itgalaxy

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Nokia X1-00

   It has been a while since Nokia announced a new phone. I believe this is due to the recent changes adopted by the company - like making future smartphone with Windows Phone 7 and not Android. In my opinion Nokia made a good decision for buying Symbian but then they did not invest enough for a fast development of this OS. Then they were too afraid to adopt new and more efficient operating systems like Android. Now customers are waiting for their new smartphones generation with Windows Phone 7.
   But until that time Nokia has announced a few days ago a low cost device which has a minimum set of hardware features. This is a phone only for voice, messages and music as the screen is only about 1.8 inches TFT. The device has a loud speaker on the back, a 3.5 mm audio jack, FM radio and mp3 player to listen music as you wish. Also has a microSD card slot which can take up to 16 GB, dedicated music keys, a flashlight and is running the Symbian Series 30. The only data connection is GPRS. 
   There are two most important things I like on this phone. One is the battery life - about 61 days stand-by performance - that I believe will make you forget you have a charger. The other is the price which will be below 35 Euros.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Norton Mobile Utilities

   For some time I was looking for a utilities application for my Android phone. Symantec has released a beta version of Norton Mobile Utilities for Android about two months ago. I decided to use this as a replacement for a task manager but I got more. This application has 4 modules integrated - Apps, Usage, Device, Installer.

   The Apps module shows information regarding installed applications on your device and the location (if are stored in phone memory or SD card), size, battery percentage these use and program version. Also this is working as a task manager providing details on how many programs are running, which are system apps and which are external. Most of these can be closed using the 'X' button but will not work for too long or not all will be terminated. I believe this is because Android does not have a good task manager, at least not for the Froyo version. But I hope this will be solved as soon as I receive upgrade to Gingerbread for my HTC Desire. More than that there is the option to uninstall applications - even the system ones - but have not tried this yet.
   Next Norton Mobile Utilities module is Usage working as a monitor for how many minutes and SMS were used or internet traffic data from your monthly subscription package. There is the option for an alarm notification when the limits will exceed. The third module is Device which shows battery usage, phone`s temperature, CPU, memory, network and internal storage under live charts. Also if you click the 'System Information' button you will be able to check your phone`s model and product information, CPU minimum and maximum clock, OS version and sub-version, operator with service status and signal strength, phone`s IMEI, IMSI and IP address. 
   Last module is the Installer - working as an application installer manager. This will help you install applications from outside the Android Market but also to uninstall or delete these. What I like at Norton Mobile Utilities is - first that is a system manager integrating several useful applications, thus avoiding the installation of four up to five or more independent applications on my phone which could affect the performance. Then I like that is very efficient for battery life and I was somehow surprised as I was not expecting this given the fact that is a Norton application. The application is available as beta version for now but is working good and hope they will release the full version soon and also that will remain free. So if you were looking for a system manager for your Android phone I recommend this one.