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The Nokia CP-321 is the official Nokia case for the N900 and is  a good example of a typical, contemporary Nokia case: no belt clip, device is held horizontally, high quality, simple design, cloth Nokia label and fairly high price. In fact, describing the N900’s CP-321 case is like describing the N97’s CP-323 (which we reviewed here). Other than the somewhat different dimensions, governed by the devices they were made for, the two look almost identical, but there are two obvious differences.

The CP-321 is made of leather, while the CP-323 uses a cloth material. This gives the N97+ CP-323 combo a very casual laid back look, while the CP-321+ N900 feels a bit more upscale and  has a very uniform look. Another difference is that the CP-321 is available in Black or White instead of the Black or Grey for the N97 case. What seems a bit strange  is that Nokia offers the CP-321 in two colors: Black or White. This makes sense for the N97 as it’s being offered in two colors. But what’s odd is that the same is being done for the N900, a device that’s  currently only being sold in Black. As far as we know there’s no White N900 in the works.

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The winners of our The Nokia Guide and Dataviz contest were actually chosen by the Product Manager of Documents To Go for Maemo! After much deliberation and to be as fair as possible, they narrowed it down to the top 15 comments they thought were the best and chose at random from that group.

I have to say that we got some great and creative suggestions that are actually being evaluated and that could make it into the next Documents To Go update. The Product Manager of Documents To Go for Maemo had sa:

“You guys are fantastic, thanks so much to everyone who commented! Your feedback is the most important piece for us when it comes to developing a feature set. Rest assured that many of the features you’ve mentioned (PDF, Google Docs integration, swirl zoom, localization, ODF support, etc) are being evaluated by our developers as we speak. Others (like MS Project/Visio support) I hadn’t even really thought of! I can assure you we’ll look into them for the future.

As we need to balance the addition of features with the timeliness of getting a product in your hands, I can’t make any guarantees as far as what will or won’t be in future releases, but please keep the feedback coming.  We want to make Documents To Go as user friendly and feature rich as we can, and that all starts with your feedback.  Thanks again to The Nokia Guide and its readers for all of your excellent comments. Stay tuned for updates!”

The Winners are:

1.lichmd

2.Zok

3.Master of Gizmo

4.Andrew Flegg

5.christexaport

Congratulants to our 5 winners on the license key for the  Nokia N900 Documents To Go Viewer Edition courtesy of Dataviz. We would also like to thank all who entered the contest, keep reading The Nokia Guide as we’ll have more details on upcoming releases and updates for Documents To Go for Maemo. We also have some great contests planned.

The emails of our 5 winners have been send to the Product Manager, who will get in touch very soon with your free license!

Our friends at WOM World/Nokia have invited us to the OVI Daily App “Must Have App of the Year” virtual awards 2009. This award celebrates the best mobile applications of the year and invites us to vote for the best apps. The final winners will be announced live on January 6th, 2010 at Ovi Daily App.

All I can say right now is Gravity and more Gravity! Shazam is also another noteworthy app and TuneWiki for Maemo is also very impressive. What’s your app(s) of the year?

THE NOMINEES ARE…

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There are two emulators for the N900, specifically DrNokSnes (SNES) and iNES (NES). To download these two apps you need to add a new Catalog.

1.Go to Application Manager and go into options and choose Application catalogs.

2.Choose New and fill in the following info:

Catalog name: Maemo Nintendo Emulators
Web address: http://b-man.xceleo.org/repo/maemo-nintendo-emulators/
Distribution: fremantle
Components: main

3.Save the catalog, update and now these two applications should appear.

4. We can’t give you the ROMS but if you look around the web you should be able to find tons of NES and SNES ROMS.

Works amazingly well on the N900, with good audio and fast frame rates. When multi-tasking the N900 was even able to keep a live preview going of the game that I forgot to pause.

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We’ve known for a while that the N900 is supposed to receive a firmware update before the year ends, bringing the much request portrait mode.

Now we have confirmation that the N97 will also be getting an update before the year ends, specifically “mid-late December 2009.” No word yet on what it will bring, but at least now we know it’s coming.

In terms of firmware updates, the period between the current and upcoming updates is considered very short, clearly illustrating that a short period between updates is a sign of how important a device is to Nokia.

Via: N97fanatics

Not feeling the Nokia CP-390 for your N97 mini? Here’s an alternative from Proporta as they just released their famous Aluminium Lined Leather Case for the Nokia N97 Mini. Typical of their “Alu” leather cases, the N97 mini version has their Screen Saver System, which features a sheet of aircraft grade aluminium to guard the device against shocks and impact damage. Real leather? Check. Cut outs for access to device and can be used whilst in the case? Check.

It looks good with the overstitching, cream pinstripe lining and digging that cloth label on the side. Should give those N97 mini RAOUL Limited Edition owners a run for their money at $ 42.95.

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There’s been some talk lately about the N900 and external battery packs and it’s compatibility with these devices. It seems that some external batteries packs simply won’t work with the N900. Some users reported that the Nokia DC-11 for example didn’t want to work. A reader reported that the N900 failed to charge with the Zaggsparq, but Proporta’s line of mobile chargers seems to be doing just fine. There’s even reports that some N900 won’t charge with car chargers.

From my experience I can tell that the N900 works fine with all the Proporta chargers, but the Nokia DC-11 is a bit more tricky. It seems to charge, but you need to power it on first and than connect it to the N900, otherwise it won’t work. The N900 also doesn’t seem to want charge from the DC-11 once it’s totally empty. I’ve also got the Zaggsparq coming in for review so I’ll report about that once we get our hands on it.

If you want some extra power, your best bet is simply to use a spare Nokia BL-5J battery. In the case you do want to use external power, make sure to:

-Connect the car charger or charger to the power outlet and than connect it to the N900

-Turn external battery packs on and than connect it to the N900. In the case of the Nokia DC-11 press the power button before connecting to the N900. Also try to recharge the N900 with the DC-11 before it’s completely empty as their seems to be an issue when the N900 is completely empty.

What has been your experience with external battery packs, car chargers and other non-traditional ways of charging the N900? What works and what simply doesn’t? Share your experience with us.

With its Tablet and Meamo roots, the N900 is closely related to the N810 and N800, both of which had a much larger 4.1” display. The N900 in contrast has a 3.5” display.

Considering its more powerful hardware and capable browser, I feel like the screen should be bigger. A 3.5”” is certainly big enough by smartphone standards, but is it enough for the N900? One thing to consider is that the N900 is now also a phone. At what point is the screen too large to comfortably be used  as a phone?

I think a browser-centric device such as the N900 should have at least a 4” display, as comfortable browsing for longer periods of time is only achievable on a much bigger display. While smartphone that are app-centric should go as high as 3.8”. What do you think? Should the N900’s screen be any bigger?

We’ve teamed up with our friends at Dataviz, the makers of Documents To Go Viewer Edition for the Maemo 5-powered Nokia N900 to bring you this contest for a chance to win a handy tool for the N900. Up for grabs are 5  license keys for the  Nokia N900 Documents To Go Viewer Edition, number 9 on our list of our Ultimate Accessories for the Nokia N900.

How to enter? Simply leave a comment telling us and Dataviz what features YOU would like to see in Documents to go for Maemo on the N900. Be creative, as your suggestions just might make it in the next version of Documents to go for Maemo. Remember to include your email as we will be getting in contact with you for your free license key.

If you haven’t had a chance to try Documents To Go Viewer Edition for, you can try for free for 30 days.

The contest ends at Midnight  on the 22nd of December and the winners will be announced on the 23rd. Be creative and Good luck!

Update: We have announced the winners here.

The evolution of the Proporta Mobile Charger

Before we dive in to this review of Proporta’s latest offering, the USB TurboCharger 3400 World Pack, I feel that a bit of history is in order.

It all started with a little White mobile charger called the USB Mobile Device Charger…

With its 3400 mAH of storage it could recharge several mobile devices or just one devices several times. We loved its durable design, auto shut down feature and simple design. Sure, it could be mistaken for an iPod, but it worked amazingly well. Deep down inside we wished it was Black and that single LED wasn’t very informative when it came to the amount of power left. (Reviewed here.)

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