Friday, December 19, 2008

Love

Love is like a butterfly. The more you chase it, the more it eludes you.

But if you just let it fly, it will come to you when you least expect it. Love can make you happy but often it hurts, but love's only special when you give it to someone who is really worth it.

So take your time and choose the best.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Chelsea Chelsea Chelsea,Rest of it Sucks...........


The Blues are back, more stronger under the management of Luiz Felipe Scolari
with skilled players like Lampard,Ballack,Drogba under the leadership of John terry.........
This time the Blues are gonna Show it..............They are already Showing it.............



Saturday, July 26, 2008

My MiniProject

My mini project was to implement PANORAMA PHOTOGRAPHY using a webcam and a DC motor in Debian linux..............
The USB webcam used was a logitech Quickcam.....as it was easy to configure in Debian
The pictures captured the webcam were transferred into the matching algorithm were the successive pictures are compared and are joined together,by analysing the matching %.

The entire code was written in python except for the parallel port program which is written in C-language

Hardware Components:
1. L293D IC [ H Bridge]
2. Parallel port
3. Geared DC motor
4. Logitech quickcam Express web cam
5. Voltage adaptor , resistors , breadboard

The GUI was done using Python Tkinter.........

for more details fasi.manu@gmail.com

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Applications,Themes etc for ur series60v3

Try www.series60v3.com ,also try munnamobile ,Mobileheart
ten applications which i like the most are,
1.Core codec player.
Description:

CorePlayer™ Mobile is at the center of the CoreCodec™ Universe for manipulating multimedia content on your mobile phone, portable mediaplayer, PDA, GPS, PC, or convergence device. CorePlayer is designed to be a next-generation multimedia platform that will extend upon what you thought were limits in playing back mobile multimedia, with its simple yet extremely powerful interface and features that is designed to empower our community.

Technology Bullet points
  • Blutooth ready!** (A2DP and AVRCP)
  • podcast, Enhanced Podcast, CoreCaster Ready
  • GPU support for the Intel 2700g, ATI Imageon with more coming!
  • Available for Symbian, CE, PocketPC, Windows Mobile, Smartphone, and Palm (soon for XP/Vista, Linux and OS X)
  • Universal skins allows you to create a unique custom user interface exactly how you want it!
  • Best in Class audio and video codecs like CoreAVC our High Definition H.264 video decoder
  • CoreTheque media library allows for easy management of your playlists, bookmarks, and databases
Audio Formats

MP3, MP2, AAC, MKA, WMA, WAV, OGG, Speex, WAVPACK, TTA, FLAC, MPC, AMR, ADPCM, ALaw, MuLaw, Midi*

Video Formats
H.264 (AVC), MKV, MPEG-1, MPEG-4 part 2 (ASP), DivX, XviD, WMV*, MJPEG, NRE, MSVIDEO1



2.Theme DIY
Description: The only software that lets you create your own personal theme right on your S60 phone! Get a new look for your phone in just a few minutes. Pick any photo, choose from 6 theme templates, store up to 12 personalized themes, and bring a new look to your phone instantly. Changing theme has never been more easy and fun.

Easy steps to make a theme:

* Select theme spaces to save your theme.
* Select theme template
* Select theme background photo
* Select Fade-out / Blur effect for menu background
* Save and apply the theme.
3.Y Browser
Description: Version 0.77 brought add-on support along with three add-ons: zip, Text Viewer, and Mail folder support. Now version 0.80 has tweaked the appearance of Y-Browser and added some great new features. Upon upgrading, the first thing you’ll notice is that the app finally has an SVG icon. Granted it’s nothing breathtaking, but I’m happy to be rid of the pixilated icon in versions past…



While on the subject of icons, Y-Browser version 0.80 is the version file manager to support the ability to change the internal display icon set. A new ‘Extra icons’ add-on provides users with four new SVG icon sets to choose from on top of the old bitmap set.



Beyond that, the app now calls to external icons for certain known file types that display as you browse. The image below shows the folder and document icons from the internal ‘Tango’ icon set along with the external SIS icon and the DOC/TXT and XLS icons from Office Suite 3.



Another new feature in this build is the ability to toggle portrait and landscape display modes with the ‘Switch layout’ option. Don’t get too excited though, as your display will be returned to the default perspective when you exit the app.

Y-Browser allows for fast and easy file transfers. With one or multiple files selected, simply choose File -> Send and Y-Browser gives you the option to send the file(s) via MMS, email, Bluetooth, infrared, or web upload.



Another one of my favorite features of this app is the shortcuts. Y-Browser allows you to assign a wide variety of operations to your keypad keys 0-9 for the fastest possible access to most of the app’s functions.


4.DivX Player.
Description: play divx video files on your mobile phone.

5.Shape services IMPlus.
Description: Chat with IM+ All-in-One Mobile Messenger within AIM®/iChat, MSN®/Windows Live™ Messenger, Yahoo!®, ICQ®, Jabber®, Google Talk™ and MySpace® IM from your mobile device in real-time. Communicate with friends and colleagues wherever you are regardless of location and mobile operator.

Main Benefits

* Direct and simultaneous connection to all supported IM systems: MSN®/Windows Live Messenger®, AIM®/iChat, Yahoo!® ICQ®, Jabber®, Google™ Talk and MySpaceIM
* No cost per message, only standard payment for wireless data transfer.
* One-Time Purchase Licence: all further updates included.

Key Features

* Message History. View correspondence with your contacts even when you're offline.
* A list of contacts who you have new messages from will be displayed by focusing on the envelope in the upper right-hand corner.
* Template Messages. Send a messages using templates. Create your own templates for your messages
* Voice messaging enabled. Send and receive voice messages with IM+.
* File Transfer. Excellent alternative to MMS, send files over GPRS.
* Full presence status support. Set your own status to give your contacts an idea of your mood.
* You can see your contact's status in dialog window.
* Contact list management functions including add/delete features.
* Layout aware. Screen renovation during the orientation change (portrait and landscape).
* Set up melody alert. Select the melody for messages received. Select the melody when another user gets online.
* Multiple dialog windows. Don't miss a moment, chat with several buddies simultaneously.
* Smileys. Add emotions to your messages, a huge set of funny faces available.
* Multiple code pages support. Exchange messages in any language installed on a phone.
* Integrated help function. Easy to configure and easy to chat.
* Support requests. Send suptext
port requests directly from mobile devices.


6.Mobitubia.
Description: What's MobiTubia?
MobiTubia is Flash Video (FLV) Player and Full-Function YouTube portal application with real-time decoding for Series 60 3rd Edition devices. User interface was neatly designed to be luxurious look. More than YouTube client application you will get. I am so pleased to give you the new experience of symbian application. Enjoy it!

Key Featured
- View Offline FLV file (.flv file in device)
- View Online FLV file (access via http://...)
- Full-Functions YouTube
· Recently Featured - View featured videos listed in YouTube.com homepage
· Popular Clips of the Day, of the Week, of the Month and Overall
· Clips Search - Search through YouTube clips by Tag
· View by YouTube ID - Enter 11-digit YouTube ID and MobiTubia will play that clip for you
· Open Web Clip - Enter url of webpage embedded with YouTube clips and MobiTubia will display all available clips
- Lot of Customization Options
· Status Bar Visibility
· Max Frame Skip
- etc.

Limitation
- FLV file must encoded in Sorenson-H263 codec (Flash 7)
- Video resolution must not exceed 320x240 pixels

Supported Device (Only tested device)
- Nokia N95
- Nokia N95 8GB
- Nokia N93
- Nokia N82
- Nokia E65
- Nokia E61
- Nokia E61i
- Nokia N73

Change Log: v1.76 build 3
- Fixed: Flickering Pause Bar
- Fixed: YouTube Open Web Clip is now available
- Improve Video Playback Speed
- Center Screen for high resolution screen device, for example N80 and E90
- Reduce SIS file size in significant number (205 KB --> 180 KB)
7.Mobiola Webcam.
Description: Turn your mobile phone into a Wireless(Bluetooth) or USB web camera.


MAIN FUNCTIONALITY:
Transforms your mobile phone into high-quality PC webcam.
Works through USB or Bluetooth.
NEW!!! Screen Capture functionality, when device screen can be demonstrated on PC real-time.
Works with Skype, Yahoo, YouTube, MSN, AOL IM, ICQ and many others.
Compatible with Nokia S60, UIQ, Windows Mobile 5 and 6, J2ME devices
Very simple to install and configure.



the crack is in different lang.. if u need ne help do lemme knw..

the application UI will be in english


press ??(P) to find the BtCam.exe
8.Camera FX
Description: CameraFX is a unique imaging tool for your phone which allows images to be captured and manipulated in real-time


Features



10x Digital Zoom


Red, Green, Blue adjust


Grey, Inverse Colour modes. New 'Highlight' Colour mode


Brightness / Contrast adjust


User-defined colour profiles e.g. Sepia, B&W


Image stretch / flip


Image frames
Special FX



Mirror Image, Double Image


Lens, Outline, Twist


MultiScreen, Mosaic, Polar Lens, Kaleidoscope
3D Special FX



SpaceTube, SpaceCube, Prism


Tunnel, Perspective, PhotoMaze


All Special FX are produced in real-time on your phone!


Extra Features

* High quality filtered zoom.
* Save captured images to the PhotoAlbum, or send via IR, BT, Email and MMS
* Load up an image stored in the PhotoAlbum and add effects before sending
* Multiple language support - Select language from within application and easily add new languages
* Send application trial to a friend via Bluetooth
* Easily purchase via SMS from within application - 30 days trial or unlimited time!
* Full on-line help
* Free Trial


Keyboard Controls
The following keyboard controls are available for fast colour adjustment:

* 1 - Greyscale Colour mode
* 2 - Normal Colour mode
* 3 - Inverse Colour mode
* 4 - Decrease Brightness
* 5 - Toggle Night mode
* 6 - Increase Brightness
* 7 - Decrease Contrast
* 8 - Colour swap
* 9 - Increase Contrast

9.HandyZip.
Description: Open, extract and create zip archives on your phone with Handy Zip application for Nokia S60 smartphones.
Handy Zip program for Nokia S60 smartphones is necessary for all people who receive messages via e-mail on the smartphone. With Handy zip installed on your phone, you can easily open a zipped attachment directly from Messaging application and view/modify the files inside it. Without this application you can't check what is inside .zip archive you received with the message. Just imagine what will happen if important document is not read in time.

Compress sending files into .zip archive and size of your message will dramatically decrease. Less size of message means less time to send it and less Internet traffic bills. Handy Zip also helps you organize your messages. You can send several files zipped in one attached to your e-mail instead of many.
Keep more information on your phone with Handy Zip program for Nokia S60 smartphones. Compress unused files and save more new documents or images on the freed space. Compression is very easy and fast. When you need you will quickly extract these files. Download zip archives from the Internet and extract them directly on your phone.

Languages supported
English, Finnish, Hungarian, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Slovenian, French, German, Croatian, Spanish, Serbian, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Swedish, Turkish, Arabic, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Grek
10.Epocware HandySafe.
Description:Security,Provides password protection .

Symbian


Symbian
OS
is a proprietary operating system, designed for mobile devices, with associated libraries, user interface frameworks and reference implementations of common tools, produced by Symbian Ltd. It is a descendant of Psion's EPOC and runs exclusively on ARM processors.

On June 24, 1998, Symbian Ltd. was formed as a partnership between Ericsson, Nokia, Motorola and Psion, to exploit the convergence between PDAs and mobile phones.

Symbian is currently owned by Nokia (47.9%), Ericsson (15.6%), Sony Ericsson (13.1%), Panasonic (10.5%), Siemens AG (8.4%) and Samsung (4.5%). Although BenQ acquired the mobile phone subsidiary of Siemens AG, the Siemens AG stake in Symbian did not pass to BenQ.

Devices that have used the Symbian OS

On November 16, 2006, the 100 millionth smartphone running the OS was shipped.[4]


Developing on Symbian OS

The native language of the Symbian OS is C++, although it is not a standard implementation. There are multiple platforms based upon Symbian OS that provide an SDK for application developers wishing to target a Symbian OS device – the main ones being UIQ and S60. Individual phone products, or families, often have SDKs or SDK extensions downloadable from the manufacturer's website too. The SDKs contain documentation, the header files and library files required to build Symbian OS software, and a Windows-based emulator ("WINS"). Up until Symbian OS version 8, the SDKs also included a version of the GCC compiler (a cross-compiler) required to build software to work on the device.

Symbian OS 9 uses a new ABI and so requires a new compiler – a choice of compilers is available including a new version of GCC (see external links below). In terms of SDKs, UIQ Technology now provides a simplified framework so that the single UIQ SDK forms the basis for developing on all UIQ 3 devices, such as the Sony Ericsson P990 and Sony Ericsson M600.

Unfortunately, Symbian C++ programming has a steep learning curve, as Symbian requires the use of special techniques such as descriptors and the cleanup stack. This can make even relatively simple programs harder to implement than in other environments. Moreover, it is questionable whether Symbian's techniques e.g. the memory management paradigm are actually so beneficial. It is possible that the techniques, developed for the much more restricted mobile hardware of the 1990s, do cause unnecessary complexity in source code; programmers are required to concentrate on bug-prone low-level routines instead of truly application-specific features. It is difficult, however, to make a move towards a more high-level and modern programming paradigm in Symbian, because the platform is so tightly bound to semi-obsolete thinking models about mobile software development.[5]

Symbian C++ programming is commonly done with an IDE. For previous versions of Symbian OS, the commercial IDE CodeWarrior for Symbian OS was favoured. The CodeWarrior tools were replaced during 2006 by Carbide.c++, an Eclipse-based IDE developed by Nokia. Carbide.c++ is offered in 4 different versions: Express, Developer, Professional, and OEM, with increasing levels of capability. Full featured software can be created and released with the Express edition, which is free. Features such as UI design, crash debugging etc. are available in the other charged for editions. Microsoft Visual Studio 2003 and 2005 are also supported through the Carbide.vs plugin.

Symbian OS's flavor of C++[citation needed] is very specialised. However, many Symbian OS devices can also be programmed in OPL, Python, Visual Basic, Simkin, and Perl – together with the Java ME and PersonalJava flavors of Java.

Visual Basic, VB.NET, and C# development for Symbian were possible through AppForge Crossfire, a plugin for Microsoft Visual Studio. March 13, 2007 AppForge ceased operations, Oracle purchased the intellectual property, but announced that they do not plan to sell or provide support for former AppForge products.

There is also a version of a Borland IDE for Symbian OS. Symbian OS development is also possible on Linux and Mac OS X using tools and techniques developed by the community, partly enabled by Symbian releasing the source code for key tools. A plugin that allows development of Symbian OS applications in Apple's Xcode IDE for Mac OS X is available.[6]

Once developed, Symbian OS applications need to find a route to customers' mobile phones. They are packaged in SIS files which may be installed over-the-air, via PC connect or in some cases via Bluetooth or memory cards. An alternative is to partner with a phone manufacturer to have the software included on the phone itself. The SIS file route is more difficult for Symbian OS 9.x, because any application wishing to have any capabilities beyond the bare minimum must be signed via the Symbian Signed program.

Java ME applications for Symbian OS are developed using standard techniques and tools such as the Sun Java Wireless Toolkit (formerly the J2ME Wireless Toolkit). They are packaged as JAR (and possibly JAD) files. Both CLDC and CDC applications can be created with NetBeans. Other tools include SuperWaba, which can be used to build Symbian 7.0 and 7.0s programs using Java.

Nokia S60 phones can also run python scripts when the interpreter is installed, with a custom made API that allows for Bluetooth support and such. There is also an interactive console to allow the user to write python scripts directly from the phone.

Symbian folder structure

Although knowing how files and folders are organized in Symbian phones is not needed for normal user, its knowledge can be useful to "advanced users" as it allows preventing damage to data derived from OS bugs or misuse of the phone.

This description is based on filesystem structure of Motorola a1000 phone, a UIQ 2.1 based phone, but can usually apply to any Symbian 7.x/8.x phone.

The basic structure of a Symbian phone is made of 3 main folders in the root: system, system (ROM), and documents.

"Documents" folder just holds user data, no application, so its contents is of no interest here.

"System" is the most important folder, as it holds (but not all) of the system applications and settings. Other settings and programs, not changeable by the user, are stored in same folder in ROM drive (Z:\system): they are know as the firmware, as it can't be modified (in theory) once the phone is shipped to the end user. System folder contains some dozens of folders, and only of some of them the contents/use is (publicly) known:

  • Apps - applications installed by the user
  • data - system settings
  • FEP - input methods (Front End Processors)
  • install - list of installed applications
  • java - self explanatory
  • LIBS - system libraries and user-apps libraries
  • mail - all messages (SMS, MMS, e-mails, bluetooth, irda, ...)
  • MIDlets - j2me applications - part 1 of 2
  • recogs - recognizers

Let's see them one by one:

  • Apps

Contains all applications installed by user, settings for system applications (whose "executables" are stored in same folder on Z:\) and midlets "executables". Midlet applications (java j2me) are actually installed in two separate folders: one inside c:\system\Apps folder, another inside c:\system\MIDlets folder. In this one the .JAR file is stored; in c:\system\apps there is one folder named [xxxxxxxx] per each midlet; xxxxxxxx is an hexadecimal number (application UID) automatically chosen by System upon installation.

All the applications installed by user appear in c:\system\apps as a folder named like the application itself: i.e., SMan will have a C:\system\apps\SMan folder. The whole Apps folder is scanned by System when the Application Selector is started, which displays a list of all available, not-hidden applications. An application can be installed on every folder on the phone, but only applications installed in c:\system\apps will be visible in Application Selector. If an application has a .aif file which marks it as not visible (usually a System application in Z:), application does not appear in application selector, and it can only be started using a file manager which allows directly accessing application folder. Examples of "hidden applications" on Motorola a1000 are IViewer (Image viewer), JViewer (jotter viewer), Mdownloadagent (??), Mdrmmsghandler (Digital Rights Management?) QHELP (online help), QVcalviewer (Calendar viewer), QVnview (Voice notes viewer), qWebViewer, QDefaultViewer (maybe launched upon opening unknown documents), QVcardviewer, rtview (Ringtones viewer), saflashplayer (Flash player embedded in browser), screen_cal (Screen Calibration), Startup (WARNING!!! FORMATS YOUR PHONE!!!), SkinViewer, Stpfrmmover (Stamps and Frames mover (?)), TelVidUriApp (?). Most of these applications are intended to be launched by the System upon attempting to open specific files (ringtones, images), other are started just once ("screen-cal" after phone formatting, "startup upon" resetting the phone), others appear to be hidden for unknown reasons ("Stamps and Frames mover", which handles Stamps and Frames files stored in \system\data\frames and \system\data\stamps, used by image editor application). Applications intended to be launched by system will result in "corrupted" or "folder not found" errors if launched by user.

Each system application, pre-installed in z:\system\apps , has a matching folder in C:\system\apps, which holds its language file (.rsc) and its settings file (.ini)

  • data - contains system settings changeable by the user; matching folder in Z: contains un-changeable settings. This folder also contain important user data: whole addressbook is stored in contacts.cdb file, which is locked by the system and can't be copied, moved, renamed or deleted until the phonebook application and/or server is running. This can be manually killed on some phones, allowing accessing the file; on some other phones like a1000, the only method to access contacts.cdb file is to start a backup from PC and at the same time using the file manager on the PC to access the file.

[...to be continued]

  • FEP - input methods (Front End Processors)

User interfaces which allows emulating qwerty keyboard, recognizing handwriting and so on.

  • install - list of installed applications

Once a .sis file is installed, its "relic" is put here, and used by the System to know where each application is installed.

  • java - the names talks by itself

adding more .jar files here allows "unlocking" some hidden features of PersonalJava virtual machine (e.g. by copying QAWT.JAR from SDK)

  • LIBS - system libraries and user-apps libraries
  • mail - all messages (SMSs, MMSs, e-mails, bluetooth, irda, ...)

all messages are stored here in separate folders and in binary format. Even some messages marked as deleted still appears here for a while. NOTE: it is very probable that all symbian phones (before 9.x) do a total indexing of all messages at each phone startup; this result in very long startup time in case of hundreds or thousands of messages present on the phone.

  • MIDlets - j2me applications - part 1 of 2

Together with c:\system\apps\[xxxxxxxx] , these folders contain installed midlets.

  • recogs - recognizers

Recognizers are small dlls which allows system recognizing different file types: a recognizers can be used to tell to the system to analyze a specific amount of bytes in a file and its extension to determine which application use to open it. Recognizers can also be used to have an application automatically starting at phone bootup. This kind of recognizers should be always put in external memory, to prevent phone locking in case of trouble in autostarting applications.

Symbian OS boot sequence

Like any PC, Symbian-based devices have their own boot-up process, i.e. the process which brings from power-up to a ready-to-use system. This is the sequence for Motorola a1000 phone (see also official documentation):

BOOTSTRAP --> EKERN.EXE --> EFILE.EXE --> ESTART.EXE --> EWSRV.EXE --(1)--> QSTART.EXE --(2)--> .MDL files (3)

  1. Reads from z:\system\data\WSINI.INI the EpocWindowsSeRVer configuration data
  2. Reads from QSTART.RSC programs/servers to be started
  3. Custom MDL files are processed

These are three possible "entry points" to modify startup sequence: WSINI.INI is just a text file, which specifies which "shell" to start (QSTART on a1000), so probably other shells could be specified to be started here; but WSINI.INI resides in ROM, thus this requires heavy device hacking. Similar problems for QSTART.EXE: it reads program list from QSTART.RSC, but this file resides in ROM. Only step 3 is useful to customize boot sequence, as .MDL files can also be stored in RAM, and they also allows starting up any application, which in this way can autostart at phone bootup.

The list below is the content (stripped of unreadable binary data) of Motorola a1000 QSTART.RSC file, which probably describes which programs/services are started upon UIQ interface is started:

  • Z:\system\programs\splash - initial splash screen
  • Z:\system\apps\phone\phone - main Phone application
  • Z:\system\programs\qdefaultfileinit
  • Z:\system\programs\systemams
  • Z:\system\programs\qdefaultthemeinit
  • Z:\system\apps\alaunch\alaunch - Application Selector
  • Z:\system\apps\appicker\appicker - Top application bar
  • Z:\system\programs\wldsrvinit
  • wldsrvinit_sem
  • Z:\system\libs\uuudserver
  • Z:\system\apps\startup\startup
  • Z:\System\Libs\locationagentserverexe - AGPS server
  • Z:\System\Libs\testappserverexe
  • Z:\System\Programs\BtHsGw - bluetooth headset?
  • Z:\System\Programs\QSchFetchStart
  • Z:\System\Apps\USAT\USAT - USIM programs manager?
  • Z:\System\Libs\Watcher
  • Z:\System\Programs\kickconn
  • Z:\System\Programs\QConnListeners
  • Z:\System\Apps\irSendListen\irSendListen - (some bluetooth driver are named as irda drivers)
  • Z:\System\Libs\instrec - Install Recognizers (.mdl files in \system\recogs )

When Z:\system\libs\instrec.exe is started, it examines all recognizers stored in all drives in \system\recogs folders, storing information about files associations. Together with contents of .AIF files of applications, this allows System to know which application use to open "recognized" files.

Running this program from console (Z:\system\samples\eshell.exe) reloads all recognizers, thus allowing new recognizers being installed without rebooting the phone.

At some point of the startup sequence, probably system calls program mailinit.exe, which actually appears referred to in this chain:

qikutils.dll -> eikcore.dll -> uikon_init -> qsbmsg.dll -> msgs.dll -> mailinit.exe

This is documented to cause, in case of lot of messages present in memory, a very long startup time, as probably mailinit.exe is demanded to rebuild the c:\system\data\index files, which holds summaries and status of all messages present in the system (sms, mms, mail, bluetooth...). SymbianOS is indeed designed to run continuously for many days, virtually never requiring reboot, so all long-time activities are probably executed only at startup.

(Courtesy wiki)

Nokia N73 ME

The N73 Music Edition is a candy bar mobile measuring 110 x 49 x 19 mm and weighing 116 grams, it is the latest in the Nseries building upon a solid base of middle range function while adding small layers of either business smartphone like technology or multimedia capabilities. This N73 opts for the multimedia buyer and differs from the standard N73 in only a few ways. The first is obvious with the previously silver design now clad in stealth black a move mirrored from the Sony Ericsson

Nokia N73
range.

The N73 ME is a 3G phone with twin camera for video calling and it is a rugged little performer running the Symbian OS 9.1 S60 3rd edition. The screen is the same stunning 2.4" 262k colour 240 x 320 pixel unit which is chosen for its clarity as part of the standard N73 camera phone model, here it has all those features plus makes for a great interface for the media player functions.


Call quality proved excellent and it handled poor signal strength well hanging on for all but the last bar. Battery life is also excellent with the N73’s 1100 mAh (BP-6M) battery managing 4 day standby with a good 4 hour talk time even when using the loud and clear built in handsfree speakerphone. When using the Nokias media player I managed a full 10 hours playback before I’d run down the battery and started to get the recharge beep. All in all a good all round mobile, but that is also true to the standard N73.


First up one of the big changes is a lifting of the 1Gb limit on the mini SD card storage to 2gb on the Music edition which puts it on a level playing filed with a small MP3 player. The media player supports MP3, AAC, eAAC, eAAC+ and WMA audio files although it struggles with DRM on almost all formats. There is a nifty bit of integration with Windows media player in which the PC can see the phone as a media player and you can choose which tracks to sync with it using Microsoft’s Media Transfer Protocol (MTP).


It has one of the loudest sets of stereo speakers I’ve heard on a mobile (the same as the standard N73) and although it’ll never win prizes at an audiophile convention they are worth using. Staying with hardware for a moment, the main changes for the N73 Music Edition is the superior AD-41 adapter/stereo headset. This has a standard 3.5mm stereo connector embedded in its control unit, meaning that you can plug in your own in-ear headset rather than having to stick with the slightly cheaper Nokia earbuds.


Then there is Bluetooth and the new A2DP standard which would allow for a good quality stereo signal to be sent to a set of A2DP equipped earphones. That would be if Nokia had opted to equip the ME with this standard, which they have not. It doesn’t include Wi-Fi. Email is also included with SMTP, IMAP4 and POP3 clients supported. Email attachments can be downloaded and saved to the N73 Music Edition’s mini-SD card or to the 42MB of internal memory. The mini-SD card slot is cleverly located at the bottom of the handset. There is also regular MMS and SMS messaging with T9 predictive text input, but the poorly designed keyboard will affect messaging speeds.


A massive 3.2 mega pixel camera with auto focus and Carl Zeiss optics which hides behind a protective shutter in the rear of the phone is present. Images taken with the camera were very clear and crisp without the blurring, there is a 20 X digital zoom and the whole thing is simple to use with a dedicated shutter switch and a LED flash which is ok for very close shots. It hasn’t replaced my point and shoot digital camera just yet as the time to take a photo is still too long. I think this more due to the OS than the actual camera. It’s usually a good 7 – 8 seconds between the time it takes for me to get my phone out my pocket and actually snap a photo. In my opinion this is still too slow. Video recording is also available; up to 1.5 hours of video in MP4 and 3GP formats can be stored. Videos are captured in 352 x 288 resolution at up to 15fps and feature automatic white balance control and up to 8x digital zoom. There is a second, integrated VGA camera on the front with 2x digital zoom. This second camera can be used for both video calling over a 3G network or for taking portrait photos.


The extras and applications available for download on the series 60 platform are plentiful and you can load them via Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR, Pop port (USB), IR or on the SD card. Nokia have thrown in one new feature, 3D tones. This little application allows you to add some 3D effects to ringtones and music using a delay system on the stereo speakers. You can choose between (living room, cave, railway station, etc) a bit like some of the EQ systems on the cheaper MP3 players! It is a gimmick but fun to play with and something you won’t find on your friends phones.


In truth the Music edition is little more than a standard N73 with whatever tweaks could be bestowed on it via a firmware upgrade using Nokia Software Updater. I’d say got for it, the colour scheme and higher SD card limit are worth having. Though the N95 may be better in terms of features but you get a lot more from the N73ME when you consider that its less than half the price. Maybe we can think of the N95 after a while (a few months maybe) when prices come down to more sane levels.