Microsoft offered Yahoo! $44.6 Billion recently and stated its primary intention was to offer some real competition against Google. Flickr, a property which is owned by Yahoo!, is a very popular image hosting site; even I’m a premium member. Flickr users are going absolutely nuts at the thought of Microsoft taking something as good, as perfect, as Flickr and integrating it into their Live online service suite.
Nokia, via the Twango blog, officially launched Share for Ovi. Not only do users get to share images, but also videos. Was this launch a direct result of the Flickr protest or did the two events just happen to be coincidences?
Share for Ovi requires that you create an account, sadly there is no Ovi wide single sign on yet, and then lets you upload 250 MB worth of content per month and videos can be a maximum of 100 MB. There is no premium account yet, unlike Flickr which offers unlimited uploading per month for $25 per year.
Uploading photographs to Flickr can be done via a mobile phone, email, dedicated application for Mac/PC/Linux or via the browser. Share for Ovi has an annoying photo uploader that requires you to select one image at a time. Uploading multiple files at once can be done, but you need Java installed. Why can Flickr do multiple image uploading without Java and Share for Ovi can’t? The dedicated application on Flickr is great, while for Ovi … there is no dedicated application. It uses the Windows XP web publishing API, an unpleasant experience. Note, the Ovi PC Suite was demoed at Nokia World and it offered uploading capability and much more, sadly it isn’t out yet. Speaking about experience, what is it like once I’m done uploading a photograph?
When I’m done loading the picture on Flickr I can change the title, add a description, tag it, add it to a set or even create a new set and add it there. Share for Ovi has this “Channel” concept which I’m having a hard time understanding. Yes I can change the title, add a description, tag it, but something even better is I can add a location, an authour, rotate the image and adjust brightness and contrast, all right after an upload. Those are tasks usually reserved for Flickr’s dedicated tools, which run in the browser by the way, no Java needed.
What is the experience of viewing a photo? Here is what the image above (taken on my Nokia N82) looks like on Flickr and on Share for Ovi. Flickr has a gentler, cleaner, leaner UI while Share for Ovi is more obvious, out there and in your face. A big feature I’m interested in is viewing photographs in their original size so I can copy, paste and edit on my desktop. Flickr has a button that says “all sizes.” You click on that and it takes you to the large by default and then offers you several sizes on top and places embed code on the bottom. Share for Ovi has the embed code already there on the side of the image without me having to do anything and to see other sizes I click on “original, other sizes” which is really just the same URL for some odd reason and it defaults to the original size. Flickr’s “large” is 1024×768, Share for Ovi’s “large” is 514×384. Guess Nokia still thinks that the majority of web users have 800×600 screens, which is true, but I think people buying an N95 are doing better than that financially and have moved up to a higher resolution tier.
You can view the culture clash between West Coast Flickr and Northern Europe Finland in the little things. Take for example EXIF data, something that tells professional photographers what camera was used to take a shot, what lens, what manual settings were used, etc. All this data is under “Technical Info” in Share for Ovi because technically it is technical info. Flickr on the other hand tells me without having to click on anything that “This photo was taken with a Nokia N82.” Doesn’t that sound more human? If I want the ISO setting, f/stop, etc, I can click on more properties.
I can’t say I don’t like Share for Ovi. It has potential, but without a premium option I’m kind of left out in the cold. I don’t ever want to have to worry about running out of upload bandwidth every month. Some months I’ll upload less than 10 pictures, other months over 300 which are usually a megabyte a pop. A free Flickr account doesn’t retain your original file, all images are resized to VGA resolution, Share for Ovi keeps your original JPG, a nice touch. Flickr is $25 for a year of unlimited uploading and hosting of my 5 megapixel N95/N82 photos, that is more than fair. Share for Ovi, don’t you want my money? And about the name, Share for Ovi, that isn’t very creative now is it?
At the end of the day I need to quote Russel Beattie:
“”If someone’s using a PC to demo the Next Big Thing, then it’s not the next big thing.”
How will Share for Ovi be integrated into my mobile phone is much more important than the web UI right now. How will Nokia integrate photo uploading into their next generation of mobiles and push their service in a non intrusive way? That is the question I’m sure we will see an answer to in 2008.
If you’re a Flickr user should you join Share for Ovi? My premium account runs out tomorrow, I’m renewing it since I don’t see Share for Ovi reaching par with Flickr. This can change and I’m confident it will change by the end of this year.