As you know, Nokia’s Lumia line has a few customization on top of the standard Windows Phone package such as Nokia Drive and Music. After using the Lumia 800 for some time now, here are a few features Nokia (and Microsoft) should include as updates.

1.Screen Capture Tool: Among the various Nokia devices I have, I also use Android. One of those is the Galaxy Note. The Note has a handy screen capture feature that makes it easy to simply capture what’s on screen and share it with others. Even in the old Symbian days it was also a matter of quickly installing an app and you’d be ready to capture what’s on screen. Ask any mobile enthusiasts and they tell you that a screen capture tool is one of the first app they install. Currently there is no app and no other way of doing this other than having a developer unlocked Windows Phone. I really don’t think it should be that difficult for such a simple tool and definitely it shouldn’t require unlocking your phone. It’s not only handy for reviewers and bloggers, but also for the regular Windows Phone users that needs a quick reminder or simply share something they saw while browsing. If there was one feature Windows Phone needed, this would be it.

2.Pedestrian turn-by-turn voice-guided navigation: One of the ways Nokia differentiates from other Windows Phone devices is Nokia drive. Nokia Maps and Drive are probably one of the best mapping/navigation apps in the business, but it doesn’t have pedestrian turn-by-turn voice-guided navigation. This is one feature that Nokia Map/Drive’s biggest lack, while their biggest competitor, Google Maps, does include this feature. Nokia Maps does include pedestrian directions, but sometimes it sure is handy to have turn-by-turn navigation, especially when on vacation.

3.Sort Apps by Grids/Pages: Windows Phone currently uses a list-view for the app drawer. Nothing wrong with this, but I do wish there was a way to view apps in grids or pages. Many of us that for many years have used Symbian devices are accustomed to the old page view, so getting used to this list view can be a bit difficult. It also seems to me that with list view, there’s a lot of unnecessary scrolling while with a page view, you can see many icon in one single view. Don’t get me wrong, I still would like to see the current list view, but the more options, the better.

4.WiFi tethering: Nokia is aware that people want WiFi tethering and they are working on it. But there is no word when this will be available for the Lumia 800. I’m mentioning this in the case you’re planning on getting the Lumia right now, you’d still need to wait a while before you can get this feature.  Nokia need to have this feature out asap as I know many consider this a very important feature. I wonder why this is taking so long. At least we have confirmation that it is coming.

5.Manually kill apps in multitasking window:

Based on my Tip-of-the-day, by now you should know that the “back” activates multi-tasking and fully closes an app. When activating multitasking you can select the apps, but there’s no way to actually close them from this view. To do this you’ll need to go back into the app, press the back button once and then holding the back button to go back to multitasking. Why not swipe an app out to close it or add Windows-inspired close button to manually kill the app?

At $600, the Audéo PFE 232 sits squarely in the middle of triple driver In-Ear-monitor (IEM) territory, yet “only” offers dual-balanced armature drivers. At first I was scratching my head when I checked the MSRP and noticed that it offered 2 drivers  on each side, which is less than similarly priced IEM. The decision to go with 2 drivers didn’t happen by accident, of course. The idea apparently was to: “emit the clearest sound quality without requiring additional drivers,” basically giving the performance of triple or quad units, without going beyond 2. And while the 232 does include some unique extras, can its performance sway you away from the competition? Are 3 drivers really better than 2?

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A few days ago, Stefan Pannenbecker, Vice President Industrial Design at Nokia was a guest here in the Netherlands giving a behind the scenes look at how the Lumia 800 was created. Interestingly the story begins way back around November 2009, which should give the user an idea as to how long it can actually take for a mobile device to go from idea to ready-to-ship.

He details how the lead designer for both the N9 and Lumia 800, Anton Fahlgren showed an early model of what was to become the N9 during their monthly “Creative Review,” basically a monthly meeting that oversees all current projects that are going on. Axel Meyer, known for the N97design, was also part of the team.

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One of the most best looking apps I remember using on the N900 was Toshl. Not bad either that it was a personal expense tracker that helped you track your expenses, analyze how it’s being spend and hopefully save money. I also like the fact that it has an online component that allows you to analyze your data on a much bigger screen. They’re also offering a pro account that adds some extra features like exporting to PDF, Excel and Google Doc or having the ability to have more than one budget.

The good news is that the app is now available for the N9 (and Windows Phone) and really does justice to the hardware and UI design of these new Nokia devices. Overall it’s not only useful, but an example for how the design of an app should be done. More info about the new N9 app can be found right here. You can get the app for Windows Phone by going here.

An interesting post at the Spillway(brain) blog details why you should choose Windows (Phone), instead of Android or iOS. Basically Android and iOS are compared to rooms with doors and in the case of Android you can cover the walls with widgets. But in all cases the doors need to be opened to access the majority of the information. Windows Phone has a very different Philosophy on how you interact with your information: “Now, with Windows Phone, the curtains roll up. Each live tile is a window, not just into the phone, but into the big wide world” and “I want to see something open when I look at my technology—not just a bunch of closed doors.” That’s why according to the writer, Windows Phone has better way of doing things.

I tend to agree with this, the tiles are indeed a more elegant way of interacting with data, but are they really that much different from Android widgets? Do you agree that the Metro UI’s tile system is better than the current paradigm used on iOS? Is it really that much different and or better than the Widgets on Android?

Perhaps a new trend hitting the mobile industry? Mobile companies with audio companies? Recently HTC partnered with Beats audio, now it’s Nokia’s turn, co-designing and co-developing a new line of headsets/headphones with Monster. The result? The Nokia Purity HD Stereo Headset by Monster and the in-ear Nokia Purity Stereo Headset by Monster. Nokia does have a history with high performance audio accessories like the BH-505, BH-905, BH-905i, BH-214 and recently the Essence, so it should be interesting whether they will continue with this BH line or push higher performing devices towards the Purity line. There’s also dedicated site for the new line at www.puritybymonster.com.

Ironically a quick look at the Monster website, shows Beats headphones, but  none of the Purity headphones.

One thing is for sure, the Purity line matches the Lumia design and they look extremely good. Judging by Nokia’s previous audio products and Monster background they should sound good too, but I’ll leave that to a future review to decide just how good. What I  like is the fact that these use tangle-resistant cables, similar to what Beats has been doing and the cables are replaceable. And lastly these seem to be a rare breed of performance head/earphones that are specifically designed for mobile with some specific Nokia/Windows Phone integration as you can see below:

Mark your calendar for tomorrow Tuesday the 2nd of December and Wednesday the 3rd and be sure to bookmark the Nokia World event website, as things will get very interesting! Here you’ll get the chance to send questions to the Nokia team on the Nokia Events site after the key announcement. Questions will be answered in two sessions (the first at 0930 GMT, the second at 1700 GMT), right here. I don’t have any idea what we will see this week, but the word I received is that Nokia is “set to make some pretty cool announcements.”

According to Scoble this might be Nokia’s “Touchiest week.” Interestingly he adds:

“When we got here a Nokia executive met me and bragged that the Internet has no clue what they will announce this week. I asked “what about the touch screen cell phone that I’ve seen rumors about?” He said that no one had gotten it right yet. The announcements are on Wednesday morning (it’s early Monday morning as I post this) so we’ll have to wait to see what they announce. He told me this is one of the only times he can remember when a big announcement has not leaked. He said that even internally only a handful of people have seen the new device they’ll be announcing on Wednesday. Does that tactic sound familiar? It should, and is only one of the reasons why this is Nokia’s touchiest week.”

This indeed one of the very few times I haven’t seen any leaked images, BEFORE an event like this? Will we see a device to equal the N95′s success? With the competition heating up, this week will be a crucial one for Nokia.

What do you think we will see this week? A new device or devices or services, or how about both?

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!

Back in april when Nokia launched the N810 WIMAX edition they also promised an updated version Internet Tablet operating system 2008 in the form of the OS2008 Feature Upgrade, also known as Diablo. The upgraded OS2008 introduced several useful new features to the platform, including an enhanced e-mail client, support for Chinese character rendering in the browser and RSS feeds. But one of the more important upgrades was the”Seamless Software Update” functionality to eliminate manual software updates.

With my N800 connected to the Wi-Fi connection, I got a strange orange icon ( with exclamation mark)in the Status bar. Upon clicking this icon you are notified that there’s a “New Software update availble.” Here it shows  wheather it’s a Nokia software, Third party software or Operating system update. In this case it was an update for the Nokia software. You click to install via Application manager and it will show you that there’s  “OS2008 Feature Upgrade” that have to do with “Updates to Email and Browser stability. The file itself is about 14MB and brings to OS2008 Feature Upgrade to version 4.2008.30.2. Once you do proceed with the update you are asked to an optional backup.

It first dowbnloads the update and then restarts, where the screen actually stays dimly lit and the notification light blinks several times and voila, no more updates via the PC!

For those of you waiting for the N78, it seems that wait might soon be over as the N78 support page is now up on the Nokia Europe site. If you’ve followed previous Nseries devices before, you’d know that the support page going up usually means that the product should become available in about 2 to 3 weeks. In the mean head on over to the N78 support page where you’ll find demo’s, tips & tricks, software etc.