When I posted images yesterday, comparing the image quality between Nokia N95 firmware versions 12.0.013 and 20.0.015, a mobildebat.dk forum user suggested to take some comparison images indoors at night, in poor lightning.

Photographing under these conditions is apparently tricky and it would therefore be likely to expose any differences in quality.

I have not been able to get these images before now - I tried to last night, but had a little mishap when playing Quake on the phone (tip: do not slide to landscape mode while in-game). For a while I was actually sure I had somehow fried the camera hardware. I could start the camera app just fine, but there was no image - no actual input from the camera - just blackness. Today I was fortunately able to revive the camera by doing a hard reset (*#7370#) on the phone…phew!

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It looks as if I may have jumped the gun when I wrote yesterday that the new v20.0.015 firmware for the Nokia N95 produces lower quality camera images, when compared to the previous firmware revision (v12.0.013).

I have had the opportunity to snap some more images today and these actually suggest that the camera software in v20.0.015 firmware produces images of equal or better quality.

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===== 28-11-2007 UPDATE =====

I have had the opportunity to snap some additional comparison images today - images that contradict the claims put forward in this post. I have posted today's images in a new post.

I apologize for jumping the gun with regards to this issue.

Yesterday, Nokia released a new firmware revision for the N95 (»Classic«, I guess since there are now two other versions: the US and 8GB). The version of the new firmware is 20.0.015 which replaces the "old" 12.0.013 version from July.

The v20.0.015 introduces several very desirable features, such as Demand Paging which optimizes the RAM usage, leaving more available memory for running applications; faster camera software; and a general speed improvement that makes the N95 more responsive and snappy.

I am really happy about these improvements and thankful they have been added.

However, on at least one count, N95 users are worse off with the v20.0.015 firmware, namely when it comes to the quality of camera images.

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I have been a fan of Douglas Coupland's writings since reading "Generation X" many years ago. "Microserfs" is one of my all-time favorite books - among other qualities the book constitutes what is probably one of the best descriptions of geekyness. that has ever been put in writing.

I just found out (a little late) that Coupland released his latest book - "The Gum Thief" - in early October this year. I found out because I came across a collection of short video teasers for the book on YouTube. The videos are sort of »artsy« in the way they are made and I find them rather intriguing.

Check out this first clip:

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It happened again - all of a sudden I can no longer start the S60 Browser on my Nokia N95. When I try to, the display sort of flickers, as if the browser is about to start, but then returns to the standby screen. Apparently, the browser application has gone into some sort of deadlock.

This is the second time this has happened to me in the past couple of months and it is really starting to annoy me. Especially since the only way to fix the problem (that I know of) is quite cumbersome, but also because I am not really sure what causes it.

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I recently went to Greece on vacation and I of course brought my Nokia N95 with me, using it to snap some holiday pictures. Believe it or not, but that is actually kind of new to me - until recently I did not do that - in fact, I did not even own a camera.

Getting my first mobile phone with a camera in it changed all that - at least in some ways. Because I have my phone with me most of the time, I figured I might as well start using the camera and snap the odd picture or video. It is something I do with some caution, however - I do not want to spoil every funny or *special* moment because I must capture it and preserve it for all eternity. I still prefer to just experience those moments and concentrate on savoring them.

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The TV-out capability is one of the features of the Nokia N95 that I find the most useful. Incidentally, it is also a big crowd pleaser - if I suggest to show people a video or image I have on the phone, they usually first ask me how I am going to do it and when I tell I will just hook up the phone with the TV, they respond with something like "You can really do this?". Great stuff!

I recently took a vacation in Greece with my family and here I discovered another really cool way to use TV-out.

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