Making a real Nokia flagship – from existing Nokia devices.

I didn’t get a chance to post anything yesterday as I was busy revising for an exam (for today -14-08-09) It went quite well, with the questions I had hoped and anticipated for actually coming up this time. Score! Anyway, whilst I was revising for the topic of Xenopus laevis T3 metamorphosis, I kept on thinking about Nokia and flagships…

Back in April, the Nokia Conversations guys asked, “What makes a Flagship Device?“.

A flagship phone is something that encapsulates the achievements of that manufacturer, i.e. having the best of EVERY great feature you have once included in previous handsets, but all in one device.

In  the context for Nokia, the flagship epitomises the true meaning of convergence. The flagship leads the way; it is deeply recognizable to consumers as an example of the ultimate potential of Nokia handsets and sets the bar of innovation for which other manufacturers should aspire to reach.

Hardware wise, you guys have had every single component that if combined could have resulted in the most formidable handset ever made.

But, as a long fan of Nokia, you get to be aware that it’s part and parcel of that Nokia is number 1 BECAUSE  they specifically divide up features for different markets. That’s been perfect for business, but bad for geeks.

The point of the flagship is NOT to be the most sold*; it is to bring the confidence in the brand so that when consumers come to buy a different handset, they will know from the flagship that it’s a brand that they can trust; a brand that will deliver the particular requirements they may need in a phone; a brand that delivers the best.

Hardware wise, Nokia have met and set bars. We don’t need to write an ideal spec-sheet of hardware Nokia should consider include to their portfolio. Most of what we really want from a phone, they’ve been able to produce already.

It’s just that those achievements were never consistently kept within one device.

A while back, it was understandable that Nokia fragment their handsets so that different handsets met the needs of different consumers. But now with competition so high and the general consumer becoming more ready for high end smartphones and convergence handsets, Nokia really needs to make a phone that stands out, leads the pack and show everyone that Nokia is the number 1 brand, not just because they sell the most, but because they make the best handsets.

Here’s a few features Nokia’s been able to come up with over the years; some very recent, some dating way, way back. But if all merged together could still make a phone to take notice of in 2009. (Set in in terms of the feature and a Nokia phone that has it)

Making a real Nokia flagship – from existing Nokia devices.

Camera:

• N86’s optics – 8MP, wide angle, excellent low light moins flash
• N86’s Dual LED – 70% brighter than previous LED solutions
• N86’s Digital Zoom – detail maintained, useful mostly for video
• N82’s Xenon (just bring Xenon back please!!! When I actually need the use of Flash, this is the only solution that will do.)
• N93i’s 3x Optical Zoom (with continuous autofocus)
• N93’s dedicated flash button – flash on/flash off, double tap turns into video light. Amazing as a torch.
• N93’s dedicated Video-Photo button
• N93’s audio recording quality
• N93’s stereo audio recording
• N73’s gallery button (blue backlit)
• N95’s camera shutter button (blue backlit)
• N97’s widescreen video (not set to infinity focus – just in terms of its stability)
• N97’s front camera

Screen

• 770’s 4.13″ screen size/N97’s 3.5″ screen size
• 770’s screen resolution (800×480)
• N97’s touch screen sensitivity (meh, the best we got yet from Nokia)
• N85’s AMOLED

Power

• N97’s BP-5L battery
• N97’s Micro USB charging

Audio

• N91’s audio quality through headphones
• N95’s multifunctional audio/visual 3.5mm jack for headphones/TV out
• N800’s speaker clarity
• N95’s speaker volume
• N95’s dedicated music controls/N93’s 4-way zoom that’s also music controls

Keys

• N93’s tactile feedback
• E90’s 6 row QWERTY keyboard (maybe not the same, but definitly at least 4 row keyboard, with the top specified for numbers!)
• N97’s D-Pad (lot of potential for gaming, just never materialised)
• N93’s multimedia button/5800’s touch media bar

Design/Build

• 8800/8600/Eseries designers
• E71’s build (general E-series Build)
• N86’s kick stand
• N97’s form factor? (Flick-tilt-slide – or just standard N810 side slide)
• Size – not too sure of, but definitely nothing more than the N97.

Software

• N97′ S60 functionality
• N97’s homescreen
• N97’s and N800’s apps/software library
• N800’s audio/video codecs
• N800’s multi-window web browser
• N97’s/5800’s firmware regularity

Connectivity

• N95’s bluetooth, A2-DP
• N95’s infra-red (tv remote app ^_^)
• N800’s WiFi
• N82’s GPS
• N97’s 3.5G
• N97’s MicroUSB
• N97’s FM radio with RDS
• Nokia N96’s DVB-H?

CPU/Memory

• 5630’s 600MHz processor
• N95’s dedicated graphics chip
• N95’s dual CPU
• N800’s 256MB AM (though this is only 128MB actual DDR 2 RAM, other 128 is virtual RAM
• N800’s Twin memory card slots
• N97’s 32GB RAM

Other

• N73’s breathing blue light
• 5800’s breathing menu light
• N97’s charging light

It’s not an exhaustive list. I’m sure there are plenty of things I’ve missed out and should include (things added in orange). It’s also missing features that Nokia still has been unable to give to us, e.g. Capacitive screen.

This was just to demonstrate what Nokia could have achieved in terms of features in a handset if every time they did something good, they kept it as a standard across all their devices.

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* BTW, when I said,” The point of the flagship is not being the most sold”, I meant that flagships should not prioritise the idea of selling more of a handset to compromise on it’s performance/features. That is often to the detriment of the device as Nokia don’t tend to make decent compromises, often resulting in the handset loosing so much of what it could have been but saving so little in the process.

Tags: 770, 8600, Flagship, Maemo, N73, N800, n86, N93, N93i, N95, N97, Nokia, Nseries, Rant, S60, Symbian

Category: Nokia, Nseries, Rant, S60, Suggestions