Why would anyone want that?

...That's what I used to ask a few years ago, when discussing phones that could take photos, or play music.

A phone is a phone right? A phone should be used for calling people. Why would anyone want a phone that takes photos, especially photos that aren't as good as those taken by a proper digital camera....and as for music...I've already got a MP3 player, so...so what if a phone can play music as well.

No thanks...all I want is a phone that's a phone...nothing else but a phone.

Ahhh...

that was then, about four years ago, when mobile technology was on the verge of being good, but hadn't quite made it to the standards that now exist . However having spent a week with my new Nokia N95, it's a different story today.

Having seen what this beauty can do I am most definitely sold on having an all-singing-all-dancing phone and would not look back.

As a phone, it is easy to navigate the Nokia N95 and its interface offers flexibility in managing the menus. As you would expect, it is also possible to personalise the look and feel as well as manage your diary and contacts list.

The integrated music player is excellent and has already proven useful. It is compatible with most music formats including AAC, MP3 and M4P.

A key feature of the phone is an easy-to-use 5 Megapixel camera, which I now wouldn't be without. Its quality hasn't quite replaced our 8 Megapixel Canon Ixus. However it is a great substitute and takes excellent photos, which means that there is one less thing to remember when leaving the house in the morning.

Of course, as you've seen from the previous blog posts, the camera doubles up as a video camera, which suffers when filming distance shots but makes up for it when videoing closer scenes. It's great for filming footage of our children growing up and it is possible to make individual recordings of up to 60 minutes in length. This easily beats the very short 30 second shots offered by our little Canon camera.

The Nokia N95 comes complete with a basic video editing facility, which allows you to edit and merge different footage together (video and photos) and add soundtracks to make your own movies. The kit also comes with a cable to connect the phone to the television, which is great for family viewing. The video edit suite has proven to be an unexpected treat and will enable me to make more family movies to record fun times and special events that we can enjoy in the future. With this kind of functionality, I would recommend going for the 8gb memory card upgrade rather than the standard phone, as good storage is essential.

Accessing the Internet on the go has also proven to be useful. I've not used it to search for information yet, but the facility to check and send emails has been invaluable. The phone has options to use O2's own WAP service, but I have found it more useful (and certainly less expensive) to connect through our home wireless router or even the free Wi-Fi access points that can be found around town. This has been excellent as it is much quicker to check emails through the phone rather than boot up the computer unnecessarily,.which for a busy mother has been a useful time-saver, even if I only work part-time.

Being able to access emails in this way, makes it a lot easier to work on a freelance basis and respond to enquiries, rather than rely on having to be at the computer, which often eats into the evenings and can easily lead to other distractions. So far I have used Yahoo's Go service for checking emails but when I set up MMS (multimedia messaging), I will be able to have the emails delivered directly to my message inbox.

The Nokia N95 comes with a user-friendly PC interface, which can be used for transferring photos from the phone as well as installing new applications onto the phone. However, if your PC is bluetooth enabled, you won't even need the interface or cables to transfer files as these can be sent directly.

On the subject of downloads, one application that was recommended to me from a couple of sources (thanks Bryan and Mark) is the Lightsabre application. I have now loaded it up and the kids enjoy it (from a distance)....but at the end of the day it's most definitely a "Boy's Toy". (However the accelerometer is a useful feature, allowing the screen to change when you turn the phone sideways).

For those who don't know what I mean, you can check out one of the many YouTube videos with grown-up men demonstrating their excitement....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bi6dNJs_-cY&feature=related

Thank you for bearing with me while I have been enjoying the honeymoon period with my latest technology. I am sure that you and 21st C Dad will be relieved to know that normal service will now resume.

For anyone who wants further information about the Nokia N95, you may find the following sites useful.

http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/0,39030107,49294472,00.htm

http://n95blog.com/

http://n95.bloggercomm.com/

http://thenokiablog.com/2007/10/31/video-nokia-n95-accelerometer-demonstration/

21st cm Tests mobile blogging

If you can read this then i have successfully cracked mobile blogging from my nokia 95.

Hooray it works. X

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Addendum

Setting up mobile blogging to Blogger was fairly straight forward and Blogger members can follow the full set of instructions at: www.blogger.com/mobile-start.g

The first thing that I did was to set up the mobile interface for my Yahoo account, an option that is available on the Yahoo email interface. Once this was created I sent an email from my phone via yahoo to go@blogger.com.

This triggered Blogger to create a mobile blog account. Their system then sent a "claim token" to the email address that I used via my phone.

To complete the next step, I found it easier to log onto Blogger's mobile start page from my laptop to register the claim token. Blogger then gave several options. I could choose to keep my mobile account independent of my blog, or choose to merge mobile posts with my blog. I chose to merge with the 21st CM blog.

Once I updated my account, I accessed Yahoo via my phone, created the above post and crossed my fingers (or rather pressed the send button).

My next challenge is to test out sending photos. However, until my old number is transferred to my phone I will be unable to add MMS, which I will need for emailing images. However that's only a week to go.

My technological upgrade

I know I've been absent for the last few days, but honestly it is with good reason. I spent the weekend in anticipation...and was too excited to blog...because I was waiting for this...


It's a Nokia N95 all singing all dancing phone, which has just arrived from O2. After much research, we chose it (note joint decision with 21stC Dad) to replace this....


...my very old Nokia phone (which doubles up as a torch), with which I had one of those very expensive Pay-as-you-go accounts where the bills were mounting at an enormous rate, especially since I've been freelancing with the various odd pieces of work. It was great, while I was officially a housewife, not making many mobile calls, but since I've been on the move the costs have become very silly.

We eventually tracked down an account with O2, which offers 750 talk minutes for £35 per month and includes landlines plus other mobile phone networks. This option also allows 100 pages worth of Internet browsing (plus lots more if I use free Wi-Fi facilities).

One of the things that I am particularly excited about is that when you turn the phone around it has one of these....



...a 5 Megapixel Camera, which takes photos almost as well as my regular 8 Megapixel Canon Ixus Camera


Once I've taken the photos, I can just upload them to my laptop using Bluetooth. No cables are needed, just a little bit of "abracadabra", and "Bob's Your Uncle" the photos appear on the laptop ready for use.

In fact, I sloped off to the Moreton Hall pub yesterday evening to catch up with some work in a peaceful environment. When testing out sending photos by Bluetooth, my phone also detected a device owned by a fellow blogger Cashier No.5. There was no surprise there, as according to his blog, it is his local. So No.5 if you are reading, sorry I was in a hurry and didn't have time to come and find you but you nearly got a photo of this....


My next challenge is to work out how to use the phone to update the blog. Oh yes it can be done, so watch this space.

Once I've fully tested this wonderful new piece of technology, I will put up a full review. However, I'd better get on with the housework, as it's back to work tomorrow.