Video: Talking with N96 and N78 creators – part 2

1. Stefan Constantinescu Says:
   May 6th, 2008 at 11:16 am

   You know I’ll be perfectly honest here, I miss the days when each phone was unique. I don’t like “designing ranges” of devices that “share an identity.”

   It might be swell for companies like Apple, and auto makers do the whole range thing, but each phone is unique and in my opinion should be treated as such.

   One thing that always bugged me was something as simple as the themes. The default theme on all Nseries or Eseries or Vanilla S60 devices is the same. Why doesn’t each phone have their own custom tailored theme?

   This goes beyond the themes however, Nseries should stand for something more than the same look across a range of devices, it should stand for technical achievements.

   Samsung devices get scolded all the time for looking the same. They sell a lot of devices yes, but the people who don’t like Samsung’s look, no matter how interesting the device may be, will not give it a second chance.

   Same can be said about designing a “range.” Some years you may make a hit style, other years you may not. The N81 and N96 for example, not my cup of tea.

   Reply

2. Daniel Dhondt Says:
   May 6th, 2008 at 1:05 pm

   Hi Stefan. Thank you for your comment.
   We agree that not everyone wants or responds the same to a single design. That’s why we take the approach of creating lots of very different designs and features in our devices, so people have a choice. They can pick the one that best matches them, rather than us having only one device. A good example is the difference between the N96 and N78. Both in form factor and specifications they have a different approach but both belong to the Nseries range. The user can decide how the device should look like and what it should do for them.
   Best regards,
   Daniel

   Reply

3. chris Theberge Says:
   May 16th, 2008 at 4:23 am

   I think the designs are great and the silhouette is very identifiable as I can always see my Nseries brethren from across the room. And the feature set packed into the N95 will always keeping me in the Nokia family. My biggest complaint is with common everyday use-ability. As so many of us are repeatedly accessing the same information I strongly urge you make this process easier. On the N95-3 USA : Getting my account numbers or anything from a contact note field requires so many steps and actually going into edit mode in a contact’s notes just to read the complete contents of notes, its one of the greatest nuisances on this fine device. Secondly, traveling — we’d all like to keep our basic itinerary hotel, flights on a note accessible with one touch – how about giving the top most note in notes app a desktop option toggle ? that would be splendid !

   keep up the great work –

   Reply

4. M Savela Says:
   May 30th, 2008 at 2:59 pm

   I feel that for a phone (or any modern gadget) to actually have an identity, it needs a very clear vision of design. If you present many different choices and many quite artificial user-segments, it’s not very convincing to say there’s something for everyone. It’s just like having too many TV-channels. I’ve been on the look for a new phone for ages, but I don’t find the innovation and quality I’d like to see in the Nokia range. I think a more profound design perspective should be studied, something that rises above the market buzz.

   Reply

5. Carlos Silva Says:
   June 24th, 2008 at 5:30 am

   Hi everyone,

   I do agree about what Daniel says, but Stefan might be right too.
   It was a good decision making two “different” devices but, at the same time, they are no different at all.
   I mean, Nokia used to make more creative phones before, like the 7650, 3650, 7610, between others. I think those devices to have a original design, and controversial design was an important issue that helped Nokia growing so much in the global market. But what do N96 and N78 have that we have never seen before? Slide devices are the most common now. You should work harder when you are about to make slide devices, or even the other kind. Try to make irregular lines, extravagant colors, anything that could make a phone unique. The only think that saves those 2 devices selling, when we talk about design, is that brilliant colour of the covers, that’s it.

   Reply

6. Haixu Says:
   September 4th, 2008 at 4:53 am

   Just saw these videos recently. Just my 2 cents. I feel that it’s always important to have a theme (or rather multiple themes for diff series)when designing something, and that creates an identity (due to the design consistency). In the long run, it creates a visual awareness of a product. If someone strip off the “Nokia” from the phone, one should still be able to indentify it as a Nokia. On the other hand if all the designs are too varied, it’s just become a mess of forgettable things, and the brand will also lose it’s ‘class’.

   Reply

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