Goodbye Samsung Galaxy SIII and hello Nokia Lumia 920

As mobiles go, I can safely confirm that the S3 is amazing so much so that it’s been the device that I’ve had for the longest period of time. Nearly 6 months I think. It’s a good mobile, it had a few moments of madness like when you aggressively use the the camera it just stops working until a restart and every time I opened the back cover I was afraid it would break a clip.

Apart from that, from a feature set perspective it was unbelievable. I do believe it is time for Google to upgrade the OS to a more integrated version, what’s the use of have Google glasses and a Smart TV and a Smart Phone if they all don’t work in an integrated fashion. I don’t meant communicate with each other, I mean integrate in the true sense of the the word. But that’s a post for another day. 

Today we look at the Nokia Lumia 920 which has been Nokia’s flaghship device for a few months now.

Lets get the marketing speel out the way – The Lumia 920 was reader’s choice Smartphone of the year for 2012.

Nokia have stuck with Carl Zeiss lens for the camera and use PureView which give the device and amazing 8.7mp shot which I believe is one of the best on the market. It also feature a full HD screen which when you use the device, you will realise, how crisp and sexy it actually is. Funky features, include wireless charging and through it may seem like a non essential feature, the truth is, once you have it you never want to lose it.

How powerful is the camera, well Nokia claim that if you take picture or video in low light os with movement, you can still have blur free shots – impressive.

THe HD+ PureView screen has another very unique feature, you can decide on the screen sensitivity which means that you could use gloves and the screen would still respond. Now that we are moving into winter, I’m sure I will find this completely useful.

There is however a lack of apps and no matter what Nokia or Windows Phone developers say – this is a huge problem. My fustration with the Lumia 820 was the apps and was the main reason I got rid of the device after a few day, Nokia / Microsoft have improved but to no great extend. The strength and popularity of the devices given the experiential nature of the new economy means that customers are already accustomed to certain experiences on smartphones. The first irritation around apps I had was my bank – FNB – having an app for all the other platforms, including WIndows 8 but not for Windows Phone 8. This really annoyed me because I was comfortable with their app on Android and used it regularly.

Secondly from a gaming perspective, a great effort should be made to deliver a richer mobile gaming experience.

Specs:

1.5Ghz Snapdragon Processor
Weight: 180g
Display size: 4.5″
Network: GSM and LTE
OS: Windows Phone 8
Ram: 1GB
Memory: 32GB

 

 

Mobility vs Mobile First

A few weeks back I heard a group of digitally minded people talk about the question: “what mobile first means”. I think it was a bit of an unfair question given that most digital agencies would base their answer on experience and not objectively on the trend or pattern, they are in business of making money, mobile first websites are big money at the moment.

Nonetheless, the responses where as expected, that mobile first means, you design your content with the understanding that your audience will engage with the content on their mobile phones. 

While I agree with the approach to designing the content to fit mobile I don’t think the core of the question is answered.

Mobile first stems from the concept of “mobility” – if one were to take this view then answering the question becomes less about the device and more about the client.

The core of mobility is the changing needs of the client, through the advancement of technology consumers are more than ever empowered to be connected with the world around them and have ability to choose the lifestyle products they believe add value to them.

Mobile first should go back the phrase “Your brand should be where ever your client is and on whatever connected device your client chooses to use.” This would then mean that knowledge about your consumer becomes that much more valuable. Knowing that your client watches a lot of TV means that you can customise content for TV and deliver an richer experience, the medium (TV) is secondary, the client (the preference of TV) is the focus.

That being said, many at the managerial level would pipe up and say well, isn’t that a massive amount of work for generating content. Sure, that may be so, but think about the alternative, – what is the engagement model for a client reading the same content on a website, then a mobile site, then your app, then on TV… you get the picture.

Content should be complementary across mediums, making it easier and better for client experience, not necessarily easier for the author or content developer.

So what does mobile first mean – it should mean mobility in your mind. It should mean that tomorrow if Apple invented the protector watch, then your approach to engaging with your client will be to be on that device in the correct format with the correct content, not the piece you wrote for web.

The Kia Cerato horror story

Kia Cerato Crap

I write in complete disappointment and hope that Kia is able to redeem themselves. We purchased a new Kia Cerato in August 2011, after a month, the clock and thermometer switched from the metric system to imperial and got stuck and could not changed. When the electrical gizmo’s don’t work it makes you wonder about the build quality.  The carpet on the drivers side is coming away from the floor exposing the road and the most irritating of all, they could not even put the number plate on straight. I mean at least take a little pride in your brand. I took the car in December and was told to come this year as the techie was not there. I took it in Feb they booked it in for the whole day and at the end of the day 8 hours, they told me they could not fix the carpet but they had fixed the clock. I thought well great at least one things got sorted. I took the car home and woke up the next day to go to the office and instead of the clock / temperature being stuck now the whole thing was off, I mean completely off! I took it in again booked it for the whole day and they said they have no idea what is wrong with it, further to this they said they have to book in the car to go the a specialist to fix the carpet. They need the car for a week. I asked for a courtesy car and they told me they don’t have any for me.

So the question really is can you trust a brand when you get treated like this? People purchase the car under the notion that this was a superb car yet so far, I have had nothing but grief. Due to the nature of my work I cannot be without a vehicle and worst have my vehicle gone for a week. I cannot understand how a new car can be so flawed and how Kia have no clue what to do.

Lets hope Kia can pull their socks up and get this right, I hate to think what else could go wrong with this vehicle.

Google and YouTube are ridiculously slow!!!

Trying to access Google and YouTube via Chrome browser but it’s slower than IE and that’s never good.