First look at the Nokia N70
by Volker Weber
The Nokia N70 which I won last week arrived today in a nice standard Nokia box. On first look this is a pretty neat device -- Nokia went back to a clean design. The phone has a slider on the back which protects the lens and the little LED photo light. When you slide it back, the camera application is loaded and you can take pictures either holding the camera sideways and using the button at the right side, or holding it up using the center of the 4-way-button. The camera knows which side is up, so it autorotates the pictures you are taking. Interestingly enough you are taking landscape photos when holding it up and portraits when holding it sideways.
Once I had charged the battery and inserted a SIM I was ready to sync the phone with the iBook. Load the Bluetooth assistant, add device, mobile device, switch on Bluetooth on the N70, and I was home free:
Other than the 9300 the N70 was supported right off the mark in iSync 2.2. 10 Minutes later it was holding all of my contacts and the calendars. And there was no software to install. The rest of the phone was very predictable from my experience with the 6630. Symbian with Series 60 UI. The N70 comes with Opera, which is a much better browser than the 6630 had.
One thing that continues to bother me with Nokia devices is their interfaces. Although the N70 is advertized as a music phone, you cannot plug in standard headphones. You have to use the crappy ones that come with the phone or buy some dongle to translate from the proprietary nonsense to a 3.5mm plug. You cannot charge the device over a USB cable, you have to use the one Nokia sells you with the device. And yes, they changed the tip of the charger cable again. The charger that came with the N70 wasn't even functioning well. I had to use the one with the bigger tip supplied with the 9300 and an adapter to fit the N70.
Can we get over this nonsense and move to standard jacks and chargers?
Comments
Yes, please give us standard chargers. Best would be one for all devices, not a single one for every device i have. But probably the lobby of charger manufacturers will not be pleased by such a solution.
From my first Nokia 5110 onwards I kept all the Nokia chargers and they all worked with the following phone generation(s). So in my view, Nokia has been the one device company with the most consistent charger compatibility over the years.
My choice of a Sony Ericsson P910 last year was a really tough one, because I had so many Nokia chargers including some UK ones. And then the prize of the 9100 fell and honestly I regretted not having waited a bit longer.
