Spiderman 3 N95 8GB - So Close
As you know I recently got hold of an N95 8GB Spiderman Edition handset. This was the first Nokia that I’ve gotten that was co-branded with a movie, though they’ve had several. You’ll recall the Godfather N73, the Mission Impossible 3 N93, Da Vinci Code N80, and Transformers N93i.
I wasn’t sure what to expect of this device, and frankly, I was really disappointed that Nokia didn’t take advantage of the branding opportunity more. First of all, I have been unable to find a place to actually purchase this edition of the handset. They’re not on Ebay, nor are they in the Flagship Stores, on Nseries.com, or any of the major online retailers. Big negative point there.
More importantly, however, let’s take a look at the out-of-box experience……
Here’s the video, and I’ll confess, it probably wasn’t fair for me to video the first time the phone was EVER turned on. Still. Notice in the video that the N95 8GB Spiderman 3 edition has the same theme as any other N95 8GB. With the cool customizations that can be done with themes on S60, you’d think they could have given a designer a few hours or so to whip up a decent Spiderman 3 theme, right?
I originally thought the handset didn’t come with anything other than the movie and some fancy boxes. However, it turns out, there’s a few wallpapers in the gallery (which aren’t activated by default, for some reason). I also found a Spiderman 3 ringtone and alert tone in the phone. Why in the world were these not active by default? Why did I have to find them?
Basically, the out-of-box experience for the movie edition is really poor, but could be made SO much easier with little work, really. Whip up a movie-related theme, activate those ringtones, and find SOME WAY to put that movie front and center. When I power on the phone, I should *instantly* be able to tell that this is a special handset, different from the others. Maybe the Spidey-symbol engraved on the back of the phone, or something.
I’ve been asked by a few readers why I think they chose Spiderman 3 for the movie. Honestly, I haven’t a clue. I’m not enough of a movie buff to know what else was released around the same time, but I would imagine it is because of the high level of action, and the N95 series (with 4 versions, I’d say it’s a series by now) is supposed to be an action-oriented handset. Also, obviously, the Venom part of the movie works well with the black housing on the N95 8GB.
I’ll save my verdict on the handset itself for a later post, but I would say that the branding of the Spiderman 3 Edition has so much potential, and just came up a bit short. Nokia, get back to the drawing board, and for heaven’s sake, let’s have a The Dark Knight edition of the N96 or something. Batman is easily the greatest of the superheros, and should be honored with his own Nokia.
“I have been unable to find a place to actually purchase this edition of the handset. They’re not on Ebay, nor are they in the Flagship Stores, on Nseries.com, or any of the major online retailers. Big negative point there.”
That’s weird, here in Saudi Arabia you can only find the Spiderman 3 Edition and not the normal edition.
I think they chose spiderman 3 because:
As you all know when Spiderman bonded with the Venom Symbiote, he became more powerful and just…better.
Well, the original N95 was OK, BUT the N95 8GB which is also fitted with a black costume is more ‘powerful’ aswell with the increased RAM, bigger screen etc…
OR maybe Nokia just picked it randomly…it wouldn’t surprise me
i ordered a nokia n95 8gb and also got the spider man edition. though i am (as opposed to you) happy all those stuff came as an extra. i like the fact that it comes as standard as possible, and you are to choose wether to make it a real spiderman 3 edition phone. just my 2 cents.
(i did enjoy spiderman 3 though, superb quality with perfectly readable (dutch) subtitles :D)
Spiderman 3 is actually bundled on all N95 8GB. There is no special edition SP3, but every N95 8GB comes with the pre-bundled SP3 movie.
Williamm, I wish that was the case. My n95-8GB did not come with the movie.
I keep getting this feeling that Nokia has yet to understand how to market in North America.
Nokia did with deal for Spiderman 3 (Sony Pictures) as the company was looking for an action movie that they could include on the phone and have it at retail at the exact moment the DVD was released.
I wonder how many people bought the phone because it was Spiderman edition versus just wanting the N95…
after getting my N95 8GB & having some software problems I backed up the phone to PC Suite & updated the software.Somehow in the process I lost the Spiderman 3 movie.I’ve tried several times to put other films onto the phone but everytime I do, Nokia Video Manager adapts the file to MPEG4 & sends it to the phone.But the quality is nowhere near as good as Spiderman 3 was.Any ideas what I can do?
OK.I’ve answered my last question myself!!& for anybody else having the same problem the answer is to use nokia music manager to send the file to the phone as an MP4.This will send the file in it’s fuller form rather than reducing it to peanuts like the nokia video manager program does!!!
Dec 28th, 2007 at 7:39 am
[...] He wasn’t altogether impressed with the way the package was put together. While ring-tones and wallpaper are loaded onto the device, they are not activated by default. Of course the film is loaded onto the memory, and the box features plenty of arachno-action, but Ricky still thinks there was much potential missed in theming the device. [...]
Jan 30th, 2008 at 9:46 am
[...] with movie studios several times, usually to put together a special edition handset, such as the Spiderman Edition N95 8GB. They have also secured in-movie product placement, such as the 770 Internet Tablet in Fantastic [...]