Nokia spent a sizable chunk of 2008 building up its services division. No-one in their right mind could now call the company a simple mobile manufacturer. The Big N is more than that, with tools to bring entertainment, fun and games, as well as enhanced organisation, direct to our handsets.
From new apps making use of our handsets' hidden skills, to cloud-based extras that make living life on the move a whole lot easier.
There's tons to choose from. But which get our vote as 2008’s finest? Read on to find out!
1. Comes With Music
Deals don’t get much better than ‘free’ and that’s exactly what Nokia dished up with the unveiling of Comes With Music. Free music! As much as you can listen to! Yours to keep!
It’s without a doubt the best Nokia service of 2008. Not only does it let customers download music free of charge, but it’ll even let owners grab songs direct to the handset (as long as it’s a smartphone, like the N95.)
OK, so the tracks come packed with DRM, but if you want to share them, your friend just needs a Comes With Music account of their own, then you can beam them across using Bluetooth, or even e-mail tracks for them to add to their own account.
All that for just a hundred quid extra, so as long as you buy more than 10 albums a year, it’s a bonafide bargain!
2. Maps on Ovi
Ovi’s had a massive year. What started off as a simple sharing service now wraps up contacts and calendars into a single back-up service, and when Nokia added Maps to the mix, it became completely indispensable.
All the hard work of typing in addresses, setting up waypoints and organising a trip can be done on the web, and then synced to the phone over the air. It makes navigation a breeze, and if you’re organising more than one person, takes the hassle out of passing round directions too!
3. N-Gage
2008 was the year N-Gage got serious. The launch might’ve been low key compared to the first generation, but by building support into all its top-end smartphones, Nokia’s steadily built a solid platform. And the titles are finally piling up too. Support from the likes of Electronic Arts means there’s finally a wealth of 3D games for our phones, while extras like online multiplayer and a proper gamer profile mean N-Gage delivers an experience almost like a proper games console. But it’s in you’re pocket, available all the time, and infinitely cheaper.
Next year we’ll see even more enhancements, with Nokia promising widescreen games, touch-sensitive titles, and even location-aware gaming. Thumbs at the ready!