I found the most amazing wallpaper manager for the Nokia N900. It’s called PRISMIC and it hooks directly into N900Wallpapers.com, so you can stay up to date with the newest and hottest backgrounds for your N900. The application cost me $3.75 and I tell you it is well worth it for the sheer choice in wallpapers.

Here are some awesome features:

You can browse all the available categories direct from the N900wallpaper.com website and it shows you exactly how many wallpapers exist in each category.

When you select a category it shows a scrollable grid of thumbnails. Notice some of the thumbnails have four squares in the bottom left hand corner. This shows you that the wallpaper can be spread over the four desktops that the N900 has.  The thumbnails without these squares are single images. You still have the choice as explained below to push the wallpaper to individual desktops or all four.

Lets say I select one of those multiple screen wallpapers. The 4 images appear and there are a couple of options at the bottom. The first icon allows you to save the wallpapers to your device without saving it as a wallpaper (for later use).

The second icon asks you to choose the wallpaper to apply to a desktop, meaning you don’t necessarily have to have all four wallpapers on your four desktops. (clever because you might like only one of the four wallpapers, or two of the four wallpapers).

The third icon allows you to apply all the wallpapers to all your desktops. It puts them in the right order as well. (very clever).

The fourth icon tells you who created the wallpaper. (nice, give credit where due).

Finally the fifth icon allows you to rate the wallpaper and this is extremely useful especially if one is looking for the Top 100 highest rated wallpapers.

Only once you select the image and how you want it displayed on your device, does it downloads.

There are so many awesome wallpapers to use that one is extremely spoilt for choice.

Highly recommended –

What a day, what a week! Our Courchevel ski holiday came to an end with a lot of laughing. I will explain shortly…

We woke to another cold and cloudly morning, well that’s what it looked like from our balcony. It had snowed overnight and everything had a thick layer of snow on it. It must have snowed quite a lot as our balcony was piled up with snow.

We planned a couple of blue runs that would take us down to Courchevel 1550, ones we had not done yet and decided to get to the slopes an hour earlier than we had been, to get as much skiing in as possible.

It was as if the weather wanted to give us one last day of perfect clear blue skies, because as we were walking up to the starting area, the clouds lifted and we saw the awesome mountain slopes in all their splendid glory. The slopes glistened in the sun like sparkling diamonds. I will insert a few photos when we get back home.

The weather was deceiving though! The second we started to ski down the mountain, it soon became apparent that the air temperature / wind chill factor was not ideal. We later heard it was a chilly -10C at 1850 and above 2000m around -15C. It was miserable on the open chair lifts. The cold bit into any visible skin, which was the face. In hind sight a balaclava would have been the perfect solution.

We did some super fast blue runs and used our Panasonic FT1 all weather camera to take some stunning HD video and photos. It even managed to capture one of us wiping out (no names mentioned…too much pride at stake). Talking cameras, one cannot fault this camera. It worked brilliantly in the snow, and was in a couple of big crashes and its durable body survived all the knocks we have thrown it. Not to mention it was fully submerged in the Orange river in South Africa less than three months ago and survived the desert heat in Namibia. I also carried our gorilla-pod camera stand and we able to attach it to a few chosen locations allowing us some ‘together’ photos.

I mentioned in an earlier post that Courchevel 1850 has an airport. Well just above the landing strip is a gorgeous restaurant / meeting area with tables and chairs, and even deck chairs. So it was here we stopped for a mid morning hot cup of chocolate and customary beer. If it wasn’t for the ice cold wind and snow everywhere, you could almost believe you were sitting on a beach somewhere. Fantastic scenery.

This particular restaurant / meeting point must have been special because they had their very own DJ (not in da house, but ON da house).

He had his decks and everything set up on the roof and he was belting out tracks. I was thinking he could have caused a mini avalanche just above his head, but he didn’t seem too bothered.

At around 2pm we had enough. Our feet and legs were tired and we had done most, if not all of the green and blue runs through the course of the week. Quite an achievement we thought, considering this was our first week of skiing. We handed in our rented skis and went to have lunch at one of the many brilliant restaurants. Courchevel 1850 is not cheap, but we managed to find affordable places to eat.

Our final bit of fun was hiring a helmet and ’snow bob’ or plastic sledge for €5. Courchevel has its very own luge course running from 1850 down to 1550. It winds down a 2km mountain pass with loads of hairpin bends and sheer cliff drops and ice barriers. The entire course has huge fir trees lining the road. The sledge is plastic, has a seat, a foot holder, two pull brakes on either side of the chair, which are used for breaking and steering. The course is steep and icy in parts with bumps that cause one to fly through the air. The second you start its impossible not to laugh. If you are following close behind someone the ice sprays up from their sledge, so its imperrative that one wears snow goggles. There appears to be no limit on how many people can be on the course at any one time and this adds to the fun and laughter as people are passing you or sliding into the hairpin bends at breakneck speeds or crashing in front of you and it is just the funniest thing ever. Everyone becomes everyones friend for that moment regardless of nationality or language. We did five or six runs. After a while it became quite painful on the coxis and knees, arms, hands, head, back etc if one is accident prone…(ha ha ha). The helmet is a must have item. I came off on a straight after going airborne and crashed and rolled a few times, hitting my head in the process into the ground. Having a helmet definitely saved a severe bruising or concussion.

So it is all over until next year. We will definitely be going back to Courchevel 1850. It has so much character and choice, and it is hard to fault. Perhaps if we win the lottery between now and next year, we can afford to stay at the €35000 per week Chevel Blanc hotel.

The above photos were taken on my Nokia N900, resized and cropped on the N900.

I will echo a recent post by Kerry Wright of www.wrightaboutnow.com that modern technology and applications such as Skype and Facebook are bringing us closer together regardless of ones location.

Today i chatted to my Mom on my Nokia N900 for over 2 hours and it cost nothing. My Mom was at her computer in Windhoek, Namibia and I was logged into Skype on my N900. Skype is built into the N900, which makes it all the more amazing.

The call came through just like an ordinary phone call. When I am home my N900 is automatically connected to my Sky Broadband via wireless, so the entire call was using my broadband, as if I was at my PC.

Now imagine what a call of this magnitude would have cost had we used good old fashion Telekom or BT?

The fact is, we most certainly would not have spoken for so long. Modern technology is amazing and we should embrace it at every opportunity.

I thought I would see how many applications I can open at one time on my Nokia N900 since it’s supposedly one of the best devices for multitasking.

To make it a little more interesting, I have open various applications namely;

• My browser bookmarks page,
• a couple of (IM) instant message (three separate screens)
• two fairly large websites with lots of images (www.wilkinsonsworld.com) and (www.expedia.com – I did a search for holiday appartments in New York city),
• RSS Feeder application showing the latest headlines from Maemo, Twitter and BBC News.
• Twitter website,
• My blog (lookatbowen.com – edit comments screen),
• Application manager showing all available applications,
• Media box – 3rd party multimedia player – was listening to Clive Cussler – Dragon Audio Book,
• File Manager,
• Conversations window showing various IM and SMS messages,
• SMS screen to my Mom,

The N900 so far is working like a dream. No sign of slowing down, so I thought I would open a few more applications.

• OVI store website, did a search for Firefox and downloaded it,
• FAQ screen is a help screen for something,
• The default media player playing Counting Crows.

• Firefox browser showing our website,
• File Manager application showing the screens above and below,

• Witter (a twitter application),
• Vagalume (Last.fm player).
• MaStory (blogging tool).
• Email announcement.
• SMS announcement.

One awesome feature of the task bar is that each of the mini screens are a real-time image of the actual application. It is bloody awesome!   At this stage I was running out of things to open, and after calculator the N900 finally started to show signs of slowness. Well it was a very clear sign – an error. (ha ha).

• Calculator,
• Calendar,
• Address book,
• Notes,
• Buddy list in Pidgin,
• A game of chess.

I think I have made my point. I challenge any iPhone owner to show me a similar test!

I stumbled upon this incredible Firefox add-on recently after looking for a simple “open tab” bookmark or history tool, as I usually have a lot of tabs open when surfing the Internet, and often want them on another device at another location.

The Weave Sync add-on lets you securely take your Firefox experience with you wherever you go. You can now surf the Web on your PC, get up and go, and have everything waiting for you on your phone (N900) or Netbook/Laptop: your history, open tabs, bookmarks, the Awesome Bar – just as you had left it.

As netbooks and phone devices with mini browsers become more and more popular the idea of taking everything with you seems the logical next step.

At present I use all the features except for the bookmark synchronizing, as I don’t leave bookmarks or favourites on the local desktop, instead use Google Bookmarks (part of the Google Toolbar) for my personal shit and Del.icio.us for the websites I want to share with the world. If Weave could somehow manage those two options it would be an awesome add-on for Mozilla!

I recently upgraded my T-Mobile contract to a Sim Only deal where by I get X amount of minutes and X amount of voice calls and unlimited internet usage.  I took this option because I bought my phone outright.

T-Mobile were very quick to point out that the “unlimited internet usage” was not actually unlimited but instead capped at 1GB.

How ridiculous?

Ridiculous for many reasons as the phone I recently purchased is totally geared towards the Internet and for social networking (Skype, Gtalk, MSN, Facebook, Twitter, has a full internet browser, access to everything internet related). The Nokia N900 is a mini computer or tablet device with a phone function.

The Nokia N900 is not the only phone offering such features, there are many other phone makes (Blackberry, Apple, Motorola, Samsung, HTC, LG etc) and models offering fast download speeds (7.2MBit, 10MBit).

T-Mobile bragged that they were streaks ahead of the other mobile ISP’s because they offered 1GB instead of 500MB. All very well, but that is a pathetic statement to make!

I consider myself a heavy Internet data user on my mobile and by that I mean:

1. The Nokia N900 is a multi-tasking device, therefore it is possible to open multiple web sites in the real internet browser, which is similar to what you would find on your desktop PC, and it is able to load up all the graphics, video and sounds that are normally present on a website quickly, which obviously uses a lot of data. I regularly browse;
   1. BBC, Sky News, Engadget, Wired, Netvibes, Youtube, Wilkinsonsworld, Crunchvictims, FT, CMAVision, Gmail,  etc.
2. On top of that I would have open Facebook, an online scrabble game,
3. Multiple Twitter accounts,
4. Last.FM scrobbler, or Shoutcast music streaming, or E-Book reader,
5. I am downloading a few podcasts on a daily basis,
6. Reading and replying to my various Email accounts,
7. Instant Messaging through Skype, MSN, GTalk and Facebook (all possible in one place on the N900),
8. Blogging on my various websites,

I had a look at my data usage after a week of using the Nokia N900 and it’s up at 450MB. (Doh! after a week). There is no way on earth the 1GB limit is going to last me. I will reach that cap by the end of next week!

T-Mobile already offer broadband via a USB Dongle. They are quite generous in the amount one can download with their USB dongle (£ 10/mth – 4.5 Mb/s  – 3 Gb cap). – Check out wifi.co.uk

What they need to realize is that with the new mobile technology coming out with bigger and better devices with lovely large screens and qwerty keyboards, that devices such as the N900 are similar too and / or if not better than a netbook or a laptop with a USB Dongle, since they incorporate the internet technology in the device.

For a Sim Only contract with unlimited Internet at a cost of £15/mth, one would expect T-Mobile to offer a larger download limit!

Come on T-Mobile, please review your Interet download policy!

My wife says I am obsessive! She is of course referring to me and my new friend/toy the Nokia N900, which arrived two days ago after a slight delay. You can read all about that in the previous post. Since then I have managed to run the device dry 4 times and when I say “run the device dry”, I mean use it “non stop” for 5 or so hours until the battery is dead. So I guess that is what she means by “obsessive”.

I read the manual that came in the box and it was pathetic, all 17 pages of it. It explained nothing. So I did a search for a manual or a how to guide and found a 231 page Nokia N900 User Guide. (now we are talking). It’s a PDF file and I now have it on the phone for easy access and will be reading it front to back and back to front.

So what is the big deal about this device? The first thing noticeable when it’s turned on is the fact that it runs 99% of the time in the horizontal mode (as in the image to the left). This is so the large 3.5inch screen can be utilized fully. One also notices the lack of buttons anyone on the front. Not even a red or green buttons for making or ending calls and that is because the N900 is more a mini computer than a phone. I received a call while on the train home and to be honest, I didn’t know how to pick it up (ha ha).

It runs “Maemo“, which in simple terms is an open source linux operating system. Open source means anyone can develop software for it and there is a ton of software available in various stages of development. I have loaded quite a few applications already and haven’t even touched the surface of whats on offer.

Here are a few of my favourites so far:

1. Angry Birds – a very addictive game by Rovio (check out the trailer here). Simple idea but brilliant!
2. FBreader – Ebook reader, also trying out MGutenberg.
3. gPodder – Podcast player.
4. Firefox – Yup, the N900 can display a full browser perfectly and it’s fast. Did I mention add-ins, just like the application on the PC. It’s awesome! One particular awesome add-in is called Weave and I quote;
   The Weave Sync add-on lets you securely take your Firefox experience with you wherever you go. You can now surf the Web on your PC, get up and go, and have everything waiting for you on your phone: your history, open tabs, bookmarks, the Awesome Bar – just as you had left it.
5. Mauku – Twitter application – I also tried out Witter, but find Mauku to be more finger friendly.
6. Mediabox – an alternate to the default media player.
7. Pidgen – Instant Messenger application allowing me to be logged into MSN, Yahoo, Google Talk, and Skype. There is a whole host of other IM’s. Facebook chat would be nice. Actually Skype is built into the contact section, which is cool because one can chat, make VOIP calls etc.
8. Facebook – Social networking application that we all love/hate/know!
9. Extra media codecs for playing just about any video / audio format. All my files on my home server work perfectly and I got a real good mix (FLAC, MP3, MP4, MKV, AVI, DIVX, etc).
10. Vagalume – it plays Last.FM and Libre.FM. As there is no Mobbler yet, this is the next best thing. Upon starting the application it soon becomes apparent that Last.FM will not work because of some licencing issues, but fear not as there is a hack or work around and it works perfectly if one follows the instructions over at NokiaAddict.com – Thanks @Gerrymoth.

One very cool feature is the ability to play Music / Video / Photos from my home media servers over wireless. The N900 makes uses of Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) and Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA). The device supports up to 4 media servers at one one. I currently have two connected (my iMac and Cubestation), so I have been streaming music and video to the phone with ease. No need for cables or SD cards etc. It’s so amazing.

It’s impossible to tell you all the features, because there are thousands all made possible by the Maemo operating system. Simply the best mobile device I’ve ever owned! Now stepping away from the N900.

I placed an order online at Simply Electronics for the Nokia N900 ten days ago and it finally arrived today, but it was not plain sailing and I will explain why:

Their website says “This product has FREE Delivery! 7 Units In Stock ,Usually Ships in 1-2 Business Days“… Well that is total BS, and what’s more, the second you place the order on their website, your money is taken immediately out of your account. It’s not ideal.

You get a very cheesy email minutes later saying, “Thank you for contacting us! We have received your inquiry and are assigning it to a representative. You can expect to receive a response from us within one – two business days during this busy Christmas period“. Very poor considering I placed the order on the 18th of January 2010, 11 months away from Christmas.

Two days later I emailed them asking when they expected the phone to be delivered. You get the same cheesy reply as above and then a response, “We would like to confirm that we have received your order 1234567. Regarding your request, we are doing our very best to dispatch all orders within the shortest period of time. Although we cannot confirm the exact delivery date, we will certainly try to deliver your order as soon as possible. As soon as your order has been dispatched, we will send a dispatch email and the parcel can be expected to arrive at the delivery address on the following working day.“

On the 22nd of January, after hearing nothing I emailed them again, this time stating their delivery policy was SHITE. On the 25th of January I get the following reply, “With regards to your order, we would like to inform you that there has been a slight delay on your order due to high demand for our services. Nonetheless, we have contacted the relevant department regarding your order. Rest assured that we are utilizing all resources to dispatch this item as soon as possible. Once the item has been dispatched, you shall be receiving a confirmation e-mail from us as well as a tracking number to assist you in checking the progress of the delivery“.

I emailed them again on the 26th January. It’s getting annoying now, it is over a week and nothing! I get a reply from them on the 27th of January, “Thank you for your email and sincere apologies for the delay with your order. With regards to your order, we would like to inform you that there has been a delay on the dispatchment of your order due to high demand for our services. However, we have received an update that your order is scheduled to be dispatched today. It is expected to be delivered on the following working day after it has been dispatched. Once the order has been dispatched a notification email will be sent out which includes the tracking number of the parcel. Meanwhile, we will closely monitor the delivery process and will send you a confirmation email as soon as the item has been dispatched.“

And true to their word, I got the phone today, ten days after placing the original order and almost at the exact time the tracking website mentioned.

So I am happy. The phone is in perfect working order and everything seems to be in order.

Should it have taken ten days? (No), Should I have been more patient? (No), Do you think it’s right they take your money upfront and then hold you by the danglies? (No), Would I recommend Simply Electronics, based on price & service & communication? (Yes/No/No).

I am currently listening to a wonderful story called “DECIDER” by Dick Francis on my Noka 5800.

I decided (excuse the pun) to put my new bluetooth headphones (BH-905) to the test. They have 8 noise cancelling microphones that are meant to block out the surrounding noise.  So far they are doing an excellent job. Noise is non-existent with one switches on the ANC button.

I am using a very cool audio application called “PowerMP3″ on the Nokia 5800.  I downloaded this from Symbian World and I would go as far as saying “it is better than the default music player on the Nokia 5800XM”.

Dick Francis – Decider, Architect Lee Morris has plans to restore Stratton Park racecourse to its former grandeur. But the combative Stratton heirs have violent plans of their own.

Related Links:

• Out with the Sony BT50 and in with the Nokia BH-905!

There is a new firmware download for the Nokia 5800. It is version 31.0.101 and I have successfully installed it.

I was not able to download OTA (over the air), as it says not available, but it is there to download through the new Nokia Software Updater (v1.8.10en).

I can tell immediately that the new version does not bring Kinetic Scrolling in the Internet, Address book, Gallery or Music lists, but it seems a lot quicker (perhaps because it rebooted the phone) moving through the address book, music lists and gallery. Photos load immediately and I have over 500 photos on my phone and almost 5 GB’s of music and video etc.

Related Links:

• See my Nokia 5800 page.