Transcript:

Cariann Higginbotham: Technology Evangelist Podcast, Episode – 0009, for January 22nd, 2007. Today we're talking about the Nokia N93.

Benjamin Higginbotham: Welcome to Podcast – 9, technologyevangelist.com, with me is Cariann Higginbotham.

Cariann Higginbotham: Howdy.

Benjamin Higginbotham: And I am still Benjamin Higginbotham. Today we're gonna be talking about the Nokia N93. Kind of follow-up from yesterday, we were talking about the iPhone and the Treo line as a whole.

Cariann Higginbotham: Yeah.

Benjamin Higginbotham: I got this device from Nokia. It’s a fun little device the N93, they’ve got the new N93i out, but I wasn’t able to get my hands on that. Difference between N93 and N93i is essentially the outer case. There are few little minor tweaks to it, but it’s basically a sexier, sleekier...

Cariann Higginbotham: Sleekier, that’s a new one.

Benjamin Higginbotham: Yeah it is, that’s now a trade mark.

Cariann Higginbotham: Alright, sleekier...

Benjamin Higginbotham: So, you're gonna have to give me a quarter every time...  Its just a sexier device. Its got the slight glossy, shiny finish, nice OLED display underneath, it just looks sexier. The N93 is little more brick like.

Cariann Higginbotham: It has a matte finish. You are so mean!

Benjamin Higginbotham: Now, alright for those who don’t know…the great thing about the Nokia N93 is that has a really high quality Still and Video camera built into it, it looks awesome. In addition to the video camera, it also have a flash, which is quite bright for the size of the flash. Cariann was complaining yesterday that I was blinding her with this flash ball.

Cariann Higginbotham: He said, “now I am taking your picture”, I said, “No, you are really blinding me”.

Benjamin Higginbotham: Yeah and because of these things you can get remarkable looking video off this little camera phone. Rocketboom even did a segment, its been a couple of months now, where they did an entire segment recorded on nothing, but the N93.

Cariann Higginbotham: Oh, I didn’t know that.

Benjamin Higginbotham: Showing off what it would look like.

Cariann Higginbotham: That’s cool.

Benjamin Higginbotham: Nokia on their website has a little music video that they did with N93 and that looks really good. I mean this stuff looks great. It’s not HighDef by any stretch of the imagination, but it is definitely good enough.

Cariann Higginbotham: Good enough, it’s acceptable.

Benjamin Higginbotham: Well it is. It’s better than YouTube, but not as good as the some of the Brightcove videos you would see on Technology Evangelist. But, if you combine the two little bit, it becomes good enough. Do you really wanna carry a camera with you plus your phone plus what ever other device you may need, all in... I know you have a purse, but I don’t, so all to go in my pocket. So, do you really wanna carry all these devices or do you slam them all into one device that promises of convergence? And I am all about the converged device.

Cariann Higginbotham: Oh yes, but then you are always giving up something.

Benjamin Higginbotham: Right, good point and in this instance you given up the QWERTY keyboard.

Cariann Higginbotham: Yeah, I don’t know.

Benjamin Higginbotham: I could, because it has the email client, it has the SMS client based on Simbean , because it’s a Nokia phone. It got the really good camera, but no QWERTY keyboard.

Cariann Higginbotham: I don’t know … I don't know.

Benjamin Higginbotham: Yeah, I know it hurts, doesn’t it?

Cariann Higginbotham: It does. We have friends who are, they actually have goals, believe it or not, of taking X amount of pictures per day. They just love taking pictures and just documenting anything and everything that comes by. What he eats? What he doesn’t eat, etcetera, etcetera, and…

Benjamin Higginbotham: That’s a bit extreme.

Cariann Higginbotham: Well, I think it is, but he is a good guy and I like him and its always interesting and he is funny, anyhow, but the point is, I had a point that may be something like that, may be this particular Nokia, what it is called?

Benjamin Higginbotham: N93.
Cariann Higginbotham: N93, see if you have a really cool name like Razr I can remember, N93, right in one ear, out the other.

Benjamin Higginbotham: Yeah, they kind of need to work in the marketing there, little bit I think.

Cariann Higginbotham: Anyhow, the point is like what I am saying is that, may be this device would be good for someone like that. Somebody who likes to take pictures, someone who like to take video, etcetera, etcetera, and isn’t as concerned about SMS capabilities or just a QWERTY keyboard in general, if it’s only the QWERTY keyboard big deal.

Benjamin Higginbotham: Let me build upon your point for a moment. Are you talking about Ed that takes lot of pictures?

Cariann Higginbotham: I didn’t want to push him out on this spotlight …

Benjamin Higginbotham: I am pushing him on the spotlight , that’s Ed from Technology Evangelist, but he is heavy into the SMS too.

Cariann Higginbotham: Yeah, but you can go back to, what it is 10-key on it?

Benjamin Higginbotham: Yeah, those 10-key/12-key.

Cariann Higginbotham: Right, I mean it’s not terrible, it’s not my favorite personally, but it’s not terrible.

Benjamin Higginbotham: I don’t think Ed would do that.

Cariann Higginbotham: Okay, so?

Benjamin Higginbotham: I don’t know what Ed would do actually, we should have skyped him into the conversation, we will do that next time.

Cariann Higginbotham: What would Ed do?

Benjamin Higginbotham: Yeah, what would Ed do? Exactly, he takes tons of pictures, he got his hugegantic flicker photo stream.

Cariann Higginbotham: Huge.

Benjamin Higginbotham: Its ginormous.

Cariann Higginbotham: Couple of thousand pictures, it’s impressive.

Benjamin Higginbotham: And he constantly takes pictures everyday, he currently has two devices, he has got his Treo and he has got his little Canon, I think he has a Canon ELF, if I remember correctly.

Cariann Higginbotham: Yes, it’s cute.

Benjamin Higginbotham: It’s cute. that’s how you base that Canon, is that cute or not?

Cariann Higginbotham: What, I am a girl, , it is – it’s cute, what do you want? .

Benjamin Higginbotham: So, he got these two devices, is that okay or would he prefer, would he be willing to give-up his QWERTY keyboard for convergence?

Cariann Higginbotham: No, personally, no. I want it all in one, why can't I have that?

Benjamin Higginbotham: I don’t know, why can’t you have that? That is a great question.

Cariann Higginbotham: Alright.

Benjamin Higginbotham: Why can’t I have my Treo that also has a really great camera on it... Palm probably gunna argue: “you know we got a pretty good camera on it”, I am gonna say “no, no you don’t, you have a horrible camera on that ”.

Cariann Higginbotham: Its camera- phone camera as what it is.

Benjamin Higginbotham: It is and that’s what everyone has come to expect and so they say “well, it’s no better or worse than the other camera phone cameras out there”.

Cariann Higginbotham: Right.

Benjamin Higginbotham: And that’s not the point, the point is why can’t it be as good as the N93 camera with really good optics on it? Why can’t it be an optional upgrade? I will spend. If I am gonna spend $200 on a digital camera. I think, I should have the option of having a Treo that cost $200 more and has the better camera on it.

Cariann Higginbotham: Yup.

Benjamin Higginbotham: Then instead of giving Canon my money, I will give Palm my money in the form of a better camera.

Cariann Higginbotham: Exactly.

Benjamin Higginbotham: It doesn’t have to be a Treo. I don’t really care who makes it first. It could be HTC, it could be Palm, it could be Nokia whoever builds the best converged device is going to get my money. The N93 is awesome and from a photo standpoint, if you are used to like a Razr and you take a lot of pictures or if you are used to just a standard 10-key/12-key phone, the N93 is going to  be awesome for you because then you get to drop a device. However, if you are little bit more geeky, or if you have gotten used to that QWERTY keyboard, I don’t know.

Cariann Higginbotham: The jury is out man.

Benjamin Higginbotham: So, what do you our fellow techies think, would you go for the converged device or would you do the Nokia without the QWERTY keyboard or would you do the two devices or would you wait a little bit longer until there is a better convergence device out there?

Cariann Higginbotham: For sure.

Benjamin Higginbotham: Send us your comments, send us your reactions and feed back, you can get all my contact details at technologyevangelist.com/ben.html or you can send us a skype voicemail message at BenjaminHigginbotham or you can send us a videomail message using SightSpeed at videomail@technologyevangelist.com. Thank you so much for listening and we will talk to you again tomorrow.