In the great Nokia E90 appreciation pantheon, Ewan clearly falls midway between E90-despiser Andrew Orlowski and E90 uber-fans myself and My-Symbian's Michal J. But, at the end of the day, Ewan's decided the the Nokia E90 isn't for him...
Read on in the full article.
Forget all the "E90 is rubbish" and "E90 is brilliant" rants, Ewan has probably hit the nail on the head with his summing up at the end of this article:
"the E90, far from being the next device in a line stretching back to the original Nokia 9000, is the first in a line of clamshell S60 devices. It’s a step up from the E61i, and the lineage to that device is clear. ... perhaps naming it a 'Communicator' heaped too much expectation on the device from long term fanboys ... For a first iteration, the E90 is a competent device. It remains to be seen if it will receive significant software updates or whether it will be a high end smartphone that a few will champion."
As with all electronic hardware, people who are tempted but unsure should possibly wait for the E91 (or whatever it's called) as that will be a refinement rather than a first attempt.
"E90-despiser Andrew Orlowski"
Andrew Orlowski seems to be an everything-despiser nowadays. His articles over the past year have almost without fail been extreme attacks on something or other, usually very withering and filled with scorn. I don't recall him writing anything positive recently except his excellent article about Psion, and even that was about a defunct product. Judging by what he writes, he thinks everything anyone does is rubbish and those who disagree must be naive fools. At first I thought he was going to make an exception for this with his initial iPhone coverage, but a week later that turned into an attack on brainwashed Apple fans.
Possibly the best example is this inexplicable attack on people who like Blackberry-style QWERTY phones:
A. Orlowski: --I'm also hoping a crushing wave of shame will overcome anyone who has a Blackberry, or one of its hideous clones from HP, Motorola, Nokia or Palm. Owning one of these is like volunteering for a lobotomy - then boasting about it afterwards.--
We get it, you don't like the blackberry form factor. Does that really mean you have to start needlessly insulting a huge chunk of your readership?
He's like one of those music magazine reviewers who slates every new album week in week out, and will only praise albums from bands that broke up twenty years ago. You wonder why they're reviewing new music in the first place since they seem to hate it so much.
It's gotten to the point where you don't know whether Orlowski's attacks are justified, or whether he was just in a bad mood when he wrote it.
Human beings are by their nature very adaptable. Which means that some people, e.g. myself 😊 , are generally tolerant of inconsistency in their Smartphones. However, it does seem that on the hardware front the E90 represents a step change in Communicator technology. However, for many of those that have experienced the software capabilities of the Psion 5/Revo and the S80 9500 it seem a little odd that anticipated software evolution seems more like de-evolution. This means that we have 'corporate amnesia' - which users/consumers find very disturbing. This is not restricted to Nokia, look at the 'engineering amnesia' that seems to have aflicted SE, which led to the initial UIQ3 devices.
When the dust has settled over P990 and E90 shortcomings, I think many mobile professionals will find UIQ3 from P1a onwards far more attractive than E90. Yet others will keep their 9300i and 9500s. From their perspective, the E90 reduces more functionality than it adds features. Despite GPS, it's not a clean step-up. An ill thought through UI is your worst enemy.
"it seem a little odd that anticipated software evolution seems more like de-evolution."
That's a bundled apps thing though rather than anything to do with the hardware.
If you're unhappy with the bundled apps on a device you could always replace them with new third party apps. This isn't a totally strange concept, no serious user who buys a PC relies entirely on the applications that came with the PC.
I'm not saying that's an excuse for bad bundled apps, it obviously isn't, but the point of the S60 platform is that you can replace your current apps with rival apps if you prefer.
S60 always got more third party releases than S80 ever did, so it's much easier to go the third party route on S60 devices.
"Despite GPS, it's not a clean step-up. "
The point that Ewan was trying to make was that this ISN'T really a sequel to the original Communicators, it's more like a first attempt at making a widescreen S60 model, with all the quirks and faults that you would expect from a first attempt. Only time will tell how this attempt evolves into a mature product line.
Obviously comparisons with Communicators are Nokia's fault for re-using the Communicator name, but it may be that the E90 simply isn't meant to be a direct replacement for the original Communicators, in the same way that the original Communicators weren't meant to be direct replacements for the Psion series (despite their common heritage).
I think the term for this in television and film series is "a reboot", a major reworking which existing fans usually hate but which is supposed to win a wider audience in the long term. Sometimes it works, sometimes it fails, it's just a question of waiting to see what happens.
@krisse
I understand the bundled app issue, I my self have bought all the Quick Office upgrades & options and Papyrus & Projekt. I am reflecting the points that other people have made that a $1000 device should include a lot of highly functional apps, which is not the case especially for the PIM. Also I am reflecting the observation that the UI and hardware ergonomics are not as well integrated as with S80. As hinted in my comment, I am tolerant of the changes with the E90 over the 9500 but this is not the case with all. Even with the many reviews available prior to the retail availability of the E90 a lot of S80 consumers seem very unhappy with the E90 once they have it to use. As I said, we have a transformation in the hardware but not in the software, which does not just mean the bundled apps. My 1999 Revo has better PIM capability than my E90 in 2007, this does seem incongruent given that today the Revo is UKP50 and the E90 is UKP599. To be fair, besides Palm OS neither WM or Symbian devices have progressed the capabilities of the PIM apps since early 2000 (except with S80 and S90 😊 ).
"I am reflecting the points that other people have made that a $1000 device should include a lot of highly functional apps, "
The $1000 mostly doesn't go on the computing side though, it goes on the hardware itself (3.5G HSDPA, GPS, 3mp camera, VGA camcorder, 3D graphics chip, the big screen, full keyboard etc). Even with no PIM software at all it would cost quite a bit to get all those features in one device.
What might be good is if they released a version of the E90 without all the expensive extra hardware. This could probably cost a lot less, maybe half the price.
S60 computing actually costs very very little now, the cheapest current S60 model the 6120 launched for about $250 and has the same speed processor as the E90, with the same S60 FP1 platform.
"Also I am reflecting the observation that the UI and hardware ergonomics are not as well integrated as with S80."
S80 had many years to get things right, and was designed from the very beginning purely for a widescreen device.
The E90 is the first S60 device to use a widescreen so it's bound to be full of strange quirks and problems, like the E61 was because it was the first S60 to use a horizontal screen.
If we see an E91, E92, E93 etc they will probably be a lot more comfortable to use as its makers will have more experience using S60 on a widescreen.
If someone is unsure about getting the E90, it might be best if they wait for one of the follow-up devices.
If users are expected to buy additional software to compensate for poorly thought out / restrcitive bundled apps as per PCs then the flexilibility in their use should also be provided - not being able to set the targets of all apps keys rather than just two is an unnecessary constraint on effective use of excellent hardware and shows a lack of acceptance by Nokia that S60 isn't up to the job. It would have been far more innovative to use Linux as they have for N800.
Here in Italy an offer from H3G has gone sold out 15 days before the end because they finished the stock of E90.
I think this is a very big success for such a large device, in a nation where "fashion phones" are the first choice and every single people have (at least) one cell phone.
Many bloggers are buying the E90 too.
krisse wrote:The point that Ewan was trying to make was that this ISN'T really a sequel to the original Communicators, it's more like a first attempt at making a widescreen S60 model, with all the quirks and faults that you would expect from a first attempt. Only time will tell how this attempt evolves into a mature product line.
Obviously comparisons with Communicators are Nokia's fault for re-using the Communicator name, but it may be that the E90 simply isn't meant to be a direct replacement for the original Communicators, in the same way that the original Communicators weren't meant to be direct replacements for the Psion series (despite their common heritage).
People will have much more difficult to excuse a device which comes from the same manufacturer, comes with a hefty price tag, pretends to be the new Communicator, but whose user friendliness and catering for the needs of mobile professionals is seriously inadequate.
If we see an E91, E92, E93 etc they will probably be a lot more comfortable to use as its makers will have more experience using S60 on a widescreen.
Andrew Orlowski seems to be an everything-despiser .. extreme attacks ... scorn ... or whether he was just in a bad mood when he wrote it.
Hello, Krisse. You're new around here, aren't you? 🙄
Some of us have been coming here for many years. Please try and respect the norms of the community and refrain from personal attacks on contributors.
(Most web forum moderators have problems with contributors who are abusive, hostile and emotional. Unfortunately, the contributors here have a problem with a moderator who is naturally abusive, hostile and emotional.)
Accusing people of being mentally or physically deficient means you want to bully people to your point of view. And when you find yourself attacking the critic, rather than the points the critic is making, it's a clear sign you don't want to engage in grown-up discussion.
For example, already today you've contributed several hundred words of abuse (and speculative medical diagnosis!) without addressing any of the points in Ewan's article
Please do try and stay on topic.
I used both the 9210i and the 9500 and now I have had the e90 for more than a month and all I can say is that I would never return to either of the 9210i and the 9500.
Except for the PIM (which can easily be replaced with Papyrus or other third party software), I find the e90 to be a very useful device, even for a professional claiming himself a poweruser (like myself!).
Of course, I note that in several instances (e.g. "dead" right window in the contacts and messaging applications compared to the fully usable windows in the 9210/9500), the S60 is a step backwards from what we got used to in the S80... But there are so many improvements from these models that the choice seems obvious!
The S60 software is very mature and stable, functionality is also great and finally I can read emails or respond with one hand and without having to open the device just to write "thanks!". BT and WLAN connections are stable, there is 3,5G, great web browsing expirience, voice dialing, availability of Mail4Exchange now with tasks synchronisation, very good office suite (once U upgrade to QuickOffice 4.5) and so on...
And what makes me even more comfortable that Nokia has made the right decision is that with the development of more and more S60 devices, in particular targetted to more sophisticated users - such as those of the e90, more and more productivity and office software will be released.
To all those, who complain that they have to pay for additional software like the Quickoffice 4.5 or Papyrus - I find it normal: as a starting point Nokia gives you basic functionality (it is not that you receive an empty phone only with the OS and have to buy everything!) and if you require somenthing more, you just can buy it. Isn't is the same with PCs? You buy an new Windows Vista PC of a Mac, you can write a document or write down a task in a boundled application; want something more - you have to buy the MS-Office suite.
And this is good, because not every user needs top-notch software of each type. One needs good office suite, the other maps and so on. And such approach (that users get simple apps and have to buy more sophisticated if they wish to) is good, beacuse it encourages developers to work on more sophisticated software...
all the best Nokia!
Can't help thinking that the E90 is closer to the 9500 than this makes out - its certainly closer than the 9000 and 9110 were to the 9210, since I don't think the 9000 and 9110 were even symbian based.
I've had every phone in this series and to be honest I think too much fuss is being made about the switch to s60 - sure it isn't perfect, but a few upgrades later mostly it will be fine. The biggest upgrade for me though would be a Psion 5 keyboard - I can touch type on one of those - and in fact used to use it as my sole word processor when out at clients for a couple of years. None of Nokia's attempts have come close
As far as I could see, Krisse was neither abusive, hostile nor emotional; he simply made the observation that Andrew Orlowski has a somewhat negative take on things; no more, no less. And his comments were certainly not off-topic.
And anyway, I'm assuming that you are not the REAL Andrew Orlowski. However, in the unlikely case that you are, perhaps you could try to be a bit less negative/critical in the future...?
buster wrote:I'm assuming that you are not the REAL Andrew Orlowski. However, in the unlikely case that you are...
There's another possibility. I could be a simulation of Andrew Orlowski - only one so accurate that neither of us can tell which is "REAL".
Are you the real "Buster", or a simulation?