Gadget Inspector: You Want How Much?

Second of a series of posts about Nokia’s N95 8GB mobile device, which
they’re letting me play with in exchange for being opinionated about.

OK, so this morning one of our cats — Jiggy if you must know — was rolling around on the floor by my desk chair and so I engaged the N95 8GB’s video camera and grabbed some really grainy and dimly lighted footage, which I won’t be sharing because it’s the epitomy of home movie lameness meaning any entertainment value is restricted to that of the person taking the video.

But the point I want to make is not that the device has easy-to-access video capability, but that after I captured the clip, I was then presented with options as to what I wanted to do with it, such as transfer it via Bluetooth to a connected device or post it online. I opted for the Bluetooth function since I’d already bridged that divide between the phone and my home computer and in a couple of button pushes it was smoothly being sent to a storage shed on my desktop Mac.

If you’re rolling your eyes because Bluetooth connectivity is soooooooo five minutes ago, please understand that the bite radius of my Moto Razr V2’s Bluetoothiness is restricted to a sometimes reeeeeeally weak connection between the phone and its companion (sold separately) HS820 headset. So to finally experience the awesome power of the now-standard functionality is very cool.

What is NOT very cool is the N95 8GB’s price. The lowest I found this morning was $559, and I won’t even mention the highest — yes I will: $WTF — I mean: $722. Seven hundred and twenty-two dollars! Gah!

It’s my understanding the new entry level iPhone coming July 11 (which probably means September 24th for me once all the geekglee dies down and supply can accommodate demand) is $199, and the beefier version might be what, $299… $399? Even at that far more reasonable price point I’m gulping, and ain’t nothing gonna get me to climb into the $400 or higher elevations.

And yeah, I already now it’s gonna cost me around $70 to AT&T each month for the privilege of having one of Steve Jobs’ newest and finest… but for the past two years I’ve been paying $50 per to have one of Moto’s oldest and lamest with Verizon so an extra $20 ain’t no deal breaker.