I’m pretty sure everyone who’ve had the experience of watching videos have heard about DivX: it’s a codec which allows for compression of video files to maintain a very high video quality, while being a fraction of their original counterparts; and hence making it a very attractive option for putting on portable video players and mobile phones alike.

Although Nokia’s smart phones by default don’t support DivX video files, DivX themselves have offered a solution: DivX Mobile. While DivX Mobile is still formally a beta software (it hasn’t reached version 1.0 yet) and you need to register with DivX to get an account in order to download the app, it’s well worth the time as you can then convert your movies and TV series (using DivX Converter) from your PC to your phone.

Here’s a few tips in getting you started for converting and viewing videos on the N82:
Because the N82 doesn’t have an extremely powerful processor, it can’t handle stuff like 480p or 720p high def videos. Keep it simple - it only supports a resolution of 320 x 240, so you can opt for videos at a resolution of 320 x 240, along with a video bitrate of roughly 200kbps and an audio bitrate of about 128kbps. More is fine, but just remember that because of that small 2.6″ screen, you’re not likely to see much improvement in video quality even with a higher bitrate.

If you’re gonna be watching quite a few movies or videos in a day, you’ll probably need a charger for extra juice. DivX Mobile is rather hungry for juice when it comes to viewing videos, and even though the developers have worked on optimising the battery, don’t expect it to be able to last 1 whole day if you’re going to be using the WiFi/HSDPA, sending a couple of texts, a few calls, an hour of tunes and a few hours of videos.

There’s no need to create a specific folder for your DivX content - you can just dump all your video files in to the folder on your memory stick named “My Videos”.So that’s about it - you can click here to get started right away!

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Compare it with a theme like this (only an example):

You’ll be surprised how hard it is to find a good theme that doesn’t have any sort of colour clashes, poor choice of colours, hard to read colour scheme, etc. So thats why it’s great to see theme creators such as PiZero (who is one of the more notable names in the S60 field) with his simple and soothing themes for the masses.

Most of his themes are free (such as the one above). However, you can also opt for the “Premium Themes” costing at US$10 (or 6 Euros). These themes are more stringent in terms of standards:
Lightweight themes (less than 100Kb)Default icons by Nokia PiZero’s style combined with higher readability100% SVG ThemesCompatible with all The Symbian 3rd edition phones, including Nokia E90.Personally I would recommend this theme named “Silvery“; simple and easy on the eyes, without any of those fancy stuff prevalent on themes you find on other sites.

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So far Nokia Chat is limited to working exclusively on Nokia S60 smart phones; but Nokia is changing that now with a step-by-step instruction manual on how to set up instant messenging software Psi, Adium, and Pidgin with Nokia Chat.

Not that I find it that useful right currently - how many of your friends do use Nokia Chat? But at least its a step in the right direction in promoting its own IM service.

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No, it’s not a half assed port to the S60 platform - it actually utilises the AJAX support one can find on the S60 v3 platform to get from one photo to another, as well as resizing the photos to fill your screen, regardless of whether you’re seeing it in portrait or landscape mode.

It’s rather surprising that Google decided to offer this for S60 platforms. Yes, I understand the “need” to make one specific for iPhones, but did you finally, FINALLY understand the potential of the S60 platform and the fact that many, MANY more users that use this smartphone platform? (Just to let others know that there are 100 more times S60 users than iPhone users)

In any case, I would shrug and say “better late than never”. Let’s hope this means that Google will eventually convert their entire suite of services to be S60 friendly, along with some major AJAX support, while all the S60 users can release a beastial roar of triumph in the background.

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The E-series blog has a great post about Nokia’s E-series phones and how it works with MS Exchange ActiveSync. While the E-series is targeted with business users in mind, I see some of them (as well as more casual users) still demanded for business features found on the E-series on the N-series phones as well, such as the N95 and the N82.

The installation file for Mail for Exchange that works on your N82 and N95 (and probably the whole cohort of the N-series phones) is available from Nokia’s Business Software directory.

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The new service allows for Push Email, supporting both the POP and IMAP protocols, whilst retaining the old SMS/Text messages look that you find in your inbox. It’s currently in beta right now (probably why it’s free), but you can surely expect to pay a price for it in the future.

Strange that it currently supports the Nokia N81, the N95, the N73, the N80, but no N82. Surely a mistake on Nokia’s part? But when it’s out for the N82, you can expect a long review on this potentially huge app.

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Nope, I don’t happen to own a Windows Mobile smart phone to do a review of this, but CNET’s already got a video review of the highly anticipated Opera Mobile 9.5 Beta 1. While it’s still a WM exclusive app, we can all expect something similar in the coming weeks when the Symbian S60 version will be released.

And if you think that’s not enough, then go check out PhoneArena’s impressive review as well. Here’s one of the big issues though in the beta: …we must note one of Opera’s biggest drawbacks – it cannot visualize flash videos. In the new version of Safari, available in the iPhone 3G, at least YouTube videos are recognized and are opened in a separate application. We hope that Opera will fix this mistake and add the option to preview any flash object in the browser.If that problem is fixed, then I think I can safely conclude that it will be THE browser of choice on the S60 platform. Not that the S60 browser is bad - it’s quite good in fact - but simply the ease of use and the features the browser offers simply blows the S60 browser away. Consider the fact that Opera Mobile 9.5 supports tabbed browsing; on the other hand, the S60 browser effs up all the time when you’re dealing with multiple tabs - so that’s already a huge advantage. Couple that with good AJAX support and we’ve got eBuddy or Meebo right there. And perhaps even iPhone’s good looking Facebook page.

Expect more news from me when it’s released for us S60 users.

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If you’re wondering whether the Nokia N82 camera is really as good as it sounds, then you’re reading the right thing! I’ve recently created a Nokia N82 album on my Flickr account, so you can take a look at the quality of photos the Nokia N82 captures and delivers. There’s also a group just for Nokia N82 users to post their photos so the whole world can see.

Enjoy!

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If you’re wondering whether the Nokia N82 camera is really as good as it sounds, then you’re reading the right thing! I’ve recently created a Nokia N82 album on my Flickr account, so you can take a look at the quality of photos the Nokia N82 captures and delivers. There’s also a group just for Nokia N82 users to post their photos so the whole world can see.

Enjoy!

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Official recruitment starts in September of this year - just keep an eye on this page.

Oh yes, and Nokia: please don’t give up Beta Labs and just focus on the pilot scheme - Beta Labs is winning over a lot of potential users as well as making us consumers feel that you’re actively developing and supporting for our smart phones.

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