Hello from Helsinki, Finland!

Hello everyone and good morning from Helsinki, Finland.

I knew I had landed in Finland because the moment the plane touched down, a cacophony of Nokia text message beeps sounded across the cabin.

I’m here with Rafe Blandford, Founder and Editor in Chief of All About Symbian, the biggest Nokia/Symbian-related site on the planet. We didn’t manage to sit together on the plane on account of the gazillion Finnish folk heading back out of London late on a Sunday afternoon.

The middle-aged chap sitting next to me was not impressed at me using an iPhone. At all. So much so that he stared at me a few times, hoping, I suspect, to encourage me to put it away. We’d only just taken our seats and the announcements made it clear that using mobile devices at this point was perfectly acceptable. His wife joined in with the upset disapproving stare a few minutes later. I was busy working away on a presentation using the utterly fantastic Documents To Go Premium app (more about that in a dedicated Application Review newsletter this week).

Eventually the chap plucked up the courage to tell me, “You shouldn’t be using that.”

I wondered if I’d brought out my N86, if he’d have the same reaction.

I stared at him for a moment.

I then pointed to the fancy little Aeroplane icon on the top left of the device screen, explaining, “It’s on airplane mode.”

“Oh,” said the chap.

So I carried on using the iPhone until the plane taxied off.

I wonder if the Finns aren’t that impressed at the iPhone. I should have brought out my iPad to see what this chap and his scowling wife would have made of it.

Blandford had warned me. It seems bringing an iPhone or an iPad to Finland isn’t best practice. Everything including my N86 connects perfectly fine to the hotel’s free WiFi service. Everything, that is, apart from the iPhone and the iPad. Is it a conspiracy?

No. Just an incompatibility somewhere along the line. Should’ve brought my MiFi unit. Or perhaps I should turn my N86 into a hotspot. Trouble is, that’s running a 3UK SIM which, I suspect, will be positively ridiculous in terms of mobile data pricing. Just looked. It’s £1.25 per meg. But they’ll text you if you go over a 45 pound limit. Which is useful to know.

Meanwhile, I am enjoying five-bar mobile signal wherever I go, even at 70mph in the taxi.

They’re pretty good at mobile, the Finnish.

Back in London tomorrow evening.

Happy Monday! 😉