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Wednesday 18 February 2009

Nokia Messaging: the return of access point selection

Nokia Messaging email
Nokia likes to make things complicated. Nokia's chat program used to be Nokia Chat. Now it's called Chat on Ovi, err, I mean Contacts on Ovi. This name suggests all messaging will eventually end up in this application, but...

...email is handled by Nokia Email.

Oh wait. Not anymore. They renamed it to Email on Ovi, consistent with their chat program.

Just kidding. Nokia didn't. They renamed Nokia Email into Nokia Messaging some time ago. Does this mean Nokia's instant messaging program Contacts on Ovi will be integrated in this program, or what? And will SMS (Short Messaging Service) be part of Nokia Messaging too, or will Contacts on Ovi run away with it?

Nokia's names work in mysterious ways.

The latest update of email client and push mail service Nokia Messaging repairs a mistake that shouldn't have been made to begin with. Now you can select your access point again. Good news for those who move in and out of 3G coverage, swap SIM cards often, or use whatever Wi-Fi network happens to be nearby.

Access point selection is not free of problems: Nokia Messaging keeps asking me to select an access point, even when my phone already has a running Wi-Fi connection. But Nokia says some bugs were fixed (they didn't tell which bugs), and Yahoo mail users get notified in a new way of new mail.

If you buy a Nokia E55 or E75 you can use HTML email, but these phone models are not for sale yet. HTML mail will become available for other phones later. Yes, you guessed right: Nokia didn't tell how much later.

For some reason Nokia wants to know my phone number before it lets me download Nokia Messaging. Why can't they simply put a download link online instead of insisting on an on-the-fly install from an SMS?

The push email service is free for the time being, but it may cost money after the beta trial is over. Maybe that's why Nokia wants to know my phone number?

The verdict: Nokia Messaging works, but download and installation are unnecessarily complicated, and the user interface could use an upgrade too.

Nokia Messaging


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