Stephen's Thoughts » N95 http://www.stephendowney.net/blog Java & Android Developer | Dublin Ireland Mon, 19 Dec 2011 19:33:12 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 The N95 and the rubber band… http://www.stephendowney.net/blog/2008/03/07/the-n95-and-the-rubber-band/ http://www.stephendowney.net/blog/2008/03/07/the-n95-and-the-rubber-band/#comments Fri, 07 Mar 2008 19:09:02 +0000 Stephen Downey http://www.stephendowney.net/blog/2008/03/07/the-n95-and-the-rubber-band/ DSC03870Since I got my N95 last year, I have been really impressed by it’s features and am constantly singing it’s praises. Unfortunately I have found a issue with the phone and it looks like I am not the only one to find this. The catches that keep the back cover from falling off are very weak. I was surviving for the last few weeks on just one catch but the weight of the battery won and I have to finally admit that the back cover is broken.

I was keeping an eye out for a shop that sold covers for the N95 but did not find one. Luckily I came across a link to Blueunplugged.com. They sell all sorts of spare parts for mobiles so I ordered my replacement cover (2 just in case the same thing happens again) as well as a carrying case to protect the phone. It’s worth checking out the site as they have some cool things for sale.

Luckily I have found a high tech solution to hold the cover on the phone until my order arrives. Thank God for rubber bands :-)

]]> http://www.stephendowney.net/blog/2008/03/07/the-n95-and-the-rubber-band/feed/ 0 What would you use your N95 Accelerometer for? http://www.stephendowney.net/blog/2007/12/04/what-would-you-use-your-n95-accelerometer-for/ http://www.stephendowney.net/blog/2007/12/04/what-would-you-use-your-n95-accelerometer-for/#comments Tue, 04 Dec 2007 20:42:20 +0000 Stephen Downey http://www.stephendowney.net/blog/2007/12/04/what-would-you-use-your-n95-accelerometer-for/ Here are some very interesting ideas for the N95 Accelerometer that I came across via NSeries WOM world. I really like number 3:

Want to know how much memory is left in your blower? How about a quick battery update? Give your phone a shake and it’ll actually sound full (or empty)…..

n95Wabble ApplicationI would love to see those games we had when we were younger where you had to get a metal ball into the middle of a maze without it falling between the gaps of the maze wall. See the image on the right for what it would look like.

]]> http://www.stephendowney.net/blog/2007/12/04/what-would-you-use-your-n95-accelerometer-for/feed/ 0 See the accelerometer in action on the N95 http://www.stephendowney.net/blog/2007/11/01/see-the-accelerometer-in-action-on-the-n95/ http://www.stephendowney.net/blog/2007/11/01/see-the-accelerometer-in-action-on-the-n95/#comments Thu, 01 Nov 2007 21:27:30 +0000 Stephen Downey http://www.stephendowney.net/blog/2007/11/01/see-the-accelerometer-in-action-on-the-n95/ Just found out something cool about the N95; it turns out that it has a Accelerometer (Level Sensor). It is used by the camera in the phone to rotate pictures taken in portrait mode. It makes you wonder why Nokia did not use this to give an auto rotate to the phones screen, similar to the feature available on the IPhone? It looks like there is someone developing this for the phone at the moment. It is called rotateme and should be out later this month. Check out the developers site for more information.


Nokia have released a demo application to show the accelerometer in action. Its a pretty simple application but it shows the power of what can be done. At first I didn’t believe it was possible but check out this video below to see it in action.

They have also released the source code for the game so you can see how it is done. The game uses the N95 RD Accelerometer Plug-in package to hook into the accelerometer on the N95. According to the research group that developed the this:

In a later N95 firmware release you should be able to access the raw accelerometer data by using the official sensor plug-in downloadable from Forum Nokia (Sensor Plug-in for 60 3rd Edition).

I can think of lots of game applications that could use this that I would love to write. Unfortunately my C++ skills are very limited. I wonder if I could hook into it from a JAVA app using JNI?

]]> http://www.stephendowney.net/blog/2007/11/01/see-the-accelerometer-in-action-on-the-n95/feed/ 0 Caution when updating Firmware on N95 http://www.stephendowney.net/blog/2007/11/01/caution-when-updating-firmware-on-n95/ http://www.stephendowney.net/blog/2007/11/01/caution-when-updating-firmware-on-n95/#comments Thu, 01 Nov 2007 20:22:01 +0000 Stephen Downey http://www.stephendowney.net/blog/2007/11/01/caution-when-updating-firmware-on-n95/ Nokia N95As I got my phone in Asia, I was able to update my firmware to V12.0.0.14 without having to jump through all the hoops that european users had to. As the upgrade started I saw the warning to backup all of my data before the upgrade. This can be done using the Backup program in the Nokia PC Suite. I was lucky that I did as the phone is totally formatted during the upgrade.


One thing that still worried me was that my upgrade to Nokia Maps Navigation was gone. It looked like I had to pay for the upgrade again. After searching the web I came across a solution.

1. Start Maps application.
2. Go to Options > Extra services
3. Select Add navigation > Accept > Purchase > Select the correct region (i.e. the region you have earlier purchased the navigation for).
4. You see a list of licenses with different lengths of time. You don’t need to select the correct length, just go directly to Options > Update
5. Allow connection to license server to check purchase & license options by selecting “Yes” and by selecting Internet access point (if asked).
6. A note “xxx-day license activated” is shown where xxx is the amount of days left of your license.

]]> http://www.stephendowney.net/blog/2007/11/01/caution-when-updating-firmware-on-n95/feed/ 0 Problems with O2 3G Network http://www.stephendowney.net/blog/2007/09/11/problems-with-o2-3g-network/ http://www.stephendowney.net/blog/2007/09/11/problems-with-o2-3g-network/#comments Tue, 11 Sep 2007 13:41:32 +0000 Stephen Downey http://www.stephendowney.net/blog/2007/09/11/problems-with-o2-3g-network/ I have not been able to make or receive calls on my phone since about 12 o’clock. SMS messages are coming in fine but I keep getting the message “Network Busy”.

I rang O2 (1909) and there is a message saying that they are having issues with the 3G Network in Meath and Louth. I’m in Blancharstown at the moment so there issues are strectching as far as here.

If you are having a similar problem switch your Network Mode to GSM instead of Dual Mode. On a N95, you will find this under:
Tools–>Settings–>Phone–>Network

You should be able to make and receive calls with this setting.

UPDATE:
It seems the 3G network is back working now.

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