Nokia LifeBlog at CES

January 9, 2006

in Mobility

I’ve been using the Nokia LifeBlog program to upload all my photos from my N90 mobile phone… no that is a camera to my PC. I put my camera down and via bluetooth all the photos are transferred. The cable supplied would be quicker I just don’t want to carry it. Sharing the Lifeblog with others has a real wow factor.

This picture of my Lifeblog with mini pictures from CES displays what’s generally happened to my picture taking.

Nokia LifeBlog1.png

It’s hard not to be impressed with this program. It’s the only album I know that is functioning like a lifestream / timeline of events. It also includes messages etc. I’ve not yet used it’s post to blog capability. I’ll be trying that out later.

There are a few gripes.

  • You have to have Nokia’s PCSuite involved to synch with the phone. Unfortunately, the Lifeblog isn’t part of the Suite, so periodically the synch fails. Usually when the calendar program synch is fighting with the Lifeblog update.
  • I also really resent that in Lifeblog mode it takes over your screen. It is either full screen or minimized. This is just plain inconvenient. Similarly Nokia inserts a branding page that I must click through everytime I open this program.
  • The video opens up in a doublesize format so it doesn’t present the way others will see it in Quicktime. This also results in a visible deterioration in visual quality.
  • There is also no way to redirect the location for the image files. They are buried in a Nokia my documents folder and require a couple of clicks to get to them outside the program.

    Still if there was ever a tool that encouraged you to keep a record of daily events and even include a self-reflective private video blog this is it.

    While this software is pioneering it could be taking the metaphor and activity so much further. While I saw some “catch-up” on the picture front (eg Kodak and Motorola) Nokia has a big head start. It would be a fun project to work on LifeBlog 3.0.

    In the end I’d probably prefer to have all my photos on the web. As yet there is no way for me to “post all to website” or “post to public” vs “private” in simple actions. I don’t mind using the PC and my broadband connection as the intermediary. It will be time to investigate the blog posting features soon.

    In the meantime I’m hooked!

    • { 0 comments… add one now }

    Leave a Comment

    Previous post:

    Next post: