Review: Nokia Belle Refresh (Nokia N8)

Not long ago Nokia released a new software update for their first generation Symbian OS [Nokia OS] devices. If you are not sure, what the main changes are, take a look at this article, because I tested the new software for you

OS Much faster and smoother

I don’t know if it is because of the proccesor overclocking (it Nokia did it at all) or just because of the FW, but my N8 feels faster and smoother now. I am using my own theme ‘MeeGo Evolve’, which was already somewhat faster than the original theme (Nokia Evolve), but the new FW gave my N8 a boost and it is faster now. That is just great!

 

New widgets

Nokia added some new widgets to the homescreen. You have more that twice as much as before, which means you have more ways to personalize your homescreen. Now you can choose between a big and a small clock, or a mechanical one, or you have some weather widgets, just to name a few examples. I find those widgets very nice!

New music player

The music player in Belle Refresh got not only a new UI, but also new functions such as the possibility to see the lyrics of the song you are playing! I personally prefer the smaller buttons from Nokia Belle, but the new functions and the new UI are very clean and promise a better user experience.

New Browser

The biggest change in Nokia Belle refresh is the new browser! It is not onyl faster, but has also a new, much cleaner UI! You do not have this weird pop up menu anymore! Everything you need can be found in the navbar at the buttom of the screen. Only to close the browser you still need to go to options –> close. But the speed boots impressed me! I did never ever thing of a 680Mhz proccesor which has a that fast browser. Great work, Nokia!

Some new apps

There are also two new apps in your menu: Big Screen and DLNA Play. Big screen is the app everyone should know, because it is available in the Nokia Store some time. When you connect your device to your TV vie HDMI, the app automaticly opens and you will be able to use your phone as a remote or even to connect a Wii controller, Bluetooth keyboard or PlayStation 3 remote (not controller!) to your phone. With DLNA Play you can easily stream music, photos or videos over your WiFi network to a DLNA compatible device. I’d like it to have a deeper integreation into the OS, for example into the pictures app, so you only need to press options –> stream to get the picture to your TV, but it isn’t that bad with a several app.

Nokia Belle Refresh is a great OS! It runs excelent on a 680Mhz device, which was very suprising! You can get the update via the Nokia Suite.

I made some changes...

.. from now on, this blog is not longer a Nokia blog. It is a review blog about all type of phones now :-) I will write app reviews, Show you the newest games and the best phones. I thought there are many, much more popular Nokia Blogs out there, so this is my new blog! I hope you like it!

Special Nokia Lumia out sale in Germany

Nokia Lumia out sale in Germany!
Many shops like Amazon.de or Saturn lowered their prices for existing Lumia devices (Lumia 610, 710, 800, 900). For example the Lumia 900 costs only € 399,- instead of 496 (Saturn) or the Lumia 710, which was available for € 289,-, costs 185,- (Amazon). Combined with the 50 € cash back coupons those are really good offers.
But you have to be fast: The offers on Saturn is only available on Tuesday, the ones on Amazon.de only a few hours!

Nokia gives 50€ cashback to every German Nokia Lumia 800 and 900 user

Nokia just started a action to promote the Lumia 800 and 900: They give everybody who owns a Lumia 800 or 900 50 points cash back which are worth 50€. (Germany only!!)
You just need to do the following steps:

1st: Go to this page, insert the code (P9YE5Y)into the first box and press "weiter".
2nd: type you personal information (address, name etc.) and the phone's IMEI, press "weiter" again. After finishing you can search for coupons, for example from amazon in the upper right corner.

After you finished shopping go to the "warenkorb" and order your coupons.

Now have fun ;) I already ordered 2 Amazon and one Saturn coupons :)

Nokia releases 'Counters' app for Lumia devices

Today Nokia published a beta version of the long expected counter app for Nokia Lumia devices. It can be downloaded from the Nokia Beta Labs. It supports a counter for calls, text messages and data usage. I tested it for some hours and the counter seems to be very accurate, which is really nice, because for some people every single megabyte, call or message is important. Anyways, Nokia mentioned it to have some issues, which are the following:

• there are no notifications when set limit is achieved (will come later)
• conference calls are not counted properly
• not possible to set data limit counter with a fractional part (i.e. not possible to set 1.5GB limit)

Nokia Counters can be downloaded here.

Nokia Camera Extras now finally available in Germany

Since about five weeks Nokia Camera Extras is available in the Marketplace - but only for the U.S.. But today the download button was enabled even for Germany, which is pretty nice, 'cause many Lumia users started to become angry.
The feature Nokia Camera Extras has, are

• Smart-Groupshot
• Action Mode
• Panorama 

and

• Self Timer

With the first one you take a couple of photos and then you can change the faces of your friends to the best one. For example on the first picture Anna smiles, but Tim doesn't, and on the second picture Tim smiles but Anna doesn't. So you can change Tim's face on picture one to the one of picture two, so that on the finished photo everybody smiles.

You can find the application in the Marketplace under 'Nokia Collection'.

Nokia Maps updates to v2.5

Nokia is well known for its Nokia Maps and got its good update support. Combining both, Nokia has updated its Nokia Maps for Nokia Lumia to v2.5 with a route planner and the integration of Groupon (U.S. Only). The update can be downloaded soon over the Marketplace in the Nokia Collection.

8779 Update rolling out for Lumia 610, 710, 900

In the past we have heard about the 8779 update for the Lumia 610, 710 and 900. Now this update is rolling out in the most countries.
Nokia already pre-announced the update some weeks ago and notes following changes:
•Lumia 900 version 2175.2101.8779.12201: Enhanced sensitivity for proximity sensor performance and improvement to your phone’s screen colours in low light conditions

•Lumia 710 version 1600.3031.8779.12180: Internet sharing (Wi-Fi Hotspot) — Share your phone’s internet connection over Wi-Fi with up to five other devices or computers and Flip to silence — Silence incoming calls by turning your phone face down.

•Lumia 610 version 1066.0000.12201: Enhanced sensitivity for proximity sensor performance and improved sound level for alarm tone during voice calls.
As always you have to connect your phone to Zune to install this update.

Nokia Drive gets update to version 3.0

Today Nokia Conversations announced Nokia Drive 3.0 which will be available in a couple of days in the U.S and a bit later in Europe. To the main changes of Drive 3.0 belong the following:

- Nokia Drive learns with My Commute the way you drive and optimizes your Navigation. (Means if you are a heavy motorway driver, Nokia Drive will give you routes where you mostly take the motorway)
- Favorites: Nokia Drive now supports favorites. (Now you can save your favorite places and pin them directly on your start screen. A cool feature: The tile also shows you how long it would take you to get to this places with the actual traffic situation)
- Traffic: Nokia Drive now supports traffic warnings and it also leads you to an different route without that much traffic
- (automatic) switch between day and night mode

You will get this update for free over the marketplace, which will notify you about updates automatically.




---EDIT---


Wow, that was fast! In Germany the update is available!

Fast News

Fast News: In the last time many things happened, so I decited to make a new fast news post:

- Nokia sold about 4Mill. Lumia devices - doubled results of the 1st Quarter
-Nokia keeps continuing developing new technologies and materials: We like Nokia - phones because of their awesome build quality, don't we? So Nokia will use new, mostly better materials for their phones in the future.
-Lumia 900 users are very satisfied with thier devices
- new investments in location based technology
- Bing, Yahoo! And more partners are coming to Nokia's location services
- Facebook does the social thing, Google does the search thing and Nokia will do the location thing!
- 4 out of 5 cars (with navigation) use Nokia's Navteq technology
- Nokia did 1.4 billion euros loss