Who needs Flickr anymore, when Share on Ovi gives you virtually unlimited storage for photos and videos? Who needs MobileMe when Ovi now also provides syncing for calendar, contacts and files? Nokia’s suite of online services is now quite comprehensive covering everything from photos and video sharing, personal information management, file storage, music and games.
I must admit there was a time when I was unsure where Nokia was headed with Ovi or Twango (Twango has become Share on Ovi, which is the photo and video sharing equivalent of Flickr). It was also becoming confusing when the PC syncing software for Nokia phones comes in 3 flavours: PC Suite, Nseries PC Suite, and Nokia Ovi Suite for PC. Well, fortunately things are pulling together now. (It should have been sooner!)
For some time, I’ve been a happy user of Share on Ovi, which is the photo and video sharing equivalent of Flickr. I have been looking for somewhere to store on photos online. The trouble with many free online services is their limited quota. They either limit the online storage capacity, the upload bandwidth per month, or one thing or other. Share on Ovi is amazing. They have limited too, but the only limit is 100MB file size per multimedia item. Now, 100MB for a photo with today’s technology is plenty of space. 100MB is quite decent for online videos too. So this isn’t really a concern. Apart from this, there are no quotas of how many items you can store online, how many can be viewed, how many you can upload per month, etc. It’s quite amazing. It’s free, of course.
What’s updated is the new Ovi services which now let you sync your phone contacts and calendar entries into the “cloud” (i.e. online). Once you have your information in the cloud, it is very easy to sync it to any other devices. This is not unlike how Apple’s MobileMe works.
To get started with syncing your phone, sign-in to Ovi (or register a new account if you do not have one). Go to the welcome page if you’re not there, then click on Add a device. Follow the screens to choose your phone model, provide your phone number and other details, confirm the settings, then wait. A configuration SMS will be sent to your phone. View the message, enter the PIN displayed in your browser, then click Options, Save on your phone. Go back to your computer browser and follow the on screen instructions.
Note that syncing requires a data connection. If you use GPRS or HSDPA, then data charges may apply. If your phone has Wifi, you may prefer to choose to use the Wifi connection instead.
The contacts and calendar web interfaces on Ovi aren’t the best. But the infrastructure is ready, Nokia just needs to polish up the web interface, and I certainly hope they’re working on that.
completely agree, ovi replaced my flickr and vox account. Its free, it does video and photo uploads from my n95-2 and much more. 1 simple word: awesome!
Im in the process of trying out OVI.com, and syncing all my Nokia devices with it. So far so good.
I have been using OVI for a while back. OK so it’s neat but… as any Nokia device it is weak when it comes to working with a Mac user … such as myself. By the same token, the limit on image size transfer, while logical kind of defeats the idea behind high-end picture devices. I mean, why invest in an N series device if your pictures, when uploaded look no better than a $50 series 40 handset.
Ovi pulls some nice tricks… if people remember to use the thing… again, another “swiss army knife” app that, I am afraid will go mostly unused by the average consumer out there.
@ed Your N-Series device takes pictures bigger than 100MB?
If Ovi goes “mostly unused by the average consumer” it would be because of Nokia’s poor marketing of it’s offerings. Everyone seems to have heard of Apple’s MobileMe while Ovi still seems to be relatively unknown though both offer essentially the same services. Indeed, if you don’t need the “Anytime Storage” feature, and the push email feature (it’s free now, but eventually there will be a fee for service), all of Ovi’s services, including picture and video sharing, calendar/contacts/notes/to-do sync, and remote access to a Windows PC, are completely free of charge.
The only limitation for a Mac or Linux user is that remote access to your personal computer isn’t available. All of the other Ovi services are accessible via a web browser and any Symbian S60 3rd edition device (for example, any recent N-Series device). As a Mac and Linux user (exclusively except at work) I’ve not had problem using any of the Ovi services (“Anytime Storage” doesn’t require a Windows PC).