GLOBAL – The trickle-down effect of top-end smartphone talents touching mid-range devices is a perpetual one, and is sharply brought into focus (sorry, couldn’t resist) with the appearance of leading web-connected services such as Nokia Image Exchange Lite on Nokia’s mid-range S40 handsets.
However, this constantly evolving hand-me-down process feels like less of a trickle and more of a torrent in recent months, with the accelerated emergence of a solid stable of more feature-heavy mid-range phones from Nokia, supported by an increasing collection of top-end mobile internet services such as Ovi Mail and GPS-powered Nokia Maps delivering the best and most innovative on-the-go services to a realm of devices typically reserved for absolute cutting-edge callers. I’m not of the school of thought that thinks the lines are blurring any faster between device categories, but rather that the peak is getting higher for the flagships, hence the incline becomes steeper and the roll-down faster. What do you think?
The new beta release of Nokia Image Exchange for S40 has appeared over at Beta Labs, and as ever is available for free download. The new version of Nokia Image Exchange for S40 is a Java app that’s been tailored to enable much of the same functionality as its S60 sibling, with simple sharing over-the-air via your network or Wi-Fi being the primary focus – it automatically pulls in your contacts, and auto registers you with an account when you begin, significantly streamlining the process of sharing shots on the trot. Another neat touch is that this version is tailored to be more suitable to folk without a flat-fee data plan, as it won’t automatically back-up all your images.
Nokia’s S40 platform is beginning to show its full potential, and perhaps what’s most exciting is that we’ve now fully scratched the surface and are truly beginning to dip the services spoon deep into the innovation jar, meaning mid-range is now really coming of age and taking a significant evolutionary step. Mmm.
Let us know what you reckon to this shift in the skill set of mid-range devices. As ever scribble down your thoughts in the comments section below.