Where’s Nokia’s 5″+ Phablets already? Does Nokia need one? #Rant

My Dream Nokia #66, Nokia Lumia One Note

Nokia concentrating on smartphones and not producing tablets is somewhat understandable given the current conditions for Nokia. But in the world of mobile phones (which includes smartphones) trends within this category are not too be missed. It isn’t the first time Nokians got left behind.

In clamshell and touch, Nokia was much too arrogant and slow to react to the fact that Nokia needs these additional type of devices to stay relevant in the consumers eyes. At least give the option. It doesn’t mean steering the whole portfolio down that route; just have at least one so the consumer can still have a Nokia choice. This requires agility to react to ever changing needs.

It’s not like it’s the first time Phablets have been released. The Galaxy Note was announced in October 2011. Whilst it received some insults as to being non-pocket friendly (myself included) many warmed to it (it was high on the list of things I eventually wanted to Purchase. I almost went there if the Lumia flagship turned out to be a dud).. It’s now 2013.

I remember sitting at Nokia house talking to the design guys and mentioning the need for larger displayed devices (before the 920 announcement). It seemed like they were pretty focused on NOT following others, simply to have a bigger screen. There’s credit owed to them for wanting to take their own course and direction but on the flip side, you have to stay relevant to the consumers. If you stop providing things they want, you’ll soon start to be ignored. It doesn’t matter what other cool things you have cooking if by the time you release it you’re obsolete in their eyes (in before the Nokia should make Android option then, comment. This is somewhat very different). Sure you’ll have your die-hard loyal fans but unless you’ve achieved worldwide cult status, you aren’t going to pull in sales from us alone.

Sure there may be issues in terms of diluting your focus to keep up with the trend. Certainly the big fruit thing hasn’t gone phablet yet but even they have strayed beyond the ‘3.5″ is the perfect size for your hand’ mantra with rumours indicating there’s going to be larger iThangs ahead. The 7″ iPad Mini is pretty much in phablet realms now.

Something else that’s on my mind – going full HD, 1080p. Some say it only makes sense on a Phablet (if that. I still remember being told 1080p on my 17″ XPS was crazy, though this was some years ago). To an extent, these guys are right. Extra pixels just require more processing power, more battery power and are you even seeing the difference? Consumer palpable changes in features are important but paper specs to distinguish yourself from others is also important too. How many times have we had to defend the whole “the single core lumia is faster than your dual core” and so forth? Folks will opt for what seems to buy them more on paper. It also reminds me that it’s a similar chant said back in the Symbian days. “It doesn’t need that much processing power…it doesn’t need that much RAM” yadda, yadda… But is it always about what’s NEEDED? The Symbian side was slightly different in that those bare minimum specs made your device conk out after a month of heavy use (the specs were good at launch but not for longevity).

Based on yesterday’s rumours, that thing they call a Nokia Lumia 950 has some more ‘future proofing’ inside. It’s limited in the screen resolution as MS and their vast fortunes still haven’t made WP support the 1080p resolution (which is why I am certain they have a team of one mitten handed, tranquillised sloth doing all the work). Speaking of rumours, where is that hybrid smartphone-tablet? 

What sparks this discussion? Where over at Bloomberg, they’re saying that the lack of a 5″er at Nokia is threatening their revival.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-01/nokia-lacking-five-inch-screen-on-lumia-threatens-revival.html

Again, Nokia doesn’t need to make all their devices 5″+, or make their flagship 5″+. They just need to have an option of a larger screened device so consumers who want that phablet experience don’t immediately resign to the conclusion that Android is the only choice.

(Please, if we will have a 5″+ tablet, no obscenely large bezels that means technically a 6-7″ screen would have fit if it was from another manufacturer).

I’d love a larger screen for myself. With higher resolution, it often means I zoom in much less. But there are times when despite the screen being able to render things, it’s not comfortable for my eyes. If the screen was larger, even 720p fine print would look quite nice. Now I know there’s going to be a set of people that say they won’t notice (hello to those who say 360p was more than fine) but for those where things like this matters, they need that option. Furthermore, for those that want a larger screen but can’t take advantage of added pixels, they can go the route Sammy took with their WVGA phablet (Grand).

It’s about giving consumers the option. Something Nokia used to do really well, all the options were a Nokia this or a Nokia that as they catered for a lot of different consumer needs. The danger, and where Nokia went wrong (don’t really wanna go there as that’s a whole other story) is diluting their devices and their brand. Gosh, you still need to make super flagships that sing to the world just how awesome you are in a single device. But you also have to be agile enough and alert enough to see and deliver consumers other options. Give consumers a Nokia option; a Nokia choice.

Tags: featured

Category: Nokia, Rant