Diaries of a Nokia Fan Boy

It seems that Michael Gartenberg has once again updated his Entelligence column, and this time he comments on competition and FanBoy-ism in the mobile space. He raises a number of good points, mostly talking that competition is not a negative thing, and doesn’t have to be about being the next gadget-killer, but instead should be driven by the desire to succeed and make something better. I agree with him on the statement that if a company, a brand, or a series ends up dying out its not because some company came out with the respective gadget-killer, but instead its because that particular gadget got old, fell behind competition, and simply died through natural evolution.

Consider the old Palm OS. Once arguably the best in its class, had to be majorly rebuilt in order to keep Palm afloat. It wasn’t because the iPhone came out and suddenly killed that OS, its simply because the industry moved on, and Palm had to keep up.

Michael also comments on the positive aspects of FanBoys, but also suggests that many FanBoys simply down-talk the other devices and take their own devices to be all-powerful. His recommendation is to instead focus on the positive aspects of the gadgets of which you are a fan. This part of the comment particularly struck home, however after thinking about it I believe I already do this. I’m sure I still need to improve on many aspects, but then everybody does.

I highly recommend the article, its a great read, provides some important insight and a bit of humor along the way.

-Nokia FanBoy

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During my readings today I stumbled across Engadget’s review of PowerGenix NiZn batteries. From a glimpse at the numbers in the review it looked like the batteries the batteries were a much needed improvement in the space of mobile gadgetry:

• 1.6V nominal Voltage
• 30%-50% longer usage on a single charge
• Better able to produce high current

While the review doesn’t specify, I’m guessing that Engadget was comparing the PowerGenix NiZn AA cells (known) to Energizer’s ‘Ultimate Lithium’ AA cells (unknown), in a Speedlight SB-600 hot-shoe flash (known). Anyone having used hot-shoe flashes knows just how demanding they are of batteries, and how quickly they can chew through them, so the test is good.

What surprised me is that they did not post the mAh rating of those batteries. Indeed, even after poking around PowerGenix’ website I could only find a mWh rating of 2500 mWh for a AA cell. Of course, wanting to compare to some of the high capacity NiMH batteries that rating was useless so I found a conversion:

mWhrs = mAhrs * Votlage * hrs (originating from P = I * V)
moving some of the variables around we get:
mAhrs = mWhrs / Voltage (since hrs = 1)
so:
mAhrs = 2500 mWhrs / 1.6V
mAhrs = 1560 mAhrs

That means that these batteries have almost half the capacity of NiMH (high cap NiMH ~3000 mAhrs). Now at first I found this quite confusing since 1500 mAhrs would not be enough to charge the flash 300-400 times. And then I realised that I’m in fact basing my comparison on a worst-case scenario for the batteries. First of all, NiMH batteries are afraid of fast discharge scenarios, and a hot-shoe flash is definitely a fast discharge, second of all, the hot shoe flash works much better with the higher voltage batteries (NiZn 1.6V vs. NiMH 1.2V). In fact, that assumption is built into the review as well, and I believe a different review would be required for longevity in low-current, low-power devices, perhaps a wireless mouse or keyboard.

So my conclusion is actually similar to Engadget’s: if you’re using the batteries in a high-power, high-current device such as a hot-shoe flash, then these batteries are for you. The otherwise, however, is unknown. While I would expect the NiZn to lose out in a low-demand scenario, such as a wireless keyboard, I just don’t know how well those batteries keep their charge. Case in point: my keyboard lasts months on four AA Eneloop cells, and at those time frames its the self-discharge rate that comes into play, not necessarily the capacity.

I guess every battery has its purpose, and this is a rechargeable battery that has long been missing from the options list.

-Nokia FanBoy

read:
PowerGenix
Engadget Review

[caption id="attachment_862" align="alignright" width="164" caption="BlackBerry Curve 8520"][/caption]I was taking a stroll through the mall with some friends over the weekend and I happened across a Rogers booth with some dummies displayed. And me and my friend started talking about the build quality of the two phones.

Immediately after picking up the BB Curve 8520 I felt like I was holding a cheap plastic toy. Sure it was lighter than the E71, but the cheap plastic made me want to turn away from it right away. Then having picked up the Nokia I felt like I was holding a real phone: there was no hesitation as to how long the phone would last, no confusion on the price range of it, it just felt like a solid piece of equipment that could take abuse.

My friend, on the other hand, had another idea. She felt that the lighter phone would benefit her more due to the reduced weight, and complained about the E71 as being “too heavy”. Of course this is also the girl that is regretting having picked a “pink Telus phone” as it is falling apart on her and generally not working as she would like it to.

Of course I understand that I was only holding dummies, and not the real phone. I would be the first to commend BlackBerry on their construction and durability (after all, my 8100 Pearl is still going strong after 3 years of constant use), however I believe that today’s feature phones should be constructed out of metal for its durability, and general appeal. But that’s just my two cents.

-Nokia FanBoy