PDA, Nokia-style

In my struggle to develop SymPoc (initially with Psion Word <-> Symbian Word conversion) I've come across an ugly bug in Symbian Word for Series 90.

When a Series 90 machine stores a file in Symbian Word format, it omits some crucial formatting codes. This has been verified in 7710 device as well as in 7700 and 7710 WINS emulators.

The effect is - apart from losing formatting related to page headers and footers - that a Symbian Word file edited or created in a 7710 machine cannot be opened in a Series 80 machine (9210, 9300, 9500). So an additional task for the Series 80 version as well as Psion and UIQ versions of SymPoc is to be able to open and convert 7710 generated Symbian Word files.

However, a Symbian Word file edited or created on a Series 80 machine can be opened without problem in a Series 90 machine.

Nice review, Steve, very informative. What puzzles me about this machine is the limited amount of free RAM. I can't believe the 7710 only has 10MB of free RAM. That severely limits its usefulness as a multi-tasking PDA. It is especially strange considering application opening is as slow as on S80 Communicators. The commies are forgiven by having about 25MB of free RAM - allowing you to leave practically every app on the device open at all times. It's just unbelievable that Nokia didn't put the same RAM chip in the 7710... I'm not sure if the 9300/9500 has a 64MB chip, but I know it's more than 32MB.

I like the screen resolution and the UI is gorgeous, but the 7710 seems like a poorly thought through device IMO. The lack of W-LAN or 3G, like you mentioned, is another example of that.

Raven wrote:What puzzles me about this machine is the limited amount of free RAM. I can't believe the 7710 only has 10MB of free RAM.

BTW. Check out the 7710 review by Jah published on My-Symbian in January 2005:
http://my-symbian.com/s90/7710_review.php

Thanks for the info, Michal. I remember reading Jah's excellent review also. I just haven't seen the amount of free RAM mentioned before. Having 10-13MB free would be sufficient (just barely) if only application opening was faster.

I wish Nokia didn't discontinue S90 though. Personally, I can't stand S60. But hopefully when the new higher-end devices appear - the UI will be refined and not just scaled up to fit the higher resolutions. It looks like S80 will disappear too... I don't think I would buy the next Communicator if it was running S60...

Anyway, it will certainly be interesting to see what Nokia comes up with the next time around - in terms of high-end PDA-phones. 😊

Raven wrote:
It looks like S80 will disappear too... I don't think I would buy the next Communicator if it was running S60...

I woould; as long as S60 replaced S40 on the outside rather than S80 on the inside... 😉

Raven wrote:It looks like S80 will disappear too...

This is a frightening statement. Is it true?

I am just speculating... But from the looks of it, I'd say that Nokia want to stay with only one platform in the future - S60. And seeing how the third revision now supports many screen resolution (up to 640 x320) and forms of text input (HWR, QWERTY, T9) there isn't really any need for Nokia to continue using the older S80 platform... Of course I hope I am wrong, but it would benefit Nokia to stay with one platform (less confusion, better application compatibility etc.). But again, that is just the direction I think they are taking.

You might turn out to be right...it all depends on a few factors:

Raven wrote: there isn't really any need for Nokia to continue using the older S80 platform...

Well, if it sells well, there's obviously a need. Besides, i don't think S80 is very much older than S60, unless you include Eikon (& GEOS) as part of S80 history...

it would benefit Nokia to stay with one platform (less confusion, better application compatibility etc.).

I donno. Software strategy has never been Nokia's forte. I think they're messing things up unnecessarily, but I guess they can afford it on the back of S60 sales. I think S80 is the clearest and cleanest UI they have, which shows in the high level of compatibility between 9210 and 9300/9500. With S60, compatibility seems secondary priority and sometimes outright undesired (N-gage).

I would agree in the common sense of merging S90 with either S80 or S60. S90 would indeed be completely reduntant if only one enabled the currently disabled touch screen event handling of S80. (As you might know S80 WINS actually has 'touch screen'.)

But again, that is just the direction I think they are taking.

Well one event that supports your thought is that Nokia announced the merger of S90 with S60 and *not* S80 as would have been the more logical step from an affinity and user-profile standpoint. There could obviously be other reasons for this than a planned but secret EOL for S80. Or was the statement merely referring to the new N-series taking the role of 'Media Stations' from 7710? Perhaps the statement was more a matter of branding, and not actually a 'technical' integration?

I think the survival of S80 will depend a lot on Nokia's long term ambitions in the enterprise space. The Symbian OSv7 / S80 platform is a powerful mobile enterprise computing platform. And the 9300/9500 pair are gaining serious traction among the major enterprise computing vendors including Oracle, IBM, Siebel and the like. Now those guys would get quite upset if Nokia is playing around with their platform strategies.

Anyway, if you're right, our hope will be for landscape version of UIQ.....UIC (pun intended)... 😉

martinharnevie wrote:Well, if it sells well, there's obviously a need. Besides, i don't think S80 is very much older than S60, unless you include Eikon (& GEOS) as part of S80 history...

Well, yes, S80 isn't much older if you look at it like that, but remember that S60 has evolved a lot more from the start. S80 has only been trough one upgrade. S60, on the other hand, has been trough some major changes since the first version, while S80 has only evolved slightly from version 1.0 to 2.0. That's what I meant about S80 being 'older'.

I think S80 is the clearest and cleanest UI they have, which shows in the high level of compatibility between 9210 and 9300/9500. With S60, compatibility seems secondary priority and sometimes outright undesired (N-gage).

Yes, S80 may be the clearest and cleanest UI - depending on how you look at it. It could also be considered a bit boring/old fashioned. I think it would be nice with some theme support and other minor esthetical changes actually. I'm not crazy about the default look of the UI - that's why I've gone trough the long, complicated process of skinning my 9300 and 9500 as described in this article. Other than that I love the UI.

About compatibility, you have to remember all the changes S60 has been through. There has been done some significant changes to the platform since the 7650 entered the market. Compared to S80 which has only been trough some relatively minor changes since the 9210. It's just like comparing the changes from the 7650 to the 6600 - where application compatibility was similar (if not better) to what we have now between the 9210 and the 9300/9500.

I would agree in the common sense of merging S90 with either S80 or S60. S90 would indeed be completely reduntant if only one enabled the currently disabled touch screen event handling of S80. (As you might know S80 WINS actually has 'touch screen'.)

Well, what about screen resolution? Does S80 support any other resolutions than 640 x 200?.

Actually, many of us thought S80 was dead and buried before the announcement of the 9500. And some were very disappointed that Nokia didn't rather use S90 for their newest Communicators.

Anyway, if you're right, our hope will be for landscape version of UIQ.....UIC (pun intended)... 😉

Yeah, I'm eagerly waiting to see what will come from that camp in the near future as well, but I doubt we will see a landscape version with the width of 640 pixels (more likely only half of that) - which is one of the major advantages in the 7710, 9300 and 9500.

I can understand Series 90 being discontinued - with the 770 hovering just on the horizon, I believe that is what the 7710 was actually intending to be. The major problem with the 7710 from a Joe Public point of view is the fact that it is huge and lacks a number pad.

At the end of the day, when people want a PDA, they buy a PDA. When they want a phone, they buy a phone. That's the genius of the Series 60 range the 9300. They still provide PDA functionality and phone functionality without having to compromise on form factor. The 9500 has a host of wonderful features on it for the busniess world, but you won't ever see Joe Public wandering round with one.

I heard the latest firmware (4.01) brings speed and other improvements to the 7710. It would be nice to know if these improvements would noticeably change the review feedback on the slowness of the device.

Thanks for the review by the way ! 😊

Well, what about screen resolution? Does S80 support any other resolutions than 640 x 200?.

Yes it does. As per dpNote0010, see

http://www.dp.com.my/dpNotes.htm#dpNote0010

the S80 interface has been set here to "netBook" resolution 640x480 without any problems.

Actually, many of us thought S80 was dead and buried before the announcement of the 9500. And some were very disappointed that Nokia didn't rather use S90 for their newest Communicators.

Well, doesn't really matter. The S90 and S80 are the same UI anyway from a developer standpoint, basically S90 is S80 with touchscreen and a slight rearrangement of screen furniture, and instead of the hardware coded CBA you have a Psion Revo style ToolBar.

Excellent review as always Steve, thanks.

I'm going to see if I still have your address - to describe somewhere in the SE of England as in the centre of the UK means you win a free atlas - the centre of England is about 100 miles north, and the centre of the UK something in the order of 250 miles north