I have a healthy amount of respect for Nokia.  Before the iPhone they were the only devicemaker offering half of what Apple now offers with the 3GS.  Indeed, I toted a Nokia N95 for a while, and an N81 8GB for a while.  Both were excellent phones, but I’m convinced now that Apple’s iPhone, even as it arrives as a better all-around phone than Nokia’s current flagship (the obviously Blackberry-inspired N97), is more appealing to American consumers because it is made by an American company.

That’s right.  Nokia’s brand is obscurely perceived in North America, particularly the U.S., as an upscale European oddity not unlike Fiat or Porsche, to use an automotive analogy.  So while it may be the number one brand globally, Nokia has failed to make an impression on American consumers precisely for the reason that they’re a non-American company.

Apple owes a helping of its iPhone success to that fact.  The product is American; the company is American; the marketing is overwhelmingly American, with sitcom-style television commercials, extremely stable revision control (how many models of phone does Apple have on the market compared to Nokia?), and a least-common-denominator hardware engineering approach that appeals to the maximum number of simultaneous consumers instead of offering a specific style or feature set to five or six different niches.  Fewer buttons, more software.

The other American-friendly thing about the iPhone is the nature of its name.  Nokia is some Scandinavian meme as Sony is some Japanese one.  The difference is that Nokia’s name hasn’t been overcome with a mass-market product the way Sony’s cross-cultural name has been with the Playstation, and earlier, the Walkman. Same with Nintendo.  Who didn’t have a Nintendo Entertainment System in 1990?  And for that matter, who doesn’t have a Wii today? Far fewer carry a Nokia product than own a Wii in the United States.

But there’s more to it that the brand name. Say what you like about Nokia’s lack of good carrier support in the United States (Apple still has only one official carrier), or their botched execution of an application store model (Apple a lot to harm themselves on the appstore anyway), the real problem with Nokia’s phones isn’t the name on them.  It’s the way they look and feel.  While the majority of American consumers still haven’t obtained a smartphone, the daunting physique of a Nokia N81, for example, could give a buyer pause.  The lack of fluidity of form in Nokia’s products means that the user is exposed to as many features as possible, whether or not they want to use them, and perception is that there’s a long learning curve.

But then, I believe most iPhone sales occured at Blackberry’s expense, not Nokia’s–and that, of itself, does not bode well for the European giant.

New N-Series flagship? Definitely.

With a full Qwerty keyboard and a bent towards social networking, the N97 will certainly outshine the iPhone in at least some respects.  Among the new Nokia’s features are persistent network connections–something iPhone apps have been locked out of by Apple for “performance reasons.”

It’s curious that Nokia’s announcements keys so heavily on social networking, something that Apple has more or less ignored over the years. (Remember .Mac?  That was Apple’s idea of social networking I think.)  Location-based social features are something Apple has used in their TV ads for the iPhone, but the app they use in the ad (Loopt) isn’t allowed a persistent connection, limiting its usefulness.

Now, if the N97 is as usable as the iPhone and hits retail at a price point that folks can swallow (Symbian UI has nothing on the iPhone in my opinion), then this could be a serious hit.  I’m looking forward to trying one out.

It didn’t meet my expectations. I got to choose from approximately 20 pre-packaged “more of the same” content sources and the only customization seemed to be the order in which the top 5 appear on my phone. No RSS. No mail (unless you call Yahoo Mail mail).

So unless you’re elderly or still bother with content sources like CNN, don’t bother with this “new” feature.

So when I answered the call, the guy said some crap I couldn’t understand and managed to stay with me on the call for all of about 8 seconds before hanging up.  When I’m in a meeting and I get 12 calls in a row, I look like a dweeb. I have to do something to silence my ringtone, so I dump the incoming private calls to voicemail. The other option would be to turn off my phone, but I just can’t afford to do that.  What’s worse, when these morons go into my voicemail, they’re paging me and leaving me voice messages. The SMS page notifications I receive as a result incur SMS usage, which equals $$$ out of my pocket, sucks my phone memory, and creates a REAL nuisance. We’re talking 20 – 30 voicemails and 20 – 30 text messages every day.
Now here’s the real crap of it: AT&T says they “cannot block private calls”, period, end of story. How idiotic is that? Privacy management out to be the hallmark feature of a usage-based system like AT&T’s cell phone service. This is why companies like Iotum, GrandCentral, and TalkPlus are getting so much attention. They allow you to manage *more* of your own privacy than the cell phone companies do.

Problem is, I already use one of these services and I’m still getting Private No. calls, because the spamming caller isn’t dialing my GrandCentral number–they’re dialing my direct cell phone number. I cannot change my cell number because many of my clients use it to get a hold of me. My number is already on the national Do Not Call list (I registered it even though I shouldn’t have to since it’s a cell). Automatic callback to the private number doesn’t work.
It dawned on me that I should be able to turn my private call ringtone to silent with no vibrate, but as it turns out, this phone won’t let me do that either. So I started investigating call-blocking add-ons for the Symbian OS that runs on my phone. Haven’t been able to find anything yet.  Any Symbian lovers out there know of a good solution?

Fireworks are always hard to photograph–but I’m pretty happy with the way this shot came out. It was taken at a Tribe game against the Tigers. Tribe won, w00t.

This picture is of my daughter Maddie. It was taken on one of the rare sunny days we’ve had in Cleveland lately. The N95′s camera excels in bright-light situations.

An interesting sign. No comment.

A very well-nourished arachnid which was hanging around the web he built next to my barbecue grille. It was hard to get him focus in the low-light, perhaps because I was so close and he was such a relatively small subject. But man was he a mean-looking one. Isn’t he a good artist?

Nokia

PocketPC / W Mobile

Nokia #2

I�ve now got the phone set up as, appropriately enough, �extension 61� on the local Asterisk PBX. This means, in practice, that it is now simply another handset here at the office. Except that �the office� stretches anywhere there is wifi. In other words, Johnny can pick up the phone in his office, dial �61� and my mobile will ring. Whether I am in the office next door or drinking absinthe with Olle in Copenhagen.

While this is technically elegant, it would also seem to signal a rather cataclysmic shift in the mobile marketplace: wifi is everywhere; once wifi-enabled phones are everywhere, is there any reason to have a SIM and be tied to expensive rates, dreadful service and poor features?

I’ll take that a step further. How’s about carrying your WiFi credentials with you on the SIM card, too–so you don’t have to muck with WiFi setup everytime you go to a new coffee shop or place of business.

If you’ve been watching the NBA Finals, you’ve seen two things: the Cavs being humbled by a team that’s twice the team the Pistons are, and, yup, iPhone commercials. The commercials are in keeping with the original Stevenote introducing the device back at Macworld in January–demonstrations of web browsing, the mapping/nav application, and of course, the media library stuff. All very cool. What we’ve seen about the iPhone up until now has been quite exciting.

What’s most exciting is the stuff we haven’t seen. In the span of a few months, the rumor mill has gone nonstop in three shifts, giving rise to some credible and intriguing rumors. Let’s start with Russell Shaw, who thinks the iPhone will be used for direct wireless access to commercial movie content. While this would be cool, I would much rather see the iPhone sport a form-fitting front-end for my favorite digital media site, YouTube. Not so far fetched, at least according to Jobs.

Then came the mysterious “missing disclaimer”. Originally, the iPhone ads contained a disclaimer line stating that a two-year contract was required. Later, the disclaimer disappeared. Some thought this meant that the iPhone might be available loose, ie. Apple wasn’t going to push the 2-year commitment as heavily as it seemed at first. I for one think the discount-in-exchange-for-contract revenue protection technique is a major pain and Apple should just sell this thing loose for $700 or whatever. Hey, Nokia does it. And people buy em.

It’s interesting to note that, despite the continued non-existence of the iPhone as a commercially-avaiable product, you can already purchase a silicone skin for it for $2 on eBay. My how those eBay entrepreneurs think fast!

Of course, the rumor rubber meets the road only when the facts come from on high at an actual Stevenote. And during today’s WWDC–NO NEW DETAIL ON THE IPHONE except for one tidbit right at the end, during which Steve let the whole room down by announcing there will be no Software Developer Kit for the iPhone, but that web-based Ajax applications will be consider kosher as suitable iPhone add-ons. And the web apps will ostensibly run offline, meaning you don’t need to be on the grid in order to get an Ajax interface into the web browser. Let’s hope this doesn’t end up being too much trouble, as web-based apps on mobile devices often are (even the N800 is painful to use the web on sometimes). But the demo given by the iPhone development people looked very promising.

Still no VoIP or videoconferencing on the iPhone, it would seem.

The cool thing about the N95′s support of SIP is that it’s trouble-free and easy to set up. You establish whether you want VoIP calls or Cell calls to be placed, by default, and the phone will attempt using your preferred transport. If VoIP is unavailable, then the call goes out cell. If it’s available, then it goes out VoIP. Same deal if Cell is the preference and VoIP is the secondary option. This lets you use SIP as the backup plan.

But it’s so much cooler than just this. Since the phone can receive incoming SIP calls as well, you can register with any SIP gateway where you have credentials. This means being able to receive calls from your office VoIP PBX, whether you’re in the office or out at a WiFi hotspot somewhere (notwithstanding firewalls, etc.).  So, why bother with pricey convergence features like Avaya’s EC500 when you can just register your cell phone directly with the PBX? Sure, there are instances where you still need stuff like EC500–for example, if you’re outside the reach of WiFi coverage.

Anyway, the point is–having solid SIP (not error-prone like UTStarComm and Linksys) on the cellular handset is a huge step towards worry-free convergence, and I’d like to see Nokia start pushing SIP and WiFI down through its product line to its lower-end phones. The day is coming, I’m sure. Nokia is probably the only cell phone vendor that doesn’t “need” the big wireless carriers to maintain its consumer appeal. They’re kind of the Apple of the phone business, albeit much more dominant than Apple is in their space.

And it’s a mighty big shame open SIP won’t be appearing on the iPhone.

Performance isn’t the only reason, though. Gizmo does just about everything I need from Skype anyway, and a few things it doesn’t (hold music, free custom voicemail, etc.). Plus, very few of the contacts I rely on Skype for daily aren’t also in my Gizmo Project contact list. Plus, Gizmo really provides a value add by being a call target for Grand Central and by allowing my to place SIP-to-PSTN calls on my Gizmo account via a Nokia IP-enabled cell phone. There ya have it. Skype–Hasta la vista, baby.

The Davis-Besse nuke plant west of my home. Take with the N73.

The infamous 8 Mile sign on I-75 in Detroit. Notice how well the N73 does with pictures taken in motion. This is especially true when there’s a lot of ambient lighting.

Duane-o! N73. Plenty of ambient light, looks great.

My cousin Ana and her hubby Matt. Great picture could’ve been greater on the N73 if the flash didn’t make everything look blue-green. Taken in a low-light situation.

Another in-motion pic from the N73. This is the old Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Good subject, bad angle, and my car window was rolled up at the time.

This is how I know I’m home, haha. N73 from my car window.

Jacobs’ Field in Cleveland. Tribe versus the Orioles. N73 takes great pics as long as there’s plenty of ambient light. This one turned out wonderful.

Friends of mine–Nilda and James. Sadly, the N73 just doesn’t hack it indoors.

This is Mads and Tiger. Taken with the N95. Very little light in the room, but for some reason the flash on the N95 doesn’t seem to have as much of that blue-green effect as the N73 does. No guess as to why, but I just love this picture of my daughter! My son Jake is sitting in the next chair over, wearing his invisibility suit.

Sunset after a nasty thunderstorm here in Cleveland. N95. Not much to say about this one.

Another Mads N95 picture. She is dressed as a pinkheaded guru doing “the robot”.

More buds, this time with the N95 in very low light room. I think this camera does better with the flash on than the cam in the N73.

Jacobs Field club seats–Tribe against the Blue Jays. I like this picture a lot; it was taken during the bottom of the first inning on the N95. The Tribe won in eleven innings thanks to a Travis Hafner line drive.