Migrating from Nokia E91 to BlackBerry Bold

Its hard enough for someone like me to upgrade phones, let alone move to a different manufacturer.

I've always used a Nokia ever since I had my first mobile phone (at 18) and working for Symbian for 2 years made me more loyal to, well, Symbian phones than ever. And since Symbian's biggest buyer (at the time) was Nokia, that meant that I stuck to Nokia even though I got to play around with the excellent Sony Ericsson P9xx series. Of course, since then Nokia has bought over Symbian, thus confirming the control structure that we all knew anyway.

My last Nokia phone was the clunky E90 - big enough to double as a weapon, but certainly feature rich and impressive in some ways. For example, it could vibrate - unlike its predecessor the 9300. In the end, it was a decision to switch to BlackBerry rather than to move away from Nokia - everyone around me seemed to be addicted and I just had to try it out.

Addictive is the perfect word for the BlackBerry. I am a few years late, but I'm pretty certain everyone devoted inches of news space for studies on how it affects relationships, makes people rude, etc. And frankly, anyone who's ever complained about it should buy one.

I ended up buying the Bold, at a hefty Rs. 35,000 (approx GBP 500) and despite some frustrations, it has been a happy switch. Firstly, it is easy to use - the roller ball looks pretty enough as it guides you through menus, most of which are pretty simple and useful. The only thing that took me a while was to deal with numbers and upper-case on the keyboard. Installation was easy enough but customising it took me a while. I suspect BlackBerrys are just meant to be corporate clones of each other and hence it does take a while to change ring tones, wallpapers, profile settings, etc.

Migration of data, though, was a nightmare. Still is, given that I have yet not been able to transfer saved messages from my old phone. The BB software is a joke for migration, since it doesn't recognise anything other than BB or Windows Mobile for transferring data. I had to do it the rough way of transferring all my data from my E91 to MS Outlook and then from Outlook to the BB. I had to manually transfer all my old mobile multimedia files to the computer and then to the BB. I would have just thought it was a waste of time, but it was also a huge annoyance when I discovered that the BB doesn't understand the concept of more than one mobile number for a contact. This meant that for every contact that had more than one mobile number, only the first was copied. Yes, that's right, I had to go through every contact and manually type in the extra mobile number as 'other' or 'home'.

Which really does annoy me. The worst possible application on the BB is clearly the Contacts. It is the worst contact application I have ever seen on any phone. Here is why -
1) It does not transfer more than one mobile number when transferring data (see above)
2) It does not allow the call log to add any given number to an existing contact. If one wants to save a number on the call log, for some reason this is always a new contact
3) If one does decide to add a number from the call log to a new contact, the default field for that number is 'work'. No choice given, just work.
4) One cannot scroll in a loop - if you must see a contact starting with Z, you better know the name or scroll all the way to the bottom
Ok, so the 4th one was a frivolous complaint, but still.

The calendar doesn't help either, I always miss anniversaries and birthdays now because it doesn't show up on the home screen (unlike the E91).

However, once you get past the initial changes, the addiction sets in. BlackBerry Messenger, for starters, is what I would imagine as a secret society. Only BB users have access to it, and although it requires knowing the other users PIN (BB issued serial), once everyone is added it is addictive. Think of instant messaging on your phone. Oh, and funny enough, GTalk and Msn are available for BB too. Between SMS, emails, BBM and GTalk, it really does at times get difficult to get my attention. I've learnt to try and keep it on the side when I'm alone with someone else, but that took a while.

The obvious result, though, was that my battery would only last 12-14 hours. Yes, that's it. I had to charge it while I slept and it would be dead before I was home, especially on a night out. Not very handy. Oh, and a feature of the BB is that when the battery dies, it has to charge up to one bar before one can use it for anything that requires network. How nice.

Buying a spare battery was a nightmare. There are no legal spares in India and I suspect in most other countries. BB retails primarily through network operators and the Indian ones don't stock any accessories. If you lose your case, you just have to go online to the online store and have accessories delivered all the way from the US. Which of course meant that accessories delivered to India are about 50% more expensive than the UK. The UK store accepts only UK credit cards, which was another annoyance, but I finally managed to buy a spare battery and charger through a friend in the UK. The spare charger is brilliant, since it allows me to charge the spare battery without the phone and therefore every time my battery dies I have a charged up battery waiting for me at home.

The email program is clearly the best, since it is fast, feature rich and easy to use. The search function works like a charm, as do the attachment viewers. SMS also has the very useful 'mark unopened' feature which allows me to reply to some at my own convenience. The full querty keyboard was clearly not made with big stubby fingers in mind, but it works eventually. The other thing to get used to is that typing with one hand (while driving) is now virtually impossible. For those who thought this would be a good thing, it isn't - I often drive slowly in traffic with both hands off the wheel. Yes, sue me.

Overall, the BB is split by applications which are either pure genius or written by idiots. I'm pretty happy with my move to BB and frankly love the phone overall, but that's because it makes it much easier to stay in touch with people all over the world.

Its the ones that are in town that lose out.

Nokia E90 Review

Nokia E90 Communicator
Rating: 8 / 10
Price: Rs. 35,000 (£450)

Finally, the focus shifts from food to a more material thing, namely my shiny new E90 phone. I am not in a position to do an objective review of this phone, given it isn't my first communicator. My previous 9300 has been dropped so many times that both the screens barely work, bless them. I have used the 9300 for a year and a half and love it, however slow and error prone it is. So you are more likely to find an objective review at my-symbian

Evil Marketing Genius
It is quite interesting to note that, I was forced to purchase the E90 and did not buy it out of the desire to own the coolest new business phone on the block - which it certainly is. My policy on mobile phones is to wait minimum 6 months or a year before purchasing that model - firstly that means that any software bugs would be ironed out by then (Those two years working at Symbian didn't go to waste). And of course secondly it does mean that the phone by then costs about half its original price. However, the evil marketing staff at Nokia have decided to stop supplying the 9300i so that people are forced to buy the E90, and to be fair I don't blame them for being smart about it . Another policy is to not give any opinion on a new phone for at least a month, because that is how long it takes to get used to every little nuance of the new phone. But what the hell, this is the first Thursday night at home in a long time!

Unwrapping the Beast
Having purchased my E90 (a birthday present), I could not contain my excitement and had to open it up as soon as I could. I have to say it is a bigger beast, and it has been described as a bigger pencil box, which isn't far off. But it is a gorgeous beast. The dark chocolate brown with steel hinges and a steel strip on the outer case makes it look pretty smart and impressive. The battery itself is huge but sadly enough does not last more than 24-36 hours of average usage. The box itself is boring - I was expecting more for my money.

Transferring old Data
I do like the way things have progressed since the days of my first mobile, the 3330. Transferring messages was easy then as most were on the Sim. Hell, I wouldn't really mind losing texts when I can only store 10 (yes that's how many I could store on that phone). Transferring contacts was a whole different matter though and I don't think I ever successfully did so back then. But now, moving large chunks of data to a new phone is pretty easy and hassle-free. The PC Suite software has a good transfer application but that does not transfer text messages, gallery, bookmarks, etc. Cue for a pre-installed application "Data Mover", which is pretty damn easy to use and useful (it sends an installation file to your previous communicator via bluetooth so that the old phone then is able to transfer to the new). Aside from the message transfer being painfully slow, the overall moving data/settings from the old phone is a pretty easy process. However, first time communicator users might find it more difficult transferring data from other models.

User Interface
Setting up the E90 is pretty simple, and since it is based on Series 60 user interface (now S60), it should be pretty familiar to most nokia users. Communicators so far used Series 80 UI which I suspect was dumped in order to be more cost effective, and replaced by S60 used in most other Nokia+Symbian mobiles. I have to be honest, it is really nice to have a mobile phone that actually makes phone calls. Seriously, it would be quite common for my 9300 to crash, or not respond (especially if there would be a call wait) or just get confused and get a bit slow.

I have to say, I am very impressed with the speed. It takes about 25 seconds to boot, and it is lightning quick at deleting/moving bulk messages and contacts. Well done, it really does seem like a whole new OS underneath the new Interface.

Although it is shiny and fast, I still miss the tiny features of the old Series 80 based communicator. Here are my top useful features missing :

1) The log application. God the log application of any S60 phone is a disaster. Too much effort to see the number, and impossible to see the times of a series of missed calls.
2) Battery death. Something I thought was unique and a pleasant surprise - when the 9300 battery dies, it first disables the phone application and along with it the features on the outer screen. However, the inner screen still allows you to access contacts, messages, etc. which means you can easily get in touch with people if you don't remember their number
3) Messaging. Oh lord, messaging. What a mess - they cut down on features which I absolutely loved. Firstly, I loved the ability to schedule text messages as opposed to sending them immediately. Secondly, you could keep open several texts at a time - very useful when you don't have time to reply but don't want to forget which texts need replying. Thirdly - well call me cheap - but I don't notice anymore when I am using multiple messages instead of one. So if i am using 1 character more than can fit in a text message, I pay for two. Very clever. Lastly - I do feel that the guy who decided on this should be shot - message details are a pain as you need to consciously go to the menu and look for them. Why can't basic information such as sender's number and time according to sender's phone be shown?

All in all I don't like the change. Yes, I know someone is going to throw a copy of "Who Moved My Cheese" but still - I can deal with other menu changes but these are just part of what I feel the communicator should have but sadly they don't. And I blame Nokia, for choosing to use S60 instead of improving upon the Series 80.

Applications
Will be honest, have not bought any yet. The one I do want is a dictionary, which I will get round to soon I hope. The applications on the phone already are pretty impressive and either new or improved versions. I was particularly pleased with the Data Mover, as mentioned previously, and the speed at which Contacts, Messaging and Camera work. I particularly appreciate that the Gallery application shows ALL photos together instead of having to browse through different folders. Coupled with a search feature, that makes it perfect.

I have to admit, I have not yet got my email to work even though I have tried it on Wifi and GPRS. For both the messaging app attempts to login but then does nothing much for a while. Bit silly, given how important email would be if I were planning on using work email on my phone.

The Web application is fantastic! An amazing browsing experience due to the ability to render pages as any computer would and the larger screen.

GPS - does not apply as I am in India ! sigh.

All in all I think Nokia has done a fantastic job on each application and hope that I will buy some pretty good apps online.

Summary
I would definitely recommend the E90, especially to any first time Communicator buyers. It is a fast, smart and extremely functional. If you can look past the obvious size and weight I do honestly think it is the perfect phone for any business or intensive mobile user. I do wish Nokia decided to improve on the old Communicator but I suppose the benefits are in the added features and better speed. Fantastic buy although I would ideally wait for it to get to about 25% lesser than the current price.

iPhone - Yawn...

Wow. You know the marketing team at Apple are doing great when they can get people to talk about the iPhone as part of a social dinner (other topics were what schools to send kids to and recent films out in the cinema) . See the Baron's opinion too.

It just amazes me that there is so much buzz about a product that -
1. Is not conceptually revolutionary (music + internet + phone on one gadget?!)
2. Is not technically revolutionary (the specs say it all)
3. Is not even out, or reviewed
4. (Forgive me for sounding like an old bitter man) Is riding on the marketing campaign and the past success of the iPod rather than the product itself.

Admittedly the UI looks superb, and it would be nice to buy songs off iTunes on-the-go. But you just know that its another pretty product that will have some cool rock band promoting it just to get the pretentious people to buy it. Cue the gold D&G Razr. Which forces me to question why people are so easily influenced by marketing and "cool" products rather than functional ones.

Of course the more interesting topic is that of Apple and entering the smartphone OS market with OS X. Now from what I hear it is the best OS in the world if you believe any iBook user. But where Microsoft have failed (so far), Apple could probably succeed purely on their ability to make phones based on pretty look and feel and paying attention to what the user would like.

I can see Nokia having to re-think it's strategy for gaining a larger piece of the American mobile pie. I suspect they should just get Cavalli or Louis Vuitton to lend their brand to one of their phones. If you can't beat 'em......