Nokia, the turnaround
Nokia Lumia 900 launch in New York
My first mobile phone arrive at the turn of the century. It was year 2000. I was a undergrad student with the local university, and at that time. SMS was a novel way to communicate with friends and also to date ladies. I was keen to join the club, but budget was limited.
A local Telco company Starhub, was just starting its services. Hence, a student friendly package was offered to local undergraduates. The choices of cell phones offered was Nokia, Siemens and Samsung.
In those days, Nokia was THE BRAND for cell phones. You either own one or you are a strange chap. Being the strange chap as I always is, I did not want to be seen with the commoners phone. I chose Siemens, a C35 if I remembered correctly. Its a German phone, so to me it felt like a Mercedes or BMW. It felt cool. ;)
Over the years, I tried to stick with Siemens but eventually the brand died out. My first Nokia came with my first coloured display LCD. It was a 6610. Only then I realized why it was so popular. It was really easy to use and the interface doesn't slapped you with a "Why can't I do do this?" dilemma. I stick with it for two years and it was eventually traded in with a 6230. This phone, I had much fun with as I was able to play Bluetooth racing games with a buddy who owned the same phone.
After that, due to budget reasons as Nokia was getting very expensive. I switched to Samsung phones for my first 3G phone set. It was hard to adjust as the Samsung interface often slapped you with a "Why can't I do do this?" dilemma.
However, I chose to stick with it as Samsung has its endearing points and my underdog streak made me took that path too.
With the launch of IPhone and subsequently Android phones. Nokia, began to crumble and fall. I switched to the Nokia E72 in 2010. It was becoming the underdog. The Symbian interface was intelligent but buggy. It allowed me to start the blog and continue powering it. I remembered how sturdy and crisp it felt throughout its two years of duty.
In 2011, Nokia's CEO Stephen Elop declared that the company is in trouble. That it must jump ship and join forces with Microsoft to survive. It was a really bleak time for the company, and there is a chance that we may never have phones stamped with "Nokia" in future if the venture fails.
I was worried. I am never a fan of the IPhone, while its interface was very user friendly. It was very restrictive. Lots of things that can be done on the Symbian phone can never be done on iOS. The build quality was questionable and its battery life was laughable. I will miss Nokia's build quality once the company is gone.
In April 2012, I must say Nokia with its Lumia series have turned the company around. While the Windows Phone market share has still a long way to go before it catches up with Android or iOS. I am glad to see Nokia becoming desirable again.
Meanwhile, I continue to enjoy my Lumia 710 daily with its non-hanging, silky smooth interface. As mentioned in a review that I read somewhere on the web, the Windows Phone interface cannot be compared with Android or iOS. It is a complete rethink of the smartphone OS. Single core, dual core or even Quad core CPU. It didn't matter as the Windows Phone is yet to support Dual Core or beyond.
With my little single core, I continued to have a silky smooth OS which does not hang. I cannot say the same for my wife's Dual Core Samsung Galaxy R Android.
Well done, Nokia, Well done.
My first mobile phone arrive at the turn of the century. It was year 2000. I was a undergrad student with the local university, and at that time. SMS was a novel way to communicate with friends and also to date ladies. I was keen to join the club, but budget was limited.
A local Telco company Starhub, was just starting its services. Hence, a student friendly package was offered to local undergraduates. The choices of cell phones offered was Nokia, Siemens and Samsung.
In those days, Nokia was THE BRAND for cell phones. You either own one or you are a strange chap. Being the strange chap as I always is, I did not want to be seen with the commoners phone. I chose Siemens, a C35 if I remembered correctly. Its a German phone, so to me it felt like a Mercedes or BMW. It felt cool. ;)
Over the years, I tried to stick with Siemens but eventually the brand died out. My first Nokia came with my first coloured display LCD. It was a 6610. Only then I realized why it was so popular. It was really easy to use and the interface doesn't slapped you with a "Why can't I do do this?" dilemma. I stick with it for two years and it was eventually traded in with a 6230. This phone, I had much fun with as I was able to play Bluetooth racing games with a buddy who owned the same phone.
After that, due to budget reasons as Nokia was getting very expensive. I switched to Samsung phones for my first 3G phone set. It was hard to adjust as the Samsung interface often slapped you with a "Why can't I do do this?" dilemma.
However, I chose to stick with it as Samsung has its endearing points and my underdog streak made me took that path too.
With the launch of IPhone and subsequently Android phones. Nokia, began to crumble and fall. I switched to the Nokia E72 in 2010. It was becoming the underdog. The Symbian interface was intelligent but buggy. It allowed me to start the blog and continue powering it. I remembered how sturdy and crisp it felt throughout its two years of duty.
In 2011, Nokia's CEO Stephen Elop declared that the company is in trouble. That it must jump ship and join forces with Microsoft to survive. It was a really bleak time for the company, and there is a chance that we may never have phones stamped with "Nokia" in future if the venture fails.
I was worried. I am never a fan of the IPhone, while its interface was very user friendly. It was very restrictive. Lots of things that can be done on the Symbian phone can never be done on iOS. The build quality was questionable and its battery life was laughable. I will miss Nokia's build quality once the company is gone.
In April 2012, I must say Nokia with its Lumia series have turned the company around. While the Windows Phone market share has still a long way to go before it catches up with Android or iOS. I am glad to see Nokia becoming desirable again.
Meanwhile, I continue to enjoy my Lumia 710 daily with its non-hanging, silky smooth interface. As mentioned in a review that I read somewhere on the web, the Windows Phone interface cannot be compared with Android or iOS. It is a complete rethink of the smartphone OS. Single core, dual core or even Quad core CPU. It didn't matter as the Windows Phone is yet to support Dual Core or beyond.
With my little single core, I continued to have a silky smooth OS which does not hang. I cannot say the same for my wife's Dual Core Samsung Galaxy R Android.
Well done, Nokia, Well done.
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