Good Camera Tweaks

If you do not want people to know you’re taking a picture of them or you just don’t like extra noises, there are two simple ways to remove the sound the camera makes when taking a picture.
1. In your Profiles Menu/ Profiles/ General/ Personalise/ Warning tones/ set to OFF. The obvious drawback is that you will no longer receive warning tones like Low battery alerts.

2. The other way is to select the Silent profile or create a profile called “Secret Camera” etc. and adjust the Warning tone to OFF.

The camera has 4 basic capture sounds which are changed by activating the camera and selecting Options/ Settings/ camera tone. There is a program available to turn off camera tones but for me it easier to turn off the Warning tones.

It is possible to change the camera tones but it is a complicated procedure requiring additional software.

To stop the Automatic flash : Activate Camera, scroll down the side icons to Flash mode and select off, the automatic setting is useful but often unwanted in lower light levels.

There was a bug in the earlier firmware version 10.0.0.018 that set the picture sharpness to HARD. To check your setting is Normal: Activate Camera, scroll down the side icons to Sharpness and select Normal.

Battery Life - How to optimize

By now I am sure you realise that the battery life on the N95 is pretty poor. Its fine if you only send the occasional text but as a multimedia device, well, it is not the best.

There is no way around it, find your old N70, N80 chargers and leave one at home,at work, in the car etc.

First off don’t waste your time buying a slightly larger battery which are available on the Internet.
The N95 comes with a standard BL-5F Li-Ion battery with 950mAh. Other non Nokia batteries have 1000mAh but this increase in size is so small you will never notice it, and more importantly, these batteries are mostly Li-Poly and have had problems in the past with exploding!

These are a few good basic tips to get the best from your battery. Most are common sense but its worth checking to see if you have done them.

1. The best power save is by turning off 3G network searching (based on U.K reception). To do this Tools / Settings / Phone / Network / Network mode, Set to “GSM” not Dual

2. Packet data connection, set this to “when needed”Connection”. To do this Tools / Settings / Connection / Packet data, Set Packet data connection to “When needed”

3. Wlan scanning, make sure your Wlan scanning is turned off. To do this Tools / Settings / Connection / Wireless Lan / Show WLAN availability , set to “Never”, dont worry you can still connect to wireless routers at home, it will do it automatically when you select “web and walk” for example.
If you use Wlan a lot the its a good idea to turn down the Wlan transmit power to 10mW. To do this Tools / Settings / connection / Wireless Lan / Options(top left key) / Advanced settings (Ignore the warning select yes), scroll down to TX power level and select 10mW.

4. Animated Screensavers, I don’t see much point in having them running when your not there anyway, and you can save a bit of battery just selecting Date and time. To do this Tools / Settings / general / Personalisation / Themes / Power saver and select “Date and Time”

5. Reduce screen display times, To do this Tools / Settings / General / Personalisation / Display / Power saver time set to 1 minute (minimum).
Reduce Light time out. To do this Tools / Settings / General / Personalisation / Display / light time out, Set to your preference.

6. Turn bluetooth off , Its really easy to turn bluetooth On and Off, just use the preset voice command, just hold down top right key and say “bluetooth” when prompted repeat to turn off, to search for devices you will need to locate the application from the Menu.

7. Don’t leave applications running by accident, check by holding down Menu key, select the unwanted app. then from the options select exit.

8. Don’t leave the camera on unless you are using it. Obvious but its better to open /close than leave open.

Hope these tips help you get more life out of your battery!

Tips to speed up your Nokia N95

1.  Update your Firmware to version 20

2.  Remove unwanted applications

3.  Install applications onto the Internal Phone Memory

4.  Close unwanted open applications

5.  Reboot to remove Memory leaks

6.  Defrag your External SD memory card

7.  Turn off active standby

8.  Turn off the Media Background Video/Animation

9.  Set the Phone log to 10 days

These are a few good basic tips for keeping your N95 running as fast as it can.

Nokia N95 vs iPhone photos

Here is a side by side comparison of photos taken by the Nokia N95 phone and the Apple iPhone.  You be the judge of the better quality photo.

Nokia N95 Photo:

Apple iPhone Photo:

Top Accessories for your N95

According to CNet, one of the top accessories for the Nokia N95 is a neat little set of speakers that are small enough to fit in your pocket, but are powerful enough to rock your house.  They also come with a built-in radio antenna.

 The Nokai MD-4 Portable Speakers are only 130 grams.  Dimensions are 114×30x33 mm and run on 4 AAA batteries for about 30 hours.

Accelerometer in the Nokia N95

The Nokia N95 includes a built-in accelerometer.  If you are like me, you are saying an accele-what??

An accelerometer is a device for measuring the total specific external force on the sensor.  Meaning, it senses motion.

The accelerometer was originaly only used for video stabilization and photo orientation (to keep landscape or portrait pictures oriented as taken).

Nokia Research Center has just recently allowed an application interface directly to the acceleromater, allowing software to use the data from it.

Third-party programs have already begun to appear, including RotateMe, which will automatically change the screen orientation when the phone is tilted and Lightsaber, which causes the phone to make the sounds of the Star Wars Lightsaber when waved through the air.

Using the Nokia N95 as a game console

So we have told you about the camera, GPS, etc, now let’s talk about the fun stuff. I’ve recently tried a selection of different games on the Nokia N95 using its TV Out feature.

Overall, playing games through TV Out works really well. The N95’s QVGA resolution is surprisingly good on a large screen, and at least one game (System Rush Evolution) seemed to be outputting at VGA resolution. TV Out easily crosses the “good enough” threshold, it makes a totally plausible home games system, and while it will never catch up with the technical abilities of the latest dedicated home consoles, perhaps it doesn’t have to. The Nintendo Wii didn’t even try to match the graphics of the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, yet it is now outselling both of them put together several times over.

One thing the N95 is missing as a gaming console is a proper controller. Yes, you can use the phone’s own controls, but the TV Out cable is quite short. Alternatively you can use the bluetooth keyboard, but a bluetooth controller would be even better. It wouldn’t be that difficult to do either, it could use the same Bluetooth standard that the keyboard does.

TV Out on S60 smartphones will be made even more useful to gamers when the Next Gen N-Gage platform launches this autumn. Hopefully they will all look as good on television as the System Rush Evolution demo.

In related news, a new slimmer version of the PlayStation Portable is also due out in the autumn which will feature a TV Out socket. Hopefully that will help bring TV Out gaming well into the mainstream where it deserves to be, because it’s a really good idea. It is my opinion that portable gaming systems will gradually take over from non-portable ones, even in the home.

Latest Nokia N95 Firmware

Many of us have been anxiouslywaiting for this for quite a while now but Nokia has finally released the latest N95 firmware upgrade. The last firmware update for the N95 was released in June 2007 and was firmware version 12.0.0.013. Some people have been putting a wishlist of features and updates they’d like to see in the latest Nokia N95 firmware version. The new firmware is firmware version 20.0.015 and is available for download from the Nokia Software Update site.

Some of the features included in the new firmware update are demand paging for ROM applications, new and faster camera software, Search 4.0 integrated on the standby screen, a new Welcome application, and hopefully the presskey bug has also been fixed!

Firmware update for Nokia N95

The last firmware update for the Nokia N95 was Version 12.0.0.013 that was released in June! I know there was a Version 12.0.0.014 firmware update but that was a regional specific update for Asia. The point is, it’s been a long time and after using the N95 for a couple of months now there are a couple of things I think needs fixing. Not that I’m any less impressed with the phone, just certain things can be better!

For starters, the keypress bug where certain key strokes go unnoticed is a pain! It’s a real bugger when sending text messages and makes using Quickoffice is a pain too. It’s been fixed in the Asia Pacific firmware update so it should be fixed for us too!

Then the multi media menu must be upgraded to the one on the N95 8GB, which is much faster! They’re essentially the same phones, so that also should not be a problem.

The camera can also be made faster. After all, the camera is a major feature contributing to the N95’s success. A faster camera would improve the N95 no end and make really worthwhile for everyone!

I’d also like to see search integrated into the standby screen like in the newer Nseries phones.

I suppose we could throw in a few extras, like a new multimedia menu, but I’d like to see the first four issues sorted out. If you recon I missed something, feel free to add it in your comments.

Nokia N95: The Perfect Xmas Gift

So, you’re looking for that perfect Christmas present for family and friends for under $800 but can’t decide what to get? You’re thinking maybe a digital camera, a multimedia player, or a handheld GPS? Or maybe you’re thinking a cell phone for someone who’s contract is coming to an end? Well, how about an unlocked Nokia N95 mobile phone deal from nokiausa.com?

So what’s an “unlocked” mobile phone? It’s simply a mobile phone that doesn’t require a contract or SIM card from a particular wireless network carrier. So the person to whom you give the Nokia N95 can choose their own network carrier.

Why the Nokia N95? Well, for starters, the N95 is probably the best smart phone on the market, and you can get a good unlocked Nokia N95 deal from nokiausa.com at $699 for the original 2GB version while the newer N95 8GB is only $80 more. Either one is safely under $800!

The N95 is also the most feature packed smart phone around with a 5-megapixel camera, a multimedia player, multimedia recorder, and assisted GPS, to mention a few.  It rivals stand-alone digital cameras, entry level digital video recorders, mp3 players and handheld GPS sets. Best of all, it’s all these devices in one!

The Nokia N95 is also one of the most desirable smart phones on the market so it’s sure to please! The original version is still a good deal but I’d shell out the extra $80 for the N95 8GB model deal for the extra memory.

Hope this helps you with your Christmas Shopping.