Nseries PC Suite Graduates, I Agree It’s Ready
Yet another application has graduated from the Nokia Beta Labs, this time it’s the Nseries PC Suite. This poor piece of desktop software has had ups and downs since it was first introduced. Optimized for the Nseries (obviously), the Nseries PC Suite uses Microsoft’s .NET as the base platform and facilitates the conversations taking place between your phone and your computer.
The only complaint that I hold still is that it’s currently only available as a web download. That means to get the .exe you only have an 8.8MB download, but then the actual installation requires an internet connection as it downloads each individual ‘piece’ of itself. Rather frustrating, also, if and when you decide to remove the application from your computer, there are 6-7 different applications to remove in the control panel.
Aside from that, I’ve actually been enjoying the latest version of the Nseries PC Suite. I decided to switch from the vanilla PC Suite a few days ago and have been pleasantly surprised with the stability and new features. I’m currently using Nseries PC Suite with Windows XP SP2, for the record.
The best new feature is the inclusion of Nokia Photos, which replaces the old ‘Image Store’ application, as well as Lifeblog, so it seems. The best part of this is that now, when you sync pictures and videos from your phone to your desktop, they’re no longer both stored lumped together in a folder in your My Photos folder! Videos are appropriately placed in their own folder within your My Videos folder in Windows XP, and pictures in their own folders within My Photos. I really love that, as it makes it so much easier to keep track of where things are at when it comes time to edit. There is also a handy ‘web upload’ button on the Nokia Photos app, though there’s not currently an easy way to setup Ovi with this. I’ve got an email in to try to change that.
The Nokia Music Manager still sucks, completely. It takes FOREVER to recognize my N95-3, regardless of what ‘mode’ I connect in, and it takes even longer than that to try to transfer songs. I’m still slightly impatiently waiting for Nokia to introduce the slick new desktop music organizer application I was shown at the Go Play event nearly 9 months ago.
The Nokia Video Manager is also included with this new release, and it’s gotten slightly better. I’ve yet to allow it to convert a full movie, so I’ll try to test that out and report any interesting findings.
In any case, I would give the latest iteration of Nokia’s Nseries PC Suite my full approval (which doesn’t really mean anything, I suppose). I’m using it happily, and don’t find anything but updates in the abilities and features that I use. Congratulations, Nseries PC Suite team!
I don’t know if i would give it FULL approval…not just yet. I installed it last week and had issues with BT connectivity in respect to web access. I use Vista and had just purchased a new dongle for my lappy.After installation of my new BT stack (toshiba) which, btw, I like better than Widcomm and 50 times better than MS, I installed the new pc suite. Everything worked well and looked good except for the two things. First, the N series pc suite refused to connect to ATT internet service (tether). Over and over it told me I did not have a BT modem connected while I obviously did, pc suite itself was connected. After jacking with it for 3 hours, I gave up.Last problem was trying to use the phone software updater(firmware). It would not recognize that my N95-3 was connected via USB. I ended up uninstalling N Series pc suite and going back to the vanilla version. Violla…eveything works. Internet access works with one click and my phone can now be recognized by pc suite to update the firmware. As far as the first issue, web access; not a huge problem as I could tether using the BT stack itself to initiate the link. I just wanted it to work either way, via pc suite or the stack. As for the second issue, being unable to update my firmware…UNACCEPTABLE. The fact that this pc suite has 7 or 8 apps to uninstall in order to go back to the vanilla version is a pain, and will prevent me from installing it all again, just so I can remove it all if it doesn’t work right.
I have to disagree. I was using the older version of Nseries Suite without any issues for a long time. I recently went back to the vanilla version and liked it for the little I was doing with it, and then downloaded the new Nseries PC Suite when it graduated.
I’m having the exact same issue with it as I was before. The application will stop working altogether after it has been sitting in the tray for too long with an error message that says “NNCxxxx has stopped working”. I’m running Vista Ultimate 32bit, BTW.
I’m having Vista find solutions to other desktop problems it found, but this issue was not one of them. I like it, but I wish it would stay on with my computer.
It was a pile of pants when I tried it. I went straight back to the standard version.
I’m liking it for the most part, but am finding it very frustrating that I can’t change the folder the at the photo’s sync to. I am well prepared for someone to tell me I have missed something obvious (please do), but I have now shifted my photo library to a different folder, so that I can have them separate from the Nokia ones. I have been archiving my photos for years and the way the Photos program assigns it a folder completely screwed my system up. Anyway apart from that, I am liking it so far.
I am liking the “graduated” version as well. Rock solid on my IBM ThinkPad with WinXP SP2. The version that came with my N95 had awful Bluetooth interoperability; this version has resolved that issue for me. I also use the Internet Connection tethering functionality and enjoy how it simply connects to the AT&T network with the simple push of one button. Lastly… I agree with Ricky that the Music Manager app is horrendous; I simply drag/drop music files to the phone via Windows Explorer.
I’m a little disappointed with the graduated NSeries PC Suite as it does not seem to include the full functionality of the standard Nokia PC Suite. For example, i can no longer send text messages from PC Suite or manage my inbox etc. Surely I am not supposed to have both NSeries and standard Nokia PC Suites installed side by side?
Whenever I scan the videos on my PC using nokia nseries video manager the application terminates with the error ‘nokia nseries video manager has stopped working’. Has anyone else experienced this?
[...] is supposed to replace PC Suite. There are also 2 other versions of PC Suite, one for Eseries and one for Nseries. Let’s all cross our fingers that Nokia is able to bring these groups together soon. Just [...]