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As I was sitting in the reading chair next to the window, waiting for the DHL delivery courier to arrive with my "gift" from Nokia, I started to fool around the the E75's camera. I was immediately impressed with the newly activated camera features as I mentioned in my previous post, but wanted to see if the camera quality had also been upped as well. Indoors, in a poorly lit environment, is never a fair environment to judge a camera's quality by, so I took a step outside and looked around for an interesting subject. Literally two feet from my door was this bottle-cap, sitting innocently on the ground.
I thought to myself, "Hmm... why not that? It's well illuminated, will give the macro a run for it's money, and see if the software will know exactly what I'm trying to focus in on. Plus, I really love macro shots...*click*"
The end result is here for your enjoyment. Noise levels are low, and the detail is actually amazingly good. Every scratch and ding on the cap is visible for inspection, as is the almost grotesque texture of the cement it rested on. Color balance seems suite good as well, showing none of the bluish-purple hue that an E71 occasionally lays on top of an otherwise perfect image. More test photos (and videos) to come soon!
Today arrived rather abruptly for me. I woke up at 8:53am, which is precisely seven minutes before class starts every day. I quickly scolded myself, then threw on some shorts (I never wear shorts), a shirt, grabbed my pre-packed backpack (a handy trick I've learned) and ran out the door. Why was I in such a rush? Because I had a midterm today, and had forgotten if it was in the beginning half or the second half of the two hour class.
Thankfully it was in the second half of class, even though it wouldn't have mattered since I was only a couple minutes late for class. As I walked out of class, chest proud high as I had breezed through the exam, I pulled the E75 out of my pocket. I had a remarkable 7 unread text messages to deal with!
As I walked home I began to truly inspect the E75. It's flared yet organic edges, the way light reflects off of it's qwerty keyboard, and the comfort with which the phone could be held to the ear. A quick shower and a change into some more respectable clothing and I went downstairs for some lunch. As my english muffin was tasting, I passed the device from hand to hand to get a feel for it's heft. I came to the conclusion that I very much enjoy it's weight, even though it did initially strike me as being quite heavy especially in comparison to my E71. It is made with the same quality and care as all E-Series devices. It's body does not flex, and it's slide is remarkeably smooth. (Unfortunately I feel as though the E66 has bested it in that comparison.) It's overall design is such that if one were to never know about the inside keyboard, they could go about using this handset without a bother in the world.
The software is much more slick as well. The icons are much more colorful, and the email client is phenomenally more pleasing to use. (It does tend fo have some conflicts of interest with the built-in messaging client, but this is somewhat to be expected as I shall explain at a later point.) I was rather perplexed that I could not find the music player, but once I did some digging I found the Media folder (containing Music Player among other programs) hidden away inside of the Applications folder. While this does actually make a decent amount of sense, the fact that my E71 has the Media folder in the root menu yet it lacks the 3.5mm jack found on the E75 makes me scratch my head a bit.
Then I found the camera, and oh boy did I smile! This must be the first E75 with the "use secondary camera" option available, and I sure am glad to have it there! Now I can easily compose video messages for peers and family, something which I do a remarkeable lot of since we do not have video calls accessible yet here in the States. GPS tagging is now a built-in feature of the camera application, as is an illumination-light for when recording video in dark environments. The fast performance of the camera coupled with VGA video recording (another first for E-Series devices) are also welcome additions. I now believe that the E75 has patched the biggest wholes between the E- and N-Series devices without losing sight of it's original intended user.
Anyways, pictures of the device are coming soon so hold tight.
(Post composed on the E75.)
It is my pleasure to anounce to your my involvement in the Teach a Technophobe project being held by WOM World / Nokia! What is it? Well, I'd best start from the beginning otherwise you'll be confused.
First, I'm going to be sent two Nokia E75 units. One of which I will give to someone I know for them to use for the duration of the trial period. Second, we're going to be issued a series of challenges on which we shall compete against others participating in the same project. Third, at the end of the trial period (4 weeks) I'll send both E75 units back. Hopefully, if my partner and I have done well in the challenges, we'll win some little Nokia toy. (A Kiano mapster would be nice to finish off my collection!)
It really is quite a fantastic idea, if I'm honest. If my memory serves me right, I was told that there would be 4 total pairs participating in this project, so I feel honored to be chosen. Also, a quick google search for "E75 Challenge" brings up two blogs where their authors have already received devices for this project. (Aditya's Blog & Lester's Blog) The first is located in India, the second in Singapore. That makes me the third, and I'm located in the northwest corner of the USA. Considering I see it likely that the fourth participant is not likely to be residing in the USA as well, it means we've got a truly international set of participants on our hands!
My only concern with this project was also a major source of excitement...who do I pick to participate with me? The first thought into my head was to ask my father. He's actually quite good with technology, but has a very low tolerance for anything that doesn't work intuitively. He's always complained about every phone he's ever had, regardless of make, model, or operating system. The demands he places on his phones are also usually in-line with everything a Nokia handset is capable of. (The only exception is synchronizing with his corporate server, something which I believe would work if he only had the patience to set it up or allow me to help him with.) To top things off, he's also quite gentle with his technology and would baby an E75 more so than any other phone because he already thinks that "it looks pretty."
However, he's also now located about 2 hours north of where I currently reside. Also, his work schedule would allow him limited amounts of free time, none of which I would ever be able to convince him to spend learning a new phone when he's already spent the time to learn the one he has now. So I decided to look at my set of peers here at school. The majority have GSM handsets, meaning that they'd all be eligible to try out the E75 using their SIM card. Quite a few also have iPhones, which would make for quite an interesting experience on their part. But when I finally asked myself who is the best fit for this phone things became a lot narrower. I wanted someone who at least interacted with a business environment, would be able to utilize all of the features the E75 offered, and wouldn't abuse such a high-end handset.
The end result is my friend Eddy. He holds a job in a bank, is decently tech-oriented, currently owns and uses a Nokia 5310 XpressMusic (and uses most if not all of it's features, I might add), and is actually in the market for a new handset. His current plan is to purchase a carrier-subsizides iPhone when his current plan ends, but he's always been something of a Nokia fan ever since his first handset. The S60 operating system will be a completely new experience for him, and the side-slider design will be new as well. (He's only owned S40 candybar-style handsets up until now.)
Now that I have a partner, on to the challenges. I wonder what they might be? I anticipate a decent amount of email-related messaging, perhaps with a mix of OVI thrown in for good measure. It's a good thing I nabbed the OVI name "maptor" while I had the chance. (;
While I don't forsee it being required, I think that my partner and I shall give Qik video messaging a few tries, and maybe even some VOIP calls. We're already fairly intensive on the SMS/MMS features of our phones, so things should get interesting. I wish I could speak more of the challenges but I really am clueless as to what they've got in store for us. Should be exciting though!
And what of the handsets? The beatiful E75 shall be an absolute blast to use. Having owned an E90 less than 8 months ago, I feel I should be able to judge if the E75 is it's replacement, or another type of E-Series device altogether. Currently owning and using an E71, I'll be able to judge the differences and similarities between the two. I do look forward to testing the side-slide design very much. I've messed around with other manufacturer's side-slide offerings and never really come away impressed. I hardly doubt to feel the same way about Nokia's take, especially after demoing their excellent E66. The large keyboard should be quite interesting as well... I expect to be making some posts to this blog directly from the E75. It's really hard to say what I look forward to most out of the E75 before I finally hold it in my hands
Anyways, I should let you know that I have known about this challenge for about a week now. I've been allowed to spread the word about it ever since I was a confirmed participant, I just never felt the urge to do so until now. Why now? Well, among other reasons, because I was expecting a package to arrive from DHL today containing the two E75 devices, one of which will be enclosed in a briefcase (this much I have gathered from reading the other two blogs). And, during the span of writing this entry, I heard a knock at the door and opened to find a DHL driver with a brief-case sized box under his arm. (;
Time to go unbox it. I'll upload pictures in a little bit!
I had decided to wander about and take pictures on Monday, since I had nothing to do and no place to stay. I wanted to geo-tag my pictures, but the Nokia E71 unfortunately hasn't implemented this well at all. So instead I decided to take a picture, then take a screenshot of the Nokia Maps application. The result is what you see here... I pasted the screenshot of my GPS location on top of each image.
I'm back in Eugene, as the title for this post obviously suggests.I'm taking Summer courses at the University of Oregon, mostly to fulfill admission requirements. But also because my lease for the residence I will be staying in next year begins this upcoming Friday. The factors of my job here and wanting to stay out of the house also play in. So does my desire for adventure and trying out new things.
I can't tell you much about my new apartment... it's not a matter of privacy so much as I really have very little information to tell. It's a 3-story place, four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen (w/counter), and a living area. The layout is quite simple: two bedrooms and a bathroom on the top floor, same repeated on the second floor, and the first floor had the kitchen and living area. Our unit is both large yet small and cozy... it's hard to tell exactly which of those two I will finally rest upon until I've moved in with furniture. But needless to say I won't be lacking much in the way of personal space and community space from which I can interact with my new "family".
My day-to-day schedule is quite simple... I'll be taking classes everyday (or at least that's what I do at the present moment), then work will hopefully fill a substantial part of my free time left over. Getting accustomed to my new home, teaching myself to cook, and learning German will occupy everything else. When the second summer session comes about, I hope to get another Pre-Business requisite taken care of, hopefully something along the lines of Writing 122 or Accounting 213. We'll just have to see I suppose.
Anyways, I thought I'd share this photo of my foot. I was feeling a bit cold so I put on my fuzzy hoodie and slippers.
