My E71 Battery Life Has Been Stellar. Do You Have Similar Results?

Keep in mind this post is coming from a very happy Nokia N82 user. I love everything about my N82, except for the battery life. My E71 is my work phone, what I use when I know I have a long and busy day ahead of me with the need for constant email and browsing. Of course I still get the please of listening to music on it and killing time with my favorite java games.



But I've never completely relied, or for better words trusted my E71 battery. Mainly because I've had many bad experiences with the N82's battery life. I can't go more than 1 solid work day if I have my email set to "always on" and play hours of music with the N82. Therefore I've always been skeptical about the E71 and make sure to charge it every night.

I recently broke one charger and lost the other. I'm relying on my brother to let me use his charger every few days (who doesn't live with me) until my replacement comes in. This unfortunate experience has actually been a huge eye opener for me as far as battery life goes on my E71.

My Usage
Since yesterday morning I've been pushing the battery hard without a charger. I had push email on for 12 hours. The Seven email application getting my exchange email for work and Nokia Messaging pushing my personal/blog emails in real time. Overall I probably received about 30 emails and sent/replied about 15. In between although I had about an hour worth of calling, 50 sent/received text messages, about 1 hour worth of browsing, 40 minutes of music playback, and 45 minutes of using Google Maps while sitting in traffic. Keep in mind I have 3g turned off unless I'm doing consistent web browsing, this makes a huge impact on battery life. My brightness is turned all the way up.

To my surprise this morning I've only lost two bars. I have more than half a battery left and I plan on pushing the battery life even harder today. If I get below 3 bars tonight I'll probably have to borrow my brother's charger again, and if I have more than 3 I'm going to push it one more day and see how far I get.

Keep Pushing?
Needles to say I'm extremely happy with these results. Today, and perhaps tomorrow will be the true test. My friend who owns a Blackberry Pearl is astonished at the battery life I'm getting, and is so jealous of my sleek E71. It especially ticks him off because I'm getting emails to my work AND personal accounts faster than he did on his Blackberry, and my internet plan is only $14.99/month as apposed to his expensive BB Connect plan he has with AT&T.

One more thing to note is I recently let my dad try out the E71. He doesn't use any data, just wanted to see how it would work out as his "simple phone". The battery lasted him almost six days. He also was in shock at the battery life, as his Samsung Sync doesn't last him more than 2 days.

Similar Results, Or Not So Good?
Obviously this isn't one of those "how to save battery life tips" articles, instead this is about finding the limits of your device.

Are you happy with your battery life? Do you push the limits and don't hold back?

Google Maps Street View For Nokia E71 - A Must Have

The much anticipated update to the Google Maps S60 application has been available for a few weeks now. Street View is officially a reality for the Nokia E71, making Google Maps one of the most desirable applications available.

Most major streets have been photographed at street level and available for viewing on the PC Google Maps website. Check out how the Seal Beach Pier looks on my E71, one of my favorite places to go just miles from my house...



Some other features have been added to this application, according to Google:

Besides Street View, the new version of Google Maps for mobile also has a bunch of other new features: request walking directions (in addition to driving and public transit) to get anywhere on foot, receive transit alerts from participating public transportation authorities, and see what other people think of a place by reading reviews directly on your phone. We've also overhauled the entire user interface to make the app more responsive and easier to use.

Check out this video demo that Google made...



Go to google.com/gmm on your E71 to download Google Maps.

E71 Themes: Steel Black Spectrum, Some Of The Best I've Seen

Hello everyone! Hope you're all having a good weekend. Between all the holiday shopping, holiday parties, my birthday partying, and work - I've found little time to blog. But now that I have the shopping done, and most of the parties done, I can focus on writing again. To kick things off I'll share with you my favorite set of themes that I've recently discovered.

Theme maker AttisX has nailed it on the head with his latest theme pack called Steel Black. The whole pack is called Steel Black Spectrum, and is a rather large file as it includes many color variants, depending on what you want. My favorites is the red variation, although the blue looks great on my E71 as well.

Check out the screenshot below...



And below is how it looks on my E71. Keep in mind I'm using the default icons version, I don't think the custom version has enough icons...







Another thing to keep in mind is that my phone DOES NOT have the latest firmware. I've heard from all of you that dark themes do not look right in the Contacts menu, making it unreadable with the latest firmware. I haven't verified this is the case with this theme, maybe one of you can.

Link: http://axthemes.extra.hu/new.html

The Steel Black Spectrum link is the one that includes all the colors, or you can just download the Steel Black original which is just the red, like the one I use.

Enjoy! Let me know if you like them, and stay tuned for a S60 holiday theme post.

Nokia Email - Out Of Beta, Lots Of New Features & Enhancements


If your a fan of Nokia Email and Gmail then you should be happy to hear that the latest release, no longer a beta release, is optimized for slightly Google and now includes Yahoo Mail. I'm extremely happy to hear about some of the latest features, but really bummed to hear that a few still missing. Keep reading for the details...

New Features:
  • Support for Yahoo! Mail
  • Support for more Nokia S60 phones
  • Support for up to ten email addresses
  • Support for subfolders for IMAP email accounts
  • Support for Google Apps hosted email and other vanity domain email addresses
  • Flagged messages will automatically become starred messages in Gmail
  • More intuitive inbox navigation via a discoverable control bar
  • Faster opening of inbox
  • Sent email will be synced to your webmail’s sent folder for all email addresses
Improvements For Gmail

I have to say that I'm loving this new version so far, tested with my Gmail. It's a lot better with battery life, and the application runs a little faster. The server is definitely pulling my mail faster and keep the mail in sync much better. Gmail Labels are shown as folders, which are also synced perfectly with Gmail. Emails in can be moved to folders, and will reflect your actual Gmail account. To enable imap folders, you must do this from your account settings at email.nokia.com. Also, you can flag a message and it will add a star in Gmail, and stars with show with flags. Not to mention a slick Gmail logo is added to your inbox. I don't have any screenshots as of right now, so your just gonna have to try it out yourself.

Downfalls?

Html support is still missing, although Davis Fields from the development team assures us that it's almost ready:
I want to acknowledge specifically the omission of HTML in this release – we have spent plenty of time figuring out the best way to implement HTML and we are close to delivering it, but not in this release. It’s an important feature to us.
I have faith that this feature will be coming soon. What else? I'm hoping that support for exchange email will come, and even calendar sync. If we can get this puppy to sync our Google/Outlook calendars that would be a huge win.

Live In India or Southeast Asia? Become A S60 Ambassador & Join The Nokia Messaging Campaign

If you've followed my blog for a few months you already know that I work for Nokia on the S60 Ambassador Team. Right now there is a campaign going on to promote Nokia Messaging, and it's exclusive for India and Southeast Asia. Become an ambassador and join the campaign.

What does the S60 Ambassador Program entail?
You already talk about your E71right? I love showing mine off. Just remember these discussions and submit a report about it. The more reports you submit the more points you get. Myself and Stefan read all the reports you write and give out the points. At the end of each campaign there are prizes given out. If you win "Report Of The Week", you get a loaner E71 for 2 months to allow another family member or friend use. If you're in the top 10% at the end of the campaign you get a stereo headset. Not bad right? Go to http://ambassadors.s60.com and join!

Have you tried out Nokia Email, I mean Nokia MESSAGING! The latest version is definitely worth a try. If you have any questions or need help setting this up, be free to leave a comment below.

Download: http://email.nokia.com

What Is The True Cost Of Using A-GPS On Your Nokia E71?

If you remember about a month ago I gave a tip for getting a better and faster GPS lock on your Nokia E71. The trick was to simply ensure that Assisted GPS (A-GPS) was enabled in the settings. Basically this uses the data connection to connect to the nearest cell towers and help to quickly gather information about your approximate location, hence the term assisted. But many of you had concerns about data costs on your carrier and your country. For most in North America we are lucky enough to have decent data rates, for instance I pay $15usd a month for unlimited data and 200 sms messages. But others aren't so fortunate.

Does the cost of using A-GPS outweigh the benefits? It all depends on the numbers right? See an explanation below...

Edwin, a reader here at E71 Fanatics, graciously emailed me some screenshots and information he gathered to share with all of you about this topic.

Here is how the test worked out:

1. Reset the Packet Data log to zero.
2. Turned off AGPS on the phone.
3. Tested the satellite signals - very low. Took almost 20 - 25sec to lock on in open skys, a couple of minutes if in my car.
4. Turned on AGPS - signal strength became optimal.
5. Checked the Packet Data log - sent 1.15kb and received 4.18kb for the use.
6. Tried several times, the data remained the same whilst in the same cell.
7. If based on the data rate of the Telco I am using at MYR 0.05ct per Kb (peak), it's about 5c per pop. Probably more if you are roaming as you navigate. (the last is unconfirmed).

Screenshots:







Over at his blog, Edwin conludes...

I also checked that whilst in the same phone cell, no matter how many times, you use it, there is not additional data usage only onces. So I believe, if you had AGPS turned on whilst navigating, each time, you travelled from one cell to another and there is a need to lock on to a new cell, there would be a data exchange like the one seen above so, it can get quite expensive at 0.05 cts a pop (peak).

Click here to read his full article where you can get a lot more detail and even ask questions if need be. Thanks again Edwin for the information!

Is using A-GPS worth it for you? Have you done similar tests with similar results?

Nokia Surprises The World - Announces First Nseries Qwerty Device - Nokia N97


Nokia made waves early this morning by announcing their top secret flagship device, the Nokia N97. This marks the first time a Nseries device will have a full Qwerty keypad, the first Nseries with S60 touch 5th edition, and the largest internal memory on a device - ever! I'm not sure sure about the "ever" part, but I know for sure that with an expandable microSDHC slot that can hold up to 32gb, this Nokia powerhouse will be able to handle a whopping 64gb memory, that's more than my computer's hard driver. Props to Nokia for creating a truly state of the art device. Check out some pictures and video that I've gathered...











This also marks one of the rare times when Nokia announces a device before and rumors or pictures are leaked on the internet. Even people within the company didn't know about the amazing specs. And boy has the hype really exploded about the Nokia N97. Andrew from Dial-a-Phone had this to say about the upcoming Nseries touchscreen...

No one expected the 5800 Tube to be the only touchscreen handset Nokia released, but we did expect to wait a while longer before their high-range effort was revealed!Take a good look at the pictures, see the OS in all its glory in the video and start counting down the days until release, which is said to be the middle of 2009, as you’re looking at the mobile phone event of the coming year.

So what are the specs of the Nokia N97? Keep reading and be amazed...

  • S60 Touch 9.5 OS
  • 3.5″ nHD Screen (640×360)
  • Haptic Feedback
  • Slideout QWERTY (!)
  • Dimensions - 117.2 x 55.3 x 15.9
  • Weight 150g
  • 5MP Camera with Dual Led Flash - with sliding lens cover
  • 32 GB Onboard Memory with microSD slot = 48GB currently.
  • N-Gage Touch
  • 1500mah Battery
  • COMPASS
  • Customizable Home Screen with Widgets (RSS, Weather, Facebook, Ovi)
  • 400 hours of standby time
  • 320-400 (3G/GSM) hours of talk time
  • 4.5 hours of video playback and over 37 hours of audio playback
  • The Nokia N97 is expected to begin shipping in the first half of 2009 at an estimated retail price of EUR 550 before taxes or subsidies.
  • AGPS
  • HSDPA
  • WIFI
  • 3.5mm Jack
  • TV-out
  • No stylus built into the phone, but one will be included in the box.


Not only that, but Rita from Symbian-Guru.com has mentioned something new. The standby screen is now fully customizable...
"It has support for customized widgets on the standby screen. The operator, date and profile seem to be standard, but you can add to them application shortcuts, an Ovi widget, weather, email, calendar, RSS feeds, a quick 4-contact link like the Contact Bar on the 5800 XpressMusic, a Friendster, Facebook, MySpace widgets, with any 5 of these available at the same time. You can move these around, remove the ones you don’t want, create your own widgets."

I personally am extremely excited about this device. Where does this leave the E-Series? That's a great question, as previously the E-series offered the full Qwerty and email features on the homescreen that the Nseries could not. This has all changed with the Nokia N97. Surely Nokia has something up their sleeve for the E-series, we shall see.

What are your thoughts on the new N97?

E71 Tip: Ever Need To Call 1-800-WHATEVER? Here's How

I've seen so many people complain that this feature isn't on the E71, but indeed it is. You just gotta read the instruction manual, or follow this blog.



Say you need to dial 1-800-Flowers in case you got yourself into some girlfriend/wifey trouble.

Dial 1800 like normal, then tap the Function button to put it in text mode, let go, and hold down the SHIFT button while typing out FLOWERS. Make sure it's in ALL CAPS or this won't work.

Push the green call button. DONE!

And don't forget a few other tips...

- Holding down * Turns on/off bluetooth.
- Stop unknown data connection: Hold Down Red End Key
- Quick Access to input methods, writing language, etc: Fn + Spacebar
- Launch browser from homescreen: Hold down "0" Zero key.

I know there are a million more shortcuts to remember. This article can serve as a refresher. What are some of your commonly used shortcuts on your Nokia E71?

By the way, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. It's Turkey Day here in the States! Time for a feast.

Update E71 Firmware Safely With These Tips - And How's The New Firmware?

Is this your first time updating Nokia firmware? I know many readers here at the blog are first time S60 users - the E71 being their first Nokia smartphone. Updating to the latest firmware can be a little tricky, but the fellas at E71 Blog have posted a handy guide, showing you steps everyone should take before upgrading to the newest E71 firmware. This will ensure that you don't lose data - because if you didn't know a firmware update will wipe out your entire phone memory.

The methods he shows are using the tools within the device to backup your memory. You can also use Nokia PC Suite with the backup tools, which is the method I prefer.

Click here to check out the article.

Either method you choose - DON'T FORGET TO BACKUP YOUR DATA.

How Is The New Firmware?

If you've been following my last article about the latest E71 firmware you'll see hundreds of comments, with the most recent showing that almost all regions are finally seeing the update.

But still nothing here in North America - for me at least.

For all those who have updated... How is it? Are you satisfied? Is the purple haze now gone from the pictures? Any new problems with the firmware? What are your thoughts?

App Update: Automatic SyncML "Swim" Updated - Crucial Scheduling Bug Fixed

Hi all! Last week I showed all of you a wonderful yet simple new application called Swim that allows you to sync your E71 device to your SyncML setup automacally in the background - without you having to do anything. This means if you have Ovi Calendar, GooSync, ScheduleWorld, Zyb, etc. working on your S60 phone you no longer have to manually sync.

The developer has just released an updated version of Swim, fixing a huge bug that caused the sync to happen every 30 minutes, no matter what intervals you chose. You can specify it to sync every 15 minutes, hour, 4 hours, 12 hours, and Daily.

Best of all - it's free, although donations are encouraged.

Click here to visit the Swim download page where you can get further downloading instructions.

E71 Theme: Red & Blue Wave By Babi, And An Email Icon Tip

Here is a great looking theme I've been using on my Nokia E71 lately. This one comes in red and blue, I've been using the blue. Props to Babi for making such a clean looking theme.



You'll notice in that screenshot the custom icons which I love. However, nobody has seemed to figure out the email icons that show up on the E71 homescreen. Instead of mail icons, the calendar icon is shown on my E71. I absolutely hate that, so I've decided to use this theme with the default icon set of the E71.

Check out the screenshot of below of my E71 homescreen.



My email icons show up as email icons instead of the calendar icon. Sucks that we have to give up the great custom icons by some of these theme makers.

Every theme you download comes with two .sis files. The one that includes something like "def" or "defualt" in the filename will be the one that uses the default icons. Choose that one if you're looking for my setup.

Click here to download this E71 theme.

New E71 Firmware v.110.07.127 Available For The Masses (Not Including North America)

New firmware for the Nokia E71 is finally available for everyone except North American owners. This is horrible news for myself and other E71-2 users. Nokia has done this before with the N95 versions as well. It took months for the NAM users to see an update.

Instead of ranting about why this is, I'll just show you the changelog for the new E71 version 110.07.127 firmware, thanks to Candyman from Howard Forums...

Nokia E71 SW releases 110.07.127

This SW release contains
the following new features:

Gimlet 9.2.1.381 (Nokia Email Service version) in user disk; gimlet is visible only in countries where service available, otherwise hidden.
Improved Email Set-up Wizard to check availability of Nokia email service
This is visible only in countries where service available, otherwise hidden.
Mail for Exchange 2.5.5
Maps 2.0 release from wk 30
VoIP baseline from wk 31
Switch4 from wk 32
Startup settings from wk 31
Catalogs 3.1.50 from wk 32
Y drive for WMDRM protection files

Changes/improvements made to
MCU SW version 110.07.127:

Email set-up improvements
Maps 2.0 improvements
Music library refresh function performance improvement
Browser improvements
Bluetooth improvements
Camera improvements

Corrected Items from
MCU SW version 100.07.76

Email for Exchange – Synching improvements
DUT does not connect to BT stereo headset (SEM HBH -DS970) and car kit (SM HCB-120)
Y-drive visible with PC Suite
EAP-FAST authentication improvements
Unable to start maps when memory card is full
Camera - Picture cannot be taken correctly after zooming in max

Nokia has also mentioned this tidbit about the new firmware...

This software release includes a new versions of Mail For Exchange and Nokia Maps. The release also includes a number of performance improvements including camera viewfinder orientation, Mail for Exchange synchronisation and browsing. Please note that if you have encrypted your device or memory card, decrypt it before the software update to avoid possible data loss.


Me being a North American E71 owner can't see this update or try out this new firmware. I'm just going to have to wait it out with all other E71-2 owners.

For everyone else in the world, congrats and be sure to leave us comments with your thoughts on the latest firmware 110.07.127. Sounds like nothing groundbreaking has been added, mostly bug fixes and improvements. Let us know if you find any other goodies not mentioned here.

Nokia Email Service Down Saturday For Upgrades, Including Gmail Love

Just letting you all know that the Nokia Email Service will be down this Saturday. It's not Saturday yet here in my location but I just noticed the service is already down. They experienced a huge number of usage after their last upgrade to the application and realized that they need to be on better and larger servers. So for now your going to have to make due with the built in email application for your needs, or use the Gmail application that I showed you last week.

Here's what Davis Fields from the Nokia Email team had to say...
Hello,

It’s Davis Fields from the Nokia Email service team. Wanted to give you a brief update on a few items, and to thank you for your continued feedback as we continue to work on the next update that you’ll see before the end of the year. A few notes:
  • Due to the popularity of the service as well as the increased traffic that’s come as a result of multiple mailbox support, we’re going to be upgrading to a higher bandwidth server cluster. There’s a chance your ISP might take a little while to recognize the DNS changes, in which case you would see an outage of email.nokia.com and email delivery on your device. The occurs at 1:00 am GMT on November 8th, so most will never notice this outage, but wanted to keep you posted.
  • I’m pleased to say there’s going to be a lot of added functionality for our Gmail users in the next release, including support for Google Apps hosted domains (as well as other similar personalized domain email solutions). Please continue to submit your email settings if our auto-detection system isn’t correctly working at this link.
  • A few other bugs we’ve fixed in between big releases – we’ve resolved an issue some users encountered where Nokia Email asks for your password randomly. There’s a bug where your email stops syncing when you receive a very large attachment that we’re currently looking into, if you delete the offending email from your webmail, it should begin syncing normally again, but we’re obviously working to fix this for future releases.

Keep the feedback coming!

Davis Fields


Source: Nokia Beta Labs

Have a great weekend everybody!

E71 & Ovi Calendar: Sync Automatically With Swim - Includes All SyncML Setups

I've fallen in love with Ovi Calendar Sync and how pefectly my entries stay in sync with my E71. But a huge downfall WAS that you had to manually sync them, instead of schedule or automatic sync.

Thanks to this article I read this morning over at Series60.ca by oddsocks, I have downloaded a new application called Swim that allows you to schedule automatic sync times of Ovi Calendar and all other SyncML calendars you have setup on your E71, such as Zyb or Mobical or ScheduleWorld.

You can have it sync every 15 minutes, hour, four hours, 12 hours, daily, or weekly. I know longer have to worry about adding an entry on the computer and then forgetting to sync via my phone. It's now done automatically.

I have mine set for every four hours since usually don't update my calendar more often than that. This also syncs your Notes and Contacts if you have that enabled in the sync settings. Too bad Ovi Sync doesn't yet support Active Notes.

If you haven't tried Ovi Sync yet then you might want to read this article I wrote a month ago, outlining all my likes and dislikes. The only dislike I had is now fixed!

Download Page: http://code.google.com/p/bergamot/

This application is unsigned and can easily be signed at www.symbiansigned.com. Just look for the "Open Signed" link and follow the very simple instructions. Took me about five minutes.

How do all of you sync your calendars with the Nokia E71. Has Ovi provided a decent enough setup, or do you prefer another method? Hope this application can help you out.

E71 Firmware Update Buzz - Anybody Here Updated Yet?

I've been getting lots of emails and seeing lots of buzz about the latest firmware update for the Nokia E71. I personally don't have this update available to me and I know alot of you guys don't either, but I'm wondering if there are any readers here that did get the update. Apparently there really isn't anything BIG in the upcoming firmware, but I really can't speculate since I haven't experienced it and don't know anybody that has. I'm sure it will be mostly bug fixes. In case you missed it, I posted an article over a month ago highlighting some of the things that need fixing - we'll see if we get any of those.

Thoughts?

E71 & GPS Tip: Enable Assisted GPS To Get A Faster Lock

I got a email the other day from reader Nick showing me a tip to get a faster GPS lock on my E71. I personally already had this setting enabled, but he mentioned to me that his Nokia E71 came shipped without the A-GPS setting enabled. I think it may depend on if you bought your phone from a carrier or unlocked - regardless it's worth it to check your device.

Here are the steps to enable A-GPS on the E71...

Tools > Settings > General > Positioning > Positioning Server > Your Access Point.

Also, be sure to make sure Assisted GPS is checked under "Positioning Methods".

Keep in mind this will use some internet data when search for a GPS satellite so make sure you have a data plan with your carrier.

Nick mentioned to me that before he changed these settings it took his E71 sometimes 20 minutes to lock onto a satellite. Now it takes him 5-60 seconds. He is using Vodafone UK for his carrier.

Personally here in the USA on the AT&T network I am able to lock onto a satellite using A-GPS in 5-10 seconds, and like I said my phone came shipped with this already enabled.

Hopefully this solves your problem if your having GPS problems with your E71. Thanks again to Nick for the email tip.

Gmail Application Updated To v2.0 - Multiple Accounts On Your E71



I'm just giving all the Gmail lovers a heads up that the J2ME E71 application has been updated to version 2.0 with some significant improvements. Multiple accounts is now supported which is a huge plus, and also being able to work offline is possible. This Gmail application I think should be considered a "must-have" application for all Gmail/E71 users.


Check out some of the updates below...

- Overall performance improvement: You should experience significant raw speed improvement, smoother scrolling, and no freezing.

- Multiple accounts management: If you have both a Gmail and Google Apps email account, you can easily switch between them quickly. You will no longer have to use two different mobile apps to access personal and work emails.

- Multiple mobile email drafts: You can save multiple email drafts in your mobile phone, so that you can pick and choose what you would like to send later.

- Powerful shortcut keys: If you have a QWERTY phone, you can use shortcut keys. Hit 'z' to undo, 'k' to go to a newer conversation, and 'j' to go to an older conversation. See Menu/Help in the app for more shortcuts.

- Basic offline support: Can't get a signal? Not a problem. You can compose and read your most recent emails even when there is no signal. Also, any outgoing messages will be saved in the outbox on your phone and sent automatically when you're back in coverage.

A Gmail engineer says,

Our focus for this version was to make the experience faster and more reliable. We rearchitected the entire client to push all the processing to the background, greatly improve the client-side caching scheme and optimize every bottleneck piece of code we came across.

Check out a video released by Google of the application working on the Blackberry, keep in mind it works exactly the same on the Nokia E71...



Personally, I don't use this for my Gmail needs. I use the Nokia Email (beta) Service, but I keep this Gmail application on my E71 all the time just in case I need to do a deep search for an email or get a certain contact that I don't have on my E71. Not to mention you can view labels and star emails. This application is also great for those who don't need true push email on their phone but want to be able to have access to your Gmail account(s).

Go to m.google.com/mail on your mobile browser to download the new Gmail for mobile for your phone. If you already have Gmail installed be sure to remove the version you have before installing this new version?

Do you use this mobile Gmail application, or simply rely on another solution to retrieve your Google Mail.

Uhh Ohhh, Blackberry Storm To Rival Nokia E71?

You may say I live under a rock, but this is my first time hearing about the Blackberry Storm. I first got wind when I was browsing the net, looking for the best E71 rivals. Low and behold I came across this article about the new Blackberry touchscreen hero.

Here's what Warren from dialaphone had to say about it,
The Storm has only furthered the more creative approach taken by Blackberry by delving into the currently very competitive touchscreen market in which manufacturers are all vying for the crown of iPhone killer.

iPhone killer? What about E71 killer? I think not. Not everyone wants touchscreen. Most E71 users have the E71 because they love having real buttons. I personally think a combination of real buttons and a touchscreen would be great, but neither the Storm nor the E71 gives us this functionality.

Lets see some of the specs of the new Blackberry Storm...

3.25" Touchscreen (480 x 360)
Accelorometer
Visual Qwerty keyboard
3.2 Megapixel Camera
Integrated GPS with A-GPS functionality
1GB Onboard memory with MicroSD support
624 MHz Processor
3G
EDGE
Built in Handsfree
Bluetooth
3.5mm Stereo Headphone Jack
Mini-Usb connectivity

Wow! The specs are not too bad.

Another interesting feature is the ease of Social Networking on the Storm. According to this article at Phones 4 U, Facebook and Myspace access will be a breeze...

If you’re a Facebook or MySpace addict and love to update them during the day but don’t always have access to a computer, then the Storm will make your life much simpler! Direct access to your accounts means it’s easy to change your status or add a blog post all from your mobile phone, wherever you are.

You can do all that on the E71 right? Well I'm not sure about myspace, but I know a few 3rd party S60 applications such as Fring and Shozu allow you to update/manage various aspects of your Facebook. But do E71 owners really care about these type of social networking sites? I'm sure some do, but not the majority.

As of right now, to my understanding, this phone will only be available in the USA from Verizon Wireless. I'm not sure about the rest of the world. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm not sure about the pricing either. With the price of the unlocked E71 dropping fast, would it be worth it to spend almost as much for the Storm AND have to be locked into a 2 year contract with Verizon? Right now you can get the E71 for under $400, if you look hard enough.

What are your thoughts on this? Would you give up real buttons for touchscreen? Would you give up the 3rd party apps and power of S60 and pickup a Blackberry?

E71 Music Application "Mobbler" Gets Updated - Stream Last.fm To Your Phone

If you haven't heard of Last.fm and you love music, then your probably living under a rock. Last.fm is a social music website that allows you to specify your favorite type of music then it streams those artists and similar artist to your customized radio stations. Sometimes you'll get crappy songs and you can ban them and other times you'll find new music you love and "love" them. Using a free application called Mobbler you can stream your Last.fm stations to your E71 for when your sick of your mp3's on the memory card. Here's how the developers describe Mobbler...

Mobbler, Mobile Scrobbler, is a last.fm radio player and scrobbler for Nokia S60 3rd edition smartphones. It allows you to listen to your last.fm radio stations and to scrobble tracks played using the Nokia S60 Music Player. Music player scrobbling can be done both whilst you listen, or queued offline to be submitted later.

I showed all of you this application last month, but thanks to a tip from a reader here at the blog I discovered today that Mobbler has been updated...

0.3.0 - New graphics, bug fixes, and check for updates feature

* The graphics in Mobbler have been updated with help from several Mobbler users (Still needs a Mobbler specific logo and the positions for landscape displays are not finalised)
* Some bugs fixed that were in 0.2.4 like having to enter your username in lowercase, and crashing when there was an error trying to connect
* A check for updates feature has been which will download the latest version of Mobbler through your browser if it is newer than the currently installed version
* Changed so that there is an offline and online mode instead of connecting and disconnecting. This is so Mobbler can remember that you were in online code and try to automatically connect the next time it is started. (Need to allow the user to select a default access point to get this working properly though)

I took some screenshot of Mobbler on my E71 (I'm sure someone will ask me "what theme is that"). Check them out below:

When the song is playing....



Start a new station...



How to start the station...



Ban tracks that you don't like...



Specify the ones you love...



If you've never used Last.fm before than you'll have to go there and create an account to start listening. And like always, make sure you have a data plan with your carrier.

Click here to visit the Mobbler website, or click here to download the latest application directly.

Have any of you tried this out yet? What are your thoughts on the latest version of this great music application?

Files On Ovi - Every E71 Owner Would Love This Service


Ever since I started this blog I haven't had much access to a Windows computer. My hard drive crashed and I had to use Linux Ubuntu for almost half a year. All the PC applications that Nokia makes only work on Windows or Mac, no love for Linux. So I really haven't been able to try out some of the cool features like Files On Ovi.

What Is Files On Ovi?

Basically it allows you to access files on your computer directly on your Nokia E71 when your away from home (or work, if your company allows it). You have to install a "connector" on your computer, and as of right now it's only compatible with Windows. According to Nokia,

With Files, you use your mobile phone to view, download and send the photos, documents and files stored on your personal computer, anytime, anywhere. You can also use any other Internet-connected computer to access your computer's files.

Great thing is you can also use this to view your computers files from any other computer with a data connection, not just your E71.

Right now you can access your files for free if your computer is on and connected to the internet. But if you want to be able to access your files even if your computer is off or disconnected from the internet, you can sign up for a pay-based subscription and have 10gb's of storage. You can try that and get 60 days free.

The other day I tested this service while at work. I was missing a song I recently added to my computer and wanted to hear it on my E71. Remembering that I left my computer on at home, I was able to view my files. Check out the sceenshots below. You'll notice my new Windows computer is called "The Monstor", going along with my 22 inch monitor that I'm loving right now.



Music Files On My Computer


Download Entire Folders At A Time




I downloaded that entire folder and calculated the transfer time at around 22 minutes - not bad at all for 43.9 megabytes. I've decide this should be a "must have" tool on everyone's E71. I've already used it multiple times to pull off excel and word documents from my computer when out and about.

To login you must have a "Nokia Account", which is the same one you use to login to Ovi Calendar & Contacts. This is not the same account as your Share On Ovi account.

Do you live in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, or Australia? If so, you can join the Files On Ovi campaign for S60 Ambassadors. Talk about the service with your friends, family, co-workers, etc and just go back to your S60 account and write up a quick report of each interaction. The more reports you write the more points you get. If your in the Top 50 list for submitted reports you get prizes (bluetooth goodies). Click here to learn more information about the S60 Ambassador campaign for Files On Ovi.

Have you tried Files On Ovi yet?

Click here to get started.

Sports Scores On The E71 - Sometimes "Made For iPhone" Sites Just Work


Have you been looking for a good method of checking sports scores and stats on your Nokia E71? Some may say an application works much better than a website, but on rare occasions this simply isn't the case.

My favorite sports website to view on my S60 device is SportsTap.mobi. Not only is it clean and easy to read/navigate, it's also fast loading and quick thanks to ajax technology.

Check out some of the screenshots...

Here are some hockey scores for the night...



When you click on the game you get the details...



If the game hasn't started you get a preview...



Scroll to the bottom of the page and get more content...



This website can be great for those fantasy sports fanatics trying to get there stats from their E71. Other sports include NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA, Futbol, Golf, & Tennis.


If you haven't already noticed, a good handful of "made for iPhone" mobile websites work on S60 phones because they are based on the same type of browser. Upon first going to this website you may notice some errors next to the sports images on the homepage. Once you get to the sport you want you won't see anymore errors at all. For instance, if you go directly to the NFL page, no errors - there only on the frontpage.

Using the "Mode Switcher" on the E71, this Sports Scores website is my right softkey when I get off work and on the weekends. I can easily access this website directly from my E71 standby screen, my left softkey still goes to my Google Reader bookmark.

Let me know if you guys (or gals) enjoy this week, and show us if you have a certain sports website that you enjoy checking on your E71.

E71 Tip: Extensions & Pins For Automated Phone Systems - Specify In Your Contacts

Do you have a contact that requires you to dial a specific pin number or extension every time you call the person? I have at least two or three, including my bank and my girlfriend's work number. Both are commonly used numbers. Now when I dial those numbers the pins and extensions are automatically created by my Nokia E71 using the methods I will show you below...

The screenshot to the right was created by the folks from S60.com, where I originally found this tip.

1. Type the phone number into your S60 device, then insert the letter p, p stands for pause, it will pause the dialing for one second. Need it to pause for three seconds? Simply insert three p's.

2. Next you'll insert the extension or pin ID along any hash marks are stars that are needed.

If needed...

3. (if more than one extension) Finally you'll insert the PIN number followed by the hash mark and push SEND.

4. The number you dialed will look like this: +3585012345678p12345#p6789# - It dials the number, pauses for one seconds, inserts the conference ID, pauses again, then inserts the PIN code.

Your number may be shorter or longer, depending on the automated system your trying to manipulate.

Give it a try and see if it works for you. Hopefully this makes dialing your business contacts much easier, and of course this can be saved in your E71's address book.

Obsessed With Google? Get The Gmail Colors Theme On Your E71

I personally am a huge fan of Gmail. Just about all my email - both work and play is routed to one Gmail address. I am a bit obsessed with Gmail, but not enough to make the colors of my E71 look like my Gmail account. But maybe some of you are.

Gabb has recently created a theme for the Nokia E71 to replicate the Gmail Mobile application available for your phone.

Check out the screenshot...



Click here to download this and other free E71 themes by Gabb.

Stay tuned this week for a few new applications and themes on display here at the blog. It's been a little slow here as I've had a busy weekend and battled a nasty case of food poisoning. I should be getting back on track this week.

Calling All North American E71 Owners: S60 Ambassadors "Maps 2.0 Campaign" Live - Help Spread the Word

Have you heard of S60 Ambassadors? I've touched on it a few times here at the blog, most recently concerning my new job with the S60 Ambassador Marketing Team. A new campaign has been launched for all North American S60 Ambassadors to spread the word in the real world about Nokia Maps 2.0.

You know that "iPhone" buddy you have? Go show him/her what your Maps program can do that theirs can't. Show them that you can use maps without an outrageous data plan, or any data plan for that matter. Or maybe you have friends/family/coworkers that are new to the smartphone world, or don't understand why you would need GPS & navigation on a phone. Just talk to them about the benefits and then come back to the S60 site and report your stories.

Besides bragging, what are some of the benefits?

"Each Ambassador will get a voucher to try our voice navigation service for 3 months. At the end of the 3 months the 25 most engaged and active Ambassadors will earn rewards. As usual, we'll assign a 2 month loaner phone each week (the E71) to the Ambassador who writes the "Report of the Week."

Not a bad deal right?

To learn more, check out this article.

Anyone can become a S60 Ambassador. Click here to sign up!

Leave a comment below if your already an Ambassador for S60. I'm curious to see how many of you are already on board.

New Nokia Email (beta) Version Coming Tomorrow, Oct. 10 - With Lots Of Updates

This is by far the best news I've heard all day. Gwapz from Mobile World Innovation has informed us that Beta Labs will have a update to the new Nokia Email application. I told you about this new service a few weeks ago, and how impressed I am by it.

Here is a quote taken from the article,

"Beta 3 brings with it wider support for devices, more localization options, better mailbox management and now true synchronization so that everything stays the way it should be! No more randomly re-appearing emails you’re sure you deleted. Another major feature is the addition of support for multiple email addresses so alternate personal emails, or the address you use for newsletters etc can live side by side on your device. The beta stage of trialling Nokia Email Service is totally free for anyone who wants to use it and anyone using the software will be emailed when this period comes to an end."

Alot of those updates are what people here and around the community have been hoping for.

Why try something still in beta?

Well, obviously it's a good way to tell Nokia what you do/don't like about their upcoming applications and services. And believe me I know first hand that they listen and make changes based on your feeback. So don't hold back. There are many ways to communication with them. You can fill out the feedback forms or leave comments on the articles at Nokia Beta Labs.

Check out email.nokia.com tomorrow, October 10th for the beta release number 3 of Nokia Email. I really am starting to think Nokia is hitting the nail on the head with this new email solution for the E71.

Also, be sure to check nokia.com/betalabs where you can read articles about the application and leave comments.

Are any of you excited as I am? Be sure to check out Mobile World Innovation as leave them a comment.

E71 Connection Error When Trying To Make Calls. Any Solutions?

Do you ever try to make a call and it doesn't go through? You get an annoying beep and a "connection error". It mostly happens when I first start up my phone. Sometimes I realize that it's been like that for awhile because I don't get any calls or texts, even though I was expecting one. Then I'd reset the phone and be bombarded with messages. The person would say it went straight to voicemail. This has been so darn frustrating, I'm not sure if I'm the only one. I use the AT&T network in California.

A better solution than restarting your phone is to simply put it in the "offline" profile, which will completely cut off the network, then turn it back to another profile and allow the phone to connect to the network towers again. After that it works fine. Don't know why it does this or what's causing this, but I've have this problem on the N73, N82, N95, and E71. It must be a Nokia thing.

I'm not sure if there is another workaround, if there is let me know. But so far that works for me.

Have you ever had this problem?

Deal Alert: Nokia E71 WHITE North American Edition $421


Hi everone. I've rarely posted about the E71 white edition here at the blog, I'm not even sure how long the white E71 NAM version has been available. But I was searching on Amazon.com today and noticed their selling it for $421 dollars. Not a bad deal considering it comes with the 1 year warranty and the security of hassle free returns from Amazon.



Click here to see this deal.

Don't forget to upgrade your E71 memory to 8gb. Right now you can get the SanDisk 8gb microSD & card reader for about $38. I highly recommend getting the card reader - the file transfers are like 10 times faster than just using the usb cord with the E71.

Do any of you already have the E71 white version? How do you like it so far?

Update: E71 Mail For Exchange Version 2.7 Now Available

Thanks to a tip from a reader "Abhinav" here I've learned that Mail for Exchange has been updated to version 2.7.

Rafe from AllAboutSymbian.com has reported a few updates that come with the new version.

Rafe says,
Updates include support for Exchange Server 2007 Autodiscover (enter your email address and server settings are automatically provisioned), updated mapping of data fields in Contacts and a number of bug fixes. As was recently announced the new version can also now be installed on any Nokia S60 3rd Edition phone.


The Exchange Server 2007 Autodiscover functionality must be enabled and configured by your system administrator. If you are upgrading from an earlier version of Mail for Exchange you will need to perform a full resync in order to take advantage of the new Contact field mapping (middle name, car phone, department, spouse and anniversary).

Click here to get the latest version of Mail For Exchange on your Nokia E71.

Do you use Mail For Exchange for your corporate email?

Sync Your E71 Calender & Contacts With Ovi's New Web Based Service

homescreen - Share on Ovi

I'm extremely excited to tell you guys that Nokia's Ovi service has finally been expanded beyond Share On Ovi (Photos). This service has been available for about a month now, but Ovi has sent out an email today to make everything official. You can now sync your Nokia E71's Calendar entries and Contacts with Ovi Sync and view and modify your information from any computer with a internet connection.

Sync Your E71 Calendar

I'm really liking the look of the web-based calendar. Ovi has done a great job of making it useable and easy to manage. I can add or delete entries, modify meetings or tasks, and add details. It's going to be so much easier to work with a real online to-do list and make sure that it properly syncs with my E71. I really think it rivals Google Calendar's functionality especially since it's so easy to use. It's almost completely eliminated my need for Google Calendar. You really need to try it yourself to understand how good it works. Check out the screenshot below.

calendar - Share on Ovi

Sync Your E71 Contacts

Also new is the Ovi Contacts service. Here you can add, delete, modify all your E71contacts as well as create groups and modify those. It's ten times easier to do this on a real computer instead of spending time inputting contact details from your phone. I don't have a screenshot to provide because I don't feel like blanking out all my contact details.

You can also show your Flickr friend's photo streams on your Ovi dashboard. This is great to keep track of your buddies or family who refuse to transfer from Flickr to Ovi.

The Bad?

The only downfall right now is you have to sync manually. It would be awesome if you can schedule a sync but I'm sure this functionality will be here in the near future. Other than that I haven't seen anything that I don't like so far.

More Screenshots

Rafe from All About Symbian has put up a more detailed review of the new Ovi service. Click here to check it out.

See An Intro Video & Try It Out
Go to www.ovi.com right now and sign up for an account. If you already have a Nokia Account you must use this to login. If you've used Nokia Email beta or Files On Ovi then use that login. It's not the same as your Share On Ovi login, but they will be combining the two in the near future. Once your all signed up you will get a text message that will setup your E71 so that everything can sync.

Have any of you already tried this out? If not, let me know how you like it. Since I'm running on Linux Ubuntu instead of Windows (which I have to talk about again), this new Ovi service has really made life much easier without PC Suite. What are your thoughts?

I'll be doing an article soon comparing Ovi Calendar to Google Maps. Should be interesting indeed.

E71 Battery Tips: Get The Most Out Of Your Day

The Nokia E71 has one of the strongest batteries of all high end Nokia devices. The 1500mah battery should last you all day - plus more - even with push email on and the music player running for hours. But sometimes you just use the living crap out of your mp3 playing, email downloading, picture taking, web browsing, message sending, dictionary checking, map navigating, - cell phone. And I'm sure I left out a ton of uses that many of you put your beloved E71 through.

Using these simple tips, you can get the most out of your E71 battery. I'm sure many of you already know these steps, but sometimes it's nice to get a little reminder.

1. Set your Network Mode to GSM Mode when not using 3g.
When your running low on battery life, or you don't get a 3g connection in your area, improve your battery life by changing your network mode to GSM only. 3g is best for internet use and is the best way to go for voice as well, but GSM ain't that bad for voice. If I'm not planning on using the internet and I'm running low on battery, I'd shut 3g off. This will stop your phone from searching constantly for a 3g signal that might not even exist in your area or be spotty.

2. Change Your Screen Display Settings.
These Nokia handsets already have bright and beautiful screens. There's no need to keep the light set to the brightest possible setting when your trying to be battery consious. That will drain your battery fast! Then again, I don't like my screen dim and dull either. I set mine to the setting right below the highest. It keeps the screen bright and sharp, and does a lot to save on battery life.

Also, set your light time-out to something lower like 30 seconds. You'd be surprised at how much an extra 20 seconds at a time can drain your battery. Say you touch your phone 200 times throughout the day. Thats an extra 40 minutes your backlight is on if you keep at 60 seconds, as apposed to 40 seconds.

And when your on that very last bar, just suck it up and turn your brightness all the way down. It should add a good deal of time to the small amound of life you have left.

3. Don't Leave Applications Running When Unused.
Keeping applications open in the background when your not using them can be costly to your battery. A lot of times, new S60 owners don't know that if you don't properly close out of the application, it will just get minimized to the background. Hold down the Home/Menu button for 3 seconds to pull up your task manager.

4. Turn Off WLAN Scanning if your not using it.
If you don't turn this off, your phone will always be searching for a hotspot and waste battery life. It's just not necessary unless your near a known hotspot browsing the web.

5. Don't use your bluetooth headset if you absolutely don't have to.
Alot of people use bluetooth constantly, but this will really get your battery working. After the work day is over and you end up hitting the bars, leave your bluetooth in the car and do your best to conserve your E71 battery. It really sucks when you don't have a car charger.

Are you happy with your E71 battery? What does your battery life look like? Are there any other tips that you guys and gals use to save battery life on your E71? I'm all ears to learning new tricks so I don't get caught offline.

Exciting Announcement: I Got A New Job As A Point Of Contact For Symbian S60 Ambassadors


If you haven't already heard, I'm so happy to tell all of you that today is my first day at a new job. There was a position posted at the S60 Ambassadors site a few months back, I decided to go for it and this is where I'm at today. I'm now an external contractor for Nokia and work on the S60 Marketing Team. I will be the one of the main points of contact for everyone who signs up for the S60 Ambassadors Program.

What Is S60 Ambassadors?

If you haven't already signed up, S60 Ambassadors is a program that anyone can join. Basically you go out and show friends, family, co-workers, etc. your awesome device and the cool things it can do, then report back to the S60 Ambassador site that persons feedback and your experience. Depending on the rules of the campaign you entered, there are certain rewards for being a S60 Ambassador and contributing your reports. Click here to learn more about Ambassadors.

This is where my job comes in. I, along with a few others on my team, will be reading and moderating those reports and interacting with the Ambassadors. I can't explain to you how excited I am to start my job. There are some great campaigns coming up for S60 Ambassadors so go get signed up and become an Ambassador.

What Does Mike's New Job Mean For This Blog?

Not much. I will still have time to write articles and keep you all up to date with the ongoings of the Nokia community and everything about the Nokia E71.

Keep checking back for some upcoming new articles about a few applications I've been meaning to show you guys and even more tips for the Nokia E71.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Last.fm & The E71 = Bliss, Thanks To A 3rd Party Application Called Mobbler

Dexter from E71 Blog has just posted a great rundown of how to get last.fm on your Nokia E71. Last.fm is a great music streaming website that lets you pick what type of music you want to hear then it delivers the tracks.

I've been using Mobbler on my E71 for a few weeks now and so far it works pretty good. You can leave this application running for hours and not have to worry about the battery, since of course the E71 has remarkable battery life. On my N82 the phone would die after like 2 hours. I've left Mobbler running on my E71 for 5 hours the other day and only lost a few bars.

For a review about Mobbler click here and read Dexter's article (with screenshots).

Click here to download Mobbler for your E71 and start streaming your Last.fm music.

Have any of you already tried this application? Let me know your thoughts on it.

I Found Some E71 Themes That Are Meant For.... The Nokia E71

Since the E71 is so new and features slightly different icons and UI's compared to older S60 devices, it's been hard to find themes that are created with the Nokia E71 in mind, but after much searching I have found a few that are near perfect.

Theme maker Gabb makes themes for his E71 and recently came out with a few that I actually like alot. He has the most complete set of custom icons I've seen for the E71.

Check out the screenshots...





You might notice a few things are still missing however in these custom themes. Nokia really made it hard for theme makers to get it right on the E71.

Click here
to view and download these free E71 themes.


Who is your favorite theme maker for the E71?

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