The 666 gadget industry
I must say over the last couple of years I have had a torrid time with technology. I wouldn't consider myself to be a gadget geek, but if I look around I own a lot more than most people. Here they are in no particular order
Zune 30GB
Nokia E65
Nokia N95 8GB
PSP
IPod Nano
Zen Stone
My post today is about the treachery and total debauchery of the gadget industry! First lets start with Sony Eriksson ... for all purposes I will chose to blame the Swedes ... I know there social system is buckling under uncontrolled immigration ... but for heaven sake the W950i was a joke! For me this very clearly shows the Fins superiority - Go Kimi! Nokia reliably produce good quality handsets. What makes them so great? Well its very simply the software. I would love to know what goes into there development cycles. I think Nokia have really got a great thing going. The product speaks for itself!
Sony/Ericson W950i Hell (Blame the Swedes)
Now I had my handset replaced twice and all the bugs listed below I found in both! I real testament to poor software design and implementation!
Bugs
1. Alarm. Every time you create an alarm it creates a new alarm. Old alarms cannot be removed. That means you have about 10 alarms going off everyday. Some in a row.
2. Clock. The clock slows down every couple of weeks and has to be reset
3. Reception. The phone indicates that it has reception. Next thing you know you have a voice mail. So calls go directly to voice mail.
4. Locking. When the phone is locked the music player can still be activated .
5. Degrading. The software degrades very quickly! Menus start disappearing. The device slows down completely.
These issues are so small. However they affect the use of the product to such an extent the product becomes unusable! The phone overall was not even close to ready for release but they decided to do it anyway! Personally I will never buy a Sony Eriksson again. I think the best rule of thumb here is dont get stuff when its hot off the shelf. The phone just arrived and I should've waited for the reviews. Reading around on the net now its clear ... the phone bombed!
Product Rating. 1/10. Only because I dont give 0. Don't buy this! Even if all the bugs are fixed its rubbish.
Zune 30GB
Im a very happy microsoft programmer. Yes I do know how to do a hundred workarounds for most things. However I find the .NET framework to be a happy place for me to plot my path for evil world domination. I decided based on my belief that MS is doing a good job to checkout the Zune 30GB. It is the direct competitor for the IPod 30GB. Here are a few things you should know before purchasing this device.
1. Its not thin
2. Syncing takes forever - I mean forever. All files are converted to ZUNE compliant format.
3. It only supports a few formats. You have to convert everything to MS format ... MS then converts it a Zune format. I left mine running overnight and it loaded up two 800 MB movies.
4. The software for loading up files is not user friendly and it took me a fair bit of time to get used to it. Things like auto syncing really annoyed me. It syncs directories ... so if you remove a file from your PC it removes it from the Zune.
The software on the device is excellent though! It is smooth quick to react and very intuitive! However I think that MS failed BIG time when deciding not to support more formats!
Product Rating 6/10. Lots of space. Good device software. Poor PC software. Nightmare on Sync street.
NOKIA N95 8GB
Consistency. Small steps. Keep it simple. What goes on at Nokia I would love to know. These Fins with their suicidal rally and F1 drivers seem to chern out the best phones year after year. I think its to cold up there so they just eat potatoes and have public discussions about the next Nokia. This is also further enhanced by some Rally driving, vodka drinking and wife carrying ... sometimes all together. Then its back to discussing the next Nokia.
If you are thinking about purchasing a Nokia N95 8GB ... DO IT! This in the same vein as the E65 is one of the best devices I have found. I sometimes find myself pondering when the next gadget that will fill the void in my life will be released. You know that gadget that begets all gadgets. The device with the Phone, Camera, Music, Video, Gaming, Internet, Business etc ... Well lets just say the void is very very close to being filled.
9/10 Because I dont give 10's.
Nokia represent wisdom in my book. All these products have been approached with a different philosophy. W950i must have been following Homer Simpsons ... Dope ... The alarm wont work ... Dope ... No one will figure it out.
I think we all can learn from Nokia! Long live the Finns!