Digital Common Sense

Unified communications is a huge, broad topid. Nokia gets a lot of visibility for the advances in mobile devices, and the incorporation of Gizmo and GoogleTalk as VoIP (and even video) tools.

When I go fishing, I’ve always been an ultralight fisherman. Very light spinning rod and 2-4 pound test line. When I explored flyfishing, I went straight to a #3 flyrod. Yet when we travel, for our email and web needs, we so often walk with a heavy foot. Sure, laptops became notebooks and shrunk to a degree, but they still weigh around 5 pounds. We still carry accessories and add-ons.

I’ve done a lot of ultralight computing connectivity. Ten years ago I carred a Sharp Zaurus with a 2400 bps modem attached. Still tethered. I had Palm handhelds with modems too. When the Palm VIIx was release with the flip-up antenna and wireless access, limited though it was, I carried one for two years and paid the premium price for connection. Then a Palm TungstenC and later a LifeDrive, both with WiFi.

I leaped to the Treo 700W with EVDO the day it was released.

I have carried an infrared/bluetooth keyboard for use with these tools for a long time. Mostly that’s been for on planes and at conferences, but the last couple of years, I’ve found myself using the keyboard more and more. I’ve travelled with only the handheld devices, but generally onyl for very short trips. Even on vacation, my laptop bag was always along for the ride, and straining at my back.

It’s time for change - a lightness of being.

This past Memorial Day weekend, we took the 5th wheel down to Cannon Beach, OR for a getaway. I’ve always taken my laptop, and driving means you can carry plenty. This trip, I thoughtfully legt the laptop at home. It was, after all, a vacation weekend. I took the Nokia N95, N800, bluetooth keyboard and my Treo. The other thing that was important was taking my Nikon. It’s with me almost every day, and I wanted to really have some time playing with photos.

Nokia raised the bar on casual computing this weekend. I honestly didn’t use the Treo at all, but the N95 and N800 provided more than I would ever need.

The first two days I had GPRS signal on the N95. The N800 paired through it, providing complete email and web capability. I even blogged a couple of substantial pieces in other places sitting in the trailer relaxing. At some point over the weekend, the GRPS link lost signal. I hadn’t even looked before, but a check for WiFi revealed a free hotspot at the RV park. We’ve stayed there before, but I never looked or noticed it before. It was a bit like hitting the jackpot.

Connecting the Nokias to WiFi enabled a whole new level of high-capacity productivity while in casual mode. I popped the SD card out of my Nikon and into the N800. That let me upload a bunch of pictures to Flickr. Pop that card back in the Nikon, pictures intact for linking to the PC later when I get home.

Make a couple of VoIP calls out to the PSTN with Gizmo. Partly to test the quality, but then again, why use the cell plan and eat up minutes. Quality was quite good. It wasn’t perfect, but sitting on the Oregon coast, camped on the beach, cellular quality isn’t exactly stellar. I made one video call from the campsite, mostly to give someone a hard time and say “look where I am and you’re not.”

I also worked a bit on both a magazine article and white paper I’m writing. The N800 screen is big enough to use as a casual workstation, and the bluetooth keyboard makes it so easy.

I also kept in touch. So many of us are not just hyper-connected to the Net, but to our social networks, that contact is frequent, nearly constant. I sent pictures to Flickr, to multiple blogs. I updated Twitter, Jaiku and Facebook. I read my RSS feeds while sitting in camp with my feet up. I had a couple friends comment that they enjoyed vicariously coming along for the weekend.

For me, the social networking aspect of keeping in touch was both important and easy.

Luca commented recently on his experience with the N95/N800 pair.

After a few weeks using the Nokia N95, I’ve found myself using the Nokia N800 much less. I can use them together and I think the N95 can be the perfect companion for my N800 when I’m not under Wifi coverage, so I can use its 3G data connection.

On the other hand, when it comes to reading emails, I find much quicker using the N95 rather than the N800. If you want to use the N800 at best, you need to keep it always on. If you turn it off (if you understand it is really turned off), when you really need it you don’t want to wait much time for its booting.

Our experiences are different indeed. I love the N95, yet carried the N800 on the beach, in town, and everywhere in my very light backpack. I’d never do that with a laptop. I dont’ find the boot time for the N800 to be an issue.

I do agree that the N95 is incredibly fast, and powerful. It isn’t without issues, but it’s proving to be a real powerhouse and a workhorse mobile device. The from factor fits my hands better than the N73 or N80i, but it’s small and light. The interface is cleaner and crisper than any earlier N-series phone. WiFi connection and setup is very easy. Sending posts to Flickr and Vox are easy with the built-in apps. No need to bother with Shozu quirkiness ever again.

And it provides entertainment. I ripped a half-dozen CDs to the memory card last week. I ahve an AM/FM/Cassette stereo in my 5th wheel, but there’s an input jack for a CD player or AUX device. I plugged in the N95 and kicked on the media player. Awesome CD quality music as the MP3s filter from my pocket-sized N95 out through the stereo speakers in the trailer. Add a bottle of champagne and some fresh strawberries and casual computing just doesn’t get much better.

If ultralight travel computing was about being nimble, casual computing is about being easy. Seamless connections, easily doing anything I want or need to do.

Frankly, if I didn’t need a computer for work, I’d probably abandon my laptops and shift entirely to the N95 and N800 pair for all my computing needs. As a technologist, they’re my casual computing arsenal, and I’ll be using them more and more, while I take my laptop less and less.

I would love to have the time and resources to take an extended road trip and document the whole thing with my N95, N800 and Nikon D50. Since work keeps me plenty busy, that will simply be the trips that come. We’re headed back to Cannon Beach for another round in four weeks. That will include serious time at the tidepools and some horseback riding on the beach. Then in late September we’re off on an eight day cruise to Alaska. I won’t take a laptop along for that trip either.

Casual computing isn’t just about work. It’s more than doing your email when you’re on a day off. Casual computing is about the hyper-connected lifestyle, maintaining relationships, and sharing life events.

If unified communications is about the convergence of data, voice and video, casual computing is about the convergence of work and personal life into a holistic mindset that takes away the stress and strain.

Technorati Tags: casual computing, Nokia, N95, N800, mobility, GPRS, WiFi

Filed by Ken at 12:03 pm under Meandering, Mobility & Handheld, Portable Pleasures - PDA/Smartphones, Technology