Unregistered wrote:"But I got the things, which I do on a business smartphone, done in a fraction of time on a Symbian device (and only need one hand)."Don't suppose you would care to expand on that with specifics ?
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i.e. Go with HD/similar, hang out for N97 or even wait for next gen iPhone/Android.
Sure. I mostly use my Smarphone for (surprise, surprise) making phone calls. 2nd is SMS, Email and Calendar. Other things I do, but not so often are reading RSS-Feeds, taking photos and GPS navigation. And not to forget: carrying it around. Having a phone that is so slim and light, that I can carry it in the front pocket of my shirt is a big plus for me.
As a former Palm Treo user, I used an E51 since the beginning of the year (my first Symbian device) and upgraded to a E71 as soon at it has been available. For comparision, I used a HTC Touch Pro and the older TyTN II Kaiser for some weeks, just because I thought that Symbian is missing some bells and whistles. The iPhone is out of scope for me for several reasons. It comes at an absurd price or with a contract that I definitely don't want (or both). And I don't want to ask Steve Jobs, what Software he allows me to use on my phone, especially as some essential functionality is missing (eg. Internet connection sharing). So I thought, I try some of these HTC pimped Windows mobile devices.
After some weeks of working with both, I found out that for my all day usage they mostly require more fiddling around than I was used to. I tried to work around with additional software. Eg. I replaced TouchFlow with SPB Shell. Though TouchFlow 3D offers some real eye candy, I found it mostly useless. Eg. the picture dial tab requires much fidlling around, it is hard to get the contact you want. Don't try this in a car while driving. As much as I tried to get to like these flashy devices, at the end I realized that nearly everything I do is more effort that I was used to on any of my former devices.
So what am I doing faster on my E71?
Basically everything, because the wm devices are overall much slower, though the Touch Pro has a faster CPU and more memory. Pressing a key often gives you a second to wait, before something happens. The E71 is much more responsive.
2nd to that, some examples:
Dial a number: I have all my number keys assigned as short dials. Just from the standby screen I press and hold a number and got the number dialed. For any other contacts, I start typing on the standby screen and immediately got a list of matching contacts. Typically, after not more than 4 key presses, I see the contact I want in the result list. WM 6.1 has learned this trick also, but if you use TouchFlow or SPB Shell, it won't work. You first have to start the contacts or dialing application, then start typing, which costs you some seconds. The same is for SMS or write an email to a contact.
Check a calendar entry: I often need to check my agenda for a specific day. On the E71, I press the calendar button, then navigate to the day in the month view and see my dates right of the month view. Now if I want to see a different day, I just need to move the cursor to it and see the dates. Just for starting the calendar, I need to fiddle around in wm's Start menu or use the touch screen. I often felt, that for getting a decent speed I need to switch between keyboard and touch screen very often. Startup time for wm's calendar is also higher. Now for check the agenda of a special day requires to move between month view and day view. There are other calendar programs, which are capable to show the day's entries in a combined month/day view, but these start even slower.
I think, I could spend the whole night finding more examples, but it is time to go to bed 😉
After all, switching back to my good old E71 gave me a good feeling.
Choosing a smartphone is like choosing a car. There is not the one that fits everyones needs best. For now, the E71 is the best choice for me (but I saw the pictures of the coming N97 ... nice 😉