What or where exactly is the soul of the city? Armed with Nokia's latest imaging wonder, the Nokia N82, ten thrill-seeking and adventure loving teams recently raced against each other and attempted to discover what Manila has to offer after the sun has gone down at the Nokia Nseries Wireless Adventure 2!
The concept for Nokia Nseries Wireless Adventure 2: Discover the Soul of the Night was similar to the inaugural wireless adventure in 2007 in which participants were tasked to discover new locations and activities in their cities. The twist to this year's race was that it was conducted at night with participants being encouraged to use the advanced features of the Nokia N82 to identify and reveal the 'Soul of the Night' in their city.
The Nokia N82 is equipped with a 5 MP Carl-Zeiss lens, built-in GPS capability and a powerful Xenon Flash that enables users to take excellent photographs wherever they are, even at night. Beyond that, the Nokia N82 has the latest multimedia functionality that lets consumers capture and share images and stories, and interact online.
Discover the Soul of the Night taps into this unique all-in-oneness of the Nokia N82 to expand the photography experience, encouraging users to not only post great photographs online, but also discover and share their experiences instantaneously through the use of the built-in GPS and advanced wireless connectivity features of the Nokia N82.
The ten teams who joined the Nokia Nseries Wireless Adventure 2 were composed of fun and fearless consumer, celebrity, and media participants all after the Grand Prize of P100,000 and a trip to Macau. Participants included - Advertising colleagues Ramon Rodriguez and Vina Cruz, Business folk Bea Corpus and Aris Ladaw, Call center friends Sharo Domingo and Karen Pimentel, Cute Couple Niki Santiago and Justin Rivera, Programming partners Jane de Claro Chua and Christian Wong, Philippine Star 's Kathy Moran and musician Paolo Valenciano, Philippine Daily Inquirer 's Pam Pastor and VJ Geoff Eigenman, Gadgets Magazine's Michelle Callanta and Actor Alfred Vargas, and Sunstar Cebu columnist and Radio DJ Charlene Go and Radio DJ / MTV VJ Andi Manzano.
Discovering the soul of the night
Each team member had a Nokia N82 device and were required to complete several tasks from dusk till dawn. "Before the race, Geoff said we should try to complete every task in twenty minutes or less. I think we managed to do that almost the entire race. We finished early and even were the first ones at the last stop. Our other strategy was really to just have fun. We were intense about the game but we were relaxed too - no temper, no panic. We had a blast!" shares Team Music Fanatics and Super Editor Pam Pastor. Some of these mind exercising and exciting tasks included decoding a set of clues to get the Help Line Number and styling and taking photos of a fruit platter at Jumbo Floating Restaurant. "Aris and I found the first task the most difficult which, at the end of the race was disgustingly hilarious! Math being both our waterloo, it took us a good few minutes to solve the equation!" said Team Culinary Quests' Bea Corpus. Teams also had to get behind the wheel to play Asphalt 3: Street Rules by Gameloft using the N-Gage application in the phone at the Extreme Gaming Grounds in Mall of Asia, which Team Music Fanatics' Geoff Eigenmann enjoyed. "The easiest task was the video game because I'm a gaming god!"
Teams were asked to shoot a video of their team singing "I Love the Nightlife" at Red Box Karaoke. "The videoke task at Red Box was the easiest," shares Team Voltage Up's and Gadgets Magazine's Michelle Callanta. "Thanks to my mom for making me listen to her disco-loving music! I think I sang pretty darned well," she added. Sunstar Cebu columnist and radio DJ Charlene Go also enjoyed the videoke task. "It was easy to be silly and I love to sing!"
After, teams had to rush to The T-Shirt Project in Tiendesitas and had to put together a unique shirt design. Then they had to pose for creative shots. "Finding the location on the picture that was given and just capturing photos at those places were easy," said Team Aftershift's Sharo Domingo & Karen Pimentel. Teams were also tasked to shoot a video of their partner's energetic zip performance, take photos of the fiery poi dancers, and take panoramic shots in Eastwood. "I used to do arnis back in college and when I picked up the zip lines I was thinking maybe I can use some of my old stick drills for this task," said Team Free Spirit's Ramon Rodriguez. After finishing the last task, teams had to rush to Piedra Bar in The Fort to pose with the models in baroque costumes. "I thought this task was easy," said Team Free Spirit's Vina Cruz. "Find 5 masked people in Piedra?? We spent nearly 20 minutes looking for them." The last task had the teams running to Café Xocolat in Serendra to weave a slideshow story with music and graphics using the photos taken of the team throughout the race. "I enjoyed the editing part the most," says Team Voltage Up's Alfred Vargas. "I saw the meaning of the whole night of challenges and pressure through the slideshow that we did."
At the end, it was Team Voltage Up's Michelle Callanta and Alfred Vargas who were declared Souls of the Night. They went home with the grand prize of P100,000 and a trip to Macau. Other awards were also given to the other teams such as the Love Team Award, Breakthrough Performance in Fruit Eating Award, I Will Survive Award, Best I Love the Nightlife Comedic Performance Award, Best Soul of the Night Statement Awards, Best Panoman Photo Award, Best Poi Dancer Award, Photographers of the Night Award, and Best Nokia Story Tellers of the Race Award.
The Nokia Nseries Wireless Adventure 2 was an exhilarating and exciting experience for all the teams. "It was tiring but super fun!" exclaims Team Femme Fatale and Manila Bulletin writer Therese Camet. The race also made them realize the immense capabilities of the Nokia N82 - from its camera functionalities, multimedia applications, to its internet ready possibilities.
