It started like a normal morning, but when I reached my BlackBerry, I got a shock… Why was my screen blank? Pitch black. Pressed the power button. Red LED lit up – 3 seconds, then turned off. No response.
It was OK the night before! It was a BRAND NEW (3 months?) 9900 handset… THE TOP OF THE LINE… and I didn’t abuse it as much as my other Fruit Phone. Nevertheless…
So between that and managing the kids morning routine… long story short I gave up troubleshooting it. Need to go to the service center (“BlackBerry Expert Center” – so they call it). The good thing of buying non-black-market device is that you get a 100% support for mission critical device.
Yes, it’s mission critical. BBM, email, calendar, and address book. Of course the todo list. And my precious meeting notes.
I spent my precious lunch time with the support staff. Very friendly staff. The diagnosis came up after 15 minutes of trouble shooting. No response from the hardware… so “hardware problem, Sir, you’ll get a device swap, in 7 (SEVEN!) working days.”
WHAAAT? Seven days? Seven working days?
(Probably next time I should buy through my telco – I’m on corporate plan so I believe I got a good SLA. Hopefully including the device.)
Not really worried about the data. Got a one month old backup (sigh! I’ll lost some SMS). And got everything backed up OTA in the Exchange server.
Except my BBM contacts. And BBM Groups. And my history of very important BBM messages (“apel malang” and “apel washington” … hmm…). Hopefully my backup works well, when I restore it next week.
Now… WHAT TO DO for the NEXT SEVEN (fracking working) DAYS?
Option 1: Back to my Nokia N8 – now on Symbian Belle (much enjoyable and usable than Symbian^3).
So I got the Exchange ActiveSync running in less than one minute. Thanks to company’s policy of BYOD. (And No Thanks! If this were a corporate device, I could have just called IT and complained).
As I wrote this, address book and calendar information are being synced. It is a breeze doing it over home broadband. Tried it earlier, but OTA sync seemed to take forever, so I cancelled it and spent one day without access to my address book (HORROR!).
Potential problem is data overage. I’m on unlimited BB plan (BlackBerry APN), but not unlimited mobile broadband.
Upside is, I got a better camera for the time being (but no instagram?!?!)
Option 2: crossed my mind if previous idea doesn’t work. Sync my Android Tablet to Exchange and access my PIM information from there.
Upside is I got an unlimited plan there. Downside… extra device to carry and imagine the cumbersomeness of manually doing address book look up in the tablet and calling from another handset.
Option 3: Dump everything on the iPhone, especially the address book… and risking duplicate address book entry (no, it is generous enough to tri-plicate, quad-plicate, quint-plicate my address book entries… common problem in many iPhones to Exchange sync, at least amongst my colleagues).
Managed to get over Day 1. Let’s see how Day 2 goes…
If you get Nokia E71, and don’t want to buy a BlackBerry because of whatsoever reasons… can you be as effective in mobile working?
What do we use BlackBerry for? William tried to share his usage pattern. He’s on corporate plan… and judging by what he shared, he’s also a heavy user. On the other hand, a typical Indonesian Jane/Joe will use less of BlackBerry’s capability.
So, I can think at least few scenarios:
1) Corporate Users, especially if you have BES in place, so you have Exchange calendar and the whole corporate address book in sync with the device,
2) for the typical guys only using BIS (BlackBerry Internet Services), connected to ISP & Internet mails, Facebook, and instant messengers
3) for the heavier users, doing more than email & chatting/social networking…
4) and only in Indonesia – BlackBerry owners without BlackBerry subscription whatsoever. Go away!
Can not comment on Scenario 1 yet.
My BES is still not working (they told us that the contract is being negotiated… ha3x), and I will apparently never experience Nokia E71 on corporate mail sync… well… Few colleagues are using E61i with GoodLink installed. Giving them a full-fledge corporate mobile email (though with stability issues….). Such thing should be available in E71 as well or I can opt for Mail for Exchange solution.
But I guess here, the challenge for Nokia is the out-of-the-box experience, BlackBerry will work right out of the box (sort of, as everything is configured/pushed OTA)… with E71, provisioning for the mobile mail is more tedious.
Scenario 2 for normal users trying to get emails & chatting on their E71?
More relevant probably, as the majority of BlackBerry users in Indonesia are actually BIS users. (Errr, maybe not, most of the owners might not have BIS subscription).
Again, I found out that my E71 still needs a bunch of additional applications (most of them are free, fortunately) before it can fully functioned as mobile mail machine.
It did change with the E75, I heard, which is coming with full email application (Nokia Messaging and Mail for Exchange) pre-installed, even coming with a quick-and-easy setup of free Ovi mail account (“from zero to emailing in 15 minutes”). Reviewed in zdnet blog here and on AAS (slightly ’bout the email apps).
Reviewed by other people already, such as here at E71fanatics and here at Symbian-Addict. In general they’re quite happy with the interface and performance of the app. Some of the negatives mentioned, e.g. HTML support and multiple accounts are already addressed. The latest that I got installed in my handset is “Product Version 5.3 Build 9.5.3.72 (main)”
10 email accounts, including Yahoo, Gmail (and gmail-hosted emails), Windows Live, and Ovi
HTML-enabled
Integration with address book
Folder support
Sync control – when, what
It’s still in beta, so pretty much free at this time.
Comparing to BlackBerry experience, I found few things still critically missing for me:
stronger search functionality: customizable (search by subject, sender, …) and saved search
attachment preview – I don’t want to download the whole attachment to view it
handling of .ics (calendar invitations)
filtering of emails to be delivered to the handset (BB can do this through on their BIS web setting)
rather sluggish performance?
For normobs? Current iteration of Nokia Email should be enough to get them started in the mobile email experience and usage, I think.
Then IM, another killer app, Slick or others (Nimbuzz, Fring, e-Buddy, and others)
No yet an equivalent of BlackBerry Messenger, a messaging system exclusively available for BlackBerry subscribers. But who knows if Ovi will evolve there? (The keyword here is exclusive)
Yahoo, GTalk, ICQ, and AIM works great with Slick and the gang. Doesn’t look as good as the YM/GTalk client in BlackBerry. But does the job well enough. (I haven’t tried to send photos through mobile YM, pls remind me tomorrow….)
Fring is also a good candidate, because they have Skype integration and Facebook client as well. In good network coverage and in WLAN coverage, you can do VoIP (yay!) with your Skype contacts.
VoIP is worth mentioning
… hmm, Nokia E71 has a built-in VoIP/SIP client, that we can configure to access various VoIP services. Free talk with other VoIP users. Besides Skype (and all the IM-based voice chats), I don’t know how popular are these services. There are a bunch in Indonesia (voiprakyat, CBN Talk, etc.), but I still feel that they are a bit too geeky
Facebook?
Nokia E71 users have to stick with the mobile web site. (The E71 firmware 300.21.012 gives a facebook icon on the application menu, a click on it takes us to the m.facebook.com). So BlackBerry leads by far here.
Come on Nokia… you got the S60-Touch Facebook Client, when it’s coming to mainstream? (and to the S40?)
Older BlackBerries (pre OS 4.6 or 4.5) still got the “mobilized” version of the web, not full web browser. Javelin/Bold is another story, as they got a very capable browser plus the proxy/data compression.
So the challenge for Nokia is to minimize the data charges. A single homepage like yahoo! for example might eats several hundred kB of already-so-small-and-so-expensive data quota. Opera Mini will be a nice addition to install in the Nokia E71 for us who live in bandwidth-scarce mobile world.
And finally, cost.
This is where it is going to be interesting.
BlackBerry BIS subscriptions is typically around Axis BB Promo of Rp 100k or Telkomsel/Indosat/XL Rp 150k per month. They also recently offer weekly for 25k-40k rupiah and daily (!) subscription packages – cost you Rp 4k-5k. Generally this is a flat all-you-can eat data usage.
For Nokia E71 users, I suggest them to consider data packages. Yes, a number of alternatives available… XL recently for example offers daily (Rp 2000 for 1 MB), weekly (Rp 10k for 10 MB), and monthly (starting from Rp 20k for 40 MB, Rp 50k for 130 MB, Rp 100k for 320 MB). According to them 1 MB is enough for 2.5 hours of chatting and 50 pages of m.facebook.com.
If Facebook is all what you need… do it via SMS – Axis for example offers two FB SMS packages: weekly @ Rp 1500 or monthly @ Rp 5500… most of the operators offer similar packages.
Chatting? Try Hutch 3 with YM or XL Chat. Also Rp 5k per month. Not bad.
Bottom line, temporary conclusion…
Cost wise E71 should be less expensive v.s. BB, while being able to do what most people need (normobs)…
But preparing E71 (installing applications, configuring) to achieve what BB can do requires extra effort that most people won’t take… This is where BlackBerry shines really bright – remember that it’s not a handset, it’s a service that comes with a handset.
Once these steps are taken, I got mixed feelings, Nokia E71 might be adequate… some limitations here and there (especially the email client), good things there and here. Reliable enough.
I’ll say, if you have your E71 and need to jump into mobile data world, do it. IM, email, browsing, and FB will work just fine. Experience is pleasant enough. I have an interesting suggestion, BTW, go sell the E71 and grab two (yes, 2, or even 3) NexianBerry.
More interesting will be Scenario 3 – the heavy users… Pushing it a bit further… reading RSS, twitter (very important!!!), maps, locations, GPS, multimedia functions, plus photo sharing/uploading and blogging other than Facebook. Oh, and don’t forget synchronization. I will give my E71 a challenge (and a second chance, currently it’s my secondary handset, put into less active number) and write my experience in the next post.
I know this is an old news, but I just got my N95 back. Following up my previous article on Ovi Share, I want to explore the GPS geo-tagging capability…
My verdict. In short: Nokia Location Tagger works… for beta testers… . There is a list of desired features in the Beta Labs blog… a long list already. (I mainly look forward to getting security/privacy features, indoor capability, delayed/manual tagging, and smoother integration with Gallery/Camera).
Now, interests in Google Earth, Picassa Web, Flickr, and all the other photo sharing websites that support geo-tagging should be growing faster. Including new services like: Panoramio, and mobile-enabled services: Locr, Shozu, Psiloc’s Photo Tagger and Locatik. Mobile will be an important device in geo-tagging definitely.
Anyway, doing this with Flickr is pretty nice:
When will Ovi Share have this functionality? Probably when the geo-tagging experience in Nokia phones are smooth and closely integrated with the camera applications? Curious….
Update:
Well, the good thing about starting late is that I got the second beta of the application which gives the ability to integrate with Nokia Maps — there’s a “Show On Map” option. Here’s a couple of Screenshot – the Early Adopter short guide for Location Tagger:
Start the Location Tagger, wait for GPS lock, then press Hide to put it in the background.
Go to Camera, notice the small green logo on the upper left corner of the screen. Shot a picture.
The photo will be geo-tagged (after a few seconds delay). Go back to the Location Tagger to see the Log.
If you press Option, there is “Show on Map”
Shown on Map…
Interestingly, Log is cleared after we restart the app (which I don’t like, because I lost track of my geo-tagged photos… probably will behave differently in the future).
Ovi Share was originally a service developed by Twango, before the company was acquired by Nokia.
Twango / Ovi Share is yet another media sharing service. We can compare it to YouTube, Flickr, Picassa, PhotoBucket, PhotoBase, and the list goes on. Nokia even has a Betalabs application: Mosh, which does a similar thing. Media sharing is also inherent function in SocNet sites – MySpace, Facebook, Friendster, Multiply, Orkut, whatever. Each service looks similar, but if we notice it there’s a bit difference here and there. And definitely each is trying to get your attention, be the website of choice – trying to differentiate itself from the competitor.
Ovi Share has an obvious advantage of being bundled in every Nokia phone. Well, technically newer N-Series phone in 2008 – older N-Series phones might need to 1) upgrade of the Share Online application/firmware, 2) do some tweaks / manual configuration. The first alternative is recommended, because Share Online 3.0 brings quite a number of new nice features. Though it still have a lot of features to add... (my own version of needed improvements below).
Note: I still haven’t managed to install the Share Online in non N-Series Symbian (e.g. 6120c or E61i), but there Shozu comes to rescue, but again Shozu didn’t support Ovi yet or I haven’t found a geeky workaround to do it. Hey, I am a geek, but not the geeky (and don’t have all the time of the world).
This is my third day of using Share. I’ve learned a few things though. (Not necessarily in any order or organization)
0. Make Share Online available for non N-series phone (thus I can post this review few months earlier…)
1. The setup is OK. Just enter the username & password. (Got to register on the web browser first, though)
2. The integration is quite nice, open the Gallery, choose Send, choose Post to Web. There is an option of auto prompt after each photo shot.
3. Share Online currently only supports 3 services: Flickr, Ovi, and Vox. Uploading media to the website comes as a standard. For Flickr and Ovi, SO can offer additional features – thumbnails of all your recent posts, your contact’s photos, view comments, add comments, send link, etc. Flickr and Ovi do not have the same feature set yet, but comparable. Here’s some Screenshot (courtesy of Antony Pranata):
Standby Screen: note the Ovi/Flickr icon at the bottom part. Asterisk = new items, Balloon = new comments. (I guess)
Ovi Menu on the Share Online Application: recent post, contact’s post, everyone’s, visit website. To upload, must press Option / Post Item.
Thumbnails of my recent posts
Zoom in into a particular post: view description, comments, send link
Send Link: email or sms
4. Things to improve about SO application: I seemed to lost the caption and tags I entered during posting (to Ovi). Flickr also lost my tags. They only get the title right. Annoying. Is it a bug?
5. Things to improve about SO application: multitasking in Gallery, I can not queue another media while upload is in progress. Update: SO application (Menu / Applications / Media / SO) can multitask, but Gallery can’t.
6. Things to improve about SO application: how about Geo-tagging integration? Shozu leads in this area. Nokia is catching up with Location Tagger application (will try later today, when I’m outside). BTW, Ovi Share itself do not yet support geo-tagging, unlike Flickr.
7. Things to improve about SO application: more services? What about YouTube? Shozu rocks here (although there are limitations on the size of the video)!
Until now, no response from my email. I sent the email to Nokia Indonesia and OkeShop customer care & hotline. Oh, BTW, OkeShop is the retail arm of Trikomsel, and they apparently handle the service center as well. The branch people refers it as “Pusat”
Here’s the address & business hours:
Oke Shop – Trikomsel Multimedia
Gedung Wirabuana,
Jl. Abdul Muis 24, Jakarta 10160
Indonesia
Hotline : (021) 3522 777
SMS: (0817) 0140 254
Email: callcenter@oke.com
Kritik dan Saran: customercare@oke.com
So I gave them a call last Friday. And was received by Ms. Fetri. She promised to look at my case and give me a call on Monday. Yesterday, I received an SMS from her:
“… mau konfirmasi tentang status hp bpk kl hp tsb sdh tdk dapat diperbaiki lg & harus ganti mesin. Sy minta maaf sekali karena untuk proses penggantian mein ini akan memakan waktu yg agak lama, perkiraan awal bln Maret bru bs selesai. Sy minta maaf yg sebesar2nya ya pak u hal ini, sy harap bapak dpt memahaminya. Atas perhatiannya sy ucapkan terima kasih.”
Translation:
”… your handphone can not be repaired and must be replaced. Thousand apologies because replacement could take some time until est. early March. Deep apology for this, hope you can understand. Thanks…”
What can I say…? Sigh… At least they replaced it for free… (under warranty).
Mohon agar saya bisa mendapatkan update mengenai status reparasi ponsel dengan nomor job s.d.a.
Saya mencoba menghubungi NSCC Klp Gading melalui telpon 4585-3901/02 tetapi nomor tersebut TIDAK PERNAH dijawab
Email ke npc_klpgading@trikomsel.co.id, seperti yang tertera di website resmi Nokia Indonesia, tidak mendapat tanggapan karena email address tersebut SALAH!!
Menurut petugas di counter NSCC Kelapa Gading yang saya temui hari Selasa, 1 Jan 2008, ponsel tersebut sudah diserahkan ke Pusat untuk perbaikan. Demikian juga dijanjikan bahwa saya akan dihubungi, tetapi juga TIDAK PERNAH direalisasikan.
Saya mengerti bahwa antrian reparasi tentunya cukup panjang. Tetapi saya juga berharap Nokia dan Trikomsel sebagai salah satu distributor resmi Nokia memiliki komitmen yang tinggi untuk menjaga kualitas layanannya.
Mohon agar dapat difollow up dengan segera, mengingat sudah satu bulan lebih tidak ada progress yang berarti.
The Nokia Maps application came pre-installed in many Nokia S60 phones, including my beloved N95 (which is still sitting in the service center — that’s another story, horrible). I once tried it and decided that, while it is potentially very nice, it was not useful, because there was no Indonesian map available at that time.
Found out about few weeks ago that they put a nice, detailed Jakarta map.
So I installed the app in my 6120c. Downloaded the Nokia Map Loader. And went to grab the Indonesian map (24 MB download, a painful 2 hours, sic — I don’t know what’s wrong: Nokia’s server or my Internet connection… )
But it works pretty well… nice map for Jakarta. Other city? Have to wait apparently…
Few comments:
So far, I have been playing with the route planning capability. And it is quite accurate.
Search function can find address (!), hotels, gas stations, attractions, ATM, restaurants, hospitals, etc.
I don’t have any GPS that can be connected to this handphone, so no luck with turn-by-turn navigation. And I think we have to pay for that extra…
I don’t want to purchase any city guides, so no comment on that one too.
My phone is too slow for this…. panning & zooming felt so sluggish (could it be better on N95 or the other N-series?)
Link to Indonesian version of Nokia Map Loader: here.
It’s been 4 weeks since they took my phone for servicing.
Actually they didn’t promised anything except it’s going to take “at least three working days” and they will SMS me when it’s ready for pick up. (I wonder why I agreed to the condition… But do I have a choice?)
Left in the dark… Wondering… Not very convenient. This is my first repair experience and it’s not very pleasant!!
How to improve?
Understaffed thus looong service/repair time?
Lack of communication?
Last week was my holiday, so I decided to reduce web activity to the survival mode (means: gmail, yahoo mail, bloglines mobile, IM, very-very occassional mobile blogging)
So when I visit the Digital Playzone to know more, I got the "stay tuned for updates" website… sigh… So, stay tune!
(but no instagram?!?!)![[image courtesy of Lonelycat Games]](http://duckling.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/shot2.jpg?w=500 "slick")
No yet an equivalent of BlackBerry Messenger, a messaging system 
. There is a list of desired features in the Beta Labs blog… 
