Nokia N97

What I like about this device is the 3.5″ touch screen, 32GB of internal memory + microSD card slot ( I just got my 16gb card which would be 48GBs of storage in my mobile device). It has a 5MP camera with dual LED flash, VGA video at 30FPS. And it has 3.5G in the USA. The best feature is the slide-out QWERTY keyboard, the only 1 of the 3 devices here which has that. The most appealing factor of this phone for me is the live widgets on the phone’s homescreen. The webbrowser has built in Flash support so sites like YouTube work.

What I don’t like about the device — it’s screen is resistive and the other two devices have capacitive screens. It has the slowest processor (Single ARM 11 434MHz) of all three devices. If you want to watch movies on the device they have to be transcoded or you have to buy a separate application to play straight DiVX movies.

iPhone 3GS

What I like about this device: My absolutely favorite thing about the iPhone is the App store which allows you to download over 50,000 applications. The beauty of the App store is how well integrated it is into the phone as well as into iTunes (even though I hate iTunes because its 80MB for a music player update). Although I like having devices that are different from everyone else’s, the iPhone’s popularity appeals to me because the GPS apps which show you where your friends are, would be much more useful to me because my friends actually have iPhones.

What I dislike about the device: It only has a 3MP camera, no flash whatsoever, no keyboard, no webbrowser flash, you have to transcode your movies, no memory card slot, no access to the filesystem.

Samsung i8910

What I like about this device: Where to start? It records HD video (1280×720) at 24FPS. It has an 8MP still camera. This device has the largest screen, 3.8 inches, it is AMOLED, and it is capacitive. The device has a 600MHz processor and a dedicated 3D graphics chip. It can play movies without transcoding them. According to reviews, the colors which the device shows are amazing. The OmniaHD runs S60 5th edition, which is the same operating system that the N97 has, and some of the applications for the N97 work on the i8910

What I dislike about the device: It has no 3/3.5G in the USA….seriously…WTF…it’s 2009… Besides the lack of a fast cellular data connection, the device lacks a physical keyboard (and I am not fond of the onscreen keyboard for S60 5th). Another issue, for such an imaging/video centric device, why does this only have a single LED flash?!?

So, to sum everything up, all 3 devices are very technologically advanced. They all have awesome features, as well as drawbacks. I like the iPhone for its community, but I like the N97 and the i8910 for their hardware. The i8910 is the most technologically advanced device, but it falls short for me because of its lack of 3G. Having been using the N85 for the last 2 months, I can’t see myself going back to a non-3G device even if it does shoot HD video. I am also not really impressed with the N97 because of its camera (same one as the one in the N95 from 2 years ago), and also the same processor, and no 3D hardware. The iPhone’s hardware is not very impressive when compared with to the likes of the other discussed devices, in the photo and video department because it has no flash and only a 3MP camera.

Ultimately, I would likely buy an iPhone 3GS simply because it would be the cheapest device to buy (without factoring in the montly AT&T fees). For $299 you get the 32GB version, where as the N97 costs $699 from Nokia (granted it is unlocked).

The free movie code for RedBox today is 6A43JK. It expires at midnight CST time.

NOTE: Your experience with using this method may very. The streaming of media, especially movies, is very bandwidth dependent. If you have Dial-Up for your server, this will not work. You may experience buffering problems with DSL as well. The higher your bandwidth upstream on the server, the better your overall experience will be on your client.

This will be a 3 part process.

What’s needed:

• Hamachi – http://hamachi.cc
• XBMC – http://xbmc.org/download/

 
Outline:

• Step 1: Install Hamachi
• Step 2: Install XBMC
• Step 3: Setup XBMC

Part 1: Install hamachi (on Windows)

1. Go to the hamachi website and download hamachi. It is free for personal use, so on their site just click Download now. You do not need to enter any of the information, simply tick the check box and click Go To Download
2. Once it is download just double click the installer to launch it.
3. Follow the following slideshow which walks you through installing hamachi.
4. Once hamachi is launched, you will have to create a network, choose a name for your computer and choose a password for your network. 

NOTE: You will have to setup hamachi on both your server and all your clients.

Part 2: Installing XBMC on the client (Linux, Mac and Windows are supported — this tutorial will focus on Windows)

1. Go to the XBMC website and download the client for your OS.
2. Once it is download just double click the installer to launch it.
3. Follow the following slideshow which walks you through installing XBMC. If you want to launch XBMC tick the “Run XBMC Media Center” if you want XBMC to launch when you are done installing. You do not have to launch it yet.

Part 3: Mapping your remote drive through hamachi
Before you proceed, make sure both your server and client have hamachi and that they are both added to the same network.

1. Open up hamachi by double clicking on its icon in the system tray.



2. Right click on the computer which is your server and select Browse. You will be presented with a screen which is the same as if you were on the same (local network).



3. Right click on the drive or folder which you would like to map.



4. Give your mapped drive a letter and choose finish. It will now appear in your My Computer folder just as if the drive was installed in your system.



5. Launch XBMC. Click Video. Click on Add source. Click on Browse and select your newly mapped drive. Then drill down to the folder which contains your video / movie files. Once you get the folder you want, simply click OK. This is what you should see.
   
   Then click OK to complete the addition of the source. It will then show up in your Video sources. If you click it, you can see a list of all the movies which are in that directory.



6. Once you find the movie which you want to see, simply open its directory  (if that is how you have set up your server) and then click on the movie. Once it buffers the first few seconds, the movie will begin streaming. This is what you’ll see. 


NOTE: You can can follow the same steps in order to add your music from your home server into your XBMC’s library.

A quick word  of warning to those who followed my triple boot tutorial: reinstalling Windows 7 is most likely going to overwrite your MBR and remove Grub which means you won’t be able to boot into Ubuntu or OS X. There should be directions online on how to reinstall grub. I will update the post later with a link to such a tutorial.

*UPDATE* As promised, here is a tutorial from Fosswire which walks you through rebuilding your GRUB bootloader after installing Windows 7.

Unfortunately I can not test this version out as it only supports S60 Version 3 FP1 devices, and right now I am using a N85, which is a FP2 device.

As of now the app is only supported in the US and UK. However, if you click the US link you can download the SISX file. Here is a link to that page. If that does not work for you, download it here (its the N95 8GB version).

If you have used it and would like to submit a review, please write a comment and I will get in touch with you.

Limitations on Our Liability and Liabilities Not Assumed
We won't be liable:
For loss, damage or delay, caused by events we cannot control, including but not limited to acts of God, perils of the air, weather conditions, acts of public enemies, war, strikes, civil commotions or acts of public authorities with actual or apparent authority.

The thing which I find hilarious is that they include acts of God under their liabilities. Seriously? So pretty much anything that happens to your package could be said was because of an act of God. Personally I find this not only funny, but grossly inappropriate because FedEx is a world-wide company, and many people throughout the world do not believe in God. In fact, many wars have been fought over God, and I don’t think this line should be included in their legal document.

Another thing which I find interesting is that clause which says “public authorities with actual or apparent authority.” So you may just seem authoritative and influence someones package.

The deeper I read into the Terms and Conditions, the more I feel that it is actually a miracle that I get my packages.

I received the device on Wednesday of last week (April 22, 2009). I used it for about 3 days and ended up shipping it off to a member of HoFo who said he will trade a N85 for it (we’ll see if it goes through).
My impression of the 5800XM is that it is a very good mid-tier device. For people coming from a low end, free or cheap flip phone which they get from their carrier, this device is light years ahead of their current devices. However, if you are coming from a high end, N-series device, the 5800 will leave you wanting more.

The good: The screen is nice and large. It lets you see a lot more information than the regular Nokia screens. While indoors, the screen seems very bright. Although a resistive screen, it was very responsive. Watching movies on the screen was a pleasant experience. The speakers on the device are outstanding, as they should be for a music-centric device. Overall, the browser is good. I tried various sites and none of them crashed it.

The not so good: When outdoors, I had problems seeing the information on the screen (note I still had the Nokia screen protector on it, which may have been the problem). Coming from a N82, the camera of the 5800XM left much to be desired. The sensor is obviously not as good (read expensive) as the one the N82 (they are both from CZ. I don’t think the megapixels matter as there are many other Nokia devices which have 3.2MP cameras that are way better). The camera produced a green tint in all the pictures that I took. Also, the video recording had some noise. Typing on the device was OK, but not as good as tying on the iPhone. The 5800 has 4 options for typing, full QWERTY, T9, mini-qwerty, and handwriting recognition. The full QWERTY is annoying in the way that it is split up into 3 parts (letter, number/symbols/accents). I found that typing on the T9 was much faster, for me, than the QWERTY.

Other notes: The device would be much better if there was some sort of hardware key which allows you to change songs (the remote is nice, but it adds to the wires). Battery life should be slightly longer (maybe my experience would have been better if I had used the device for longer). Why, oh why, was Nokia Internet Radio not included for the 5800XM, a music-centric phone???
Although this review might seem more negative than positive, I still think that the phone is a good device. For the average user, the device has many features to keep them happy. I just think that the phone is not for me, as I am used to having more features and a keyboard. I cannot speak of gaming on the device (it comes with a few pre-installed games), because I did not have time to play them.