Nokia Photos & Lifeblog

Question

PC Platform : Windows XP pro with SP3
Nokia Phone N76
Nokia PC Suite Ver 7.0.9.2
Nokia Photos Ver 1.5.242
Nokia Lifeblog Ver 2.5.224
Nokia Ovi Ver 1.1
Hmmmmmm Where to start ...... Lets start with Ovi Suite - I downloaded this new software on the basis that it was the recommended product in preference to Nokia PC suite which I had been using prior to this download on the 4th Nov 2008.
1. Ovi Suite is NOT a replacement for PC Suite. I have an email from Nokia support telling me so and that its OK to run BOTH sets of software. BUT the POINT of MY email to them was I DO NOT WANT to cluter my PC up with 100s of 'ragtail' Nokia software products - I want all the functionality encapsulated in one product which is why both these Nokia products are supposed to do by NAMING their products ' Nokia xxxx SUITE ' (the key word being SUITE)
2. I used Nokia LIFEBLOG under Nokia PC suite extensively. All my SMS text messages are saved and stored because I use this DATA for business communications. SMS is a record just like an email. It is invaluable to me to have an accurate record of ALL my SMS text messages. I was experiencing problems with Lifeblog NOT transfering ALL my SMS messages from the phone to Nokia PC suite. New messages not previously transfered to my PC were not picked up by the Lifeblog software as being needed to be transfered to my computer. I still dont know why it doesnt recognise these messages. Is there some sort of 'flag' put on the message in the phone data ? Why cant I CHOOSE which INDIVIDUAL Messages that I want transfered. AND why cant I set a control to transfer the message from the phone to the PC MORE than ONCE. (For instance I may inadvertantly have deleted a record of an SMS message on Lifeblog but the message is still in the phone memory and I want to transfer that message again - but there is NO way that I can see to do this
3. Lifeblog as a seperate application (add on) to PC Suite was great in is concept BUT under Ovi Suite it NO longer shows as an application in its OWN right but MYSTERIOUSLY it is part of Nokia Photos!!! WHY WHY WHY - what the heck has SMS text messages got to do with Photos ???? I do not know how many BILLIONS of SMS text messages are sent around the world each day using NOKIA phones but I would guarantee that the number of SMS text messages out numbers the number of Photos stored on an individual phone by at least 100,000 to 1 - (ie 100,000 SMS text stored per 1 Photo) SO COME ON Nokia put some priority BACK into SMS Text message data storage, retrival and dta management
4 Because Ovi Suite is new software (and by the way it CONVERTS Lifeblog SMS text messages before storing them under 'Nokia Photos Timeline' This implies that the file format for Nokia Lifeblog and Ovi Photos Timeline are DIFFERENT and therefore INCOMPATIBLE with each other. There is NO way that I KNOW OF to copy the SMS text messages to Nokia Photos Timeline AND then copy the same messages to Nokia PC Suite Lifeblog. - Why would I want to do that ? - well quite simply if I decide that Ovi Suite is a BAD product then I will want to continue to use Nokia PC Suite Lifeblog WITHOUT loosing ANY stored data.
5 My overriding concern with BOTH products is that I have an ACCURATE and DEFINATIVE record of my SMS text messages. And if you think this is stupid or odd then just think what you would do if you had NO RECORD of IMPORTANT emails. You would be pulling your hair out especially as the MOBILE phone is as important to businesses as is the computer - SO NOKIA please please get your act together. It seems to me that 2 different sets of Nokia software programmers are developing 2 DIFFERENT products that supposed to do and achieve the SAME thing for the end USER. WHAT A COMPLETE WASTE OF TALENT AND RESOURCE AND MONEY = GIVE THE USER CHOICE and MANAGEMENT Capabilites OF all THEIR data AND allow THE user TO store, backup AND KEEP AN accutrate record of THEIR PERSONAL information store BOTH on the PC and on the Nokia Phone. IF it is NOT your mission statment to do this then WHY o WHY do you produce Nokia PC Suite and Nokia Ovi Suite programs - PC to Phone Syncronisation should be effective and accurate and MANAGEABLE for ALL STORED DATA where on the phone OR on the PC - COME ON make your product work for your clients
6 Perhaps one of the most infuriating aspects of bespoke software development is the way software programmers from ALL providers insist upon having background system task loaded into PC memory utilising VITAL PC resouces even if that software program is not being used by the PC user at that precise moment in time. Now that I have loaded OVI Suite if I look at my background system processes on my PC I find that I have multiple Nokia Software programs hogging PC resources and MEMORY even when I am NOT using them - COME ON YOU LAZY programmers there must be a better way to develop your software. After all its OUR MONEY your playing with forcing us to buy MORE memory/harddisk storage space when in actual fact WE DONT NEED IT - AT LEAST give the USER the choice to have these background programs loaded and running or NOT to have them running.
This post is all negative which is a REAL REAL pity but it states the FACTS and NOKIA need to do something about there product implementation - RIGHT NOW

Answer 1

Hi,
I dont have answers for all your queries, but still i want to share a little.
1) OVI Suite is not a replacement for PC suite.
Yes atleast for near future till nokia comes up with all applications bundled under one umbrella (Having all the applications of Nokia PC Suite + Nokia OVI Suite). As of now not all the devices are supported by Nokia OVI Suite except NSeries and some other phones. It has to think of Users who are using Mac too.
2) If storing messages safely on your PC is the main concern means then, you can install Nokia Communication Centre which is part of Nokia PC Suite 7.0.x.x and above, which will store your messages to the PC. You can also use Content copier to backup the messages and install Noki software to view what exactly got stored on backup file(.nbu). It is unwritten law (Correct me if i am wrong), data(image/video/Text message/Multimedia message/Sound files) which is synced with Nokia lifeblog will not sync again with Nokia photos and vice versa Reason behind this could may be to avoid redundancy (Chances are there files may be duplicated twice which may lead to more memory space on your PC) This is my assumption. To conclude data synced once with Nokia lifeblog cannot be (re)synched again with Nokia Photos and vice versa as well as with same software which you have synced already. One way of doing this for images and videos could be sync images with lifeblog and then mark those as favorites and then sync it again with nokia photos, then it may sync twice.
3) Lifeblog is not shown in Nokia OVI Suite. OVI Suite do have option to import the data from lifeblog, this may be because, nokia lifeblog is going to be replaced by Nokia photos. If you observe earlier Nseries phones will have lifeblog on the phone N73, N76 etc, but Nokia N 78 has got Nokia photos built in along with the device instead of lifeblog(device). Yes i do agree about sms part, as i mentioned earlier, if storing the messages safely on your pc is your main concern means, you can use Nokia communicaton centre.
These are my comments as an user of Nokia pc softwares. Sure your comments will be a constructive feedback for those who are developing nokia softwares.