It was on April 27, 2005 that Nokia introduced the Nseries brand of devices to the world. It has been 3 years since that day and we have indeed come a long way with they becoming an integral part of our lives. The first three devices that came out were the N90, N91 and the N70. A camera focused device, a music focused device and a mass market phone. Till today people swear by the N90’s camera and it was quite something for three years ago, it was when we finally forgot crappy 3gp video recording. The N91 on the other hand still is the best music phone Nokia ever made and it is only after 3 three years that a N96 is threatening to take away that mantel. The N70 was a device that truly took Nseries to the masses and till date it is one of the most successful phones ever made.

The next wave saw the N92, a DVB-H phone, come out; it was another matter that the technology never went mainstream. We also saw the N80 which was the first Nokia with a 3 megapixel camera and impressive features such as WiFi and a high res screen. But the battery killed it, once word got out many people skipped it. Till date we have seen 22 Nseries ‘multimedia computers’ roll out of Nokia factories - N70, N71, N72, N73, N75, N76, N77, N78, N80, N81, N82, N90, N91, N92, N93, N93i, N95, N95 8GB, N96, N770, N800, N810. Thats quite a number.

This post looks at Nseries as a whole and we try and reflect on each Nseries device.

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This is one huge surprise for me. When I bought the E90 I thought to myself that I would have to make a compromise on music and camera capabilities. Turns out - I was wrong! The E90 packs great music playing abilities but it is as if Nokia is trying to keep them in the shade. All we hear about the Eseries is business devices, business devices, business devices. Even businessmen have lives in the evening, even they have holidays its time to stop hiding things Nokia (Accelerometer ring any bells?).

The reason I say hiding is that the headphones that come with this devices are disgusting to listen to music with. The day I bought it, I tried them and since that day they have not left their box. Second, Nokia does not ship a 2.5mm to 3.5mm adapter with the E90 which is  a 800$ phone. But guess what, the adapter comes with the 5300 which costs just about 130$. What is the logic behind that? I fail to understand.

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I happen to play around with a lot of S60 devices most of the time and generally show them around to friends and give them the juice on each device. This is good, that is good, this is bad and so on. Now a lot of times when I’m playing with a really high end Nseries I speak to them about how I did get it to control my computer, the TV, browse the web, email, brilliant camera, TV out, GPS and after I end they are impressed of course; but after all of that I have had a lot of friends ask me this - can it read a USB/Pen/Thumb drive?

I do not know how this question comes up, but it does. May be its because these devices are doing so many things that a computer can so people tend to think, well, hold on, may be it can do that too?! Till a few days ago, I didn’t think much of it and generally thought it was a case of much easier said than done and it’ll be ages till we would see something like that happen.

But not very long ago Thoughtfix on the TabletBlog wrote about the N810 acting as a USB host with a brilliantly small application. 

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The best part about S60 based phones is that we can continue to add applications and features even after the phone has left the manufacturer. Another good thing is that a lot of it is free, however there are applications which are not. A few days ago, the All About Symbian team including Rafe, Ewan, Steve, Asri and Julie made their picks about software, which according to them is truly worth paying for. It covers software ranging from productivity to utility, both S60 and UIQ, a must read. There are a lot of applications that I use on my phone that I personally installed and am really happy with but if I were to choose three they’d be (in no particular order):

• Core Player - For letting me drop in almost anything without converting and it playing it well.
• MsDict - These dictionaries are perhaps the best I’ve come across.
• Salling Clicker - Gives me complete control over my computer be it music or presentations over both Bluetooth and WiFi.
• Here and here are two comprehensive lists of software you might to look.

I didn’t include Truphone here because I was not sure it will qualify as an ‘application’ per se, however its a great VOIP service. What would be your top picks? Would there be any current freeware apps you wouldn’t mind paying for?

The N95 8GB or the N95-2 is the successor to the N95 Classic (N95-1). A lot has been already said about the device both positive and negative; it has generally been dubbed as Nokia’s answer to the loads of complaints people have had with the original. Now being a device which benefited from public feedback, Nokia had to get this right. This post investigates how successful has it been in the endeavour.

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Nokia today introduced two new music-enabled devices as additions to its XpressMusic range; the new Nokia 5320 XpressMusic and Nokia 5220 XpressMusic. Both music devices are expected to begin shipping in the third quarter of 2008, with an expected retail price range of 160 to 220 EUR, before taxes and subsidies. 

Our focus however will be on the 5320 which is a S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2 based  device. It features a 2 megapixel camera , a 2” QVGA screen, a 3.5mm audio jack and  HSDPA. The new feature it brings is ”Say and Play” for the music player, which allows you to to just say the name of the song or album you want to be played, and you shall be obeyed. However its real world usability is doubtful; if you use voice dialing for contacts then this is the thing that might suit you (video of it in action). For the rest of us dedicated music keys are present to for quick access to music anytime.

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Nokia is holding a live webcast from London on the 22nd April at 12:30pm CET. Few details are available as of now as to what would this cover. More details have been promised closer to the event, but as of now there have been no updates and we’r left speculating. I doubt there would be any device launches this will most likely be something to do with ‘Comes With Music’ or the company’s ‘Music Store’. Time will tell!

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Nokia is giving away free licenses for their brand new and great N-Gage title “FIFA 08″ to the first few thousand who request a license through the N-Gage mobile site ‘ngage.mobi/play‘. Hurry and get your copy NOW! (Number of free licences varied from country to country)

All you need to do is:

• Open “ngage.mobi/play”, and choose your device and select ‘Download N-Gage Now’.
• If you already have FIFA 08, immediately ‘activate your free game license!’. Else download the trial.
• Next enter your phone number, a link with a URL to download the license will be sent to you shortly.
• Install and you are good to go!

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We had previously reported about the upcoming N95 8GB firmware v20.0.016, the good news is that it is now available via the Nokia Software Updater (via: AAS). The firmware as usual brings us some bug fixes and improvements, but this time it brings a new feature too - Automatic accelerometer based screen rotation a.k.a. the N82. Other changes include:

• Improvements in HTML format handling from Gmail IMAP server.
• WLAN, BT and USB connectivity improvements.
• Improvements to the Switch application.
• Stability in the Gallery when there is a lot of content.
• Startup functionality improvements
• The browser also gets some attention with improvements to embedded video functionality while sending email via browser flash plugin.

Make sure you do a full backup before flashing via NSU and it is best to re-install applications and only restore contacts, calender, notes and bookmarks. This firmware as always will still not be available for operator branded handsets and for some product codes. Full changelog after the break.

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There are times when pictures speak louder than words and this seems such a time. Jump over for almost 50 shots of Nokia’s flagship. Right from the slide to the screen I am really liking this device! View on Ovi!