Firmware
Well true to the word of their automated message, I did get a reply to my “where is V12 for the UK N97″ question I sent to Nokia. Unfortunately it reminds me a lot of the old pilot lost in the fog joke (link).
The firmware in a Nokia phone is dependent on the country it is released for as the cellular networks in every country are different to varying degrees. The release of a firmware update is dependent upon 2 things :
1 – General adaptation to the specific networks found within the country in question,
2 – Adaptation by specific networks for use with phones SIM locked to their networks.
In your case, of course, only the former applies. Please be patient, it will be released shortly.
Can anyone define “shortly”… There really should be a ban on using that completely valueless measurement of time!
Oh well… It was worth a try wasn’t it?!
Instant messenging and VOIP
Well now we get down to some fun stuff. I’m sure you have an instant messenger account of some variety. Microsoft, yahoo, AIM, Skype, ICQ to name but a few. Well how about having them on your mobile phone (with your “unlimited” data connection)?
I have been using an application called Fring for quite a while on my N95. It works very well, and I’ve had quite a few conversations with people over skype whilst taking advantage of open wireless points in some strange parts of the world. Having a chat with friends back home whilst costing absolutely nothing is rather cool.
In 2008 there was a new arrival on the mobile IM/VOIP block, Nimbuzz, so I thought I would give it a go on my N97.
One of my main reasons for even thinking of trying a new IM client is a short coming they both share. I have two messenger account, one I use for business, and one I use for personal. Unfortunately both Fring and Nimbuzz only allow you to have one Microsoft messenger connection open at a time, a restriction I don’t have on my desktop thanks to Trillian. So although they both have the restriction, there is nothing to stop me running both Fring and Nimbuzz side by side, and can you think of a better way to test them?
(I will apologise in advance as I interchange “messenger”, “MSN” and “Windows Live” when talking about the instant messenger from Microsoft, they have changed its name too many time! I believe that this month it’s officially “Windows Live Messenger”).
So far today they have both been perfectly well behaved. Nimbuzz does strike me as a little more polished, and Fring does make me feel slightly sea-sick with it’s over-friendly huggy huggy website. It could be the green colour scheme, but the comic font really doesn’t help!
One of the issues I have always had with Fring is checking for updates. On the app you have to go into the about page, find the version, then open the website, dig about a bit to find the version history, then decide if you are out of date and download/install. just having the current version number shown on the download page would be an improvement.
Nimbuzz is far more integrated. There is a check for update link on the application. As the meerkats would say “Simples” (non UK readers will just have to take my word that you just missed the most hillarious joke ever typed on the intarweb).
So how do they measure up?
Well for my use there is not much to choose between them, both do Skype, Windows Live (MSN), yahoo, AIM and ICQ. I think I err slightly towards the new boy right now. Fring can do Twitter (but I already have a twitter client I like – Tweets60), Nimbuzz can do Gadu Gadu (ask any Polish friend).
Some of Fring's IM connection "add-ins"
Some of Nimbuzz's IM "Communities"
The one thing that really does swing it in favour of Nimbuzz, in a big way, is the Windows Live status message, the little one liner you can do in messenger to say “Eating my dinner”. In Nimbuzz you can set this to whatever you like. Fring on the other hand sets this to “On mobile by www.fring.com”, a bit of self promotion is okay I guess, but this isn’t a default, that is it! You can’t change it! The earlier versions of Fring did not do this, and I don’t appreciate this being forced upon me. Apart from anything else, if I am using this as a professional contact point, I don’t want my contacts to know I’m away from my desk/office and doing my shopping! Even worse, it seems to be alarmingly persistent, even after you log in with a real Windows live Messenger client, the Fring advert status remains.
–> Part 9
