Ewan Spence now has the editorial N81 8GB and begins his multi-part review with a look at the hardware, in particular the innovative naviwheel and the way it controls (or doesn't control) the S60 interface. Part 2 will look at the extensive (and high quality) music functions of the N81.
Read on in the full article.
For me the main benefit of the N81 is going to become apparent with the release of the Ngage games platform. That benefit is the keys on the top of the device at the opposite end from the d-pad. This will make playing any action game considerably easier then when using an N95 where all the keys are controlled with one hand and your other hand can't do anything without obscuring the screen.
Unregistered wrote:For me the main benefit of the N81 is going to become apparent with the release of the Ngage games platform. That benefit is the keys on the top of the device at the opposite end from the d-pad. This will make playing any action game considerably easier then when using an N95 where all the keys are controlled with one hand and your other hand can't do anything without obscuring the screen.
Agreed. The N81 is not really able to reach it full potential until the N-Gage stuff goes live.
N95 could come close though if they can map some of the multimedia keys for gaming (not sure if they are responsive enough though).
A paradox of being a "poweruser" is that one can also be too critical of UI features. An average joe may not know that there are all these ways of doing things. But they are happe with the one way they learn to do it.
E.g. shortcuts and speed dials; most people don't use them, don't know about them, it does not bother them or help them either. Kinda like PC software users. Some always go to Edit > copy> back to edit > paste, while the guy next to him/her has already done it with shortcuts.. 😊 I for one like the fact that there are several ways of doing things in S60.