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.

It was just over two years ago when I purchased my SONY BT50 Bluetooth headphones and they have served me well for almost every single working day since.   I wish I had captured the puzzled look on peoples faces when they looked over to me and saw me watching or listening to a video or music on my phone without any wired headphones plugged in. I would just chuckle to myself.  I also chuckled at all the sheep with their white, black or pink “wired headphones” stuck deep into their ear drums, some of which were blearing out music to irate others around them and others to damage their own hearing. If only they knew?

But that was yesterday and I will definitely miss them a bit, that is because my new Nokia BH-905 bluetooth headphones arrived today from Play.com. What makes them very special you may ask? They are noise-cancelling headphones which reduce unwanted ambient sounds (i.e., acoustic noise) by means of active noise control (ANC).  Essentially, this involves using 8 tiny microphones placed near the ear and electronic circuitry which generates an “anti noise” sound wave with the opposite polarity of the sound wave arriving at the microphone. This results in destructive interference, which cancels out the noise within the enclosed volume of the headphone.

Noise cancellation makes it possible to enjoy music without raising the volume excessively and it can also help a passenger sleep in a noisy vehicle such as an airliner or bus or to have a quiet environment if you want to meditate.

To start off,  I tested them in my office where the constant buzz or hum of the computer or air conditioner could be heard. With the ANC on these sounds were not heard at all. It is amazing to hear silence.

Initial Testing: I must say when I started to play my music, the office sounds disappeared completely and all I could hear was my sweet music. It sounded crisp and loud with ample base and treble. The true test will be on the train tomorrow morning and I shall update this post then.

Update: I travelled part way home on the tube from Bank station to London Bridge to North Greenwich on the Jubilee and it certainly was a pleasure to listen to music without having to turn it up loud to hear over the tunnel and train noise. Outside the station I walked to my car with the ANC switched on, but with no music playing and it was incredibly silent. I then switched it off briefly and I could hear the busses driving past, the seagulls flying over the dome, and an aeroplane taking off from London City Airport. I flicked the ANC back on and it was as if the surrounding sound was turned off. Truly magical!

Above you can see the carry case. A bit to large for my liking, although ideal for when travelling on holiday or on a plane. It came with a whole bunch of headphone connectors, a UK charging plug, even an extension cable (CA-144U) and a wired cable (CA-143U) and a cleaning cloth. There is also a booklet with instructions in multiple languages. The diferent adapters one can see are AD-63, AD-52, AD-70 and AD-71.

For now the pros and cons for me are:

Pros:

• 8 Noise Cancelling microphones.
• A switch to flick between Noise Cancelling or not.
• Supports A2DP, Bluetooth devices such as mobile phones (Tested on Nokia N95, N97, 5800XM, Dell Latitude D630).
• Fast FWD/Rewinds, Play, Pause buttons on the phone.
• Music is paused when a voice calls are received or when you activate your voice mail via the multi-function button.
• Adjustable, fits any size head.
• Comfortable, small and have brushed metal on the outside making them look worthy.
• Can be used wirelessly or wired (3.5mm & 2.5mm & 6.3mm wires).
• Comes with about 6 adapters for connecting into various devices.
• Comes with a sturdy carry case.
• Peace and quiet when you want to relax and not listen to anything.

Cons: (I am comparing them to my old Sony BT50 headphones although I shouldn’t).

• They don’t fold into a simple form for carrying, however the headphones can swivel. They will fit into a bag without trouble.
• Expensive if bought anywhere other than play.com at the moment.
• Carry case is a bit bulky, but will fit in a bag without much trouble.

Don’t take my word or blog for it, why not read what other websites are saying? See below for some reviews.

Related Links:

CNET Australia – In terms of audio quality and comfort, the Nokia BH-905 is certainly one of the best stereo Bluetooth headsets out there.

ElectricPig – Let’s face it, wires suck. They get tangled, look stupid and cause you to trip over. Praise be then, for Bluetooth headphones.

Noknok – The Nokia BH-905 Stereo Bluetooth Headset is very much a state-of-the-art headset that manages to deliver noise cancellation technology and Bluetooth connectivity in one handsome package.

Lookatbowen – update: I am on my second pair od Nokia BH-905 headphones, as the ones I blogged about turned out to be faulty. I think some of the microphones were not working correctly because after a few days I could hear noise even when the ANC was turned on. I spoke to a few people about them online and their experience of the headphones and concluded that there was a problem with mine. I sent the back to Play.com who gladly exchanged them, paid for my postage and were overall incredible. Brilliant service from Play.com – I can’t fault them in anyway. I got my replacement pair a couple of days later and these are definitely working and I will re-iterate my feeling about these awesome headphones. They are totally incredible. Worth every penny.

There is a new software update for the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic mobile phone. It takes the old version from 30.0.011 to 31.0.008 and adds a few more improvements to the phone namely; Improved navigation with Ovi Maps 3.0 and improved performance. (no sign of kinetic scrolling).

The firmware was not available OTA (over the air), but I managed to find it in the Nokia Suite under “Nokia Software Updater”.  The file size is 133.3MB and updates the phone in about 2 minutes after which it reboots twice and is ready for use.

After the upgrade you can check your phone for the latest version by typing in *#0000# and one should see the following on screen:

I found a cool Nokia 5800/N97 widge called Q Search which was created by Russell Beattie. You can go and download it at Russell Beattie’s Weblog. It’s essentially the Nokia HTML search tool with some added shortcuts, and it is these shortcuts that make the whole search experience a lot better.

For example: I want to search “Go Ape” and I want to see all the “videos” people have taken. Normally one types that in the search tool and the results are a mix of videos, news, blogs, websites and you end up scrolling through loads of useless links. Not anymore if you use the Q Search widget.

So I load up Q Search and type in: “v go ape” and Q Search gives you all the Youtube Videos as results. It seems to only gives you Youtube video results, which I can live with as I use Youtube.com a lot, but I guess if you are not a Youtube.com fan, then this widget is not for you, but don’t forget about all the other options.

Other shortcuts that can be used before your search word are:

Google (g), Wikipedia (w), YouTube (v), Google Images (i), Twitter (t) and Definr dictionary (d).

I think it’s a brilliant application / widget and a must have for both the Nokia 5800 & N97.

It had to happen. I CRASHED my Nokia 5800XM front screen after installing something (not sure what as I have installed a lot of applications recently thanks to the brilliant OVI Store).

This morning I noticed my front screen was missing the shortcut bar although I could press the buttons, but nothing was happening. The Contact and Dialer buttons at the bottom were visible but they didn’t do anything when pressed.

Annoyingly these things happen when lots of applications come together and doing a quick search on-line I see it has happened to a few others. I can accept that these little quirks don’t happen often, so I backed up the phone using the Nokia PC Suite software and then did a hard reset.

FIX: To hard reset your phone from off, hold the camera button, the green button and the red button down and with your spare fingers press the power button in. This can be quite tricky but if you have an extra hand it’s easy. After the initial boot up sequence, you will be prompted to setup the country, the date and time. Restore your backup and you should have your old phone setup back.

Of course that is what all the web sites say, but typically I discovered I had lost a few key applications such as the brilliant Nokia Messaging and a few others applications that were installed on the memory card. I am not sure why they have not restored properly, but it’s not a train smash. This is a good way of purging crap off your phone.

I am not a huge fan of Facebook and all the silly applications that come with it, but for communicating with friends and family it is brilliant. I’ve been using it on my various mobiles for quite some time now although none of the FB applications were that user friendly or in the Nokia 5800XM’s case “finger friendly”….. until now!

Symbian have release a new version of the Facebook application especially for the touch screen Nokia 5800XM and N97 and it’s a pleasure to use. The screen options are clear, there are nice big buttons and accessing the various menus are very easy and fast. One of the coolest features is the camera button (see top left corner). Pressing on this button pops up a choice to take a photo using the onboard camera, or one can select a photo from your phones gallery, but either way the photo is immediately uploaded into a new or existing album in your Facebook profile. It’s lightning fast as well. I was walking down Cannon street yesterday and literally snapping photos and uploading. It’s such a useful part of the application, especially if you are a happy snapper like me and want to share photos with your friends and family.

Other cool things are the quick access buttons to comments (see the little comments balloons to the right of the news feed) and quick access to your profile, status, friends, photos and Inbox. What makes this application work on the 5800XM is all the screen space. Nothing feels like it’s been squashed in and for that reason it’s a pleasure to use.

You can download the Facebook application from the Nokia OVI store on your PC, or download it FREE from the OVI store  on your phone. To install the OVI store application you need to download it from their website. It should prompt you to install the OVI application on your Nokia phone when you first login or enter the site. The OVI store is another cool application and allows one to download free or pay applications, music, ring tones, photos etc. There is a link below.

(Facebook application for S60v5 generation phones highly recommended).

I have had the Nokia 5800XM for about two months now and so far I have mixed feelings about it. It’s no where near as good as the Nokia N95, which was by far the best smartphone on the planet and which I raved about for two and a half years.

Obviously the N95 was an N-Series smartphone and the 5800 is Nokia’s first real touch screen and they have tried to give it a music feel to it. Not sure it really comes across as a music phone, as the music player is okay, or very similar to the N95 in what it does and shows on the screen.

I am not sure if Nokia made this phone and hoped it would compete against the iPhone or the Blackberry Storm or all the other new touch screen models out there. So the iPhone touch interface is slightly better, but that is about it for the iPhone as it doesn’t come close to this phone in terms of features.

The things I don’t like about the 5800XM:

1. Most definitely the touch screen or touch experience. The lack of buttons is a big thing for me. (If it had buttons and touch screen then maybe).
2. Texting which I do a lot of is now a pain in the arse, because the touch screen forces you to look at the screen, where as with a normal keys it was quite easy to feel your way around the keypad and type fast.
3. Typing is a lot slower, because of the touch screen, and one has to hit the screen quite hard and it has to be in the area of the letter.
4. The camera is only a 3mp, and doesn’t take great photos (if compared to the N95).

What I like about the phone:

1. Even though it’s not an N-Series phone, it’s got all the connectivity features of my old N95 (wireless, fast internet, 3G, Edge, HSDPA, A2DP bluetooth etc).
2. It supports SD cards up to 16GB. Very handy for storing music and videos.
3. It’s plays video in a lovely widescreen format, and watching videos is a pleasure.
4. It’s running the latest Symbian software, which is a pleasure to use.
5. There are hundreds if not thousands of Apps (lot of free apps as well).
6. There are many applications that work really well with the touch screen, such as Google Maps, LastFM, FoneFood, FriendView etc.

What I have loaded on the phone at present in terms of applications:

1. X-Plore (brilliant).
2. PhoneTorch (brilliant).
3. ScreenSnap (brilliant).
4. SMS Timer (brilliant) – allows one to schedule SMS’s, excellent if you don’t want to send a SMS immediately.
5. AccuWeather (brilliant).
6. PhotoBrowser – funky browser with magnifying glass. (Nice Gimmick).
7. TagReader – Microsoft’s barcode reader (Very Clever).
8. BarCode – Nokia’s barcode reader (Very Clever).
9. Split the bill – Very useful if you dine in large groups and have the habbit of splitting the bill.
10. Google Maps, Google Search, Google Calendar, Google Documents, Google Translate, Gmail – All very useful applications which I use daily.
11. Soft Touch Stop Watch.
12. Friend View which uses the GPS to pinpoint you and your friends. (Very useful).
13. Nokia Maps.
14. Metro de Paris, NYC Subways maps.
15. FoneFood – A very clever and useful app from Lastminute.com – used to find restaurants in whatever area you might be in.
16. MyPhone – Ha Ha this is a classic application! It’s called “Exceeding iPhone” and they have somehow managed to use the iPhone UI (user interface) on the 5800XM. So you have a Nokia 5800 with an iPhone interface. It’s darn clever. Check out their website.
17. Bounce (game).
18. RT GR (game).
19. SudokuMaster (game).
20. Checkers (game).
21. MR2 (game).
22. Sensitive (game).
23. Solitaire (game).
24. Shuffle Shock (game).
25. Quickblock (game).
26. R.Bubbles (game).

It’s been a while since the last post, and that is because there has been a lot going on in the Bowen household for the past couple of weeks. My brother Peter was here for a week from South Africa, and last week was extremely busy with work and various client upgrades including one in Paris on Thursday and Friday.

Of course we also had all that snow which brought London and the rest of the country to it’s knees (so much for a 1st world country we live in and they can’t even cope with a little snow). The snow was so bad (chuckle chuckle) that it stopped the entire rail and bus network in London. In fact all the roads around our area were totally snowed up because the council didn’t think that it was necessary to grit the roads. Anyway it was a good week of snow. We built two big snowmen in our garden, which was good fun. Apparently the most snow in 18 years, so it was good to see it.

That is not to say I have not being updating this web site. I recently replaced my Nokia N95 for a Nokia 5800 XpressMusic touch phone. Yes, I finally took the leap and ditched my Nokia N95 for a touch screen phone and as I have promised to my many fans, it would NOT be a crappy iPhone. So that bet of £1000 to whoever saw me with an iPhone is quite safe.

The phone is pretty awesome and I am slowly coming to terms with it’s functions. I have devoted an entire page to this phone and you can find it at the top under the heading 5800.

We have also been very busy planning our next holiday (a snowboarding week in Samoens, France). We have decided to drive there, a 630 mile trip, so we can see France, rather than fly over it and see just clouds. It’s quite a mammoth road trip, which we are going to do in two parts. We have arranged almost everything online (snowboards, accomadation, ski passes, ferry etc). Driving there means we will have to adhere to the French rules of the road and in France they insist that if the roads are covered in snow then one must snow chains for the wheels, so we have had to purchase some. I never driven with snow chains so this is going to be quite exciting.