Some say he can shout across the Forth Bridge and be heard on the other side. Some say he can't pronounce the word "badminton". All we know is, he's called Ewan Spence. Part 5 of a series of short videos from Ewan is embedded below, along with some of his 'diary' commentary, as part of his gaming and blogging spring trip to San Francisco (GDC) and Austin (SXSW). We set him a series of challenges (also known as a real world test of the Nokia 5230/Nokia Nuron), all delivered by the Stig. In part 5, Ewan accepts a photographic challenge and goes seeking tips from a 'pro'.
Read on in the full article.
I found Ewan quite hard to understand.
This is a very good series of posts and they are coming over very well. Except for one minor issue that I can see. Can we please have just one version. Either the written or the video. Having both just seems like a total waste of time in my opinion.
If it comes down to a vote, I would definitely vote for video only! Otherwise keep up the most excellent work!
The text in each part usually only overlaps by about 30% with the video content. They're designed to *accompany* each other. 8-)
@Insane inreeder:
i vote for both, and if we must have only one i will vote for text. My native language is not English and (for me) its quite hard to understand every word from the video. And i guess am not alone here. Regards.
BTW, its very nice series, and i laughed to much when i knew that Opera make the device "not smartphone". In fact, it changed my E90 from Communicator to Communicator+semi-Tablet.
I was tempted to grab a Moron, err, whatever they're calling the dumbed down 5800, except...
My shop phone is a 5130. It's cheap, plays music well, durable, has plenty of volume, is cheap, small, cheap, light, cheap....
But the 2MP cam is eh at best. A small improvement has come about from removing the plastic lens cover but eh is eh.
Having used Capacitive and Resistive touch screens in the shop over the years from the advent of PDA's, I've found they do not react well to being repeatedly dropped on concrete floors, metal shavings embedded in finger tips, epoxy, sanding grit, composites and other hazards.
Ironically, the cheapest candy bars hold up best and offer the least pain when the inevitable occurs.
However, shop work is one area where a good pic can go farther than entire manual.
I've grown fond of the integrated suite of support Nokia has built up for it's phones so while not perfect, they are my current brand of choice.
My challenge to AAS, what is the cheapest, most readily available phone Nokia makes that snaps the best pics most quickly?
The ideal candidate does not have to be a candy bar but given the destructive nature of shop/studio work any alternate form has to be sturdy.
If any of you are fearful of damaging to your delicate hands, I'd be happy to take up that challenge for you.
Good series Ewan
Props, as they say SXSW way, for the Vision On "Gallery" theme tune. Swinging it Old Skool style (I really was at school, you too I'd hazard a gues).
Looking forward to the concluding Epp.
Do you think there's any other handsets (socially connected/super feature phones imcluded like Samsung Jet or SE W715 or W995) you could have achieved the same result for the price or cheaper and maybe not had to install as much software? I've no idea really without having tried it or owning any of those handsets.
I think you could get close with some of the features phone. The Jet does spring to mind, as does the INQ social range, but all of those has some missing bits / areas. I think part of the advantage of being 'open' is you get that extra bit of flexibility / customisablity, which pushes things over the edge.
Plus I think you probably get a better experience - gravity versus standard twitter client, Ovi Maps navigation versus Google Maps etc etc.
BrianintheShop wrote:
My challenge to AAS, what is the cheapest, most readily available phone Nokia makes that snaps the best pics most quickly?
The ideal candidate does not have to be a candy bar but given the destructive nature of shop/studio work any alternate form has to be sturdy.
If any of you are fearful of damaging to your delicate hands, I'd be happy to take up that challenge for you.
A second hand N82 (but you can't have mine).
I have been following this series, and Ewan needs some commission from Nokia, as I went out and bought one of these yesterday for less than �80! Drop an 8 or 16GB microsd card in it and away you go.
What an absolute steal of a phone. I am really impressed, and this has to be the best value phone on the market today.
The only two areas where it falls down slightly is the camera and lack of wifi. For casual snapping outdoors (which is what I tend to do) it's okay, and is wifi really worth a �110 leap to the 5800? Not for me, as most of the time I am either in the car ot at work, where I can get 3G, but not wifi.
BTW I am quite happy with Nokia not putting either a microsd card or usb cable in the box, as they would only include a small card which would get dumped, and I have loads of cables anyway.
Thanks Ewan
Unregistered wrote:I have been following this series, and Ewan needs some commission from Nokia, as I went out and bought one of these yesterday for less than �80! Drop an 8 or 16GB microsd card in it and away you go. What an absolute steal of a phone. I am really impressed, and this has to be the best value phone on the market today.
The only two areas where it falls down slightly is the camera and lack of wifi. For casual snapping outdoors (which is what I tend to do) it's okay, and is wifi really worth a �110 leap to the 5800? Not for me, as most of the time I am either in the car ot at work, where I can get 3G, but not wifi.
Nokia have neatly segmented these lower end phones:
5230 = 3G and GPS but no WiFi
5530 = WiFi but no 3G or GPS
5800 = WiFi + GPS +3G
The jump to the 5800 is not necessarily a full �110, the price that you can get the 5230 is an offer - but I can seen the 5800 being sold for about �140. Currently it can be had non-contract for around �160, still double the price of the other two though.
Those are not bad shots Ewan, I like the perspective shot in the first picture, but you can get a more dramatic angle by taking it from a lower angle (try on your knees).
I was hoping that you can comment on the call quality of the AT&T line as compared to what you're used to in the UK (clarity, time to connect etc). Also the prepaid experience (ease of top up, feature difference compared to contract user) in the US compared to the European markets.