Awesome Fireworks Display for Australia Day on N8

Last night Perth had Australia's biggest fireworks display for Australia Day and we captured it on the Nokia N8. This is how it looked. The video was shot at South Perth, with the Perth city in the background. This is the final few minutes of the fireworks display.

Changing Default Browser

I am not sure whether this was a recent addition to the N8 on one of the updates but I noticed today that there is a way of changing the default browser that the phone uses for surfing the internet. Go to Settings -> Applications Settings -> Default Applications to make the changes. This will be useful for those that would much prefer Opera Mobile over the Symbian browser.

Apps Update for N8

For those eager Nokia N8 users, you may realise that the Nokia N8 now has an Apps Update which has just come out. In order to download it, go to APPLICATIONS -> TOOLS -> SOFTWARE UPDATE. This update will correct the roblem that we often have where the phone will lock down but the screen won't dim, causing an unnecessary waste of battery. On installing the application, the screen dimming still didn't work so I've restarted the phone. After this, the phone lock works very quickly and responsively. We'll see whether this remains the case in the next few days. Do you know anything else that has changed?

Nokia and Snowboards have one thing in common

We're a lot about making the most of the phones that we own and so it is with great interest that we hear the background story for the PUSH Burton project - where snowboards are tracked wit the state of the art technology developed by Nokia via the Nokia N8 (of course). It was one of the biggest highlights to meet Stu Wells and the team who were in charge of this project in London during Nokia World 2010 and its with great interest that we can announce the project is nearing completion. Jaw will drop and minds will wonder what else one can do with a Nokia phone. If you want to get a behind the scenes view of the project, join a Nokia product manager on his blog to find out how this project came to be.

For those that are interested in how this project is going, you can have a look at www.blogs.nokia.com/pushburton. 

Get PUSH Burton Blog updates here such as the most recent update.. yesterday!

R&D Update 10/01/11

10.01.11 - posted by admin

We’re just days away from heading out to Laax with the entire Push Snowboard team! Check out the Push R&D team’s latest update on the new phone app…

Hi all!
Just give you all an update on the phone app, we’ve been working around the clock this week to finish as much of the new app as possible.

Currently we have two apps: One is the “ugly/development” version that does everything needed for our test this week in Switzerland and the other is basically the same app (under the hood it IS technically the same app) but with a completely new look & feel and some simple visualizations.

This new app is almost finished but some bits are missing and the developer (uh… me) will try to have it done by the weekend!

Wish you all a nice week! (Mine will be for sure!)

-Clovis

Taking photos in silence

Just thought I would share a little tip I discovered which is not available for many other phones. On the Nokia N8 you can take a photo without the shutter sound if you turn your phone to silent mode. The camera on the N8 is very powerful but sometimes its the very simple features that help us the most.

N8 via HDMI to Your TV

One of the great features of the Nokia N8 must be the fact that you can plug the phone directly into a big tv screen via the HDMI slot! Now Nokia has made things even more exciting with a new application called Nokia Big Screen which allows you to:

• Show your photos and videos in high definition on your TV screen
• Listen to music from your phone on your home audio system
• View song lyrics in karaoke style and watch videos with subtitles
• Play music on the background while you browse your photos
• Enjoy a photo slideshow with music of your choice (change the direction with left/right arrow keys)
• Screen saver activates after a minute's idle time to protect your TV
• Use your phone as an entertainment hub you can take everywhere with you

Sure you could do many of these things before but now they can be done with a better looking interface. I have not tried it out yet but this was something important to let you all know first. Leave your comments when you've had a go at Nokia Big Screen. You can download it from Nokia Beta Labs by signing in to http://betalabs.nokia.com/apps/nokia-big-screen

N8 Best Features - Remote Locking

Hope you all had a great new year break! Thought we would start the new year with a tip which will help you secure your data from thieves. Sound good? 

What is Remote Locking?!?

For many, you may not realise that the Nokia N8 has a feature that used to only be on the E series phones. Its called remote locking which enables you to lock your phone via sms. Go to your phone Settings -> Phone -> Phone Management -> Security Settings -> Phone and Sim Card and Enable Remote locking. The phone will ask you to choose a code which you can use to lock the phone via sms. For example, you could set your phone to lock when it receives an sms "locknow". The phone will lock up as soon as that sms is received. The thief does not need to open the SMS, the SMS will automatically trigger the lock and will need them to enter your lock code. 

How to change your lock code? Remote locking is not much use if you have not changed your default lock code which most people would know is 12345 so you need to change your lock code. In you security settings, go to Lock Code and change it to a code which you can remember. 

If you lose your lock code, there is no easy way of getting into your phone so make sure you remember your lock code. Also I do not know how to get around forgetting a lock code except maybe to bring it to nokia care.