The Nokia 9500 is the latest in a very long line of cult devices, which probably started way back in 1984 with the Psion organiser. Though Nokia don't go out of their way to advertise the link, the direction that they have taken with the Nokia Communicator has a lot to do with the success of the Psion product line.
The philosophy has not changed since 1984 - the aim has always been to produce "a full-featured microcomputer in your pocket." Psion marketed the idea quite successfully up to the Psion 5(MX), pocket-sized clamshell devices with a black-and-white touchscreen, a keyboard that was just large enough for touch-typists, a word-processor, a spreadsheet, a fully-featured programming environment making use of an interpreted language called OPL, and enough processor power to play MP3s... just about.
There, the idea appeared to stagnate, and the Psion 5 became the last in its line. But Psion had an ace up their sleeve. Separating into three groups (Psion Computers, Enterprise and Software), the software group managed further development of the Psion operating system, EPOC, together with Nokia and Ericsson. The group was rebadged to "Symbian". It is this operating system, several
versions along, that powers the Nokia 9500... and the aim still has not changed. The 9500 still aims to be that "full-featured microcomputer in your pocket".
As its heritage would suggest, the device is still programmable. OPL runtime and scripting environment can be downloaded and installed. Personal Java and MIDP software run happily on the 9500. There's even a C++ developers' kit, if that's your sort of thing. For a geek, therefore, the sky is the limit, and it's tempting to regard the 9500 as the long-awaited upgrade on the Psion 5 - finally, a colour screen! 32 megabytes of RAM, 80 megabytes of internal memory, an MMC card slot for further expansion, Bluetooth, WiFi internet access, and inbuilt GPRS - what more could any self-respecting geek ask for?
Well... there are still a few problems. For example, the processor is slow - just 150 megahertz. To put this in perspective, that's less than five times as fast as the Psion 5MX processor, which ran at just 36 MHz. The designers have good reason for keeping it slow - the Psion 5MX used to last between two weeks and a month on a single pair of AA batteries, and the Nokia 9500, with the much greater power drain required by the mobile telephone features, has to last at least a week for realistic use to be possible. The decision worked, in that the battery life of the 9500 is more than adequate unless you listen to MP3s or watch videos over a period of several hours (but if you do, carry a charged spare battery). On the other hand, the user interface of the 9500 gives a disappointing first impression as a result. Loading programs is slow; the screen refreshes stickily, the screen blanks in whole or part to white, and you begin to wonder what's wrong. Then the program you loaded flashes up on screen, and everything returns to normal.
It's not really a problem - one just has to remember not to close the programs one uses most frequently. There's enough memory for that approach, and it's harmless. But it's disconcerting on first viewing. The web browser on the 9500 can suffer from similar speed issues - you're really better off restricting your web-based activities to pages designed for PDAs and embedded browsers as much as possible. Although it will render full pages, with a few exceptions, it's not a small job and the 9500's CPU isn't quite fast enough to make it appear effortless.
There are a few other interface issues, as well. None of them are show-stoppers, but some are strange enough to make one wonder what Nokia were thinking of. For example, the 9500 does not have a touchscreen. Fair enough - but try a Psion 5MX one day, if you ever have the opportunity, and then imagine a similar interface on the 9500. As a further example, when closed, the 9500's various features are navigated using a strange little stubby joystick-type button. It looks quite simple, but in reality, the action of pressing down on the button usually wobbles it far enough to one side or another to toggle some action or other, so that instead of reaching the address book, you're in the "Camera" menu and have to navigate back to the main screen to continue.
The 9500's software suite, however, is fantastic. Powerful, effective, and to the point. There aren't many gimmicks here, and perhaps not quite as much user testing as might have been indicated, but what's there usually turns out to be just what you need. The calendaring software operates with SyncML, so corporate types will probably find that it's compatible with their calendaring solution. The email software is capable of IMAP and secure SMTP with authentication. The word processor, presentation and spreadsheet software all work as they should. There's even a freeware SSH shell for those UNIX administrators who just can't unplug. It's not all pretty, but it works. I can attest to this - I took the 9500 on holiday with me, to Malta. I had a little left-over work to do before I could relax, so I sat at a cafe, finished the work, connected to the Internet via GPRS and emailed it to my workplace as a .doc file attachment in Word format. That's connectivity... the fact that it had taken me hours of swearing at the pages of settings to set up the device before leaving England isn't quite incidental, however. Equally, I've used the Internet via WiFi from it on a regular basis - it's fairly painless to set it up, and as a result, the 9500 has enlivened many a fantastically dull meeting.
Some find the device indispensable; others find it a pain in the neck. It's all down to what you really intend to do with it. Are you planning on making a lot of phone calls? Are Java games a big factor in choosing your mobiletelephone? If so, this is probably not the phone for you.
Do you intend to attach GPS to it and use it as an in-car solution? Do you write a lot of text, or travel enough that the 9500 could be useful for you as a sort of inexpensive ultraportable?
Which leads us to the cost. I bought mine on an 18 month contract with Vodaphone, for an upfront cost of just over 200 pounds. Not bad, but to accept an obligation like that, it's worth being sure that this really is the device you want. As a low-spec ultraportable, the 9500 isn't expensive, and it is of course also much smaller. Though it's still affectionately known as 'the Brick', it's really a convenient size - any smaller and touch-typing would be entirely impossible (as it is, you'd better have very small hands or be willing to consider a Bluetooth keyboard).
Try it. See how you feel. Probably the best advice I can give is simply to underline that I'd hate to lose mine - as a frequent traveller and a techie with servers to administer, that added connectivity has made a big difference to the way I work.
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Nov 29th, 2005
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