Why can't my S60 phone do that?

Well when I get my Xperia X1 with its 800x480 resolution I think the my iPhone owning friends are going to be looking at my new toy 😊

Isn't that an iPod?

No, seriously, another advantage is that multimedia files can just be uploaded to the N95 or a swappable media and thus save us from iTunes or any complicated putty sessions. The only thing I really miss on my N95-1 is the better browser experience.

I think what the iPhone managed to achieve is that it generated so much public interest, and this although it's the first time Apple ever created a phone. So even though the iPhone is somewhat crippled compared to the N95-1, it still has a better public image. The question of "see-what-my-N95-can-do-and-your-iPhone-can't" actually never arose for me so far.

the iphone always looks better than n95, It's always about sex appeal.

clearly iPhone is a winner in usability and ease of use, also yeah it is perhaps possible to just drag and drop files which n95 will be able to play and do other thigs, but that's cause we "nerds" know how. an average Joe, doesn't and hence the reason it is very popular cause it is way simpler to get games, get music and get videos of iTunes Store.

It's the intuitive GUI. Less is more and I can do everything what I want/need in a fast and smooth way. It's the only pocket Unix device (os-x, bash, openssh, apache, python...) which can be used seriously.

N810, which I own too and soon on eBay, is crap - even with 800x480. And X1 is ... Windows? So you should be warned.
I would get a Symbian if I only can choose between WM and S60. But anyway, on Symbian touchscreen phones and on Windows Mobile touchscreen phone a stylus is a must-have. That makes me sick after 3 weeks with my new toy, my iPhone.

It is totally pointless comparing the Nokia N95 with the iPhone. I would happily agree that the iPhone wins in the screen size and touch screen department, but hey, size isn't everything! That is it! - Comparison over. The N95 is vastly superior in all other aspects, including the software application. Symbian has tons of software options.

AAS, surely by now you would have to agree that the N95 (even though the original version is more than 18 months old) is still surprising the odd iPhone user. Surely you have to come to the conclusion that there are very few NEW smartphones on the market (including all other Nokia smartphones N85, N96 etc) that can beat the 18 month old phone.

The Samsung 8510 has the potential to beat it if they sort out their software.

Strangely enough Slitchfield, I was standing in a group recently and there was one idiot with an iPhone bragging how good the phone was, showing it off as if it was the greatest thing since sliced toast, until someone asked him where some place was and how quickly he could get home? While he was struggling to get reception, I pulled out my N95 and opened Google Maps, typed in the location and in a few seconds had the answer. iPhone idiot was still pondering why his phone had no reception.... Everyone just laughed at him and he even agreed that my one handed search was way better than his two handed search.... I guess it depends what crowd you are in.

its funny how most ppl r disappointed with there s60 device n complain they can't do what the iphone does and is getting less attention. other than the touch screen part, theres not one thing i can find iphone can do and our s60 can't do better. it is just most users just looked at someone else's iphone n compared directly, which they never borthered to think out of the box or even try to give a wee bit more understanding of their device. sometimes it just makes me feel like its my duty to put that iphone back to shame with my n95.

Nice sentiment but the execution of this article was pretty poor. The pictures didn't help either - showing how great everything looks on that big, beautiful crystal clear display next to the N95's tiny foggy screen.

Also, it's odd that Steve's answer to the iPhone's native functionality in some cases is to spend more money on third-party apps.

Rewrite.

Well I am an old user of psion, then went to symbian for nearly all phones and am now very happy with an E90 for my profesionnal and everyday life.
Of course the iphone is less technical and can make less things than my E90 but there is ONE thing that will shape the future of all smarphone and this is web surfing !

And after trying an ipod touch, I will happily switch from my E90 to an iphone anytime ONLY for Safari browsing and EVEN without a (pointless on E90) flash support

I give Nokia one last chance to make a new Nseries with a correct and QUICK browser until the end of this year but if the symbian browser is the same as the one reviewed by mobile review on the new nokia 5800 I will be on iPhone OS starting from next year.

I have an ipod touch and it absolutely kills S60 for browsing, photos, videos.

My N95 8Gb, however, kills in terms of productivity (documents, notes, camera, gps, file transfer, disk mode, etc).

I also use my N95 for music because I can get way more music on the N95 in eAac than i can
on even my 32 GB ipod touch. Also, I like the bluetooth AD2P on the N95 instead of a wired
headphone on the ipod touch.

So, I find that using both works best. Ipod touch for media and browsing. N95 for everything else.

For now, this is the best solution if you dont mind carrying two devices. Fact is, the ipod touch is very slim and if you combine it with an N85 it is not too much bulk at all.

I will stick with this system unless Nokia comes out with a device that is as smooth for video, photos, browsing as the ipod touch. I highly doubt it though. I found the gallery and browsing to be sub par.

Opera mini on the N95 is fast but Nokia still needs to come out with a bigger screen device
to make it desktop like browsing.

So, I will probably hang onto my N95 until next fall to see what Nokia comes out with this year (based on the Nseries touch phone rumours).

bluestar, don't forget, you're comparing apples to Apple pie here. The E90 may have issues, but on a mobile broadband connection, the N95 8gb browser is the benchmark in mobile web. 90% of all videos, web based apps, and animations work exactly like a desktop. The iPhone is just a simple browser. If you like its simplicity, just install the free Opera Mini browser, which is EXACTLY like the iPhone browser, all look, not much else.

Unregistered wrote:I have an ipod touch and it absolutely kills S60 for...

browsing,

photos...

... and videos.

So, I find that using both works best. Ipod touch for media and browsing. N95 for everything else.

For now, this is the best solution if you dont mind carrying two devices. Fact is, the ipod touch is very slim and if you combine it with an N85 it is not too much bulk at all.

I agree with everything youve said friend. Good points all.

Just to clarify, though, I dont have an iphone. I have an ipod touch (much cheaper).

As you rightly pointed out, it is best simply for viewing and not
manipulating/productivity. I agree.

The ipod touch, for example, cannot send a high res pic. N95 can
send full res.

If Nokia comes out with a big screen Nseries phone and fluid GUI I
would dump the ipod touch/N95 combo.

However, I still find S60 very unstable and slow when it comes to video and
photo playback (even with coreplayer). Resco photo viewer is snappy is though.

eta, N85 looks better to me than N95 8gb because of the oled screen, usb charging, thinnner, fm transmitter, sd card slot , and most importantly for me triband 3G so I can use it in any country.

For the uninformed respondent with the N810, the touch S60 device do NOT require a stylus, fully workable with a finger, but it CAN work with one unlike the iPhone, which isn't surprising as S60 is designed to be a more versatile, capable platform. Its intention and purpose aren't nearly the same. I love showing people what I mean, especially iPhone users.

My young teenage friend has an iPhone, but prefers my N95 8gb better. He doesn't find it hard to understand or figure out. Maybe its generational, but the iPhone is simple if you are, or need your device to be. Most won't, as sales figures showed.

Unlike Steve, I don't think Apple wins in the apps department, nor in delivery. The App store is a policed channel. S60 has various channels, even sites online dedicated to apps, even freeware! You go App Store to upgrade you iPhone. You can go to Download!, Handango, or just Google "S60 freeware apps", which I didn't know people found so difficult until now. We're smart enough to not need such things as an App Store.

And Steve didn't try to answer the iPhone's native functions with retail apps. Maybe the guy that mentioned that should reread Steve's excellent article again. For the screen rotation, he used the native option, even when a better free solution exists. Browser zooming? Same native solution, when free Opera Mini is another of many other options. For the weather forecast, he mentioned the various free widgets, but mentioned his favorite solution, which is a rather cheap app. He failed to mention WorldMate, which is free from Download! and also a great option. The YouTube solution was via the browser, or Mobitubia and emtube, all free and better than Apple's solution. He ignored the built in Video Center solution. For photos, he mentioned the Gallery, and added Resco Photo as another option. So none of the iPhone functions needed a dime to be repeated on S60.

See the impact of being able to receive Freeview type DVB-H TV broadcasts without an external aerial inside a train made on this new N96 owner when he strayed into an area with DVB-H transmission.

http://thesymbianblog.com/2008/10/20/discovering-mobile-tv-with-the-n96/

DVB-H launch schedule
http://www.dvb-h.org/services.htm

A couple points to add relative to the article and the comments.

Viewing pictures on the iPhone is nice, if you don't plan to zoom in. iTunes forces all images to be resized to an "optimized" size and it breaks any gifs transferred. That's quite the nice screen to be wasted on standard resolution images.

Also keep in mind the S60 browser is about as fast as mobile Safari if you turn Flash off (thus causing them to download and render the same amount of information).

Good points. I havent tried turning flash off but I will.

You're right. When I zoom a pic on my ipod touch, it's pixelated.

So, I would love love an Nseries phone with a screen size like the ipod touch.

Not tooooo thick if possible please.

I usually do not get into this with my iPhone friends. I know all of these but when it comes to "ease of it" my n82 fails me. I am waiting for the nseries touchscreen if Nokia is planning any of them and I have made up my mind more or less thats gonna be my next phone.

I will get into this my iPhone with that phone!!!!

When an electronic gadget like a phone is the centre of attention at a party then there is something wrong with the party. If you need a 'sexy' gadget in your life as a social crutch then perhaps it's time to take a good look at yourself. Most normal people would not be interested in any phone.

I use my phone to follow preplanned walking/cycling routes via Viewranger, whilst simultaneously tracking them with sports tracker so I can publish the route and any photos to a widget in my blog. I also have Location Tagger running so I can have the photo's in location on Ovi share, to which I send them as I take them to save time later.

So that's 5 apps. usually 4 running at the same time, three of which are using a Bluetooth GPS as I only have a 6120c. Can the iPhone do that?

I would just like to add this Dilbert strip to the discussion:

http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2008-10-20/

Cheers 😊

a huge percentage of iTMS is DRM free -
0% of nokia music store is.

i only buy the DRM free stuff from apple
otherwise i goto emusic / 7 digital.

By the way,

fantastic comic strip!!!!

hi steve
you can also try "Rock and scroll" which with the movement of the wrist flicks through photos and music.....
we dont have to dirty our screens! lol

Well, everyone here knows that S60 phones can do pretty much everything the iPhone can, no news there, but the focus should be on how it is done. S60 phones have a longer spec-list, no doubt about that. However, just like comparing Macs to PCs in the old days, the iPhone (Mac) 'just works'. It does what it does so much 'smoother' than any other smartphone because of an intelligent UI design. Just take data connectivity as an example... On S60 you have to choose an access point from a list every single frickin time you need to connect to the 'net, even when you actually are connected through an other application. It's just ridiculous. On the other hand the iPhone will keep you constantly connected when you are in a Wi-Fi area and it will automatically switch to a mobile network when you move out of Wi-Fi range. It all happends automatically without bothering the user. It may sound trivial to those who have never used an iPhone longer than five minutes, but it's all those small things that makes the iPhone experience so much better than any other smartphone.

The web surfing experience is unsurpassed on the iPhone too, and it does support Javascript, and flash videos will open in a separate media player. I really don't see the supposed S60 advantage here... Just how rich web experience do you really need on mobile device? I find the S60 browser to be clunky and slow as hell... I almost always used Opera Mini on my E90. E-mail works a lot better on the iPhone too. S60 doesn't even have HTML yet - after how many years now?

Also, the iPhone 3rd party software scene is a hell of a lot more active... What on earth is going on in the S60 camp? iPhone apps have long since surpassed S60 in pure numbers - and S60 phones have been around for how many years... :tongue:

The iPhone is far from perfect of course, but I do feel it gets an unfair treatment from people who's obviously never used one, just arguing against it based on the spec sheet. The fact is that most of the features a power user may feel is left out or too basic on the iPhone can be remedied with a quick app download. Except for one, admittedly a really important one; bluetooth stereo handsfree support and file transfer. The crippled bluetooth on the iPhone is a disgrace! It's possible to use Wi-Fi to transfer files to and from a computer though - something S60 phones can't do. I also don't like the fact that it is reliant on iTunes for a lot of things, even though I am a Mac and iTunes user.

I have owned and used dozens of Symbian phones since the beginning, but I won't come back until they ditch or redesign S60 from scratch! S60 should have been scrapped a long time ago, imo. It has no business being on a smartphone (I did enjoy Series 80/90 and UIQ though). The only reason S60 phones have been so popular is simply because they have always had (relatively) large displays and the fanciest camera specs. Anyone saying otherwise are just deluding themselves. I have never met, in real life, a person owning a S60 phone actually knowing that you can install lots of great native apps on it (not to mention that is was running S60 on top of Symbian OS...). And when I've tried to explained it, the response was always that it was too much hassle. On the other hand I know iPhone owners (non-phone geeks) who have a whole bunch of native apps installed (thanks to AppStore off course).

Raven wrote:I have never met, in real life, a person owning a S60 phone actually knowing that you can install lots of great native apps on it (not to mention that is was running S60 on top of Symbian OS...). And when I've tried to explained it, the response was always that it was too much hassle.

I'll say it again...

I’ve always been a Nokia user, but one of the one biggest holes which I’ve noticed in Nokia S60 devices is their VPN implementation.

Business users need proper VPN, even the crappy version 1 iPhone can do basic PPTP connections. Nokia can only do the horrible and expensive to implement 'IPsec'. Good luck finding affordable IPsec VPN providers for home use.

Eseries has been out for years, why isn’t Nokia covering PPTP and Open SSL/OpenVPN? It’s just softwares isn’t it?

Damn Nokia!