Exploring Nokia 701 - Day VII

Apps are the life for socially connected people like me. Some statistic on social media usage revealed that people connect to this life more through apps than through the browser. Such is the case with me as well. Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and Gmail apps are my lifeline. There was a time when I would not use any of these sites except occasionally. It was a pain to even think of accessing any of these on the phone. But things have changed now. Specially after using the Nokia 701 for some time, I can definitely conclude that things have changed for the better.

I tried around 7 to 8 off apps for remaining connected on social-media however none of them even remotely comes to the experience that Gravity provides. Gravity for Symbian is one of the best apps for connecting to the social networks across the various operating systems that I have experienced. It enabled me to post updates, upload images, check notifications, etc. across all these websites all at once. What makes it better is not just the functionality but also the aesthetics of the UI which is simple to understand, experience and enjoy. This is probably the only app I would not mind paying for the price that it comes at.

The Gmail app is something that I need to remain connected to the world for work and otherwise. On the Nokia 701, this is something that they have got right. I received updates whenever I would receive new mails and it is easy to check mails, open attachments, edit them, compose new mails, etc.

The other most use app is the camera app on the Nokia 701. What makes this interesting is the fact that it comes with advanced editing functions, filters, etc. that can completely change any picture not shot well into something interesting. It also has functions to distort pictures (I used to distort people’s faces) and make cartoons out of them.

Asphalt 5 is the gaming app that opened the world of serious gaming for me on a phone. I could never come to convince myself about playing proper games on the phone earlier. Then Nokia 701 with Asphalt 5 happened. The phone had motion sensors and the game converts your handset into a steering wheel. Couldn’t get better for me.

The other interesting app that I can talk about is Maps, since it comes with a husky female voice guiding you with directions. A guy would get easily lost in the magic of her voice.

Apart from these, the other apps that I like using on the Nokai 701 are Music Player, Angry Birds, Shazam, FM Radio, Nokia Store, Get Glue, etc. They decorate my home screen along with the graphic image of a gothic girl in black and white and help me be myself in the virtual and the real world.


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Exploring Nokia 701 - Day VI

For most of us Indian’s, Maps of places where we live and visit is like an alien concept. Usually there are hundreds of lanes, by-lanes and by-by-lanes that exist in the country without getting a name ever. House No. 24 can be just after House No. 63, while House No. 62 can be half a mile away. When you ask people for directions, they usually show the right hand and ask you to go left. But we still manage every time. Such confusion is a part of our life.

And then I start using the Maps on Nokia 701. For the first time, I came to know that the lane in which my house is, also has a name. What a discovery! Since the day I have moved to this house, I have never been to my terrace. For the first time, I was able to see what my terrace looks like as seen from a satellite thousands of kilometres away.

But the real fun started when we were travelling to Pune and decided to use Maps since we didn’t know the direction to that place. As soon as I located the destination, the screen turned into a 3D screen similar to the kind of view I got from my windscreen. Within moments, some seemingly intelligent lady’s voice started guiding us on the directions. It would give an indication when we would be at reasonable distance and second reminder when we would almost reach a turn.

We were so captivated by this lady and her voice that we started to play the fool with it. If the voice advised ‘Turn Right’, we would turn left. But, within seconds she would recalculate the route and start giving directions once again from that new point. We did find the place we were looking for and also had a lot of fun.

The other thing I wanted to talk about is the browser on the Nokia 701.

All I wanted from the phone browser was to provide me with an experience which is similar to that on the computer. And Nokia 701’s browser does. I was surprised to find that multiple tabs can also be opened on it and you can conveniently move from one to the other while it loads. Online payment of bills using internet banking was one thing that I could never convince myself to try on the phone. However, I had an error free experience while trying it out on the Nokia 701.

Great experience overall.


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Exploring Nokia 701 - Day V

Last evening, I posted a message on Twitter & Facebook and received countless responses to it. It read, ‘Everybody’s become a photographer.’

A photographer by profession agreed to the statement saying that she doesn’t feel like she is into a specialized profession anymore with almost everyone being able to deliver medium to very good quality pictures.

I feel that the urge to ‘capture the moment’ as is – when it happens – is something inherent to all of us. While we do have those special moments in our memory all the time, an album or a video of it is a completely different experience. Today, thanks to technology, more and more people are able to click pictures, though I am not too sure how great the quality of those pictures is.

I have used several phones with camera claiming huge resolutions and clarity. However, on looking at the final output, I have always been left disappointed. Such was the story with the phone that I was using just before the Nokia 701. Luckily, the very next day, I left for Mahabaleshwar with my family. While my parents were worried that we didn’t carry the camera, I was already confident about 701. After spending three days in one of the most scenic locations in Maharashtra, when we got back home I transferred the images and videos on to the computer.

Result: for the next one hour, we left everything aside and relived the memories of the entire trip. None of our family holidays have such beautiful memories.

The joy on the faces of all the family members is my only requirement from a good camera and I got more than what I wanted.


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Exploring Nokia 701 - Day IV

For a personal companion such as a mobile phone that not only spends over twelve hours each day with you but also is something you depend completely, it better be something good. However, the definition of ‘good’ when contextualized for a person like me, occupies a broader meaning. Apart from being great in terms of performance, it needs to be aesthetically appealing and intuitive as well. This was my expectation from Nokia 701.

Something I hate to do with any new product is to check the user manual to understand how to go about using it. Even if this guide is in the form of an interactive video, I would happily skip. The reason being that these manuals are written as if talking to heartless robots, while the videos seem like nursery rhymes. I prefer experimenting with my new gadgets till the time I have explored it to my heart’s content. This also adds the feeling of discovery.

I did the same with the Nokia 701. The test was to check the usage videos at the end of the week to see if I had managed to figure out all by myself. Only then could I consider the interface as ‘intuitive’. By the end of the second day itself, Nokia 701 had cleared the test successfully when I checked the manual to see if there’s anything more still left to discover.

Here’s a gist of what the experience was like:

Firstly, the new Symbain Belle interface appeals to the eye. The icons, the wall-papers, the screen-savers along with the layout both at header menu and within the tabs appear clean with nothing out of place and jarring.

What struck me next is the motion and the touch capability. It seems to understand the difference between a touch to open an application verses one that is meant for moving around the interface. Such was the pleasure that I derived out of rambling through the icons that I ended up scrolling the icons on the menu page aimlessly when lost in thoughts. While playing the motion sensitive ‘Ashphalt 5’ (which comes along with this phone) and using the phone as the steering wheel of the car, there is hardly any other gaming experience that comes anywhere close to it.

What I loved most about the interface as a whole is the intuitive manner in which it behaves. While using the phone, whenever I would feel the need for something, such as finding out a file which I downloaded, checking the network status, opening an alternative window on the browser, etc., I didn’t feel the need of checking out the manual for it. I found all the options where I thought they should ideally have been.

Overall the Symbian Belle is a winner for me.


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Exploring Nokia 701 - Day III

The biggest tragedy in my life at the moment revolves around commute from home to work and back. I am sure that many of the readers here would have a similar story to tell. However, my condition is more of the extreme kinds with around an hour and a half each morning (low traffic scenario) increasing to around two and a half hours each evening (high traffic conditions). I guess nobody would disagree when I say that this is REALLY LONG by any standard for everyday commute.

What this warrants is some kind of activity to keep myself occupied during these hours. I love reading and can spend any amount of time reading. However, I like to satiate my appetite for reading with a combination of books, newspapers & magazines, updates & posts on social media, etc.

This was one of the chief concerns I had in mind before I started using the Nokia 701. However, once I started using the devise, I was impressed with the bright display and the high quality non-pixelated images.

This morning, I downloaded The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes application from the Ovi Store. Once the download completed, all I had to do was tap the menu to select the mystery I wanted to read. The fonts were legible and distinct and I could flip through the pages just the way I would with any other hard copy book.

I decided to try the same with a website which was a mix of text and images and so I opened the Times of India app. News which was difficult to obtain earlier while on the go, was so much fun to flip and scan.

The last test for the display was when I downloaded a season of Mad Man to watch it on the phone. The closest expression that I can use to describe the experience is that I didn’t realize when I reached home after a long journey.

The display on Nokia 701 works supremely well not only under day-light conditions but also seems stable when in motion to keep you engaged. There are more than one ways in which this display has simplified my most difficult issues which I face today as a resident in a metro city.

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Exploring Nokia 701 - Day II

As I continue using the Nokia 701, I can’t help thinking about how far mobile technology has come from what it used to be. Incidentally, the evolution of mobile phones over the last couple of decades has coincided with the kind of women I have liked from my childhood days in a small town to the corporate-yet-crazy life in an urban metropolitan jungle today. I guess I need to throw more light on this story of mine to convey my thoughts better.

As a kid, I was brought up in a small town where one never got to see too many attractive looking girls. The only women I used to interact with were the ones who were a part of the family. The other good looking girls would usually remain indoors.

Thus, whatever women I got to see (and my exposure at that time was really limited), were the ones who were not good looking at all, course in the mannerisms and behavior, plump and mysterious.

So was the case with the first generation of mobile phones during these times. They were like these large blocks which evoked no emotion whatsoever. I had no clue what their function was apart from a few people in the town showing them off to others.

As I grew up and moved to a city, I was fortunate to get a chance to interact with different kinds of women. Some pretty, some cute and some intelligent. I got to see several shades to womankind which I never knew existed.

This was also the time when mobile phones were no longer pencil boxes. The big thing was the introduction of poly-phonic ringtones. I can never forget the first time I saw a camera embedded in a mobile phone. Colour screen and wallpapers happened. And so did music and video recording. I started believing that a mobile phone can be more than just a machine to talk and send text messages.

Over the next couple of years, as I understood that women are so much more than my narrow understanding about them earlier, I also started being exposed to mobile phones which could do so much more than what I could ever imagine.

This sub-conscious comparison has continued since.

Today when I see the NFC offering in the Nokia 701 that I am using, I once again relate it to today’s women for whom the whole world is within reach and anything is achievable. With NFC, connecting and sharing between two devises happens with a tap. I feel that it is only a matter of time when this technology will revolutionize the way we connect any two gadgets (such as television, music systems, washing machines, etc.), the way we shop the way we gather information and the manner in which data is shared between people. There is no end to the number of possibilities which NFC can bring to reality. 


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Exploring Nokia 701 - Day I

Let me set the context before I start my seven day journey with Nokia 701.

I do not understand the intricacies of hardware that goes inside these devises and don’t wish to find out either. I am just a hopeless romantic who falls for smart devices because of the way they look and the way they behave. I love them for what they enable me to do without being too concerned with all that has gone into its making.

Then comes the not-so-sane part about my relationship with devises. I unconsciously end up comparing great phones to great women and poor phones with the kind of women I don’t like. In fact, I get to spend more time with my devises when compared to the rationed time I get to spend with my girl. No wonder I love my smart phone quite a lot.

With this being the backdrop, I received the Nokia 701 with NFC J

By now you would have guessed that I have huge expectations from any phone that I use. The same is true even with Nokia 701 which I will torture-test over the next couple of days.

“Yes, she looks good,” is what the voice from within said when I first held the Nokia 701 in my hand. However, me being me felt that good looks are not enough and more had to be seen/ understood. The phone I received has a silver-grey-steel exterior with a matt finish. Not too loud like those wannabe celebrities, neither cold-grey as those women with a dead-pan expression for every kind of emotion. Not too slim like those super-models on a perpetual hunger-strike, neither bulky as those women seen on posters outside B-grade theatres. The Nokia 701 seems to have just the right balance of a great figure (with the curves) and the adorable skin tone.

So it did clear the first test for me which was all about me wanting to use the phone.

Once I switched on the phone the bright screen lit up with a bunch of icons. They danced to the tunes that my fingers played. As I changed the tempo and broke the rhythm, it responded with ease. For a moment I felt like performing a Salsa number with a partner who caught up with every new step I took and balanced in perfect elegance.

I felt happy. Gone as those days when I would be okay with someone whose doesn’t know how to move around gracefully. The touch interface on the Nokia 701 felt like one of those graceful women.

I decided to insert my SIM card and try out things further over the next couple of days. For now, I was happy with the way the phone looked, the smooth touch interface and the bright display. My day at work progressed and I continued to use the phone without facing any issue (except the usual trouble of not having any of the contacts saved.)

While returning home in the evening, I used the headphones and enjoyed the sound clarity. Didn’t realize when I reached home. Day one was good. 


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