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Patrick Walsh is a man on a mission. In the last six years, he’s travelled through seven continents, visiting everywhere from the Antarctica to Zimbabwe, and one thing he always packs first is his Nokia. During his adventures, he’s had a Nokia N95, a Nokia N8, a Nokia Lumia 800 and a Nokia 808 PureView. In a two part series, he shares the reasons why he uses Nothing but a Nokia to travel through some of the most remote destinations on earth.

The camera

When I started out on my trip, my Nokia N95 had a fantastic 5-megapixel camera.  Then I got a Nokia N8 that had an awesome 12-megapixel camera.  Now I have a Nokia 808 PureView that has a mind-blowing 41-megapixel camera.  Nokia devices have always been ahead of the game when it came to the cameras.  

Photo 1 Nail-1

However, I must stress that the megapixel count only tells one part of the story of why they appeal to me so much. The high qualify images derived from Nokia cameras results from the high-resolution sensor, the inbuilt ND filter, the lossless zoom, the Carl Zeiss Tessar f/2.4 lens and the lowlight performance oversampling.  It is this that sets the new breed of Nokia devices apart from the rest and has them competing at a DSLR level.

The battery life

Whether I am camping in the Middle East, sitting on a train in Siberia or on safari in Africa, then one thing that I need to be able to rely on is the durability of the battery in my equipment. 

Photo 2 Bus

When those with DSLR and ‘point and shoot’ cameras or other brand mobile phones are frantically searching for a power point for a recharge, my Nokia devices (which I keep on powersave mode) can run for up to a five days without a recharge.

The connectivity

I set out to travel the world with the plan of using only my Nokia devices to meet all my requirements, from camera to email to alarm clock – thus the name ‘Nothing but a Nokia’.  During this time, I have maintained a fully interactive journey.

Photo 3 Leads

This has enabled people from across the globe to follow my journey online as I utilise the functionality of my Nokia device to interact on places of interest, to-do’s and whatever other unexpected experiences my adventures throw up.  It is only as a result of the fantastic connectivity of my Nokia devices, starting out with the N95 and right up to the current Nokia Lumia 920, that this has been possible.

The memory size

I always take into consideration the ability of my equipment to safely store and retrieve my information.  Whether that is the ‘phoneographs’ that I capture or my daily journal and insights, I have to place huge trust in my equipment to store what I document. 

Photo 4 PH

In the regard, my Nokia devices have always been so reliable that I actually used them to write my books.  I wrote nearly all of my first book ‘is: The Phenomenon of the Facebook Status’ on my Nokia N95 by typing the ‘insights’ into my phone and then mailing them to myself when I got in range of wifi.  My new book ‘Life is’ consists of 50 ‘phoneographs’, all of which I captured and stored on my Nokia devices during my travels.  I am yet to run out of memory space on a Nokia device.

The ‘basics’

For a backpacker each of these, so-called, ‘basics’ are some of the most important features on a Nokia device as if they weren’t built it, I would have to carry them with me:

1. Alarm clock – With many flights, trains and buses leaving early in the morning, a reliable alarm clock is a necessity. 

2.Calculator – When dealing in many different currencies, even an accountant needs to have a calculator handy to ensure I am not being ripped off. 

Photo 6 Toilet

3. Calendar – How many days, weeks or months have I left until my next flight?

4. Reminders – You know the saying “Time flies when we are having fun”?  Well, that applies to backpackers more than anyone, so I need to be reminded of important dates every so often.

5. Messaging – With roaming rates so high, I keep my Nokia on flight mode and each evening I will ‘go live’ to receive messages from friends and family.  This is the simplest, easiest and most cost effective way of staying in touch when far from a wifi connection. 

Five fantastic reasons why you should put a Nokia smartphone at the top of your packing list. But these aren’t the only reasons, Patrick will share five more next week. However, if you can’t wait that long feel free to share your reasons why a Nokia is the perfect travel companion for every modern day Phileas Foggs.

Image credits: Patrick Walsh