atmaspheric | endeavors

Our Symbian-Guru has a thoughful post comparing the N95, N75 and N73 to determine which is the most connected device. It’s an interesting question and his perspective is something I share as well.

Our collective conclusion is that the N73 is hard to beat. You can use it and I mean really use it for a full day or longer – tethered with the N800, voice calling, bluetooth GPS – the works and still count on it to be ready to support you into the evening. While I’ve yet to try the N75, it sounds like it has a similar issue battery-wise as the N95, which is to say that the more intense you use it, the less time you have to get things done.

While it may be logical when you consider that the more you task the device (CPU and Battery) the shorter amount of time you get, but this does not really apply to the N73. I used it as my fulltime phone for about 6 months and never had to wonder whether it would continue to press on. The N95 is MUCH more powerful than the previous devices in the N-Series line. It’s got a great CPU (the same I believe that the N800 and E90 have) a pretty good amount of memory (could use more actually) and can of course do it all – from “DVD quality” video, 5MP Photos, VOIP, WLAN, GPS etc etc … When you use it all though it can be tough to get into the afternoon, let alone the evening.

Initially, I held this “weak” battery against the N95, but lately I’ve come around a bit. You see it’s not normal usage to use every function in a given day or even all at once. Sure you can, and sometimes you do, but not all the time. I’ve been finding that the N95 has more than enough juice for what I want in a daily round of use and though I have chargers at my desk and in the car, don’t feel quite as cautious as I did with the N80. In my view, the N95 is the ultimate device. There are definite improvements I want – software glitches for example – but in 9/10 cases it meets the demands of a regular day. The speed the N95 offers (easily cruising through 2000 contacts) is a pleasure over the N73 and the additional features make it something I’ve been very glad is with me all the time.

Technorati Tags: 3G, GPS, N-Series, N73, N80, N800, N95, Navigation, Nokia, VOIP, WiFi

Just my prediction …

I was actually hoping that Palm would really go for it with this new Foleo device, but when I started reading the leaked PR last night one thing stood out which is that it has no connectivity options other than bluetooth which makes it 100% dependent on your phone. This is an interesting approach, but as someone who’s been using a Nokia N800 tablet for a long time, I can tell you that there are PLENTY of times when I just want to browse the web and use my local wifi connection simply for the speed.

(I now know that it does in fact have Wifi which is good.)

The Foleo’s primary mission seems to make it easier to view, edit and compose email and attachments which has always been a strong point of the Treo – the primary smartphone for which it’s been designed to pair. In theory other devices will also pair, though I’m sure the pure Palm path will be the ideal way to go. I like that this device is running linux and I suppose it’s close in look to what the eventual Palm OS / Linux version will be, but there’s not even a hint as to how it works or what you can do with it beyond the basic applications they’ve shared on the web demo.

I’m left thinking that the Palm Foleo is larger than any second device I want, does less and costs more. By my count, that’s three strikes. I’m not sure Why Jeff Hawkins thinks this will be so wonderful, when instead of a crippled machine like this a savvy user would choose from an increasing number of tablet, UMPC and soon MID devices…

Technorati Tags: Foleo, Jeff Hawkins, Palm

Recently my wife and I were in the car – actually my parent’s car – and the GPS was set for a different region than the one we were within. As a result, we were unable to look up an address we wanted as we needed directions in order to find a place to stop for lunch. Fortunately, I had the N95 on hand and with only a little guidance from me, she was able to look up where we wanted to go and get directions while we were en route.

Her experience was interesting to watch … She actually expected the N95 to be a touch screen and did not immediately understand the soft keys or the 5-way rocker. In fact, under the pressure to find our desired destination before I passed the upcoming exit on the highway caused a bit of stress in learning how to use something on-the-fly. Happily she figured it out and was able to give me directions before it was too late. It was great to see that since our position updated on the fly, the directions in the Nokia Maps program updated while we were moving making it easy to track.

while I’m sure I would have had an easier time, I was driving and it was considerably safer (for our drive, not necessarily our marriage!) to let her learn while we drove. I don’t normally use the GPS function of the N95 for anything more than fun, so it was good to see it could handle the task — especially when we actually had no idea which way to go.

Technorati Tags: GPS, N-Series, N95, Navigation, Nokia

Phoneboy reports how the network stack on the N95 has been giving him issues. Until last night’s twitter exchange, I was not sure what my own issues were, but it’s clear we are suffering from the same nonsense.

I definitely have had my share of reboots and halts while actively connected. I’ve seen white screens on the browser and freeze-ups as well – sometimes these can be cleared by “kill” in Handy Taskman, but usually require a restart. I’ve also had the pleasure of finding my N95 in the midst of a restart (on it’s own) while tethered to my N800… I looked down after feeling as though the connection had stalled and sure enough the phone was actually power cycling.

This is pretty major as far as I’m concerned. I’m not sure what causes this to happen but am hopeful that the issues will be resolved in a soon to be released firmware update.

Technorati Tags: Firmware, N-Series, N95, Nokia