With some very high temperatures, being a Ninja in the tropics isn’t easy and despite having some of Ninja wear for the Fall season being left behind in the far country overseas where all injas come from, a Ninja is still a Ninja! Having mastered the art of the mythical Nseries for years, it’s time to step up to the challenge!

During this trial period, this Ninja will have to prove himself by completing the weekly challenge. All is not lost as I will have the trusty N96 by my side. If completed in a suitably intriguing way, then I’ll be able to win five extended N96 trials for some of you, potential Ninjas! My faith is in my trusty
weapon, the N96.

As you can see my fellow Ninjas have started already started, including Ninja Mark, Ninja Dotsisx and Ninja Norman. I will follow in their footsteps as some have already finished their first task. If I don’t come back alive, all is not lost as all critical data will be uploaded to OVI Sync. Wish me good luck!

Nokia’s wannabe flagship device, the N85, is set to launch tomorrow in the UK (Friday, October the 31st), where it will available on all networks, well, except for  Vodafone.  Vodafone users will have to wait until the 1st December. With a feature set rivalling the flagship N96, in a smaller, refined package and truly impressive battery life, it’s something really worth getting exciting about for UK residents.

The N85 is an impressive device, probably one of the best currently available, too bad that even a lesser equipped device such as the Samsung Pixon which is set to launch soon or even the Sony Ericsson Cybershot series have already entered the 8 Megapixel race.

Sandisk has done it again! It wasn’t long ago we reached the amazing 8GB mark for storage in the tiny format called microSDHC. Now we have in fact doubled the capacity reaching an impressive 16GB  of storage on a medium no bigger than your average finger nail. The idea behind this post is try to clear misunderstandings behind the microSDHC format and see how a typical Nseries device, in this case the N82 black performs with the new 16GB cards.

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During a recent Nokia webcast, different images where shown when all of the sudden what looks like a future Communicator-type device a la E90 was shown, this time with an updated design sporting a touch screen. With the announcement of devices like the Blackberry Storm set to be released by the end of the year, from manufacturer RIM, which traditionally has shied away from touch solutions, could start an all-round touch-phone craze, even in the traditional business type devices like the Eseries and Blackberry devices. Do you think business devices should stick to the traditional QWERTY keyboard or opt for both a keyboard/touch interface?

After getting all my devices stolen, it was time to look for a new (main) device, sort of my everyday handset, the workhorse.  I had plenty to choose from. Could it be the mighty N96? How about the N85 with the impressive OLED screen?  Maybe the N82? Or just wait for the 5800 XpressMusic ? The N96 comes close to the N95 8GB I had, but adds an impressive 16GB of built-in memory and even a card slot for one of those capacious 16GB microSDHC cards, giving me a whopping 32 GB. Off course there’s also the DVB-H that I won’t be using for quite some time as you’d have to travel for thousands of miles to reach a country where it’s being used. The handset’s current price is well north of the $700 mark, making me rethink this decision. If it was going for around the $600+ range it would have stood a chance. The camera with its dual LED would be perfect for videos, but definitely worse than the N82, a device introduced back in 2007. The N85 isn’t quite available yet and while it has an impressive screen and improved battery life, microUSB charging and FP2, to me it seemed like too much of a wait for small upgrades. A solid device indeed, but I needed to buy ASAP. The same story goes for the 5800 XpressMusic, an impressive device, a breath of fresh air at an incredibly low price, but sadly it wasn’t available. My final decision, came down to an all-time favorite, in my opinion one of the best EVER from Nokia, the wolf in sheep’s clothing, the N82 Black.

Choosing the N82 was quite an easy decision: it’s available, prices are reasonable and has everything the N95 and N95 8GB have, in a compact, candy bar shaped design. No sliders to worry with, no moving parts to break. The screen is indeed smaller than what I’m used to and I do miss the media keys, but you gain what is essentially the best camera in the Nseries line. For a device that was introduced last, yet not even the lastest can match it when it comes to it’s camera and flash. I could always buy fancy point-and-shoot digital cameras or one of those pro DSLR’s, but this I could always have with me and with quality images at that. It’s also a decent music player with improved audio quality through it’s top-mounted 3.5mm audio jack (very important) instead of the side-placed one on the N95 8GB. But most importantly, like I said, it’s the wolf in sheep’s clothing. Unlike the N95 8GB and N96 that scream “look at me” and sometimes even “rob me”, the  N82 is small and looks simple and you’d never guess  all the things it does by looking at it. The ultimate wolf in (black) sheep’s clothing.

Feature wise, all of Nokia’s most advanced devices are in the Nseries/Eseries range, save for a few S60 non-Nseries/Eseries devices like 6220. The S40 line seem to be lacking in features when it comes to other devices like the Sony Ericsson C905 Cyber-Shot or soon-to be released models like the LG Renoir which is set to be released mid October. Why is it, that if I want a more features do I need to have get a smartphone. For many of us having a smartphone means flexibility to add the features that we want, but what about the consumer that wants a top-notch camera device without the need for the extra functionality and flexibility and in return gets simplicity? Devices like the LG Renoir sport impressive cameras. Is Nokia playing catch-up when it comes to S40 devices?