The T-Mobile MyTouch is T-Mobile’s second Android-powered smartphone, manufactured by Windows Mobile veterans HTC. The phone runs Google’s Android operating system, and has moderately standard hardware. You can read more about it here. However, Om Malik from GigaOm has been using one for a few weeks, and posted somewhat of a review. While you likely don’t care much about that, there was one statement by Om that made my ears perk up, and I immediately realized one of the things that frustrates me the most about the Nokia N97.
As Om says, ‘[The MyTouch] seamlessly integrates all Google services including Google Chat, Picasa, Search, Calendar and Gmail. It took me literally 15 minutes to get going: I typed in my Google ID, and the phone did the rest. My calendars, contacts and Google Talk friends were downloaded to the device automatically. Of course, if you don’t have a Google account, things might not go as smoothly.’ If you’re a Google user, that sounds like magic.
I immediately thought of the various Nokia/Ovi services that I use on my Nokia N79 – Ovi Sync, Ovi Chat, Ovi Maps, N-Gage, Ovi Files, Nokia Email, SportsTracker, etc. Unfortunately, for starters, the only ones of those that currently works on the N97 is Ovi Maps, SportsTracker, and Nokia Messaging (which I’m sure will be renamed to Messaging on Ovi, and then Ovi Messaging soon) (Update: Ovi Contacts was made available yesterday). S60v5 has been in the oven for over 2 years, and has had devices on the market now for 7 months.
When I powered the Nokia N97 on for the first time, I was not greeted with a sign-in screen, asking me to login to my Ovi account, nor was I offered the opportunity to set one up. In fact, for the unsuspecting ‘normob’, the only Ovi-anything on the N97 was the Ovi Store. Ovi was announced nearly 2 full years ago, at the Nokia: Go Play event in London. I was there, and I remember everyone being stunned by this surprise announcement of a new services initiative. Basically zero details were given then, and I was also there at the 2007 Nokia World, where they gave a few more details about this mysterious new Ovi, but still didn’t give any indication as to what it would actually *be*.
So, 23 months later, we have what is supposedly the mother of all Nseries devices. As Noah at PhoneDog points out, the N97 is *huge*. It’s the top of the line Nseries, from the world’s biggest cell phone manufacturer. It is, by pedigree, supposed to be the best of the best from the best of the best. What’s more, the previous Nseries ‘flagship’, the N96, was an embarrassing bomb for Nokia. Also, their services have been panned lately, with a rumored (and later myth-busted) shuttering of Share on Ovi Ovi Share.
I won’t lie – aside from cameras, which Nokia clearly excels at (compared to the rest of the market), other platforms are starting to look really enticing to this blogger. The myTouch isn’t an option for me, since it’s on T-Mobile, but if it was on AT&T, or was something like the HTC Touch Pro2, with Android, I can’t say I wouldn’t be distracted from Symbian for it.
