An Update Experience
Some of you might know – I’ve been a Nokia device guy for many years. When joining Nokia in 2000, I got my first Nokia mobile phone (after having had an Ericsson one for some 3 years) and never changed since (the brand, obviously). It would have been a bit difficult to change while working for Nokia, anyways. But even after I had left Nokia in 2007, I stayed put with my mobile choice. Currently, I have a Nokia N95, which is (to me) still the best mobile device that Nokia managed to produce (even since it came out).
But there are increasingly things that bother me greatly. The lack of development of basic features, like messaging clients or music players, and the lack of integration (no ‘experience’, only a set of features) are the main ones in daily life. But there is something else, namely the update experience when new firmwares become available. On a Nokia as advanced as the N95, updating the firmware is a real pain (it needs to be said that updating the firmware is already a huge progress for Nokia – a company that lives from forcing you to upgrade devices for even the smallest software advancement!). Backing up the device generally does not really help. Settings are still partially lost (most annoyingly the Bluetooth settings so that you need to pair all your devices again!!). Some applications are still there, others need re-installation – and I have not determined the pattern yet which ones need re-installation!
Being experienced with this (I upgraded my N95 firmware at least four times!), it still takes me about two hours to restore my device to full capability – although I must confess that I do use my mobile for MANY things!! I know that the situation with newer devices became better although not uniformly. Some implement what is called user data protection (i.e., your data won’t be erased when updating), some don’t. Uniform experience – well, no!!
Recently however, Dana (my wife) bought an iPod Touch. We have had iPods for many years but we now wanted to see if the Touch version is really an advancement, in particular for mobile surfing. I won’t dwell on our general experiences with the Touch (which are quite great!) but only report my upgrade experience here.
With the advent of the iPhone3.0 firmware, an upgrading for the iPod Touch became possible, too. So last week (a few days after the release of the new firmware), we jumped into the cold water. Sure, the firmware costs $9.99 (while it’s free for Nokia) but there were supposed to be real new things in there – not just bug reports, as mostly the case for Nokia.
The entire experience is an utter joy. Connect to iTunes (integration here!!), go to updates, buy the firmware through your account, download and off you go. It backs up the device, if you want (and you should probably). The download was really the longest delay in finishing my upgrade. The actual firmware upgrade takes a few more minutes. The device reboots and there it is! All apps are there. And the ones that need an update to 3.0 versions are automatically shown in the device’s appStore application. So another few minutes for upgrading those and you are done.
The experience could not be different! Literally my mother could do this, I’m sure. There is lots of talk about Nokia and Apple having launched their flagship devices at the same time (iPhone 3G S and Nokia N97). Most certainly, I’m a geek who is dying for features (which the Nokia devices have enough). But experience is really important, even for updating your phone.
And what an experience it was! There is much to learn, Nokia!