Late Sunday Evening 02.17.08 - Because I am in no mood to change, go downstairs to the hotel lobby, sit within 20 ft of the wifi router, and pay 113 rupees for a short period to time in which to rapidly blog, I am instead sitting on the bed with the Nokia wireless keyboard and the Nokia N82 and writing this post via Lifeblog.

Hey! Look what one can do with the N82! I am pleased as punch that the lovely little mobile was able to capture the dolphin leaping out of the water today. I went on a dolphin boat tour of the Mandovi River in Goa. The dolphins were frisking in the currents that were welling up from the confluence of the Arabian Sea meeting the last bit of the river. I had the N82 set to the "sports" mode, set the digital zoom to about 1/3, and took a photo of a dolphin jumping out of the water! Good little point & shoot that also has an internet connection and can make a phone call or two.

The age of the convergence device has fully arrived. I can take great travel or concert photos with the N82 and then I can use the same device to moblog them to my/this website. Yeah.

By and large, other than the beloved Nokia 7610, no other camera or mobile that I have owned / used has been as easy to travel with and just take lots of photos off the cuff and on the sly. No sldiers to fiddle with, no lens to change out or focus, just set the mode to "sports" or "night" or "close up" or whatever for a range of effects or abilities to shoot a given scene. Then take photo after photo.

The best part is that most people don't perceive it as a phone or a mobile, but think it is just a small point and shoot camera. This I like. When I travel and am doing photo walks, I don't want folks to notice me nor the camera. With the N95, people are usually curious to see what it is, not so with the N82 as it is much more stealth or maybe it appears on first glance to be just another very small digital camera.

The size of the N82, as well as its compact shape make it perfect to slip in your pocket or purse when not in use. My only complaint is that Nokia did not put a leash in with the standard box, so I am using ribbon looped through the N82's leash area as a way to find it in my purse and to hold on to the camera while I am shooting or walking or climbing up a boat ladder, etc. On the boat today, a fellow from Mumbai was shooting photos and video with a tan Nokia N95 of which he was very happy with but there was no leash on the device and every time he leaned over the boat side to take another dolphin pic one could see him grip the N95 a little tighter.

For nature photography, esp. fast moving animals like birds and dolphins I am enjoying the fact that the N82, esp. in sport mode, is considerably faster at focusing and shooting than the N95. While the N95 has its many charms, the N82 winning as an on the road camera phone in my book.