Slashdot Mirror
Nokia Announces Hard-Drive Phone
blorg writes "The new N91 features a 4gb microdrive and a 2 megapixel digital camera, and plays music in MP3, AAC and WMV formats. With this phone, Nokia reckons it has an iPod killer and aims to become the largest seller of portable MP3 players this year, having already outstripped camera manufacturers in the photography market. However, as the BBC points out, people are not necessarily buying these phones for their camera or music features."
At the moment, these devices that do everything don't really to anything really well. A stand-alone camera has better quality than the phone. ...but we are starting to see that change. As technology continues to develop, and manufacturers are able to pack more and more into a device, the quality of the combined unit might start to be acceptable for more and more people.
:)
I am quite looking forward to the time when I only have to carry one device around, and it will do everything! (including allowing me to SSH into my home computer)
I store my recipes online (the way nature intended)
The reason people like the iPod is because of the interface. You could legally (and illegal) get music before the iPod. Companies made mp3 players. But the reason people got the iPod is because it had a good interface which people liked. Then the hype came in and it became large. If you are going to make an iPod killer your interface has to be natural and easy to use. Now what cell phone has that good an interface? Sure, some cell phones have okay interfaces, but it has have as easy to use an interface as a walkman or iPod to be an iPod killer. Otherwise, it is just so much typical marketing fertilizer.
"Those that start by burning books, will end by burning men."
and had the presence of mind to snap a picture or two of it
That's the most useful feature: the "conveniance" of always having a camera with you. You never know when it can be useful. Took a picture of that big diagram drawn on a blackboard before someone erase it, take a picture or two of that guy who looks like trying to sneak in your neighbor house...
Montreal - Best city to live in!
Blah. If you want to get locked into a contract you'd "buy" a phone like this. If you just want to make and receive calls you'd go and buy one of the billions of Nokia 3210s or Motorolla flip phones available on the second hand market and get a pre-paid sim. All these fancy camera, mp3, email phones are just for people who want the wizz bang new thing. Those people will always be behind the 8 ball.
How we know is more important than what we know.
...with all these gadgets and non-cell phone functions, what's the battery life on these things? i remember my old 'big' cellphone (it didn't even flip open, oh the humanity) that would last for days on one charge....my new one (yea it looks cool and all) lasts for maybe 72 hours before i gotta plug it back in. imagine having a HD sucking juice from it too...
This sig contains repetition and redundancy.
http://www.nokiausa.com/phones/7610
http://www.nokiausa.com/phones/3660
http://www.nokiausa.com/phones/3205
Wake me up when Nokia can make a phone look like this:
http://www.sonyericsson.com/spg.jsp?cc=hk&lc=zh& ver=4000&template=pp1_loader&php=php1_10235&zone=p p&lm=pp1&pid=10235
Yes, I know Nokia is the top manufacturer of phone and their phones tend to work better as phones than other manufacturers, but seriously, they need to hire some designers and usability experts!
http://www.rayn.net . Funny. Stuff.
I would like to buy a cellular phone (actually, I don't, but that's not the point). Just a phone. I don't want a camera, or MP3s, garage door opener, sex toy, videocamera, or on demand movies. Just a phone. Do you have one?
Thanks.
vodka, straight up, thank you!
Nokia expects to become the largest seller of portable MP3 players this year.
Then why not make a really good MP3 player? I'm not going to drop another chunk of change just because Nokia crams another "feature" into a cell phone.
If I want a digital camera, I'll buy a good digital camera. If I want a PDA, I'll buy a good PDA. If I want an MP3 player, I'll buy a good MP3 player.
My Swiss Army knife has lots of all-in-one features, but I'm not likely to use it to open my soup or screw in a new door knob. I have real tools for that.
Bulky phone with poor battery life, not enough storage to be a serious music player, screen too small for a PDA, not fast enough to run games.
Cell phone makers don't seem to understand a major problem with throwing every possible gadget in the world into one's cell phone: battery life. What happens when there's an emergency, and I need to call someone, but my phone is dead because I've been listening to MP3s, playing games, and taking pictures all day? What if I accidentally forget to stop the music when I stop listening, and it plays all day in my backpack? I'd rather separate my "fun" gadgets from my "necessity/emergency" gadgets, just in case.
Ogg Ogg Ogg Ogg Ogg ... How many times do you have to say it for frig'n sake?!!!
:T:R:A:N:S:
the Beeb's analysis is flawed methinks.
4Gb is a sweet spot on storage, but more importantly *everyone* is already carrying a phone.
if the phone means i don't have to worry about keeping and charging an ipod mini then it's a winner for me and mine.
'There is a Light that never goes out.'
I think that this is a cool sounding device but in my house a cell phone doesn't last longer than a year or so before it gets dropped, goes bad, or some other malady strikes it. If I dropped my 800 dollar cellphone/mp3 player/camera, I'd be irate to say the least. I'd also be interested to know what realistic battery life I could expect out of my phone when I've been playing music on it for half of the day.
Third, if they pay cash, the phone can't be traced to them.
Dude, digital cameras. These rank just above crayon drawings in the standard of evidence.
It's so amusing, I mean, don't you people actually ask questions before you buy into things? Here in Australia we have "phone shops" which are these non-provider-associated cell phone dealerships which hire salespeople to stand there all day and educate people on what provider lock is and why one provider is better than another. They make their money from selling phones and from getting people to sign up with providers who offer the best deal. That's basic capitalism.. every time I hear something about the US it sounds more and more like brainless consumers taking whatever your cartels will give you.
How we know is more important than what we know.
what good is bluetooth if there's nothing you'd want to get out from the phone or to the phone? these now announced phones are 3g so there's bluetooth usability right there as well.
,say, 300$ for just a bluetooth phone(whatever that might be, t610 or whatever but even that's not "just bluetooth") when you could get one that plays movies for 301$?
all the now announced n-series have bluetooth.
or hell, just get the n-gage off from somewhere cheapo cheap... it's got bluetooth too.
and would you really pay
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
The cell phone companies heavily subsidize the new phones, to convince you to sign up for a term contract. If you sign such a contract, they'd ding you for cancelling early. If you didn't sign the contract, then the phone cost a lot more.
Either way, it'd be cheaper to buy a specialized device, and the spec. device would provide much better quality product.
If you believe everything you read, you'd better not read. - Japanese proverb
Has anyone bought a mobile phone and decided *NOT* to use the telephone function? Why should one pay for an ongoing telephone service, when all one wants is a camera, hard disk and music player?
Well, if you buy it "subsidized" from Verizon or whoever, you have to sign a contract for phone service. If you break the contract it costs more than you saved on the phone.
If you don't buy it subsidized, it's a pretty high price for a camera or music player.
Why do I not care for any games or apps or cameras or music being stored on my phone?
I don't for the same reason I don't want any of that stuff on my PDA. Because telephones have enough battery problems as it is, and it's aggravating and embarassing and even dangerous to have your phone not work because you were listening to NiN and John Denver.
My ideal phone is a 4" long fat old-fashioned Nokia with a monochrome display and hours of talk time. Too bad you can't GET one any more because everyone's making phones with cameras and hard disks and laser pointers and sex toys, or at the very least color screens you can't read in sunlight.
It's a phone. It makes phone calls. It doesn't need to do any of these other things, badly and expensively, especially when they make it less effective at being a phone.
I wouldn't buy one of these for several reasons.
1: I drop my cellphone all the time. When I get mad, I throw it against a wall. So far Nokia phones have been the sturdiest, but with a hard drive in it, it wouldn't last me a week.
2: because it's got a hard drive in it, battery life would suck. I'm on call 24/7.
3: I've already got a phone.
4: I've already got a digital camera that does a pissy 5 megapixels.
5: I've got a mini-disc player which plays MP3, ATRAC, and I think WMA (but wfc anyway)
6: I've already got a portable device which plays movies/music -- my laptop. It's got 40GB of drive space.
The reason girls and Windows users don't understand UNIX is because all the documentation is in Man files.
If you're on the road / down-town / whatever and you see something and would like to take a picture of it, you could..
:)
A. Go home, get camera, return, take picture
B. Whip out the camera phone, take picture, carry on
If your boss calls you up telling you that he would like to see you on saturday at 7pm for a meeting, you could...
A. Remember it, program it into your PDA when you get home
B. Write it down on a piece of paper, program it into your PDA when you get home
C. Whip out your phone and toss it into the calendar app
I have no argument for the MP3 player as I have none
However, if you're a music lover, then why would you run around with a yet-another-device if your phone can play back MP3s just as good as your run-of-the-mill mp3 player ?
Sure, there's interface (hello iPod), but most people really don't use the interface that often. Point in case: iPod Shuffle
Back to your real life example...
Say you're in the bathroom, you open a cupboard door, and notice the knob's a bit loose. You could...
A. Walk into your toolshed / hobby area and fetch yourself a screwdriver, fasten the screw, return the screwdriver
B. Whip out your swiss army knife and fasten the screw
Nobody's saying that these phones will replace DSLRs, a blackberry, an iPod, or your (semi-)professional craftsman tools.
But if my phone had all the tools of my utility knife built-in, I just might find reason not to carry the utility knife around in my pants.
I'm tired of people recycling this garbage every time the issue of cell phones comes up. Think about what you're saying. You have a Swiss Army knife. You've probably been somewhere you needed a knife, or pliers or whatever. You whip out your multi-tool and get the job done. Sure, you could have done the job better if you had been carrying a power drill but that makes little sense, right? The whole point of having a multi-function tool is convenience. It may not be the best tool for the job, but you get stuff done.
I can think of several times where it would have been handy to have a camera phone. Usually it's some strange scene, like a funny sign. It would be cool to have an MP3 player on the phone if I run into an unexpected wait and feel like listening to some tunes.
To sum up, if you want to carry all of those devices around all the time, then do it and quit complaining when they add new features for cell phones. There are plenty of folks like myself that would like to have a sort-of digital Swiss Army knife that can do things like check a calendar or listen to some music in a pinch (but not quite at that price--ouch!)
harmonious design
If it can actually play those same mp3s as ringtones...quite a few.
;)
Still, this doesn't do much for me though since I didn't see Ogg Vorbis in that list. Seriously... I really dont' feel like re-encoding all my music b/c they were too lazy to add a completely free of charge feature to their phone... I know it's become sort of an obligatory joke to mention the lack of Ogg support in media players, but it really is a serious problem for some of us
"A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
Dude, digital cameras. These rank just above crayon drawings in the standard of evidence.
Have you seen security video??
These pix may not secure a conviction, but they can certainly point an investigation in the right direction.
'There is a Light that never goes out.'
iPod killer? Far fetched. The best I could claim would be iPod mini 4GB killer - and even then, that only depends on design, UI and tight integration with iTunes (haha, like Apple will let this one run through).
See, no, you are braindead. If you agree to get a provider locked phone for $50 instead of paying $350 outright for your phone you will have to stay with that provider. So if you see a plan with another provider that would cost you less you can't switch to it without playing another $50. Besides which, when you pay $50 for a phone you invariably get locked into a contract for 2 years which means you can't even change to another provider even if you wanted to pay the $50. What's more, because there's plenty of people just like you the provider has no incentive what-so-ever to reduce their prices. They know they can lock you in for 2 years so they don't bother competing. The result is that everyone gets very bad service and prices from the cell phone providers. Oh, and you can't even argue that what I'm saying isn't really so because of X factor or Y factor, the fact is that the US has the worse cell phone providers in the world simply because the rest of the world either refuse to lock themselves into schemes like this, or their government has passed deregulations which force the providers to compete.
How we know is more important than what we know.
Will this be anything like or as successful as their Gameboy killer?
The difference is that ipod is very easy to kill. It's an mp3 player, there is nothing special about it.
A gaming platform is a different thing altogether, because it represents a different level of "commitment", and is influenced by such things as availability of games.
Save your wrists today - switch to Dvorak
How long is the HD going to last in a phone???
I've have four Nokia phones as I got a new one with each job i took over the past 7 years. Each on has been dropped on the floor a number of times, and generally subjected to a fair bit of abuse. All four of them work, and I have never had a problem with any them.
I doubt a small hard drive could take this kind of punishment. One hard knock, and somethings going to break. I'd much prefer 1G of flash memory in a phone that I know will last me a few years.
Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated up.
The BBC article claims that this 4Gb device can hold "up to 3000 songs in CD quality".
Bollocks it does. My 4Gb iPod Mini claims to hold 1000 songs (I actually hit around 800, due to having some long stuff on there), and I don't know anyone that claims 128kbps lossy compression is actually "CD Quality". God only knows how they fudge the numbers to get that value.
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"