Verbalism Personified

Nokia Walks the Talk

You know something ain't quite right when the world's largest cellphone maker releases software to sync its phones with hardware produced by a computer company powered by the world's largest chip-maker.

This is definitely a tactical response to the iPhone, which is projected by industry analysts to shoot the lids off sales charts and market share. Nokia is the only company with enough clout to walk the talk by offering Macintosh users the long overdue bridge between their phones and computers.

The result is better than decent. Simply entitled Nokia Media Transfer v1.0 beta, the software was released in June 2007 and is currently limited to the N-Series phones. Probably due to the expandable storage capacity offered by higher capacity flash media that come standard with the phones.

Connecting via Bluetooth or the supplied USB cable, Mac users can iSync their Address Book and iCal schedules. They can also transfer music and photos with iTunes and iPhoto. Not to mention using the available flash memory as storage for files. All that is needed is the initial pairing of phone and computer.

The instructions on how to set up an N-Series phone for use is comprehensive and informative. Nokia has also included video presentations that are well-made, detailed and easy to follow.

The next question you could ask is what are Sony Ericsson and Motorola doing to bring this level of integration to their Mac using customers? That answer can be found on the fifty-ton bull-dozer bearing down on them.

However, that is not my problem anymore. After a four year hiatus, the Nokia N-73 marks my return after trading-in my Motorola StarTAC six years ago. Since then, I've gone through the Nokia 6100, T630, K700 and K750 offerings from Sony Ericsson in quick succession. The Sony Ericsson's lack of Mac compatibility is the main factor in my choosing the N73 this time around. As with all consumer electronics, they are inevitable landfills. So all the better to have comprehensive Macintosh integration for the life of the product.

posted by Teutoburg @ 6:37 PM