Nokia N82 Black camera in action at KC Grill, Islamabad – Sample Pictures

Went for lunch to KC Grill restaurant in Islamabad, Pakistan. The presentation was good and the food was okay.

I took a couple of pics of the food, etc with my Nokia N82 Black, which has a 5 Megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens & Xenon Flash. All of the pictures were taken using Auto Scene Modes, which turned out quite nice.

I loved how the Auto White Balance worked well. Even my Sony digicam needs manual adjustment to get it right the first time. Noise levels in ISO 800 pics arn’t too bad. Putting the picture through “Neat Image” software will easily fix the noise levels.

The N82 cannot replace my Digital SLR, but has happily managed to take over my Point-n-Shoot Sony cam

Full-Size, Untouched sample pictures taken with the Nokia N82. Click to enlarge the images.

Scene Mode: Auto
ISO: 100
F-Number: 2.8
White Balance: Auto
Flash: Flash Fired [Auto]

Chicken Ala Kiev - Nicely cooked & delicious… Picture turned out well, but slightly over-exposed due to direct flash.

Scene Mode: Auto
ISO: 100
F-Number: 2.8
White Balance: Auto
Flash: Flash Fired [Auto]

Cheese [mustard dip] Fondue… As I’ve had the opportunity of eating (Halal) Cheese Fondue numerous times when I was living in Switzerland, I was expecting a pot of hot melted cheese with the works when I ordered this, but much to my dismay, KC Grill’s Fondue presentation had no Fondue pot, it didn’t look or smell like Fondue and certainly didn’t taste like it either It was more like a nice “Mustard Cheese Dip with Bread & Sautéed vegetables”

Scene Mode: Close-Up
ISO: 100
F-Number: 2.8
White Balance: Auto
Flash: Flash Fired [Auto]

The Auto Close-Up mode did its job well, and the Menu pic turned out good.

Scene Mode: Night
ISO: 800
F-Number: 2.8
White Balance: Auto
Flash: Flash Fired [Auto]

KC Grill restaurant, Islamabad – Inside view – It was a little dark inside the restaurant so I used the Auto Night Mode which raised the ISO to 800 & caused some Noise in the pictures

Scene Mode: Night
ISO: 800
F-Number: 2.8
White Balance: Auto
Flash: Flash Fired [Auto]

KC Grill restaurant, Islamabad – Inside view

Nokia E63 Review By Mobile-Review.com

Eldar Murtazin of Mobile-Review.com has done another amazing job and has reviewed the Nokia E63 in detail. I highly recommend reading it

I love reading Eldar’s reviews as his opinions are usually spot-on. Read his full Nokia E63’s Review

A few excerpts from Eldar Murtazin’s review

“… Although you could compare it to some phones with slide-out thumbboards, such as the LG KS360, the truth of the matter is that the E63 is second to none in this segment when it comes to functionality …

… couple of drawbacks, such as a really poor sales package that doesn’t even include a USB data cable or a memory card, meaning that you’ll have to shell out some more money to get everything in gear…

….. But all things considered it’s a decent addition to the best selling Nokia E71, although even despite a lighter price tag it is very unlikely to repeat the E71’s success. If you are in the market for an affordable QWERTY device, then the E63 is definitely the way to go…..”

Nokia E71 vs Nokia E63 QWERTY Keyboard

Nokia E61i vs Nokia E63 QWERTY Keyboard

Apple Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard MB167LL/A – Unboxing

Got myself an Apple Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard MB167LL/A to use with my Nokia N82 phone a little while back. Here’s a peak at what we find inside the box.

What’s in the Box:
• Apple Wireless Keyboard
• Three AA batteries
• Printed documentation

The Ultra-thin Apple Wireless Bluetooth keyboard features a low-profile anodized aluminum frame. It automatically powers down when you’re not using it and turns on instantly as soon as you start typing. This intelligent power management means you’ll get up to nine months of battery life based on average usage patterns. It also has an on/off switch for when you’re away from your computer for a long time.

Here are the pictures of the package contents.

The Apple Wireless Keyboard comes packaged in a brown cardboard box with a small sticker on the side.

Opening the cardboard box reveals a White Box with the keyboard’s image on it.

Inside the White box we see the Apple Wireless keyboard covered in a thin transparent plastic cover.

This picture shows all of the Box contents together. Apple Wireless Keyboard, 3 AA Batteries and documentation consisting of a Manual, Bluetooth Regulatory Certification & Apple (1) Year Limited Warrenty.

I took a picture of the Apple Wireless keyboard with a Rs.5 coin to give a rough idea about its size.

Really sleek and compact!

It’s deliciously thin, beautiful and works really well with the Nokia N82

Nokia N82 Black: A personal review

As you all know, it’s been about 2 weeks since I bought my Nokia N82 Black, with the 5MP Carl Zeiss lens camera and Xenon Flash. I previously wrote a detailed post about what made me choose the Nokia N82 over the Nokia E71.

I love the Nokia N82, but I was having QWERTY withdrawal symptoms, so I bought an Apple Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard to use with it. (Couldn’t find Nokia’s SU-8W Wireless Keyboard anywhere in Pakistan)

I absolutely love the combination! I take the Nokia N82 everywhere with me and have fun taking awesome photographs, and when I have to chat, I just take out the wireless BT keyboard and start chatting away. The Apple keyboard isnt too big, but isnt very small either, so it’s not possible to carry it around everywhere unless I have my bag with me. That’s when I miss my old Nokia E61i.

I can play tons of N-Gage & other java games easily. I hook up my N82 with the television through TV-Out and use the Wireless Bluetooth keyboard to sit back comfortably on the Sofa and have fun!

I recently had the Batman movie “The Dark Knight” in my phone, I was over at a friend’s gathering, and as they had not seen it, I hooked up my N82 to a 32″ TV to let them watch it. It was great fun and they totally loved it

Taking pictures has been pure bliss. The camera is just wonderful. I use ShoZu to upload all my pictures to Flickr as soon as I take them. My old E61i’s camera was simply not good enough to capture pictures worthy of printing.

One problem is the D-pad of the phone, now that my nails are longer, I’m having a tough time dealing with  it. Clicks by mistake are very common, but I’m willing to let go of this minor issue just because of so many new things I’m getting to do with the Nokia N82.

In short,

• PROS:
• Love the 5 megapixel Camera with Carl Zeiss lens,
• Love the Xenon flash for night pics,
• Love the GPS,
• Love the N-Gage games,
• Love the TV-out! (its like carrying a mini-DVD player, I carry about 3 movies in my phone at all times. Its fantastic to be easily able to attach the phone to any TV and watch them on huge displays.
• Love it that now I can use both landscape as well as portrait display modes.
• Love the Stereo FM Radio,
• Love the ability to use a full-keyboard! (All symbian S60 3rd Edition phones are able to pair with Bluetooth wireless keyboards)
• Love the S60 3rd Ed. FP1 Web browser. It is way better then what I had in my Nokia E61i.
• Battery life is okay for me. Not as fantastic as the Nokia E61i and Nokia E71, but it does alright. Gives me about 1 day if used lightly, and about 2 days standby time with the display brightness down a bit.

• CONS:
• The D-pad! It’s not as bad as some people tend to imagine when they first look at it, but ever since my nails grew longer, clicks by mistake became regular. With shorter nails, mistakes are only once in a while. (So girls should definitely try out the D-pad, as well as the keypad before buying one)
• Keypad is usable, but slightly uncomfortable. Creaks a bit while typing.
• Auto-rotate feature is a little too sensitive. (I’ve heard that the sensitivity has been fixed with the latest firmware update)

Review of Nokia Bluetooth Stereo Headset BH-903

When Nokia’s WOM World told me that they would be sending the Nokia E71 White Steel loaner to me, I was expecting only that, but on opening the delivery package, to my surprise I saw that they had also sent the Nokia Bluetooth Stereo Headset BH-903.

This was the first time I have had the opportunity of using a dual ear-piece Wireless Bluetooth headset for music. I have usually used single ear-piece Bluetooth headsets for calls, but never for music!

One of the first things which I noticed when I saw the Nokia BH-903 package was that it’s box specifically said Nokia Nseries. This was something new for me. All the other bluetooth headsets which I have seen don’t use the ‘Nseries’ logo, but after taking one look at the design of the headset, I understood why it is part of the Nseries.

Here is a full picture of the BH-903 Bluetooth Headset from Nokia’s website


Picture of the Nokia BH-903 package

Package contents of the Nokia Headset BH-903:
* Nokia Bluetooth Stereo Headset BH-903
* Nokia Compact Travel Charger AC-5
* Spare pair of earphone pads
* User Guide

Picture of the Nokia BH-903 package contents.

The length of the neck-strap on the Nokia BH-903 are adjustable.

The Nokia BH-903 is powered by a rechargeable 240 mAh Lithium-ion battery which is built-in the headset.

The battery time is awesome. I’ve listened to music on it upto 10 hours, and there was still some charge left. It takes only 40-45 minutes to charge it fully and then we’re back to another 10 hours of awesome stereo music!

Another thing which I really liked about the Nokia BH-903 was that the display always showed the amount of battery charge left in the headset. This is a really good thing to have, as I was able to keep a track of the battery time and charge it accordingly.

It uses the same old regular 2mm thin-pinned Nokia chargers that we use for our Nokia phones (which is great as the Nokia chargers are always available in everyone’s house).

Here is a picture of the Nokia BH-903 being charged.

Picture of the “Power On/Off and Keylock Button” on the Nokia BH-903 headset

When we turn the headset “ON“, the OLED screen of the headset lights up saying “NOKIA”

Pressing the Silver button on the headset brings up the MENU: (symbols starting from left to right)
MUSIC Player,  FM Radio,  Recent Calls, and  SETTINGS

The Nokia BH-903 headset interface uses Bluetooth version 2.0 with EDR specification.

Here are all the Bluetooth profiles available on the Nokia BH-903 Headset:
* Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP)
* Audio Video Remote Control Profile (AVRCP) 1.0
* Headset Profile (HSP) 1.1
* Handsfree Profile (HFP) 1.5
* Phonebook Access Profile PBAP

It’s easy to pair the BH-903 with the phone. We go to MENU> SETTINGS> CONNECTION> PAIRING. That’s it. The headset searches for Bluetooth phones, and on finding one asks if it should “Start Pairing?” Simply press the selection key to begin.

The ‘Pairing’ procedure is required only for the first time. The 2nd time we turn the Nokia BH-903 headset ON, it automatically recognizes the phone and connects.

Here is the Nokia BH-903 headset being paired with my Nokia 5220 XpressMusic phone. When we pair the device, the BH-903’s display shows the phone’s name.

Entering the Passcode 0000 on my Nokia N82 to begin pairing with the Nokia BH-903.

Nokia BH-903 headset being paired with the Nokia N82.

The headset has been easily paired and we can start listening to music! The Nokia BH-903’s display shows the name of the current music being played. We can also see that the keys on the headset has lit up.

The pairing, listening to music, Play, Stop, Pause, Forward, and Back buttons were all easy to find, but when it was time to adjust the volume, I was totally lost. I had to take out the ‘User Guide’ booklet to see where they were and found out that the Volume keys are Touch-Sensitive scroll keys! No wonder I couldn’t find them.

The Touch-Sensitive keys are something like what the iPod has, but I don’t think it has been implemented very well. Or maybe I’m still too used to having physical volume buttons, but really, it’s been 2 weeks now, and when it comes to adjusting the volume, I’m struggling with the clockwise and anticlockwise thingy. It takes me atleast 2 tries each time to get it right.

The best thing which I loved is that we can use the Nokia BH-903 on its own to listen to FM Radio. Yes! No need to pair it with a mobile to make the FM Radio work. The headset cable acts as the antenna, and the on the headset display we can tune into our favourite FM channels.

This was awesome as when I was on one of my hiking trips up on the Margalla Hills of Islamabad, I had forgotten to charge my phone, and the BH-903 headset came to my rescue With such amazing 10 hours battery life, I knew I could rely on the headset for my music needs even when my mobile’s battery was down.

Picture of the Nokia BH-903’s FM Radio working on its own. No mobile needed! Listening to City FM 89.

When the Nokia BH-903 Headset is turned off, the keys don’t light up, but we can still see them as they are engraved. Here is a good picture which shows the keys clearly.

Using the Nokia BH-903 headset for phone calls was great as well. sound was clear with absolutely no distortion. We can also see the list of “Dialed Calls“, “Received Calls” and “Missed Calls” on the display of the headset. (Missed & Received calls are available only if your network supports it)

On my hikes up on the mountains, were the outside noise was minimum, keeping the music volume full totally blocked all external sounds. I could not hear my friend speaking to me at all, so had to keep the volume level down at about 50% most of the time. The stereo sound was amazing, and even the phone call sound quality was crystal clear.

When it comes to being in public locations where there are a lot of people, you can hear some outside noise. Some people may not like this, but for me this was very important, as it is an advantage to be able to hear outside noise when we are out walking, hiking and jogging. It keeps us alert about the environment around us.

The headset gets a Two Thumbs up! from me

Conclusion:
This headset is fantastic for listening to music on the go, e.g, jogs, walks and hiking trips.

My Experience with the Nokia BH-903 Headset has been simply wonderful. The design is gorgeous! It truly does look like it belongs in the Nseries. It matched beautifully with my Nokia N82 Black, and the sound quality simply blew away the headphones which came bundled with my 5220 XpressMusic phone. It was also easily comparable to the N82’s HS-43 headset quality, which is quiet good for a Bluetooth headset.

Comparing a ‘Wired headset‘ with a ‘Wireless‘ one is a bit unfair, because the wired one will usually always win as there is no over-the-air transfer going on to cause any interferance. So, in the wireless category, the Nokia BH-903 headset should be proud of itself, as it has managed to provide great quality sound.

Very easy to use, excellent battery life, great stereo sound and the Stereo FM Radio works without the need of another device. Best part of all was that I was finally able to get rid of all the wires which bothered me during my hikes and daily activities. Could not find any fault in it at all, except for the lack of physical Volume keys. Overall, I’ve really enjoyed it

Nokia E71 shows the N82 and E61i who’s boss in the performance test!

I’ve been using the Nokia E61i, Nokia N82 and Nokia E71 simultaneously since the past 2 days to compare them, and wow is the Nokia E71 fast or what!

On the Nokia E71 I can multi-task and easily leave over 12+ applications running in the background and listen to music as well without getting a “Memory Low” error. I tested Google Maps, MobiReader, ShoZu, Windows Live Messenger, Screenshot, mIRGGI, EmTube, Mobitubia, Calculator, Jaiku, DivX Mobile Player, Fring, eBuddy and Widsets while listening to music in the background.

The multi-tasking capability of the Nokia N82 is good as well with over 9+ applications running and the Music Player ‘On’, but as it’s a tad slower in response than the E71, I’ll give it 2nd place.

On the Nokia E61i, I can hardly keep 3+ applications open with the Music Player playing before the “Memory Low” error pops up and shuts the apps down.

Nokia E71 comfortably winning the performance test, while the N82 takes a respectable 2nd place, and the E61i lags at 3rd place.

When it all comes down to pure processing speed, the specifications speak for themselves

Nokia E61i – Lags behind
- 60 MB shared memory
- 64 MB SDRAM memory
- ARM 9 220 MHz processor

Nokia N82 – Excellent speed for Multimedia Work
- 100 MB internal memory
- 128 MB SDRAM Memory
- ARM 11 332 MHz processor

Nokia E71 – Excellent speed for everything
- 110 MB internal memory
- 128 MB SDRAM Memory
- ARM 11 369 MHz processor

This is what the Eseries is all about. It’s an excellent tool for power users. Everything just opens up in a jiffy and browsing is pure pleasure, infact the Nokia E71 does everything faster and better. The word “slow” is definitely not in its vocabulary.

While the Nseries N82 wins in the Multimedia department with its 5 megapixel camera and almost DVD-like quality video capture, the Eseries E71 is built to be able to cope with almost every work-related things you throw at it, including great battery life & robust physical build, both which are important for Business users – and does it deliver? Yes it does

No wonder the Nokia E71 won two awards for “Phone of the Year 2008″ and “Best Smartphone of the Year 2008″ out of hundreds of other phones in the Mobile Choice Consumer Awards 2008. Read more about the award at Mobile Choice UK’s website

In a discussion about the looks of mobile phones, a friend of mine said that if he had a choice he would rather have performance over looks, and I asked “What if you had both?” The Nokia E71 has managed to be a workhorse during the day, and a slim, classy, stylish device for the evenings!

Nokia E71 White Steel – Package Contents

The Nokia E71 White Steel Box contents is different from Nokia E71 Grey Steel as the colours vary. With the E71 Grey Steel you will get dark coloured contents.

With the E71 White Steel, the Pouch, Headset, Wrist-Strap are all white in colour.

Here is the official list of contents from Nokia’s Website.

Nokia E71 Sales package contents:
* Nokia E71
* Nokia Battery (BP-4L)
* Nokia Charger (AC-5)
* Nokia Connectivity Cable (CA-101)
* Nokia Headset (HS-47)
* Nokia Eseries Wrist-strap
* Nokia Eseries Pouch
* User Guide, Quick Start Guide and other documention
* 2GB microSD

Picture shows all the E71 White Box contents. I forgot to include the charger in this pic.

Edit: In the following pictures there is 1 additional item which I got from WOM World ,which could be due to a mistake as it is not mentioned in Nokia’s Website. I received a Nseries CD. No idea if this is part of the sales package or not. So don’t worry if you don’t see the extra CD in your purchased E71 Box.

I took pictures of the individual items so that you guys could also check out the interesting White version of the Nokia E71 contents.

Nokia E71 White Steel Box. The box of both Grey and White versions are same, so the only way we know its the White device is by the sticker on the side which says “White Steel”.

Here it is, the Nokia E71 White Steel phone inside the box.

Nokia E71’s battery, BP-4L which has a massive 1500mAh capacity.

Nokia E71’s white Pouch carrying case with embossed Nokia logo.

Nokia E71’s white Wrist-Strap/Lanyard with embossed Nokia logo.

Nokia E71’s white HS-47 Headset with 2 different coloured foam earbuds. One is the usual Black, and the other pair is Red.

Nokia E71 CD

2GB MicroSD Memory Card

Nokia Connectivity USB Data Cable CA-101

Nokia Charger AC-5. Only 1 charger is included in the package, so ignore the other one.

Nokia Guides and booklets.