One Gets New Life, One Grows Smarter

The N95-3 Lives Again!
So, not long after we got the Nokia N97 into the NET9 lab, our trusty Nokia N95-3 started to bug out on us. At first we thought it was the memory failing on us or maybe the battery wasn't holding a charge anymore. Then we noticed that the power button wouldn't work when we tried to turn the device off. So that's when we decided to open it up to see what was going on. Immediately, we discovered that the power button module was freeing itself from the board. Too much stress on the tiny component, I guess.

So being the procrastinator that I am, I decided to "shelf" the device until just recently. I decided to try my hand at fixing the phone, and I'm happy to say that the results are a success! The N95-3 works like a charm once again, and is back in the labs working hard as you read this very post.

The N97 Gets Even Smarter
Recently, Nokia Beta Labs released a new app for the N97 and N97 mini called Nokia Bots. The application consists of four different "bots" that can be activated via a homescreen widget to learn various routines you usually perform manually and helps to automate the processes.

- The Profile Bot assists in switching your profiles for meetings according to your needs.
- The Alarm Bot helps in setting up a wake-up alarm and night profile.
- The Shortcut Bot provides quick access to your most frequently used apps.
- The Battery Bot notifies of upcoming power issues.

Each bot can be enabled or disabled from the homescreen widget and takes some time to learn your routine. I particularly like the Shortcut Bot, because it allows yet another widget bar for a set of four app shortcuts. Normally, you could only add two application shortcut bars to the N97 homescreen, but using this app allows a third.

Hopefully, Nokia continues to add more bots to this surprisingly useful app as well as make it available to more devices. Currently, Nokia Bots is only available to N97 and N97 mini users.