Hey – Don’t Mess with SmackTalk — Just Another iPhone Blog

I got a recent email from Faisal Alani, touting his iPhone vs. N97 video. I guess the video is meant to be a lighthearted poke at how iPhone users love silly, completely un-practical apps – while the N97 offers ‘loads, absolutely loads’ of apps, which presumably are much more serious and useful than ‘Hamster Time’ which is the only app the ‘iPhone Guy’ plays with during the clip.

I have to say the video was mildly amusing, but well south of hilarious in my view. It also strikes me as more than a little ironic for an ad that is pro Nokia / N97 (I think) to pick apps as a good area to poke fun at. I can’t recall ever seeing anyone rave about the range or quality of apps available on Nokia smartphones – and I have a feeling their app numbers – for apps available, apps bought / downloaded / app usage etc. – are probably at a sort of %age compared to iPhone that would require a high-powered microscope to even see on a chart. Also interesting that the ‘N97 Guy’ doesn’t name a single app as an example of the absolutely loads available. I mean if you’re going to have a dig at iPhone on apps, why not try to serve up some ‘there’s an app for that’ goodness showing what the N97’s got.

Anyway, all that aside – another thing that struck me about this video was the repeated references to, and little sound bites from, an app called ‘Hamster Time’. I think this is a shot at SmackTalk – the brilliant app that offers up a guinea pig (and other small animals) that mimics everything you say in hilarious, squeaky fashion. If so, that’s just going too far Faisal. He’s no hamster, and I’ll choose him and his squeaky puppy and kitten pals over a super duper megapixel camera on the N97 any day of the week.