Nokia

The company that was sold..

My first Nokia mobile (personal) was Nokia 2600.. The time when color-screens were like COLOR-SCREENS!! And the mobile also had POLYPHONIC RINGTONES!!!! Capitalized words to emphasize the excitement added to it.. A pretty decent mobile.. Used it for about 2 years…

Next, I bought the Nokia 6600… Now, that was some mobile.. I will never forget that mobile… Used it for 2 years.. It was more than just a mobile to me.. Powered with Symbian version 2 operating system, it was the first smartphone I had.. Although there wasn't much to it, a small VGA camera, and GPRS (not even EDGE), it was a phone that didn't have much to offer per se.. But thanks to the developers, the number of softwares that were made available for this mobile were innumerable.. As long it was under warranty, I used it with scrupulous honor, but as soon as the warranty period was over, there was nothing where I didn't stop.. I changed my mobile into a device!! The things I could do with the device can be enumerated as follows:

• Download and play .mp3 files and .mp3 ringtones. (the device wasn't able to do that per se.. Had to use softwares, like PowerMp3 or Winamp

• Play .avi movies and videos using Smartmovie Player.

• Banking using iMobile by ICICI Bank

• Ticket booking and shopping using  ngpay

• Internet Browsing. The home browser was horrible. I used Opera Mobile 2 and Opera Mini 4. After that I came across UCBrowser 5. UCBrowser was the best browser for that mobile.. My Internet Browsing experience had changed dramatically! I could download files and upload files without much trouble!!

• Unpack .sis files and compile them as a backup according to my own taste and likings.. There wasn't much of a "security" to those mobiles back then.. There were some notorious viruses around, and the best thing to avoid them was not install any unknown file (especially those received randomly via bluetooth). Apart from that, there wasn't much threat. Although being a medical student, I still managed to compile one software from 2 different sources (the original was in Russian and another one to convert it into English), and compiled it for others and uploaded on Mobile 9 here. Everything was done using my mobile.. No computer was used in the process..

• Also had successfully installed Kaspersky Antivirus that updated regularly and did scans successfully too.. (checked by installing viral software deliberately in the mobile). Never paid a single money..

• Used it as a remote control for my computer's music player via bluetooth.

• Controlled power point presentation using the same function via bluetooth.

• Made Words file, and excel files using Quickoffice.

• Played games like Assassins Creed, Asphalt 4, Pacman, etc.

• Read Academic books in .pdb format with iSilo.

• Dictionary and Thesaurus using MSDict.

• Read Novels and short stories using Wattpad.

• Had installed an Answering Machine on the mobile.

• Call recorder

• FsCaller that showed the callers image in full screen

And I am not sure if the list ends there.. Like I said, it was a device that was capable of so many things although maybe even the manufacturer may have never imagined!

My next mobile was Nokia 5800 XpressMusic… Another mobile that was pretty good.. I still use it..  If you did notice the jumps in the type of mobiles I used.. From a simple colorscreen, polyphonic ringtone mobile to a multimedia capable, internet browsing capable mobile to a TOUCHSCREEN MOBILE (excitement intended)!!

Now that was something.. 5800 gave me some of the awesome features like:

• 3.2 megapixel camera

• 3G and HSPA

• Wi-fi
• GPS
• TOUCHSCREEENNN!!!!

And I felt my dreams came true.. Mp3 ringtones, wifi, maps and gps, and everything with touch.. The new OS was Symbian 60 v5 (s60v5). Also called Symbian ^1 .. Although most of things were same as my most coveted 6600, but there were a lot of security and illegal softwares were not easily installed.. But whatever was offered was enough to want an illegal software.. The 1st few versions were pretty glitchy for the mobile. When I bought it, it was v 20.. Soon after v 30 came.. Stayed with v 30 for a long time.. Then I got the v40 update and it was a disaster.. Had so many issues I joined the Nokia Discussion forum and started asking for help, as well as helping others.. Soon the v42 and then v50 and v51 were released and the mobile became very stable. The last update was v60 and we were pretty disappointed. You can find me on the forum here..

After the last update the service was discontinued and even the warranty was over.. Disappointed with the last update I kept trying to hack the device to make it better.. The tries continued till I came across Symbian Anna v7.6 (later updated to v7.9).. It is the best Custom Firmware that was released for these type of mobiles.. You can find the review here..

I have been using that custom firmware for quite sometime now.. Although new CFWs have been released, I didn't find any if them stable enough..

I have been using Nokia 5800 for past 5 years and it has been awesome.. Especially the Maps and GPS. Have travelled a lot recently and GPS helped a lot.

If you have noticed, all these mobiles that I have used have been "discontinued". And it was time for me to step up the ladder and get the next generation device by Nokia. But, before I could do that, Nokia was "discontinued". Recently, Nokia started using Windows OS, which I don't think compares to the versatility of a Symbian OS.. I will miss Symbian, for I have used it for almost 8 years (which may not be much, but is enough to be "used to" the concept)

Recently, I heard Microsoft had bought Nokia. I hear a lot about Lumia and how awesome it is.. But I don't think, they can be as awesome as what 6600 or 5800 meant to us during that era..! So this post was in  memory of my years with Nokia..

Nokia will be missed..