The Nokia Booklet 3G isn’t something’s you’d expect to see from the world’s largest cellular manufacturer, but times have changed.
Nokia is still #1 in terms of market-share, but its dominance isn’t as strong as it used to be, with Apple, Google, and Microsoft making industry-changing initiatives – and basically saying ‘we can play in multiple fields, not just our own’. Those initiative brought Google to the hardware market with the Nexus One, Microsoft to strengthen her investments in search and mobile and Apple with iPhone/iPad. The three screens (also as PDF) model also helped the cellular industry push forward, diminishing the boundary between software/IT/technology companies – everyone is doing everything now.
Nokia Booklet 3G
The Nokia Booklet 3G is Nokia’s first attempt to enter the PC ‘war-zone’, and the particularly hot netbook scene. Nokia is hoping its close ties with mobile operators will help push the Booklet 3G, making it an alternative to all the Asus/Lenovo/HP/Samsung/Dell netbooks out there. And after spending 2 weeks with it – Nokia has a winner in its hands.
The Booklet is beautiful, especially in the light blue I received (Black and White also available), and draw quite the attention. The clean design is also surprising, with neat, rounded lines, very Apple-like of Nokia. All ports are located on the right and left sides, leaving the front and back areas clear. The bottom keeps this theme, with just 2 clips to eject the battery – which means there’s no way to increase RAM.
Nokia Booklet 3G alongside Logitech Harmony One
Nokia booklet 3G comes with the usual specifications of the niche market, although I expected more power in the RAM and HD portions (1GB and 120GB, respectively). Even so, the Intel Atom Z530 running at 1.6GHz is doing a solid work with Windows 7 Starter, fast response, navigating multiple applications, wake-up from sleep and all. One of the best features in netbooks (and a major reason for buying mine) is the battery time. A year ago, 7-8 hours were considered amazing, now the numbers are reaching 10 and even 12 hours. Nokia Booklet 3G did a fine job in that area as well, giving solid 9 hours of intense work.
Lots of ports - USB 2.0 and HDMI
In terms of connectivity, the Booklet comes fully stocked, as expected from a world leader: 802.11 b/g/n wifi, BT 2.1 with EDR, built-in 3G modem (sim-card slot) for data only, and on-board GPS chip for use with OVi Maps service. The official specs also mentions motion sensor, but I couldn’t find how to enable/use it.
There’s plenty of data transfer options too: 3 USB 2.0, HDMI slot, SD Card reader, sim-card slot (data only), and a combined headphones+microphone socket, for Skype calls (integrated 1.3 Mega-pixel).
Eventually, it all boils down to pricing and plans. In Israel, netbooks are very popular, and in 2009 increased their market share over traditional laptops. Top 3 cellular providers all have plans that offer you a netbook+data package for 36 months at $10/month, a lucrative proposition, especially for students or for families with kids, as a 2nd or 3rd laptop.
Nokia did a fine work on its first non-cellphone device. With Nokia World 2010 just around the corner, I’m looking forward to see how Nokia is planning on building-up the lineup, with various OS options (MeeGo perhaps), and respond to the touch phenomena that’s overwhelming the western world.
Over the past 2 months at Inkod-Hypera I learned a lot about the importance of user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) in the process of making web (or mobile) products. First off, those 2 expressions are not the same, in fact, UX govern UI (in web-lingo: UX is the parent, UI is the child). Secondly, user experience (UX) is based on social and cultural trends whereas user interface (UI) is more based on technology – multi-touch, touch, mouse, command-line, speech, etc. The direct result of the latter is that user experience is both subjective in nature and dynamic, because it relates to an individual’s performance, feelings and thoughts about the system – that can change, over a period of time.
Google.com in 1999
Over at Inkod-Hypera we developed a proven methodology that puts great emphasis on UX, before Photoshop is even launched. We do product concept, benchmarking, usability testing, user interface planning (mockups/wireframes), functional specification and only then – guiding our in-house studio for the design aspect. During my time here, I’ve met with dozens of customers, 3rd party vendors, entrepreneurs, ad agencies, and more to get a feeling of how they perceive the field of UX and design. Unfortunately, especially with start-ups and 1st time entrepreneurs – the focus is still on the what, instead of the why/who/how.
Met this week a good friend, developer since the age of 12, ex-CTO, co-founder of 2 start-ups and CEO of a 3rd one, that told me ‘UX is the new semi-God‘. Not CTO, not the code, not the product (what) – but the business (why/who/how). And he said it took him 2 years to realize that, and outsource the work to an expert. It doesn’t matter if you’re writing the code in PHP, Java, .Net, or Rubi – the software will work. But if you haven’t figured out the user (who), the problem that needs solving (why), and the right way to solve it (how) – that’s not good.
I’m not saying ‘Hire us’, this is not a sales pitch (ok, ok – half sales-pitch). I do say ‘work with experts‘ – you have developers, right? Hire UX experts, or outsource the work.
Google.com in 2010
As the internet evolves, and mobile becomes a larger aspect of our lives, I hope people will pay more attention to user experience, and understand its importance from day 1, not launch + day 1.
Had an interesting discussion this week at Globes event with Ahuvah, a very wise and internet-savvy friend, about foursquare. She asked me – Why? A simple question, complicated answer. Once, not so long ago, people were asking the same WH-question about Twitter, and look were we are now.
But back to me. I check-in at places of interest, usually business-oriented – meaning if I’m at a the Finance District of Tel Aviv, or the Hi-Tech district – where I’m more likely to meet people. But so far, as Ahuvah was clever to ask, those check-ins resulted in fewer random meetings than I expected. So again, Why? I guess convenience has something to do with it, meaning a proper application – Gravity. I’ve previewed Gravity before, saying it’s the main reason for my increased use of foursquare – a flick of the navbar, and I’m Here! Nevertheless, I believe foursquare is much more than just a contest for who’s got more Mayorships. It’s a valuable database of knowledge about people habitts – and knowledge is power. Much like twitter that crossed the chasm, foursquare too needs the same things: celebrity, business, media coverage.
Club Seat - 1st Israeli foursquare-based campaign
Celebrity we have (not many though), media coverage still lagging, but now we have a business. Seat become the 1st business in Israel (Hebrew) to use foursquare in a digital campaign (Hebrew, again), Club Seat, along with 3 known clubs in Tel Aviv – Gazoz, Galina, and Sublet. People are encouraged to create an account in foursqaure, download the app of their choice and visit the clubs. The campaign is three-fold:
The club that receives the most entries by August 30th (end of summer break) is crowned ‘Best Club in Town’;
Top 20 people with the highest number of check-ins at any of the 3 clubs will receive concert tickets;
The mayor of each club will receive a plane ticket (round trip I hope)
Personally I was hoping the 1st business will originate from the restaurant/cafe/bar industry, much like Starbucks is doing in the US, or FT.com’s deal to attract youngsters in London. Seat, along with Grey Interactive, have taken a leap into un-charted waters in Israeli advertising, as foursquare is still in early-early adopter stage here. Facebook has transformed the digital space in Israel – more than 3 million people connected (about 60% of internet-connected homes), #2 fastest growing country in the Middle East (7%, monthly), top 10 countries in terms of average time spent (globally!), and more. No campaign is complete here without a facebook presence. Twitter and foursquare are still considered ‘geek-only territory‘, although twitter is gaining momentum in celebrities and media.
Club Seat was only launched this week, so the stats are obviously low (Gazoz 9 check-ins, Galina 3 check-ins, and Sublet 4 check-ins), but it will be interesting to see how this pilot evolves and what impact will it have on the advertising industry. Stay tuned.
I saw this infographic at Konigi blog, definitely worth the re-post: it describes the major features enabled by HTML5 that we need to be aware of – Canvas (1), video elements (2), geolocation (3), and offline storage (4). The graph also shows current and future support in web browsers: Chrome 5.0 is best (86%), followed by Safari 4.0 (79%) and Firefox 3.6 (77%). Those out there still using Microsoft’s browser, IE 8.0 is only at 26%. Click the image for full size (1200 x 1312).
During the past 10 years in IT my roles were predominantly in the end-user position – either selling or marketing of a product or a service. I was familiar with the process, just not part of it. Well, this has changed, as of June 1st.
As the Marketing Manager I handle strategy, lead generation, brand management and positioning, sponsorship and events, PR, BR (bloggers relations), community and social, marcom, online/offline, and other stuff as well. Here’s a profile slide that you can download/share around. For business opportunities (or just social), feel free to contact me at dvir at inkod-hypera dot com. Samples of our work – after the embedded slideshare presentation and online. Enjoy!
Location based services (LBS) are a hot topic now, owing the success to the built-in GPS chips available in every mobile smartphone sold today. In Israel, every cellular provider (4) has its own GPS application, which costs extra $$ monthly to use, and users, like myself, decided to look for alternatives [HE review].
2 years ago I came across Waze, a social mobile application providing free turn-by-turn navigation based on the live conditions of the road. The idea is simple – waze provides the software, but the users are the driving force behind it: the more you drive, the better it gets. Each driver shares his location and road conditions with fellow ‘wazers’, alerting them of traffic jams, police, and accidents. Twitter and Foursquare integration are also available.
Waze is available for iPhone, Android, Symbian, Windows Mobile and Blackberry (Beta). Simply point your phone’s browser to m.waze.com or follow the instructions here. The symbian version (officially) works with Nokia E66/71/72/75 and N82/85/95/95 8GB/96/97. Personally, I know it’s been used with Nokia 5800, N86, and E52.
Waze are doing an excellent work online with their community, sporting a company blog, users-blog, forums, wiki, hall of fame users (each report is worth points), recent map updates (by location), twitter (global and Israel) and much more.
Excellent question. The answer could have been tricky, but luckily, there’s an app for it, courtesy of Gary Hayes at Personalize Media. You can filter by Social Media, Mobile (even more interesting!) or Games, and determine the time period (now, day, week, month, year). Leave this tab open and come back in 10min. You’ll be surprised [widget not available in RSS, goto original post].
Wednesday was a busy M&A day, and twitter helped me keep track of the excitement. Apple buying Siri, AOL selling ICQ and last but not least – HP buying Palm. 3 deals that will shape our lives in the coming years, and it’s no surprise all 6 companies involved (Apple, Siri, DST, ICQ, HP, and Palm) are in the mobile business. That’s were the action is happening now, were the focus is, and obviously – $$$.
Carlos Slim, the world’s richest man, said in one of the few interviews he gave, that he entered the mobile market in the 1990s (with Telcel, 92% market share, subsidiary of Telmex), because there are more opportunities for growth – in a household there’s 1 fixed-line, but at least 3 or 4 mobile lines.
Siri on iPhone
Apple’s acquisition of Siri (an iPhone app – personal assistant that understands what you say, accomplishes tasks for you and adapts to your preferences over time) is maybe the clearest ‘declaration of war’ against Google and its search engine. Voice search technology is the next thing in the mobile market, and Siri will be Apple’s answer to Nexus One’s voice search – a feature I loved when reviewing the device (Hebrew post), that although not perfect, will change the way each of us interacts with his/her phone.
HP’s move was a total surprise for me, that on the one hand seems somewhat natural – completes its Personal Systems Group, and on the other seems like another distraction from their main business (Services & Software). My first PDA was a Palm Pilot Vx, which I bought in 1998 for $100 or so. Since then Palm has evolved, mainly in software and technology, less in hardware, and I (as Mashable) believe it was this aspect of Palm’s business (over 1,500 mobile-related patents) that was most attractive to HP.
Palm Pre
Now, with webOS, HP has one of the best mobile OS out there, which can be installed on a variety of devices, from smartphones to tablets and maybe even netbooks. My thoughts for this deal are:
How it will translate in markets that have a strong HP presence with weaker Palm presence, such as Israel?
What the near future holds for HP-Microsoft cooperation? HP have made substantial investments in Windows platform, for both smartphones (Windows Mobile) and netbooks (Windows 7), and now, with in-house (and free) webOS, there is no need for that.
What are your thoughts? Can the new HP/Palm become a contender in the mobile market, against taking share from iPhone/Android/Symbian? Will you buy a webOS slate over an iPad?
The mobile market was definitely shaken this Wednesday, looking forward to seeing the ripple effect of that shake.
TED requires no introduction. Technology, Entertainment, Design has been synonymous with THE EVENT, to which everyone wants to attend. At $2,000 per ticket it’s out of reach for most, and the waiting list is long. Very long.
TEDx Tel Aviv
TEDx Tel Aviv is an independently organized TED event, and tomorrow (Monday, April 26th) it’s coming to Tel Aviv, Israel, for the very first time. Over 1,200 people (including myself) submitted the registration form to the event, 300 (excluding myself) will attend TEDx Tel Aviv in person tomorrow.
For the thousands who want to watch the lectures there will be several Simulcast locations across the country, most of them in universities and businesses. Full list is available here. All lectures will be available at TEDx website following the event. You can also follow Lior Zoref and Yosi Taguri of Shidurey (Hebrew), who’ll be filming a clip at the event, as well as TEDxTelAviv themselves.
I’ve been a Nokia fanatic for over 10 years now, and had the chance to review some of the latestcellphones that made it to Israel. Recently, I upgraded my private N95 to an E72 – something I promised to do last June, once the newest E-series will become available.
Nokia App Store, aka OVi Store, is often not mentioned in the same sentence with Google’s Android Market, yet alone Apple’s App Store – both more advanced (UI-wise) and offer a larger variety. Still, there are some cool apps out there, for Nokia, that are worthy a post, or two. This post is the first in a series that will review the apps I’m using on my E72 device, starting with my own favorite Gravity and my first OVi download – SMS Preview. All pictures were taken using another (free) Nokia app, Best Screen Snap.
Gravity [14-day trial, $9.95 buy]
Gravity Homepage
Gravity is the best twitter client available for Symbian today. Although it costs $10 ($9.95 actually), it justifies every cent. First off, Gravity is more than ‘just’ twitter. The latest version (1.30 build 6355) addedFoursquare support, which is the best thing @foursquare could have hoped for – without an official Symbian app, Gravity is the only non-web method Nokia users can check-in, add places, see map and shout. Since having Foursquare in Gravity, my check-ins have increased dramatically.
Gravity for Symbian - Browse menu
As a twitter client, it’s a fully-featured piece of software, that allows you to: upload images (twitpic, mobypicture, posterous, twitgoo, yfrog, or img.ly), create/save searches, lookup a user, create groups, favorite tweets and more. Mobile access combined with geo-tagging is not the future, it’s the present – and foursquare should assign Jan Ole (Gravity author) some stock options for helping them tap the largest cellphone audience.
SMS Preview [Free]
SMS Preview for Symbian
Back when I was previewing Google Nexus One (Hebrew) I was looking for an app that will handle SMS in an easier and more fashionable way. SMS Preview does a similar job for Symbian, by showing a full preview of the message you received, regardless of the app you’re currently in, for a defined period (5-60 sec). Double-click any key to dismiss the preview. Easy and simple solution that saves you time and helps you decide which action to take.
