Hello again, with a Nokia touch

My new blue Nokia N8

I know you won’t believe this. Most of my friends giggled when I told them or showed it to them: I am finally the proud owner of a smartphone! And above all, it was gifted to me. Cool, no?

 

Earlier this summer, on an evening out, at one point I sat next to my friend Carla Eid (@CarlaEid). She nearly fainted when she saw the mobile phone I was using. It was a Nokia all right, but an antiquated model and Carla works at Nokia Dubai. Right there and then, she promised to get me a smartphone -- one I could also use for Mich Café photos.

We both traveled a lot after that, and kept missing each other in Dubai… That’s until about a fortnight ago, when I went up to the 27th floor to finally pick it up from Nokia’s smart offices at Dubai Media City.

To my great surprise, it was a Nokia N8 – and a blue one to boot to match the colors of my football team, Chelsea FC!

At first, I really didn’t know what to do with my windfall. I was overwhelmed. But as most of my friends know, I am not techy. I spent a week opening and closing the box, just looking at the phone. I read the instructions pamphlet, but still did not dare to go ahead and switch it on. I then started carrying it around, hoping to meet a friend who would set it up for me.

A week later, I finally decided to switch SIM cards and try it. I was encouraged by my friend Uzma Atcha, better known as @Lhjunkie, sitting two desks away from me at work. We did that together and I was on.

From one phone to another... with a difference

Consulting the manual, I changed the time, date, ring tone, created an Ovi account, set up my email and connected to the Internet, by Wi-Fi, as I use pay-as-you-go.

At home, I entered the wrong numbers for the Wi-Fi connection and didn’t know how to delete that and enter the correct one. As you would expect, I am getting used to the touch screen mechanism and my fingers tend to stray all over the place. It took a few days, and then I found an excellent site – Top 67 Nokia N8 tips and tricks – that helped me and I now keep consulting.

My biggest thrill was to test the camera. The N8 is dubbed the “best camera phone in the world.” It has a 12-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and Xenon flash.

I was eager to try it out and had occasion to do so at a gathering for a friend’s birthday. But when I checked the pictures they were terrible. Problem is I had forgotten to remove the transparent paper covering the back of the lens!

My first N8 picture... of Uzma

A couple of days later, I tried again at work, with Uzma’s moral and technical support. I took a picture of her, tweeted it and it worked like magic!

So far, I love my new smartphone because:

1. It is such a valuable gift
2. I feel sophisticated and au courant
3. It fits well in my hand and I love the color
4. I can go online wherever there is a Wi-Fi connection
5. I can take first-class snapshots on the go

I can’t elaborate on the N8’s other specifications. One, I don’t understand them, and two I’ll have to try them out first. I am looking forward to testing the maps, check-ins, videos and so many other features of the N8.

Meantime, I am enjoying it and taking it one step at a time. Hopefully posts in future will have outstanding pictures taken with my new smartphone. Thank you Carla!

Related sites:
Phone tipsandtricks.com