This is not a phone it's a camera. Well really! I was walking down the street last weekend walking the dog my bluetooth headset stuck to my ear. So I'm yacking away and it was a beautiful day. Without thinking I just started taking pictures. Concurrently I was telling my buddy about the pictures I was taking while talking. I had forgotten there was a phone inside. When picked up on this I continued talking while pointing the video camera at me. All a little silly, however this was the first phone I've had that had the power to be holding a call and running a video. I'm sure my caller could have been my hidden interviewer had I wanted.

Second is the volume of pictures I'm now taking. The Lifeblog just organizes them in a timeline. It's a much better way than just uploading into a folder. Even better I've worked out the synch process. Drop the phone down by my PC when I get in and it all synchs automatically. For the first time this synch is almost flawless. (for another post). So my picture taking is gone up at least 10 fold if not 100 fold. I'm also starting to take clips of newspapers I read in the morning, even just a photo outside if I don't have something for today. God forbid I resort to self portraits. Still there's a new diary element here and it's rich and doesn't take much effort. Put these in the hands of kids in MySpace or Facebook and with some you will have a revolution.

So the parallels to my Skype experience.

First I thought I was getting a phone. This is not a phone although the organizing aspects are - eg calendar synch etc are fantastic (again another post). No, the real pleasure as someone who has enjoyed photography for years is putting a camera in my pocket that I can't leave home without. At 2meg pixels the pictures are great. I already want 5mb etc and and not just a digital zoom. But if you ask me would I like a $500 Digital Camera or the N90. There is no question. In a few years I'll get the extra quality I want etc. The result was just like my first experience with Skype. It radically reframed my thought on phones and conversations. Now presence is an element I can't do without and want.

On the exponential usage. Skype created a global world and easily ten times the talk time around the world. As a result it reframed my network. The presence factor and the ease of balancing calls with chat provided a richer conversational medium in which to work. I'm not yet sure how the Nokia N90 will change the way I work, however I'm going to use it as part of the excuse to reintroduce myself back to blogging at Unbound Spiral. With a break for the holidays I have the perfect opportunity. We'll see then whether it really changes my behavior. If it does many will follow in its footsteps.

And thirdly, very simply, it is mobile. In an always-on mobile social world the N90 like Skype has the potential to put more power in my hand. That's a huge benefit.