Sensor - One of Nokia’s best kept secrets?

Rating: Better tell the gay dating fraternity

Trawling through the built-in applications supplied with Nokia’s latest 5310 handset, I came across ‘Sensor’ as an app. It has apparently been around since 2005. So why do services like emalemobile and Whotooth exist, then?

The aim behind Sensor is to enable people to contact each other via Bluetooth. It’s clearly targeted at those who want to date because the key requirement is to create a ‘folio’ (personal portfolio) for others to see.

If this app had been promoted properly by Nokia then it would have caused other vendors to create a compatible version that ran on alternative (non-Nokia)handsets. But the reverse seems to be true.

A while back I came across a Bluetooth dating service which was aimed at gays and lesbians and I wrote it up. The service is called Whotooth.

Whotooth works very simply. Every week the Bluetooth ‘call sign’ changes. You turn your handset on and start search for other handsets in the vicinity. If you detect another handset with the correct call sign, then you know you’re both singing from the same hymn sheet.

Curiously, I couldn’t remember off-hand what the Bluetooth based service was called. So I searched online via Google and it came up with another service called emalemobile.

The principle is the same with emale. You download this application and then create a ‘portfolio’. Afterwards, when you’re in range of like-minded people via Bluetooth you can make contact.

My point her is that if Nokia Sensor had created the market properly, there wouldn’t be a need for ‘gay-centric’ services. Sexual orientation would have been blatant from yourNokia Sensor folio.

Which begs the question – who is eventually going to win out? Emale? Whotooth? Sensor? It’s the most bizarre pressing need for an industry standard I’ve ever come across.

To download Emale go here

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