Md Emran Hasan (phpfour)

Today I bought a Nokia N81 8GB smartphone from my friend Nesar. This is an upgrade from my previous Nokia 6300, which I’ve been using for 1.5 year (thats the longest time I’ve used one model). The Nseries of Nokia has been attracting a lot of people lately, with their great music and photo capture features. One of my colleagues, Anis, also bought N73 just two months back.

Nokia N81 8GB

Now, good points first. The N81boosts an extremely loud set of sterio speakers - combined with its Music Express, it delivers the highest quality of music I’ve ever purchased. Combined with the built-in FM radion, the dedicated music keys, and a multimedia menu - this is a music powerhouse, thanks to the all new Symbian 9.3 OS.

The Symbian OS is superb with all the applications and now has some stunning gameplay capabilities. The phone also has all kind of connectivity point you might need - GPRS, EDGE, Wifi, Bluetooth, WLAN, 3G. And don’t forget the built-in 8GB memory.

The only downside of this phone is the camera. It’s a 2 megapixel camera - which I don’t have any clue how got into a Nseries phone. If there is not enough light, the pictures are somewhat blurry. It has flash and a number of picture modes, so its a decent one - but nowhere in comparison with other Nseries 3.2mp and 5mp cameras.

All in all, here are the facts:

• 2.4” QVGA main color display (320 x 240 pixels), up to 16.7 million colors
• S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1 based on Symbian OS v9.2
• Dedicated media keys for quick and easy access to music and video
• WLAN IEEE802.11 b/g with UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) support
• Bluetooth Specification 2.0 (profiles supported: DUN, OPP, FTP, HFP, GOEP, GAP, SPP, HSP, BIP, A2DP)
• Micro USB 2.0 Full Speed (mass storage class)
• Nokia AV Connector 3.5mm
• Up to 2 megapixel (1600×1200 pixels) camera, MPEG-4 VGA video capture of up to 15fps
• Zoom: digital up to 20x
• Front camera (CIF)
• Video call and video sharing support (WCDMA network services)
• Integrated flash (modes: on, off, automatic, redeye reduction)
• Rotating gallery with Navi wheel support
• Nokia Nseries digital music player supports MP3 (VBR), AAC, eAAC+, AAC+, WMA/M4A, WAV
• OMA DRM 1.x, 2.0, Windows Media DRM (OTI/OTA with Nokia Music Store*)
• Synchronize music with Windows Media Player 11
• Media keys (play/pause, stop, forward, rewind)
• Stereo FM radio (87.5-108MHz /76-90MHz)

Let’s see how long it can serve my ever-growing thirst of technology

I have been feeling the need of a business PDA for the last couple months, but couldn’t find one that would balance both my desire of functionality and the budget constraint. I wanted to keep my schedule handy, arrange my daily tasks properly, listen to music on the go, browse internet and read emails, use standard phone functionalities and take occasional photos - a lot to ask from a PDA. With all these features combined, the available PDAs in the market was hitting 50K BDT in price - something way over my budget. So, I was a bit disappointed.

Then a few weeks back, one of my junior friends Abir, knocked me in IM and asked whether I am interested in buying a PDA that has not been used much and in great condition. He mentioned that it has camera, phone, and PDA functions - so I didn’t hesitate much and asked for the model he had - it was i-mate™ PDA2k. After a quick review over the internet, i realized that its the perfect combination I was looking for! I asked for the price and for a surprising 20K BDT, i got that beautiful piece in my hand today!

For the technology lovers, here goes the spec from the manufacturer:

• Platform - Windows Mobile™ Pocket PC 2003 Phone Edition Software (GSM/GPRS).
• Display - 3.5”, Transflective TFT-LCD 240 x 320 pixels, 64K Color
• Processor - Intel XScale, 400 MHz
• Memory - 64/128 MB ROM/RAM
• Internal antenna, Quad-band, GSM/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900
• GPRS class B, multi-slot class 10; Codec - AMR/EFR/FR/HR
• Bluetooth, Integrated WLAN 802.11b
• Camera -Color CMOS VGA (640×480) camera/ flash light
• Keyboard- Integrated 39-key QWERTY keyboard
• Infrared - IrDA SIR/ USB slave 1.1
• Expansion- MMC/SDIO

I have high hope that it will be serving me with the functions i desire most !

Yesterday I bought the Nokia 6300 cell phone - leaving the 5300 one of mine. I have been listening to people talking high regards to this model, but was not too sure about it. When I went to the shop and opened its 2.0 mp camera for a test capture, I was amazed by the clarity. It doesn’t have a flash, but captures picture greatly.

I then played a song with the loudspeaker and on the handsfree, and it also was of good quality - more or less same to my 5300. I tweaked the equalizer a bit and then I found that it’s actually louder than what I thought of - kudos to Nokia.

Main features of the Nokia 6300:

• 2 mega pixel digital camera
• High quality 2 inch screen
• Voice dialing, voice commands and dictophone
• Speakerphone
• USB/PC link up
• 256 MB memory expandable to 2GB
• MP3 player with integrated FM radio
• 3.5 hours talk time
• 14 days standby time

I also received a casing which makes the phone look perfect for businessmen/executives. Overall, I am very very satisfied with the set and think that it’s the best deal on this price level (BDT 15K).

Today I bought a new mobile phone set: Nokia 5300. Its a sporty set in the looking and has some excellent features such as the dedicated music keys and camera button, sliding movement, large keypad buttons, etc. The new XpressionMusic gives a better sound quality along with excellent radio. I like it overall - and the price is also reasonable for me: BDT 16,400 (comes with 1 years service warranty).