(*) sub-title: “Connected Holidays (with the N91)”
Back from a 2-week holiday… time flies… just realizing it’s the end of the week… and I haven’t blogged yet (!) … while there are so many interesting things happening to write about…
Before I left with my family and some friends to enjoy The Emporada Triangle I managed to buy the Nokia N91, the phone David Williams from Nokia demonstrated to me in November last year in London and which has been described in the blogosphere as the iPod killer.
Regulars of m-trends know about my passion for music-on-the-move and I had the pleasure to experience the Apple iPod 40Gb for over a year until it crashed unluckily and unreparable, too bad for such a solid music device. I decided to wait for the first real music-phone, it came later then expected but it has been worth the wait.
Apart from some adress book sync problems I managed to counter quickly thanks to Justin’s post and some Mac hacks here, my whole experience with the N91 has been just brilliant!
The first thing that impressed me was the quality of the sound watching a Real Player video… impressive. I added some 500 of my favourite tunes to the 4Gb harddrive, synchronised from my iTunes library and created new playlists on the fly while I connected the device to a hi-fi stereo… this is the first phone I know of with whom you can create instant parties everywhere, anytime 
I have been writing before on my doubts how to scroll big music libraries without a scroll wheel (as the ipod) but this doubt vanished completely after the first use.
The rest of the HD space I used mainly to download some podcasts with the Nokia Podcasting Application, I also installed Shozu (probably one of the best mobile apps around!) to upload some holiday pics with a click to Flickr.
Our host had a wi-fi connection in the house so I could browse the mobile web the first time for free (!) The latest Nokia Web Browser for S60 is probably the best I have experienced on a phone, with it’s zooming capabilities you can ‘browse’ a webpage the way you want it. The same browser lets you subscribe and store your favourite feeds; I can tell you I haven’t missed a thing on the news side though I had planned to disconnect completely for at least a couple of days 
I could perfectly browse my MyStrands Mobile account, I had some problems though listening to the Real Player audio previews due to some tough operator proxy settings. I read Justin Oberman selected my Connecting Cultures through Music article as Post of the Week of his Carnival of the Mobilists #41 hosting. I’ll accept the invitation for the brownies, Paula! I also installed the Free Mobilists’ Mobile RSS Reader package so I stayed tuned on my mobilists friends’ feeds, nicely bundled.
I wouldn’t type loads of email with that phone – there are other models for that, like the BlackBerry killer, but I could easily configure my regular email account and check my mails once in a while. I read Caroline launched the Wireless Industry Partnership and she informed me the 2nd CTIA Gathering of the Mobilists was fully booked for the 2nd time, great!
Well, this is basically a sum-up of the apps I used the most upto now, there’s still lots to discover – oh that SIP Client – and Visual Radio, no stations avilable yet in Catalonia… but too much to mention in one post, so I will have to update you on more experiences I guess…
So, what has this article to do with my title? Simply, it looks much more obvious that Nokia can add now easily more music features and storage to it’s phones than seeing Apple creating all those phone features to the iPod…
And oh btw: one of the features I appreciate the most is the ‘one touch button’ to switch from music listening to an incoming call and the ability to create a ringtone from any song in my library. You won’t get bored with this phone, Nokia is listening to it’s users… Mobile 2.0 is definately here… Driewerf hoera!
… Then he came home and did a Phone Software Update… better get used to it!
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13 Responses to Nokia N91 Kills the iPod *
about.me
Rudy De Waele
Enabling Next Generation Mobile Products & Services
Rudy De Waele is CEO & co-founder of Nyota Media - the world's first growth agency for innovative African entrepreneurs, start-ups and international companies that use technology to improve the lives of Africans.
He is a Mobile Strategist, Business Angel and Appreneur with over 18 years of experience in Internet technology, specialising in mobile innovation and start ups since 1999.
He is a co-founder of dotopen, Mobile Premier Awards, AppCircus and MobileMonday in Barcelona Spain, and is a member of the Mobile 2.0 Advisory Committee in both San Francisco and Barcelona.
Rudy has curated ground-breaking presentations in Mobile Trends 2020 (2010), Mobile Trends 2020 Africa (2011), and most recently Mobile Opportunities in Africa - Engaging the next Billion (2012).
He has consulted for Telefonica, Vodafone, MTN, Orange, Telcel, Millicom, Samsung, Nokia, BlackBerry, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Admob (acquired by Google), Louis Vuitton, Philippe Starck, Young & Rubicam, Cheil Worldwide.
A graduate from Singularity University, he has lectured at Web 2.0 Expo, The Next Web, PICNIC, next, MIDEM, Mobile 2.0, Mobile Monday and MIPTV.
Ciao
welcome to the world of N91. Try to install the Internet Radio for S60, the Apache S60 Web Server, Python S60.
Also try some Flash Lite 1.1 applications.
The phone is incredible, Wi-Fi makes it even better!!
Alessandro
N91 is no doubt one hell of a phone. I have stopped caring Ipod after N91 because it serves both purposes. It has an excellent sound quality and amazing features. Like, I have recently signed up with a free online phone backup service called zyb.com. It took me less than 5 mins to upload my 432 contacts. cool phone
[...] That’s what the m-trends blog thinks anyway – check out this review of Nokia’s new music handset. They love it, praise its audio capabilities, and reckon that: “It looks much more obvious that Nokia can add now easily more music features and storage to it’s phones than seeing Apple creating all those phone features to the iPod.” [...]
[...] Nokia N91 Kills the iPod * at m-trends.org hmm, sounds interesting, specially the podcast capabilities. How about car FM integration though? (tags: nokia n91 music mp3 ipod comparison) [...]
[...] A lovely review of the Nokia N91 at mobile trends (Nokia N91 kills the iPod) – the one I was waiting to check out … (he also mentions mac and nokia syncing). The blog mobile media show – talks about ‘power of demonstration‘ presenting demos on the mobile. “In the absense of a good live projection system I have opted for taking screen shots from my phone. I have found a great application to do this with – Screen Shooter (v1.0).” [...]
N91 Is An iPod Killer…
Mobile strtaegist Rudy De Waele has come out with a review of the N91 and rather bluntly says it Kills The iPod…Now that’s a headline we like…….
[...] Since my holidays in August, I use the N91 as my all-in-one multimedia machine carrying my favourite music everywhere and plug it into whatever sound system available; I was sceptical at first (I was one of those iPod die-hards!) but the N91 has become much more than just an iPod replacement for me. Some might found the phone heavy and big (it is!) but for me as of now, it is my favourite phone – I like when them toys are solid I can do anything I want to do with it and I can easily do it. You can read more about my N91 holiday experiences here. [...]
[...] The tireless Rudy De Waele needs no introduction from me, but perhaps surprisingly he didn’t feature one of his famous Women in Mobile posts. Instead, Rudy focuses on the brutal murder of the iPod by Nokia N91 - this was before the launch of the iPhone, which some would argue put the final nail in the iPod coffin quite cheerfully itself last month. Is Rudy right? I think so, but there’s plenty who would lynch him for such blasphemy and dissing of the House of Jobs. [...]
[...] My post Nokia N91 Kills the iPod * got selected amongst the 10 best Posts of the Year. As Russell indicates, the post might not be the best I wrote this year but I choose it because it’s a very spontaneaous post on what is currently possible to do with a mobile phone, all the features and functionalities experienced in a relaxed environment with friends during a 2-week holiday. Away from the daily PC/laptop professional environment, being able to fully experiment the potential of what we write about nearly every day, not always having the ability to test all devices and applications in depth. I believe devices more and more have to be tested in real environments and situations, not only on their technical potential, it’s not about what a phone can do but about what one does with it! [...]
[...] Rudy de Waele at m-trends.org – Nokia N91 Kills the iPod [...]
[...] * Arjan Olsder at Mobile Gaming Blog – The Big ‘07 Forecast * Dennis at Wap Review on 2006 – The Mobile Web Grows Up * Rudy de Waele at m-trends.org – Nokia N91 Kills the iPod * Xen Mendelsohn at Xellular Identity – Youth Mobile Trends Summary * Keith McMahon at TeleBusillis – Qualcomm: An Empire Under Siege * Pondering Primate – We Interrupt This Broadcast… * Michael Mace at Mobile Opportunity – We need a new mobile platform. Sort of. * Justin Oberman at Mopocket – Coltan and Your Mobile * Ajit Jaokar at Open Gardens – The Mobile Web Phone: A gedankenexperiment .. * and Stephanie Reiger Casual Mobile Snacks for Everyone [...]
[...] There is still another Khosla contest running for best “Post of the Year” (best on blogging on mobility related stuff). You can still vote here (password mobilists) for my best post selected for 2006. 3GSM, Announcements, Awards, blog, bloggers, blogs, Carnival Of The Mobilists, carnivalofthemobilists, cotm, Gathering Of The Mobilists, global peer awards, m trends.org, Mobile Events, mobilists, mtrends, Peer Awards 2007, rudy de waele, rudydewaeleThese icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]
[...] Nokia N91 Kills the iPod is an article claiming that the Nokia N91 music phone is much better than an iPod. [...]