European Commission, said in a statement.

"This also means considerably less electronic waste, because people will no longer have to throw away chargers when buying new phones."

With the Europe-wide agreement in place, the rest of the world is unlikely to lag behind.

GSMA, which represents 750 of the world's cell-phone operators, has already pledged a January 2012 deadline for introducing a universal charger.

From CNN.com; see the source article here.

24 June, 2009

Intel forms strategic alliance with Nokia

Posted: 24 June 2009 0758 hrs

WASHINGTON: US semiconductor giant Intel and Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia announced Tuesday that they had entered into a "strategic relationship" to develop futuristic mobile computing devices.

Intel, the world's biggest computer-chip maker, and Nokia, the largest mobile phone manufacturer, said their partnership would seek to "define a new mobile platform beyond today's smartphones, notebooks and netbooks."

The alliance between the leaders in their respective fields would enable "the development of a variety of innovative hardware, software and mobile Internet services," they said in a statement.

Intel dominates the chip market for computers but has had little success in its attempts to break into the mobile phone arena.

The Santa Clara, California-based Intel and Helsinki-based Nokia did not unveil plans for any specific products but said they would collaborate in developing operating systems for the future mobile computing devices using open-source Linux software.

"With the convergence of the Internet and mobility as the team's only barrier, I can only imagine the innovation that will come out of our unique relationship with Nokia," said Anand Chandrasekher, a senior vice-president at Intel. "The possibilities are endless."

"Today's announcement represents a significant commitment to work together on the future of mobile computing, and we plan to turn our joint research into action," said Kai Oistamo, an executive vice-president at Nokia.

"We will explore new ideas in designs, materials and displays that will go far beyond devices and services on the market today," Oistamo said.

Intel's tie-up with Nokia comes slightly more than two weeks after the semiconductor maker announced that it has agreed to buy software company Wind River Systems for 884 million dollars in a bid get its chips into more devices.

Intel said that its takeover of Wind River is part of its strategy to grow beyond its traditional personal computer and server markets and into mobile handheld devices and other systems.

- AFP/yt

From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.

19 June, 2009

Coolest mobile offerings at CommunicAsia 2009

By Trevor Tan, Ariel Tam, Hedirman Supian, TODAY | Posted: 19 June 2009 1009 hrs

Samsung Jet

CommunicAsia 2009 ends Friday, and mobile phone vendors - even those not involved in the infocomm event - have been going all out to outshine one another, trotting out shiny handsets that sport supersonic processors, transparent multi-touch trackpads and full-fledged satellite navigation systems.

TODAY presents some of the coolest offerings announced.

Jet ahead of the competition

Fancy having a mobile phone as fast as a jet? Well, the Samsung Jet has landed!

The quad-band 3.5G phone packs a brilliant 480dpi 3.1-inch WVGA AMOLED display (800x480 pixels), a 5-megapixel auto-focus camera, built-in A-GPS and a MicroSD slot (up to 16GB) into a sleek black body slightly thicker than 1cm.

The main selling point is the Jet's blazing fast 800MHz application processor. In comparison, the latest iPhone 3G S, which is supposed to be super-speedy, only sports a 600MHz processor.

Of course, the Jet runs on a different platform on Samsung's proprietary operating system with its latest TouchWiz 2.0 user interface (UI).

Some of its features include Samsung's Dolfin Internet browser, 3D media gate UI, motion-response UI, smart unlock, a three-page main menu and a three-page widget screen.

The Jet comes with 33 widgets and around 40 more that are downloadable online. The Jet also supports multi-window browsing and "one-finger zoom".

At the local media launch, where four additions to the Samsung Omnia family were also announced, I managed to get a brief hands-on with the Jet.

The UI is pretty responsive - I can use my thumb to zoom in and out of a picture and even pan a photo easily. Moving from page to page in the main menu with the swipe of a finger is a breeze.

The widget screen is fully customisable, and widgets can be moved and expanded with just one digit. But given the Jet's supersonic processor, I have to admit I was expecting something even faster.

The Jet's already starting to fly off the shelves, at S$698 without an operator plan.

LG-GD900 Crystal

A clear beauty

Hot on the heels of the posh LG Arena smartphone launched just a month ago comes another touchscreen beauty called the LG-GD900 Crystal.

What's unique about the Crystal is its slide-down transparent alphanumeric keypad constructed of tempered glass and framed by a shock- and vibration-resistant composite alloy called Liquidmetal.

Cool as it looks (when unsmudged by nasty fingerprints), the keypad is not just an aesthetic tool.

What's fascinating is its usage as a trackpad - it reads handwriting, responds to multi-touch commands (like pinching to zoom out) and lets you access specific applications based on what LG dubs Gesture Command.

For example, draw an M symbol with your finger on the keypad and the phone's music player's activated - perfect for the overachieving multi-tasker who wants to listen to music while he's in the midst of writing an email on the main three-inch WVGA screen.

The Crystal also makes use of the 3D S-Class cube-like user interface that made its debut on the Arena, which makes accessing applications a pleasure.

The 8-megapixel auto-focus camera on the Crystal is snappy enough and the microSD card slot will enable multimedia hoarders to junk 32GB of content into the phone. Minus points for the lack of a 3.5mm audio jack though.

The phone touts WiFi and 7.2Mps HSDPA connectivity and will be available in mid-July.

And, a tidbit for Android fans - LG has revealed that it will launch three Google Android-based phones this year.

Garmin-Asus M20

This Garmin-Asus will get you there

Navigation specialist Garmin has partnered ASUSTeK Computer to create the Garmin-Asus nuvifone series to ease your directional woes.

First announced at the Mobile World Congress in February, the tri-band 3G M20 is powered by Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional with enterprise email.

Available in yellow, red, blue and black, the M20 packs a 2.8-inch touchscreen, a 3-megapixel auto-focus camera, a choice of 4GB or 8GB memory and Garmin nuvi satellite navigation (sat-nav).

Available only in black, the quad-band 3.5G G60 runs on the Linux OS and has a 3.55-inch touchscreen, a 3-megapixel auto-focus camera, 4GB memory, a MicroSD slot and Garmin nuvi sat-nav.

With Garmin nuvi sat-nav, it's not just about finding your way around; it's also about using location-based services (LBS).

Both phones' applications, like emails, calendars and social networks, are closely linked to LBS. You could use the Ciao! app to find friends on a map and navigate to meet them.

Both phones provide localised maps with localised points of interests, as well as real-time traffic information with turn-by-turn voice-prompted directions.

During my brief hands-on with the phones, I find them well-built, with even the smaller, sleeker M20 fitting well in my palm.

However, the user interface is a tad counter-intuitive, especially the G60's small, scrollable row of icons.

Plus, I already find the 4.3-inch screen on my car-mount GPS system too small for me to see clearly - what more with a 2.8-inch screen!

The M20 and G60 will be available in the second half of the year.

Nokia E72

New and improved

If you walk around Raffles Place during lunch time often enough, I reckon you'll see more than your fair share of the Nokia E71, the smartphone favoured by many corporate types.

It's shiny, it's lithe and it boasts the ease of use you've come to expect from a Nokia phone, with the added bonus of a Qwerty keyboard and a smartphone-grade operating system.

Well, its successor, the E72, will reach our shelves in the third quarter of the year.

Nokia hasn't messed much with the form factor, but it has added an optical navigation key so you can zip through menus, emails and images that much faster.

The camera's been upgraded to 5 megapixels and there's also a rockin' 3.5mm audio jack so you can plug in your own earphones. Other niceties include built-in GPS, with a digital compass to boot.

On the software side, the 3.5G E72 includes Nokia Messaging that will let you chat on instant messaging platforms like Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk and Windows Live Messenger.

The phone is equally capable when it comes to handling corporate email accounts based on Mail for Exchange and Lotus Notes.

The E72 was launched on Monday at the Nokia Connection 2009 event in Singapore, alongside the touchscreen-based 5530 XpressMusic phone and the 3719 clamshell phone.

Sony Ericsson Satio

Starry Satio

Shutterbugs need to wait a few more months to get their paws on the Sony Ericsson Satio, a 3.5G smartphone featuring an amazing 12-megapixel auto-focus CyberShot camera with Xenon flash.

You can view your photographic masterpieces and watch HD movies on its 3.5-inch 16:9 ninth high-definition (nHD) display. You can also play nHD format games like Prince of Persia or Asphalt Road on this widescreen display.

Satio comes with Wifi, runs on the S60 5th edition Symbian OS with Exchange ActiveSync support, and incorporates A-GPS with turn-by-turn navigation.

Huawei U8230

Smart and lasting

It seems like every company's starting to trumpet its Android-based smartphone. Chinese mobile phone vendor Huawei's the latest, with the U8230 smartphone.

Huawei claims that the U8230 is fitted with a battery that has the highest capacity (1,500 mAH) among the Android-powered handsets available.

The phone has 3.5G, Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity, along with a 3.2-megapixel camera and a 3.5-inch touchscreen.

It will be out by the second half of the year but availability here depends on demand.

- TODAY/yb

From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.

13 June, 2009

Keeping the Apple sweet

By evolving the iPhone slowly, Apple didn’t risk alienating millions of users

Ariel Tam in San Francisco, online and technology editor
ariel@mediacorp.com.sg

THE star of this week’s Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) was arguably the iPhone 3G S, the long-awaited third-generation model of the smartphone. But to me, and perhaps the 5,200 developers present at the annual event, what was more exciting was the June 17 worldwide release of the iPhone 3.0 software update.

Apple iPhone OS 3.0 shown during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. AP

The iPhone 3G S is, of course, very attractive, and will likely drive hordes of existing iPhone users to upgrade. But the hardware upgrade appears to be a token effort to keep up with the Joneses rather than a bona fide re-design. The improvements are evolutionary and predictable enough that it didn’t take a doctorate for industry watchers to get the details right, such as the improved camera, faster processor and more memory.

Of course, the iPhone 3.0 update is not without its critics. Some gripe that despite its admirable list of fresh features, iPhone 3.0 is little more than a bug-fixing release because many features, such as copy-and-paste, MMS and searchable emails should have been added long ago, and rivals have had them for years.

But the iPhone 3.0’s trump card is backward compatibility. The Palm Pre, launched in the United States last week, operates on the new webOS software unable to run on Palm’s older phones like the Treo. Palm can only gain as many new followers on this platform as it manages to sell Pres to. That’s an uphill task.

The new iPhone 3GS being unveiled at WWDC in San Francisco, US.

By contrast, the iPhone 3.0 software will not only run on any generation of iPhone, but any generation of iPod Touch. Apple announced it has sold a total of 40 million iPhones and iPod Touch devices, which translates to an instant base of 40 million iPhone 3.0 users. Application vendors will be able to tap that vast user base to offer iPhone 3.0’s ability to make micro-payments within applications, such as renewing subscriptions or checking out an online shopping cart. That means two revenue streams: The purchase price of applications, and micro-payments within them.

The ability of developers - and Apple, which takes a cut from transactions - to instantly monetise iPhone 3.0 will mean immediate momentum, unlike competitors that might need to wait for user adoption to ramp up before it can show their developers and investors more than mere projections.

Apple’s App Store might not be as big a goldmine for the company as its iPhone and iPod hardware, but software and hardware are symbiotic parts in Apple’s business strategy. One drives the growth of the other, and both portions are profitable. Now that Apple looks like it will triumph on both fronts with its latest announcements, we could be looking at exponential growth from the company, even in this economic climate. There are already more than 50,000 applications in the App Store since its inception less than a year ago, and more than 1 billion apps have been downloaded.

From this perspective, there’s method to the madness of Apple’s slow improvements to the iPhone’s software. A more aggressive stance might have made it tough for Apple to ensure that the version of its operating system today would be streamlined enough to run on the first-generation iPhone and iPod Touch.

Apple’s latest App Store innovations come in the wake of copycats springing up, with Nokia’s Ovi Store, Research In Motion’s BlackBerry App World and Google’s Android Market all vying for a share of the pie that Apple painstakingly created. Keeping existing developers loyal while wooing new ones is crucial, and the iPhone 3.0’s micro-payment abilities could prove just the carrot to do the trick.

It should be obvious by now that while people are drooling over the new iPhone, Apple is hoping for a windfall in profits generated by apps and transactions, and hopes its developers see the same dollar signs it does so they will stay and drive the iPhone-App Store ecosystem.

From TODAY, Tech Comment – Friday, 12-Jun-2009

05 June, 2009

Touchscreens won't outlive keypads on phones, Nokia says

06/04/2009 | 05:56 PM

MANILA, Philippines - Everyone may want to have and hold the latest touch-screen phones but Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone maker, believes that tactile interfaces won't outlive traditional keypad-enabled phones.

While the company is riding the touch-screen trend with its Nokia XpressMusic 5800, the possibility that all phones will become touchscreen is still very far off, William Hamilton-Whyte, Nokia Philippines country manager said in a recent briefing.

"I don't see it happening yet," Hamilton-Whyte said. "What Nokia is doing now is to give consumers choices so they can pick whatever type of phone they want."

The Nokia executive made these remarks while disclosing that the company will launch its new flagship model N97 touch-screen during the third quarter this year.

The N97, which will be sold anywhere from P40,000-P45,000, will become the company's "high-end" touch-screen offering.

The XpressMusic 5800, meanwhile, will slide as its "entry-level" touch-screen model.

With the new touch screen phone's entry, the price of the XpressMusic 5800 may go down a bit, but not very much.

"As you've seen in the past, the price of a Nokia phone model does not go down dramatically even if it has been in the market for so long," he noted.

So far, the XpressMusic 5800, Nokia's first touch-screen phone, has been able to hold its own against other touch screen models available in the local market.

However, Apple's iPhone is still king of the hill even if some consumers have decried it being difficult to use for text messaging.

Also at its press briefing, Nokia formally unveiled in the local market a slew of Internet-enabled entry-level phones and solutions that are specifically aimed at emerging countries like the Philippines.

The units – Nokia 2330 classic (now available) and the Nokia 2323 classic, Nokia 2700 classic, and Nokia 2730 classic (to be available shortly) – come Internet-ready and work with Ovi Mail, giving first-time email users the opportunity to set up and start using an email account (username@ovi.com) directly on their mobile phone.

According to Nokia consumer research, nearly half of the emerging market customers state that they would rather connect to the Internet over a mobile phone than a PC.

As a result, Nokia said it has developed locally relevant solutions that consist of affordable mobile phones and applications, designed and built from the ground up to meet the specific needs of customers in the developing world.

Unlike most other email services, an Ovi Mail account can be created and used directly on a Nokia device without ever having to use a PC, the company said.

The Finland-based tech firm said that since the launch of the beta service in December 2008, around 90 percent of the email accounts have been created on a Nokia phone. - GMANews.TV

From GMANews.tv; see the source article here.

04 June, 2009

Singapore leads the pack in music downloads

By Christopher Toh, TODAY

Posted: 04 June 2009 1157 hrs

Nokia 5800 Xpress Music

SINGAPORE: When it comes to music, Singaporeans have the edge over listeners in the United Kingdom and Australia, mobile phone company Nokia said yesterday.

According to Elizabeth Schimel, Nokia's global head of music services, Singapore has been one of the best performing markets, if not the leading market, for Nokia's Comes With Music brand, with more than three million downloads in the service's first two months here.

"We've passed the 3-million mark in terms of number of tracks downloaded," said Schimel. "We think this type of volume will have a profound impact on the market. And this comes with only being on the market for a couple of months."

Singapore was the second country in the world to launch Comes With Music. Eight markets were launched within the first five months of this year.

"We had a really strong marketing campaign and lots of word of mouth. Seeing people exploring a lot more music, opening up consumption beyond just the few hottest tracks, that's exciting," Schimel told Today at the music business conference Music Matters 2009 in Hong Kong.

Come With Music is a programme that allows users to use a Nokia device to download millions of songs from a wide range of artistes.

Meanwhile, Nokia is set to launch their latest Comes With Music phone, the N97, featuring a touch screen and qwerty keypad, this month.

- TODAY/yb

From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.

my Computer Quest

19 February, 2014

My GT-i9103 on OmniROM vs CWM ROM

04 July, 2009

Prone to losing your mobile phones? Here are some solutions

30 June, 2009

Europe getting a universal cell-phone charger

24 June, 2009

Intel forms strategic alliance with Nokia

19 June, 2009

Coolest mobile offerings at CommunicAsia 2009

13 June, 2009

Keeping the Apple sweet

05 June, 2009

Touchscreens won't outlive keypads on phones, Nokia says

04 June, 2009

Singapore leads the pack in music downloads

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