The mobile web is fast becoming reality – some would argue it is already here … Several new apps transform mobile phones into front-end devices for collecting and creating content — and the web into a synchronized back-end for storing, searching, publishing and sharing that content. Nokia Image Exchange (NIE) is one such app.
NIE lets you browse, back up, share and publish photos, both on a mobile device and an associated web site. Because this app synchronizes your device with the site, when you make a change on the device, the site is automatically updated — and vice versa.
NIE, created by the Nokia Research Center, is still an experimental app, not a final release. This means performance can be spotty. Also, figuring out all the features — and getting them to work — can take a while. But the results are impressive. NIE works with any image in your phone, including photos and screenshots. Once you create an image, the app automatically finds it.
To begin, NIE’s start screen is split in two. Use the left side to manage images on your device. Use the right side for images on the NIE site.
Navigation is easy; directional keys move you around the screen, and the joystick selects. You can also shrink and enlarge NIE-stored images using the zoom control of your device’s camera.
While viewing an image, you can give it a title, write a short description, and select it as a favourite. You can also decide whether to keep the image private, share it with friends (using your device’s phonebook), or make it public — meaning the image appears on the public portion of the NIE site. Here’s a look at the menu of choices, superimposed over a photo of a dog I found on the public site:
And here’s another public photo, this one with (misspelled) user comments:
To illustrate other options, I used my Nokia N95 8GB to photograph a Halloween jack-o’-lantern. Then, using NIE, I labelled the photo ‘Brooklyn pumpkin 1’, categorized it as a favorite (indicated below by the heart icon), and made it public (indicated by the person icon):
Other NIE users can share their photos with you, too. To do this, select other NIE users from your contacts. Then the app shows photos they have either uploaded to you or made public.
Conversely, you can use NIE as a standalone app that helps you organize, label and search for your photos on your device. Click on Search, and NIE shows you a kind of quilt-work of your images. Below, I’ve selected the pumpkin photo in the second row from the bottom, as indicated by the yellow-green outline.
In practice, I found the NIE site easier to use than the phone app. For example, when viewing a public photo, you can post a comment and add it to your favorites. I found this much easier to do on my full-sized PC keyboard than on my Nokia N95 8GB’s keypad.
And, functionality seems better online, too. When I tried using my device to make three of my photos public, the photos failed to appear on the public site, even a day later. But using the NIE site, I was able to publish them in just 30 seconds. Similarly, when I tried to download images from the site to my PC, it took several tries before the promised .zip file appeared. (For more bugs and glitches, see this discussion board about the app.)
NIE comes in two versions, both experimental. The full-featured version runs on Nokia S60 3.1 and 3.2 devices, including the Nokia N95 (all versions), N85, N82, N81 (all models), E71, N76, N78, and Nokia 5320 XpressMusic. The other version, called Nokia Image Exchange Lite, runs on all Nokia Series 40 phones. Neither version runs on Nokia’s touch-screen devices, including the Nokia N97 and 5800 XpressMusic, at this time.
For more information, take this online tour of Nokia Image Exchange. Or watch this YouTube video of Davin Wong, one of NIE’s developers, giving a brief overview:
Both versions of the Nokia Image Exchange experimental app are available from Ovi Store and the NIE site. The app is free on both sites.
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