The MintyBoost v3.0 Kit (“small battery-powered USB charger” for peculiar mobile devices like the iPhone) just arrived via @adafruit .
All the way from the US to Germany within 7 days. Cool.
Category: Nokia E Series
Saanko käyttää teidän puhelinta?
That’s it. I am going to sell my 6 month old Nokia E72 QWERTZ phone.
Yes, it’s just a phone and “why should I read the following rant on Nokia”, you may be wondering. Here is why:
1. Flexibility
I mentioned it earlier that I had bought a 2G iPhone some month ago, with a broken screen and drained battery from eBay for 65,- EUR, which I managed to repair and have since been using. The iPhone may be a crippled piece of hardware and Nokia may have the best hardware on their phones (also in terms of durability), but there is just so much more I can do with this old iPhone from 2007 that I can’t do with any of my four Nokias (6230, 6230i, N95 & E72).
The iPhone (or an HTC Desire with Android OS) is my logical extension to the computer. Evernote, to name just one application, runs on the iPhone but doesn’t (natively) run on the E72. I am using Evernote to keep track of my notes, so I’ll need to have this run on a phone.
Flexibility is a matter of software support, not only hardware.
Consequently, the iPhone won. I am using it on a daily basis while the E72 slept in my drawers since February 2010. Time to sell it and sum up everything with this blog post.
iPhone 2G vs. Nokia E72
2. Good at basic stuff
If you’re just looking for a simple mobile phone with sms, Nokia phones are good. There’s a reason why the 1xxx range of Nokias has been so popular around the world – not only in emerging markets. It is also why Nokia keeps on reinventing this series with the recent announcement of their C1 & C2 (dual sim, eventually!) phones. Even the simple QWERTY phone with Bluetooth we’ve been asking for via Eriks post – Nokia’s C3 – is a good phone.
For simple stuff like voice calls or sms, Nokia phones are good. Even as a mobile Twitter device (Gravity) it rocks! …but for anything else than that, you’re probably better off buying a phone from one of their competitors.
3. SOFTWARE!
This is 2010 and thanks to the iPhone and the undeniable revolution it brought to the market, any smartphone without “cool” software and a usable app store just sucks.
It’s not just the missing Evernote on the E72, or other missing applications. You know many ppl have been asking Nokia and their devs to port successful applications from competitors to the different operating systems in use on Nokia phones. No, with software I mean everything:
- confusing, often changing user interfaces & menu structures
- different operating systems (plus too many different phones at the same time, but that’s another – hardware – issue)
- support of their developers (slowly evolving though)
- unstable firmwares on their phones, always takes at least 12 month on a new phone to become stable
- Nokia website – not optimised for use with mobile phones
- Ovi.com (see 5.)
- essential stuff like Sports Tracker. It took a spin-off from Nokia to get this cool software a bit closer to where it should be.
- Ovi Maps – not yet available for all phones (who are capable of displaying these maps)
- the successful Twitter client Gravity being one of the very few REALLY GOOD apps on a Nokia smartphone
- Global login on all Nokia sites and products. It still doesn’t work the way it should be (one ID & pwd).
- Ovi app wizard. Over at Apple, “apps” that provide nothing else but an RSS feed are meanwhile classified as “spam apps” – and removed from their app store. Are the “apps” built using this app wizard a way for Nokia to bloat their Ovi store stats?
Please, Nokia, software is SUCH an important issue. You’re so good at hardware – why can’t you apply the same diligence to your software products and all related processes?
Also, I’ve realized that I’ve spent considerably more time trying to fix various software issues on my Nokia phones than on the iPhone. I actually do not have the time for such things, and also don’t want to fix my phone all the time and pull information from all over the internet on why application x does not work with firmware y or mobile z. This is really annoying.
There may of course be historical and political reasons for all of this (I know Symbian from when it was still EPOC16 on a Palm Series 3), but then: does this really matter today? Make it work! And don’t make we waste time on it.
4. The mobile office.
Any smartphone that seriously tries to be good at providing some form of mobile office should have
- a kick-ass e-mail client
- a superb browser
- Office suite and/or viewer for various attachments
My E72 came with such an office suite which did the job for me, but the e-mail client and – the E72 is a business phone – the browser just suck.
Nokia, seeing your customers and loyal fans complaining on Nokia Forums and on blogs about the performance of the e-mail client and browser is a NO NO. EI EI!
Cooperate with Yahoo!, install Gmail as default e-mail clients, ship your phones with the Opera Mini browser – do whatever it takes to fix this because a business phone with such an average e-mail client and browser just won’t be enough for us – your customers.
Or else team up with Android.
The e-mail client on my 1G iPod Touch (30,-€ @ eBay) actually made me buy the 2G iPhone in February this year. And this although I had just invested ~270,- € on the Nokia E72 in december 2009.
5. Ovi.com
Ovi – Finnish for “the door” – should be a door to combined Nokia services. But – yes, you guessed it right – it still isn’t.
The Ovi client on phones sucks, sometimes can’t be deinstalled and has a very particularly BAD user interface. It may work with Nokia’s touchscreen phones, but for all other phones it just sucks.
I can’t explain all faults on Ovi, there is just so much wrong with it. I also can’t see what changed from MOSH (which by itself already was a bad joke). This piece of software – as an app on the phone – just makes me want to hit someone with a Nokia 2110. It’s very frustrating. Very.
The most annoying Ovi bug, imo: You’re on Ovi.com on your computer. Ok, found a nice app, have a link to it sent to you via sms. Check your mobile, the link on that sms opens the web browser – so far, so good. But THEN the Ovi client decides to chip in and re-open it inside the client. This is very annoying, especially for those who are paying a lot of money for data traffic. Can’t this hook be implemened in the OS? => “All http://store.ovi.mobi links to open in Ovi client by default”. (my N95 runs on FW v35.x which was only recently released).
See the App Store on the iPhone? It may not be perfect, but hey – I’VE SPENT MONEY ON THE APPLE APP STORE. Something I would probably never be doing on Ovi App Store. And I guess I am not the only one.
On the other hand, it has to be mentioned that I somehow like the web version of Ovi.com. There may still be a lot of details that do not make sense to me on their website, but truth be told that their app store may be opened by anyone AND that it doesn’t open any client software like iTunes or only shows a crippled version of the market like Android.
Also, the Nokia Ovi Suite has greatly improved since it was launched, succeeding their PC Suite. Nokia is slowly getting there + iTunes is worse, I think.
This whole experience around buying software and interacting with Nokia via Ovi.com and its offered services – that’s the FIRST thing I would try to improve on as Nokia.
6. Strategy
As a serious customer, I am not looking for a fun phone with lots of games, but instead a durable workhorse that will guarantee persistence.
Nokia is in a process of change, they’ve realized that revenue is made on emerging markets and that most of their top-level phones actually can’t really compete with competitors on all levels. A great camera, long battery standby time and smart design (“use with one thumb”) are very good – buy they won’t drive the masses to Nokia stores. The E72 was supposed to be a good successor to the very successful E71. Well, is it really?
Heck, they don’t even seem to have a strategy for emerging markets and still consider Africa and the Middle East as one market! Crazy.
Or their Bicycle Charger Kit which will be released to the market later on this year. You can read my thoughts on this in the comments at Julianas AfriGadget post.
On the iPhone, I can port my apps from the 2G to the 3G, 3GS and probably also to the iPhone 4 (even though some apps, like the new iMovie seem to be limited to the iPhone 4 for hardware reasons). Will this also be possible with apps I’ve bought for the Symbian 9.3 S60 FP2 platform (e.g. the E72)? Will I also be able to use them on future Nokia phones?
The Nokia E72 may be great phone with good hardware, but it currently comes with only average software (except for Gravity) and looks like a dead end street to me. It also doesn’t help that Nokia is very innovative in their Beta Labs, ships new phones with free navigation (thx, Nokia) and a full range of accessories you’ll have to pay extra on competitors.
Nokia has missed to communicate a clear strategy to its customers. Maybe they should pitch us, tell us why their phones are better than the rest. And prove it with cool software that teams up with the already awesome hardware. Right now, I can’t see a reason for the purchase of their phones. There is no persistence in the software side of their products, and my patience with and passion for Nokia products is gone.
What will you do about it, Nokia?
The Nokia E72, QWERTZ keyboard (DE), 6 month old, mint condition, fully equipped, with Gravity licence, OtterBox Commuter Case. 250,- EUR and it’s yours.
UPDATE: SOLD!
I really have to stop blogging about phones…
I know the following is a rather unorthodox comparison between a business and an entertainment device, BUT! – as much I condemn Apple’s business policies, walled gardens and hardware restrictions – I am more productive with a 1G iPod Touch from 2007 than with my new Nokia E72 from late 2009.
Having said that, this blog post could stop here. I still feel an urge to explain my switch to this archenemy though, so pls allow the following introduction:
I recently bought a broken 1G iPod Touch from eBay, fixed it, put in a new battery, installed the latest firmware (no jailbreak so far, btw) and started using it. And….oh, what a joy it is!
Browsing, e-mailing, searching for gadgets via the eBay app, using dropbox to share files between my computers, checking my bank account, using an UnP player to access files on my NAS, a nice Facebook app, various Twitter clients, interesting ham radio apps with decoding capabilities, games games games, a water level, VNC access…..and an app store with access to 140k+ apps.
And all of this from a three year old multimedia player that comes with a fixed battery, no real multitasking capabilities, no camera and a proprietary dock connector. So how come I am rejoicing on this device like a small child?
Because it delivers. And because it’s dead simple to use. The user interface is so intuitive, everything just works, I actually don’t have to *think* while using this device. And yet it’s just a multimedia player. Amazing.
The Nokia E72? Well, it is a great phone – it really is a great phone – but it sure lacks this comfort I’ve now experienced with the iPod.
I am also using a last.fm client on my E72, I can also use it to access the Twonky Server on my NAS, there also is a new Facebook app for the E71 & E72, there also is a really, really great Twitter client for the E72 which I still like best btw (Gravity is just perfect), and it also comes with an E-mail client that’s easy to set up. And I am very sure that it will take some time until I find another phone with a camera that’s better than my old Nokia N95 which is idling in the drawers here.
However, the Firmware on the E72 keeps on crashing, the browser is very cumbersome (I am not a great fan of the Symbia S60 browser) and the E-mail client isn’t as comfy as the one on iPhone OS 3.1.3. And I don’t even want to repeat myself on Nokia’s lame app store.
In short: I used to hate touch screen phones, I now like them.
I bought this iPod Touch as an introduction to the OS, because it was very cheap and because I will give it to someone special soon. I also bought a used 2G iPhone – with a broken screen, which is yet to arrive see update here and here. Spare parts like display unit & new battery are already here. Which means that I’ll be using the E72 and a 2G iPhone over the next few weeks to see which phone performs better. As I said, an unorthodox comparison because the iPhone certainly won’t be as fast as the E72. Both devices will have to compete for the space in my pocket though.
For all of you out there who have been using iPod Touch and iPhones in the past: yes, you were right, I was wrong. The user experience really is the important part. Everything else like removable batteries, a better camera, built quality – who cares about those details? Geeks like me maybe. And you can clearly see where this stupidity ends up.
12 years of using Nokia phones. Got my first mobile contract in 1998 on a D2 (now: Vodafone) line. 5110, 7110, 8210, 6210, 6310, 6310i, 6230, 6230i, N95 E71, E72. Like M said, we were Nokia 4 life.
However, when it comes to the hardware inside the phone, I am very much pro Nokia. Why? Because a Nokia phone can be disassembled and reassembled within 4 minutes. Try that with an Apple device… which of course weren’t built for being opened by end users. From an engineering point of view, disassembling Apple devices is really interesting. Ah well, Bwana Kikuyumoja is slowly starting to understand the way the cookie crumbles in the Apple Universe…
So why a 2G and not a 3GS? Because
a) too expensive
b) I have a working phone – the E72 also has a compass, GPS and so on
c) I am waiting for a chance to get my hands on the Nexus One
d) I am expecting other – interesting – phones with Android in 2010 & 2011 and will save on those.
[UPDATE:] Updated the Nokia E72 to its latest firmware but still prefer using the iPhone 2G. The phone just does the job for me. Amazing. Ok, I’d prefer using a 3G with better connection speeds and GPS, but I’d have to sell my phone collection in order to afford a better phone.
Reasoning from above is still valid: Nokia = great hardware but lousy software. You know I am not alone with this assumption. Actually, what I’d love to have is Nokia / SonyEricsson hardware, coupled with the openess of Android and the Apple iPhone OS user interface. That would be great…
OtterBox Commuter, ftw!
I know I’ve already mentioned this on my Posterous blog earlier today, but the truth is: I’ve never been so excited about a gadget/ an accessory since maybe when I unpacked my Leatherman Wave some years ago.
I was looking for a decent cover for my Nokia E72 as the leather pouch it comes shipped with isn’t that great. It opens to the side and is very tight, so you’d have to push the phone inside (with some force) and pull it out (with even more force). Not that smart.
Another reason – and explanation why I went for a cover instead of another pouch/sheath – is that the E72 is rather thin, maybe too thin for a phone. It lacks a rubber back, like the one on the E63 for instance. So any potential cover would have to ensure that the phone gets a better grip on the back side.
I then checked the market and bought a cheap (3€) silicone cover. The one that came delivered wasn’t good at all – the silicone was too stubborn and didn’t even cover all the edges (as pictured above). Such a cheap quality. I threw it away after taking these pictures.
So I kept on looking and stumbled upon this OtterBox Commuter Case. There are almost only positive reviews on the cover online, the people behind OtterBox seem to be innovative and responsive to customer input (they are on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.) – and such a cover costs around 29 €.
Now, I can probably get two used Nokia 1208 phones for the price of such a cover, and it took me some time to think about this investment. Why should I invest 29 € on a cover that will only add weight to my phone? And it’s a lot of money for “just a cover”…
I am so glad I just bought it in the end. The cover instantly worked for me – it’s such a pleasure to handle the phone now (almost as thick as an E63 now, yay! :-). The OtterBox Commuter really is the BEST phone cover I’ve ever bought for a phone so far, makes so much sense on this particular Nokia phone and I am sure I’ll also never again waste any money on cheaper alternatives that just won’t work.
It also came shipped with a screen protector (sticker), a little card and a cleaning cloth which will help you apply the sticker onto the display. Amazing. I am yet to see something like that (the card) on other – also professional – screen protectors. Sooo… yes, I can only highly recommend the OtterBox Commuter Case to other E72 users.
Creakia E72
A comment on CJs latest review of the Nokia E72 reminded me of something I had also observed on my phone: “a tiny creak in the lower bar below the spacebar”. A noise that irritates the user and shouldn’t be on a brand new phone.
Since I had already opened it up the other day, I knew where the noise came from and consequently fixed it by adding a piece cut from double-sided adhesive pads as seen in the following pictures.
(behind the keypad – too much play even though there’s a silicone gasket already in place…)
It’s simple, it’s cheap, it wins!
the cable thingy for Nokia’s (E72) WH-601 headset
While searching for a little present for her, I came across this simple cable retractor – which inspired me to build my own.
As with most other headsets by Nokia, the WH-601 that came shipped with my E72 is a little bit stubborn as the cables seem to contain too much rubber. And while this may as well be intended by Nokia’s engineers (or because no one at their Chinese factories maybe never really thought about this), storing the headset in your pocket will ultimately frustrate you sooner or later. It unfolds inside the pocket – and this peculiar behaviour will not change over time with more frequent use. It’s a design fault, in my opinion.
One possible solution is such a cable thingy which can be bought in different shapes (there are even some with magnetic clips) or built on your own (hint hint, dear Kenyan jua kali workers: how about a version cut from car tires or flip flop sandals?). It just consists of some glued cardboard, wrapped in paper. It’s my first prototype and I may come up with a better solution – but for the moment, this will do:
Nokia headsets have always been an issue on my blog. This one comes with a nice (much better) remote control (than the one on my N95). However, the headphones suck so much because of their shape (which can be adjusted using silicone caps, at least) and because of the sound they deliver.
I made this JKE-version of a headset in September 2008 which still works and delivers beautiful sound using Sony headphones. The cables are a bit too short on this mod though, and the remote control on the WH-601 is nice, slimmer and thus more attractive. I will probably hack this new headset soon and solder my favourite Sony headphones to the pcb inside the remote control.
And for those of you who came here looking for geek pr0n, here’s a recent pic of my opened Nokia E72 – enjoy :-)
One may assume that the active parts (besides of the keypad, display, antenna, charger port, etc.) are all hidden underneath these metal cases only. Well…they are, and if you’ve ever opened a mobile phone yourself, you will know what they usually look like. So this is some fine piece of hardware engineering, I’d say. It’s ALL under these few covers. Also, the (multi-layered?!) pcb is of good quality. The only thing I don’t like from this first visual inspection (I had to open it because of dust under the display – yes, on a 4 weeks old phone. Nokia…) is that both microphones are directly soldered onto the pcb. The one above (visible on this pic within the gap on the left side next to the metal shields) is part of the noise reduction circuit. It’s also where most current E72 owners are crying out loud because it results in a noticeable light leakage on the keyboard. But uhm, well…. that’s the difference between a phone with many buttons (= QWERTY keyboard) and a touchscreen phone, I’d say. You can’t have it all.
Anyways, I am happily surprised by the built quality I’ve found on the E72 and how (previously) fragile parts seem to be well engineered this time. I know the E71 has a better back cover and (metal) middle frame, but it still is a lot of high-tech they’ve hidden underneath these few metal shields. If it wasn’t for the display, the keyboard and the battery, the E72 could just as well fit into a matchbox. Seriously. Great hardware.
Oh, and check out this massive pcb (the green part) that powers the camera flash and flashlight! Has about 1-2mm thickness.
It’s just great pleasure to see how things are engineered and that someone really thought about such design details and how they could reduce costs, materials and improve accessibility. Two screws and you can already remove the display, 4 more screws and it’s dissassembled.
Now I wish that someone at Nokia is smart enough to reconsider the materials used on their (cheaper) headsets, and that they really improve their OVI store + fill it up with Gravity-styled apps.
P.S.: Happy 2010 to all of you!
My Top 6 S60 apps
The reason why every new mobile phone will be compared to Apple’s iPhone – obviously a very succesful phone with a superb user interface albeit known disadvantages that even let this consulting company diagnose some Apple fanboyz with the Stockholm syndrome for their ignorance…. the reason why almost everyone out there likes the iPhone is because it comes with a HUGE market of “apps”: applications & games, something that’s not necessarily important, but will make you pull out the phone when you’re bored.
Not so on Nokia’s side. I am using Nokia phones since 1998 and have recently swapped my N95 for an E72 – Nokia’s successor to the very popular E71 with a QWERTY keyboard instead of the T9 keypad on traditional phones. I can’t find the link right now, but remember having read these days that Nokia will from now on concentrate on QWERTY phones on one hand, and on the other hand push touchscreen phones. Some, like the new N900 which runs on MAEMO, feature both methods, so this range will be very interesting in the next few years.
The E72 is based on Symbian S60, an operating system that has been around for quite some time now. And although it’s been quite popular in terms of sales, there are almost no interesting apps available for this platform.
Remember, we’re in December 2009 now, and the iPhone has been out for at least 2.5 years, with the Apple App Store being online since July 2008. Since then, over 2 billion (!) apps have been downloaded from their store.
The iPhone may be a crippled piece of monoculture for MacBook users, with a fixed battery, a very restrictive policy, no out-of-the-box functionality you’ll find on many other phones and a list of other flaws – but it STILL wins over most other phones – just because it comes with those apps. And also because it comes with a very usable browser.
Apps, which are dearly missed on Nokia’s S60 platform.
I may not be the perfect reference when it comes to testing different applications, but I can tell you that I’ve only kept six (6) additional applications on my E72 that I think are useful. There may be more – there certainly have to be more – but these six are the only ones that make sense to me for the moment:
There can’t be enough praise for this application. It’s the only – really GOOD – application for S60. A Twitter / Identi.ca / FaceBook / Google Reader client, a software that will allow me to feed my three active Twitter accounts directly from the phone, check some subscriptions on Google Reader or comment on my friend’s FaceBook status updates.
Nokia obviously knows this fact (they are busy promoting it on Ovi.com and other sites), but they had even failed to invite the developer (@janole, from Berlin/Germany) to their Nokia World 09 event which took place in Stuttgart this year. It’s not only a failure, but a disaster.
You can actually stop reading here because it won’t get better. In my not-so-humble-opinion on this, most – if not all – future applications for Nokia phones should be designed like Gravity. And remember that Gravity was designed & coded by one humble programmer only. Which goes to show what’s possible if you really want it. If interested, pls make sure not miss out this interesting interview with @janole. On this interview, Jan Ole also mentioned that any serious developer should get an iPhone or an iPod Touch to get some orientation on what a good user interface should look like. Hej Nokia, you won’t have to reinvent the wheel – just take the 100 best apps from Apple’s AppStore and port them to S60 (if possible). I know this approach has been discussed before on Nokia Forums, but I for one am still waiting for this …luxury.
A fully registred version of Gravity will cost you about 10 EUR – but it’s the best app you can buy for a Nokia S60 phone these days.
2. Fring
Fring is a chat & VoIP client for your phone. You can use it to connect via Skype, MSN, Google Talk, Yahoo Msg, ICQ, AIM, Facebok, Twitter, last.fm & Co with your friends. It’s free, it works, it wins.
Fring is a nice app that I’ve tested right from the start two (?) years ago, it’s been constantly updated and will even work on a brand new phone like the E72. I don’t know how these guys are earning money with the provision of such a well-developed tool, but they have been around for some time now, are serious about what they do, respond to user requests and also cover many different operating systems.
It’s not that you’ll be seeing me chatting via my phone that often, but it’s great to have a mobile Skype version.
Nokia BarCode / QR Code Scanner tool is a rather inconspicuous little tool, but of such great functionality to me that I’ve put a link to it on the stand-by screen of my phone.
While surfing the web, I sometimes see pages that I would like to instantly open via my phone. So I click on a barcode icon on the lower right corner of my Mozilla Memoryhog browser and – voilà – a QR-code window pops up with a link to that page, encoded via a nice little Mozilla FF plugin. I then only have to activate the scanner tool, scan the image and will instantly have the link or encoded text on my phone. Dead simple. And it works. I’d even pay for this app and the browser plugin if it wasn’t free.
4. YouTube client & Google Maps
I am not a YouTube kid, but since it enables me to stream videos to my phone, I’ve started appreciating this nifty application – provided free of charge by Google.
Something similar applies to Google Maps which I actually prefer over to Nokia Maps just because it’s faster. Nokia Maps 3.x may be better these days as it also comes with preloaded maps and an optimized application. However, Google Maps worked right from the start. There wasn’t any iteration of updated versions which would remove this or that bug like on Nokia Maps. Google Maps just worked right from the beginning.
I’ve also tested full-blown Navigator suites for Symbian S60, but why should I pay extra if I can have free navigation via Google Maps? I am on a 1 GB flat fee on the phone anyways… so I am back to using both Google Maps and Nokia Maps – whichever is more appropriate for each situation.
Speaking of multimedia content, I’ve been searching for an application that will stream live TV to my phone. Something like Zattoo for the European market, but with an S60 client (which they unfortunately don’t have and which could be their killer application).
And again, as much as I am not a YouTube kid, I even do not like TV that much. But sometimes I do, and those moments I want to watch it on my tiny phone screen. Sorry, David Lynch!
So the only option I can think of is Spb (IP-)TV, a rather strange application for USD 14,95 with a lot of unknown stations from around the world. The screenshot above shows it playing BBC Arabic with picture-in-picture mode.
Now, I probably won’t understand what they are saying as only learned how to order a cold beer in modern standard Arabic, but there are other channels on this (still locked on the screenshot, now unlocked) application. Some are in German, most in English, some in French, Russian, etc. Interesting. I understand German, English and French, so there’s some choice for me. It may not be the best TV app for a phone, but it works, has a unique and smart interface and made it to my Top6 list of Nokia Symbian S60 applications. And besides – is there any other S60 TV app?
Exactly. There are no alternatives.
Came shipped as a pre-installed app on my N95, had to add it manually on the E72 though (use the one from the Nokia 6120 Navigator). Works brilliantly well, perfect user interface, perfect out-of-the-box experience, no unnecessary information for the user which would probably only confuse. Choose your desired (internet) radio station by name, location/country, language or genre. Unfortunately, Radio Okapi from the DRC isn’t included anymore, but they do have triple r from Australia (which I obviously like :-).
It would be very interesting to know WHY Nokia hasn’t included this wonderful application with all their phones (why not on Nokia’s E-Series?), but I guess that it’s because they want to push us users into purchasing music files via their online music store. Ah, marketing. Horrible.
——
Marketing may be one of the reasons why most applications for Nokia’s Symbian S60 still suck in 2009. Probably a mixture of greed and mismanagement that have led to this problematic situation where we see Nokia still producing great phones (c’mon, they are well engineered), but totally fucking it up on the AppStore side. Ovi.com is a really bad joke at the moment – the website is even more informative than their S60-based tool to access the Ovi store. It’s a chaos with mostly shitty applications, I’ve spend quite some time on Ovi.com, trying to find useful applications, only to quickly realize that I am much faster googling for anything of interest instead. Ovi.com may experience a relaunch in the coming month, but to imagine that they can pull anything positive with it right now is a dream that will not come true with the current version. Nokia is supposed to be the leader in the smartphone market – and their app store is anything but smart.
Nokia’s Ovi.com app store or even individual stores on the interwebs – all of these initiatives are pretty much useless if we won’t see more applications like the few good ones above.
I don’t know which phone I’ll buy next, but I can tell you that I’ll put the availability of decent & cool applications as a top priority on my list of criterias for any upcoming phone. If Nokia can’t deliver, well then I’ll switch to Android or maybe even an iPhone and its OS (as much as I’d hate doing that).
Nooooh!kia…
Seriously, Nokia…
…what kind of crippled, 7″ long USB cable is this you’ve shipped with the new E72?
Sure it makes sense to have a smaller cable for the pocket, but please, it is so useless at this length. Very annoying.
Else, the phone looks like a great new toy. A bit different from the E71 which was almost all metal. Coming from an N95 though, anything in monoblock shape will be better for me.
So.. yes, I’ve eventually settled on a new phone after 29 (!) month. I know it will not have the same smart browser I’ll find on an iPhone, a HTC Hero, a Motorola Droid / Milestone or even Maemo-based Nokia N900, but it will give me real keys to press with tactile feedback, provide we with a known operating system and I’ll be able to shot snapshots @ 5mpx and multitask some applications. Now let see if it lives up to all expectations – the build quality already is a bit different from the E71 which I remember being a bit slimmer and much more even on the edges. Like when you move your thumb between the screen and the menu keys, you’ll notice a sharper edge.
What I’ve come to appreciate on the N95 is a good grip on the rubberised back cover. The E72 having a metal plate, it still seems to provide a better grip than the E71. The lock on the back cover isn’t as strong as on the E71 though, and I even had to bend the metal cover a bit to fit it better into its position. Not so nice on a brand new phone.
Whatever. It is mine, I’ll have to use it for the next 24 month and it will hopefully do a good job. The moment I unpacked it, I realized how really small it is. Annette even mentioned that it would be too small for my fingers, but it’s surprinsingly easy to hit the right keys.
You know I’ve been waiting for this phone I had never actually held in my hands before I bought it (because it wasn’t yet on the market), so I had to rely on the user generated opinions you’ll find online only. But something similar actually also applies to the N95, and since I am no TED fellow or something like that, there’s no swag aka free E71 coming my way… so a purchase like this one has to be well planned. I got mine via a 24-month contract as a subsidized phone. Since I am normally using a prepaid card only (with a 1GB data flat), the new SIM will remain – unused – on the old phone. 10,- EUR / month for the next 24 month = cheaper than buying a new phone for ~ 360,- EUR.
Talking about money, the “Kikuyu” in Kikuyumoja probably isn’t such a good idea. I’ve recently spend most of my savings on a new kitchen from IKEA, or let’s say..
from this:
to this:
Not that big, but it’s MINE and I’ve built it with my own hands. Very rewarding. :-)
Considering that my kitchen corner in Embu looked like this:
… the real difficulty is to find the right partner who will understand that even average kitchen corners will be superb when compared to the alternative. And mine in Embu even was a brand new one! I am mentioning this because my sis has an awesome kitchen with all extras. It’s these two worlds we’re living in that sometimes still make me think: yes, Germany, nice & comfy. But do I/we really need all these extras? Maybe one of the reasons why we’ve only now – at this advanced age (yeah!) – agreed to give up the single room appartment and move into a bigger one (from 25 sqm to 76sqm, actually).
Anyways. I haven’t been offline or on a blogging hiatus – just working on the new kitchen and renovating my new home.
As for the E72, it’s a great phone and I will certainly come back for another, more detailed review, even though I’ve also said that I actually don’t want to do a review this time. I am too much of a geek not to waste some precious time on a new gadget.