Nokia N8 - Themes, Wallpapers, Apps and more

Nokia has quite a good collection of applications on the Ovi Store for Nokia N8, if you are still searching for some good themes and wallpapers for Nokia N8 here's a collection of some links which i found on the web for Nokia N8

Anything Nokia

Nokia N8 Applications

N Series Themes

Symbian Tweet

Best Nokia Themes

On Smart Phone

n97i

Download Android style theme | Iphone Style theme here

Facebook Home Screen Widget

Facebook Style theme for Nokia N8

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YouTube Rewind - Most Watched Videos of 2010

If you have still not checked the trending videos of the year on YouTube, check it out on this link It features the top ten list of videos watched in India and surprisingly the song Crazy Kiya Re from Dhoom 2 is also on the list at number 5, Dil Bole Hadippa title remix song on number 2, the controversial nude back scene from Kurbaan also features in the list at number 8, "Tere Liye" the song from movie "Prince" features at number 3 (Atif Aslam magic worked for this song).

You can even check the top trending international videos also, i can admit that i got seriously hooked to YouTube this year. It started off watching gaming walkthroughs, trailers, music videos however i stumbled upon really witty and timepass stuff exploring YouTube further. I think it would serve as an ideal idiot box replacement for me :-)

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Interesting 2010 Pic set - colors of LIFE

Check out this link which has high-res collection of 50 interesting pictures captured in the year 2010, some of these are really thought provoking and makes me think, we should be thankful of what we have and stop cribbing about what we don't have or we do not get.

(Source: DenverPost Photo Blog)

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"The Ring" girl actor NOW

Check out how "The Ring" movie girl looks now! the same girl that scared us in the movie

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Nokia Fanboy Rage

A rather attacking comment i read on a blog by a Nokia Fanboy against the iphone

Screen/User Interface:
iDon’t have themes support.
iDon’t have a scalable OS, apps on the iPad are simply stretched to fit.
iDon’t have a desktop, entire UI is organized as a single “start” menu.
iDon’t have parallax (finger/screen offset) adjusting – low precision especially on small objects.
iDon’t have a touch friendly screen, gloves, pens, styluses and not even fingernails work!
iDon’t have neither haptic nor any other type feedback whatsoever.
iDon’t have any precision compared to resistive touchscreens.
iDon’t have a standard(16:10, 16:9, 4:3) aspect ratio only Apple custom ones(3:2) will fit my screen.

Power:
iDon’t have USB charging without a dock adapter.
iDon’t have any safety garment for the battery(1) melting is known to occur in Apple products(2)
iDon’t have warranty for damage made by “external” force aka. the above.

GSM connectivity:
iDon’t have full 3G HSDPA speed (7mb/s vs. 2008 smatphones that have 10mb/s).
iDon’t have full GPRS/EDGE speed (CLASS 10 is four times slower than CLASS 33!)
iDon’t have a decent GSM/GPS/WiFi signal(1) the connection is far worse than on 3GS(2)
iDon’t handle videocall via the network, gTalk etc.

WLAN connectivity:
iDon’t have DLNA (streaming HD content wireless on a HDTV).
iDon’t have UPnP technology (automatic WiFi setup) some networks simply don’t work.

Bluetooth connectivity:
iDon’t A2DP right (BT stereo) right: lags on videos(1) and games(2).
iDon’t have rSAP, Remote SIM Access Profile(1) – iDon’t work with your in-car hands free(2).
iDon’t fully support AVRCP (BT remote)(1) industry standard(2) can’t skip tracks.
iDon’t support any Bluetooth services when pairing with a MacBook.
iDon’t have any BT file sharing my BT is almost useless!

Cable connectivity:
iDon’t have standard USB connectivity(1) only custom cables(2)
iDon’t give a damn about the environment: short cables but tons of iAccesories.

Misc connectivity:
iDon’t have PC/MAC/LINUX connectivity without iTunes.
iDon’t have IR, can’t control: basic household items(1) TV, HDTV(2) DSLR camera(3) MAC(4)

Media/camera:
iDon’t have stereo speakers.
iDon’t have radio.
iDon’t have FM transmitter.
iDon’t have decent camera (small sensor and 72 DPI, which is less than most 5mp phones)
iDon’t have fine detail in pictures, high noise reduction smears the finer details.
iDon’t have video stabilization.
iDon’t have exposure control (ISO).

Design:
iDon’t eject my sim without a special key.
iDon’t have a removable battery.
iDon’t have hot swappable memory.
iDon’t sell cheap but my value at FOXCONN in China(1), where I am made, is ~190$(2)

iOS 4.0

Web:
iDon’t have audio/video streaming for 90% of the multimedia sites.
iDon’t offer a real web experience, various sites only offer a phone version.
iDon’t have Flash or Flash Lite – flash sites, apps or games simply do not work.
iDon’t have push idle so battery drains fast even on push.
iDon’t have push e-mail if i’m jailbroken, even if you pay!
iDon’t render HTML5 graphics, nor can iHandle HTML5 controls.
iDon’t process HTML attachments correctly.

File management:
iDon’t have access to my internal folders by any means – no app in the iStore allows this!
iDon’t even have access to set mp3s as ringtones.
iDon’t have MIDP/JAVA support.
iDon’t handle DivX, XviD, FLV native video.
iDon’t handle ZIP, RAR or SFX – no app in the iStore allows this!

My Chevrolet Beat Review

After driving my Alto LXI for just over 2 years, i decided to go for a upgrade. Alto is a evergreen performer in the city with good mileage and low cost of ownership. I had brought Alto as my first car since i was a novice driver then and friends and relatives advised me to go for a small car first to get proficient with my driving first.

My driving trips also included occasional highway driving and at times i felt the strain of driving long hours in Alto, especially driving for almost 3 hours on the expressway and then getting stuck in B2B traffic in Mumbai made my problems even more worse.

I started getting poor customer service from Kothari Wheels dealer for Maruti here in Pune, getting my car serviced from them was turning out to be a painful affair. Getting service appointments, scheduling pickups was getting difficult. Service rep who used to come to pickup the vehicle hardly stopped to take a look at any issues i had to point out specifically for car repairs.

My front power window had got some motor fault for which they did not have the motor in stock, so they did regular servicing and informed me that they would have it ordered and call me up. I was the one constantly following up was getting poor response from kothari wheels.

While this was going on, i was already having my upgrade plans working in the background, still i was not sure if i would be going for it. I had Maruti Suzuki Ritz VXI, Ford Figo Petrol ZXI and Beat LT on my upgrade list.

Here's the on road price band of these cars:

Maruti Suzuki Ritz VXI - INR 4,92,180
Ford Figo Petrol ZXI - INR 4,64,677
Chevrolet Beat LT - INR 4,61,226

So i chucked out Ritz from my list because with 31K higher in price than Figo and Beat it did not offer features like CD player, Rear Wash Viper, Automatic climate control, Rear De-fogger, Steering Adjustment.

Ford Figo is a breakthrough car for Ford India, it is proved itself to be a runaway success for Ford since it's launch capturing a major consumer segment away from Hyundai and Maruti and is seriously challenging their hatchback market now. That is why both Maruti and Hyundai are now coming up with a face lift version of i10 and Swift.

Figo is roomier in the rear and with largest boot space in its category it commands due respect for being launched in the diesel variant also at the right time. where Chevrolet seems to have missed the bus. i never got an opportunity to test drive Figo due to rigid and stupid attitude of Talera Ford,Satara Road dealer in Pune and reviews and feedback on poor FE in the petrol variant, with already burdened dealer network in terms of after sales made me back away from Ford.

I was then taking a chance with Chevrolet as a company which still does not enjoy the confidence amongst consumers like the Maruti and Hyudai cars do. As a product Chevrolet Beat had won my heart from the time i had spotted it in motion during a trip in December 2009 on the Mumbai-Pune E-Way, when i took some pics of a misty lake colored Beat being TD on the highway,check the pic below.



Finally i got my Alto LXI exchanged with Beat LT in a duration of 2 weeks, so detailed review of my car now starts.

Dealer Feedback:My feedback for dealer Pashankar Auto wheels Pvt Ltd. would be below average. The purchase process began on a good note, I was given test drive of Beat to my satisfaction with the dealer staff helpful enough to assist me in getting fair value for my 2 year old Alto LXI also the sales executive involved in the purchase process was helpful to come with me to get the affidavit done for me at collectors office required for address proof.

I was told i would be eligible for the Gold rush offer, which actually was a lucky draw scheme, however the sales executive goofed up on the offer informing me that i would also be eligible for a assured gold coin offer, which was not the case. He also gave me wrong information related to cashless ownership offer which he corrected later.

The day i took my car delivery from the dealer, arrangement's were done to conduct pooja, Satara road showroom of Pashankar Auto is well maintained. I asked for a written confirmation on assured gold coin offer on which the dealer retracted, i smelled rat here and confirmed again with the assistant sales manager if the assured gold coin offer held good in my case. He confidently told me that i would get a call from GM to collect my gold coin after which i need to come to the showroom and collect it.

I have now escalated this issue to GM, waiting for a final response, anyways i am not interested to drag the matter much however it gave me an indication that this dealer had a misinformed staff. Also recently Talera Chevrolet has closed down in Pune due to which temporarily Pashankar Auto Wheels is enjoying a monopoly here in the city.

I liked the way my buying process was handled with less sales talk and more professional approach, the whole thing was spoiled by the wrong information provided, Chevrolet should take a note of this "Buying Cars is not like Buying Tomatoes".

Now the feedback on car

Build, Design and Looks: Beat is a very stable car in terms of it's build. The muscular exterior is well complemented by striking look at the grill in the front. This is one car that looks beautiful both in and out

City Driving: Beat is fun to ride in the city also, for some drivers raised dashboard and a akward A-Pillar placement could be a let down for some. Luckily i have not faced much issues related to it up to now. The moment you hold the steering you get a judgment of the road automatically. There were problems around 2nd Gear pick up earlier which are now resolved with ECU upgrade done on my car during the first free check up. The engine is super silent and feels super smooth while driving. There is no engine knocking problem while you drive on a low speed on 3rd - 4th gear. city FE up to now has reached up to 14 kmpl

Highway driving performance: I could not record the exact FE during the first trip with my Beat on the Mumbai Pune Expressway, however i felt the ride more comfortable and stress free on the highway. Touched max 140 kmph speed. One needs to be cautious while driving at high speeds in ghat type landscape because the OEM tyres are not so stable at high speeds on highway. There are some patches on the highway which required me to ride on the 3rd gear to get torque on slopes. Beat cruised well on these patches on the 5th gear with the engine rpm above 2K level and with proper luggage and passenger load.

Initial reviews around Beat had raised queries around the suspension and GC, no problems here again. I can hardly feel any thump or bump of potholes or bad roads to my feet while driving and at the same time also i have driven over variety of speed breakers of different heights, one of which had brushed my Alto below earlier in my office parking.

Beat's engine gets roaring once you cross 2K RPM mark, so a word of advice on keeping a good FE, do not race your Beat at short distance much and try to keep the rev band of your engine between 1.8K to 2.5K while driving in the city

Beat is a product with good potential lagging behind right now in the crowd of new hatchback launches plagued by poor marketing and lackluster after sales service attitude of GM also the kind of styling and design it carries does not suite to the sobre taste of Indian consumer much, since when it comes to car buying, it's more of a family affair than of individual choice.

I decided to take a risk with Beat and IMO it has paid off well with the car and not with the company i can say though i found their servicing charges economical enough, In Pune Chevrolet needs to come up at least with another service center on the eastern corridor of the city.

I got 3M one package for my car @8K with car paint protection, engine coating and under body protection from the dealer. changed stock speakers to Illusion series which now delivers high fidelity music, clear treble sound and apt bass output (not thumping though)

Closing comments with pros and cons

Pro's:

Excellent ride quality and handling
Super silent engine
Stable NVH
Ample legroom at front seat and comfortable leg room at the rear seats also.
Economical FE and servicing costs.
Turn's heads wherever you go

Con's

Less boot space
Lack of seat height adjustment
Lazy after sales service response from GM
Local dealer issue (Pashankar Auto Wheels Pvt Ltd.)
Rear window placement may not suit everyone
Not suitable to seat 3 in the rear seat (in any case one of the is oversize) else no issues.

Some BEAT Moments to share:

A guy was clicking pics of my car in the company parking basement as i was leaving for the day, admiring my car from all angles like a curious child. hurried away in embarrassment as he spotted me approaching towards my car, leaving a wide grin on my face.

At Pune camp i was at one of the electronic store where a guy was with his brother and his sister-in-law, i stepped out of the store to move in the opposite lane, as again came at the road crossing moving towards my car, i saw the same guy and his family discussing about my car as they were having roadside snacks, the guy was going ga-ga about the Beat, as he saw me approaching towards the car, he gave me a thumbs up smiling back at me.

The very first day i got my car i went to BP petrol pump at Mundhwa village, a rickshaw driver stopped by next to my car for fuel top up, waved back at me indicating with a wide smile.

Recently a traffic constable walked up to my car while i was stuck in the Hinjewadi IT park traffic lane, he left me tense for a moment, by the time he came close to my window he curiously looked at my cars odometer and dashboard and asked me what was all the tech about on the tripmeter and odometer

I am getting used to gazes on the road, people popping their heads sometimes out of their cars to have a close look at my Beat, even kids watching at my beat from their school buses or rickshaws with a sparkle in their eyes, leaves a nice feeling inside your heart.

So it's just not the beauty but the beast within that defines this machine. I am really happy with my purchase decision to go for Beat, video review of my beat below followed by a video for beat made by me.

New Nokia Handsets to watch out

Nokia has woken up to the fact that it cannot keep it's share growing in the Indian Handset market unless it seriously works on offering value for money mobile phones in the 5K - 10K segment, this segment is being currently lead by Samsung, followed by LG and a slew of other Indian Mobile Phone manufacturers who have being aggressively advertising their phones, and the recently ended IPL tournament has given enough visibility to brands like Micromax, Maxx, Lava and others.

Out of the recent announcements made by Nokia on mobile phones in the offing, Nokia X2 (expected to be available by June 2010) and Nokia N8 (To be released in the last quarter of 2010) would be the phones to watch out. Nokia X2 is expected to be priced around 5K range and Nokia N8 in the range of 22K - 26K, lets take a look on why these phones could be important to both consumers and Nokia in the Indian market.


Nokia X2 has a major USP of having a 5 Megapixel camera, and if it does stay close to the 5K range, Nokia will surely have a winner on hand, since the other features of the handset are not revolutionary to be spoken about, current specs as available from the Nokia website are:

• 2.2 inch QVGA display
• Dedicated music keys
• Dual speakers, FM Radio
• Bluetooth 2.1
• 3.5mm headset jack
• Nokia Messaging
• Facebook integration and MicroSD card support
• S40 Operating System

Nokia has a bad reputation with camera quality on phones under 10K range, even the Nokia 5800 Express Music has pathetic 3.2 megapixel camera quality even with Carl Zeiss lens.



The Other phone we are looking at is N8, which can be a potential breakthrough product for Nokia if they get the pricing right for India, lot to write about the phone,

• Nokia ^3 OS, a positive move away from current Symbian OS series, which is getting buggier by the day, further messed up with frequent firmware upgrades that Nokia Symbian phones have to go through.
• 12 Megapixel Camera, with Xenon flash, could be a big plus if delivers
• Dolby Digital Plus, audiophiles like me would be eager to experience the quality of sound it can deliver
• Just 12.9 mm thin with a spaced out 3.5 inch AMOLED display.
• Multiple, personalized home screens.
• Additional graphic processor in the handset would make gaming more fun, takes away the load from handset processor.
• HD video recording.

I did take a look at the handset image quality released by Nokia on their website and i was very impressed with it, this phone is surely on my wish list for future upgrade, both the handsets Nokia X2 and N8 are tuned to deliver a decent social networking experience to the consumers through widgets and apps made available in these phones.

Feature - Monitoring of children's online activity by Parents in Asia

An article from Asia Media Forum has brought out an interesting study on how parents in Asia monitor online activity of their children in the cyber world, a UN report has proved that globally children across the world are spending more time living a sedentary life where they are also spending a good amount of time online on the internet, Internet is fast evolving medium of communication and for parents at times it becomes difficult to catch up the technological advancement in order to monitor the online activity of their children.

The report states that parents in general monitor the online activity of children mostly in the age group of 6-9 years and as they grow up they gradually move away from tracking it frequently just because the Generation ME does not like to get policed by their own parents and also as the parents age, technology becomes more tricky thing to handle for them.

In India 2/3rd of the population that accesses internet does it from outside normally from cybercafes or at workplace, teenagers and kids in India are equally exposed to the vices of the web as kids across the globe are, and Indian parents apart from the younger lot, most of the times find it difficult to identify what's wrong and what''s right for the kid to do on the internet, also these kids are increasingly becoming of their own identity on the web, Avatar's, socializing with peers much early than where our generation began.

You can read more on this here (courtesy: ipsnews.net)

Philips planning to move away from consumer electronics?

Videocon Group in India has being rumored to be in pursuit to take over consumer electronics business from Philips India, while Philips group is intending to expand it's business operations under healthcare and electric equipments line where it sees a healthy growing market share, it just came to my mind that we do not get to see any Philips consumer electronic products advertisements on television from last 4-5 months as far as i could re-collect not even in paper media from last 2-3 months.

I did see few retailers advertising philips products like Home Theatres and LCD's during Gudi Padwa, but no direct advertisements from the company, also currently Sony, LG, Samsung and Panasonic are agressviely launching new consumer electronic products in India and are spending heavily on their promotion, also i did not hear any new annoucements coming from Philips on the development of 3D technology equipped televisions for Indian consumers.

If these rumors are supposed to be true then probably Videocon would gain even better share in the consumer electronics market in India, if they have to compete with big players in India mainly Samsung and LG becuase it has being a late entrant to the LCD television and Mobile market.

A Mobile phone that Brews Coffee and more

Check out this video below of some phone called the Pomegranate Phone, which could really give mobile biggies like Nokia, SE and Motorola a run for their money, it works as a projector, a coffee brewer and a shaver too? i could not  believe it too, thought this could just be some prototype phone design, however this phone is for real, check the company website here

A Printer that Re-Prints and without Ink

Printer companies are known for sucking good amount of money from consumers for the printer ink, to the fact that printer ink is costlier than Human Blood, you may want to thank this company: Sanwa Newtec which has come out with a Printer that not only functions without the printer Ink but also re-prints paper, that's a real cool invention and i doubt this company would really be able to launch this product successfully, since the corporate sharks would already be working out their tactics to pull down such product from the market before it gains a stronghold amogst corporate and household users.

Check the video below and you can read more about this company and their product here

 

Love at first sight: Really Powerful

A nice video for those who believe that Love in First sight can be very strong enough, this video has good CG rendering of the glass effects, ends with a really nice feeling, one of a kind video i would have seen in a long time.

Nuit Blanche from Spy Films on Vimeo.

Now you can eat your rice without cooking

Indian Scientists from Assam Agricultural University have developed a Rice Breed that does not require cooking, it can be eaten simply after being soaked in water and would definitely help save fuel and an important breakthrough for the poor in India, it's called Aghoni Bora and after you soak it in water it's ready to eat in 45 minutes, i can imagine how useful it can be for disaster relief purpose like in Haiti, where people would be in dire need of food right now. 

One more reason for Beer Lovers to Cheers!

Two researchers from University of California claim that Beer is good for body, and that Barley beer is better than wheat beer, read more on this here

Amazing LG Viewty AD

Check out this cool ad of LG Viewty a good flip book animation Advertisement

A Brief History of Pretty Much Everything

Check this video which is a stop-motion flip book animation made by an art student Jamie Bell, it took him 3 weeks to make it out of 2000 pages of notebook paper and ink pens, i like the effort put in by this artist, wonder why we never thought of such things when we made animated flip books back in our childhood.

Control a computer by flexing a muscle

Microsoft is filing patent rights to a technology of what could be a really cool invention, called "Muscle Computer Interface" which works on electromyography (EMG) it measures electrical potentials generated by the activity of muscle cells. The intention here is to acquire human input that may not necessarily require direct manipulation of a physical implement.

The video above includes a demonstration of how to use muscle movement to play Guitar Hero, air-guitar style, so Microsoft would very well use this technology to Xbox 360 games and moving beyond games this invention could prove handy in situations where you could control devices with your muscle interaction using pressure points on your fingers, like snapping your fingers to change the track on your portable mp3 player, changing channels, volume etc. on your television by a touch to your fingers, hands-free input mechanisms that can helpful in areas sensitive to contamination, for example surgery rooms.

You can read more about this here, a white paper on Microsoft research website, an Indian member is also on board to this team Ravin Balakrishnan