Many rural communities rely on radio for electronic communication, so it’s no surprise that you chose FM radio as second most important, with 12 per cent of the total. Sharing third place, with seven per cent of the votes, you chose a flashlight and dust resistance to be the next most important. The practical benefit of a flashlight is obvious, but it’s easy to underestimate the value of dust resistance until you consider the physical conditions these phones are often exposed to.

As commenter Hary points out:

“Generally people who buy cheap phones canít afford extra costs associated with phone and also most of the peopleís lifestyle is that they would like a strong durable phone, which does not break/die due to drop/dust and also which lasts longer on a single charge.”

Email support (6 per cent) was the only other feature that cleared five per cent of the vote, a figure that is surely only going to increase with time. Somewhat surprisingly, just three per cent voted for anti-scratch cover and multiple phone books. However, as Alex Whiteside pointed out in his comment, this sort of feature would rank a strong second for a lot of people:

“If I could vote twice, the second would be for anti-scratch covers. My 1100 is still going strong but the screen’s getting a bit impressionistic these days. If you buy a device like that, it’s quite possible you’ll still be using it long after any repair or replacement service for the cover is available, assuming one existed in the first place.”

The other options we listed gained just a fraction of the vote, though five per cent of you did answer ‘other’ – let us know what you think below.

ESPOO, Finland

If we visit a famous landmark, it can establish its own digital identity. Through our devices, we can see who has visited it today, what they did and even check out images and reviews of the place. This all exists right now, but with an ecosystem that brings all that information together we get a useful digital profile of the landmark.

Nokia is looking at the bond that binds relationships. Right now people tend to leave technology out of their close relationships. In the future though, the information we share over the Internet will change and evolve that, placing technology at the centre of the bonding process. Not in an intrusive way, but as an enabler. I can see this evolution beginning now. We’re already doing it with friendships, and as we share more digitally, it’s an inevitable next step.

Take relationships further out where people are joined together through a common purpose or goal. Think about mass participation events. The mobile ecosystem can add a completely new dimension to these gatherings, enabling complete strangers to share experiences and digital aspects of the common bond. This potentially brings complete strangers together in a way they’d never have had before.

The key for me in all of this is where technology is an enabler, rather than being the focus of what’s happening. I like the ideas, and can see how it can happen and more importantly how it can be useful (yes, I’d love my phone to remind me that the plants need to be watering!). The question is, can it happen without taking over?

ESPOO, Finland

Although clearly just concepts at this point, the devices shown in the animated video (we’ll try and get a copy for Convesations) paint a picture of how we’ll be using devices and services. Connecting to TV, so we can share TV watching experiences with people on the other side of the world, or even using the mobile device as a projector. Contextual awareness plays a big part too, with the device working together with the cloud, both pulling information down to the device, and also sending information back.

Take the fisherman in India. Not only is he using his device to get the best prices for his fish, but he’s making extra money by selling his data to overseas universities who can tap into his and other fishermen’s information for their research.

It might not be a single device either. We saw an example of the user who’s main device is his mobile computer, acts as a satnav and a multimedia centre – much as our devices do today. However Mr 2015 also has a smaller, sub device which he can use for sport. With the same interface as his main device, and the addition of the cloud, means he can move seamlessly between the two.

Of course, this is all still conceptual, but we can see easily how the services and strategy being laid down today form the backbone of the lives we’ll be living tomorrow. No, Ovi services aren’t perfect right now. But we’re at the very beginning. The pace of evolution, both of devices and services will see us all living in a very different world. And you know, it isn’t that far away!

ESPOO, Finland

Resources are the biggest challenge Henri and his team face. Internal-only innovation can be expensive and limiting, so using this open network the team can achieve a lot more, a lot faster. The spread too, is impressive. Everything from nano-science to radio research is happening and the team are rapidly increasing their software expertise (already pretty extensive) and working towards more embedded software and technologies.

So where does that impact products? Henri says technology transfer is one of the biggest challenges he faces but he believes Nokia has in place a good support network to take innovation and turn it into real products. That’s a relief, though it isn’t simple. The process has a series of steps before a new technology can escape NRC and make it’s way into the world. Working its way through Advanced Systems Engineering, the business validation unit, before passing strategy and operational excellence and forming part of Nokia’s corporate development unit means new tech has to be spot on before it sees the light of day in a product. Easy to see then why the process keeps Henri awake at night.

ESPOO, Finland

Peter also showed us Friends Status, which pulls your friends’ status updates from Facebook and Twitter and stores and organises them so you can easily flick back to something someone said earlier. And then there’s the €500 flashlight, as Peter calls it. A simple app that uses the N900’s camera flash as a flashlight. Simple, but quite brilliant. I’ll be getting my hands on that as soon as I get my hands on an N900. Which, won’t be long at all now! It doesn’t actually cost €500. That’s the device cost, the app is free.

As the N900 begins to appear on shelves around the globe it will be price-gunned at around 500 Euros SIM-free, with plenty of contract deals making it available at a reduced cost and in some cases gratis.

José-Luis Martinez is Vice President for Nseries and had this to say about the N900 as it finally departs on its worldwide travels:

“The Nokia N900 has generated a lot of interest since its public launch in August, which has been reflected in the device preorders. What’s exciting is the Maemo software, which takes its cues from the desktop computer and offers a full browsing experience like no other handset. We believe the Nokia N900 will be a very compelling device for people who are passionate about technology.”

The N900’s Maemo 5 backbone is indeed one of the key ingredients that makes this such an milestone mobile, and is the main contributing factor as to why the N900 gets better the more you use it.

When the N900 launches it’ll be compatible with most networks, although it won’t initially be available on new 3G SIM cards from 3 in the UK, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark and Austria – a software update is in the pipeline and is slated to become available before the end of the year.

We’ve been lucky enough to have early hands-on access with the N900 for a couple weeks (find all our N900 coverage here), and we’ve got some cool stuff planned for it shortly, so stay tuned. Until then, soak up more details on the N900 in our Almanac entry, join the debate on the N900, and leave your comments on the global launch directly below.