Can you smell that? The scent in the air? It’s fear. After years of poor support from cell phone companies, we’re finally seeing some attention. Nokia released its beta Nokia Media Transfer 1.0 beta. The software allows some Nokia phones (so called “N” models) to synchronize with iTunes and iPhoto.
I would try it out, but I’ve since given up on the idea of phone manufacturers seriously working on Mac syncing. Sure, Palm put some effort into syncing, but nowadays you’ll need a third party solution for good support, using something like Missing Sync. Nevermind the fact that media playing on most phones is just a painful experience, you couldn’t sync effectively with your Mac.
All I can figure is that Nokia is scared blind that the iPhone’s doubtless bulletproof Mac syncing will make all their latest models irrelevant for users interested in any kind of media.
Nokia's Media Browser application is actually really good. It places folders with the name of your phone ("Nokia N95" in my case) in iTunes and iPhoto then transfers whatever's in those folders. Playlists can be put in the iTunes folder and they get copied wholesale, so you can have playlists on the phone - and with 2Gb memory I prefer it as emergency backup music than the shuffle I have.
iSync takes care of calendars, contacts etc, so all in all (including using the N95 as a modem) my Nokia and my Mac are working fantastically together for me. Don't be so quick to discount the efforts of Nokia.
And the app has a decent unified look to, quite impressive.
I think it is great that Nokia is doing this.
I would compare it to the situation with All-In-One printer/scanner devices. A few years back I gave up on this segment of devices since in general the printer would work, but none of the other functionality (with a Mac).
However, recently I bought an HP All-In-One and the software is great. All the features work on my Mac and it is well integrated into system and common apps.
It is possible for manufacturers to turn things around and start providing first class support for the Mac platform. They should be rewarded when they do so.
I can get photos off my Razr through Bluetooth, but it is hardly a fun thing to do. A true sync utility would be great. And, a free one from the phone manufacturer would be even greater.
Oh yes, the scent of fear. Very prevalent as the 29th inches closer to the present. Then they'll wish they had Time Machine to go back to the way things were - Pre-iPhone Era. You should have heard the load of crap T-Mobile tried to lay us last weekend as I jumped the gun and brought 2 of my 3 T-Mobile phone lines over to AT&T (yes, broke those two contracts, I did that so all I have to focus on is my iPhone on the 29th and not the other two lines).
The first guy told us that yeah, if we wanted the iPhone for the iPhone, then nothing they had would be able to compete, and wished us the best (a possible new user there?). The second person told us that the iPhone would only work with a Mac, and that the quality of the phone was not very good when compared to their phones (lies! Dirty lies!).
Think of all the syncing capabilities of most phones (other than smart). I bought a RAZR and had I been on a PC, I would have had to purchase the syncing cable, the software, etc. Since Mac garners 4-5%, most phone purchasers will be on the PC platform, and have to purchase syncing capabilities. But here comes Apple. Just about everyone already uses iTunes, Outlook Express, or Outlook, and has at least a photo directory… err… folder (my age is showing). If the iPhone itself is not enough to compel thee, perhaps the easiest and most thorough syncing capabilities will. Hence the need for other phone manufacturers to create more robust synchronization.