July 25th, 2006 by Justin Oberman
Much to suprise, and without warning I have recently been shipped Nokia’s new N Series Music Phone the N91. Perhaps it was because I was not anticipating it or perhaps it because I am not one who carries music around with me everywhere I go (I have a second generation iPod with about 4 gig of music stuck on it that never gets used) or perhaps because I was awaiting the N90 but upon opening the package I was excited to see that it was the much talked about N91 but did not feel the fanatic urge to dive into it and start playing. My brother is much more the musician and I figured I would just let him test drive it a little bit. But he uses Verizon, which is CDMA, so the option of him testing out this GSM phone (besides in my company) was pretty much out of the question.
For the last couple of days it sat in my travel bag, wiping it out from time to time showing it off to people I know would be awed. But the time was coming that I had to write a review. I set aside some time,took out the phone. Put in my SIM card and started to play. My opinion has since RADICALLY changed.
The N91 is a powerful phone. Actually, it more of a portable music player first and a phone second. If the phones very appearance (the dial pad is only exposed by sliding down the music keys which sit on top of the phone) does not convince you of that then its 4GB hard drive, 3.5 mm stereo headset jack, wireless LAN support (I sense future mobile LAN music stores), dedicated music keys, and easy PC synchronization with Windows Media Player should.
My one big complaint is that the back of the phone was VERRY VERRY difficult to slide open to access the battery and SIM Card holder. You really have to press the side button down and push down on the back of the phone hard to get that sucker to open. But, so far I am amazed at how well the battery holds up as it works in duel functionality as both a phone and an MP3 player throughout the day.
This is also my first time playing with a 3rd Edition Symbian device (N91 is Symbian OS v9.1 Symbian 60 3rd Edition). Maybe its the hard-drive or maybe its the Symbian but whatever it is the Symbian Operating system runs better than any Symbian phone I have ever used. It has zero, I mean zero lag.
I do, however, miss the flash from the N70.
Syncing With A Mac
My one, usual, complaint is that the phone came with all the syncing software you could possibly need… if you are a windows user… and being that I am still using an old IMB chip Apple Power Book G4 I immediately set to the task of finding a way to sync the N91 with iSync and thus get all my mac calendar and address info onto the phone. Luckily, thanks to Mac Hacks just like me I was able to get all the info I needed on how to do this here, here and especially here. I am syncing like a charm now, between my Nokia 6682, N70, Treo 650 and now Nokia N91.
As my attention turned to the Mac I then realized that since this is a music phone I should probably put some music on it. Only problem is all my music is on my apple computers iTunes. How do I sync the n91 to that. Well, while Nokia is not up to par on the iSync syncing (don’t get me wrong though, they are the fastest Mac compatible phone manufacturer out of any of them… but maybe thats Apple’s doing, anyways…) it appears that Nokia already thought of that one.
Nokia released some software called Nokia Music Manager for Mac thats lets 1) Import music from your CD collection to your Macintosh hard drive and 2) Transfer AAC and MP3 files from your Macintosh hard drive to your Nokia N91 and back again (2-way) as well as Select music automatically and manually Create playlists on your Mac or Nokia N91 Access track info such as albums, artists, genre, etc. (with Nokia Music Manager plug-in). You can also use iTunes on the Mac* to manage your music for the N91 Unfortunately, music purchased from the Apple iTunes Music Store cannot be played on the Nokia N91. Well, we cant have it all, can we Apple.
Anyways, I downloaded the Nokia Music Manager for Mac, synced a whole plethora of music onto the (and left a whole plethora of iTunes songs behind). Nevertheless, its enough to really leave my iPod behind for good as a phone / Mp3 player in one device is really all I need (if I where into that sort of thing).
It is on these grounds that I have been using the N91 as my primary phone for a couple of days now. I am surprised as to how well the battery life holds up as the phone gets duel usage as an Mp3 player and phone (both pretty heavily). And the transition between music playing and a call and back again was so obviously simple I did not notice it at first. While the phone is pretty big its duel purpose usage seems to make up for the clunk in your pocket.
SOME METAPHYSICAL THOUGHTS
But here is a little speculative thought I have been thinking about. I wonder what the “go through” rate is of how many people “go through” MP3 players versus mobile phones. What I mean by that is how many times do people get a new MP3 players and how many times do they get a new phone. I cant find the statistics anywhere but I would say that people hold onto MP3 players longer then they do their phones… at least here in the States you are given an incentive to get a new phone every year or two when your contract needs to be renewed. Mix this fact with the MP3 phone and DRM transfer laws and you may be looking at a problem.
I believe that a person will choose a new phone even if their current phone is acting as their MP3 player (they may choose another MP3 phone) but the thing is, with some of these DRM laws you only get so many “song transfers” from one device to another. So, say I get a new MP3 phone. Now I have transfer all my songs to the new phone which means I can only transfer songs from the latest Robbie Williams album 2 more times. After 2 more phones only four years down the line this will turn into a problem.
Or, the new phone I want is not an MP3 phone. Now I probably have to go out and and by an IPod or another Mp3 player and transfer all the songs onto that.
I wonder what the effect on the “go through” rate between MP3 players and mobile phones will have… any ideas?
Nevertheless, the N91 is a great utilization of both and Nokia has definitely one-upped Apple here showing them the phone manufacturers can play at this game to. Especially alluring to the fact that our “phone part” of the MP3 phone will always be better, at least.
Technorati Tags: n91, nokia, music, mp3, mac, apple
