Month: September 2005

I’ve been exploring and playing with my new Nokia 6682 for the past few days but just today got around to setting it up to talk to my IMAP mail server. After setting up the mailbox I went to do something that has become second nature to me: snap a photo and send it via email. I was shocked to find that email is missing as an option under the save menu:

Say what now? Where did it go? I checked with Jim and his 6680 can send via multimedia, email, and Bluetooth. My only options are multimedia, Postcard, and Bluetooth.

The only conclusion that I can come to is that Cingular has crippled the 6682 in order to increase its ARPU (average revenue per user) by forcing users to use the ever lucrative MMS. I should qualify this with the fact that yes indeed, I am able to send pictures via email, but it is about the opposite of easy:

1. Snap picture.
2. Hit application button.
3. Navigate to Messaging.
4. Click on Messaging.
5. Click on New Message.
6. Scroll down, select E-mail.
7. Select Option softkey.
8. Scroll down, select Insert -> Image.
9. Find image.
10. Select image.
11. Continue as if you had just snapped a picture and selected via e-mail.

Russ doesn’t think that I should call the above scenario crippled. I think I’m fully justified. While yes, the phone retains the ability to send an image via e-mail. However Cingular have made it unneccesarily hard to do so. They’ve made MMS the only convenient method to send pictures, and MMSes bring in much more money than standard data.

This crippling of picture to e-mail reminds me a lot of Verizon’s castration of Bluetooth on the V710. Cingular had to go out of their way to remove the e-mail option and I can’t think of any reason for them to do so except to increase revenue.

If I wasn’t so mad at this point I’d be pretty exceited about the Postcard option on that mail. I’m not sure how much it costs (I’ll investigate once I’ve calmed down a bit) but it appears that this option allows you to send a snail mail postcard of your picture with a personalized message. That’s really really cool, but it doesn’t make me any less angry at Cingular.

My Nokia 6682 came in tonight, and I’m completely blown away by it. Compared to the 3650 and N-Gage the fit and finish on the 6682 is absolutely stunning. I was suprised to find full Opera (7.60) installed on the rs-mmc (yes, I’ve already downloaded the free 8.0 update). I quickly got rid of the nast Cingular branded theme and also switched on the active background, which I think I like (but I haven’t had enough time to be sure). There are a bunch of other trial apps included on the MMC including MobiTV that require exploring.

I’m definitely digging the camera “mode” that the phone puts itself in when you slide open the camera lens cover. I don’t think that picture quality is quite as good as my Sony DSC-U20 but it’s a definite improvement over my 3650.

The phone is also a lot smaller than any other Series 60 I’ve had. It’s probably not actually a whole lot smaller, but it’s a little smaller and feels even smaller than it is.

I’m really excited to have a modern Series 60 device so I can play with all of those apps that just don’t work on my 3650 or taco. I’m also excited about taking advantage of the newer Python for Series 60 features that were off limits to me on the 6.0 devices.

Expect more observations over the next few days but my initial impression is “wow.”

There’s been a bit of buzz about the Nokia 3250, the little brother to the Nokia N91 music phone. The 3250 is quite obviously derived from the 3230, an inexpensive Series 60 device that probaby hasn’t sold too many units (though I can’t confirm this) because of it’s bad timing to market and the huge “cheap” factor. The 3230 is an inexpensive Series 60 phone but it really comes off just looking cheap.

I’ve noticed that Nokia seems to be betting pretty hard on phones with “modes.” For example with the Nokia N90 there is a standard flip-phone “mode” but if you turn the screen and camera properly you’re using it in camera “mode.” I’m not sure if I buy complex mode changes such as those employed by the N90 transformer or the swivel keypad that changes the 3250 from phone mode to music player mode. At the same time I think that simple mode changes are extremely compelling. For example if you open the camera lens protector on a Nokia 6680 (or other phones from other manufacturers with this feature) it instantly stops being a cel phone and brings up the camera interface. That’s simple and beautiful. I’m not sure that the same can be said for the N90 or 3250.

Part of me wants to argue that any well done phone/music player has to integrate both functions as “core” functions and not compartmentalize them the way they are on the 3250. Without playing with it though I think it’s too early to judge whether it’s a flop or a hit.

We ordered up our phones yesterday, a Nokia 6682 for me and a Motorola v551 for her. I kept leaning towards the Nokia 6102 for my wife but kept coming back to the fact that it lacked Bluetooth. As a bonus the v551 is also quad-band so if we find outselves in the UK I’ll have to go back to my 3650 or taco while she can keep using her normal phone.

The phones should be in Wednesday evening; I can’t wait!

Real Soon Now we’re going to switch over to Cingular so I can buy a 6682 on contract. So far the front runner for a phone for my wife has been the Motorola v551. It’s cheap (free), quad band (nice!), has bluetooth and just generally is the best bang for the buck in the cheap clamshells. She currently has a C650 which is a cute little phone but is a bit too tiny to actually use and has been having reception issues lately.

With the droppage of the 6102, also free after rebates at Let’s Talk, we’ve got something else to look at. The phone looks like a 6230 in a clamshell package with an up to date S40 UI, VGA camera and a decent external display. I’m really quite bummed that it doesn’t have Bluetooth (a feature that probably makes the v551 the front runner) but the 6102 is definitely worth considering. I’m not going to officially recommend it until I play with it, but it sounds like a capable little device that just lacks a few high end features.

Darla is on the ball as usual, and had the launch scoop this morning:

09:31 < DarlaM> matt, the 6682 was launched?

Yes. Yes it was. The phone is available now at Cingular.com or available for $99 after rebates and 2 year activation at Let’s Talk. It looks like Amazon’s superfantastic deal expired before the 6682 was actually released and it still doesn’t look like they have any.

I’ll be snagging mine as soon as I can so leave one on the virtual shelves for me!

It’s official. Christian Lindholm has joined Yahoo!

After 10 fantastic years at Nokia I have decided to quit. As of September 12th I will join Yahoo! as VP of Global Mobile Product first based in London and then moving to California late in 2006.

Congrats are in order to both Christian and to Yahoo! I have no doubt that he will keep things headed in the right direction while exploring new sides of the mobile internet that we haven’t even thought to look for yet.