Posted by Nafisa on May 26, 2009 in
competition Okay folks, it’s here… this is your chance to be one of the first 97 people worldwide to own a Nokia N97! That’s right, before it officially launches.
What is it and how does it work?
Search for N is a global competition that is running concurrently in China, UAE (Dubai), Russia, France, Benelux, UK, Singapore, Malaysia, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and South Africa. Over a period of seven days (26 May – 2 Jun), 5 cryptic clues will be published on this blog (as well as other websites / blogs that have partnered with Nokia globally), on selected days at 1pm SA time. Once you solve all 5 riddles, email your answers to me immediately, as the first three correct entries received will each win a Nokia N97 handset. The local version of this competition is being run on four blogs, www.nafisa.co.za being one of them.
It starts right now, so here’s your first clue:
Haptic and tactile are types of these
Remember to keep your answers and send them all together (along with a scanned copy of your ID) via email to me on this address as soon as you solve the last riddle. Do not answer via comments.
Basic rules
- This competition is open to all South African citizens with a valid ID
- Participants have to be 18 years or older
- Winners will be announced once their identities has been verified (include a scanned copy of your ID with your answers). If you want to fax them through, email me and I will provide you with a number.
- If winners do not respond to formal notification within 1 week, Nokia will select a random replacement winner
- Prizes are neither transferable nor exchangeable for cash
- Winner agrees to allow their photograph to be taken and published in print media or to appear on radio, the internet & television when accepting his/her prize
Full T&C’s available here.
So, why am I running this competition?
Quite simply because I rock and Nokia agrees 
Subscribe to this blog so you don’t miss any updates.
Tags: N97, nokia, search for n
Posted by Nafisa on May 21, 2009 in
cellular,
mobile Earlier today I attended the Nokia E75 launch, held at the Skin Sense Day Spa in Rivonia. As you might know I’m no corporate so phones in that range don’t interest me.
I got to play with the phone for a short while and if first impressions are anything to go by, I wouldn’t mind owning this handset. What I like about is that it’s light (much lighter than my N85) even though it has a slide out keyboard. It’s slim, sleek and well, stylish, especially in the deep red colour that it’s also available in. So it gets full marks in the ‘looks’ category but I can’t vouch for battery life etc.
Some plus points:
- supports mobile VPN
- Nokia Messaging – you only need your username & password (supports Gmail, Windows Live, Yahoo! [remind me again who uses Yahoo!], AOL).
- customizeable home screen views for business and personal. So when you get home, flip screens and no work mail coming in.
- data encryption for phone memory and microSD card
View full technical specs here.
Even though I don’t mind owning this device, I’d still pick the N97 over this
Tags: cellular, mobile, nokia, symbian FTW
Posted by Nafisa on Apr 20, 2009 in
consumer,
mobile You might wonder why the comparison. These two products are hardly in the same category. But I think one might just put the other out of business. Given the state of the current economy, I don’t see consumers rushing out to buy laptops or notebooks. There have been reports that the netbook market is soaring and sales will grow by 65% this year. At the same time Nokia’s earnings have dropped in the first quarter of this year to €122 million, compared to last years €1.2 billion, during the same period.
Statistics aside, smart phones are now being created to give you the ultimate browsing experience. That’s what the touch-screen Nokia N97 promises. You can customize the phone’s home screen with widgets, watch high-quality movies, browse ‘real’ web pages etc. But what about the price tag that comes with a high-end phone like this? I’m not talking about business men and women who need these devices or the super rich. I’m talking about middle class working citizens who save up, look what the market has to offer, make comparisons and then decide what to go with.
Put yourself in this scenario – would you spend ± 6k on a cellphone and browse the web on a 3.5″ screen or spend about ± 4k and browse the internet on a 9″ screen, with full qwerty keyboard (98%)? It’s not a difficult decision.
The current mobile market is very competitive. It’s not like a few years ago where you knew exactly what phone you were getting. Now all phones offer the same features – so what do you go for?
I’ve reached a point where I don’t go for the phone that has all the coolest features. I’m not big on a GPS merged into a phone. (I think the two devices should remain separate). You can’t put everything onto a cell/smart phone. What happens if you get a call while your phone is taking you to your next destination of if you are recording an interview and your phone starts ringing? What about battery life?
I think if the average consumer is opting for a netbook, chances are he won’t be spending ± 6k on a smartphone.
Oh, I’d be lying if I said I don’t want to get my hands on the Nokia N97. Perhaps Nokia will let me play with one
Tags: mobile, netbook, nokia, smartphone
Posted by Nafisa on Feb 6, 2009 in
cellular Last night was the official launch of the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic at Movida in Sunninghill. If you were disappointed with the iPhone, Omnia, HTC Diamond (there’s been loads of that on the local blogosphere), and waited this long, you probably wont be disappointed with Nokia’s “answer to the iPhone”. I’ve been fortunate enough to play with various phones and in the end, Nokia is still my favourite. I probably sound biased – all the phones I’ve ever owned were /still is, Nokia.
Above (l-r): Patrick Henchie, Program Manager - Nokia SA, Brad Brockhaug, Vice President - Nokia Sub-Sahara Africa, International DJ Colleen Shannon, Jake Larsen, Head of Music - Nokia Middle East and Africa and Mathia Nalappan, General Manager - Nokia SA
It was also announced that the Nokia Music Store will launching in South Africa on 24 April 2009. The software for it, Nokia Music is currently available to test on Nokia Beta Labs. The software will only be available to Windows users, for now. All songs will be in the .wma format and will not be DRM free. As far as pricing goes, in the UK, it would cost 80p for a track and £8 for album. The local store will feature artists like The Parlotones, Gold Fish and Arno Carstens.
Really cool touch-tables brought in at Movida
Features of the Nokia 5800
- 3.2-inch TFT touchscreen with 16M colors (640 x 360 pixels)
- Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate
- Alphanumeric keypad, full and mini qwerty keyboard, handwriting recognition
- 3.2 megapixel camera with Zeiss optics
- Bluetooth 2.0
- Wi-Fi
- TV-out port
- Stereo speakers
- Finger and stylus UI control
- 109 gm weight
- 8GB of memory
- Symbian OS v9.4, S60 5th edition
Unfortunately I didnt get to take the phone home with me last night, but I’ve been told I’ll get one to play with.
Patience.
Tags: cellular, launch, nokia, nokia 5800
Posted by Nafisa on Jan 25, 2009 in
cellular,
mobile I was given the Nokia N85 to play with over the Dec / Jan holidays. Compared to the other phones on the market, the N85 stood out. I’m a huge Nokia fan and for the last year and a half, I was disappointed with Nokia’s releases. Yes, I’m eagerly awaiting their ‘answer to the iPhone’ as its been dubbed – the Nokia 5800.
Back to the N85, it was not as chunky as the N96, but rather light. The large bright screen was ideal for browsing the net and playing games. The main reason we were given the phones was to test the games on the N-gage* platform.
I was disappointed that the game One (very similar to Street Fighter) crashed the phone after every fight. I ended up playing a lot of Poker, some Tetris, Fifa and Star Wars Force Unleashed.
I couldn’t use the phone as my primary one because I was given a sim card preloaded with airtime – so it was used for surfing and gaming. The battery life was decent – if I didn’t play games everyday, it would have lasted much longer.
I downloaded the latest Opera Mini and it supports full web browsing. I picked up 3.5G most of the time, which was really fast. If you use your phone to surf the net, then the N85 would be ideal.
If you use the Gmail application on your mobile, then you will be slightly disappointed as it runs very slowly on the phone. Although, I think this problem is more a Google one than Nokia.
Some Nokia N85 specs:
- 2.6″ 16M-color OLED display
- 5MP camera
- Symbian OS 9.3 with S60 3.2 UI
- 3G with HSDPA support
- Wi-Fi
- USB and Bluetooth v2.0
- FM transmitter
- 8GB memory
- Built-in accelerometer
- 3.5 mm audio jack
- TV out
- Stereo FM Radio
- Dual slide design for gaming and audio
Its definitely one of the better Nokia’s out there but I think Nokia is trying too hard to break into the mobile gaming market. They should stick to what they’re good at – making phones.
* Current phones supporting the N-gage platform are 5320, 6210, N78, N79, N81 8GB, N82, N85, N95, N95 8GB, N96 and launching soon, N97.
Tags: mobile, n-gage, nokia, nokia N85
