Conclusion
Things change quickly in the world of cellular telephones. When the Nokia N91 was first announced just a year and a half ago, it was revolutionary for packing a staggering 4 GB of storage space into a mobile handset. What you gave up in terms of form you got back in spades with one of the first phones that could truly double as a music player you could load up with an iPod-esque quantity of songs.
Nowadays four gigs isn't even the max for flash memory cards. Ignoring for a moment Apple's potentially game-changing iPod/phone hybrid device coming down the pike this Summer, Sony Ericsson has the N91 bested in terms of size and style with its w950 Walkman phone, not to mention its myriad lower-cost handsets that can be expanded to 8GB of storage space via Memory Stick Pro cards. As such, the N91 quickly turned from revolutionary device to a relic reminiscent of those giant "Car Phones" found in Mercedes and Rolls Royces back in the 1980s.
The N91 is solid in terms of its performance, connectivity, and sound quality, and it even bests other music phones with its combination of Symbian OS smartphone capabilities and a 2 megapixel camera. However, the N91 needs a serious makeover if Nokia wants to keep it as a competitive player in the music phone marketplace. Especially once the iPhone and its slim profile and touchscreen interface comes onto the scene. With the advent of low-cost flash memory and it's new Web-based music recommendation system, I wouldn't be too surprised to see Nokia unveil a new music-centric addition to the N-Series this year. They'd should, for the N91 has the potential to be a great device if it can get some new industrial design.
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