GLOBAL – My history with mobile devices is a long one, as I started to work in the industry in 1989. I’ve tried every mobile device imaginable, at least any worth its salt in its time, in a country where AMPS was the standard. I am almost a mobile phone freak because of their ability to bring people together and keep us always connected. Incredibly, my first Nokia phone was one of those life’s coincidences because I was given a Nokia 1100 and couldn’t help becoming almost addicted to the brand. I have tried almost all Nokia smartphones, especially the E and N ranges. It’s hard for me to choose just 3, but here it goes:
Nokia 1100: Who cannot bow down, in worship, to a phone that can stand shock, water and many days without charging its battery? Who can forget… the device’s flashlight? I remember saying “my phone has a flashlight, SMS and Snake. I don’t need anything else…” Weird times 🙂
Nokia 6131: Can Nokia manufacture a high-quality clamshell? That question was answered by the Nokia 6131, a model I own since 2006 and which has stood all my abuses and those of my son, and which now is my mother’s phone. The fact that in 2006 a phone would have FM radio, a browser supporting XHTML and, on top of that, MP3 as ringtones for a ridiculously low price… made up for any bugs the device might have. Hey, I can today use Gmail on the phone, even over mediocre networks…
Of course, after this phone, my transition to a smartphone was very natural. And using Symbian, one would think of a Nokia N80, which captivated me since its launch. But something I cannot resist is a good keyboard or a good camera. So, when I chose my latest favorite Nokia, I seriously thought of a N82 with one of the best cameras and optics on the market, or of an E71, which has some perfection in its “business phone” keyboard… But I won’t go for any of those. I’ll go for the future…
The Nokia N900 with Maemo 5 is the future of Nokia. It’s the future of mobile phones with always-on connectivity and on-the-cloud services we all think of when sitting in front of a PC. But this is evidence of the mobile world’s potential. This phone, after just one week in my hands, seriously persuaded me that it is the fourth screen, and that I should choose it because of that. Cool keyboard, clean and inconspicuous design, and a clearly up-and-coming OS.
So I think my list marks my relationship with Nokia – the distant past with a monochrome phone and SMS; a mobile device that made me understand my need for a smartphone, and finally, a phone that ushers in the future of mobility.
* Mariano Amartino is a blogger based (whenever not inside an airplane) in Argentina. He runs celularis.com and uberbin.net, two of the most read technology blogs in Spanish. He is a long time leading voice in the Spanish world whenever the subject is internet, technology, entrepreneurship or anything surrounding his ears.