Gadget Fantasyland

I've been playing with a couple of 3G phones (sadly, not mine), the chunky Nokia N6680, and the drool-inducing Nokia N90.

The N6680 is an annoying beast. After using a bunch of Series 60 phones, I cannot understand how Nokia manages to sell these things. The interface is clunky and slow. Heck, the Series 40 has a more intuitive and snappier UI. When I first used a 7650, I chalked up the clunkiness to the fact it's ancient. But the 6680 is no better. It's still far too slow.

Now I understand the popularity of the Handspring Treo650. You can't beat a 312-MHz ARM processor and the PalmOS is still (in my opinion) far superior to the misbegotten mutant daughter of Psion EPOC that is Symbian (and it sounds like an infamous sex toy, to boot).



But anyway. Back to the drool-inducing N90. Unfortunately, it's still a Series 60 phone. But it has the brightest, sharpest, most fluid viewfinder I've ever seen on a phone. Or on a digital camera, for that matter. Beats the heck out of the screen on the Samsung D500, that's for sure. It probably bests the live display on the Canon Ixus SD500, which although superseded by the SD550 is still a top-tier compact digital camera. Also, Nokia's brazen "Carl Zeiss optics" monicker does nothing but draw a wince. The damnable lens has two aperture settings. I'm sure this piece of Carl Zeiss' leftovers is a hyperfocal distance queen. So why bother label it with Carl Zeiss? it's like sticking a disegno Pininfarina emblem on the boxy Hyundai Matrix.


I still want one of each though.

On another topic, Nokia seems to be on a roll. Their E60 handset has built-in wifi and, more interestingly, a VoIP client. I assume it's SIP-based somehow. Now that is interesting..