Smartphones Show 48 is out (in YouTube and H.264 MP4 form), the highlight of which is a real world head to head challenge between the two black and silver flagships, the Nokia N95 8GB and the Apple iPhone (on O2). Watch Matt Radford of AAS and I as we try and assess the devices on common, every day tasks. Oh, and here's the RSS and iTunes feeds.
Read on in the full article.
another great podcast, as always steve. thankyou both 😊
I have a standard nokia n95 and using the podcasting app I ve downloaded the mp4 version of the show. The sound was ok but the screen was just black... Is there a problem with the file? I had never before had any problem with watching the ss on my nokia n95.
Given the blanket advertising on UK television I am really surpised at the lowish sales of the iPhone. I don't watch much TV but I see at least one O2 iPhone advert a day. Most CPW shops just have iPhone posters in their windows. At the last count (last Friday) O2 had only activated about 27,000 iPhones. Nokia have sold 50,000 units of some of their phones within a month with little or no advertising! Perhaps the iPhone is not as compelling as it appears to be. People love making videos with their phones, in the UK most people prefer SMS over email and T9 is more popular than most people would believe.
gemikon wrote:I have a standard nokia n95 and using the podcasting app I ve downloaded the mp4 version of the show. The sound was ok but the screen was just black... Is there a problem with the file? I had never before had any problem with watching the ss on my nokia n95.
Yep, same problem here on my E90. It plays back fine using CorePlayer though.
i also downloaded via wlan i live in the US so no 3g for me
i have an n95 8gb and this is the first time i was disappointed i hope it was just this video
:icon1:
Not working on my N95-1 v20.0.15 as well.
Also not working on my N95-1 with the new v20 firmware whereas before all the shows played back fine. Also, Steve's other video with the E61i refresh lags. GeekBrief TV and others play back fine.
With Nokia Multimedia Transfer N95 8GB actually integrates almost as good as the iPhone with the Mac, syncing both Music with iTunes and photos with iPhoto, and also adds a device browser.
If you have OSX Leopard its even better, you don't even need the Nokia Multimedia Program, without installing any drivers/software, plug in the USB lead and iPhoto opens immediately allowing you to transfer your images.
If you pair your N95 with bluetooth, Leopard automatically gives you the option to set up your N95 as a GPRS/3G/3.5G modem (something incidentally you can't do with an iPhone) and you can of course still install the Nokia Multimedia Transfer application for iTunes sync.
After using the iPhone for about a week, I realize that it is not so much a phone as it is an iPod Touch with a phone. Apple has created a really great iPod that can sometimes receive calls, send and receive an occasional SMS. Anything more than this shows how crippled the iPhone truly is.
jah wrote:Given the blanket advertising on UK television I am really surpised at the lowish sales of the iPhone. I don't watch much TV but I see at least one O2 iPhone advert a day. Most CPW shops just have iPhone posters in their windows. At the last count (last Friday) O2 had only activated about 27,000 iPhones. Nokia have sold 50,000 units of some of their phones within a month with little or no advertising! Perhaps the iPhone is not as compelling as it appears to be. People love making videos with their phones, in the UK most people prefer SMS over email and T9 is more popular than most people would believe.
Also an impressive thing to probably note here is apple have sold (as per your post) 27000 units of a single model - the iphone. Nokia may have sold 50000 units, but they are across models.
I think 27000 units is way below expectations. A friend of mine that manages a branch of a well known shop that doesn't actually sell any car phones said that they had to ship a load of unsold boxes back now the initial interest has subsided. They needed to clear the store area.
The biggest problem is the silly cost. The iPhone does what it does extremely well but doesn't actually do much. People aren't about to go mad on something that has an 18 month contract when the iPod touch gives them what they want without a tie-in. If it was less bulky and had 3G then it might be more attractive, and there are many more functional phones in smaller form factors with 3G out there.
I'm sure that there will be many more customers for the iPhone as people reach the end of their existing tie-ins. But really, all people need to do is play with one for half an hour, get the gimmicky stuff out of their system and there is not much of substance left.
I agree. I have played with a couple of iphones too, and apart from the good UI, there is really nothing much to keep smartphone users interested.
Thanks, all, I'll check the file format of the MP4 and re-upload - though I didn't do anything different at my end - must be a random glitch. Watch this space!
@malerocks
please read my post again. In the UK CPW have sold 50,000 units of specific models in one month not all models. And these figure are just for CPW!
OK, I've fixed it. I was using a rendering option that came on automatically that I don't remember being there before. I turned it off and now the MP4 plays fine on my N95. Uploading as I speak. Please re-download after 9.30am GMT.
@Ratkat
That�s good to know about the Leopard integration. I�m sure that by the time my current contract�s up (May �09) that S60 will sync flawlessly with OS X. They�ve just got to sort out a small SyncML calendar issue and exact mapping of contact fields and I think we�re there 😊
As I said to Steve when we were filming the video comparison, I�ve come to the conclusion that the iPhone is a �smart phone� for regular users, rather than a smartphone for power users. A small distinction, but I think the iPhone makes it obvious that there�s lots you can do with the phone, in an easy manner and without getting too lost. Reverting to the Mum test yet again, I can hand her my N70 and she�ll get immediately lost with all the icons and buttons.
(Part of the beauty of S60 is that there are multiple ways of doing things, allowing for more advanced users to get the most out of their device. I often feel a bit constrained by the iPhone�s one way of doing things, despite it being quick in doing them.)
But small changes will make a high difference to S60 I believe. Take the change of logo on the home key to a house icon on more recent S60 devices - this can only help in making things more obvious i.e. �press this key to get to the useful stuff other than making a call�. A few less buttons would help as well. Even when the N95 is closed there are 8 buttons and the D-pad on the front fascia with 13 possible actions from key presses (not including �long hold� key presses). Perhaps this could be simplified to just a home key, call, cancel and two soft keys. Or even drop those two soft keys as well. Or have the home key be the D-pad. We can play around with the form factor of the keys without having to end up with the 7610 keypad again...
I've come to the conclusion that anyone who needs a smart phone should keep their current one. If you like the flashy iPhone user interface and Wi-Fi web browsing then get an iPod touch for �180. It will satisfy most needs.
Unfortunately I am stuck with my drawer-filling iPhone contract for 18 months 😞
One day I will learn.
nope, i downloaded the mp4 file & its not working on my desktop.... vlc, media player classic, etc all have failed to render the file.....any fixes?
I'm stumped then. The MP4 on the server now plays in Quicktime Player and on both my Nokia N95s..... Anyone else able to confirm that the new version (uploaded after 9.30am) works OK or not?
Any chance of running the tests again one-handed?