Nseries Has Come A Long Way
It has been only two days with the N81 8GB and it feels as if I have had it for ages and in this post I answer why! This post is also not about hardware improvements or cutting edge features, it is about something that as an idea is very basic, yet increasingly difficult to achieve, seamlessness. It is about user experience, about ease of use, about connectivity.
Generally a lot of people are wary of changing phones for the simple reason that it is very tiresome and sometimes even tough to get all the contacts, calender entries, notes, music and so on onto a new device. I personally know a lot of people who are holding onto their devices for this very reason. While it is true that Nokia PC Suite has helped a lot in backup and restoring data and even help sync your phone data to other applications such as MS Outlook but still there are hitches when you want to shift to a new device.
The current generation Nseries devices have changed all of that, completely. A while back (the 6630 times) Nokia introduced a software in their phone called “Transfer” that helped you get contacts, calender and a few basic things across to a compatible S60 device via bluetooth with a minimum of fuss. It worked well but there was only so much it could do.
A little while back Nokia changed the name of that application to “Switch” in their newer phones and although I did notice but never really felt the need to see what was up. But the N81 Special Edition gave me a change to try that out and boy was I pleased! I was able to transfer a few hundred contacts, eight hundred text messages, calender entries along with notes etc in a matter of minutes, without a computer and also without the need to be a geek to do that. Kudos on that Nokia.
Everyone sooner or later switches phones and this is one handy utility for those times. It feautures three modes, Sync, Retrieve and Send. I am actually very impressed with the sync ability as it will allow me to keep my N95 updated while I use the N81 as my primary device. It will also be great for someone who carries two phones.
Not only that, the type of data you can transfer has risen exponentially. Have a look at the screenshots for a list of available options. You can also transfer file stored in the Nokia folder in addition to the options below. A major complaint/problem for a lot of us was that all our text messages went when we changed devices and there was no effective way to get them across, all of that is also history!
Although Switch allows one to transfer sound clips via bluetooth, I would recommend not doing that as although Bluetooth v2 EDR is fast, large files may be become a pain. There is a much better easier way to do that – via WiFi!
By now I had got my essential stuff across but I still missed my music, special on a music phone with an 8GB memory. Music is where the N81 had to deliver. This is point number two where Nokia deserves appreciation. I few days back Anuj made this post about the Nseries UPnP capabilities and I decided to put that to use.
Sure enough using the Home Media application I set up the N95 to share files on the network, used the N81 8GB to connect to the N95, browse via folder and copy my music over at a much faster rate. All of this without access to a computer or any other 3rd party application. Since my N81 somehow didn’t come with a data cable and I didn’t have a micro USB cable at hand, this method was a blessing!
The point I am tring to make in this post is that with the current crop of Nseries devices it was become exceeding easy to shift to a new device with all your data intact. The first line in this post was, it is as if I’ve had the N81 for ages, now you can’t blame me for saying that, even my 10 day old call log is with me! I am certain no other manufacturer in the world is currently doing this as beautifully as Nokia!
PS: As soon as I got my music across, charged and plugged in the Bose headphones into the N81, it has been bliss! I’ve never had a more pleasurable music experience. More on this in a little while!
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Yup Phone Switch is one piece of heaven. When I mentioned it around me, I got a lot of “seriously?”, well I didn’t believe it either when i first saw it. Seriously the most genius implementation so far on the N95 8GB. Everything is good, but this is sheer genius. 10 minutes and all sms, contacts, calendar items, notes, log, is synchronized. Hoorray!
And what surprises me is that no one’s realy mentioned it before! Or at least I’ve not come across any such post. A sync between devices minus a PC is neat!
wow, that’s cool.. i din’t know that!
i had used this application twice.
When i bought Nokia 6300 for my wife and N72 for my brother.
All contacts and family calender entires in all mobiles.
[...] the N81, Vaibhav tested a utility built into recent Nseries devices called ‘Switch’. This essentially allows you to send contacts, calendar entries, notes and so on to another device without the aid of a computer. Very useful, and it works very swiftly. Switch [...]
On the N95-3 it’s called Data Transfer for anyone looking … have yet to use it, but this is some great inspiration!
[...] Sharma highlights a useful feature of recent-model Nokia phones on The Symbian Blog. The phones come with an application called “Switch” which is [...]
[...] added 100 of Mp3s into it, transferred my Phonebook, Calender etc to it from my N95 using the Nokia Switch feature which is a cool and useful application to have. But after having it reboot at least 4 times [...]
[...] the N82, as usual the first thing I did was use Switch to get all my stuff over, download the absolute essentials like Gmail and Maps and generally set it [...]
…well, i dont think it will work in my own case because i just return back to symbian(nokia), drop my sonyericsson W810i for nokia N95-1 some months ago and i dont know if its possible to sync my informations and data
[...] also choose which items to transfer in each mode. Vaibhav from The Symbian Blog has already made a detailed review of this functionality so you can see screenshots of how it [...]
[...] The absolute FIRST thing you need to do when you get a new phone is to fire the menu and look for Switch on it. Once you find it, launch it and scroll right to hit the “start retrieving” button. Click it, then turn Bluetooth on in your old handset. Now pair the two together, select which items you’d like to transfer to your new handset and start it. This application is a work of genie as it will transfer basically all your information to your new handset. All you need is for your old device to be bluetooth enabled and you’re good to go. For a detailed review, you can read Viabhav’s. [...]
This one still needs a SERIOUS improvement.
Since day One, this application has never been able to sync edited labels and default numbers assigned to a contact when transferring Contacts to another device.
Each time I sync my contact list, I have to re-edit A LOT of labels and re-assign A LOT of default numbers. Why did Nokia created editable labels and default numbers assignement if we cannot transfer these informations during a sync ?!!
Piece of shit, really…
[...] sim card inserted, a friendly ‘Welcome’ screen pops up to greet the user, while ‘Switch‘ is ready to get all his/her contacts, calender, messages across from the old phone even if [...]
[...] already offers a great application that allows us to switch phones seamlessly with contact, calender, message, Notes and even recent [...]
How can i use this feature in my Nokia 6600 (the older version)??
/hj
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