The Nokia Los Angeles Mansion Party will be unforgettable for me. First of all, Nokia flew me from New York to join them in Los Angeles. Then I get the opportunity to meet many of the Nokia blogging/forums community in person in one place. To top it all, I talked one-on-one with the product managers responsible for the phones and devices I love. Reviews, videos, and interviews will be posted later in separate posts.

Ricky from Symbian-Guru checking the Nokia Nseries Golf Carts.

A shuttle bus took us to the road entrance leading to the mansion. Golf carts with Nokia Nseries decals on the windshield and Nokia N95 US 3G’s attached to the windshield playing that now annoying Mobi Nseries song. There were also Nseries Mini Coopers outside the mansion.

Main lobby of the mansion.

Event Rundown

Nokia stayed true to the party itinerary, showing the new phones Nokia N95-3, Nokia N95 8GB, Nokia N81, and Nokia N81 8GB available to play with. No surprises of new devices like the rumored Nokia N82, or the next Nokia tablet on FCC. I really liked the fact that all the devices were available to play with. There were lots of it so you did not have to wait long to get your hands on one.

Can’t decide which one I want.

The rooms in the mansion had different themes and purposes. Nokia placed emphasis on the web browser, 5 megapixel camera, games, and GPS. There was an arcade room showing off the N-gage service. A photo booth where photos were taken from a Nokia N95 then printed on the spot. A room demoing Slingmedia, where I interviewed the senior product marketing manager. Another room for taking pictures and uploading to Flickr. Outside was a table for the GPS demonstrations.

I’m trying out the new N-Gage service.

GPS demo and the DJ playing music from a Nokia N95.

Later in the evening, we went into in a quieter room with product managers for questions and answers. Of course, we all asked about the Nokia N82 first, but got the “no comment,” answer. Some asked about WiMax and the rumored tablets. Others took the opportunity to fire off some annoyances and problems with the current phones. I recorded a few minutes from the room on video with the Nokia N93i that will be posted shortly.

Paying attention to the product managers.

Highlights of the Party

• Meeting bloggers, forum members, and product managers.
• There were Nokia N95’s everywhere. Each room had plenty of phones for everyone to play with.
• A manager telling me they have a department reading the blogs, discuss in meetings what are being written and put in consideration to determine what needs to be done.
• I get to compare the Nokia N95-3 to N95 8gb to help me decide which one is better for me.

Bigger screen or faster internet? Nokia, why do I have to choose?!

Not So Great

• A few demonstrators that did not know much about the product they are demonstrating.
• Gift bags with missing items.
• I wish I spent more time playing with the phones, but was distracted by talking to a lot of people. I think that can also be considered a good thing.

Some of the HOFO crew. Arlequin, Gwapz, Angel_Wing, Monad1, and Kevlarman.

The Day After

We did not have much time to tour LA after the party, but definitely but tried to make the best of it. We walked through Rodeo drive in the morning. And then since our flights leave around the same time, I rented a white Chrysler 300c with Darla Mack, Cary from Nokia Phone Blog, Jeremiah from N95 Users, and Mike from Acid Studioz to check out Los Angeles in the afternoon.

The bloggers walking through Rodeo Drive.

I’m bigger than Hollywood!

You can see all the pictures I took from my Nokia N95 on Flickr. Also plenty of pictures are uploaded there from several people from their phones because of the built-in upload feature on the Nseries.