Unboxing the Nokia 5800, US version

Hot on the heels of the Nokia 5800, Euro/Asian version that I used for 3 months, here are the unboxing pictures and video of the Nokia 5800, US version!

The Euro/Asian review unit arrived in a generic box without manuals, so I wanted to share the retail box and manuals – not to mention the E75 cameo…

Nokia at GDC

Despite my busy GDC schedule, I managed to swing by the Nokia/N-Gage/Ovi booth just before closing. Check out the pictures!

Amongst all the games and devices, I bumped into David Murphy who was demonstrating a very cool application that generates 3D views of often photographed locations (such as monuments) from geo-tagged pictures…

Enjoy the video :)

Podcast: Talking with Matt #8

It’s time for another podcast (27 min) with Matthew Bennett:
- Audio version (uncut)
- Video version (in HD)

This Last week (I’m behind in posting this – blame GDC) we discussed Matt’s new blog – US Mobile Industry, the upcoming trip to CTIA, my adventures with the Samsung T929 (Memoir), plus a few other things, while sitting outside of Cafe Flore :)

Click here to subscribe to this podcast.

Conference time

It’s conference time.

This week I’ll be at GDC here in San Francisco, and in about 10 days I’m going to CTIA in Las Vegas with my podcasting partner extraordinaire, Matthew Bennett, who recently launched a new blog, US Mobile Industry…

Since I’m actually working at GDC this year (rather than just attending), I’ll be quite busy, but I’m planning to hang out with Ewan Spence from All About Symbian at some point, so stay tuned!

As for CTIA, Matt and I are lining up lots of videos coverage and interviews, and I’m looking forward to getting my hands on some hot devices and taking lots of pictures. We have press passes, so watch out :)

As usual, keep an eye on my Twitter, my Flickr, and my Qik, and come back often.

Modding the Acer Aspire One – eSATA

Welcome to part 4 of a multi-part post on moddng the Acer Aspire One!

In part 1, I showed how to take the Aspire One apart, how to upgrade the RAM, and how to add internal Bluetooth. In part 2, I showed how to replace the SSD with a 1.8″ PATA hard drive and how to reassemble the Aspire One. In part 3, I showed you how to add internal 3G (specifically HSDPA)…

In this final part, I demonstrate how to add eSATA to the Aspire One. Here’s another video and additional pictures that cover the process. As usual, I’m not responsible if you damage anything.

Noise – a case study

Other pictures taken with the Samsung T929 (Memoir) are available on my Flickr account.

So I decided to do a little experiment: take 3 pictures with 3 devices (one each) at night in the same location around the same time! The goal? Evaluate how megapixels affect low-light performance.

The megapixel myth tells us that more megapixels is not necessarily better. It generally means smaller pixels, which means more heat, which results in more noise, which impacts low-light performance…

Of course there are many variables here: differences in optics, sensor type/size, image-processing/noise-reduction software, and more. Because this is meant to be a real-life test with real-life devices, I can’t control these variables – I can only pick suitable devices.

Pictures taken with the Nokia N85

In 3 months of ownership, I snapped nearly 1000 pictures with my Nokia N85, US version, including some truly great ones! That covers most of the pictures taken during my holiday road trip to New Orleans.

Right about now, you probably expect me to write a glowing review of the N85 camera, but I can’t – it’s pretty nice, but it’s not good enough.

Despite almost identical specs, it falls short of the cream of the 5 megapixel crop: the Nokia N82, the Nokia N95, the Motorola ZN5, the Sony Ericsson K850i, and the i-mobile 902…

The culprit? Noise, noise, and more noise – just like its sibling the Nokia N79, the Nokia N96, and the 3 megapixel 5800/E71/E66. Do you see a trend here?

Unboxing the Nokia N79, US version

Oh hai – I can has Nokia N79, US version!

Think of the N79 as the N85‘s candybar twin – it’s packed with tasty goodness, including the same 5 megapixel Zeiss camera, WiFi, and GPS.

However, it’s also slightly “detuned”, with a smaller non-OLED screen (2.4″ instead of 2.6″), US-only 3G (1900/850 MHz), and no USB charging – it’s definitely the sleeper of the current crop of Nseries devices…

Interestingly, the design language is closer to the N97/N86 than to the N85/N96. Check out my unboxing pictures and video.

I used the Samsung T929 (Memoir) to take most of the pictures :)

Podcast: Talking with Matt #7

It’s time for another podcast (26 min) with Matthew Bennett:
- Audio version
- Video version

This week we discussed contacts and context, the Samsung T929 (Memoir), and the Nokia N79.

Other topics include the Samsung Omnia HD, the Nokia N86 vs. the Nokia N85, and the ever popular Nokia 5800 XpressMusic – enjoy :)

Click here to subscribe to this podcast.