Posts Tagged 'features'

Back to the future – Nokia N95

Image showing the Nokia N95 with slide openedImage via Wikipedia

If you’ve been following this blog (and me) for a while you’d know I’m a huge fan of cell phones, very early adopter of new technologies and a massive user. My phone is my laptop away from home, and there are a lot of things I expect my phone to do. No compromises. I’ve been sporting the Nokia N95 since December 2007, shortly after is was introduced in Israel. Since then it has been a loyal companion mainly because of its overall package – it was, and still is, a powerful little gadget, despite its relatively weak CPU (only 332MHz):
3.5G phone with HSDPA, BT 2.0 (A2DP support), Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g), 2.6 inches 240×320 pixels 16M colors screen, Symbian OS 9.2, S60, Mini-USB port, 3.5mm headphones jack, internal GPS receiver, TV-out, 5MP camera with Carl Zeiss Optics and 30fps video quality – all packed in a dual slide 120g machine.

In July I participated in Nokia Israel’s campaign to launch the Nokia N97, during which I received a device for a 2 month period. My bottom-line of the N97 was ‘Big Leap, Small Step‘ – expressed my disappointment around Nokia’s ‘much-anticipated-iphone-killer’ device. Shortly after, in September, I deprived myself of sleep for 48 hours, ‘courtesy’ of Samsung Galaxy challenge – and I’ve been using the Android-based phone since early September.

Last Saturday, I decided to return to the N95, after over a month of massive Galaxy usage, that have left me both happy and pissed – not at the same time of course. The main reason for this ‘up/down-grade’ lies in the very definition of PDA – the device which most cellphones aspire to be nowadays: I use my phone’s messaging capabilities – typing SMS/emails/twitter, browsing – blogs and websites, multimedia – pictures and streaming video and navigation, among other things (like making calls). I also sync my contacts, to-dos and calendar with my laptop. The Galaxy, although very hip and cool (Hebrew link) – delayed me in some of these tasks rather than assisting me. Plus, Nokia PC-Suite is – hands down – THE BEST Mobile to PC software available today. Without it, I’d still be editing the CSV file of my 700+ contacts to import back to the N95.

I’ve learned 2 important things from this experience:

  1. When reviewing a device that is crucial to your daily work (cellphone, laptop are the examples jumping to mind) – own them at least a month before making a decision.
  2. Cellphone vendors (Nokia, SE, Samsung, LG, HTC, Apple, Palm, etc): Battery life and CPU. Those are the (new) important properties (for me at least) when making a decision. Android Market is amazing – too bad the Galaxy CPU can’t handle all that potential.

Bottom-line, the Nokia N95 that was released March 2007 may be a step backwards compared to the current stock, but for me – it’s more of ‘Back to the Future’.

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What has changed since Lotus Notes 6.0.x

Thanks to Lotus Notes product team for putting this deck together (and Ed for sharing!) showing how the Lotus Notes client has evolved since version 6.0.x. The short deck, 17 slides, covers almost every aspect of the client, including:

  • Productivity features
  • Personalization
  • Ease of use
  • Replication and Mobility
  • Collaboration
  • email and calendaring
  • supported OS and more.

Whether you’re a Lotus Notes customer looking for the added value in upgrading to newer releases or you’re using a competitor’s platform and looking for other options – this is what Lotus Notes has to offer. It also shows IBM’s commitment to the product – which in these days, is not something to be taken lightly.

Links:
Ed Brill
Lotus Notes client on ibm.com

8 reasons you’ll love Lotus Notes 8

Lists are not something I believe in that much, especially in blogs, since people tend to over-exploit them at times. Still, there are occasions where I find them useful, as they help convey a message in exactly 10 sentences (or in this case 8).

Kenny Smith is a principal at Strongback Consulting, a full service IT consultancy agency specializing in Lotus, WebSphere and Rational software. Kenny posted about ‘8 reasons you’ll love Lotus Notes 8‘, and linked to one of Luis Suarez‘s presentations at slideshare.
Those are my kind of lists.. 😉




Mobile & Media Consultant. I help startup companies launch products to the consumer market. Reach out: dvir.reznik [at] gmail.com
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This is my personal blog. The postings here do not represent the thoughts, intentions, plans or strategies of my past employers or of my clients. It is solely my opinion.