How to use Nintendo Wii controller with your Nokia Phone
Posted by BA on Nov 1, 2011 in Gaming Consoles, Mobile, Mobile Accessories, Mobile Apps, Mobile Keyboards, Nokia, Nokia N8, Wii | 0 comments
Just did bit of a hack and it feels so good to control this Nokia phone running Symbian with Nintendo Wii controller. The feel is even greater when you play a game using this remote when your Phone is connected to a TV via TV-out cable. Please note this solution only works on Symbian S60, Symbian ^3 and Symbian Anna and has been tested on a Nokia N8 with Symbian Anna installed on it.
Here we go and Best of Luck!
Hardware used in experiment
- A Nokia N8 smart phone with Symbian Anna
- A Wii remote controller RVL 003 (Don’t have one? Click here to buy)
- A USB desktop keyboard or a standard Bluetooth keyboard (Only for touchscreen-only phones. Optional for phones with physical keyboards).
How to connect
- Install a simple application named MOBIPad (link at the end of the post).
- Run Mobi Pad and from options menu choose to connect to Wiimote
- Press 1 and 2 simultaneously on the Wii controller and wait till the app says connected
- Done! The remote now works all across your apps and everywhere in the OS.
Catch for Touchscreen users
Touch screen phones like Nokia 5800 ExpressMusic or Nokia N8 do not have a physical keyboard and hence Options menu cannot be launched to start connection with the wiimote. You can use a Bluetooth keyboard or a normal USB keyboard to access the menu. Simply connect the Bluetooth keyboard via bluetooth, or use the USB connector that came with your Nokia N8 to connect a desktop USB Keyboard to your phone. When you run MOBIPad, press Windows/Menu key to open the menu and there you are with a working app on touch-screen.
You can download MOBIPad application from this link.
Note: Please note this program is provided as is. I’ve found it working and apparently it doesn’t do anything wrong to the phone.
Read MoreWord Target on Nokia OVI now
Posted by BA on Dec 2, 2010 in Mobile Apps, Nokia, Nokia N8, Nokia OVI apps | 1 comment
A highly addicting word-game that has been very popular on iPhone is now available on Nokia phones as well. This fun game challenges your vocabulary by asking you to make words from a given number of letters in a limited amount of time. The game requires your 100% attention and you can extend the available game-play time by quickly typing more words, as each word gives you more time as well as score.
This is the first game by Pepper.pk to land in Ovi store and I’m a proud member of the team that developed this game 
You can read more and download the game from here.
Read MoreNokia N8- First Impressions
Posted by BA on Nov 4, 2010 in Nokia, Nokia N8, Smartphones | 3 comments
Just got a Nokia N8 and I’m super excited about it. I have not spent much time with it but there are a few first impressions of the device that I wanted to share with you guys.
- Unlike Nokia, its battery is locked inside, you cant remove it (that easily)
- Unlike Nokia, (well unlike most of them) its running pretty fast and pretty smooth out of the box
- Unlike Nokia, it’s lightweight and good looking.
- It has a large camera sensor and a very slim Xenon flash
At least I wasn’t expecting above in the box for me
I’ll be posting more about it from now on, so stay tuned 
Nokia N8 available from Ufone in Pakistan – Price Revealed
Posted by BA on Oct 2, 2010 in Nokia, Nokia N8, Smartphones, Ufone | 14 comments
Have you been waiting for Nokia N8, the next big phone by Nokia in a long long time? Yes I want that 12 megapixel camera, yes I want that 720p HD widescreen recording and the HDMI output, yes I need the Symbian ^3 and the wait is over. You can order your N8 now from Ufone (obviously within Pakistan).
The details are that Nokia and Ufone have decided to launch the phone at a special price. I’m not sure when the phone will be available in market but it is available now pre-order for Rs. 42000. ( USD 487 or 350 Euro). You’ll not get the phone right away. You pay Rs. 5000 for booking and as soon as it arrives, you’ll get one (apparently around 15th October). Moreover, this is announced as a special discounted Ufone+Nokia launch price which is even less than the announced price of EUR 380+.
If you can’t wait to see this device, just visit your nearest Ufone customer care center.See this link for more details and a list of service centers where the phone is available for you to check out.
Read MoreiPhone 4 vs Nokia N8 – And the winner is ..
Posted by BA on Jul 13, 2010 in Apple, iPhone 4, Nokia, Nokia N8, Smartphones, Technology, Telecommunication | 23 comments
This has been a long awaited post and a few of my readers have been requesting for it repeatedly. I’ve finally decided to write on this topic. Some of my readers will call it a redundant post as so many has been said about these two phones and then some of them will call it biased due to Nokia being my all time favorite but I will still not be reluctant writing the post as it is totally based on facts and figures and I have not been unjust.
iPhone 4 by Apple and Nokia N8 have been put into a side by side table below. Thanks to GSM Arena, I did not have to type in all this data. What I’ve done is, I’ve colored this table green wherever I found a superior feature in one of the two phones. Quite interestingly iPhone is a winner in launching the phone first, it is smaller in volume, it’s got a gyro sensor, higher resolution screen, greater internal memory, better CPU clock and a larger battery capacity.
That makes around 8 features better than Nokia’s N8. Am I praising Apple’s marvel too much? Well, let’s look at Nokia’s features where Nokia is a winner against iPhone. The list is endlessly long and Nokia has around 19 features that are significantly better than that of iPhone including a 12 megapixel stunning still camera with a Carl Zeiss lens, Micro SD Slot which will let you plug in upto 32 GB of a memory card, USB on the go that will allow you to plug in your USB flash drives and hard disks as an additional storage space to your phone, 720p HDMI TV out, Flash support in browser, faster class 33 edge and much more. See the table below yourself, I’m not biased
Hence the winner is … Nokia N8 without any doubt.
While my favorite of all the features will be the Nokia logo on the device that looks much better to me as compared to that of a metallic apple . Where Nokia has lost it is; the delayed release that is causing additional curiosity and unrest among the fans who cannot take it anymore. Just release it Nokia!
|
Apple iPhone 4 |
Nokia N8 |
||
|
General |
2G Network |
GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 |
GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 |
|
3G Network |
HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 |
HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700 / 2100 /1900 |
|
|
Announced |
2010, June |
2010, April |
|
|
Status |
Available. Released 2010, June |
Coming soon. Exp. release 2010, October |
|
|
Size |
Dimensions |
115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3 mm |
113.5 x 59.1 x 12.9 mm, 86 cc |
|
Weight |
137 g |
135 g |
|
|
Display |
Type |
TFT capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors |
AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M |
|
Size |
640 x 960 pixels, 3.5 inches |
360 x 640 pixels, 3.5 inches |
|
|
- Scratch-resistant surface |
- Scratch-resistant surface |
||
|
- Multi-touch input method |
- Multi-touch input method |
||
|
- Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate |
- Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate |
||
|
- Three-axis gyro sensor |
|||
|
- Proximity sensor for auto turn-off |
- Proximity sensor for auto turn-off |
||
|
Sound |
Alert types |
Vibration, MP3 ringtones |
Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones |
|
Speakerphone |
Yes |
Yes |
|
|
- 3.5 mm headset jack |
- 3.5 mm audio jack |
||
|
Memory |
Phonebook |
Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall |
Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall |
|
Call records |
100 received, dialed and missed calls |
Detailed, max 30 days |
|
|
Internal |
16/32 GB storage, 512 MB RAM |
16 GB storage, 256MB RAM, 512 MB ROM |
|
|
Card slot |
No |
microSD, up to 32GB |
|
|
Data |
GPRS |
Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 – 48 kbps |
Class 33 |
|
EDGE |
Class 10, 236.8 kbps |
Class 33 |
|
|
3G |
HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps |
HSDPA, 10.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 2.0 Mbps |
|
|
WLAN |
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n |
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, UPnP technology |
|
|
Bluetooth |
Yes, v2.1 with A2DP |
Yes, v3.0 with A2DP |
|
|
Infrared port |
No |
No |
|
|
USB |
Yes, v2.0 |
Yes, microUSB v2.0, USB On-the-go |
|
|
Camera |
Primary |
5 MP, 2592 x 1944 pixels, autofocus, LED flash |
12 MP, 4000×3000 pixels, Carl Zeiss |
|
Features |
Touch focus, geo-tagging |
1/1.83” sensor size, ND filter, geo-tagging, face and smile |
|
|
Video |
Yes, 720p@30fps, LED video light, geo-tagging |
Yes, 720p@25fps |
|
|
Secondary |
Yes, videocalling over Wi-Fi only |
VGA videocall camera |
|
|
Features |
OS |
iOS 4 |
Symbian ^3 OS |
|
CPU |
1 GHz Apple A4 processor |
ARM 11 680 MHz processor, 3D Graphics HW accelerator |
|
|
Messaging |
SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email |
SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM |
|
|
Browser |
HTML (Safari) |
WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML, RSS feeds |
|
|
Radio |
No |
Stereo FM radio with RDS; FM transmitter |
|
|
Games |
Downloadable, incl. motion-based |
Yes + downloadable |
|
|
Colors |
Black, White |
Dark Grey, Silver White, Green, Blue, Orange |
|
|
GPS |
Yes, with A-GPS support |
Yes, with A-GPS support; Ovi Maps 3.0 |
|
|
Java |
No |
Yes, MIDP 2.1 |
|
|
- MicroSIM card support only |
- Document viewer (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF) |
||
|
- Scratch-resistant glass back panel |
- Dolby Digital Plus via HDMI |
||
|
- Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic. |
- Anodized aluminum casing |
||
|
- Digital compass |
- Digital compass |
||
|
- Google Maps |
- Video/photo editor |
||
|
- iBooks application |
- DivX/XviD/MP4/H.264/H.263/WMV |
||
|
- Audio/video player and editor |
- MP3/WMA/WAV/eAAC+ player |
||
|
- Voice command/dial |
- Voice command/dial |
||
|
- TV-out |
- TV-out (720p video) via HDMI and composite |
||
|
- Flash Lite v4.0 |
|||
|
Battery |
Standard battery, Li-Po 1420mAh |
Standard battery, Li-Ion 1200 mAh |
|
|
Stand-by |
Up to 300 h (2G) / Up to 300 h (3G) |
Up to 390 h (2G) / Up to 400 h (3G) |
|
|
Talk time |
Up to 14 h (2G) / Up to 7 h (3G) |
Up to 12 h 30 min (2G) / Up to 5 h 30 min (3G) |
|
|
Music play |
Up to 40 h |
Up to 50 h
|
*** Update
While iPhone 4 is not available unlocked without a voice/data contract in US, we can compare UK prices of iPhone 4 and Nokia N8.Right now, the approximate price of unlocked 16GB iPhone 4 in UK is GBP 499 that is around USD 760. Same 16 GB iPhone 4 is available for Eur 629 in France for example.
On the other hand, Nokia N8 is expected to be available for around Eur 450 on launch. Even if it sells for Eur 500, its pretty economical, isn’t it?