Nokia and Reuters develop an N95-based "Mobile Journalism Toolkit"

The rise of the cameraphone has certainly changed the face of journalism, and old-guard wire service Reuters isn't about to get passed by -- the company has entered into a long-term partnership with Nokia to develop new mobile reporting technologies, and the two companies have recently completed trials of an N95-based "Mobile Journalism Tookit" that takes moblogging to a whole new level. Reporters were given a hardware bundle that consisted of an N95, a Nokia SU-8W portable keyboard, a Sony condenser mic with special N95 adapter, a tripod, and two Power Monkey power stations, including the solar-capable Explorer, all of which linked into a custom mobile CMS that allows stories to be posted almost instantly. Reuters also partnered with Comvu for GPS-linked video streaming, and the N95 also provides a host of other metadata about each piece of content as it's filed. Although the trial is now over, both Reuters and Nokia plan on using the kits to teach journalism students and to promote the cause of citizen journalism. Let's hope that means they start teaching people how to take non-blurry cameraphone spy shots, eh?

Read -- Mobile Journalism Toolkit press release
Read -- Posts from the Reuters mobile journalism trial
Read -- Toolkit contents

[Jesse S @ Oct 23rd 2007 3:18PM]

I still don't get what's so great about the N95. I am not being sarcastic, can someone please explain it to me? I can do so much more on my i730/i760, and those have keyboards, and they are CDMA.

I just want an honest answer, I am not trying to troll.

[Jon @ Oct 23rd 2007 3:26PM]

GPS, 5 Megapixel with Carl Zeiss autofocus lens, A2DP, WiFi, HSDPA. It is the ultimate convergence device, although it would be best to get an updated version with larger battery and more memory.

I can understand why a journalist would be equipped with either a N95 or E90.

[Jesse S @ Oct 23rd 2007 3:38PM]

So the only thing it has over my pdaphone is GPS (understandable, I wouldn't mind an internal GPS on my phone) and a better camera.

Well, for me, this phone wouldn't be a good idea. GPS entry sucks without a keyboard, and I work in places where I am not usually allowed to have a camera, which means I will have to leave my i760 behind, and anyway, I have a real camera for when I take pictures of things...

I'm a believe of convergence, but only when the assorted types of devices in the one device are as good as separate devices in the same price range, and I haven't found that to be true for cameras in phones. Ah well, the technology will eventually improve.

Thanks, though.

[Jon @ Oct 23rd 2007 3:49PM]

I don't have a N95 but I have used a N80 tethered to a Bluetooth GPS with Nokia Map (smart2go) and ViewRanger (for off-road) and text entry works fine in both cases.

Camera seems to be as good as a last generation consumer digicam. Obviously without the manual controls but better than many branded entry level digicams.

[Al @ Oct 23rd 2007 4:04PM]

Its obvious you are business person and not a journalist, so this news story means nothing to you.

640 x 480 30 fps video. Its what makes the N95 perfect for mobile journalism. The GPS is essential for knowing where the journalist is reporting from.

As a personal device, its great for me. I have my pictures geotagged and on flickr instantly. I can find gas stations if I am lost. I download podcasts direct to my N95 over wifi and listen to them on stereo speakers or wireless headphones. The list of things it can do goes on and on.

I dont have any use for a qwerty keyboard. I prefer one handed operation on my mobile.
You should look up the Nokia E90 and see if its right for you.

[kludge @ Oct 23rd 2007 3:27PM]

What???

How can this be a news?!!!! For God sake, it is not an iPhone!!!

[TEM @ Oct 23rd 2007 3:43PM]

So what does this really mean? Now Reuters can take pictures with the phone, and then photoshop them using the phone as well? I bet their Middle East bureau is stoked!

[Auto @ Oct 23rd 2007 3:59PM]

What a great marketing ploy by Nokia - but seriously, what 'proper' journalist is going to be using a N95? Come on now; the battery would be dead in an hour, the GPS takes forever to get a fix and camera is terrible (even at 5mp, it not for serious pro use). If a laptop is not available, Windows Mobile would be a far more sensible. The N95 is not a proper smart phone, it may be the "ultimate device" for clueless fanboys like Jon above who dont understand what a proper smartphone is, but there are already devices and software (lets face in, Symbain development is incredibly lame compared to the other platforms) out there that can do the job 10 times better. And the N95 is being discontinued soon anyway. Maybe you mean the new 8gb version Engadget ;)

[Jon @ Oct 23rd 2007 4:03PM]

Suddenly I am a fanboy...

Search my post history mate and you will see that I also own plenty of Windows Mobile phones in the past. Currently using XDA Orbit and N80. Thankfully I can easily adapt to any smart phone platform, quite unlike you who seem to be the fanboy here.

[Al @ Oct 23rd 2007 4:07PM]

There is NOTHING in the windows mobile scene that can keep up with the multimedia capabilities of the N95.

[huh @ Oct 23rd 2007 4:21PM]

Al, in most ways the Tilt and new i-mate phones surpass the N95, except the N95's image quality is undoubtedly better. (As a side note, it'd be nice to have a subjective evaluation of image replace meaningless megapixel ratings). The fact that Nokia phones don't have touch screens is a big drawback, not just for navigation but also for quick sketches.

[Jon @ Oct 23rd 2007 4:26PM]

@huh, both has their drawbacks. I prefer to use Nokia during the week when I have to commute. Easier to text one handed as navigation through the menus is easier. Windows Mobile with touchscreen is easier for other heavier tasks like editing documents and surfing the web.

It would be interesting to see next year when Nokia implements touchscreen onto S60 platform and Microsoft finally merge their smartphone platform with Pocket PC. I can't wait.

[huh @ Oct 23rd 2007 5:26PM]

@Jon, those are good points, but I was mainly going on facility compared to the idea of a mobile journalism device (which I think is a very valid pursuit by the way). But now that you mention it, having very quick access to image/video/audio capture would be important on such a device; in addition to poor image quality (despite raw megapixel capability), most devices are very sluggish so would be poorly suited for this task.

[shaun @ Oct 23rd 2007 5:31PM]

When did a pen and paper stop being cool for a journo to carry...?

[Noshino @ Oct 23rd 2007 5:41PM]

when instead of a picture all you could get is a stick figure of someone?

[shaun @ Oct 23rd 2007 5:43PM]

Touché

[Steve Paine @ Oct 23rd 2007 6:46PM]

Mmm. Looks a bit smaller than my version although I'd wager I can get a lot more done with mine!

http://www.umpcportal.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=447

Steve

[Eric @ Oct 24th 2007 8:27AM]

Nice idea, poor implementation. I guess it is better to have lousy shaky video taken from a journalist (rather than a real cameraman) than none at all. This looks like yet another print media attempt to push into the video business. Too bad they don't get that we don't want to watch someone's home movies of an event.