I’ve recently got a Nokia Lumia 800, and for all the nice features the phone and Windows Phone 7 has, one annoying feature was the lack of multi Google Calendar support; when you add a Google Account to the phone, it only syncs the primary calendar associated with the account; I have 4 or 5 main Google Calendars, and subscribe to a number of iCal feeds too, so this really didn’t provide me with the full Google experience I need.

I discovered there was a way of getting multi calendar support, involving a desktop PC, mucking around with browser settings (and user agent settings), which allowed you to access a Google sync configuration page where you could add multiple calendars.  This worked, and I was really happy.

However, Google have now confirmed that if you access the m.google.com/sync page direct from your Windows Phone (using IE9 on the phone), it will allow you to select your WP7 device, and then add multi calendars to be included with the next sync.

Once done, go to the Settings / Accounts, press and hold the Google account, and select Synchronise.  If this does not bring down the additional calendars, you may need to remove the Google account and add it back again.  Also, once you have done this, you can go into the Calendar settings and change the colours of each calendar to bring them closer to the colours you have adopted within Google Calendar directly; that way a quick glance at your calendar, and you should know what’s going on.

So far this has been the only “showstopper” that has stopped me enjoying the device; yes, it’s not perfect, and there are still lots of little things for Microsoft / Nokia to sort out (I think the Nokia Drive app deserves a rant post all of it’s own!), but now allowing multiple Google Calendar support is a good start (for me!).

Now this is an interesting device, launched in the US at CES this week.  It’s not a phone, but rather an Android camera, so it’s got better optics than a phone would have, with a 3x optical zoom lens (36-108mm equivalent) and has 18 scene modes to take advantage of the 16 megapixel sensor. It has a Smart Album facility which will store pictures by date, location and people. With built in WiFi, Bluetooth (and “optional cellular data”), it can upload the pictures for you, saving you the need to connect the camera to a PC to share the pictures; there’s even some simple editing capabilities in the camera (cropping, red-eye removal, resizing and color correction).

Like many cameras, it uses a memory card, and like many phones, it uses the microSD card format, allowing upto 32GB of pictures to be stored on the device.

No price was announced for the Polaroid SC1630 Smart Camera, and Polaroid only stated it would be available “in 2012″; also no confirmed availability for the UK, but we believe it should be available in the UK at some point.

This is an interesting camera for lots of reasons, beyond the actual technical specification. Canon hinted last year that people didn’t always want interchangeable lens on cameras, and with more camera companies releasing MILC (Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera) devices (especially after Nikon’s launch last year of the Nikon 1 Series), Canon seemed to be behind the times in this area.  In the short term then, the PowerShot G1 X is designed to be their equivalent; I guess Canon’s thinking is that most people buy a MILC and stick with the standard lens, so why make it removable…?

What’s also interesting is that Canon have put quite a large (in physical size) sensor in the camera, allowing it to compete well against it’s competitors, even if it’s not got the highest megapixel value (in fact, a number of camera companies are saying the megapixel war is over for a while, and the numbers of pixels does not need to increase to increase quality; something we’ve seen from the likes of Canon before).

The camera has a 1.5-inch (18.7 x 14mm) 14.3 megapixel High-Sensitivity Canon CMOS sensor, with a 4x zoom lens (28-112mm 35mm film lens equivalent), Full HD recording, and has the DIGIC 5 processor as seen in previous Canon DSLRs.  What’s also interesting is that at the wide end, the lens has an aperture of f/2.8, which will help get even more light into that new sensor.  Also, it’s worth noting that the sensor is roughly the same size as the Micro Four Thirds sensor used by Olympus and Panasonic, both of which are bigger than the Nikon 1 Series sensor.

Although no UK price is yet confirmed, the camera will cost $800 in the US, where it goes on sale in February, so it shouldn’t be long before it’s available in the UK.  Pricing could be just under £550, although I would suspect it’ll settle a little lower than this once it’s been available for a few months.

Having said that Canon have been making noises about whether people actually need interchangeable lenses on these compact sized cameras, the rumours are that if Canon do decide to release a MILC device, it will be in 2012.  Obviously it won’t be well suited to the existing EF and EF-S lenses (although an adaptor is likely to allow people to slowly migrate across), so would need a new range of lenses to work with it.

My only concern; last month, Panasonic started selling the DMC-GX1, which is commonly called the GX1, so we now have the GX1 competing with the G1X; that’s bound to lead to some confusion…

When launched back at the end of November, the Pure Highway 300Di car DAB adaptor was due to be available within a week or so.  Just to let you know, it’s now available at Halfords (and I’m not sure they have the Exclusive any more either, so you maybe able to find it elsewhere too).  It’s still £180 (plus £25 fitting if you need the service, and most will), but I think that’s good value for a fitted additional DAB radio that’s nicely styled, and will allow a level of future proofing existing cars (if the old FM radio signals are ever turned off, which still isn’t definite).

In my original article, I mentioned a free fitting offer during the “initial launch”; I can only conclude this period has already finished, as the free fitting doesn’t appear to be available anymore.

Happy New Year!  Posts have been a little thin on the ground here for a while, partly other work commitments, and partly a lack of innovation from companies.  However, as well as a couple of product reviews that should be available soon, we’re expecting a range of interesting new devices being launched in the next few months, either at CES next week, or at other events going on in February, so look out for more posts in the near future.

One of the first articles on the UK Gadgeteer website back in 2007 was around the PURE Highway, a portable DAB radio designed for car use.  This turned out to be a very popular device, although one small complaint about it was that it had to connect to the windscreen mount, and you had to have wires all over the dashboard (aerial & power).  Competitors, such as Revo, produced DAB addon car units which needed more permanent fitting in the car, however, Revo have now left the car market.

Well, Pure are addressing these issues and have launched a new Highway DAB radio, the Pure Highway 300Di.  This unit has a small control unit (removable, for when you want to hide the presence of the unit) using an OLED screen (and backlit buttons).  In fact, the simple display / buttons and control knob remind me of the very successful Parrot range of Bluetooth car kit control units).  This connects to a control box designed for placing behind the dash, or in the glovebox.  This needs permanent connections to the car (I suspect it’ll possible to DIY fit it, but it’s not designed for plugging into a cigaretter lighter, unlike the PURE Highway, which remains on sale for those who want a truely portable unit).

As well as providing DAB (via a DAB aerial which needs external fitting), the unit has a USB port allowing you to plug in USB memory sticks, USB devices, or you can use your Apple USB cable and the device will be able to fully control (and charge) your Apple iPod or iPhone.

Most DAB radios only have one tuner, whereas most car radios adopted the idea of dual tuners quite a few years ago; this allows the second tuner to go hunting for a stronger signal without impacting the radio playback, and in fact, the Pure Highway 300Di has a second tuner which will automatically keep the station list up to date with only the stations available as you travel around the country.

To connect it to your car, you can either use an AUX-IN type socket, or it can use an FM transmitter, either wireless using the car’s existing aerial, or it can be wired into the aerial circuit giving a crackle free experience.

In addition, Pure have added a couple of innovative new modes:

• Forcourt mode, where the device will go into standby for up to 15 minutes, allowing you to return to your car, and the unit will already be ready for action with the same music.  In you are listening to the DAB radio, you can pause (for up to 8 minutes) and continue listening when you return to the car.
• Picnic mode, where the device is able to continue playing the music for up to an hour after the car ignition is switched off.  The 1 hour limit is to prevent the car battery being drained, although some cars will limit you to only 15 minutes even though the unit could do longer.

For those wanting to add DAB to your existing car, and want something a little more permanent than the PURE Highway, this may well be the device for you.  Pricing will be £179.99, although it’s not yet available, it will be sold exclusively through Halfords for a period.

Having said it’s not available, I believe it should be on sale within the next week or two, and during the initial launch, Halfords will be offering free fitting (normally around £25).

If you want to be one of the first to own the new Windows Phone Nokia Lumia 800, then it’s now available to pre order from Vodafone in the UK.  The phone will be free, but it comes with a 24-month contract, which offers 900 cross network minutes, “unlimited” texts (likely capped at a few thousand), 750MB of data per month, and you’ll get 2GB of BT OpenZone Wi-Fi included too.

When I last checked, you could still get delivery planned for Wednesday 16th November, ie the first day the phone will be available, although you should check with Vodafone whether this is still the case when you order.  If you are wanting to port your existing phone number, you need to let Vodafone know about when you order, as unlike some of the other networks, you cannot do this afterwards.

One benefit of Vodafone is that you “Test Drive” their data networks with pretty much no limits over the first 3 months, and then choose whether you need to increase the included data allowance.  Also, it’s possible you will be eligible for a £60 voucher discount (£10 voucher each month for 6 months to spend at places like Amazon and Starbucks); this and other information will be made available via a joint Vodafone / Nokia website here.

It looks like most of the other networks will be carrying the Nokia Lumia 800 as well, but not all are (yet) offering pre order options.

3 have announced they are launching a Mobile Broadband Wi-Fi Hub, which will allow users who have selected Mobile Broadband USB Modems to be able to share them (to up to 5 devices) via Wi-Fi, in a similar way to the newer 3 MiFi.

This, I guess, is similar to the original D100 USB Router they released a few years ago now, and like that device, only works from mains power; ie it has no battery (again another plus for the 3 MiFi).  However, one very positive aspect is that it covers many of the recent and not so recent USB modems 3 have sold.  The list includes:

• Huawei E122, E1550, E156G, E169, E1750, E1820, E353u, E367u
• ZTE MF112 and MF627

This list does include the latest Huawei USB Dongle that offers HSPA+ speeds (up to 21.1Mbps).

It’s 88mm x 66mm x 25mm, gives you around 30 metres range, and is only available in Black (unlike the 3 MiFi, which now comes in White too); pricing and exact availability will follow in time.

Courtesy of Nokia, I’ve been invited to attend Nokia World this year. I’m there already (hopefully!), but full articles are always difficult when mobile, so I’m hoping to still bring major updates from the event, but these will be provided via Twitter (@UKGadgeteer).  If possible, pictures may additionally be available via UK Gadgeteer‘s new Flickr account, with a catch up article covering the main points at a later date.

Back in July I mentioned that Nokia had released a map update for Nokia Maps for v3.06, but not v3.04 (as used on some elder devices such as the Nokia E71).  However, someone mentioned to me the other day that Nokia had updated the maps again. Sure enough, a quick check via the Maps Update function confirmed new maps were available, so I downloaded them via my PC (I don’t have quite enough spare space on the phone to download them directly).  These new maps are dated 26 September 2011, a little over two months since the last update.  As this was the third map update this year, it will be interesting to see whether they have moved to a more regular two-monthly update process, or whether they simply release one update per quarter (ie the July update was just very late).

Also, although the elder v3.04 Maps client doesn’t have a built in Map Update facility, I still connected my Nokia E71 to my PC, and it also offered a map update.  I’m not sure exactly when the update was released, but based on the map data (there’s one major new road near me that’s appeared in both these updates that was not included in the July update), it looks like the maps for the elder client are also very recent.

If you have a Nokia Symbian phone, don’t forget to update the maps every now and then.