Simon Reeve

There’s a firmware upgrade for the Nokia 6220 classic.  I stumbled across this whilst surfing the web for anything new repeating to the 6220.

You have to down load a firmware upgrade tool from Nokia, then it’s just a case of plug in phone to USB, ensure plenty of battery, or power cable, then press go!

What’s new?  Well, don’t know!  I couldn’t find anything detailing what fixes ro new features are incorporated.  The only thing I’ve spotted is a new icon under Internet called ‘Share Online’.  I’ve not tried this yet.

It has rebooted itself a few times since, but I can’t recall if it did that before the upgrade.

The one omission - oh dear - is you still can’t quickly switch between ’silent’ and ‘general’ profiles by holding down the # key, this despite the fact the key has a crossed out musical note symbol on it.

Anyone else find anything?

It’s been a month since migrating from the N73 to the 6220, and as promised, here’s my take on living with the 6220.

The Good

It’s quick, far faster than my old N73.  You can multitask too, having maps open, playing music and viewing quick office docs at the same time with ease.  It’s light and more compact than the other smart phones, in particular the N73, and everyday use to date has confirmed my decision to go with light over some other features.  Since I don’t use a handbag, it’s nice to not have to lug around a lead weight in my suit trousers.  It’s typically Nokia easy to use - I’ve not bothered reading the manual.  The navigation button in the middle is easy for the thumb to drive the menus, far better than the N73’s smaller button.

Sound - despite only one speaker, it’s still great for a phone.  Using loudspeaker in the car for calls is more than adequate.  Playing back tunes is OK; I’ve found it useful to entertain my toddler when he’s attention span is waning!  Sound through the headphones is great - stereo widening did wonders whilst playing back tunes on a long walk.

Screen - OK, a bit bigger would have been nice, but it seems crisp and clear and even big enough to view maps whilst the phone’s mounted on the car dashboard. 

Software - There’s quite a host of useful stuff and if there’s something missing, there’s plenty of Symbian apps out there.  Nokia Dictionary is useful and you can download free dictionaries for translating. 

I downloaded a free Nokia app called Sports Tracker.  Sports Tracker tracks your rout using GPS, gives you all sorts of stats real time, saving the data for later comparison with other trips.  A cool feature is the ability to export for upload to Google Maps or Virtual Earth, where you can then see you route overlaid onto satellite image.

Nokia Maps - this one features in the good and the bad.  The good?  Well it does seem to work and it is rather cool to have a ‘TomTom’ in my pocket without having to carry around a separate device.  Having 3 months free Nokia Maps guidance, I’ve used it to and from work, though ignored its route, since as with all GPS guidance, it doesn’t understand where and when the school run is!  I did use it for real, going to somewhere new to me in an emergency, as I didn’t have my TomTom (it was typically in the other car).  Using Maps was easy to see whilst mounted on dashboard and the map seemed very recent.

Camera - Good, especially in terms of speed compared to previous phones.  It’s a little bit blurry (see below).  Video is acceptable.  Best of all is the flash, it actually works!  OK so it’s not going to light up 50 people in a group shot 20 feet away, but for close up snapshots at parties etc, it does a good job. 

Fancy stuff - Having the 6220 read you text messages or email out load is quite interesting.  However, it’s funny when it reads the word Nokia incorrectly (at least for the English) saying Knowkia instead.

The Bad

Maps - why do I have to pay for voice guidance after the trial period?  Who’s going to do that?  Is guidance not the whole pint about having a GPS device?  If I buy any other device, TomTom, Garmin, etc, they’ll give me guidance for free.  Sure I expect to pay for keeping maps up to date, but for guidance?  It’s like buying a DVD player that allows you to look at any frame, but you can’t press play!  I’d love to know how many people use the 3 moth trial period and then go buy other software, as I will, such as Co-pilot.

Camera - Picky I know, but this is still annoying.  You have a camera.  It has a timer delay function.  What do you do with the timer delay function?  Take group shots when no-one’s around to take the photo for you.  Oops!  Nokia failed to realise that with the N73 and the 6220 - the side you’d lay the camera on isn’t square to the front, so the phone just falls over. 

It’s a little bit blurred - I have yet to do a proper comparison, but I do think it’s blurred compared to the photos produced by the lesser pixel N73.  Sure it’s crisp on the phones small screen, but on the PC it’s not quite there.  This is a real shame as the camera is good otherwise, especially having a proper flash. 

I do wish you could disable the sound.  I know it’s probably something to with privacy, but the sounds are naff and sometimes there’s legitimate times when one wants to take a photo quietly!  Like not wanting to scare animals or wake up your two year old, who just so happens to look cute scrunched up asleep in the car seat. 

Connectivity - Why use micro USB, when it seems only a tiny bit smaller than the more common Mini USB?  You have to carry around the cable, as they’re not so common, which is frustrating for a portable device. 

Shame too that use a 2.5mm audio jack - means you have to buy an adapter to use the ‘normal’ 3.5mm jack.  To me it looks like there’s room for it.

TV out - A really useful feature, if you remember to take the cable with you.   It works, but….  There seems to be a delay from the phone’s display to the TV, but you can live with this.  The worst thing is you can’t rotate photos - or rather you can rotate the display, but only the phone’s display rotates!  So it’s back to the early digital camera days of having folks tilt their heads to view your portrait shots!

Display - My old Nokias often suffer from dust creeping into the display.  Then you’re for ever taking the cover off to clean it.  In the pre picture phone days, this didn’t matter, but now you’re taking photos and surfing the web, it can be annoying in bright light.  At first glance the cover of the 6220 looks closer bonded to the screen, but alas, there’s a speck of dust there already!  Arrrgghhh.  Picky, but never the less it’s annoying.

Battery - mmmmmm this isn’t brilliant.  It’s ok if you leave it alone and only make the odd call.  If you play with the thing, using Maps, Web etc, then you don’t get long.  I can easily get the battery dangerously low in a couple of days, and so always have a charger nearby (if possible). 

The Keys - They could do with a bit more definition.  It’s not easy texting without looking - quite a useful skill if you want to avoid walking into lampposts.

Summary

In general it’s more good than bad.  For its size and weight, it takes some beating.  It’s responsiveness is the biggest upgrade over the earlier Nokia Symbian phones, plus the GPS. 

I guess people will start harping on about the N96 now it’s out, but it wasn’t an option for me at the time and it’s big and bulky.  (Can you spot the envy?)

I’ve not commented on the web or emailing capabilities, as I haven’t really used it much, I prefer a proper machine.  It could come in handy every now and then though - so I’ll reserve judgement.

Having lived with my N73 for some two years, I thought it time to update and fancied a phone with GPS. My N73 served me well, but it’s heavy and rather slow to respond, especially with programs and data stored on a memory card.

So why the 6220?
I plumped for the 6220 over quite a few other phones. It was hard at first to narrow down the choice and harder still to take the plunge, since you only have to delay buying a new phone and new models apear before your very eyes. Technology moves real fast.

How about an iPhone 3G?
I looked at the iPhone 3G. For those outside the UK, the TV adverts harped on about how fast it was now it has 3G, and even led you to beleive 3G is new! I bit my lip and said nothing, in case I ended up buying one. Whilst out shopping I had a play with one live.

It certainly looks slick and the interface is very clever and impressive.  I searched the internet, viewed my blog which was all very easy.  The responsivenss of the display is fantastic. 

So why didn’t I buy it?  The main reason is the touch screen.  Whilst it’s very cool at navigating around, I found typing a bit frustrating with me hitting the wrong keys, at least the iPhone thought it was me ;-).  I occured to me that it would be hard to use without loking at the device, unlike my old fashioned N73.

Next reason?  No flash!  Whilst I know mobiles still can’t replace even the cheaper point an shoot cameras, they are more useful, since you always have the phone with you, and that includes in low lit situations.

Another reason?  It’s bit.  Yeah,  it might be thin, but it’s not going to do my suit jacket any good.  Plus, what would happen if you sat down with it in the back pocket of your jeans?

So it’s a now for me to the iPhone, untill they do an all singing and dancing nano version.

Next up, the N95-8GB
Well, this one was very tempting, especially as it’s operating system is merely an improved veriosn of that on my N73.

It seems to have eveything, large screen, maps, phone with decent camera, normal 3.5mm headphone jack.

BUT!  It’s a big fat thing and quite heavy.  Then there’s no lens cover, and there’s nothing more annoying than a scrathed camera lense.  There’s no slot for more memory cards, though 8GB would have been OK.

Others?  Sony Ericcson K850i?  no GPS!  I thought I’d mention it though, as the strangest thing about this phone, is it has a lense cover, but on the inside??  How pointless is that?  I’m not one for wanting to keep my phone in a protective case, rather just shove it in my pocket.

Having looked at others, it was clear I wanted something light and small, yet with enough toys to keep me happy for the next phone contract.

That’s when I spotted the 6220
Now it might not be a ‘cool’ as some other phones out there, but it’s looks are certainly deceieng.  This thing is very light and much smaller than a lot of the comptetion.  It has GPS, 5MP camera with Xenon flash (with lense cover!), FM radio with RDS and the latest version of Symbian OS.

The 6220 is far faster than my old N73, and can easily flick between multiple apps.  I wasn’t sure about the GPS, but I have used it for real and it got me to my destination.

It’s light and shilst the screnn is smaller than the big phones, it’s still more than adequate. Oh and it has traditional keys.  The camera is quick and inital thoughts are it’s good.

There are some interesteing feauteses, like the fact it can read out your SMS or EMail messages! 

It’s not perffect, but no phone is.  I’ll follow this up with a more detailed - living with the Nokia 6220 soon….

Whilst visiting Ware, we visited Scott’s Grotto.  A very unusual attraction as it’s entrance is very small and snuck between houses out of sight.  It was built by the poet John Scott during the 18th Century.

We had no idea what to expect and were intrigued why we had to bring a torch.   When we got there we climbed down some steps to a frontage that resembled a small house, shed, temple, all rolled into one.  built out of flint with the back disappearing into the ground.  Once a ‘folly’ within large ground of Scott’s house, it is now surrounded by modern housing and thankfully saved from being developed for us to enjoy now.

Once inside and up close, it was fascinating.  A small network of tunnels and rooms lined with shells, some in very distinctive patterns.  Visitors are encouraged to find the word ‘Frog’ in and amongst the designs, but look also for the face with a clay pipe ;-).

It was great fun wandering around.  A young boy encouraged us to all turn our torches off, which we did, then he shouted boo.  We joined in the fun and thought “I want one!”.  For anyone visiting nearby, I recommend this as one of those little gems of a tourist attraction that you’ll find hard to forget.

More details at the Scott’s Grotto website here:http://www.scotts-grotto.org

Here’s a few photos of the Grotto, including the face with the pipe for you to find if you visit…..

To Ware, that’s where

We have recently had the pleasure of visiting Ware in Hertfordshire in South East England, whilst staying at the Hanbury Manor, a Marriott hotel.  Initially we had no idea or plan of what to do or expect, other than to have a weekend away from it all.

Before setting off, we did have a look at the Ware Tourist Information website and were intrigued by an attraction known as Scott’s Grotto.  Armed with a printout we ventured into the small town of Ware not far from the hotel.

With the car parked, our tour of Ware began in glorious sunshine.  To our surprise we stumbled upon Ware during Carnival Day.  There was a boat parade on the river Lee on which Ware lies, a parade through the town with Morris men, and numerous other dancing troupes.

The narrow boats were decorated with all sorts, from bunting, flowers and an inflatable doll!  The boats cruised past under the bridge by Ware Lock, decorated under the theme ‘Come Dancing, Not Strictly’. 

Next up were troupes parading along the High Street.  Dancers of all type and ages, sporting brightly coloured costumes made their way towards the Festival Fete. 

At around the same time we noticed a wedding due to start in St Mary’s Church, with some guests having to navigate cross the parade from the pub to the Church.  I am sure the presence of a town full of folk, with all the noise and colours added to the happy couple’s day.

More information on the festival can be found here. http://www.wareonline.co.uk/festival2008/default.asp

Here’s a few snapshots of the day..

I thought it about time I used this site for something - so a Blog it is!

Now to descramble all that stuff in my head into interesting meaningful content.

Easier said than done.