Nokia’s Lifeblog for one’s mobile phone and PC was released in 2004. I had the opportunity to participate in a project with Lifeblog in late 2004 through to early 2005.
I use Lifeblog all the time, on all of the Nokia phones I have owned since Dec. 2004, as the best way to view my photos on my phone, or to send the photos as MMS’s to my Flickr account, or to post the photos to my website using Lifeblog’s Atom posting to this Movable Type 4 powered blog (Thanks to the MT team for making this happen with 4.0, you guys rock). I don’t use Lifeblog for the PC, as I have a Mac.
Though Lifeblog is the single most useful application on any of the Nokia N-Series phones that I have owned, I have a few beefs with Lifeblog:
1) Lifeblog has been stagnant and has not moved with the times, as there have been very few changes or upgrades to the mobile app since 2004.
2) Lifeblog is PC-centric and there is not any Mac interface. Wake up, Nokia, there is now a significant Mac population out there. Many of us own your phones. (Nokia’s Multimedia Transfer (beta) for Mac does not count, as it is not an app for both my computer and my phone).
Here is my wish list for Lifeblog:
1) Lifeblog, interface with my Mac. Thank you. Be it a Lifeblog for Mac or a complete and consistent interface with iPhoto, I care not, just do it. I prefer Lifeblog over iPhoto, as Lifeblog for the computer also keeps track / a history of my mobile video, emails, and texts – i.e. my whole mobile life.
2) Lifeblog, I have this lovely Nokia N95, it has GPS. Please take the GPS data and embed it into the EXIF data of my photos, so that when I send them to Flickr or my blog via Lifeblog I can use the geo-coordinates to map the photos or videos. ShoZu does it, so can Lifeblog.
3) Lifeblog, please have an update the app menu function on the mobile. ShoZu does. I never know if you have a new version until I go to the website and download and …. And while you are at it, give me an “About Lifeblog” menu choice so that I know what version of Lifeblog I currently have on my phone.
4) And last but not least, actually the most important request to the list… Lifeblog, please make your mobile app work with internet data rather than email, or let me decide which to use. When I am at home in California, this is fine to have to use the email / ISP data on my phone, as I have a contract with AT&T that allows me to have an email connection. But when I am abroad (like now) I have a pay as you go sim chip that only allows for phone, text, and internet data but NO email / ISP data. So, I can’t use Lifeblog when I am in Europe. Lifeblog, ShoZu uses regular ole’ internet data, please give me that option. Thank you.
Here I am at the end of my wish list and I should honestly ask myself, why not use ShoZu, as they have GPS interaction with my photo EXIF data and they use internet data rather than MMS or email? Well, ShoZu does not post to my blog. Lifeblog does. ShoZu has lots of ShareIt partnerships with companies, but not with my mt-atom.cgi script. Lifeblog does have a connection to my mt-atom.cgi script.
Come on, Lifeblog, sharpen your sword. Get out there, be the best.