Category: mobile phones

the upgrade

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Life’s little pleasures….an upgrade from a 2GB microSD card to an 8GB micro SDHC – Secure Digital High Capacity memory card.

Please note the tiny card reader (about 1″ long) which will be attached to my keychain. This way, exchange of data will be much easier and faster and I can still use the “old” 2GB card as a portable memory stick. New 2GB cards currently sell for around 8,- EUR, so it doesnt really make sense to sell it again on eBay & Co.

The upgrade is just very sweet. It enables me to carry around LOTS of music (right in my phone = mp3 player) and to still keep enough free space for videos, images or even navi maps.

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And since these card are hot-swapable, you can just flip them out and put in another one if you need more memory space.

the camera story

Ok, this one is for Cgzed and Mzeecedric (CG), my DSLR-affectionados:

Some years ago, I think it was in 2000, I traded in an older Nikon F2 with a 50mm lens into a Nikon F70 – both being single-lens reflex cameras. I went for the Nikon range because a) i wanted to use some older lenses we had acquired in Japan during the 1980s and b) I’d first gone for a Canon model but didnt like its weight. There’s a much better grip on the F70 and with a decent 28-105mm lens, it wasn’t as top-heavy as the Canon.

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a Nikon F3 with an MD-4 motor-drive, some lenses, filters & bags

Needless to say that my F70 is still almost in mint condition – contrary to Cgzed or CG, I am too lazy for carrying such a huge camera around with me. I guess I’ll keep it for a very very very long time now…

Then came the digital age and my first digital camera was a Casio QV-100 I had managed to obtain for a relatively low price in 1998. Picture wise it came close to what low-budget webcams are capable of doing these days (or even worse) although it came with a CCD chip (instead of a CMOS chip). Battery consumption on this machine was horrible and just one day it went into early retirement. Although I couldnt get it back to life, I had managed to still sell it on eBay. Nice!

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Casio QV-100 with data caboools

Next cam that followed was another low budget solution: Mustek gSmart Mini – which only advantage was the limited size. And you could use it as a webcam, which was pretty cool – back then. This little cam was later on inherited to a member of my extended family.

I think the best part about these cams came when I disassembled them – similar to what this guy did.

Years passed on and nothing happened. Then, during winter 2003, digital cameras started to flood the market. Mama Xmas gave me the hint that I’d have the choice between a bigger bed and a better camera. “You decide what you want, JKE”, she said. “I’ll help you kununua a bigger bed, or you’ll save it and get a camera”. Hmm. A bigged bed? What for? My bed was already 90cm wide and 200cm long – what would I need a bigged bed for? Don’t you know that nerds often sleep alone? …Well, I ended up going for a better camera (and later on inherited a bigger bed from my bro-in-law ;-) => Sanyo Xacti J1, 3Mpx with an internal lens which provides a 2cm macro mode . Awesome!

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Sanyo Xacti J1 (not my hand)

The Sanyo J1 is still in use and I’ve often thought about buying a better point&shoot cam, maybe a 7,1*mpx “low-budget” (aka beginners) cam with some more features. Or rather go for a Nikon D40(x)? Of course, Hash will argue that the D50 is a much better deal, but then: unless you have a family and a baby buggy to carry around, there’s no way for me to carry a bulky camera around with me. PLUS: i am way too broke to seriously think about buying just another camera.

There are so many good cameras out there and so many talented photographers. Ok, maybe some of these ppl photoshop their results before uploading them to Flickr & Ipernity, but still: with todays advanced cameras, you basically only require some decent light and the right angle to take a picture. Of course it makes sense to invest into proper equipment, but if you’re as lazy & broke as I am, something like the autofocus 5mpx cam (based on a CMOS sensor) in my Nokia N95 will have to do. Also, it competes with other 3,2mpx cameraphones (N73, SE K800i) and is a real progress to what I had used before, and especially in Kenya: my Nokia 6230(i), which came with a nice & quick CMOS chip. Alas, if you need to take a quick pic without much ado, the Nokia 6230i is still the best cameraphone for that purpose. In fact, it was more fun taking snapshots with my 6230i than it is right now with the N95. But then – I am using the N95 as a real camera substitute, and not for snapshots only.

I’ve now lived with the N95 and its cam for the last 1,2,3….9 months and have taken most of my photos with this cameraphone. Why? Because it’s just around when I need it. Simple.

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…and this picture is even geotagged!

I am not such a good photographer and so I actually don’t even have to worry about better equipment (as i does NOT depend on the right equipment + i’d be happy if i could get rid of the inherited F3 equipment above which has only been kept due to sentimental reasons + the bad market situation), but my aim right now is to see what’s possible with a relatively bad camera / good cameraphone. What kind of picture quality is this cameraphone capable of?

For a start, check out this Nokia N95 user group on flickr.

*there was this discussion on the net the other day where some camera testers argued the best mpx resolution/chip size was achieved at the 5-7mpx range – can’t find the relevant link though…

black is beautiful!

…a.k.a. “things you do when you are supposed to other things”:

Here: changing the (broken) original silver/”plum” cover on your Nokia N95 into a MadeInChina-plastic cover in black.

before:
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after:
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(Pics taken with a Nokia 6230, hence the lousy image quality. Pole.)

Took me one hour. Problem is that you have to remove some parts like the loudspeaker or the flexible pcb underneath the display from the original cover and have to stick it (it’s glued!) to the new cover. Dito bottom: had to remove the GPS antenna and glue it to the new cover. You have to be a bit careful while reassembling it – especially the slider (hinge) requires some attention.

It feels a bit cheap with the new cover, sort of plastic touch to it as only the front plate is made out of aluminium, but it fits, looks better (imho) and works. I am not a big fan of the overall N95 design (i thinks it’s horrible and looks like a prototype – e.g. no seamless integration of the display) and with this new cover I think it looks a bit less chaotic.

Can you see the clear adhesive tape on the old battery cover? Well, a new battery cover (alone!) sells for the 1/3 of the price for a new complete black cover, so I was tempted to go for this complete mod. Considering that you have to remove some glued components from the original cover and make sure that you don’t destroy any gaskets, I think it may even be easier to just paint it black next time.

new phones

If these pictures are anything to go by – then I want one those new Google phones based on Android.

Now! :-)

@D: what about the E61i? (someone pls combine a 5mpx cam with a qwerty(z) keyboard & I’ll go for it…)

[youtube zdo_wEwBqXo]
Nokia’s new N96

Seriously, what I miss about the new range of Nokia & SE phones is a decent keyboard. Sure, you may also go for a touchscreen interface + keyboard as on the iPhone, but I am not yet convinced of these technologies (~ what about dust? tactile feedback? + the downsides of the iPhone e.g. non-removable battery, iTunes, etc.).
Nokia’s & SE’s new phones are said to be made for the internet and/or provide multimedia comfort (DVB-H receiver, short range FM-transmitter, audio & video playback, video recording), but when it comes to actually using them you’re really punished with an old fashioned T9 keypad. Entering longer text is a pain and makes only sense while using a foldable keyboard (video) (like Nokia’s SU-8W).

Don’t get me wrong: for consuming multimedia/inet content, these phones are just great. But interacting with others from phone to phone (except for direct bluetoothing or sms/mms) still requires another approach, I’d say. Best example: Fring! Fring is an awesome messenger service that now also offers direct file transfer. Now imagine you’re chatting with someone over Skype or ICQ and have to enter text by using a T9 keyboard only…

Well, I keep coming back to my N95 albeit its horrible design (slider, case, keypad layout) because it has a decent camera and enables me to record anything while on the go + even editing it on the phone. Now that’s something really sweet considered it’s just a phone.

who fills the gap?

Just a short longer note on something I would actually like to expand into a post for Afrigadget: mobile phone repairs.

Back in 1998 when I first started fixing my mobile phone, things were a bit simpler. Fast forward in 2008, mobile phones have become a commodity and there are at least two or three guys in most rural towns (in Kenya and elsewhere) that will know how to fix such a phone.

So why blog on it? – Because it’s the way ppl are looking for alternative solutions on how to fix an advanced mobile phone based on SMD technology that makes the story interesting.

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mobile phone repair booth in downtown Nairobi, picture taken in May 2006

In a world that has become more and more modular, where spare parts are exchangable or product life cycles reduced to a lifetime of about 2-3 years (best example: printers), not all is waste or wasted, and many things may often be repaired with simple and sometimes even very rough methods. Ask any mobile phone repair shop @ Moi Avenue Nairobi and they will tell you how they managed to save this or that phone. This, to me, is especially interesting, as they are using similar tools like other jua kali fundis in Europe – in a different environment. Whereas phones in Europe are often owned and used by one person only, phones in dev. countries are often shared between family members or friends. No wonder Nokia came up with two new phone models for emerging markets the other day, offering more than one phonebook / user profile on a single phone. Hence the need for a different approach to service repairs…or not?

What you see above in the pic – and I desp. tried to get a decent pic of such a booth back in May 2006 when I last tried to cover this subject – are normal flasher cables. Serial & parallel cables, like datacables, ppl use to connect a phone to a computer to unlock a handset, flash the firmware or run some tests. Your handset is blocked by the network? Don’t worry, just reprogramme it (illegally) with a new serial number (~ IMEI). These are things done everywhere in the world – in the Middle East, in Asia, in Europe, Africa, etc. – only: they are all based on reverse engineering.

Modern phones come with some more sophisticated algorithms and require a slightly different equipment – but that’s just a question of money and consequently there are, again, a few guys who will own a Twister Flasher or a BB5 unlock box in town (I really dig this microscope, sigh :-)

Coming back to the initial question – why is it so interesting? Well, because manufacturers like Nokia or SonyEricsson create service manuals for their phones (which are then circulated over the internet), giving the schematics and parameters of each and every part. But they usually don’t train those jua kali fundis. And a licenced Nokia Service Center? Apparently, they often do apply the same techniques and may or may not be equipped with special and better service gadgets. And they are expensive.

In other words: it’s cheaper and much more interesting for manufacturers to produce new phones than to train service staff on how to fix a mobile phone. Simple, new or refurbished phones are sold for something like 20,- EUR. And yet there’s this huge demand for quick & cheap repairs all over the world. This also applies to other electronics, cars or even lighters.

Anyone out there remembers how we used to refill one-way lighters with Butane gas (using a chopped nail and balancing the firestone on the forefinger while reassembling everything)? Back then lighters were sold for something like 25/= Kshs. and a refill was available for 10/= Kshs…

Now, while reverse engineered / alternative / jua kali (phone) repairs are interesting and will most def. make a good story on Afrigadget, I am constantly asking myself how manufacturers like Nokia will profit from this niche and use such knowledge for further engineering? Yeah, well, maybe Jan Chipchase‘s research may be part of that, but then: who will fill this gap between new products and broken gadgets (leave this market to jua kali fundis and private individuals only?) and will a break-even point be the only criterion to define this approach on when it makes sense to invest in new equipment? What about environmental damage (during production) and how is this accounted for?

The fast growing mobile phone sector is an interesting example to see how the world has changed, and I am currious to see when the majority of customers in places like Nairobi will prefer buying another phone instead of having the old one repaired.

qik

Qik. Streaming video right from your phone.

Saw some live coverage from the MacWorld earlier this week where ppl used this service to directly stream video from their phone to qik.com. Something like YouTube, but with the difference that everything is streamed live from the phone (Nokia N95) onto their servers. Meaning: you’ll need a decent broadband network connectivity for this to work fine.

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(browser screenshot via browsershots.org)

Signed up for this service (which is still alpha) on tuesday evening and just received an invitation. Don’t know about 3G speed outside, but here @home with DSL 2048 kbit/s down & 192 kbit/s up maximum speed it’s just very charming. Haaiaa. Will need to test it again outside tomorrow in daylight and see how it is performing.

And yes, I am bit shy on camera. That’s why I haven’t really made use of seesmic so far (the “video twitter”). You may have seen it in action earlier last month when Robert Scoble blogged about it.

Why is it interesting? After all, I wouldnt want to put myself online. It’s interesting because a) it enables true LIVE coverage and b) memory space is limited on some phones, so with a service like this, ppl can just report until the battery is drained. As for the “live” part: I pressed the F5 key to refresh the user page right after I had stopped recording and there it was, my video. Dead simple.

Which phones are supported?
The latest Nokia range, imho those who are based on the S60v3 platform.

Citizen Media, here we come… muahahahaha!

(video isnt included at this time as i just can’t stand the way the “embed object” code is implemented in WP + my video plugin doesnt support qik so far..)

EDIT: Loic just twittered that Seesmic is now compatible with mobile phones via Shozu.com. Shozu! Has anyone tried it so far? Had it running on my mobile some month ago but it quickly drained the battery, also due to some autostart scripts that load when the phone boots (!) up. – I guess all these tools only make sense when your phone is within a 3G or better network and when everything is interconnected, i.e. feeds that pull content from your various multimedia resources online and aggregate them on your blog. Should be an interesting task for a WP plugin (hint, hint :-)….something that pulls content from your video & microblogging platforms and creates a blog post out of it. In short: what I would like to have is a smooth way to blog-on-the-go and have it appear on my own blog (and not somewhere on flickr, vox, seesmic, qik, YouTube, etc.). Possible? Maybe one day (soon).

EDIT 2: QIK works fine even via a normal (= slow) GPRS connection! Awesome. I will use it more often now.

this is what happens…

…when companies like Nokia purchase the accessories for their mobile phones in low-wage countries:

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The integration of a very very very low quality “Lithium Battery” (Made in Indonesia) into the AD-43 control unit of their flagship model N95 that dies just after 4-5 months in use. And mind you: I haven’t even used it in power-user-mode, but instead only for about 8x / week, 25 minutes each.

There’s no way to open this headset without damaging it as the screw on the back is only accessible once the clip is removed. :-(

The control unit died last night after flashing the internal firmware of the phone to V20.0.015, so I initially thought there’s a connection between a (faulty) flashing process and the dead control unit. But no! Just a lousy battery which promoted the whole gadget to higher glory.

NOKIA! ==> There are alternatives available, such as the Renata CR2032:

Renata CR2032

…which costs a little bit more, but honestly: what’s better? Satisfied customers who will buy another Nokia phone – or unhappy customers who even dismantle the headset themselves because your totally unable customer service doesn’t even reply to e-mails?

Sorry for being a bit picky on this, but there sure is a reason why some batteries do cost 0,20 EUR and others 3,- EUR.

Computer for every Child

Just a short note on a news item about an adapted version of Edubuntu 7.04 being deployed to schools in Macedonia (F.Y.R.O.M.).
The interesting part is that these 20.000 PCs (7.000 already shipped) will be equipped with (X300) Thin Clients by NComputing, which allow 7-8 users on each machine at the same time.

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I’ve posted it here because Daudi’s comment the other day over at Erik’s Realm reminded me of this “sharing perspective” – which I think will be one of the reasons why any real multi-user OS will eventually win the game. As for the Linux vs. Windows debate: I personally don’t care which system is used, as long as it’s secure enough (viruses = kill productivity), provides a good usability and won’t be affected by power cuts.
Related to this owner-user-question, I wonder how many average users every mobile phone has in a country like Kenya (given that a phone may only be used by one person at a time and that different profiles depend on the SIM in gsm phones).