General: Making the Most Out of My N95 8GB

I feel since I've upgraded to my N95 8GB, I haven't really been using it that differently to my old phone, or taking advantage of any of its features. But I think this has changed.

My first step to making the most out of it, was encoding videos in N95 format. I now have a large selection of Family Guy stashed on my phone, ready to watch on trains or at the gym. I also have a fair amount of music. My last MP3 player was only 1GB and I found that was more than enough room to store my current listening music. I'd say I'm probably about double this now, but I could happily trim it back. It's amazing how far 8GB can go - that's more storage than my EeePC after all! I feel a little funny carrying my Shure E4C headphones around in my pocket as they could easily fall out or get damaged. In some respects I should buy something cheaper to replace them with, but then what's the point in having them if I don't use them? I blagged these headphones when I reviewed them for Trusted Reviews. So I guess - easy come, easy go? I certainly take that attitude towards my phone, as it's already covered in a fair few scratches from being thrown around my bag and pocket. If I have to take care of it - it's no good to me! I see people with shiny iPhones and it almost feels like the phones belong them.

I've got Skype setup on my main machine, to phone my parents in Italy. The main downside to this is I have to be at my computer to do so. I remembered that 3 offer Skype on the N95, so I decided to give them a ring. For £5 a month, they gave me 1GB broadband use, unlimited Skype calls, unlimited Push IMAP and I think (although I'm not 100% sure) I get facebook access included as well as a few other sites. Impressive.

For starters, the push e-mail has been very handy. I often come home and turn my machine on just to check my e-mail before bed. Now, I just glance at the phone, see there is nothing important and chill out. I've got it setup to notify me of new e-mails, by just giving a short vibration. This was useful yesterday when working away from home - as I didn't have the FireFox add-on installed which lets me know when I have a new e-mail. I got a vibration on the desk and I knew to open the Gmail tab on my browser.

The reason I got this package was for Skype - and I have to admit, I've not been impressed. The call quality is not all that great. I get a lot of quantizing and general distortion. To be told by three to expect lower quality calls because it's VOIP made me want to punch someone. Using Skype on my main machine, the call quality is considerably better than telephone quality.

Because of this issue, I decided to upgrade my firmware from V11 to V20. I first tried doing this over VirtualBox using my Windows XP install. I got the bluetooth adapter working and did a backup of all my contacts and data, but trying to use a USB cable to do the flash, the software just wasn't detecting it properly. I can only assume there is something low-level going on that VirtualBox is causing an issue with.

So then I dusted off my Windows Box, only to have lots of trouble, being told that the software couldn't connect to the Nokia Network. After a bit of googlging, it turned out that a lot of people had this problem, with no particular cause or solution. The only "solution" for them was to try a different machine. So, I borrowed my house mates computer (which is mine anyway). It worked first time and pulled down the 130MB firmware upgrade. That's a hell of an upgrade! I'm not 100% sure what it added, but I figured it couldn't be a bad thing.

The in-built GPS has always been a bit of a novelty, especially as in order to make proper use of it, you need to pay £40 a year for the actual navigation side of things. Seeing where I am on a map is only useful in some situations. But then I installed Google Maps - which is absolutely awesome. It uses a combination of GPS and cell triangulation to work out where I am and it's amazingly accurate. Not only can I view the normal Google Maps, you can use the satellite view as well. I ran this on the train and it was accurate enough to pinpoint me as being on the train track, and the quality of the image was good enough for me to make out i was on a train track too. I found this particularly handy whilst navigating my way around London the other night. Thankfully, it shows how much data is being downloaded in the top right of the screen, and it's not as much as I thought it would be - so I don't think I'll be heading over my 1GB allowance in a hurry.

After this firmware upgrade, Skype wasn't any better. Apparantly there is a new version being launched this month, which will have Skype text support - maybe this will also improve phone quality. From what I have read, it is a rebadged version of the iSkoot application. I installed this and it wasn't any better, it also used a different phone number for making the Skype calls - so I have a feeling wouldn't be included in the unlimited Skype calls.

I then installed the MSN Messenger client for the N95 and it just crashed continuously - it's been next to useless. I can't blame MSN entirely for crashing, as I am finding in general my phone seems a little on the unstable side. The music player keeps crashing and it often just grinds to a halt. I ran a scan of the flash memory yesterday as I wondered if this was causing some issues. Only time will tell if this has helped.

The question now - is do I try and interface my phone with the EeePC, to make for a better e-mail and browsing environment? And I think, probably not. The point of having e-mail on the go for me, is to read and reply to important e-mail messages. I don't want to be too tied to the internet, as I've mentioned before, some of my best writing happens on trains without the disturbance of the web. So I'm concerned that I'm going to lose this quiet time - and my book is coming along far too nicely to disturb the formula.

Whilst writing this, I've installed Fring, which a number of people (including Crazy Pete) have recommended. It supports Skype, MSN, ICQ, SIP, Google Talk,Twitter, Yahoo and AIM, directly out of the box. The downside, is that it will use my bandwidth.

I wish there was an easier way of me knowing what I'm being charged for and what I'm not. If fring is just an MSN clone client - surely it will use the same servers and ports as a normal MSN client. As I'm supposed to get MSN free - will it be detected as MSN and I won't be charged? Who knows, but frankly the data consumed by sending the occasional message over MSN can't be that bad.

There is a slight difference to the Three Skype, and the Skype program. The Skype 3 offers is essentially a thin client to me running on one of their servers. So it uses a push protocol to keep me up to date on the statis of my contact list, and then I phone a gateway mobile number in order to make the call. So transmission to their networks should be as good as a mobile call. It could be their servers are over-crowded...

I guess I'd have to use a proper Skype client (which is possible) and use up my 1GB bandwidth to get decent quality. How much bandwidth does Skype use per minute? CB - your chance to shine

I would put your Shure's in an Altoids tin lined with felt. I made such a box for some earphones. Those Shure's are known for fragile cords, especially where they enter the earphone housing. I cringe at thinking you are carrying them in your pocket.

I dislike my Shure E2Cs.
They lack bass, none of the ear buds fit my ears properly and at best they sound tinny and annoying.

Majorly disappointing for £60 odd quid.

Do you know what - I'm not 100% sure. And annoyingly the "check internet usage" section, only tells my usage if I've gone over - so how am I supposed to know if I go over it? I can only hope it tells me as I get close. Maybe I should download a 1GB file to be sure

I just checked the add-on section and it's £2 per megabyte. So I'd want to buy an add-on as soon as I know really - it's £5 to upgrade to 3GB or something.

They suggest 1GB is over 10,000 mobile pages.

the upgrade to assisted GPS (using the mobile network to speed up location finding)

Yeah, noticed that one. I think that's why Google Maps and the new Maps 2.0 software is so much better. Used to spend ages getting GPS lock.

The headphone position can be annoying - especially when watching a video and I want to lean it somewhere - almost impossible with the headphones plugged in.

Bluetooth headphones - not a bad idea. I might look into that

Posted By: Mike

I dislike my Shure E2Cs.
They lack bass, none of the ear buds fit my ears properly and at best they sound tinny and annoying.

Majorly disappointing for £60 odd quid.

They probably sound that way because of the fit. If you don't get a proper fit, they will sound the way you describe.

I have a Nokia 6120 on '3' which also has Skype. My package gave me Skype, MSN and eBay for free

I have only made one Skype to Skype call on it and the quality was perfect. So perfect infact that the person who called me from their computer could not believe I was not on my computer and that he was actually speaking to me on my phone. The Skype call was UK to UK. I have had problems in the past with some UK to Europe calls. I think it just all depends wants happening with the internet tubes at the time.

I'm pretty sure they fitted properly, I spent about three weeks figuring them out!
It was just too much hassle for me in the end.....can't say I was majorly impressed.

I went back and re-read your post bacuase I just got to handle an N95. A coworker just got it. Seems nice. I think I still want an LG Rumor though. My mobile company does not offer the N95 in their line up so getting one would mean switching providers. I am not to keen on doing that. I also noticed the part about your book?