Can Nokia differentiate from other phones with WP7?

It's somewhat funny to read analyses and opinions of industry "experts" about Nokia's chances in differentiating from other smart phone manufacturers with WP7. Most of these people have been saying that Nokia simply can't differentiate. What? We don't even know the details on how deep in the OS Nokia can make changes. But it has been publicly revealed that they will have more leg room than other manufacturers have had so far.

But most importantly I think Nokia can really differentiate where they have been the best smart phone manufacturer even in the current challenging situation with the Symbian. And that is the voice quality in calls and when listening to music or watching videos. For example the loudspeakers in my current droid phone HTC Desire Z are lousy, where as my N8 is brilliant there. The other thing where Nokia has excelled is the picture quality the camera's produce. Nokia can still make the competition look sad in that area. Built quality is something where some of the Nokia competitors have been catching up Nokia in the most expensive smart phones. But still they can't reach the same quality in as low cost as Nokia which means there cheaper phones really look and feel much cheaper than the Nokian's in the same price range.

I have two more days to go as a Nokia employee, but my opinion on this issue will remain the same still after Sunday. Ugh, I have spoken.

Nokia + Windows Phone 7 could be a winner

As a soon-to-be-ex-nokian (notice period ending on Feb 20) I have a lot of thoughts about the situation of the company and prospects of the freshly announced new Nokia strategy. I won't comment much the first one except that there are great people there and with good leadership and strategy Nokia can still remain #1 mobile phone company for years to come.

But I can't resist to comment the new strategy. I'm confident that it's the right one as the Windows Phone 7 is actually already a great mobile OS, at least as good as Android, maybe even better. I've only used one Win 7 phone for a few days but I was totally convinced by that experience that partnering with MS on smart phone OS is the right way to go. I'm sure that once Nokia starts working together with MS on the Win Phone 7, it can for sure become the best mobile OS leaving Android far behind. iOS doesn't even need to be mentioned and HP's WebOS, as good as it is, just won't fly. And Blackberry...well, that's just a one trick pony.

A lot of readers in both Finnish and international news sites and blogs are commenting that they don't understand how it would help Nokia if they take Win Phone 7 as the smartphone OS because Windows Mobile sucks. Well, these people just have never used any Win 7 phones. The old Windows Mobile was behind competition in every aspect but really the latest MS mobile OS has got nothing to do with the old one. I know the Win Phone 7 has thus far only 2% market share in the smarphones but that can easily be changed now.

Ok, so I'm convinced that this strategy is the right one if you purely look at the technology perspective of the smartphone OS. But what about the services side then? Well, that's a no brainer obviously with the OS selection. Partnering with MS on services as announced is a logical move. So the strategy is good I think. The only remaining questions are, can Nokia and MS execute the strategy fast enough and will they be able to convince consumers that Windows Phone 7 is actually a great smartphone OS?

New toy, Lynx Rave SC 600 E-TEC

I went riding yesterday with my new snowmobile, Lynx Rave SC 600 E-TEC, 2011. I drove a bit above 80 km, Ouluntulli-Muhos-Ouluntulli, and the trail was in the usual condition which means quite worn out and bumpy. I must say that based on the first experience the new sled is absolutely great. My old one, 2006 Lynx X-Trim 600 SDI, was so heavy and clumsy in tight corners. The new sled is tens of kilos lighter and the driving position is improved. I also invested in better suspension and better skis than in the original SC 600. And already now without any adjustments the package worked really good for me. I guess I'm the average size so the default settings work pretty good for me.

Also the wind shield is just the right size. It's big enough to actually cover you from the wind and yet it's not too big so it would look like a sail. It was -15 C degrees yesterday and it didn't feel cold at all. And I'm really not interested in driving in much colder conditions.

There were only two issues I noticed. First of all either the seat is really slippery or my new pants are more slippery than the old ones. And I keep hitting my right knee painfully to the edge of the hole in the hood for the starting device. So I need to buy knee pads but I was planning to buy those anyway.

I can't wait to get the breaking in phase to end so I get to use the full potential of the engine. Only 400 km to go to that :)