Last week, my Communicator finally died (unfortunately, it did not re-resurrect on Easter Sunday). I was able to save all files and contacts in the nick of time and migrated everything to its younger brother, the E90.
I've always been a Communicator fan ever since I saw Val Kilmer using it in "The Saint". I also have to give credit to this handy contraption for keeping my sanity during the time I managed close to a hundred billboards nationwide during my agency days.
Being a tech reviewer is the farthest thing on my mind but because of my attachment to this gizmo, here's my stab at tech review as I started a thread in www.pinoygolfer.com.
Here's the bit:
Just posting this because I'm assuming that a number of PinoyGolfers use the Nokia Communicator for a cellphone. Just in case some of you are still using the Nokia 9500 and are planning to upgrade to the E90, let me outline a few of the things which you are going to miss.
The four function buttons on the right side of the inside panel are now gone. They have been reduced to 2. This means that in order to arrive at a desired function, you will have to go through a series of Yes/No queries posed by the new system of the E90.
Remember the ease of finding a message in a stack of say 1200 messages? All you had to do in the 9500 was type in the first letter of the sender's name. So if you are looking for a message from Juan, all you needed to do was press "J" over and over again and it will take you through the entire stack of messages singling out messages sent by folk whose names started with "J". Well, all of that is gone now on the E90. Sad
Task List. For those of you who are Stephen Covey fans adopting the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People wherein one is supposed to create a separate task list for each role one plays (or every cap one wears so to speak), the itemized and prioritized task list is GONE! You cannot build a separate task list for your role as father, as husband, as biz executive, as consultant, as golfer. Wala!!! As in, all to-do items are just lumped into one long "To-do" list. Hence there is no way to compartmentalize your life apart from just creating separate notes outside of the Calendar (whereas before it was integrated into the Calendar).
Icons. I am still finding a way to create an Icon on the desktop for a file which I usually open. Unlike the 9210 and the 9500, icons could easily be created and therefore access to an oft used file is quick. It's not here on the E90.
I guess there are more rants than raves for this unit. More to come in this thread.
Man, how I wish someone advised me about these things. If you have a 9500 and wish to upgrade because your LCD strip is failing, my suggestion would be to have your 9500 fixed until a new Communicator comes around in the next 3 years.
Hopefully by then, Nokia will get it right, by simply developing/building on the features they've already perfected.
As such, I have a new tagline for NOKIA ... CONFUSING PEOPLE .
Nokia Communicator Review
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Wow thanks for this Lloyd. I have been wanting to get an E90 and was planning to do it as a birthday gift to myself next week. But with this review, I guess I'll have to wait for a better unit than the E90.
ReplyDeleteIf you are not a previous Communicator user, the changes may not matter that much. Perhaps the E90 can still work for you. However, if you have been used to the predecessors, chances are, the frustration will build up.
ReplyDeleteSir Lloyd bought my E90 last August 2007, super eager to have one as a birthday present for myself, tagal ko na kasi gusto mag ka communicator, ever since the first models pa which I don't remember na the model. I'm not a communicator user before so medyo wala ako expecations, ang gusto ko lang mag oopen ang cellphone ko na parang laptop. Hehe. Pero even without a communicator experience I know after a week that I have just thrown away 45000. :-( (mahal pa nun yun yung unang labas nya, nasabi nang mga taga greenhills eh selling like pancakes, haha) well since andto na sya, i just try to make the most out of it, love it, appreciate it, buti na lang wala akong previous communicator experience. hehe. Next target Apple Iphone, pero sabi ko huwag na muna ngayon, ill just wait up until it becomes legal here sa pinas, sabi nila by July daw eh, hehe. :-)
ReplyDeletegood thing you weren't a previous Communicator user. come to think of it, here are the plus points to the E90 (versus the older models)....the web interface is superb, para ka lang may laptop pag nasa WiFi zone; the world clock displays multiple time zones (whereas before it was only home time and world time); and the audio fidelity is also better these days on its mini-surround speaker.
ReplyDeletelast rave is the fact that it has two "My Own" buttons which allows the user to quickly go to the function most often used. for me, "My Own" button #1 is the calculator. "My Own" button #2 is the voice recorder. many times during critical meetings, i have left my phone on the table top while my ka-meeting is mouthing off disparaging remarks over a hot issue. while i have never used the audio clips to blackmail people (will never do), i get a kick out of reviewing stuff and noting how heavy the "evidence" is. ;-)