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Every now and again we like to pick a topic that can whip up a debate and get the juices flowing. All in the name of fun and interactivity, of course.

Here, two of our writers trade blows on the issue of video games. First up, Adam thinks that console gaming is superior and then Boc argues in favour of mobile gaming.

After you’ve read their thoughts, you can take part in our informal poll and leave your comments.

Adam Fraser – Consoles

I wouldn’t call myself a huge-gamer, because I just don’t find the time, but I do like to game. Starting from the early days of the Sega Mega Drive, the original Xbox, and now my much-loved Xbox 360 that takes prime place underneath the TV in my living room. I get a real satisfaction in grabbing a controller and hammering those buttons – I’m not necessarily any good, but I hammer nonetheless.

While I’m (virtually) shooting those adolescent experts called ‘N1nja boi’ or ‘$il3nt Kill£R’, I’m doing it from the comfort of my couch. My feet are up, the controller is in hand and I’m staring, wide-eyed at the large TV that sits in my room. Admittedly, I usually lose the online battles, but I’m enjoying it.

The games designed for use on consoles are designed to be enjoyed on a big scale. They’re perfect on the TV. All the detail comes to life, I can see a characters eyes look from left to right. Plus, some games are specifically designed to creep you out and put the fear into you as you play.

With curtains drawn, lights turned off and the sound cranked up, something will undoubtedly jump out and give me a fright. Again, I enjoy that.

You just don’t get that same experience from mobile gaming. I’ve never seen a man’s skin twitch, or experienced the same adrenaline rush you get when playing a creepy game. That just can’t be replicated on a small handheld object.

Obviously, I hope that can happen as I do most of my gaming on a mobile phone these days. But I enjoy it more when I’ve set aside some time, turned off my phone and focus on the console for the evening – it feels more special.

Boc Ly – Mobile games

Playing games on a console feels like a throwback to a different time, before we saw the potential of the smartphone to change our lives.

The games console is reliant on other things to actually work. It needs to be hooked up to an external power supply, the Internet, cables to connect it to the TV and not forgetting the games controllers themselves.

With mobile gaming, the phone is all you need. It is so much simpler, more elegant and, not forgetting the real ace up its sleeve, you really can do it wherever you go. An obvious point but it’s something we all take for granted.

In a shared house, playing on a traditional games console means you are taking over the whole room. What if someone else wants to watch TV, or they insist that you play with the sound down?

Of course, on a mobile, no one can tell you where and when you can play. Again, it reinforces the point that on a mobile you are not beholden to anything or anyone else.

Just a few short years ago it would have been much more difficult to make the case for mobile gaming. However, the increased processing power, the better graphics and the availability of top games has tilted the argument decisively in its favour.

Another important factor is that mobile gaming is much more democractic than console gaming. This is important. Not everyone can afford to buy an expensive games console and then play it on a huge HDTV.

On the other hand, even the most basic mobile phones are capable of playing addictive and extremely involving games. In this connected age, most people want social experiences with their games, above and beyond just good graphics and lots of action. Witness the success of titles such as Draw Something and Words with Friends.

The trend is that more and more people are using the Internet and social networks on their mobile devices than on desktop computers. The future is mobile and games is a part of that.

Poll

Who do you agree with? Do you prefer playing games on your mobile phone or on a console?

Take Our Poll

We’ve set up this fun and informal poll so that you can let us know which side of the debate you’re on. You can also leave your comments below.

Growing vegetables, herbs and other plants in an urban setting is not really a new thing. All kinds of urban gardening projects, from the NYC High Line to community gardens and city farms built in unused urban spaces, have been gaining popularity in recent years.

This summer, one of the rooftop terraces at the Nokia head office in Espoo, Finland, has also been blooming with strawberries, herbs, vegetables and other more exotic plants.

Up until now, the rooftop terrace, which has an amazing view of the Baltic Sea and the surrounding areas, has been mostly unused. Earlier this year, though, the Nokia Sustainability team and a group of gardening enthusiasts at Nokia put their heads together and decided put the space to good use and bring urban gardening to Nokia House.

In early June, wooden containers and many bags of soil were brought to the terrace. Nokia employees could sign up for the project and have their own containers (for themselves or for their teams) where they could grow vegetables, herbs, flowers and other plants of their choice.

I’m a big fan of locally produced food and interested in gardening, so I signed up immediately. I wouldn’t say I had a “green thumb”, but after attending an urban gardening workshop and gathering all kinds of seeds and saplings from friends and family, my enthusiastic gardening colleagues and I were ready to give it a go.

But I wanted my gardening project to be more than just about watching tomatoes, peas, strawberries, mint, basil and lavender grow in our wooden container. I wanted the plants to tell us when they needed water and how they were doing up there on the windy terrace. I wanted them to tweet!

A quick search online revealed that there weren’t many off-the-shelf solutions available for this purpose, so I turned to Nokia Research Center (NRC) for help.

I was put in touch with Teemu Savolainen, from NRC Tampere, who got very excited about the idea and promised to help. Using components such as moisture sensors, ZigBee radios, a recycled laptop and an old Nokia E7, he assembled a system that would do exactly what I needed. In no time, our plants at Nokia House rooftop garden were tweeting!

During the short Finnish summer, the gardeners and those following the Nokia House rooftop garden Twitter account could see how thirsty the plants were or what growth strategies they had in mind.

The tweeting plants project was an experimental “hobbyist” project for Teemu and NRC, but it was also a chance to learn something new about the “Internet of Things” and how devices can communicate with each other.

Teemu concludes:

“Building up this setup was an energizing exercise, allowing us to test in practice some of the ‘Internet of Things’ research and standardization activities we have ongoing in NRC. Sometimes it’s difficult to explain to others what we do, but this project has proved to be handy in making pieces of our research more concrete for people. And for us it’s a good foundation to build new things on – for next summer and beyond.”

At the Nokia House rooftop garden, summer has already turned into autumn, the crop has been harvested and the plants have stopped tweeting. But come spring, I’m sure new plants, with new growth strategies and tweets will appear.

Growing vegetables, herbs and other plants in an urban setting is not really a new thing. All kinds of urban gardening projects, from the NYC High Line to community gardens and city farms built in unused urban spaces, have been gaining popularity in recent years.

This summer, one of the rooftop terraces at the Nokia head office in Espoo, Finland, has also been blooming with strawberries, herbs, vegetables and other more exotic plants.

Up until now, the rooftop terrace, which has an amazing view of the Baltic Sea and the surrounding areas, has been mostly unused. Earlier this year, though, the Nokia Sustainability team and a group of gardening enthusiasts at Nokia put their heads together and decided put the space to good use and bring urban gardening to Nokia House.

In early June, wooden containers and many bags of soil were brought to the terrace. Nokia employees could sign up for the project and have their own containers (for themselves or for their teams) where they could grow vegetables, herbs, flowers and other plants of their choice.

I’m a big fan of locally produced food and interested in gardening, so I signed up immediately. I wouldn’t say I had a “green thumb”, but after attending an urban gardening workshop and gathering all kinds of seeds and saplings from friends and family, my enthusiastic gardening colleagues and I were ready to give it a go.

But I wanted my gardening project to be more than just about watching tomatoes, peas, strawberries, mint, basil and lavender grow in our wooden container. I wanted the plants to tell us when they needed water and how they were doing up there on the windy terrace. I wanted them to tweet!

A quick search online revealed that there weren’t many off-the-shelf solutions available for this purpose, so I turned to Nokia Research Center (NRC) for help.

I was put in touch with Teemu Savolainen, from NRC Tampere, who got very excited about the idea and promised to help. Using components such as moisture sensors, ZigBee radios, a recycled laptop and an old Nokia E7, he assembled a system that would do exactly what I needed. In no time, our plants at Nokia House rooftop garden were tweeting!

During the short Finnish summer, the gardeners and those following the Nokia House rooftop garden Twitter account could see how thirsty the plants were or what growth strategies they had in mind.

The tweeting plants project was an experimental “hobbyist” project for Teemu and NRC, but it was also a chance to learn something new about the “Internet of Things” and how devices can communicate with each other.

Teemu concludes:

“Building up this setup was an energizing exercise, allowing us to test in practice some of the ‘Internet of Things’ research and standardization activities we have ongoing in NRC. Sometimes it’s difficult to explain to others what we do, but this project has proved to be handy in making pieces of our research more concrete for people. And for us it’s a good foundation to build new things on – for next summer and beyond.”

At the Nokia House rooftop garden, summer has already turned into autumn, the crop has been harvested and the plants have stopped tweeting. But come spring, I’m sure new plants, with new growth strategies and tweets will appear.

In early October a new software update was released for the Nokia 808 PureView that brought imaging enhancements and other new features to the award-winning camera phone.

At the time, I wrote that the imaging experience on the 808 PureView was already ‘pretty fantastic’ and I did wonder what else could be done to really improve things. 

So, now that I have had the software update installed for a couple of days, what are my impressions of the changes?

Tweaks and additions

Many existing users of the 808 PureView will be pleased to know that this isn’t a radical transformation of the user interface. No one will find themselves lost or unsure of what to do following the update.

Instead there are subtle tweaks and useful additions that, when combined, add up to make an appreciable difference.

I suspect that some people may not immediately notice the new enhancements and then, one day, stumble upon something they couldn’t do before and go ‘Great, that’s really useful!’

Gallery

One of these eureka moments struck me when I was looking through the images in the gallery. 

I knew that you could now view the photos in grid mode when the phone is held in landscape but I had forgotten that a batch delete function had been introduced.

I saw the familiar dustbin icon in the corner as I scrolled through the image grid and I was immediately able to delete several photos that I no longer wanted to keep.

As you can imagine, it was much, much quicker than deleting one image at a time.

Photo information 

One new feature that most 808 PureView owners will be able to spot relatively easily is the photo information screen. 

Tapping anywhere on the screen to bring up the menu options when you are looking at a photo will bring up the number of megapixels that were used to take the image. 

If you then tap the megapixel count, more photo information will appear:

• Resolution
• File name
• File size
• Exposure time
• ISO
• White balance setting
• Date and time it was taken
• Flash
• Location (if connected)
• Image histogram 

As many owners of the Nokia 808 PureView are serious photographers (or at least people who take their photography seriously) showing all this information will be a real bonus for them.

What I liked the most was that you could press the ‘Location’ field and you were then taken to Nokia Maps to see where the photo was taken.

The widget

The main widget I have on my primary 808 PureView homescreen is the photo gallery, which magically rotates several images in an attractive collage.

Again, it is a subtle change but this widget has also been updated. Directly from the widget on your homescreen, you can now open up a photo and have full access to the suite of editing and sharing options.

From accessing one photo on the widget you can now also swipe through the rest of the photos in your gallery.

One other notable change to the imaging experience is that within the camera’s Creative mode options, there is now a reset button for you to quickly switch back to the default settings.

As I mentioned previously, this is another feature that dedicated amateur photographers will be extremely grateful for. 

Car mode

This software update also included some extra features on top of the imaging enhancements.

The browser was updated with greater support for HTML5 and the keyboard has been speeded up and made more responsive.

Most striking though is the addition of a new app called Car Mode. This gives drivers easy access to phone calls and contacts, Nokia Drive and the music functions of the Nokia 808 PureView.

In Car Mode, everything has been given oversized buttons and the menu layouts have been simplified so it only requires a quick glance to see where you need to press.

It’s a simple idea that will make a big difference for drivers.

Funnily enough that is also how I would describe this software update. It has many simple tweaks that have made a big difference. It has resulted in a wonderful camera phone getting even better.

Every now and again we like to pick a topic that can whip up a debate and get the juices flowing. All in the name of fun and interactivity, of course.

Here, two of our writers trade blows on the issue of video games. First up, Adam thinks that console gaming is superior and then Boc argues in favour of mobile gaming.

After you’ve read their thoughts, you can take part in our informal poll and leave your comments.

Adam Fraser – Consoles

I wouldn’t call myself a huge-gamer, because I just don’t find the time, but I do like to game. Starting from the early days of the Sega Mega Drive, the original Xbox, and now my much-loved Xbox 360 that takes prime place underneath the TV in my living room. I get a real satisfaction in grabbing a controller and hammering those buttons – I’m not necessarily any good, but I hammer nonetheless.

While I’m (virtually) shooting those adolescent experts called ‘N1nja boi’ or ‘$il3nt Kill£R’, I’m doing it from the comfort of my couch. My feet are up, the controller is in hand and I’m staring, wide-eyed at the large TV that sits in my room. Admittedly, I usually lose the online battles, but I’m enjoying it.

The games designed for use on consoles are designed to be enjoyed on a big scale. They’re perfect on the TV. All the detail comes to life, I can see a characters eyes look from left to right. Plus, some games are specifically designed to creep you out and put the fear into you as you play.

With curtains drawn, lights turned off and the sound cranked up, something will undoubtedly jump out and give me a fright. Again, I enjoy that.

You just don’t get that same experience from mobile gaming. I’ve never seen a man’s skin twitch, or experienced the same adrenaline rush you get when playing a creepy game. That just can’t be replicated on a small handheld object.

Obviously, I hope that can happen as I do most of my gaming on a mobile phone these days. But I enjoy it more when I’ve set aside some time, turned off my phone and focus on the console for the evening – it feels more special.

Boc Ly – Mobile games

Playing games on a console feels like a throwback to a different time, before we saw the potential of the smartphone to change our lives.

The games console is reliant on other things to actually work. It needs to be hooked up to an external power supply, the Internet, cables to connect it to the TV and not forgetting the games controllers themselves.

With mobile gaming, the phone is all you need. It is so much simpler, more elegant and, not forgetting the real ace up its sleeve, you really can do it wherever you go. An obvious point but it’s something we all take for granted.

In a shared house, playing on a traditional games console means you are taking over the whole room. What if someone else wants to watch TV, or they insist that you play with the sound down?

Of course, on a mobile, no one can tell you where and when you can play. Again, it reinforces the point that on a mobile you are not beholden to anything or anyone else.

Just a few short years ago it would have been much more difficult to make the case for mobile gaming. However, the increased processing power, the better graphics and the availability of top games has tilted the argument decisively in its favour.

Another important factor is that mobile gaming is much more democractic than console gaming. This is important. Not everyone can afford to buy an expensive games console and then play it on a huge HDTV.

On the other hand, even the most basic mobile phones are capable of playing addictive and extremely involving games. In this connected age, most people want social experiences with their games, above and beyond just good graphics and lots of action. Witness the success of titles such as Draw Something and Words with Friends.

The trend is that more and more people are using the Internet and social networks on their mobile devices than on desktop computers. The future is mobile and games is a part of that.

Poll

Who do you agree with? Do you prefer playing games on your mobile phone or on a console?

Take Our Poll

We’ve set up this fun and informal poll so that you can let us know which side of the debate you’re on. You can also leave your comments below.

In early October a new software update was released for the Nokia 808 PureView that brought imaging enhancements and other new features to the award-winning camera phone.

At the time, I wrote that the imaging experience on the 808 PureView was already ‘pretty fantastic’ and I did wonder what else could be done to really improve things. 

So, now that I have had the software update installed for a couple of days, what are my impressions of the changes?

Tweaks and additions

Many existing users of the 808 PureView will be pleased to know that this isn’t a radical transformation of the user interface. No one will find themselves lost or unsure of what to do following the update.

Instead there are subtle tweaks and useful additions that, when combined, add up to make an appreciable difference.

I suspect that some people may not immediately notice the new enhancements and then, one day, stumble upon something they couldn’t do before and go ‘Great, that’s really useful!’

Gallery

One of these eureka moments struck me when I was looking through the images in the gallery. 

I knew that you could now view the photos in grid mode when the phone is held in landscape but I had forgotten that a batch delete function had been introduced.

I saw the familiar dustbin icon in the corner as I scrolled through the image grid and I was immediately able to delete several photos that I no longer wanted to keep.

As you can imagine, it was much, much quicker than deleting one image at a time.

Photo information 

One new feature that most 808 PureView owners will be able to spot relatively easily is the photo information screen. 

Tapping anywhere on the screen to bring up the menu options when you are looking at a photo will bring up the number of megapixels that were used to take the image. 

If you then tap the megapixel count, more photo information will appear:

• Resolution
• File name
• File size
• Exposure time
• ISO
• White balance setting
• Date and time it was taken
• Flash
• Location (if connected)
• Image histogram 

As many owners of the Nokia 808 PureView are serious photographers (or at least people who take their photography seriously) showing all this information will be a real bonus for them.

What I liked the most was that you could press the ‘Location’ field and you were then taken to Nokia Maps to see where the photo was taken.

The widget

The main widget I have on my primary 808 PureView homescreen is the photo gallery, which magically rotates several images in an attractive collage.

Again, it is a subtle change but this widget has also been updated. Directly from the widget on your homescreen, you can now open up a photo and have full access to the suite of editing and sharing options.

From accessing one photo on the widget you can now also swipe through the rest of the photos in your gallery.

One other notable change to the imaging experience is that within the camera’s Creative mode options, there is now a reset button for you to quickly switch back to the default settings.

As I mentioned previously, this is another feature that dedicated amateur photographers will be extremely grateful for. 

Car mode

This software update also included some extra features on top of the imaging enhancements.

The browser was updated with greater support for HTML5 and the keyboard has been speeded up and made more responsive.

Most striking though is the addition of a new app called Car Mode. This gives drivers easy access to phone calls and contacts, Nokia Drive and the music functions of the Nokia 808 PureView.

In Car Mode, everything has been given oversized buttons and the menu layouts have been simplified so it only requires a quick glance to see where you need to press.

It’s a simple idea that will make a big difference for drivers.

Funnily enough that is also how I would describe this software update. It has many simple tweaks that have made a big difference. It has resulted in a wonderful camera phone getting even better.

Często pisałem na blogu o protestach przeciwko masztom śmierci. Pamiętacie całonocne okupacje i taranowanie fundamentów Polonezem. Są jednak wyjątki. Bardzo miłe wyjątki, gdzie ludzie od wielu lat czekają na zasięg i autentycznie cieszą się jak op odpala nadajnik. Jednym z takich miejsc jest przepiękna miejscowość Sromowce Niżne położona nad Dunajcem w malowniczych Pieninach przy granicy ze [...]

Startujemy właśnie z bardzo fajnym konkursem na profilach Facebookowych Play i Huawei Device Polska. Główna nagroda jest bardzo atrakcyjna – wycieczka do Chin dla dwóch osób Aby wziąć udział w konkursie należy dysponować modemem Huawei zakupionym w sieci Play. Na stronie aplikacji trzeba wprowadzić kod, który otworzy sejf i pozwoli na dalszy udział w [...]

Od jutra do oferty podstawowej wprowadzamy nowy model telefonu: LG P880 Swift 4X HD   Dodatkowo od jutra do oferty na życzenie wyłącznie w sklepie internetowym wprowadzamy: Huawei Ascend P1 Sonim XP 3300 FORCE Sonim XP5300 Force 3G Sony Xperia Go iPhone 4 8GB   Cennik

Startujemy właśnie z bardzo fajnym konkursem na profilach Facebookowych Play i Huawei Device Polska. Główna nagroda jest bardzo atrakcyjna – wycieczka do Chin dla dwóch osób Aby wziąć udział w konkursie należy dysponować modemem Huawei zakupionym w sieci Play. Na stronie aplikacji trzeba wprowadzić kod, który otworzy sejf i pozwoli na dalszy udział w [...]