[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by Ram

Have you programmed in Qt? I have, since their Trolltech days.

Yes, and porting an existing Symbian app to Qt is NOT a Zero effort task.

Nokia should lean from Apple. When Apple changed platfrom to Intel, it created a compatibility layer so that existing Apss will continue to run.

Originally Posted by Ram

Have you used Google Maps in Symbian? What about MGMaps?

Yes, have used both

1. Google maps requires GPRS
2. MGMaps does not do turn by turn direction

Originally Posted by Ram

USA is neither the biggest market nor the location of the most developers.

Care to post source for this claim? (Total USD amount of handset sales in US as compared to BRIC).

Refer to last quarter report.

In US, ARPU of users is much higher. More than Indian and China combined.

And other than Nokia, everyone gets a cut from this ARPU.

ARPU in India : 239 for GSM and 139 for CDMA (source TRAI)
ARPU in US : 49 USD (10 for Data, rest for Voice) (Source Gartner)

[sanagg1]

Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay

Care to post source for this claim? (Total USD amount of handset sales in US as compared to BRIC).

Refer to last quarter report.

In US, ARPU of users is much higher. More than Indian and China combined.

And other than Nokia, everyone gets a cut from this ARPU.

ARPU in India : 239 for GSM and 139 for CDMA (source TRAI)
ARPU in US : 49 USD (10 for Data, rest for Voice) (Source Gartner)

IMHO rather than ARPU the gross total revenue in USD would give a more meaningful and correct picture. AS US market is mostly bundled in (Handset+Tarrif) package and total revenue would tell us the size of U.S market for accurate business strategic decision.

Cheers

[Ram]

The blanket ban on bulk broadcast SMSes in India has brought such blessed peace! Wish it continues indefinitely.

Unsolicited ad SMSes fill up consumer inboxes.
What a nuisance, moreso for those with budget mobile phones.

If it must be restarted, allow each mobile user to opt-in explicitly if they so desire to receive ads.

[phamilyman]

or for nokia to design a blessed SMS filter/screener for its customers. Heck, even my nokia 2310 came with a call screening option - which the e63 does not. Wow!

I only wish I could do a blanket wildcard SMS blocking... sigh!

[Ram]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

or for nokia to design a blessed SMS filter/screener for its customers.

Isn't it the duty of the cellular network service provider to protect their consumers from unwanted SMSes ? An opt-in would be so easy to implement.

[mushy876]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

or for nokia to design a blessed SMS filter/screener for its customers. Heck, even my nokia 2310 came with a call screening option - which the e63 does not. Wow!

I only wish I could do a blanket wildcard SMS blocking... sigh!

I do use an app called smsBlocker on my Nokia N82, google search had thrown up the same. I am quite happy about its performance. While installations is quite simple, it does take minor maneuvering to get it running optimally.

Do note that i have absolutely no professional or business interest with the same app, am just a average joe user.

Cheers.

[Raccoon]

Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay

1. Google maps requires GPRS
2. MGMaps does not do turn by turn direction

Could you tell me if its worth buying a Nokia for the lifetime free turn by turn navigation as compared to an Android device? Haven't really used GPS on a phone yet.

Originally Posted by Ram

The blanket ban on bulk broadcast SMSes in India has brought such blessed peace! Wish it continues indefinitely.

Unsolicited ad SMSes fill up consumer inboxes.
What a nuisance, moreso for those with budget mobile phones.

If it must be restarted, allow each mobile user to opt-in explicitly if they so desire to receive ads.

Haven't you registered for DND? I have been living blissfully after both my Idea and Reliance GSM nos. were included in the DND registry. My Docom does not even need it as they send me 1 promo SMS at max., per day.

Originally Posted by phamilyman

or for nokia to design a blessed SMS filter/screener for its customers. Heck, even my nokia 2310 came with a call screening option - which the e63 does not. Wow!

I only wish I could do a blanket wildcard SMS blocking... sigh!

That would be a blessing! I really wish these mobile companies didn't take such important and easy to impliment features so lightly. Guess the only way is to find out beforehand which models have these features and buy only those... which ain't easy.

[Ram]

Duke University, Pennsylvania State University, and Intel Labs have found that many popular Android apps transmit private user data to advertising networks without explicitly asking or informing the user.

Private information sent included the user's GPS location and phone number. In some cases, apps were relaying GPS coordinates every 30 seconds, to remote advertising network servers, even when not displaying ads.

A popular wallpaper app was caught secretly transmitting the user's phone number to a remote server in China.
OK the stupid developer only used the phone no. as a unique ID to log user accounts, but scary what Android allows.

There are many users who voluntarily concede privacy in exchange for free access to useful services.
I get paranoid when a seemingly innocuous app on Facebook wants access to my database of all my friends.

Should I allow an Android app to transmit my IMEI number to China?
Would you allow an invasive Android app to read your SMS messages
and deduce what products your friends talk about, to target advertising to you?

Google does contextual advertising in GMail. Did Google create Android to do exactly these kinds of things? One wonders.

Taintdroid is an Android app that monitors other Android apps, and detects what data they're sending off to remote servers. It was developed by programmers at Penn State University.

Ref:Some Android apps caught covertly sending GPS data to advertisers

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

I only wish I could do a blanket wildcard SMS blocking... sigh!

You can enable call barring. It can be for Data/Voice or Text. If you enable it only for SMS, only incoming SMS would be blocked.

Key sequence (* ---- #) to do that is Operator specific, so it would require calling customer care.

[NIP]

Just picked up a Galaxy S. Only one thing to say...it rocks! looking forward to wifi tether

[dilipkumar7278]

Guys
Two weeks before bought HTC desire. Was very happy with its perfomance except battery life. Last week troubles started. The phone restarts itself when browsing. Three days before it restarted but would not go beyond the HTC home screen. A brand new phone going kaput on the second week... The service guys says its a hardware problem and they would replace the junk with a new one. What you guys think of it, shall I continue to use the new phone or switch back to my trusty Nokia? Does anyone has similar experience with This phone...

Cheers
Dilip

[vivekiny2k]

is there a phone that allows attaching voice memo to an appointment/meeting?

better still, if it can play the memo instead of the alert tone when it's time.

[Intrepid]

Indeed the N8 is Nokia's most impressive phone. But whether they have an entry into the top smartphone lineup remains to be seen.
Nokia has a 680Mhz ARM 11 processor versus a 1Ghz Hummingbird in the Samsung Galaxy S, 1Ghz Snapdragon in the HTC Desire, 1Ghz A4 in the iPhone 4.
Nokia N8 is a Java MIDP device... that seems to suggest a primitive app support. I'd reserve my comments on their SDK for later once we are able to write and flash an app.
When compared to the iPhone (which many consider a benchmark for ease of use and App usability) and Android, one would have to really examine the N8 to see if it comes anywhere close.
The Camera is definitely very good on the N8 and kudos to Nokia for getting that right.

About Symbian, it never was a great operating system. The original idea was good, but right from the beginning they were always in trouble.
Regarding maintaining multiple OS, many manufacturers do maintain multiple OS, but they are for different kinds of devices. Apple does not put MacOS on an iPhone (although the iOS does inherit quite some graphics frameworks from MacOS).

All in all, I'd say Nokia is yet to make a mark in the Smartphone world. As for mass produced non-smartphones, they better watch out... Samsung has many more devices out there with quite a bunch of features.
The success of a smartphone today relies on the Apps for it. And Nokia is nowhere in the app world. To compare the usability of the N8 I'd benchmark is against the iOS 4 (not necessarily iPhone 4 ... iPhone 3GS with iOS4.x is very good too) and with Android 2.2 (Froyo... actually I'd wanna run it against the older Eclair first ).
About the connecting USB devices to the phone, this is feasible technically, but the bigger question is ... "Is it practical" ??? We are moving to a world wherein all content will be delivered over the web? Why would you carry ur multimedia content with u when its available to u to access over the internet???

If one invests in a better car, is one being blind to how their money burns??? Shud we all be driving basic cars... since fundamentally a car can get u from place A to place B with mechanical advantage over walking or running?
Is investing in convenience burning money???
Or does this only hold in the Smartphone world?
Also how many people who bought their Nokia phones in the past could really use the web on their phone to perform their online chores without frustration or obvious effort? Was it ever cost effective to buy any Nokia smartphone (so called smartphone)... cud it really do nething smart???
Come Android n iPhone, I find myself hardly having a need to go to my computer for online chores.
Ofcourse, one can never really write-off Nokia. They have the ability to innovate and perhaps the N8 might be the beginning of a new Nokia.
The smartphone n Tablet wars have just begun....

[Newpunter]

I have read that Samsung Galaxy S and Samsung Wave are no longer in production as Samsung cannot produce enough Super AMOLED screens. Is this true? I think it would be a sad thing as both these phones have been selling like hotcakes every where.

[Cesc]

^^ Where did you hear that from? I did read an article some time ago at GSM arena that Samsung was having trouble keeping up with the demand for AMOLED/S AMOLED screens. But the article mentioned that Samsung was cutting supplies to third parties (for example HTC which uses them in HTC Desire) so that it could keep up production of its phones using those screens. Subsequent to that article HTC confirmed that they are switching to other screens (LCD I think).

I don't think there is any chance that Samsung would stop production of its best selling models. They may be limited to a certain quantity because of part constraints but definitely not out of production.