The Nokia N81 is one of the mid-range phones made by Nokia, and this is surprising when you take a look at the specifications below-

WCDMA 2100 + E850/900/1800/1900MHz- Automatic switching between bands and modes
Active matrix 2.4” QVGA main color display (320 x 240 pixels), up to 16.7 million colors
Operating system: S60 software on Symbian OS, User Interface: S60 3rd edition, Feature Pack 1
Speaker independent name dialing (SIND)
WLAN IEEE802.11 b/g with UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) support
Bluetooth Specification 2.0 (profiles supported: DUN, OPP, FTP, HFP, GOEP, GAP, SPP, HSP, BIP, A2DP)
Micro USB 2.0 Full Speed (mass storage class)
Up to 2 megapixel (1600x1200 pixels) camera, MPEG-4 VGA video capture of up to 15fps
Front camera (CIF)
Video call and video sharing support (WCDMA network services)
Integrated flash (modes: on, off, automatic, redeye reduction)
Nokia Nseries digital music player supports MP3 (VBR), AAC, eAAC+, AAC+, WMA/M4A, WAV
Stereo FM radio (87.5-108MHz /76-90MHz)
8GB built in memory storage

The 2MP camera will be a disappointment to some in these days of 5MP picture taking monsters, and the design is a little bland to fit with the general idea that a phone must be fashionable to fly off the shelves. Nokia are not good at making good looking smartphone of which the N95 and E61 are two examples, but they do know how to pack a lot into a small space.

What’s in the box?

The box if fairly business like and does not scream entertainment, and there is an average set of accessories included. You get-

A/C adaptor
USB sync cable
Remote control in-ear headphones (these are very nice)
Software CD
Nokia Music Store voucher for 1 album (or 10 tracks)
Paper manual

Out of the box (Design)

The N81 is not a good looking device and the shiny black coating attracts fingerprints very easily. The slide mechanism is quite strong, but once open is a little wobbly (at least in the one I was sent), and this gives a feeling of fragility over the unit.

The keys are well sized and work well, but the naviwheel (a new feature) is rather poor. It is about as accurate as the JOB strip on an HTC S620 and thus will be consigned to ‘off’ status for most people. There are stereo speakers either side of the screen and the standard volume up/down and camera keys on the right, plus an unusual lock slider key at the top which is actually very handy.

This is a music centric device and as such there are dedicated music keys surrounding the navigation button alongside the usual call start / end keys and the S60 menu key. All in all, this is neither a standout design nor one that could be considered ugly- for an entertainment device though it could look better.

Music

Nothing in the box is too exciting, but the voucher is a good move and one that makes a lot of business sense. Within 5 minutes of turning on the N81 I had purchased a track over Wi-Fi via the music store and was more than happy with the experience. Six more tracks were pre-loaded on the E81, but they were the type of songs that 20 years old like in the Nokia adverts, but they may grow on me

The audio quality is extremely good, and definitely better than my iPod Touch with extra loudness and stereo widening available to suite individual tastes. The whole set up works well for new users and certainly opened my eyes to the potential for mobile phone music in a way that no Palm or Windows Mobile devices have done in the past. Of course, the 8GB of internal memory is ideal for carrying a large library around with you as well, and there is a 3.5mm headphone jack at the top- hooray!

Camera

Only 2MP may seem stingy in 2008, but it is not a bad addition at all. The snaps I have taken have come out well and the video recording is also quite impressive. It will never match the N95 photo quality, but for someone used to other mobile platforms it feels like a quality camera. To be fair, that says more about other phones than the N81.

The flash works fairly and you can use both of the included cameras to take pictures when needed. The menu options and camera software are logical and being able to zoom in and out with the volume keys is a good practical touch.

There is a lot to talk about with the N81, so I will be back soon with more observations of which some are extremely positive.

PDA247 is 6 years old!

As is traditional, we are going to celebrate by holding a competition, and this time you can enter whatever content you like!

It's completely up to you what you send in, but there are some specific areas that are worth remembering. We need a new forum banner (400x45 pixels maximum size) which should fit the current design, we are tempted to try new web site banners (1 for each site needed) and besides those you can send in software, hardware or accessory reviews. You can send in articles about the PDA world in general or maybe a few items that are newsworthy.

Whatever you choose to send in please make sure that you title your email "6th Birthday". You can also enter via the forum thread detailed below. Here's the prizes so far-

To enter please send an email with your entry (entitled "6th Birthday") to shaun (at) mailstm.co.uk or post your entry in this forum thread.

The closing date is midnight (UK time) 21st March 2008, so you have some time to think up a good entry.

iPhone 2.0 SDK: The No Multitasking Myth uncovers the real truth behind the iPhone OS, and also talks about why Palm OS is not multitasking- "Certain pundits have developed a rash of malignant concerns about iPhone 2.0’s SDK. The first issue they’re scratching at is the iPhone’s apparent inability to run multiple applications at once. The suggestion is that the iPhone is a multitasking impaired appliance just like the original Mac or the Palm Pilot, and unlike the supposed multitasking powerhouse that is Windows CE, which powers Windows Mobile devices. That’s wrong, here’s why.

The first clue into discovering how the iPhone works is a look at its core OS. The iPhone runs Apple’s same kernel as Mac OS X: a hybrid of Mach and BSD that hosts a standard Unix subsystem. It supports multiple concurrent processes and multiple users.

At this point, it’s useful to point out that the Palm OS was also built on top of a multitasking kernel, but Palm only licensed it for use from Kadak as a single-tasking environment. That made the Palm OS very much like the classic Mac OS from the mid 80s: to launch a second application, the first had to be shutdown.

Apple doesn’t face the same problem with the iPhone; it owns the iPhone’s kernel and faces no other external technical limitations to prevent multitasking. The ability of the iPhone to answer a call, pull up the Maps app while the call is in progress, and then follow a link to a web page before ending the call was demonstrated in one of its first advertisements." More at RDM. Thanks to Luca.

Gnam posted a link to Phone Fingers in the forum, and I really am lost for words concerning this accessory.

I am trying to understand why anyone would attach this to their finger to use their phone, and not expect to be hounded out of the office. Would you use one?

"This is probably the funniest accessory for touch screen enabled devices available! Our Phone Fingers are made to prevent smudges and fingerprints. With Phone Fingers you won't have to clean your touch screen all the time and it's an eye catcher too."

Laptop Magazine recently sat down with Peter Chou, HTC CEO, to talk about HTC's plans for 2008 and his thoughts on the industry in general. There are no specific details but there are hints that 2008 could be another exciting year for HTC products.

With regards to Windows Mobile, he described the operating system as having a lot of good stuff inside, but the user interface has not been easy. It is very techy and not intuitive. This led to the decision to develop the Touch line of devices with the TouchFLO interface. The Touch devices have been well received by consumers and HTC is looking now to build on that success by focusing more on the mobile Internet experience. The fact that Windows Mobile 6.1 seems to have borrowed some ideas from the TouchFLO interface did not seem to worry Chou who is more focused on future innovation that will keep HTC ahead of its competitors.

HTC has also been working with Android, Google's open source mobile operating system. They have worked with Google now for over three years and remain committed to releasing their first Android-powered device by the end of the year. According to Chou, Android will allow HTC to further differentiate itself from competitors with innovative industrial design and user experience.

Help is at hand as my thoughtful husband has loaded a mapping system onto my Nokia E51. He hates to travel, you see, and being the better (male) map reader has provided a substitute for his own company. We had a quick training session before I set off, so I take the GPS out and flick it on. So far so good. I tuck the unit into the pocket of my fleece so I don’t have to juggle two bits of kit at the same time, then it's on to the tricky bit. You’d think being married to a certain journo who knows a bit about these things, some of his knowledge would have rubbed off, but no. A bit of fiddling around gets me the mapping programme but I’m stuck with the screen for my home address so I have to make a call home. I’m letting the female of the species down, I know, but at least I’m trying! '0' – that’s all I had to do to get my current position."

At CeBIT last week a company called Linguatec was showing of a remarkably clever piece of software for smartphones and PDAs. Dubbed Shoot and Translate, the application works by translating text that you photograph with your handset’s camera.

All you have to do is take a picture of some text (we are guessing that street signs and menus work better than novels), let the application scan the text, and then read or listen to the translation.

You can of course enter text into the phone manually too, but then the pitfalls of spelling inaccuracies and other such linguistic frippery can cause all sorts of problems. Even so, if you happen to photograph some text that is spelt incorrectly, Shoot and Translate apparently still has a good chance of recognizing what it is supposed to say before translating it.

Very handy indeed and much more portable than one of those so called pocket Spoken (insert language here) Dictionaries. Details about the release date and handset compatibility have not been announced yet so here’s hoping Linguatec posts some on its site soon. More at PocketPicks. Thanks to Luca.

Today's free eBook is Fountain of Age by Nancy Kress- "I had her in a ring. In those days, you carried around pieces of a person. Not like today.

A strand of hair, a drop of blood, a lipsticked kiss on paper—those things were real. You could put them in a locket or pocket case or ring, you could carry them around, you could fondle them. None of this hologram stuff. Who can treasure laser shadows? Or the nanotech “re-creations”—even worse. Fah. Did the Master of the Universe “re-create” the world after it got banged up a little? Never. He made do with the original, like a sensible person.

So I had her in a ring. And I had the ring for forty-two years before it was eaten by the modern world. Literally eaten, so tell me where is the justice in that?

And oh, she was so beautiful! Not genemod misshapen like these modern girls, with their waists so skinny and their behinds huge and those repulsive breasts. No, she was natural, a real woman, a goddess. Black hair wild as stormy water, olive skin, green eyes. I remember the exact shade of green. Not grass, not emerald, not moss. Her own shade. I remember."