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nokia n95: my review

hey mates
been a while since i last posted here. after my xda2, i've been using a mio a701. i was then given budget for a new office phone so what the heck i tried out the n95. here's a review after a month's worth of use:
1) battery - if you're a heavy user of bluetooth, wifi, internet, etc...then chances are you're going to charge this almost every night. the bat was okay and i think it could hold it's own for around 2-3 days. i did try out the media player and after like 2 hours of use the battery went down to almost half (from a full charge). i just ordered 2 extra batteries from ebay...good thing their cheap at 2.00usd each.
2) camera - one of the reasons i got this unit. excellent quality given that it's using carl-z optics. the 5 megapixel is quite good and the flash does work wonders. thing is, the camera can also drain the battery if used continuously. yup, the battery is the number one gripe for the n95. however, i was able to buy this little accessory while in hong kong:
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yup, it's a zoom lense. the package comes with a crystal case and from there you attach the lense holder at the back. you have to be careful before you stick it in. the surface comes with a special adhesive. you have to be careful you put the holder in the right position else you risk having an off-centered lense. once attached, the zoom lense slides into the grooves and there you go. i tested it myself and i must say i was impressed with the telescopic feature. you can then remove the zoom lense and keep it in the padded pouch. i was also able to buy a tripod which clamps the phone in place. regular camera tripods allow you to screw the cam on the holder. for the nokia, the tripod has a padded clamp which holds the unit in place.
3) speed - around 9 years ago i was using a nokia 8850 before i switched to ppc units. i'm still getting used to the fact that i have to use the keypad...and no more stylus for me to pull out. other than that the speed of the unit is quite good. applications start out fast. i tried opening several applications at once and it was able to cope without slowing down.
4) media player - i loaded my mp3s on the micro-sd...paired the unit with my r-35 itech headset and there you go...the a2dp works great. i also shut off the bt app and tried out the stereo speakers. although we're not talking b&o quality here the sound is quite good. i think the speakers have been set so as to prevent the speakers from blowing out. in other words, i cranked up the volume to the max and it showed no signs of distortion. it was loud enough to be heard but of course i would expect that the sound would be drowned out when you're in public (like in a bus or a crowd).
5) sliders - the dual slide system...in my opinion...is not as handy. sure it's an added feature..but when you slide it to the right the screen goes on landscape and simply opens up to the animated menu. this is the same menu which pops out when you press the right bigger button while in portrait mode. from there, you have press the central select button to activate the media player.
6) tv-out - the unit can be plugged into the tv and use the screen to display whatever you want. in this case i also loaded a 3gp file of the movie "happy feet"...and to be honest i was quite impressed. it was like having a mini-dvd player. you can also use the tv to display photos or whatever
7) gps - one of the reasons why i bought this unit....but i wasn't as impressed. if you're a hard core navigation user, then better stick to using ppc gps applications. here in thailand i've been using gps to get around as i'm not a native of this country. i've been using powermap v7 for my mio and i was always happy with it. for the n95, the application is called "maps". you then have to install "maploader" into your pc to enable you to download all the maps you need. the pro for this is the maps are free. the con is that you have to pay for navigation services. although the maps application can provide navigation, it will not give you voice directions. you have to pay for this feature...and it comes in plans. it's not a 1-time payment deal...when you pay it can be for 1 year, 2 years, etc.
paying involves connecting to the internet via your gprs /wifi or whatever method you use. although i'm honest in saying that i'm fortunate the company pays for my phone bill, if you're a regualr plan user this can be a burden.
another thing about the gps is that the antenna is on the bottom of the phone. you would have to tilt the unit around 45 degrees in order to get a signal. i would recommend that you switch to landsape mode so as to allow the antenna direct access to the sky.
getting a signal is okay if the sky is clear. while inside the car, i saw some delays and difficulties in getting a satelite signal. i bought an extra gps-receiver and that boosted the connection speed. although there are symbian gps applications like route66 or tomtom, unfortunately the maps are still limited.
don't get me wrong, i like the n95. however, i'm also keeping my mio as i use it for gps applications. overall it's a good phone and i see myself keeping this for quite some time. i was thinking of getting the ameo...but the size factor is what's keeping me from doing so.
cheers

Designio leather case reviewed... By me !

Hello, I was searching for a leather case for my Kaiser for two months now.
Here is what I expected from my case :
1) - I wanted my screen protected with something hard.
2) - the case should let me answer the phone without removing anything.
3) - it should let me open the keyboard without removing the whole case.
4) - I didn't want any plastic thing covering my keyboard once the keyboard is opened.
And I found the perfect case that match my wishes !
Well, I said "perfect" ? Let's see ...
The case is the Designio leather case, here it is :
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Lets' check if it really match my wishes ...
1) - the protective "door" for the screen is really hard, yes, it will really protect my screen. Also, the closure of the door is very good : there is a magnet in the leather case, so the door open/close very easily and remains closed in the pocket (attracted by the magnet). So this protective "door" for the screen is a very good point !
2) - you can easily answer the phone while the case is closed. When your phone rings, nothing to do except pushing the green button. All the buttons around the pad still have a good access with this case. New good point !
3) & 4) - to open the keyboard, I need, this time, to remove the whole upper side of the case. I didn't expected something better, I think we just can't do anything better than this. The keyboard opens very easily here again, the leather is very well adjusted, nothing touch the screen while you let it slide to see the keyboard. Once the keyboard is opened, nothing covers it so the keys are very easy to access and keep their original typing comfort. Again, good point !
But all isn't good ... Now the bad points ...
- When you power off your device, if the upper side of the case is opened, while pressing the power button the Kaiser "pop up" from case, it's very dangerous, it could just drop from the case. So you need to take your Kaiser in both hands to power it off, or close the upper side of the case before.
- Some buttons are a little hard to access. The side "OK" button is partially covered (just a little) by the leather. So it's sometimes hard to press it.
- The hole made for the stylus should be in a higher position. So it is also hard to remove the stylus. The good side of this is that it will now be harder to lose the stylus !
- The hole made for the power button is not big enough, you need to press the hole very strong to touch the button, or you can use your nail as the button access will then be easier, but I hate this.
- The size : to have two leather layers on the screen is very protective but takes of course more room in your pocket. I think the Kaiser, in this case, is about 1cm bigger (from the side view). I will let people convert it into inches if they need !
- Last but not least : I have a problem with my case, the first cover of the screen (the one around the screen, not the "door" wich covers the whole screen) is not well made. The button (in french we say "pressure button", I don't know what's the english word for this) wich let it close is not at the right place. So when I close it, it's a little down, covering a little part of my screen (the bottom right). It's not a very big issue because it's only covering a very little part the screen (I'd say about 2mm), but this sucks anyway. If only they had put this button just 1 mm higher, the protective leather part would perfectly fit the screen. These days, I'm focusing on this problem and it makes me angry !
Is this problem specific to my case ? I'm not sure ... When I look at some shots of this case on the web, sometimes I can see the same problem on the commercial shot ! There may be a way to fix this problem, I'm working on that, but I don't want to cut the leather, that's the hard thing to think about.
Conclusion :
This case does its job : to protect your Kaiser. I have no doubt about this, the only thing wich is not covered is the pad and its buttons. Some buttons should have a better access, but they are still accessible.
The finish is very good, it could be a high price product ...
I think it's worth the price, of course depending on where you buy it. I bought mine in a Hong Kong shop on Ebay. The price was about 15€, shipping included. I waited for it for 3 weeks, so be patient !
I just hope for you, if you buy it, that you will not have the issue I had with the "pressure button" wich is not at the exact place it should be... Just one millimeter higher and it would just be perfect !!!

Wrong Section should be in Kaiser accessories......

Yes you're right ! Sorry ! I made a copy of this post in the right sectio now ... I will try to remove this one

[Q] Problem on Vox disassembly

I recently bought a whole case for my vox cause the buttons where all smashed up and cos of the damaged screen. I downloaded a guide which shows instructions on assembly and disassembly from modaco and followed exactly.
The problem is after the operation was done i tried to turn on the device
and it showed the green led it made on opening screen it even vibrated a bit,
and it looked like it opened normally, the keyboard was operating and had the blue lights on but the screen showed nothing.
I opened it a lot of times from then, and played a little bit with that cable that connects the LCD with the device PCB but still the same results.
I also noticed that the numeric keypad wasn't working and tried to connect and reconnect lots of times the cable from that but still nothing.
ps: the device was working normally till i opened it. even the screen,Wi Fi, everything
Please give me some advice it is very urgent cos ι might have bought the replacement case for nothing

That is strange behavior as you tell it.
did the replacement parts also have the numeric keyboard included? This is not normal (but good if so) as the removal of the numeric contacts membrane is not easy (prone to break some wires or the connector) and the re-glue to the new housing not as well. Also the re-glue of the keypad above the membrane is difficult if you want a good looking result.
your LCD works ok (as you see the start screen)?
does the device connect to the PC normally, so does ActiveSync or Device Center recognize it?
There are two critical connectors, the LCD to PCB in the front and the front-back connector. The first can only be removed/reinserted if the little flap across the whole connector is flipped up/down, the latter must be tightly fit to the socket so it snaps (you can hear it) in fully from left to right.
Also mind that the SIM socket is closed, otherwise the device will not turn on.

Well the device does not connect to AS and the LCD doesn't show anything at all.
It seems to boot well though.
As for the keypad what do you mean to glue it?
I didn't glue it or anything like that.
The LCD connector to PBC also seems to be locking up well enough.
I have tried to disconnect and reconnect this cable but i still get the same result.
Nothing appears on the screen. It 's strange cos it worked fine before the disassembly proccess.
The SIM door was closed too.

For the front side - so the numeric keyboard was included when you bought the new parts? Did you also connect the numeric keyboard when re-assembling the device? The cable comes out at the bottom of the rear front.
Did you separate the LCD from the front PBA when moving the parts from the old housing to the new one? You must be sure to open the flap properly, then insert the LCD cable until it can not fit deeper, than close the flap. You will not be able to insert the cable without the flap opened.
However the device should connect to AS if the keyboard lights go on after slide out. Give it some time to boot up and reconnect. It looks as if the device is just "blind" and works otherwise - but then it should connect.

There were just the numeric keys not the inside.
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The kit i bought included all these:
plus the keyboard and numeric keys, some screwdrivers
but nothing for the inside parts of the Vox.
I will try right now to assemble it again and i will contact you if i get the same problems.
Oh and one more thing: when i operate the device i know it works cos after some time
the keyboard keys start to glow which means it made it through the start up screen. But the numeric keypad doesn't show any reaction.

Well then I am puzzled how you can have numeric keys at all? The upper picture just shows the rubber part with the keys, the second shows the empty front panel. Between these two items, there is the numeric keyboard membrane. This is a flat flexible PBA that contains the actual key-function. The connector comes out at the bottom and must be clipped to the front PBA.
All 3 parts (keypad, membrane + housing) are glued to each other, hence the difficulty I mentioned in my first reply. If you do not have the membrane in your new device then you have no function, obviously! You need to transfer the keypad membrane from your old device to the new one - and this is a tedious job to do if you do not want to spoil the function.

Well can you elaborate on the gluing part?
In the guide there were only those pieces and nothing abou gluing.

Which guide - can you post the link?

Yeah its over here http://www.mikechannon.net/PDF%20Manuals/HTC%20VOX%20Service%20Manual.pdf
Just right click and ''save as'' on the link

I know that one. Look on page 15.
PREPARE NUMERIC KEYPAD AND NUMERIC
KEYPAD FPC.
REMOVE THE STICKER PROTECTOR (DOME
SIDE)
MAKE SURE NUMERIC KEYPAD GUIDE PINS GO
TROUGH THE FPC HOLES.
REMOVE STICKER PROTECTOR (FPC SIDE)
PASTE THE NUMERIC KEYPAD FPC ONTO THE
NUMERIC KEYPAD.
INSTALL THE...
removing the "sticker protector" will reveal the glue on the new parts so they can be assembled.
If you do not have the membrane (the FPC - see picture) you must remove it from the old parts and put it to the new one. Your pictures indicate that you only have bought the other two items (housing + keys).

I have the membrane but are these sticker protectors?
Are they on the old parts?

On a new membrane (which is very unlikely to get), the front (where the rubber + keys will stick to) part has glue-stripes that fit to the rubber of the keypad, following the outline, hence the advice to align the keypad with some holes in the membrane. The downward facing part is fully covered by a dual side adhesive tape - also covered by a protective foil.
So the normal sequence of assembly is:
glue rubber+keys to the membrane (care for alignment)
glue the combo of both to the housing, which is delicate as the membrane connector has to fit through the hole in the housing and you cannot correct once put there.
This is pretty much straight forward, isn't it?
A used part has no glue left (or is cleaned from it) - so you have to do it all yourself or the keypad will fall off sooner or later. If you remove the old membrane from the housing you will notice all the glue stuff.
Best case is that you buy a front-side where the assembly is not ripped apart. Then you will not have problems with all that glue-stuff. If you don't do it right and glue at the wrong places or to little between membrane and keypad, the resulting mechanical key-response is poor. I would not want to do it.
Here in Germany on ebay they sell those for 13 Euro including shipping in Germany: http://cgi.ebay.de/ORIGINAL-HTC-S71...0874?pt=DE_PDA_Zubehör_KM&hash=item2eab03608a

Can't i glue it myself? Isn't there a proccess i could follow?
How the gluing part can affect the LCD though?

you can glue that of course. For the backside just take double adhesive tape. For the front it is hard as only the edges of the key-rubber shall stick, the rest must not.
Keypad should work however if the it's plug is put the front PBA where it belongs to.
The keypad stuff does not affect the LCD - these are two separate problems.

[TuT] use every ear-/headphone without slide'n'pause

Hey!
Many of you may know the issue that the Music Stops playing, when you slide the phone. I was tired of this and since nobody here posted a solution, I investigated a bit on that problem.
First Idea, it's a "feature" and you probably can turn it off in a Registry entry. But nope, the registry does not seem to have any key for this.
Second idea was the Jack itself. So I tried the official Earphones, and it did not stop. Looking at those I saw, that the jack got 4 pins.
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I'm sure all of you that are using, their own headphones got one with this Jack:
It works probably like this: If you press the button, Aux and GND are connected and the device knows, the button is pressed.
But if you use a 3pin Jack, Aux and GND is always connected, since there is no aux but GND only!
You can test it yourself: unplug your earphones play Music via speaker, plug in your 3pinJack -> the music stops (since the device thinks the button is pressed)
unplug and try the same thing, with a 4pinJack (like official HTC earphones) it the music will not pause when you plug it in.
The Device ignores the button press until it is released and pressed again, that's why it does not pause all the time. But when you slide, for some reason, the device thinks the button is pressed again. (probably for some hardware reasons, but idk)
Solution?
Here:
1. Use the orignal HTC Earphones
well, rumors say they got a bad sound quality.
2. You can use an Nokia headest
as well, my nokia headset got an 3,5input for a Jack with 3pins.
But with my earphones, I can clearly hear the more bad sound quality
(and you can't use the buttons as well, but i don't care about this)
Later I found out the bad quality is HTCs fault! They swapped the position of the AUX and the GND Pin, so that you can use the Nokia Headset only with lack of quality..
3. The MacGyver
It's easy and it works.
Take some duct tape and cut it small.. really small!
So small that it just covers the not available Aux pin (compare first and second image above). Please note that HTC swapped the position of Aux and GND on their Jack, so that you have to place the duct tape on the area which is labeled with GND on the picture at the top. See picture above. otherwise you will might notice a lack of quality..
Plug it in your Device and you are done.
Now the Aux pin is isolated and the device never thinks the button is pressed.
Unfortunately, the (at least my) duct tape does not stay in place, since the input is rather small and with duct tape the jack hardly fits in. But maybe you can do it better? If you don't replug all day long this could be your solution
4.The slaughter
/* No picture here */
Cut off, the Jack of your earphones, cut of the Jack of the official HTC earphones, and connect it. (don't cut the cable to short!)
Leave Aux of the 4pin Jack simply unconnected. (so it will never be pressed)
If you want you can simply strip the wires and twist the corresponding ones.
Advanced users might want to solder it (I recommend this).
When you are finished use some duct tape and you are done!
5. The better slaughter
You maybe got some real expensive earphones and don't want to cut off the Jack? Yeah me too!
The solution is easy, you build an converter.
Cut off the 4pin-jack of an earphone that got one (eg the official HTC earphones). Take an 3,5Jack input, solder everything, but keep the Aux one unconnected. Maybe a case or some duct tape and you are done!
Here is a quick view of how I build my converter:
1. I cut of the 4pin-jack of my old Nokia headset seen above.
2. I opend the remote part, with the 3,5input.
2.1 I unsoldered the 3,5input from the board.
3. I soldered the 4pin-jack directly on the input.
3.1 Since Nokia uses the regular order of Aux and GND I had to leave the clear one unconnected (this would usually be GND) and connected the white one (this would usually be Aux).
3.2 If you want to be sure, which color has to be connected to which pin, I recommend to use an Multimeter and check the pin outs.
3.3 Some cracks might want to add the an pause button on the converter: simply connect the button to the unconnected one and the other pin of the button to GND!
3.4 this will probably work with every 3,5input you might find it on cable extensions?
Well thats it!
Regards,
Daniel
PS:
Think before you cut!
Please Press thanks if it helped!
You're welcome to correct my grammar
Picture source: by my self and wikipedia.de

thanks for the writeup! ill give the tape a try

I wonder how well car cradles & the Edge Sense are going to play together

A lot of us use car cradles that clamp onto the phone. Although I use a very minimalist clamp buy Kenu, some car clamps can run almost the full side length of a phone.
I'll be curious to see if these set off the Edge Sense when you clamp your phone in and if it's going to be a problem for people. I haven't seen a single person bring this up in a review or online, but it's one of the first things I thought of.
Fortunately the clamp I use is very minimalist and I can set it to clamp higher on the phones edge, so maybe above the squeezable area, but I know some have fuller sized clamps.
Yes I know you can set the sensitivity of the squeeze to initiate the desired function.

I never thought of this. I guess I will see once I get my phone

Simply you'll have to disable edgesense directly with in the quicksettings. An item is here to enable/disable it when you want as you do with wifi for example. But I have to admit that if you don't disable it, edgesense engage the action you set and you often have the photo app launched :/

Fre$h said:
Simply you'll have to disable edgesense directly with in the quicksettings. An item is here to enable/disable it when you want as you do with wifi for example. But I have to admit that if you don't disable it, edgesense engage the action you set and you often have the photo app launched :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a quick access toggle in the notification bar pull down to turn Edge Sense on and off?

Yes there is one toggle :
https://imageshack.us/i/pnktR3vfp

The clamp force of a smartphone holder is not big. So u think there will be no issues here.

notice the included case is cut out almost the entire edge length. Partially for buttons of course, but partially for edge sense space.
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*justintime* said:
The clamp force of a smartphone holder is not big. So u think there will be no issues here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the Kenu one I use is extremely strong, but either way... putting it in and out of a clamp might set the edge sense off. Hopefully there will be Tasker integration and then maybe you can set up a profile so that if you're attached to the Bluetooth in your car that shuts off the edge sense functionality.

Just get a magnet-based mount system. Problem solved. They work great. I wouldn't ever go back now that I've switched.

Bright idea: Use your car dock to set up a shortcut to start your phone's car app! (Win/win)

I've been using slipgrip mounts forever, though they are device specific so I change it every time I upgrade phones. Grabs by the lower corners and one tab mid-point.
Sent from my LG-H830 using Tapatalk

cool idea
If your using side grip mounts in your car with the HTC U11. Grab a few of the NFC programmables and use some triggers(macros) to disable the Edge Sense before mounting, and another to enable it when you take your phone out of the side grips (maybe on a keychain). I'm finding the Edge Sense useful for now. It's a gimmick now, but maybe other options will pop up. You can launch MacroDroid with the short squeeze and do a lot more with Edge Sense.

Just pull down notification bar and toggle off edge sense while it's in an edge grip cradle. Lol
Sent from my 2PZC5 using Tapatalk

I use a car mount like this. Doesn't falsely trigger edge sense when I put the phone in. My edge sense setting is about slightly below medium setting.

I have Kenu plus.... will have to see....

If you are looking for a great looking cradle this is a very nice one.
Solid.. Nice design and no edge sense "problems"
Rock autobot cradle.

OK, got my phone yesterday and had tried out Kenu Plus this morning on the way to work. The mount grip triggered the Edge sense, but it displays a message saying "release to launch or keep pressing to cancel". So, it detects the pressure but will not trigger any actions. I am just worried how that constant pressure will affect the lifetime of the physical edge sensors...

I am interested in this one, seems like it doesn't apply any pressure to the edge sensor...
https://www.aliexpress.com/item-img...48866.html?spm=2114.10010108.1000017.2.xuebZ4

I have a car mount which squeezes the sides.
when i pop it in, the graphics come up to indicate that it senses a squeeze, but after a few seconds, it realises that its constant pressure, and not a squeeze per-se, and times out. No impact on use.

sephstyler said:
I have a car mount which squeezes the sides.
when i pop it in, the graphics come up to indicate that it senses a squeeze, but after a few seconds, it realises that its constant pressure, and not a squeeze per-se, and times out. No impact on use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
same here, see my previous post, just worry about long term effect on the sensors.
Actually now that I have put the Spigen clear case on, it kind of reduces the pressure and the phone doesn't sense the squeeze at all.