Trouble in Nokialand

Sunrise, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Horizon, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Snow work, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Field, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Sunset, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Here are five photographs taken today, from sunrise to sunset. The first two were taken quite near the Nokia headquarters, though it is not quite visible in the photographs.

Which brings me to the title of the posting, namely that we Finns love to argue about Nokia, and more precisely about who can paint the blackest picture about the future of the company. I guess we love problems...

Anyway, one can summarize all the troubles of Nokia in one word: iPhone. Of course, the situation is more complex, but on the other it is not. There is no longer much room at the top, where Apple is, and definitely no room at the bottom, where the Chinese and Korean are fighting with each other.

A colleague had bought a Chinese touch phone as on "add-on" to his montly mobile data contract, thinking that one wouldn't lose much even if the phone would be crappy. But it was not - in fact, he claimed it was better than any 400-500 euro phone Nokia offers, despite costing only about 100 euro.

So, Nokia is in trouble. The company was doing fine as long as the mobile phone was about engineering - Nokia phones had (and still have) excellent characteristics as a phone. But when software and usability became top selling arguments, Nokia was no longer on a familiar ground. And the big question is whether there is any fresh ground to be found?

Which brings me to cameras, the Panasonic LX3. It is a surprise that an engineer-driven company such as Panasonic can make such a camera, a camera that works. However, I remember being a bit lost when I started with the camera, not realizing that one doesn't need all the options, only a couple of them. After realizing this, using the LX3 was all pleasure.

I suspect that the Olympus XZ-1 may be different, as the reviewers seem to like (and even love) it, despite the camera being quite a complex tool. But it seems to behave simply, just as a good tool should. Yet another argument to try it out...

And speaking about cameras and phones, my Nokia E90 broke just before Christmas, but there was an old one to be had at work as a replacement. It mostly works, despite having some quirks, but it has also confirmed my suspicion that the E90 has the worst camera ever. I thought it might have been just the specimen I had, but this one behaves just as badly and unpredictably. But I have the LX3, so the badness of the E90 doesn't matter much.