N95 to the rescue
So ever since Steve Jobs announced that he’d be coming out with a phone in the US, my friends and neighbors have inundated me with questions about what Nokia is going to do. I tell them the truth: Nokia welcomes Apple to the industry, and we thank them for validating our vision of converged devices. Indeed, since the iPhone has come out, sales of S60 devices in the US have gone up. The N95 and N75 are selling well. Some look at me askance when I say this, others “get it” and move on to the next topic of conversation.
But some don’t move on. They are enthralled by and cannot stop talking about the PR and product phenom that is the iPhone. One of these guys is a good friend. He has been an Apple fan since forever. When we go to his house his iBook is on slideshow mode. When he hosts parties he shows movies through iTunes. Every product that Apple comes out with, he buys. And since June, every time I see him, he finds a reason to take out his iPhone and either make a call or show me some “feature”.
On Saturday, I was helping this guy set up for a community meeting. He had brought his Bose Wave radio to play tunes while we were setting up. He whips out his iPhone and says to me with a smile
“Did I ever tell you my phone plays *music*?”
I laugh and tell him “no, really? that must be some pretty advanced technology! — I wish Nokia would think of something like that…”
He laughs and goes over to plug his iPhone into the Bose. Then I hear him say
“Oh shoot, the adaptor doesn’t fit into the iPhone…”
At first I think he is kidding…this is too good to be true, right? My wife also overhears him and she pipes in, a little loudly so that everybody at the meeting can hear:
“Hey Dan, does your *NOKIA* N95 need a special adaptor to work with a Bose”.
I shake my head. All eyes are on me as I walk up to the Bose. Sure enough, it takes a standard headphone jack. I plug it into my N95, go to the gallery, and select press “play”. The room is awash in mellow Belle and Sebastian tunes. Eyes shift from my phone, to me, to my friend. Again, loudly, my wife says
“Hey, what kind of phone is that?”
I duly reply “It’s a Nokia N95. Running S60 software.”
My friend, for once, is silent.
Haha, pwnage
Cool… nice experience.
I am surprise too knowing that iPhone doesn’t support standard port.
It was a good move to start using a standard 3.5mm headphone jack and get rid of the Pop-port adapters.
The iPhone has also 3.5mm headphone jack, so how come that did not fit? Because of the iPhone cover mechanics?
Well, S60 can’t take credit for this.. iPhone connector is too recessed for some reason. Let’s keep in mind though that we still have (non-standard) 2,5mm audio connectors in many newer models also.
kudos to the wife!!! Hehe… we woman rock!
How soon we forget Pop-Port?
Hey, when does my E61 get A2DP to compensate?
Yes, the connector on iPhone is too recessed for some reason…and of course this is not strictly an S60 advantage…however I had fun with it b/c it does comport with the larger philosophical difference between S60/Nokia and Apple/iPhone…standardization leads to compatibility. Here’s a quote from Wozniak (I found it on http://www.siliconvalley.com
“From a business point of view, Apple owns what they have done. They have a right to lock [the iPhone]. But I am really for the unlockers, the rebels trying to make it free. I’d really like it to be open to new applications. I’d like to install some nice games. Why in the world can I not install a ringtone that I’ve made? How would that hurt AT&T’s network? Here is Steve Jobs sending letters to the record companies saying [they] should provide music that’s unprotected, but here he is taking the opposite approach with the iPhone. I don’t know to what extent AT&T is involved in the thinking and direction.”
The iPhone is only a better version of a ipod touch.
*have a iphone stero laudspeacker?
*is it 3 part ready?
*open real html Browser ?
NO!!!!!!!!!
but S60 is open to new future
and it consist of the first real html Browser in a mobile ! Sorry eaten Apple you are not the first Nokia/S60 are faster and better in the mobile inlustrie !
Nice, Dan! I love getting in my truck and plugging the N81 into the 3.5mm jack I added (for my [now broken] ipod, ironically) and turning on the tunes.
Daniel: Did you discuss the ease with which you got your music onto your N95, vs. the iPhone? Obviously not.
Nokius: Uh, the iPhone came first… and the iPhone runs rings around any S60 device in terms of interface speed. In no way does the Nokia browser beat Safari, either.
All of you… are forgetting S60’s difficult, non-intuitive, glitchy, tired-looking interface. Compared to the iPhone, S60v3 feels, looks, and runs like Windows 3.1 on a 1992-era PC.
For the record, I’m not an iPhone user. But I am tired of the once-sided bashing that always happens in Nokia-based discussions.
Dan the Man strikes again. nice story.