Why is it that the little things that you need to work on a phone don’t. Well guess what Symbian S60v5 is as bad as S60v3 in connecting to BMW bluetooth. After having maybe 10 Nokia’s I decided to get a Sony Ericsson because I’d read about problems with Nokia bluetooth when I got my new motor, yes a BMW.

Fast forward a few years and I see a nice new Nokia, this time the 5800 and I get it, but I forgot to check if it worked with my e90 BMW 3 series, the iDrive can see it but. Guess what, it doesn’t work……….

It connects sometimes for 10 minutes and then dies, or it might fail to connect the next time and it certainly won’t transfer the phone book to the car. I’ve tried everything to fix it, upgraded to the latest v20 firmware and I think things have got worse not better. Tried the Nokia phone book transfer software for the 810 and that doesn’t make any difference. Hidden, un-hidden to connections, remove all other connections, try it after the phone switches on the lot.

The Sony Ericsson k810i was faultless, it just worked, I could even get into the car after it was started with the phone and it paired, I could transfer calls whilst still active, easy peasy. But the Nokia 5800 S60v5 can’t do a thing right.

If anyone has a fix or any ideas what the problem is or if they have had any success please let me know. If it wasn’t for this problem it really is a great phone, one of the best I’ve had, good screen, battery life the lot, but BMW and Nokia bluetooth issues are taking the shine away…….

Now there is normally a divide between Canon and Nikon photographers I mean we all know Canon is best or is it Nikon, well at the moment that’s just not important. So what is ? the massive price increases on lenses. Now 5% isn’t nice, 10% uncomfortable but a 52% increase on a nice upgrade just plain hurts.

So last year I had my sights set on a nice new 70-200 F4 IS L Professional Canon lens, it could be had for about £650 in June 08 or there a bouts. Fast forwards to April 2009 and what do I find?, you guessed it a hefty price increase to a hardly believable £929 and that’s a  43% price increase on the price of the same lens last year.

Tips to get things cheaper

Needless to say I’m not going to buy at the moment and I’d say unless you really need some new glass I’d wait until things come back down if you can. This isn’t going to be a good time for retailers but maybe the margin’s are pushing the prices so high, maybe but I don’t think its that much of a factor. The biggest issue is the decisions UK plc or should I say Mr Brown is making that is killing the value of the pound and sending the prices of goods through the roof.

If you do need to get a lens then check out the link on the right to Camera price buster or use the links below to pick up some bargains from Amazon, I’ve put some great buys below. They sometimes have some great deals that the other camera shops struggle to match so check it regularly to get the best prices. Fingers crossed things improve.

Also have a look at e-bay as a few people are selling their existing kit whilst the prices are high but do check what you are getting. Also buying from Hong Kong can have its issues and you might still get stung on the high import duty and VAT killing any savings you think you might be getting.

If anyone see’s any recovery then post where it is to help us all.

We all love technology, we like gadgets and we want the latest and greatest phones….. BUT we don’t like to wait for things. So why is it taking so long to get some good Android phones out?

There is an all new Apple iPhone or several of them if the reports are to be true but where are the rival Android handsets? Are they harder to develop, does the restriction on headphone sockets because of Apple patents cause a problem for some manufacturers or is it that they haven’t implemented multi touch and capacitive screens in development when it seems they will be all the rage. I don’t know but its taking far to long to get something out to rival the best phones.

Why can someone like HTC modify the excellent Touch HD to have Android than come out with still average HTC Magic thats really not that magic at all its more rabbit should have stayed in the hat. If the Android OS is to really make an impact it needs some good hardware, so where is it come on Sony Ericsson, Samsung and HTC to name three show us what you can do because what we have seen so far isn’t going to challenge the very best which they need to do if the project is going to be a success.

And lets face it if Nokia actually start to make something of the the S60v5 OS then everyone could have a fight on its hand not because its great but it will sell in huge volumes, it is Nokia after all.

OK so I’ve  haven’t written a full review of the 5800 yet but that will be coming soon. However I have as of yesterday been able to update to the latest firmware v20.0.0.12 using the Nokia PC Suite, it didn’t want to play via FOTA.

Its a good improvement, there are new features about and its certainly quicker than it was before. And with it I’ve been able to get loads of new applications and games that wouldn’t work before.

Changelog

• “Faster touch-screen input” (the phone is generally more responsive)
• “Faster internet data download times”
• Geotagging information now available in Camera (finally), plus photo taking now possible with the front (secondary) camera.
• Dictionary application added, with support for multiple languages (as first seen on E66 and E71).
• “Improved e-mail experience” (this includes improved scheduled email retreival)
• App. update application added (as first seen on N85 and N79) – this is used to update individual Nokia applications outside of firmware updates.
• General operation seems smoother, better performance is various applications, including Gallery, plus screen rotations are faster.
• Playing back Flash/FLVvideos had less hiccups, especially on YouTube, where Web on the 5800 now becomes almost as good as a dedicated YouTube client, there’s an article on this coming from Steve shortly…
• ‘Search’ on the standby screen now searches phone content as well as on the Internet
• Cosmetic effects added, especially in Gallery when switching orientation
• Support for OMA DRM, enabling BBC iPlayer programme downloads and other future applications
• The usual litany of small bug fixes.

View on the Nokia 5800 and getting applications

If you want a good place to get some S60v5 software for the phone give Daily Mobile a click. There are also loads of good new themes for the phone as well.

As for the phone itself I’m really impressed so far, battery life is brilliant even with bluetooth left on all the time. Surfing on the phone is very fast and the screen excellent. The software is starting to come and with it being the same as the N97that’s only set to accelerate, the future of the phone and the format is looking very positive indeed.