Even if you're an old S60 hand, there are some unique aspects of the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and S60 5th Edition which need a little pause for thought. Here's my take on how to get optimised on the 5800's home screen, from realising all the additional shortcuts available to populating the new Contacts bar. Which home screen view do you prefer?
Read on in the full article.
I'm a big fan of Contacts Bar. I would love to use the classic s60 homescreen as it have all information I need at hand e.g. next calendar entry but I don't need app shortcuts at all. Such a pity you can't switch it with contacts bar. 😞 I really hope Nokia will bring desktop widgets to 5800 just like on N97 and recently announced 5630XM. It is exactly what I need from my homescreen 😊.
I understand that they wanted something to make the N97 stand out for some people. However, the lack of widgets for the 5800 is a serious mistake. Even if it gave the option to just add the contacts bar on your normal standby screen which always has some room on it anyway, I would have bought this phone already!
Home screen optimisation is key to make a phone easier and faster to use, esecially if it is touch screen. One thing I don't understand on the N97 (seen from the demo videos) is the finger swipe on home screen to reveal a blank (wall paper) screen. What's the point of that? It would have been much better for them to allow even more widgets. I understand this might be limited by the RAM of the phone and 5 is the maximum they decided on, fair enough. How about making the swip reveal a desktop screen like on Windows where you have customised shortcuts to whatever you want. Sometimes it's handy to have shortcuts to certain files, forexample, if you're working on an blog entry using QuickOffice, you might want to have quick access to that specific Word file, or if you have recent photos, you might want a quicklink to that particular album. I'm sure they could implement some sort of drag and drop function. For example, if you're in viewing all your albums, you could just using your finger and drag it to an 'active' corner of your screen which would automaticall add it to your short cut screen.
I'm pretty much in agreeance with Kris except from the other perspective.
I would love to be able to use the Contacts bar IF it would support the extra features of the standard shortcut bar, such as listing calendar events and what MP3 / radio station I'm listening to.
Without this functionality, it really is limited.
First of all, let me just say that I love my Nokia 5800 Express Music. It's the best smartphone Nokia has ever made. I even like the idea of doubleclicking in certain situations, although a little more consistensy would be highly appreciated.
As I mentioned in various blog posts and comments the only thing I really don't understand is why Nokia has not given us more than just 4 shortcuts. And yeah it's just 4, not 18! Why? Because the other 14 or so shortcuts all open Nokia apps, and are not customiseable. Of course sometimes it makes sense (clock app, although some people might want to use third party apps here aswell; Microsoft got trialed for something very simmilar and now has to enable third party apps to replace the original app flawlessly), but other times (media key) it's totaly ridiculous! Of course that's all fixable through a firmware update, but I highly doubt that Nokia will do that and turn potential buyers away from the N97. After all the N97 is twice the price and only 1.5 times the value (if at all [at least for me])!
hi Steve,
Personally, I would expect something more than whats on the user guide to come from you guys.
hence my question, Is it possible that I get a widget type home screen like the demos of N97 on the 5800?
Thanks and Regards,
Suju
@suju: these 'How to's are for people who are new to the platform, probably finding the articles via Google. Sorry if you find them patronising.
No, no idea on whether Nokia will tweak the home screen to be more like the N97 - I'd guess that something will happen in this direction though....
Local device search - Pah!
I've got an early UK edition (red) so I am still stuck with v.11 firmware, which does not have local device search. All Windows Mobile devices have had that since about 2002. I am really pleased with my 5800 apart from this one thing, which really, really hacks me off. How can Nokia call it a "smart phone" - you've got hundreds of contacts, calendar appointments, mp3 files, photos, notes, etc etc, (yes - all 8GB worth) but you can't search on the phone.
Why am I still waiting for v20 firmware after nearly a month - my first Nokia / Symbian experience really sucks, in that one respect. And I'm not being a troll - it is a really great phone otherwise. But c'mon!
CC
Mu gut feeling is that Nokia are almost ready for a v21 update, or similar, and so haven't been busting a gut to get v20 for all product codes - they want to move everyone up to the same level. But that's only a guess. Conspiracy/cock-up theory merchants, insert your own take here... 8-)
Unregistered wrote:Personally, I would expect something more than whats on the user guide to come from you guys.
Yeah, I don't get most of these Nokia 5800 guides either, which is just a matter of RTFM. 😉
Seems more like cheesy advertisements to me - another way of promoting the 5800...
It is not just Symbian who are slow to roll-out updates. T-Mobile and the G1 are just as bad, maybe worse as not every country gets the same contents in the update. Paid apps for one is missing from the UK update.
if your unhappy with not having latest firmware, change product code....search google for how to change it. Takes two minutes. Easy as. Also if u want to install unsigned apps search for that. I hate lazy people who dont search for answers...just moan about the problem.