A look at the Nokia N91

I'm part of Nokia's bloggers program, so they occasionally send me new cell phones to try out. I did a review of the Nokia N90 and N70 here, and I still use the N90 all the time. (Just posted a video interview I conducted with the phone here.)

Lately I've been giving the N91 (pictured above) a test run. As always, there are tradeoffs between the different models.

Where the N90 is somewhat bulky and heavy, the N91 is light and can easily fit in your shirt  pocket. Where the N90 has so many options you can easily get confused, the N91 is fairly intuitive and straight-ahead. Where the N90's battery died after a day and a half, the N91 seems to last longer. Where the N90 holds only a few short video clips and a few dozen photos, the N91 holds loads more -- a thousand or more photos or 3,000 songs in its hard drive (4 GB on mine, but now bulking up to 8 GB). And where the N90 is about video and photos, the N91 is about music.

Here are some other observations about the N91's capabilities:

• The N91 is podcast-ready. Very nice.

• The music capabilities are cool. But there have been at least a dozen occasions where my N91 started playing music while tucked in my pocket. A jostle here or there can set off the player, and until you get used to the on-screen options, it's hard to figure out how to turn the dang thing off. (Beware, if you're heading into a business meeting or theatrical production.)

• I do like the stainless steel slider that reveals the keypad for dialing. Very swift.

• Because I use my cell phone more for shooting images than for making calls, I'm not fond of the N91's lack of a viewfinder -- you can't frame or compose a photo but can only guesstimate what will be in the image. But the 2 megapixel camera (same as the N90) is pretty good.

• Maybe I'm not as tech-savvy as I'd like to imagine, but I haven't been able to figure out how to use Bluetooth to download images and photos from my N91 to my new Sony Vaio desktop. (There's apparently no Bluetooth capability for the Mac.)

• The Nokia PC Suite needs some serious work. Installing the Suite for the N91 made downloading from the N90 impossible -- even on the newest versions where Nokia claims they fixed the problem.

• As on the N90, the N91's on-screen UI needs some work as well. Switching from image to video mode is more cumbersome than it needs to be. Navigating the Gallery can be a hassle (I've lost a few video clips mysteriously). And getting out of Music Hell can prove vexing.

Overall, the N91 is a solid, dependable addition to the N-series line of multimedia phones. If you like music on the go and want to pack video, images, texting and voice capability into one neat little package (albeit at a steep $550-$700 US price), check out the N91. It's a neat little phone, Nokia's programmers are upgrading the software (downloadable online) all the time, and here are some tips on how to get the best experience out of using your N91.

Microsoft to take on the iPod

NY Times: Looking to Take On Apple's iPod, Microsoft Plans Its Own Hand-Held Player.

Bose's brain-dead QuietComfort2

I was happy enough with my old pair of Bose QuietComfort noise-canceling headphones, which I purchased through the Apple Store when they first came out sometime in 2004, I think. But they eventually bit the dust, the victim of many, many travel miles.

I tried a pair of high-end ear buds, but didn't like them.

So, when I was in the Apple Store again a few days before setting off for Europe, I checked out a new pair of Bose QuietComforts. The new version of the Bose QuietComfort1 no longer contained noise-canceling features, though it's being sold at the same price as the original version, which did contain noise-cancellation.

So the Apple Store salesman steered me to the pricier Bose QuietComfort® 2 Acoustic Noise Cancelling® Headphones, which was more comfortable, seemed to play iPod tracks in higher fidelity, and, yep, contained noise-canceling features. (It retails on the Bose site for $299, plus shipping.

There's one thing the new version contains that the old version didn't contain: a single AAA battery. No big deal, you say? Perhaps, but I've had my AAA battery die three times in the past month.

See, the unit has no way of knowing when you take the headphones off. So you're expected to turn off your headphones every time you take them off. Having never had to turn off my headphones in several decades of music listening, it's a hard practice to get into.

The kicker is this: If you don't put in a battery and turn the unit on, you can't listen to music. That's right. The Bose QuietComfort® 2 Acoustic Noise Cancelling® Headphones don't work if you simply plug them into your iPod or other MP3 player.

News flash to Bose: Music cancels outside noise! Let your customers listen to music without the need for a stupid AAA battery. Jeesh.

Free calls

Free conference calling
For the past year I've been using freeconferencecall.com to make conference calls with business associates and friends. A lot of people still don't know about it. No gimmicks — it really is free. A number of competitors offer a similar service, which they can afford to do because VoIP is so damn cheap.

Free directory assistance
Just came across this: Phone companies charge you $1.40 or more for a simple 411 information call, even if you don't get the number you're seeking.

There's a free alternative: Simply dial 1-800-FREE-411 or 1 800-373-3411 for both local and national directory service. Try it out. Again, no gimmicks.