Nokia seems to be going through an identity crisis as of late. Its share at the high end is being devoured by iOS and Android. Its share at the low end is being squeezed by lower cost OEM's. And its share in the middle is dwindling because the classically defined "feature phone" middle market is moving upstream towards "low end smartphones" and again Android is taking the cake. The bloodshed is evident in almost every metric and in this madness Nokia has turned towards the Microsoft Windows Phone ecosystem in hopes of a possible rebirth. As Nokia dwells in the painful transition phase between Symbian and Windows Phone, Nokia should really ask itself what role it will play in the Windows Phone ecosystem.
Although the battle of the ecosystems is largely software and apps based, there is still a necessity for innovation in hardware that can unleash and fully exploit the new capabilities of the rapidly evolving OS and services that ride on top. At times it is the software/apps that leap ahead waiting for hardware to catch up and other times it is hardware that pulls ahead and beckons for a new app or software module to take full advantage of it. This pulling and prodding between the disciplines is what has shaped our mobile experience.
Nokia has historically done a remarkable job working internally and with component suppliers to develop new hardware technologies. In contrast, hardware technologies are not Microsoft’s strongest suit. Thus there is a huge synergistic opportunity for Nokia to work closely with Microsoft to ensure that the Windows Phone ecosystem is fully taking advantage of the latest hardware tech in areas such as sensors, power management systems, industrial design, displays, materials science, camera optics/flash, antenna designs, etc. So in essence Nokia should drive the hardware technologies that become core to the Windows Phone experience.
Of course Nokia’s competitors will also rapidly benefit from these efforts. This is often unavoidable and actually preferable though because from an ecosystem standpoint, it provides for a more vibrant, competitive, and cohesive environment. That said, Nokia can in theory still have an edge because by helping to forge the path, Nokia will have an inherent head start from a time to market standpoint. For example, if Nokia helps to pioneer the use of a new sensor technology and Microsoft incorporates this into the Windows Phone SDK, Nokia will be at an inherent timing advantage as compared to the other OEM’s. And as the ecosystem gets into a rhythm and progresses forward, this small timing advantage can help to separate Nokia from the followers.
This all assumes of course that Nokia is able to improve its historically weak product development execution. As has been shown in the Android ecosystem, time to market is one of the most important success factors when battling within the frenzy of a vibrant ecosystem full of fierce competitors. Coming to market first with the latest version of the OS and providing support in the way of software updates are the things that really matter to consumers.
Nokia's biggest failures in execution can be solved by three things...
1. Focus on quality not quantity. Fewer better defined phones will not only reduce development and supply chain expenses but will also help to shape an identity for Nokia.
2. No tinkering with the OS. Nokia has shown time and time again that they are not a software company. So please do not tinker with the Windows Phone OS by trying to add custom widgets, skins, etc. These tweaks only represent opportunities for execution hiccups. Also, if I were running the show I would jettison Nokia(Ovi) Maps because it is in need of some major overhauls in terms of user interface, search, and a few other things all of which are not Nokia's core strengths. The perfect scenario would be to sell Nokia Maps to Microsoft who in contrast is perfectly poised from a capability and financial standpoint to make it best in class.
3. Forget stringent dual source requirements. Nokia has a long history of requiring dual sources for many of the components used in their phones. The benefits are obvious in terms of supply chain robustness and pricing leverage. However, the flip side is that execution is often times hampered to the point of creating significant delays in time to market. In the ecosystem game, just a matter of two months can separate the winner from the non-winners. What's the point of having a robust supply chain and low cost structure when you're a loser from a market share standpoint? There needs to be a balance and Nokia needs to find this quickly.
To be successful and a leader in the Windows Phone ecosystem, Nokia needs to aggressively assume the role of the hardware innovator both within its ecosystem and across ecosystems. I believe this is within Nokia's reach as it is well aligned with the companies core competencies. In parallel though, it must have the focus to work on fewer better defined phones and the self-control to leave as much of the software to Microsoft as possible.
Video Bar
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Friday, August 26, 2011
Two Months with the E6 and How It Compares to the E71, E72, and N8
On paper, the E6 doesn’t really grab one’s attention. Does real world usage tell a different story? Is it a worthy successor to the E72? I’ll try to answer these questions. To provide some context though it’s relevant so say that over the past few years I went from an E71 to an E72 to an N8 to an E6.
Some History
At a time when QWERTY phones were dominated by Blackberries, the Nokia E71 emerged in mid-2008 as a true contender largely due to its slim form factor, striking industrial design, excellent battery life, and of course the Nokia name. While the E71 sold remarkably well, it also coincided with the end of an era of growth and dominance for Nokia. This stagnation in Nokia’s growth was in no way pinned directly to the E71. Rather, it was due to larger market forces including the emergence of a whole new paradigm (user friendly touchscreen GUI with tightly integrated apps ecosystem) that was disruptive to the entire industry, Nokia’s delay in reacting to these changes, and the entrance of very agile competitors. In time this perilous turning point for Nokia will be the topic of many business school case studies so let’s just let that rest for now.
The E72 improved upon the E71 by providing a faster processor, USB charging, faster modem, 3.5mm audio jack, better camera, optical trackpad, and slightly updated software. The optical trackpad though had horrible consistency/accuracy and as a result most users (including myself) ended up just deactivating this feature. While the E72 overall brought some evolutionary improvements, it had a lot of weight to bear as competitive pressures were mounting from all sides. Specifically speaking, the lack of plentiful apps for the E72 was really showing some relative weaknesses in Nokia’s ecosystem. In addition, the clunky GUI and painful web browsing experience only magnified the fact that the S60 operating system was quickly falling behind the pack.
Falling in Love with the N8
I’ve always had a soft spot for gadgets that cram high end features into tiny form factors. As soon as I saw the specs for the N8’s camera optics, image sensor, and flash I knew I would have to buy one. Upon release, the N8 did not disappoint in this area and was subsequently noted in many reviews as setting the high mark for camera technology in a smartphone.
Not only was the N8 excellent at imaging, but it was also one of Nokia’s first phones to provide a proper gaming experience. The N8’s ARM11 680MHz core was not alone sufficient though, so Nokia included a Broadcom BCM2727 GPU to offload the heavy bit crunching. Games such as Galaxy on Fire, Need for Speed, and Spiderman really showed off the beautiful AMOLED display. While the number of games in the Ovi store could not match Apple or Android, there were still some excellent offerings and for a moment there seemed to be some life in Symbian’s legs. However, once I got past the amazing camera, beautiful display, and great build quality, the weaknesses of the N8’s OS/GUI/software really started to shine through. First and foremost, the lack of split screen text input was incredibly painful because the field in which text is being entered had no context! Why did Nokia not address this before release? Secondly, the OS, software, and especially the web browser were still not up to par in so many ways.
The E6 seemed to address the split screen issue with a hardware QWERTY and attempted to address the OS/software issues with an improved Symbian OS called Anna. Yes, I know I had to sacrifice the N8’s amazing camera by switching to the E6, but I am a gadget hound by nature and the thought of a touch screen phone in an E72 form factor was too much for me to resist. So after 8 months with the N8 I decided to give the E6 a shot.
E6, The Basics
First and foremost, I’ll address the obvious question as to why I didn’t go for the E7. The main reason was because the E7 was still running the same OS as the N8. So although the E7’s hardware keyboard solved the issue of split-screen text input, it didn’t solve the other headaches I was facing on the N8.
The E6 and E72 are almost identical in size at 115.5 x 59 x 10.5mm and 114 x 58 x 10mm respectively. The N8’s 113.5 x 59.1 x 12.9mm is very similar in terms of length and width but the slimness of the E6 and E72 definitely makes them more pocketable.
The baseband on the E72, N8, ane E6 are all capable of 10.2Mbps HSDPA and 2Mbps HSUPA. All three support quad band GSM. However, the N8 and E6 both support penta band HSDPA versus the E72’s tri-band HSDPA. I am on the AT&T network in the USA, but I have also successfully used all three phones with my existing AT&T SIM card in Mexico, Canada, Europe, Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, Singapore, and South America.
E6, The Retina Matching Display
The E6 and E72 sport almost identical screen sizes at 2.46” and 2.36” respectively. The N8 comes in at 3.5”. While the E6 maintains the smallish screen of the E72, it is important to note that it is in a different league because resolution has been bumped up significantly from the E72’s 320x240 to a fantastic 640x480. The E6’s 640x480 resolution gives it a pixel density of 328ppi which matches the iPhone 4’s retina display. Also, one big complaint I had on the E72’s display was that the plastic screen was incredibly prone to being scratched (more on this later). The E6 has a Gorilla glass protected transmissive display which after 2 months of life in my pocket, backpack, and a few falls does not have a single scratch.
As far as visibility goes, I am surprised that the E6’s transmissive display seems to outperform the E72’s transreflective display both indoors and outdoors. Indoors I fully expect the E6 to win, however, according to theory the transreflective display should perform better in direct sunlight. This is because transreflective displays use reflected light as well as standard back illuminated light as opposed to trasnmissive displays which rely solely on backlight illumination. That said, I wonder if my E72’s display display being very scratched up hinders its outdoor legibility due to the scratches creating many areas with disjointed index refractions. So perhaps a better test would be to compare a brand new E72 display to the E6 in direct sunlight but I didn’t have such a phone at my disposal.
Of course neither phone can match the deep blacks and contrast of the N8’s AMOLED. AMOLED works on the principal of emissive light where every pixel emits its own light and does not rely on a backlight source. This typically gives AMOLED an inherent efficiency advantage (especially for dark scenes and dark desktops) over LCD as well as a truer black because it doesn’t suffer from LCD’s backlight bleed through effect. Resolution wise though the N8’s 640x360 resolution cannot match the pixel density of the E6. The main result of this is that text and shapes appear super crisp on the E6 while on the N8 lines often appear discontinuous.
So for pixel density I give the thumbs up to the E6 but on color, contrast, and efficiency per mm^2 of display area the N8 wins. That said, the E6’s resolution is both a highlight and a lowlight as I’ll discuss in the real world usability section.
What does Anna Bring to the Table?
The hybrid approach of using a touchscreen along with a full QWERTY candybar is amazingly efficient. In fact I would go so far as to say that neither full touchscreens nor slider QWERTY touchscreens are as fast to use with one hand. The display is physically small enough such that everything can be reached with a thumb. There is something amazingly satisfying about using one thumb to flick through pages and quickly type out simple messages. After a few weeks on the E6 I briefly experimented with the E72 and found the hardware softkeys approach to navigating a bit cumbersome and that scrolling through pages was slow and arduous. Spending a few minutes back with the N8, I found it was almost as fast to navigate as the E6 but that the E6 was faster for typing in general.
There’s no fooling anyone though that the E6 is not going to be a web browsing beast. The 2.46” screen is simply too small to make extended browsing a good experience. N8’s 3.5” display wins hands down from this perspective and aside from the amazing camera/xenon flash is one of the main reasons I miss my N8. Not all is lost though because the E6’s high pixel density screen helps to provide detail on pages even when zoomed out. You just need to have patience and nimble fingers to get the most out of it. Also, if you’re coming from an E72 you’ll appreciate the E6’s 256MB of RAM. It is a well known fact that when browsing moderate to heavy pages on the E72, its skimpy 128MB was often the cause of the dreaded “out of memory” message. It can still occur on the E6 but not nearly as often.
One thing that the E6 and E72 both have that proves very useful in daily life are powerful LED’s that can be used in torch mode as flashlights. The N8 has a xenon flash which while clearly superior for illuminating photographs cannot be used in torch mode. Though if I had to choose between xenon flash for fantastic evening pictures and LED for flash and occasional torch mode I would definitely go for xenon flash. Of course the ideal situation would be to have a xenon for flash and an LED for torch so perhaps Nokia can do this on their next camera flagship phone.
E6, Bugs and Areas for Improvement
There are a few areas for improvement and some bugs worth discussing. First and foremost, the notification light is practically useless. The light is so dim that unless you’re in a pitch black room it is impossible to see. It seems to be a hardware/mechanical issue because the plastic used on the D-pad is too opaque and as a result almost no light passes through. It boggles my mind that Nokia did not catch this during testing.
Secondly, Ovi Map’s search engine is still nowhere near as intelligent and useful as search in Google Maps. For example if I wanted to search for In-N-Out Burger, Google Maps was able to find it when I searched for any of the following…
In-n-out, In and out, Inn out, In nout, Innout
On Ovi Maps though the only terms that worked were…
In-in-out, in n out
As a result I often find myself using Google Maps to find things and then switching over to Ovi Maps for turn-by-turn navigation (Google Maps only provides turn-by-turn navigation for Android phones). I really do hope that Ovi Maps realizes how central Search is to mapping software and that optimizing their search engine should be a top priority. Looking back, Ovi Map’s inferior search engine was excusable because the software overall had some other differentiating features such as the ability to pre-download maps. However, with Google Map’s new pre-caching system that was rolled out earlier this year, this advantage has been marginalized. In addition, Google Maps has shifted from their previous heavy tile based maps to a lighter and more efficienct vector based maps (similar to Ovi Maps) taking yet another advantage of Ovi Maps away.
Finally, it’s worth discussing some of the pitfalls of the E6’s display in greater detail. This might seem strange because just a few paragraphs prior I applauded the screen for its resolution and clarity. Well, it seems that the E6’s 640x480 VGA display is a non-standard screen in the Nokia family making it often times incompatible with apps written for the slew of recent 640x360 nHD devices such as the N8, C6, C7, E7, and X7. The chart below shows the offerings of apps for a few different phones…
This is a little puzzling as I would have thought that there would be a way of having the software automatically scale the resolution instead of having a declarative UI behavior that is bound to one resolution. Also, even when apps do largely work, often times text is partially obscured such as the case of song titles in Nokia’s own Internet Radio app. Fortunately though many of the core apps such as Skype, Opera Mobile, JoikuSpot, Google Maps, and Internet Radio are largely functional.
Conclusion
The E6 is a worthy successor to the E72 adding to it the unique combination of some of the best elements of touchscreens and traditional hardkeys. Anna OS is a welcome improvement over Symbian^3, especially in the areas of the browser UI, although browsing for extended periods of time on the 2.46” screen can be quite tedious. Also, the screen’s crisp high resolution 640x480 VGA display is non-standard in the Nokia lineup which seems to be limiting compatibility with apps written for the numerous 640x360 nHD devices. Build quality, call quality, and battery life all carry the trademark Nokia performance although I am puzzled and irritated by the useless notification light.
For business users who are not imaging/browsing/gaming oriented, the E6 is probably the best solution out there right now from Nokia. As I write this article though Nokia has started deploying the Anna update to the millions of C7, E7, and N8 users of the world. Will I go back to the N8 when it receives the Anna update? Most likely yes because I miss the N8’s amazing camera, xenon flash, and 3.5” browsing experience.
Some History
At a time when QWERTY phones were dominated by Blackberries, the Nokia E71 emerged in mid-2008 as a true contender largely due to its slim form factor, striking industrial design, excellent battery life, and of course the Nokia name. While the E71 sold remarkably well, it also coincided with the end of an era of growth and dominance for Nokia. This stagnation in Nokia’s growth was in no way pinned directly to the E71. Rather, it was due to larger market forces including the emergence of a whole new paradigm (user friendly touchscreen GUI with tightly integrated apps ecosystem) that was disruptive to the entire industry, Nokia’s delay in reacting to these changes, and the entrance of very agile competitors. In time this perilous turning point for Nokia will be the topic of many business school case studies so let’s just let that rest for now.
The E72 improved upon the E71 by providing a faster processor, USB charging, faster modem, 3.5mm audio jack, better camera, optical trackpad, and slightly updated software. The optical trackpad though had horrible consistency/accuracy and as a result most users (including myself) ended up just deactivating this feature. While the E72 overall brought some evolutionary improvements, it had a lot of weight to bear as competitive pressures were mounting from all sides. Specifically speaking, the lack of plentiful apps for the E72 was really showing some relative weaknesses in Nokia’s ecosystem. In addition, the clunky GUI and painful web browsing experience only magnified the fact that the S60 operating system was quickly falling behind the pack.
Falling in Love with the N8
I’ve always had a soft spot for gadgets that cram high end features into tiny form factors. As soon as I saw the specs for the N8’s camera optics, image sensor, and flash I knew I would have to buy one. Upon release, the N8 did not disappoint in this area and was subsequently noted in many reviews as setting the high mark for camera technology in a smartphone.
Not only was the N8 excellent at imaging, but it was also one of Nokia’s first phones to provide a proper gaming experience. The N8’s ARM11 680MHz core was not alone sufficient though, so Nokia included a Broadcom BCM2727 GPU to offload the heavy bit crunching. Games such as Galaxy on Fire, Need for Speed, and Spiderman really showed off the beautiful AMOLED display. While the number of games in the Ovi store could not match Apple or Android, there were still some excellent offerings and for a moment there seemed to be some life in Symbian’s legs. However, once I got past the amazing camera, beautiful display, and great build quality, the weaknesses of the N8’s OS/GUI/software really started to shine through. First and foremost, the lack of split screen text input was incredibly painful because the field in which text is being entered had no context! Why did Nokia not address this before release? Secondly, the OS, software, and especially the web browser were still not up to par in so many ways.
The E6 seemed to address the split screen issue with a hardware QWERTY and attempted to address the OS/software issues with an improved Symbian OS called Anna. Yes, I know I had to sacrifice the N8’s amazing camera by switching to the E6, but I am a gadget hound by nature and the thought of a touch screen phone in an E72 form factor was too much for me to resist. So after 8 months with the N8 I decided to give the E6 a shot.
E6, The Basics
First and foremost, I’ll address the obvious question as to why I didn’t go for the E7. The main reason was because the E7 was still running the same OS as the N8. So although the E7’s hardware keyboard solved the issue of split-screen text input, it didn’t solve the other headaches I was facing on the N8.
The E6 and E72 are almost identical in size at 115.5 x 59 x 10.5mm and 114 x 58 x 10mm respectively. The N8’s 113.5 x 59.1 x 12.9mm is very similar in terms of length and width but the slimness of the E6 and E72 definitely makes them more pocketable.
The baseband on the E72, N8, ane E6 are all capable of 10.2Mbps HSDPA and 2Mbps HSUPA. All three support quad band GSM. However, the N8 and E6 both support penta band HSDPA versus the E72’s tri-band HSDPA. I am on the AT&T network in the USA, but I have also successfully used all three phones with my existing AT&T SIM card in Mexico, Canada, Europe, Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, Singapore, and South America.
E6, The Retina Matching Display
The E6 and E72 sport almost identical screen sizes at 2.46” and 2.36” respectively. The N8 comes in at 3.5”. While the E6 maintains the smallish screen of the E72, it is important to note that it is in a different league because resolution has been bumped up significantly from the E72’s 320x240 to a fantastic 640x480. The E6’s 640x480 resolution gives it a pixel density of 328ppi which matches the iPhone 4’s retina display. Also, one big complaint I had on the E72’s display was that the plastic screen was incredibly prone to being scratched (more on this later). The E6 has a Gorilla glass protected transmissive display which after 2 months of life in my pocket, backpack, and a few falls does not have a single scratch.
As far as visibility goes, I am surprised that the E6’s transmissive display seems to outperform the E72’s transreflective display both indoors and outdoors. Indoors I fully expect the E6 to win, however, according to theory the transreflective display should perform better in direct sunlight. This is because transreflective displays use reflected light as well as standard back illuminated light as opposed to trasnmissive displays which rely solely on backlight illumination. That said, I wonder if my E72’s display display being very scratched up hinders its outdoor legibility due to the scratches creating many areas with disjointed index refractions. So perhaps a better test would be to compare a brand new E72 display to the E6 in direct sunlight but I didn’t have such a phone at my disposal.
Of course neither phone can match the deep blacks and contrast of the N8’s AMOLED. AMOLED works on the principal of emissive light where every pixel emits its own light and does not rely on a backlight source. This typically gives AMOLED an inherent efficiency advantage (especially for dark scenes and dark desktops) over LCD as well as a truer black because it doesn’t suffer from LCD’s backlight bleed through effect. Resolution wise though the N8’s 640x360 resolution cannot match the pixel density of the E6. The main result of this is that text and shapes appear super crisp on the E6 while on the N8 lines often appear discontinuous.
So for pixel density I give the thumbs up to the E6 but on color, contrast, and efficiency per mm^2 of display area the N8 wins. That said, the E6’s resolution is both a highlight and a lowlight as I’ll discuss in the real world usability section.
What does Anna Bring to the Table?
The E6’s Anna OS provides some improvements over the N8's Symbian^3. Most notable are…
- Virtual portrait keyboard (not applicable to the E6 but will appear for all the larger touchsreen devices)
- Updated iconography gives the E6 a more modern look
- Performance is improved, especially with page rendering and scrolling
- UI is more streamlined. For example the brower’s address/search bar appears at the top of the screen. Navigating controls are much more intuitive as well
- The Calendar now has a ‘Month’ view that shows a split screen with Month on the left and appointments of the highlighted day on the right
The hybrid approach of using a touchscreen along with a full QWERTY candybar is amazingly efficient. In fact I would go so far as to say that neither full touchscreens nor slider QWERTY touchscreens are as fast to use with one hand. The display is physically small enough such that everything can be reached with a thumb. There is something amazingly satisfying about using one thumb to flick through pages and quickly type out simple messages. After a few weeks on the E6 I briefly experimented with the E72 and found the hardware softkeys approach to navigating a bit cumbersome and that scrolling through pages was slow and arduous. Spending a few minutes back with the N8, I found it was almost as fast to navigate as the E6 but that the E6 was faster for typing in general.
There’s no fooling anyone though that the E6 is not going to be a web browsing beast. The 2.46” screen is simply too small to make extended browsing a good experience. N8’s 3.5” display wins hands down from this perspective and aside from the amazing camera/xenon flash is one of the main reasons I miss my N8. Not all is lost though because the E6’s high pixel density screen helps to provide detail on pages even when zoomed out. You just need to have patience and nimble fingers to get the most out of it. Also, if you’re coming from an E72 you’ll appreciate the E6’s 256MB of RAM. It is a well known fact that when browsing moderate to heavy pages on the E72, its skimpy 128MB was often the cause of the dreaded “out of memory” message. It can still occur on the E6 but not nearly as often.
One thing that the E6 and E72 both have that proves very useful in daily life are powerful LED’s that can be used in torch mode as flashlights. The N8 has a xenon flash which while clearly superior for illuminating photographs cannot be used in torch mode. Though if I had to choose between xenon flash for fantastic evening pictures and LED for flash and occasional torch mode I would definitely go for xenon flash. Of course the ideal situation would be to have a xenon for flash and an LED for torch so perhaps Nokia can do this on their next camera flagship phone.
E6, Bugs and Areas for Improvement
There are a few areas for improvement and some bugs worth discussing. First and foremost, the notification light is practically useless. The light is so dim that unless you’re in a pitch black room it is impossible to see. It seems to be a hardware/mechanical issue because the plastic used on the D-pad is too opaque and as a result almost no light passes through. It boggles my mind that Nokia did not catch this during testing.
Secondly, Ovi Map’s search engine is still nowhere near as intelligent and useful as search in Google Maps. For example if I wanted to search for In-N-Out Burger, Google Maps was able to find it when I searched for any of the following…
In-n-out, In and out, Inn out, In nout, Innout
On Ovi Maps though the only terms that worked were…
In-in-out, in n out
As a result I often find myself using Google Maps to find things and then switching over to Ovi Maps for turn-by-turn navigation (Google Maps only provides turn-by-turn navigation for Android phones). I really do hope that Ovi Maps realizes how central Search is to mapping software and that optimizing their search engine should be a top priority. Looking back, Ovi Map’s inferior search engine was excusable because the software overall had some other differentiating features such as the ability to pre-download maps. However, with Google Map’s new pre-caching system that was rolled out earlier this year, this advantage has been marginalized. In addition, Google Maps has shifted from their previous heavy tile based maps to a lighter and more efficienct vector based maps (similar to Ovi Maps) taking yet another advantage of Ovi Maps away.
Finally, it’s worth discussing some of the pitfalls of the E6’s display in greater detail. This might seem strange because just a few paragraphs prior I applauded the screen for its resolution and clarity. Well, it seems that the E6’s 640x480 VGA display is a non-standard screen in the Nokia family making it often times incompatible with apps written for the slew of recent 640x360 nHD devices such as the N8, C6, C7, E7, and X7. The chart below shows the offerings of apps for a few different phones…
Data from AAS tracking June 2011
This is a little puzzling as I would have thought that there would be a way of having the software automatically scale the resolution instead of having a declarative UI behavior that is bound to one resolution. Also, even when apps do largely work, often times text is partially obscured such as the case of song titles in Nokia’s own Internet Radio app. Fortunately though many of the core apps such as Skype, Opera Mobile, JoikuSpot, Google Maps, and Internet Radio are largely functional.
Conclusion
The E6 is a worthy successor to the E72 adding to it the unique combination of some of the best elements of touchscreens and traditional hardkeys. Anna OS is a welcome improvement over Symbian^3, especially in the areas of the browser UI, although browsing for extended periods of time on the 2.46” screen can be quite tedious. Also, the screen’s crisp high resolution 640x480 VGA display is non-standard in the Nokia lineup which seems to be limiting compatibility with apps written for the numerous 640x360 nHD devices. Build quality, call quality, and battery life all carry the trademark Nokia performance although I am puzzled and irritated by the useless notification light.
For business users who are not imaging/browsing/gaming oriented, the E6 is probably the best solution out there right now from Nokia. As I write this article though Nokia has started deploying the Anna update to the millions of C7, E7, and N8 users of the world. Will I go back to the N8 when it receives the Anna update? Most likely yes because I miss the N8’s amazing camera, xenon flash, and 3.5” browsing experience.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
MfE client for Gmail finally fully functional on the N8!
The Mail for Exchange client for Gmail is now fully functional on the N8!! Previously there was a bug which wouldn't allow you to send or draft any Gmail emails through MfE. So users had to do a bunch of workarounds as I wrote about in a post titled titled "How to Sync Gmail Calendar and Contacts to the NOKIA N8"...
http://www.thenokiareport.com/2011/01/how-to-sync-gmail-calendar-and-contacts.html
It appears that the PR1.2 software update has fixed this bug which I'm sure is a massive relief to the entire N8 community. Thank you Nokia! ... although next time please make sure these critical program components are working at the time of product launch.
http://www.thenokiareport.com/2011/01/how-to-sync-gmail-calendar-and-contacts.html
It appears that the PR1.2 software update has fixed this bug which I'm sure is a massive relief to the entire N8 community. Thank you Nokia! ... although next time please make sure these critical program components are working at the time of product launch.
Friday, April 1, 2011
PR1.2 Software Update for N8 Finally Comes to North America
Well it seems like my turn finally came for the PR1.2 update. The update does not come with any obvious changes but supposedly there are some performance increases and bug fixes. Also, just so you know I bought my phone in the USA and it is product code 059C8T6. Here are some screen shots showing the process...
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Battle of the Internet Radio / Music Apps: Soundtrckr vs. Slacker vs. Nokia Internet Radio
Here's a quick video comparo I did between Soundtrckr Radio, Slacker Radio, and Nokia Internet Radio...
To sum it up...
Soundtrckr Radio is a reliable source for music but it only allows you to search by artist. Once you choose an artist it will play other artists from that same genre. I've noticed that Soundtrckr is very robust in terms of streaming so I rarely have any issues even when driving down the highway. It is advertised as having over 8,000,000 tracks but sometimes it doesn't feel that way when playlists and tracks seem to repeat quite often. This app is available in Nokia Beta Labs. For more info on how to get it check out my dedicated review here... http://www.thenokiareport.com/2011/01/soundtrckr-streaming-music-can-it-fill.html
Slacker Radio is incredibly flexible because it allows you to search by artist, song title, albums, or genre. This Qt based app could be the ultimate streaming app but there are a few annoyances. Firstly, often times it will just stop playing at the end of a song and never go onto the next song... meaning that you have to go in and manually hit play again. Secondly, it doesn't stream live radio stations such as NPR or BBC. Finally, it does have in channel ads meaning that your music is sometimes interrupted.
Nokia Internet Radio is the old faithful of the bunch and quite near and dear to my heart. For music you can search from within thousands of stations by music genre and on top of that you can also listen to radio stations such as NPR and BBC! In addition, there is a wealth of stations that play electronic music with continuous mixes. I haven't found this on either Soundtrckr or Slacker as they both seem to only play individual tracks. So yea having the ability to listen to continuous 60, 70, or whatever minute mixes might be important to some people who dig electronica.
To sum it up...
Soundtrckr Radio is a reliable source for music but it only allows you to search by artist. Once you choose an artist it will play other artists from that same genre. I've noticed that Soundtrckr is very robust in terms of streaming so I rarely have any issues even when driving down the highway. It is advertised as having over 8,000,000 tracks but sometimes it doesn't feel that way when playlists and tracks seem to repeat quite often. This app is available in Nokia Beta Labs. For more info on how to get it check out my dedicated review here... http://www.thenokiareport.com/2011/01/soundtrckr-streaming-music-can-it-fill.html
Slacker Radio is incredibly flexible because it allows you to search by artist, song title, albums, or genre. This Qt based app could be the ultimate streaming app but there are a few annoyances. Firstly, often times it will just stop playing at the end of a song and never go onto the next song... meaning that you have to go in and manually hit play again. Secondly, it doesn't stream live radio stations such as NPR or BBC. Finally, it does have in channel ads meaning that your music is sometimes interrupted.
Nokia Internet Radio is the old faithful of the bunch and quite near and dear to my heart. For music you can search from within thousands of stations by music genre and on top of that you can also listen to radio stations such as NPR and BBC! In addition, there is a wealth of stations that play electronic music with continuous mixes. I haven't found this on either Soundtrckr or Slacker as they both seem to only play individual tracks. So yea having the ability to listen to continuous 60, 70, or whatever minute mixes might be important to some people who dig electronica.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Trouble playing AVI video on the N8? Here's a solution...
The N8 is an awesome multimedia machine. You can throw almost anything at the video player and it will play without complaints. However, I have noticed that sometimes the N8 refuses to play some of my AVI format files. Before I tell you how I solve this problem, let’s go over the difference between a codec and a format.
Codec: A codec is the algorithm used to compress/decompress audio and video streams. Some of the more popular codecs are H.264, DivX(actually a quasi-codec), and MPEG-4. The reason we compress data is to make the data file smaller and also less resource intensive for real time playback. The quality of what you see and hear is almost entirely dictated by the quality and rate of the compression scheme.
Format: A format (also known as a container or wrapper) determines the way the codec is stored and delivered. The container is important because it creates a standard in which to encapsulate the different compressed audio and video streams and ensures for example that they are played with correct timing. That said, there are many different containers such as MP4, AVI, and MOV. It’s important to note that a given codec can be wrapped into a multitude of containers. For example, the MPEG-4 codec can be contained by both AVI and MP4 wrappers.
Ok, so let's get back to the N8. The N8 is officially specified as supporting MP3/WMA/WAV/eAAC+ audio codecs and DivX/XviD/MP4/H.264/H.263/WMV video codecs. This is actually a bit confusing because some of these are more often recognized as containers as opposed to codecs. The reason for this dual usage is because some codecs actually have containers named after themselves.
Ok, so let's get back to the N8. The N8 is officially specified as supporting MP3/WMA/WAV/eAAC+ audio codecs and DivX/XviD/MP4/H.264/H.263/WMV video codecs. This is actually a bit confusing because some of these are more often recognized as containers as opposed to codecs. The reason for this dual usage is because some codecs actually have containers named after themselves.
Alright, this is getting really twisted but here's the bottom line. The N8 seems to be more robust at playing MP4 formats as opposed to AVI formats. I say this because 90% of my MP4 movies play on the N8 while only about 60% of my AVI movies seem to work. My solution to this is to convert my AVI files to MP4 by using a free program called appropriately enough 'Convert AVI to MP4'. The program is fast and simple to the point of being idiot proof. There aren't any settings or anything to mess with. You simply click a button to open the AVI file to be converted and that's it. Here's a screenshot...
The program can be downloaded for free at http://www.convertavitomp4.com/. I've been using it for a few months now with no problems. Also, if you'd like to learn more about codecs and formats check out these references.
References:
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Is this PR2.0 for Symbian^3?
This sneak peak of PR2.0 for Symbian^3 shows that it's packing some improvements such as portrait QWERTY and an improved browser. Also, it looks like true split screen while typing is provided which means you can see where exactly in the form you are typing! While these changes are definitely welcome I would also like to see some freshening/modernizing up of the UI... and perhaps PR2.0 will include this by the time it's released!
Friday, February 18, 2011
Apple's MobileMe - Arguably the Ultimate Kool-Aid that Steve Jobs has ever Served Up
OK, I'm not usually one to rant but I just can't help myself on this one. Who in their right mind would pay $99/year for Apple's MobileMe service??? Honestly this has got be one of the most impressive mass market scams of our time and I don't know whether I should be in disgust or in awe of Apple for being able to pull this off. Let's see what you get for $99/year...
1. MobileMe stores your email, contacts, and calendars — even shared ones — in the cloud and automatically keeps them in sync across all your devices.
Last time I checked Google does this for free.
2. Find My iPhone app helps you find your phone with GPS.
Last time I checked there are a variety of apps that will do this for free.
3. Store and share photos and files in the cloud.
Ummmm are you kidding me??
Come on people. It's bad enough that you use a fisher price phone but to go so far as to subscribe to a service like MobileMe is really truly something that nobody should be doing. I'll go so far as to say that subscribing to MobileMe is only a fraction of a tiny step above thinking that it's necessary to pay for AOL's dial-up service in order to be able to keep your AOL email account.
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