Nokia seems to be working on the overall experience when it comes to software updates. The first fruits from their efforts come from the way the N82 retains user data, settings and applications after a firmware update or firmware reinstall. However it seems that NSU is behaving differently when it specifically comes to firmware reinstalls (reinstalling a firmware that’s already installed on the device.) I noticed the other day when I did a firmware reinstall on the Nokia N82 that the downloading part went noticeably fast: I have a 2Mbit connection at home, but that’s not enough to download 70-100MB files in seconds, which leads me to believe that NSU now caches the last downloaded firmware update just in case you decide to reinstall it. In a previous post here, I remember specifically asking for this as back than when you would reinstall a firmware it would download the data all over again. With fast connections it’s not a problem but I know quite a lot of people that still have a 56K connection and I know the horror of downloading 100MB over a 56k connection. (Believe me I’ve been there.) Caching the data is a smart and efficient. I applaud Nokia for retaining user data when it comes to N82 and the fact that it seems that now the firmware is cached, but we are far from the ideal as I believe that retaining the data after a firmware update should be made available to more devices, at least starting from the N95 classic and onwards. I would also like to see is the option of wiping or retaining user data and applications. Why? In some cases I would like to completely wipe the phone from my personal data, when for example I sell a device or when I would like to start from scratch. Currently there’s no way to wipe my N82 from all my data by doing a firmware reinstall or firmware update. In this case I was forced to use the good ol’ hard reset by pressing “3”+ “green dial button”+ “*” when the phone is starting. And lastly, the one that has been asked for as long as I can remember: Change logs!!! What’s wrong with putting the change log in NSU  so that you can see what has changed in the firmware that you’re about to install? Right now you have to go here to see what has changed. My big problem is that the info given here is very basic. I know that for some users this is enough, but some of us actually would like to get a detailed log of what has changed. Btw Nokia, with detailed I mean something like this. What better place to put it than in NSU? What are changes would you like to see in the process of updating your firmware?

I’m going to say it up front: my expectations were high, very high to be honest when it came to Vegas and again I have never ever been there before. How was this Vegas I’ve been hearing so much about? My idea of what Vegas is had been mostly shaped by what I’ve heard, TV and movies. I’ve heard and seen images of glitz, glamour, amazing lights, incredible shows, giant casino hotels, parties and wild stories of people gambling their salaries and pension money to pennies. From what I’ve seen and experienced Vegas does live up to its reputation, but there a few catches here and there. This post is about my experience in Vegas. Did it live up to my expectations?

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I’ve been using the Nokia N82 with the sports tracker combination for about 11 days now, each and every day in locations that were pretty much unknown to me. I would say the perfect setting to see how the two would fair. It was actually fellow Urbanista Diarist Ryan Gallagher’s post that inspired me to add my own thoughts on the subject. I can confirm Ryan’s findings and would like to build on it by adding my own results and opinion. Ryan pretty much describes the idea behind the Urbanista Diaries and Nokia’s Sports Tracker:” The basic idea behind this journey is that we constantly log our positions via a Nokia service and S60 application called Sports Tracker, which in theory anyway, allows you also to shoot geotagged photos and have them automatically associated to your path when you push it to the web service. For the Urbanista Diaries however they are re-purposing the SportsTracker back-end and pitching this idea of location specific way to share and tell stories.” The combination of Sports Tracker with  the N82 it’s a powerful tool, but as Ryan puts it, the system has a few kinks here and there. Pictures taken during the use of Sports Tracker are supposed to be geotagged and uploaded to the web service, but as Ryan found out this doesn’t happen when: 1) You Pause the Sports Tracker and 2) when there’s no GPS signal. He also speculates that images taken with no GPS signal acquire the last known GPS tag, basically creating two images with the dame tag, confusing the onlineservice. Personally I don’t believe this last possibility. Based on my usage here are things that I think could be improved:

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Fort Worth

I arrived today in Vegas (more on Vegas in a later post) and had a great time in Texas. I expected Texas to be a bit chilly, but not as cold as it was. Asking around the locals tell me it’s pretty normal that the temperature goes below freezing around this time of year. I was hoping that as I head on south I would get the much warmer temperatures, alas even here in Vegas that isn’t the case. Even looking at the mainly dry landscape in Texas the cold temperatures just look so out of place here. Arriving here you definitely feel that you’re in the South: the big trucks and pickups, the typical (and might I add delicious southern) cooking, the cowboy hats and the southern accent. All of this adds to the warm, inviting and traditional southern feel.  My friend Ricky from the Symbian-Guru was kind enough to show me around the Fort Worth area so I could kind of get a feel of what Texas is all about.

We started the day off with a little tour of downtown Fort Worth and what struck me in this part of town and in fact in the entire Fort Worth area was the lack of people walking. It seems everybody here loves their cars and trucks and this seems to be the transportation mode of choice. In cities like Amsterdam or Manhattan people actually do quite a lot of walking and suddenly coming in a relatively big city like Fort Worth with almost nobody walking on the sidewalks is a bit different. The city does have a few skyscrapers, but these aren’t as tall or as numerous as in Manhattan. The city can best be described as a contrast between old and new. We parked in this big parking garage just filled with cars, but where were all the people?  The little downtown tour also included the Water Garden, a great little treasure hidden in downtown Fort Worth. If I was driving around here I would have actually missed this as the gardens are kinda hidden. I’m sure that unless you know about the Gardens, you’d probably pass them by several times without ever noticing them.

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The N95 8GB is currently the only mobile device to receive Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) certification. Originally founded by Sony and Intel , the current DLNA organization consists of eight Board companies like Nokia, Microsoft, HP, Samsung and Sony. A few of the requirements to obtain DLNA-certification include UpnP and Wifi, both standard features on the N95 8GB. But then again didn’t even the original N95 support these? I’m confused. Here’s the press release:

Nokia today announced that the Nokia N95 8GB had the distinction of being the first ever mobile phone to receive Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) certification. The DLNA is a body advocating the interoperability of wired and wireless consumer devices. For the consumer, this accolade translates into convenient and intuitive connectivity between your DLNA Certified home electronics devices, personal computers, and your Nokia N95 8GB.

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Hey guy, Devin here and one warm greeting from Texas! I arrived yesterday in the Fort Worth Area and plan to visit several places that I have been recommended, including the Water Gardens, Botanical Gardens and the Fort Worth Stock Yards. I’ve been hearing from several people of a pretty cool Zoo that’s supposed to be just around the corner, so I’ll guess I’ll also check that out. Our very own Symbian-Guru, Ricky also suggested the Colonial Village and a killer Pancake place in the area. Besides those attractions I’ll probably explore downtown Fort Worth in general and if there’s time I might even catch a train to Dallas. The thing I’m really looking forward to is visiting Billy Bob’s Texas: world’s largest Honky Tonk! If you plan on being in the area just let me know and we can organize a meet up. Do you know any cool places in the Fort Worth area that you think is worth checking out, let me know.

After being a few days in bustling Manhattan, D.C. turned out to be quite different from the Big Apple, although I kind of expected that. I arrived today (for the first time) and from the moment I stepped into the Ronald Reagan National Airport I noticed that everybody was moving at a much slower and relaxed pace. I’m not sure if you guys noticed, but in many cases the airport tells you a lot about the city. In my experience if an airport is all crowded where you are always bumping into others or being bumped into, that’s exactly how the city is going to be, sans the luggage of course. The D.C area is a lot less crowded when compared to NY, people are walking a lot slower and there’s actually room to walk : ) As a pedestrian I liked the fact that in the D.C area the traffic lights show you how much time you have left to cross the street, something that we don’t have in my country and something that I don’t remember seeing in NY. With cabs that almost try to run you over, even when it’s your turn to cross the street, NY sure could use a few of these. Last night when I went out for sightseeing, it didn’t seem like it but I had actually walked about 10km with the last 2 being covered by the cab ride.

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“Once upon a time 4 travelers began a global quest. They beat a path through our urban jungle to seek out the untold stories; they captured time only to release them back into the world. And they lay out a trail so that we cannot lose them”

The much anticipated Nseries Urbanista site has finally gone live! The site can now be accessed 24/7 as you follow the Urbanistas across the globe discovering untold stories. To celebrate the event especially created Widgets were created to help you track the Urbanistas by putting the Urbanista Diaries Widget on your site or blog. The Widget can be downloaded right here. If you want you can also alternatively follow the entire trip online in full-size mode. There’s also a specially created download section where you can download the Urbanista Screen Saver and the Nokia Sports Tracker app, which of course is the real magic behind the Urbanista Diaries. And to top it all off, starting January the 18^th you’ll be able to seek and create your own stories as you’ll be able to win your very own N82! More details about the competition can be found here.

I would also like to remind you guys that you can also be part of the Urbanista journey.  If you are in the area I would be glad to meet up with you guys.

GPS

So far so good. I’ve been in Manhattan for about two days now and it’s actually my first time here. I’ve been here when I was little, but I guess that doesn’t count.  Normally I’m accustomed to the tropical, lazy Caribbean days, so spending a few days in Manhattan is definitely a change on my daily routine and should be the perfect setting to put the N82 through its paces. It’s one thing to use such a feature packed device in well-known surroundings, but it’s a totally different story when rushing from busy airports to crowded streets with luggage and all. When I first heard about the Urbanista Diaries I knew this would be the ultimate real world vacation test for the latest Nseries device, the N82: No reading of manuals, no time to ask questions in mobile forums, no tech support, the thing just needs to work and perform the tasks quick enough, otherwise, well I would probably get lost and would have to use my last resort: ask for directions . Armed with the N82, the Nokia SU-8W Bluetooth keyboard and the Nokia BH-803 I headed off to New York. One of the features I used the most was probably the Nokia Maps with the built-in GPS. Before I got here I thought: It’s the US right and hey it’s GPS so no problem getting a signal right? Well, for the most part that was the case. You see, to get a good strong signal, GPS receivers have to have a good, mostly unobstructed access to the skies above and that’s where the problems could start. Honestly the N82 proved to be a lot more sensitive when it comes to GPS signals than what I originally thought and was quickly able to get signals even in buildings, moving cars and airplanes. I guess Nokia learned their lesson here by placing the receiver on the top part of the handset instead on of the lower part underneath the keyboard like on the N95 8GB, N95 classic and US N95. In the places I managed to get a GPS signal with the N82, I’m pretty sure that would not have been the case with the N95.

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Now that the latest N95 8GB firmware has added Flash Lite 3, making full use of Flash content, it sure would be nice if could now get full Java support in the S60 browser. There’s a lot of content out there in Java that just cannot be accessed via the mobile browser. Take for example this National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) GOES Satellite page here. On the Desktop it works just fine, but on a device like the N95 8GB it just doesn’t work as will ask you to install a Java plugin. Can we get Java on the mobile browser? Can we also get Flash Lite 3 on the other handsets ASAP?!