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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

Headphone jack noise - stock earbuds

A week ago I got a G2x from Wind Mobile in Toronto. Along with some battery life and overheating issues reported here, there is this one problem I really hope is not the way LG designed this phone. Although I don't have any other smartphone to compare this to, design/shielding can and should avoid this problem entirely.
A second after any audio stops, or during a silent part of an mp3 in any media player, or youtube for example, there is a quiet hiss from the headphone jack, at least with the stock earbuds. After that second, there is a quiet pop/click before complete silence (amplifier being powered down?).
QUICK TEST:
Go into a silent area and put your earbuds in. Click the volume up/down buttons on the side of the phone to change the ringer volume. It does not matter where the volume is set to. As soon as you click the button, you may hear a pop or two, followed by the "boop" sound demonstrating your volume level, followed by a second of hiss, and another quiet pop into silence. Please post results...
The hiss is not very loud, but absolutely unacceptable for listening to any form of respectable music. I got the phone expecting to stream my stuff from home, and run it though a proper parametric EQ to correct the earbuds to perfection. They are in fact decent headphones, with rather flat response...
I have a hunch this is related to the same issue as the battery drain - maybe some faulty component in the power circuitry that also introduces noise into the power supply of other components, sometimes leading to instability, etc.

k00zk0 said:
A week ago I got a G2x from Wind Mobile in Toronto. Along with some battery life and overheating issues reported here, there is this one problem I really hope is not the way LG designed this phone. Although I don't have any other smartphone to compare this to, design/shielding can and should avoid this problem entirely.
A second after any audio stops, or during a silent part of an mp3 in any media player, or youtube for example, there is a quiet hiss from the headphone jack, at least with the stock earbuds. After that second, there is a quiet pop/click before complete silence (amplifier being powered down?).
QUICK TEST:
Go into a silent area and put your earbuds in. Click the volume up/down buttons on the side of the phone to change the ringer volume. It does not matter where the volume is set to. As soon as you click the button, you may hear a pop or two, followed by the "boop" sound demonstrating your volume level, followed by a second of hiss, and another quiet pop into silence. Please post results...
The hiss is not very loud, but absolutely unacceptable for listening to any form of respectable music. I got the phone expecting to stream my stuff from home, and run it though a proper parametric EQ to correct the earbuds to perfection. They are in fact decent headphones, with rather flat response...
I have a hunch this is related to the same issue as the battery drain - maybe some faulty component in the power circuitry that also introduces noise into the power supply of other components, sometimes leading to instability, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
stock ear buds?

k00zk0 said:
A week ago I got a G2x from Wind Mobile in Toronto. Along with some battery life and overheating issues reported here, there is this one problem I really hope is not the way LG designed this phone. Although I don't have any other smartphone to compare this to, design/shielding can and should avoid this problem entirely.
A second after any audio stops, or during a silent part of an mp3 in any media player, or youtube for example, there is a quiet hiss from the headphone jack, at least with the stock earbuds. After that second, there is a quiet pop/click before complete silence (amplifier being powered down?).
QUICK TEST:
Go into a silent area and put your earbuds in. Click the volume up/down buttons on the side of the phone to change the ringer volume. It does not matter where the volume is set to. As soon as you click the button, you may hear a pop or two, followed by the "boop" sound demonstrating your volume level, followed by a second of hiss, and another quiet pop into silence. Please post results...
The hiss is not very loud, but absolutely unacceptable for listening to any form of respectable music. I got the phone expecting to stream my stuff from home, and run it though a proper parametric EQ to correct the earbuds to perfection. They are in fact decent headphones, with rather flat response...
I have a hunch this is related to the same issue as the battery drain - maybe some faulty component in the power circuitry that also introduces noise into the power supply of other components, sometimes leading to instability, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought the G2x didn't come with earbuds? Unless LG allows Wind Mobile to have earbuds. I know my G2x only came with the box, charger and manual. No SD, no HDMI, and no headphones!
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App

Yes, canalphone headset! They block out a ton of external sound... Definitely not for driving.
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I am sure any headphone/speakers would do it, speakers in fact would be better, crank the volume on them and just change the phone ringer volume. Please try this test! Especially if you have a perfect unit as no modern sound device should do this and it leads one to question the stability of the hardware if a simple op-amp or DAC is noisy like that.
No HDMI cable nor SD card with Wind. Seems the card would only jack the price up unless they threw a 32GB in there. Micro HDMI cable is 5 dollars if you Google it.

Review Bluetooth Headphones with Bone Conduction and NFC -> Digicare DO

Hi all, I have recently acquired that gadget and this is my experience
I must start this review confessing that I am a quite intensive user of headphones, either it's radio, podcast or music.
For that reason, I found very interesting the opportunity to try this device, not only for being wireless (they use Bluetooth), but also for their bone conduction tecnology (the same used by the famous and expensive Google Glasses). The sound is transmitted through our bones and not through our ears cavity.
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External Appearance
They are made on plastic and the touch is very agreeable. On the right side can find the “Play/pause” button, on the left one, another button for calling (hang up, down and voice assistant). Finally in the rear part the is a microUSB adapter for charging, the On/Off switch and two small buttons for volumen and track change.
Specifications
Bone conduction technology
Bluetooth V3.0+EDR with profiles HFP, HSP, AVRCP, A2DP
NFC Connectivity
Stereo sound, with high sensitivity microphone
High-speed data transfer (24Mbps)
Intelligent power saving system
DigiCare splashproof design, suitable for outdoor sweaty sports
Ergonomic and including and adjustable band for different head sizes
Only 50 grams of weight
Working distance 10 meters
Frequency 20-20Khz
Impedance 32Ω
Receive sensitivity 88dBm
Battery de 260 mAh
My experience
Between the different advantages present on this technology, the first one that could be highlighted is that, since we don't introduce anything into our ears, the potential damages are clearly reduced, so less intrusive than traditional earphones.
In addition, it prevents of having bacteria inside the ears, and, something that surprised me, it doesn't block the sound while talking or listening to music, so if you are on the street, you continue hearing other sounds like traffic.
After using them continuously for more than one week, I can clearly say that the advantages mentioned on the above paragraph has fully convinced me. Specially because I guess my ears are quite special and so, I find uncomfortable almost every earphone... or they fall all the time.
In the past week and something, I have used those Digicare DO walking, running and riding the bike and, they didn't fall down at any moment, and the sound was always good.
The quality of the audio is very good, not only listening to music, but also during calls, even while going on the bike.
The battery duration is most than acceptable, it has last for several hours (like promised) using for music and doing long calls (more than 1 hour).
Another aspect I was a little bit doubtfully was the position of the buttons, BUT at the end the user experience has been great, very easily accesible all of them, the ones next to the ears (play/pause and calls) respond very quick to a simple touch, and the ones in the back are very easily identifiable, even wearing gloves.
Last the Bluetooth works excellently, the pairing was the quickest I've seen in the last gadgets I've tried (other earphones, speakers or between phones,…) and even when we change to another phone, once the Bluetooth enabled it connects really fast. The other good point here is that we can connect 2 phones simultaneously.
Points to improve
For sure not everything is good on this review, so here some aspects that Digicar should improve for future updates or versions.
The NFC is clearly improvable, it worked... but sincerely it wasn't quick, neither simple. I tried with 2 different smartphones (including Galaxy S4) and I only could detect the headphones with one of them.
They come on universal size. I have a small head, so I feel like I have too much "hanging behind" and it is a little bit uncomfortable with the coat or scarfs. It's true that the elastic belt to adjust it works well, and the position for a good audio quality, but still too much plastic hanging... maybe it would be a good idea to have two different sizes.
Voice assistants (Siri, Google Now, Cortana...) work but, sincerely don't help, or at least I couldn't make them understand as well as when you talk directly to the phone. I worked very well to sat "Call number 123456789", it dialed and the conversation quality was very good. But when asking about football results, or something to add to my calendar, it captured other noises in addition to my voice (I guess the micro is really sensible also for that) so Siri didn't finish capturing.
I suppose using it more often, Siri (or the others) will "learn" to understand us, and it will work better, but for the moment it's not so comfortable, I go much faster with the fingers
Conclusions
Some months ago, I was looking for Bluetooth earphones and I finally took the traditional ones (inside the ear), first because I didn't know anything about that bone conduction technology and secondly for the price, the difference was considerable.
After trying those ones... I trully think the price is justified. In fact I haven't used the other ones anymore since I receive the Digicare DO, just a question of comfort.
They are currently in promotion at Geekbuying using the promo code PNALFZGX . That's where I got them

My DIY bike mount

I was finally able to work on building a bicycle mount for my Tab S (8.4) and I though I'd share it with the community. It isn't entirely finished but it is in working order. The tablet and speaker are held on by Velcro with a rating of 10 pounds. A metal strap placed around the handlebar stem and screwed into the back of the wood. I plan on adding sides and a top to provide some shade for the tablet while riding during the day. It'll get too hot in direct sun light. Once the sides are up, I'll be able to attach my phone there with Velcro as well. I will probably attach a flashlight and/or my green laser pointer to the top.
I'm also up for suggestions if any of you have some ideas for adding even more functionality!
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Sent from my SM-T700 using Tapatalk

This is awesome please don't hit a tree while watching YouTube....

DBCAB said:
This is awesome please don't hit a tree while watching YouTube....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Definitely no video watching! LOL I use it just for music for now. If I take my bike with me when I move to Dallas, then I'll use it for Google Maps too.

tablet, for listening music? why didn't you just mount a full blown pc in the back for winamp..

hurdlejade said:
tablet, for listening music? why didn't you just mount a full blown pc in the back for winamp..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unless I'm missing something; what you said makes no sense? If the main purpose of the tablet while riding a bike is only to listen to music, why would I want to carry around a PC?

I just use an ipod or somtimes my phone with a Bluetooth headset to listen to music while riding my bike. I just put the device in my pocket. A 8" tablet seems like overkill. Also for safety reasons I keep the volume low enough to hear traffic.
Sent from my SM-T800 using XDA-Developers mobile app

Eddie Hicks said:
I just use an ipod or somtimes my phone with a Bluetooth headset to listen to music while riding my bike. I just put the device in my pocket. A 8" tablet seems like overkill. Also for safety reasons I keep the volume low enough to hear traffic.
Sent from my SM-T800 using XDA-Developers mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well; as I stated in the OP, I was thinking about bringing my bike with to Dallas. If I had, then I would have been using it for navigation as well. My phone is POS and the bluetooth and GPS rarely ever work. Even if I could use my phone for navigation, it would be a pain in the ass to have to pull out of my pocket every time I needed to look at it and I wasn't about to spend money on a mount when I could build one for a fraction of the cost. Not to mention the battery drain on the phone if I were using navigation AND bluetooth at the same time.
I ended up not bringing my bike though so the whole project, if you want to call it that, has been scrapped. Now I just use the tablet's leather case and set it in the dash area just behind the steering wheel (Don't worry! I can still see all my needles) and connect it to the bluetooth speaker. Strictly for navigation when in the car. I'm hoping to get a new phone soon so I can stop using my tablet in these odd ways.

noxarcana said:
Well; as I stated in the OP, I was thinking about bringing my bike with to Dallas. If I had, then I would have been using it for navigation as well. My phone is POS and the bluetooth and GPS rarely ever work. Even if I could use my phone for navigation, it would be a pain in the ass to have to pull out of my pocket every time I needed to look at it and I wasn't about to spend money on a mount when I could build one for a fraction of the cost. Not to mention the battery drain on the phone if I were using navigation AND bluetooth at the same time.
I ended up not bringing my bike though so the whole project, if you want to call it that, has been scrapped. Now I just use the tablet's leather case and set it in the dash area just behind the steering wheel (Don't worry! I can still see all my needles) and connect it to the bluetooth speaker. Strictly for navigation when in the car. I'm hoping to get a new phone soon so I can stop using my tablet in these odd ways.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess it makes sense when using it for navigation. I have a bracket on my Harley for my Galaxy S7 phone. I use the Waze app for navigation on occasion but I mostly use it to stream music to my bike's stereo system.

My favorite feature

Using the secondary display as and application switcher. I really hope LG expands on this.
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This second screen window allows you to switch back and forth between apps like a mini windows taskbar (Running applications).

Don't forget in nougat, if you double tap the recent app button, it switches to the last app that was used

McQueefus said:
Don't forget in nougat, if you double tap the recent app button, it switches to the last app that was used
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
:-o
Learn something new every day! Thank you!

planetbeen said:
:-o
Learn something new every day! Thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem:good:

Also, you can slide your thumb left and right on the LG keyboard spacebar to scroll through the words you just typed.
Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk

The 4 way DAC, with a semi-decent connected headphone and listening to a local FLAC, at least 24\96, has made me grateful we evolved with 2 ears. Led Zeppelin (the 45 RPM version )with the V-Moda wireless (though connected with it's included braided cable) has opened music, that I know very well, in a wonderful manner.
I had the Sony MDR7506 at 63 ohms and it made the hair stand up. I've returned it and ordered the BeyerDynamic DT 770 PRO 250 Ohms Studio Headphones. High Definition music, and a headphone that triggers the DAC, will make every other phone, you have listened to, into a Hodor. My mobile phone music player history goes back to the Seimens SX66 (from 2004) and 20 or so other phones that could play locally stored music. This thing is a beast.

Good stuff!
Sent from my LG-H918 using Tapatalk

When I was considering the V20 I was like, ok it has good audio, but whatever. I focused more on the removable battery, screen size, second screen and overall specs.
After trying the DAC with my Audio Technica noise cancelling headphones I am like WOW! And that's with no special music, just regular mp3s. Is like that every instrument and voice is in the room next to you when the DAC is activated! I am glad that LG took the effort to develop a high quality feature. Now I don't mind that I paid the early adopter fee (usually after few months phones like these are much cheaper on eBay) of paying regular price.
My other favorite and more practical feature is the second screen. I was used to the LED of my Nexus 5 and was a little bit concerned about getting used to the second screen. That said I usually look at my phone from 1-2 feet anyway when I want to check for new notifications and in this context the second is much better because I can see the notification icons.
The second screen can be used to control your music as well!

haris163 said:
The second screen can be used to control your music as well!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only annoying thing about music player on second screen is that when playing music on lockscreen it doesn't stay on music player (it keeps going back to default screen). I have to keep swiping it back to music screen everytime I want to change a song.

This evening I went to a small recital to try and record in 24\192 again. My 2 previous shows had been disappointments with the result. It was mostly my fault but I took steps to correct my methods. Wow! I don't what the 2 auto modes are for but when I managed the gain and clipping in the manual mode, I got HD tracks that are worthy of commercial releases. One I got my fat fingers out of the way, and started sampling the results, between songs, this is my next favorite feature.
I also love the removable battery and SD card slot but I have had 3 LG phones before and trusted the engineering.

justthefacts said:
The only annoying thing about music player on second screen is that when playing music on lockscreen it doesn't stay on music player (it keeps going back to default screen). I have to keep swiping it back to music screen everytime I want to change a song.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If your headphones have controls (specifically an answer/disconnect button) you can double tap the answer button to skip to the next song.

dartinbout said:
The 4 way DAC, with a semi-decent connected headphone and listening to a local FLAC, at least 24\96, has made me grateful we evolved with 2 ears. Led Zeppelin (the 45 RPM version )with the V-Moda wireless (though connected with it's included braided cable) has opened music, that I know very well, in a wonderful manner.
I had the Sony MDR7506 at 63 ohms and it made the hair stand up. I've returned it and ordered the BeyerDynamic DT 770 PRO 250 Ohms Studio Headphones. High Definition music, and a headphone that triggers the DAC, will make every other phone, you have listened to, into a Hodor. My mobile phone music player history goes back to the Seimens SX66 (from 2004) and 20 or so other phones that could play locally stored music. This thing is a beast.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Enjoy those headphones. Not the most musical but still very good and great for critical listening.