Quick impressions with the Nokia E7

N8 | The Nokia E7 in silver.

Last Friday I also got a quick hands on with the Nokia E7.

The E7 is BIG. After using the N8 for months, the size and weight are quite a change. When I held it, it reminded me of when I owned an N95 and being shown the N95 8GB for the first time. It is very well built. Beautiful and incredibly solid.

The display is gorgeous. Nokia's Clear Black Display AMOLED screen makes the colors really pop. Opening the display was a bit confusing. I could only open it with both thumbs. The closing clack is just as satisfying as it was on the N97. The keyboard is fantastic. It is easy to type on. My small hands made it hard to reach some keys though.

I didn't like some of the design decisions. I would have preferred a camera hump. The volume slider and sim card slot positions should be switched. I did like the layout on top of the E7 by having the USB port, HDMI, power and headphone jack all together.

I think the E7 is a great device, but I think it is too big for me to use personally. I would LOVE to see an E7 mini with a 3.2 inch screen.

Quick impressions with the Nokia C7 Astound for T-Mobile with PR2.0

N8 | The Nokia C7 Astound for T-Mobile

Last Friday I got play with the Nokia C7 Astound.

The C7 feels a lot like the Nokia E71. It is very slim in the hand. The silver chrome and white plastic make combine for a great design. I really like the feel of the call, end and menu buttons. The AMOLED screen is the same as my N8. I couldn't really tell a difference in the haptic feedback. I liked how the micro-USB port was at the top instead of the side.


N8 | Video of the C7 homescreens with PR2.0

The software of the C7 Astound was very impressive. It is the first Symbian^3 device with PR2.0. Above is a video I made of the homescreens. Changing homescreens is very smooth.

PR2.0 brings some long awaited changes to Symbian^3. The portrait keyboard was a little hard to use due to how small the buttons are. It worked in split screen in most apps I tried. It didn't work in split screen in the Ovi Store. Swype was preinstalled and only worked in landscape mode.


N8 | Software version on the C7 Astound

I didn't spend much time in the web browser. The interface seems to have changed for the better, but the rendering hasn't changed much.

Considering the C7 has call buttons, the right selection key should be customizable like it was on the N97.

The NFC widget is not enabled by default. Once added to the homescreen, you can easily turn it on and off like a switch. There's also a visual voicemail widget, but I didn't get a chance to see how it works.

One weird thing is that the C7 Astound only shows 3G. It never shows 3.5G. If you dig into the settings, you won't find a way to switch to 2G. Joikuspot won't work. No idea if bluetooth tethering still works or not.

I really, really liked the C7. I think I'll get one for my dad.

Fun with continuous auto focus

N8 | Ants

I saw some ants outside and decided to test out the continuous auto focus capabilities of CameraPro. It works well for the most part, I couldn't keep it in focus while travelling up the beam. I added some music in the N8's video editor and uploaded it with pixelpipe.

Getting ready for Comic Con 2011

N97 | The pool at the San Diego Marriott Marina

The past few days have been pretty nerve racking as preparations for Comic Con 2011 begin. I got my 4 day passes last year. Everyone else had to deal with months of delays before passes could be sold. When passes finally went on sale, Comic Con's website buckled from everyone trying to get passes. Last year it took a few weeks to sell out, this year took hours.

With passes out of the way, a place to stay needed to be found. A few days ago I thought I had a hotel booked, but that got cancelled. Thus I was anxiously awaiting March 9 with everyone else. We were all expecting the Comic Con website to slow to a crawl, but that didn't happen. It seems everyone on twitter had a problem free hotel registration process.

Today around 8am I noticed people were getting their confirmations. I got my confirmation around 10am and I got my first choice, the San Diego Marriott Marquis and Marina. This hotel is right next to the convention center which makes getting in and out really easy.

Next up is booking a train and getting RSVPs for after-parties.