powerful video converter and DVD Ripper software: 5/1/09

iPhone 3.0 vs. Palm Pre: which one would you want to get?

iPhone or Palm Pre?
Sprint, Palm Pre’s exclusive carrier announced that Palm Pre would be launched on June 6. Then this summer that’s the question many would-be-smart phone purchasers just might ask themselves. Both have their pros and cons. The iPhone has a huge profile and market presence, but the Pre has the old-school Palm faithful who have been waiting a long time for their Next Big Thing. The iPhone has massive channels and even Sprint admits they won’t be advertising the Palm Pre much due to low initial supply. But those most likely to want the Palm Pre already know it’s coming, where to get, and may well be reading this while already standing in line.
But what about the consumer on the edge? The consumer who has an older iPhone or Palm, or the one who’s about to move up from a feature phone for the first time. What about the dreaded “undecided”? This article is for them. Now let’s get it on.

Display
IPhone: beautiful, large (3.5 inch diagonal), high-resolution (480x320 screen) multi-touch display.
Palm Pre: Beautiful, large (3.1 inch diagonal), high-resolution (480x320 screen). The screen is not as large as the iPhone (0.4 inch smaller) but this is balanced against other hardware features such as the removable battery and sliding keyboard further below.
Advantage: Tie

Keyboard
Palm Pre has a physical, hardware-based QWERTY keyboard while the iPhone has a virtual, software-based keyboard that can be QWERTY (or anything else).
For those who need to feel those keys, the Palm Pre is the obvious choice. However, the Pre’s keyboard is reportedly somewhere between a Treo Pro and a Palm Centro: softer, more gummy keys with a narrow width overall. It might not be to everyone’s liking. That said, at least the Pre has one, and it’s a slider to boot, which means if you don’t need it, you can just tuck it away back under the screen where it came from.
The iPhone, can draw any kind of keyboard it wants. So if you need to type occasionally (or often) in Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese, or most any language, you can easily switch between those exact keyboards. You can also automatically be presented with web-optimized, or video, audio — any task at all — specific keyboards.
The iPhone is an excellent touch screen phone, no doubt. But for heavy texters and e-mail addicts, the lack of a physical keyboard can be annoying. Now Palm Pre combined a touch screen and keyboard, pleasing both touch screen and keyboard fans. So Palm Pre wins.
Advantage: Palm Pre

Network
In the US — which is the only country with initial availability — Sprint has exclusive rights to the Palm Pre, much as AT&T has a lock on the iPhone. When you choose mobile phone, also make a choice between the carriers. There are two factors to consider:
1. AT&T is a GSM network, which means you can theoretically pop out your SIM card and put it in another mobile phone. It is great in emergencies, and if you travel and don’t want to deal with roaming charges. Sprint is CDMA, so any phone switches involves a call to your carrier at the very least.
2. Sprint doesn’t currently allow simultaneous voice and data. This means if you’re talking on the Palm Pre, you can’t use the web or email, and vice versa. If you’re using an iPhone on AT&T’s EDGE service, you’ll have the same problem, but if you’re on 3G, there are no worries at all. For the Palm Pre, you’d have to switch to Wi-Fi to do that.
Again, for me, using voice and data at the same time has become a must. Looking up information while out and about on a call is a frequent occurrence. If you’re not accustomed to it, you may not miss it, but once you are, it’s hard to go back.
Advantage: iPhone

Applications
Installing new applications on the iPhone is a complete joy. It’s ultra simple and quick – an absolutely superb experience than virtually nobody has matched today. With 15,000+ apps now available there is something here for everybody and although there is a lot of rubbish there are also many superb applications.
Palm has already confirmed that it will create a full App Catalog – one that will presumably have the same functionality and ease-of-use as Apple’s App Store. Though maybe there will not (initially at least) be as many apps available for the iPhone as for the Palm Pre.
Advantage: Tie

Multimedia
For Palm Pre, it offers a 3-megapixel camera. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to snap any photos, but early reports say that the quality is pretty good. Disappointingly, the camera won't have video recording capabilities at this time, but those could be added in the future. In terms of music and movie, it is reported that the music sounds very beautiful, also the movie looks perfect with the 320*480 pixels screen. However Palm Pre can only play MPEG-4, H.263, H.264 videos and MP3, AAC, AAC+, AMR, QCELP, WAV audio files. What if you have large music or video collections you want to carry around with you on your mobile? I have got third part software to do this admire job: use Nidesoft DVD to Palm Converter to convert DVD collections into Palm Pre and Nidesoft Video Converter to convert video or music collections into Palm Pre.
As far as iPhone, there’s no doubt that iPhone is wonderful music mobile phone. Listening to music, viewing photos and watching movies/videos is just “something else” on the iPhone. IPhone can play MPEG-4 videos with resolution of 640 *480, up to 160 Kbps. Also it supports audio formats including AAC (16 to 320 kbps), MP3 (16 to 320 kbps), and WAV. With its beautiful 3.5-inch wide screen display and Multi-Touch controls, iPhone is an amazing iPod. Watch movies and TV shows in wide screen, iPhone brings you a video experience unlike any other portable device.
Advantage: Tie

Conclusion
So there you have it. Two companies that both pride themselves on their high-skill products. One who’s Newton spawned an industry that the other is Pilot defined and dominated, went on to converge with the Treo only to fall behind and get eclipsed by the iPhone, and is now poised to come back with the Pre. Apple is going on to the third version of their smart phone line while Palm is introducing the first version of their third act.
If it seems like the only real deciding factors are where you live and work, what you want to do, and how you prefer to do it, well — yeah. That’s it.
Bottom line, the competition between iPhone and Pre is good for Apple and Palm — it keeps them on their toes and on top of their games — and it’s better for us. We’re lucky to live in a time and place where we have such increasingly awesome mobile options to choose between.
Come this summer, we’ll have a few more choices as well. Which one will be yours?

Good News: Palm Pre is launching first week of June

Sprint Nextel will launch the Palm Pre in the first week of June, according to a report in the New York Times.

The report, citing unnamed people briefed on the matter, indicated that a battle between top smartphones--namely the Pre and an updated version of Apple's iPhone--would begin when Sprint launched the device.

The launch date has been the subject of intense speculation on the Internet and for those following Sprint and Palm. Palm insists that the launch of the Pre is not a make-or-break moment for the company, which has steadily been losing money and smartphone market share. Palm contends that the device will be the first of many running its new platform, webOS, which it hopes will revitalize its flagging fortunes. Sprint too, which has been losing postpaid subscribers by the boatload for several quarters, is hoping for a hit with the device.

Previously, the two companies had promised that the Pre would launch in the first half of the year, before June 30. Speculation has mounted that the launch may come on June 7, the day before Apple's WWDC conference, where the company may unveil the latest version of the iPhone.

Relative article: Palm Pre is coming soon, Do you want to enjoy your DVD movie and music with it?

Nokia 5800 Tips, FAQ’s and How-to

Hi, guys. Here I worked out comprehensive Nokia tutorial with my lovely Nokia 5800. You will find all the most commonly asked questions for Nokia 5800.

Review of My Nokia 5800

I got one 5800 last month and then I was deeply fascinated by this smart phone. It is the first Nokia touch screen phone and you may use your finger or stylus to operate it. Also Nokia 5800 XpressMusic provides wonderful devices for users to enjoy music. Taking advantage of touch screen technology, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic introduces the ‘Media Bar’, a handy drop down menu that provides direct access to music and entertainment, including favourite tracks, videos and photos. The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic offers all the music essentials, including a graphic equalizer, 8GB memory for up to 6000 tracks, a 3.5mm jack, support for main digital video formats 3GP,H.264/AVC,MPEG4, RM.and audio formats MP3, AAC, WMA, WMV. Built-in surround sound stereo speakers offer the industry’s most powerful sound. So it is really wonderful experience of enjoy music and movies with Nokia 5800 XpressMusic.

How to update the firmware of Nokia 5800 to v21

It is good news that firmware update for Nokia 5800 was released already. New firmware v.21 is available. If you also own a 5800, just follow the simple instruction to update your v20 or v10 to the newest v21.
Make sure that your battery is full (VERY IMPORTANT)
1. Go to Dial screen and press *#0000#
2. Press Options -> Check for updates 3. Connect to the Internet with any APN (WiFi is recommended, however EDGE is fast enough for this). 4. Wait until the download finished. Phone will launch the dialog asking for update, just press Now. 5. Press Accept and Accept and the phone will be switched to Updating mode. 6. It takes around 10 minutes to update, so be patient. After that, the phone will be rebooted automatically. 7. Check by *#0000# again. Congrats! Your 5800 is now v21!
As I can see, there are so many improvements and worth to update for example, better camera functionality and the phone operates faster than previous version.

Best Settings for Video Playback on Nokia 5800 Xpress Music

Nokia 5800 as the multimedia phones makes you able to enjoy watching the video and music with it. The question is, how’s to do to convert that videos and what are the best setting used for. I have convert many videos into my phone, I found that most video files can play with this phone such as mp4, 3gp, rmvb and flv files. But of them plays well but some are not. After many tries, I finally got the best results for Nokia video files. My video in 5800 was full screen, high quality and sounds very well. Here are my settings:
Video Resolution: 480*320
Video Bitrate: 768 kbps
Audio Bitrate: 128 kbps
Video Format: MPEG-4 (be sure not to use H264, as it’s not supported in the current firmware)
Audio Format: MP3
Audio Channels: 2 Channels
You can apply these settings above in whatever application you used when converting videos into 5800. Then I am sure you will get full screen, high quality and flawless video in your phone.

Settings for video playback on Nokia N97, N95, N85 and other Nokia phones.

Nokia N97: Video playback formats are 3GP formats, Flash Video, H.264/AVC, MPEG-4; the video resolution is 360*640. Audio formats are AAC, M4A, MP3, WAV, WMA etc.
Nokia N96: video playback formats are 3GP, Flash video, H.264/AVC, MPEG-4, RealVideo, WMV 9; the video resolution is 240*320. Audio formats are AAC, MP3, WAV, WMA etc.
Nokia N95: video playback formats are MP4, 3GP. Video resolution is up to 640*480, audio format is AAC stereo.
Nokia N85: video playback formats are 3GP formats, Flash video, H.264/AVC, MPEG-4, and WMV. The resolution is 240*320. The audio formats are AAC, M4A, MP3, WAV and WMA etc.
OK, I will not list all settings of Nokia phones. If you are interested you may get more relative information on Nokia official website.


How to transfer video files into Nokia 5800
I have download some videos from video website such as Youtube, Google video. But I can’t watch these videos in my phone. As these videos were flv files, Nokia 5800 can’t play such videos. I use Internet Tablet Video Converter to convert it, but it shows “ Unsupported Video File Type”. Then I got to know Nidesoft Nokia Video Converter that seems professional for Nokia phone, I free download its trial version and tried it, and it works very well. Below are what I do:
1. Download this program from its official website: http://www.nidesoft.com/nokia-video-converter.html and install it.
2. Click Add button to add video files you want to convert from your computer
3. According to the settings I listed above, you may set size as 480*320, Crop Mode as Full Screen, video quality as 640 kbps, audio quality as 128 kbps; click Format drop list, you may select video format: Nokia 5800 Video MPEG-4

4. Click Convert button to start the conversion. After the conversion complete, you may watch these videos with Nokia 5800.
Options: you may get music from video follow this way. But pay attention to the format. As Nokia 5800 support mp3 audio format, you should select “MP3 – MPEG Layer-3 Audio (*.mp3)”.

How to convert DVD files into Nokia 5800
Obviously phones don’t have DVD drives, so to watch DVD on a phone you have to convert it into a video file on your PC then drag it into your phone. I also follow the above settings and convert DVD files into MPEG-4 video with Nidesoft DVD to Nokia Converter; the results are excellent. You may free download its trial version to try it in this way:
1. Insert your DVD into the DVD Drive. Click the Open DVD button, browse your computer, find the DVD folder of the movie, and open it. Select titles and chapters you want to convert, or select the whole movie.
2. Click Settings button, set your video resolution, bitrate, audio channels and audio bitrate.

3. Click Profile drop list to select “Nokia 5800 Video MPEG-4 (*.mp4)” format for your Nokia video.

4. Click Convert button to start the conversion. In few minutes the whole process will completed.
If you select audio format “MP3 – MPEG Layer-3 Audio (*.mp3)” you may also get music from DVD.

To transfer files into Nokia 5800
In the above tutorial I have explain you how to convert Nokia videos from DVD and other video files. Then you need to transfer these videos into your phone.
1. Make sure your computer and phone are both switched on. Also make sure your 5800 have a memory card in its slot.
2. Plug the small end of the microUSB cable into the phone’s USB socket, which s under a plastic flap in the top left corner.
3. Plug the larger end of the microUSB cable into a USB port on your computer.
4. On your 5800 it should ask which mode you wish to use. Choose “Mass Storage”.
5. Open the memory card window (probably called “Removable Disk E:”), drag your video files into the video folder.
6. After finished transfer files, do not disconnect the cable yet. You should make it safe to disconnect the cable. You may do this by click a small icon in the bottom right corner of the screen that appears when the phone is connected.
7. After you have made the device safe to remove, you can unplug the cable at both ends.

Some useful tips to make the Nokia 5800's battery last as long as possible
Sometimes you may have to stop talking with your friend or watching videos with your phone as low power of your battery. It is more inconvenient if you are in travel and have no alternative battery. Here are some tips to make your phone battery last as long as possible when using telephone.
Do not switch the phone off. As switching a phone on uses far more battery power than simply leaving the phone on.
Shut down unnecessary applications.
Turn down the 5800’s screen brightness to the lowest acceptable level.
Switch off your 5800’s screen when not in use.
Use headphones instead of speakers when listening to music or watching movies.
Avoid using the camera flash unnecessarily.
Use 2G instead of 3G.
Switch off Bluetooth and/or Wi-Fi.

Ok, I have typed out all my thoughts about Nokia 5800 here. Hope my tutorial is helpful to you. And all the other Nokia 5800 tutorials and useful how-to information should come here! It is welcome.

Do you want to know how to convert DVD to Blackberry, convert video into Blackberry? Click here.