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[Only Registered and Activated Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register...]People think that the iPhone made a dent in Nokia’s revenues, but no one realizes that in 2007 Nokia came out with over 30 mobile phones versus Apple’s single SKU. Apple aside, the real threat isn’t the fruit from the west coast, but the businessman from Canada. Research in Motion is estimated to [Only Registered and Activated Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register...] according to ABI Research and their expansion into the APAC region, where volumes make American and European figures seem insignificant, will only make that percentage increase. RIM has also managed to [Only Registered and Activated Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register...]. They have a premium product and more importantly a service offering that is attracting enterprise customers and regular consumers as well. While attending the Consumer Electronics Show in January this year I wasn’t surprised to see men in suits with the new BlackBerry Pearl, but I was not expecting to see my fellow college classmates carry them around when the spring semester started a few days later.
Nokia needs to take RIM seriously and their current software implementation as it stands does not look impressive. I’m not going to say the battle is lost, hardly, there is plenty of opportunity for growth in this sector, but is Nokia hungry enough to capture it? It all starts with a quote from a conversation a few bloggers and I were having with [Only Registered and Activated Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register...] at Nokia World ([Only Registered and Activated Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register...]). I’m going to paraphrase, but it went something like:
Nokia needs to realize that Eseries users have a life after 5 PM and that Nseries users have a job.
He hit the nail on the head, Nokia is segmenting their devices based on some stupid four quadrant chart of users when in reality they need to focus on the fact that everyone is an individual. How can Nokia tailor their S60 platform to enable customization on a mass scale? Larry Lessig gave a talk at TED ([Only Registered and Activated Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register...]) a few months ago where he said something along the lines of “currently we’re in a dozen markets of millions and the future will be a million markets of dozens.”
Stop putting us into little boxes Nokia, treat us like real people or you might loose a sale.
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Nokia's S60 smartphones, on average, are pretty good. By no means perfect, but pretty good. You really would have thought that after so many years and so many models that Nokia's designers would have enough experience that they didn't make major mistakes, and yet over and over again I see the Nseries brand coming up with designs that contain basic problems that any sane phone user would be able to point out in seconds,
Now look, Nokia, you know I love some of your smartphones. The 6630, the N70, the N93, the N95, the E90, the 6120 Classic and the E51 are all great devices and (for their time) well thought out. But which portion of your staff came up with designs like the N93i, the N76, the N81 and now the N82? Each, in its own way, has at least one (and often several) major flaws.
My critisms of the N93i and N76 are well known, while the N81's flaws are the horribly weak camera and the complete inability to be used outdoors, since the display blacks out. So what of the N82? Is there any evidence that lessons learned from earlier models have been learned and that the design teams do talk to each other? Well, possibly. But, while the camera's superb (of course, this being Xenon flash and 5 megapixels), and while the display's crisp and visible in bright light, a different malaise has hit the N82. Style.
And it's an odd sort of style too. The ultra-reflective mirror front is certainly eye catching, but that's the good bit about the front of the N82. The rest is all a little bit of a letdown. In my opinion, at least - but then as an owner or triallist of just about every other smartphone from every other manufacturer for the last umpteen years, I hope I know what I'm talking about.
Now don't get me wrong, what's under the Nokia N82's hood is very powerful and equivalent to the functionality in the N95 - from GPS to Wi-Fi to media codecs to VGA video recording, the works - but in this case the front of the device, the bit that you and I use in day to day life, really puts me off.
The N82's QVGA display is 2.4" diagonal (c.f. 2.6" on the N95 and 2.8" on the N95 8GB) - on a media-heavy device like the N82, a bigger screen is just about essential and the N82 team should have squeezed at least a 2.6" unit in.
The d-pad, at least on my review unit, is much looser and spongier than that on the N95, with backlight leaking through on each side of the pad whenever it's manipulated. Left/right keypresses aren't as easy as they should be, with insufficient height between the d-pad sides and the surrounding control surface.
Speaking of which, the left/right function key/menu key/C block are all represented within surfaces rather than keys, with illuminated icons to show where to press down. Although it's easy enough to learn where to press without looking, its unsatisfactory to not have any 'feel' to each 'key' and the arrangement ends up seeming somewhat cheap.
Having a protruding 'multimedia key' doesn't help matters either, as it's sharp to the touch and unfriendly. And it brings up the S60 multimedia carousel in its 'Gallery' pane, quite inexplicable since there's already a dedicated Gallery button on the side of the N82.
Finally, the keypad itself, controversially, eschews the usual 'key with decals' approach (e.g. on every other Nseries phone) for retro-calculator-style pin keys (as used in cheap toys) with their labels above. Although this key style doesn't harm text input or dialling accuracy, the keypad is uncomfortable to use for long periods and, as with the main function key block, gives a feel that this is a much lower cost device than is the case.
As you'll have gathered, the N82's styling isn't for me, which is a shame as I was really looking forward to experiencing the N95's functions in candy bar (read super reliable and robust) form. Your mileage may, as they say, vary...
Interestingly, as previously reported, the N82 boxed package promised '3 months navigation and local maps on a 2GB memory card'. Both of which it failed to deliver. Now, this is probably a result of me getting the trial device through PR channels rather than via retail, but on the N82 I had, only Dutch maps were installed and the UK ones had to be dragged kicking and screaming over the air. Worse, asking for voice navigation results in the standard purchase options, with no sign of a special license code anywhere on or in the box. Again, I'm presuming that a voucher of some kind would be included in a real retail box. So, a nice idea and let's hope it works out in the UK market for which this packaging was intended.
You may be wondering why All About Symbian hasn't done a formal review on the N82 yet. The answer is two fold: 1) our original review device went astray in the post and took the best part of a month to arrive(!) and 2) we were waiting for a boxed, production version rather than a Far East version or prototype. AAS now has a couple of N82s and you can expect a formal and full review in the very near future.
My verdict though? Like the ill-fated N76, the N82 suffers far too much from the designer's attempts to look 'different' and 'cool'. Nokia, we want devices which work efficiently and help us live the smartphone lifestyle. If we wanted ultra-cool, we'd all be buying iPhones, after all.
Give me an N82 in the E51's casing and I'd be very, very happy. With Nokia's reorganisation, maybe this is what we'll get? Here's hoping!
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Nokia leak hints at Nokia N95 8GB North American Version, N82 8GB
What’s this? Another N95 release? That’s right. In the tradition of Motorola’s re-released-to-death RAZR lineup, Nokia has let it slip that the Noka N95 8GB will be tweaked and re-released to play nice on those funky US 3G frequencies that make America so great. It makes sense for Nokia to release a US-spec Nokia N95 8GB for some time now, and it seems that the launch may not be far off.
Nokia actually leaked the information themselves, following the [Only Registered and Activated Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register...] the other day. Astute Nokia fans noticed that the “Downloads!” page in Nokia’s [Only Registered and Activated Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register...] featured support for the Nokia N95 8GB NAM as well as the rumored Nokia N82 8GB. Was it just a case of too much rum-laced EggNog at the Nokia Holiday Office party, or is Nokia going to make it their policy to leak future handset info themselves? We’d prefer the latter - after all, there’s no better kind of leak than those that come straight from the manufacturer.
The Nokia N82 8GB listing was taken down with haste, but Nokia decided to leave the N95 8GB NAM up for all to see. We’d say that the launch of the Nokia N95 8GB US is highly likely, with the Nokia N82 8GB possibly not far behind. CES 2008 will probably net us some juicy details, and possibly a few juicier pics. Stay tuned!
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Webot announces Nokia N810 Internet Tablet support; Allows users to access their medi
Webot, the remote media platform for browsers and mobile devices and an Orb competitor, is now available with a custom-built interface for the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet. Apparently, they were faster than Orb to roll-out their solution, hence their release features the “first” adjective.
As with Orb, Webot gives you instant access to the media files on your computer to play them wherever you are. Naturally, the Web 2.0 element is there, hence you can also share your photos, images and video clips with your friends and/or colleagues whether they use N810 or some other of the supported device (like iPhone/iPod Touch).
Finally, it’s important to emphasize Webot works (streams) from Windows, MacOS, and Linux machines… More information is available from Webot’s [Only Registered and Activated Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register...].
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Brief: Nokia breaks 173 MB/s during LTE test trial in Germany
Ok so the press release is from the 19th of December, but it is going to be at least 2 years until we’re going to be using LTE* anyways. Nokia Siemens Networks, on the 2.6 GHz spectrum, reached 173 MB/s in a field trial in Berlin, Germany. All the money shot quotes can be found [Only Registered and Activated Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register...]. During 2007 we found out that [Only Registered and Activated Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register...], a fact that should make Americans very happy.
Acronym Definition: LTE stands for [Only Registered and Activated Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register...].
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A couple of links that just caught my eye: a news story about [Only Registered and Activated Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register...] , it seems Chinese-made cloning is not restricted to knock-off memory cards. And our own Ewan's been [Only Registered and Activated Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register...] over on his blog - worth a read!
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The [Only Registered and Activated Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register...] has made some rather [Only Registered and Activated Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register...] . On the smartphone front, and I quote: Nokia brings out its latest smartphone, the N99. As well as featuring music, live television, a manicure set and a device for getting stones out of horse’s shoes, it offers an ice-cream cornet with a chocolate flake. “And, unlike, the new 3g iPhone,” a spokesman explains, “it is 4g, making the mobile internet work properly for the first time.”
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start playing with widgets
built on top of the web
run time. Here is
where you can get [Only Registered and Activated Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register...] [Only Registered and Activated Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register...], a link to [Only Registered and Activated Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register...]
to get you started and a screen I just took on Symbian-Guru’s phone as he is sitting next to me in a coffee shop:
Notice that all you have to do to get this running is extract the “Horoscope” folder [Only Registered and Activated Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register...], compress the folder into one zip file and change the “zip” extension to “wgz.” Bada bing, you got a widget.
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Consumer experiences take center stage with Nokia at CES 2008
At this year's
Consumer Electronics
Show (CES), Nokia
(NYSE:NOK) is
showcasing the
industry's widest
array of wireless
devices and is
dedicating more
exhibit space than ever before to hands-on demonstrations of Nokia-branded and third-party wireless applications, services and mobile experiences. This increased emphasis is a direct result of the growing importance of software and services in the wireless industry, and reflects Nokia's evolution from a pure manufacturer of wireless hardware into a true Internet company. Another area of emphasis within the Nokia exhibit is the environment, and how Nokia has been leading the way in developing and utilizing environmentally responsible business practices. Nokia's exhibit at CES 2008 is located in the upper level of the Las Vegas Convention Center's south hall, booth #30313.
"Nokia is proud to be connecting more people around the world than anyone else as the world's leading manufacturer of wireless handsets, and the leader in converged mobile devices. However, we are even more excited about the future of mobility, and how Nokia's new focus on services is setting the stage for the transformation of the entire wireless industry," said Mark Louison, President, Nokia Inc. "Most importantly, Nokia is focused on achieving its goals in a way that looks not only at the future of mobility, but is also mindful of the future of our environment as well."
The leader in converged devices
Further cementing its position as the global leader in converged devices, Nokia today introduced the Nokia N95 8GB, optimized for the Americas market. The Nokia N95 8GB builds upon the legacy of the successful Nokia N95 by adding an even larger display and built-in 8GB of internal memory while supporting high-speed HSDPA networks on the 850MHz and 1900MHz bands that are prevalent across the Americas. Additionally, Nokia introduced a stunning limited-edition bright red version of the multiple award-winning Nokia N95 for the US which includes the full suite of highly acclaimed features that consumers across the globe are craving. Only 5,000 units of this special red Nokia N95 will be available during first quarter of 2008. This new limited edition red version of the Nokia N95, along with the current black and bronze versions, has an estimated retail price of USD 599.
The multi-award winning business-class Nokia E61i, was today named the "Best Mobile Handset for Enterprise" by InfoWorld and will be among the full range of Nokia's converged devices on demonstration in the Nokia exhibit. In addition, Nokia will also be highlighting the eagerly anticipated, award-winning Nokia N810 Internet Tablet, the musically-inclined Nokia 5310 XpressMusic and Nokia 5610 XpressMusic handsets and unique new mobile enhancements like the Nokia Power Pack DC-1 for easy recharging on the go and the Nokia Bluetooth Headset BH-902, which includes its own display for caller ID and phonebook access.
Consumer experiences in the spotlight
More than half of Nokia's CES exhibit will be dedicated to demonstrating the consumer experiences that are the driving force behind Nokia's transition into an Internet company. Some of the services and applications on display include Nokia Maps; a fully-featured mapping and navigation application that is available for Nokia's S60-based converged devices, Widgets; lightweight, web-based applications that deliver personalized content to Nokia devices, N-Gage; Nokia's advanced, connected wireless game service, and Nokia Internet Radio, which delivers an ever-growing selection of Internet radio stations directly to any Nokia S60-based handset.
Along with these Nokia services, a number of exciting third-party applications will also be highlighted at the Nokia CES 2008 exhibit. These include SlingPlayer, which allows users to experience their home television directly from their wireless device via Wi-Fi or 3G networks, Rhapsody, the service that transforms the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet into a virtual jukebox with millions of songs on demand, and Skype, the popular VoIP service that is now available for the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet.
Driving responsible environmental practices
Nokia has long been a recognized leader in driving responsible environmental practices, and at CES 2008, a number of these innovations will be on display. The recently announced Nokia 3110 Evolve will be shown for the first time in North America. The device features a range of environmentally-focused features including covers which are made from over 50% renewable bio-materials, reduced size packaging, and a new charger that uses 94% less energy than required by Energy Star standards.
With an eye to the future, the Nokia Eco Sensor concept will also be shown for the first time in North America at CES 2008. The Nokia Eco Sensor concept examines how green technologies may be used in the future to create ever more sustainable devices. Inspired by the "three R's" principle - reduce, reuse and recycle - the concept explores a range of potential new materials and technologies such as printed electronics, bio-materials and reclaimed materials. It also looks at ways that mobile technology could employ mobile sensing to monitor and report on both the health of the user and the surrounding environmental conditions.
Within the environmental display, Nokia will also have a recycling collection point where CES attendees can drop off old mobile phones and accessories for proper recycling. Visitors to the exhibit will also be able to see some of the environmental services available through Nokia devices.
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- Nokia S60 Touch. But beyond pretty video pictures and generic headings like ” new sensor framework”, “UI accelerator kit”, etc; Nokia is pretty tight lipped about how the new S60 Touch will actually work.
And then there’s the issue of iPhone and Apple’s patents, which seam to cover lots of Multi-Touch UI related things.
Well, today I’ve got my hands on one interesting Nokia Touch User Interface patent, filed in June 2007, about six months after the iPhone announcement. And I’m impressed.
Not only Nokia has found a way around most of the things that Apple may get IP protection on, they seem to be on the way to develop user interface technology, that goes well beyond touch.
How about the multi-touch like mobile handset UI, that does not actually require touch, can track your hand movements in three dimensional space and even recognize 3D hand gestures?
Traditional Nokia S60 multi-touch features
But lets start with the traditional multi-touch implementation by Nokia.
After the iPhone announcement, instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, Nokia engineers went shopping for the alternatives to Apple’s multi-touch technology.
Since iPhone relies so heavily on a capacitive multi-touch display and covered a lot of ground here with public and not yet public patent applications, that was out. One of the touch technologies that Nokia settled on, was Active Matrix LCD with Integrated Optical Touch Screen.
They have licensed AMLCD technology developed by [Only Registered and Activated Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register...]., covered by a [Only Registered and Activated Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register...] of [Only Registered and Activated Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register...], threw in some electronic perception capabilities covered by [Only Registered and Activated Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register...][Only Registered and Activated Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register...][Only Registered and Activated Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register...] from [Only Registered and Activated Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register...]., and went on to develop their own multi-touch device.
What they’ve got is AMLCD technology based touchscreen that is able to recognize multi-touch gestures quite well. In this implementation, the device has optical sensors embedded throughout the display, that can identify fingers placed on it and record their movement.
These recorded movements are then translated into control gestures using pattern recognition methods. Various one, two or multiple finger gestures can be used to perform different operations. Among the examples provided in patent application are:
Enclosed Curve around group of items - Select enclosed items
Two finger based Gestures/Commands
Linear approaching/digression (fingers approach, then move apart, and vice versa) - Zoom In/Out, size adjustment
Simultaneous touching of an icon/object by two fingers - Select the icon/object ready for size adjustment
Simultaneous tapping by two fingers (Tap 1&2, Tap 1&2, repeated) - High level importance Acceptance & Verification
One finger stays above an icon/object then object specific menu appears; the other finger performs circular rotations and toggles through the menu options, lifting simultaneously both fingers up selects and executes menu option
Compound Gestures/Commands
COPY=SELECT + Check mark inside (performed in vici
Nokia news
What’s this? Another N95 release? That’s right. In the tradition of Motorola’s re-released-to-death RAZR lineup, Nokia has let it slip that the Noka N95 8GB will be tweaked and re-released to play nice on those funky US 3G frequencies that make America so great. It makes sense for Nokia to release a US-spec Nokia N95 8GB for some time now, and it seems that the launch may not be far off.
Brief: Nokia breaks 173 MB/s during LTE test trial in Germany
