Ever since I saw the N82 TV Commercial I thought it was one of the nicest and poetic ads I’ve seen in a while. It truly beats everything I have seen before from a stylistic point-of-view, so if you haven’t seen it yet, it can be found here. Apparently it comes from Lowe Worldwide, Singapore and was directed by Mark Molloy of Exit Films, Melbourne.

Not sure about the name but I think it’s called “Fairytale”. But what I’ve been really wondering about is the interesting tune playing in the background and who the artist could be. Sometimes I see these great commercial with a great track playing in the background, but it really is very difficult to find who made it in the case you wanted to get hold of the tack. In this case I did a little searching and found it by chance. This one is called “The Water Jet Cilice” from Fingerlings 3 EP by Andrew Bird. Great little track, well worth the purchase or download. Just in case you were wondering about that…

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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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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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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As you guys already know, Jose Montano “Jose_R.A.M” (www.mynokiablog.com), Jenifer Hanen “Ms Jen” (www.blackphoebe.com), Ryan Gallagher (www.cameratoss.blogspot.com) and me, Devin Balentina (www.thenokiaguide.com)will take part in the Nseries Urbanista Diaries. The Nokia sponsored Nseries Urbanista Diaries is a blogger global relay race where one blogger is dropped off somewhere in the world where he or she encounters challenges along the way and will then have to use the Nokia N82 to document and share the experience as well as using it as a tool to find his or her way to the next blogger who will continue the journey. The cool thing about this is that it’s going to be entirely interactive in the sense that you guys will be able to follow the 4 bloggers along the trip as we document the journey in images and text. We will keep you posted about the route and where we are located at the moment, this will allow you to suggest things to do, activities to attend and in some cases even meet up with some of you who are in the area! This will be an opportunity to showcase the N82 as a Global Traveler’s tool (to find your way around as I never been to some of these places), but as a way to share the sights and sounds, not just when we get back, but actually during the trip.

Now we need your help! I will be posting the routes below that each blogger will have to take and you guys can suggest things to do, activities to attend and in some cases even meet up with some of us. Have you been on vacation in the area or know one of these places pretty well, in that case it would be great if you guys can suggest things for us to do.

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