Shock:Engadget editor-in-chief agrees with AAS's Steve

Great article and hits at the heart of the so-called speed issue with the iPhone. It is fast, fast as hell simply because it is opening only one app at a time. Yes, Mail sort of multi-tasks in the background and the iPod section, but for the most part, the iPhone or iPod with phone as I call it, drops dead cold when forced to push more than one app. This was demonstrated when friend jailbroke his and attempted to run several apps at the same time. You could almost hear the thing screaming for mercy. This is where the robust but heavy Mac OS comes it. It is too heavy to multi-task in its current incarnation. I am running circles around the iPhone'rs I work with using my N97 as my weapon of choice. If Apple does optimize Mac OS to multi-task on the iPhone, Nokia will have to stop its in-fighting and pay attention because they are about to get run over.

How many folks use their iPhone to "work" on a website?
Please!

Any article that knocks the iPhone is well written to you.

The iPhone is not a business tool. It is a great entertainment device. 3 years after lauch and we still don't have the kind of Office support we have had in Symbian and WM for years, no multi-tasking, no HID BT profile, can't replace the battery (no spare battery no business continuity), okay call quality (for business you need great call quality) etc.

Psion rulz!

The iPhone doesn't need true multi-tasking .. that would be great.. but as a minimum "Suspend" - "State Save" - "new task" - "old task" - "Restore State" - "Resume" would be acceptable.

I haven't seen anything in the SDK which allows this sort of activity. We tend to use a database to save the user's state as the proceed through our applications, but we've yet to implement a "resume at last point". Something I must get on to our code-monkeys about .. it must be possible.

The GS definitely has enough RAM and processing power to do a proper multitasking job. Maybe Jail-breaking is the best and only option to utilse this device to its potential.

Nice article that points out the iphones flaws, but I think anyone that buys one thinking that they are going to be able to run their office from it is simply not giving much thought to it before purchase. If I'd bought an iphone I certainly would have done it for the excellent interface and touchscreen and apps alone.

I suppose this supports the argument that the smartphone-iphone rivally is ridiculous as both types of devices target diffent demographs.

wats iphone anyways? cant find it in my dictionary

People are so wrapped up in this constant idea of Symbian Vs OS X that they never notice that the OS that will really bring down the house of Symbian is Android.

As far as TS devices go it seems to me that Symbian is something of fudge being something of a mess being developed from a non TS OS. My experiences with the 5800XM has made me very unwilling to try S60 5th edition again.

As a Symbian, OSX and Windows mobile user. I have to say OSX wins by far however Symbian is much nicer than windows mobile.

I despised my modded HTC Touch HD. It was terrible to use despite new roms every week. The hardware was largely wasted. Poor 5MP camera and screen is horribly misused. With lots of dithering... Not to mention the twin horrible dual UI.

Despite the small restrictions on the Iphone 3GS i am really enjoying it! Its an amazing phone. However its is a premium device. Its pure qulity and very fun to use. The UI is perfect and fast.

I agree Symbian and Android are competitors. The Iphone/OSX are their own category though. Apple will focus on just the one or two phones a year whereas Symbian and Android on loads across different customers.

Office stuff ont he oPhone is more impressive than many are willing to admit. Its the best email device i have ever used and Quickoffice is already doing a great job! 😊

@ SuperChimp:
> that they never notice that the OS that will really bring down the house of Symbian is Android.

You're got to laugh at people that believe this. Talking about living in the land of hype and nonsense. As a long time software developer and mobile nut, and having done professional studies of Android and iPhone, and as a long time S60 user, all I can say is - Android doesn't even begin to stand the first chance.

Technically it is a nice OS. It is however HORRIBLY immature, with an uncertain future. It exists on one or two VERY poor handsets, has sold practically nothing comparitively, is technically still underdeveloped in various ways, Google have not pledged undying love for it, and have made clear noises that they prefer the mobile web, and so on.

Symbian/S60 is has many years of market experience that have grown it into a superb and extremely solid and capable OS, that exists in by far the largest number of sold handsets of any smartphone in existance. It outsells other platforms by something like 10 times.

Those who criticise S60/Symbian are people who judge a book by its cover and see no deeper. The shiny wizzy iPhone OS excites these people. Leave em to it. As witnessed by the sales most people prefer S60 handsets. Just because it isn't quite as slick or the Ovi store quite as mature, people think it's the end of Nokia and S60. Wrong. These things are easily fixed. Android is going nowhere fast, and iPhone has key architectural problems and missing hardware features (not to mention a vast cost) that mean it will never get close to S60 sales figures.

You have to laugh at people like this who are so blind to the faults in S60, such as the various bugs in it that have often been in it since day one that their willing to defend it from the least piece of criticism & are willing to come up with spurious reasons to criticise other OS types.🙄 S60's age is one of its main problems. Which is probably why Nokia are looking towards new OS types such as Maemo & the like.

Unregistered wrote:@ SuperChimp:
> that they never notice that the OS that will really bring down the house of Symbian is Android.

You're got to laugh at people that believe this. Talking about living in the land of hype and nonsense. As a long time software developer and mobile nut, and having done professional studies of Android and iPhone, and as a long time S60 user, all I can say is - Android doesn't even begin to stand the first chance.

Technically it is a nice OS. It is however HORRIBLY immature, with an uncertain future. It exists on one or two VERY poor handsets, has sold practically nothing comparitively, is technically still underdeveloped in various ways, Google have not pledged undying love for it, and have made clear noises that they prefer the mobile web, and so on.

Symbian/S60 is has many years of market experience that have grown it into a superb and extremely solid and capable OS, that exists in by far the largest number of sold handsets of any smartphone in existance. It outsells other platforms by something like 10 times.

Those who criticise S60/Symbian are people who judge a book by its cover and see no deeper. The shiny wizzy iPhone OS excites these people. Leave em to it. As witnessed by the sales most people prefer S60 handsets. Just because it isn't quite as slick or the Ovi store quite as mature, people think it's the end of Nokia and S60. Wrong. These things are easily fixed. Android is going nowhere fast, and iPhone has key architectural problems and missing hardware features (not to mention a vast cost) that mean it will never get close to S60 sales figures.

Between this review and Tzer2 current N97 vs 5800 review. I have just realized that the iPhone is NOT a SMARTPHONE, but a very good media centric feature phone... Discuss
- bob

I find it quite funny that over at Engadget people kept talking about having multitasking but having it turned off by default; very strange. Multitasking is not really the problem, the quality of the installed apps and what they do when in the background is of far more importance than the simple fact of whether multitasking is actually supported.

Whatever the pros and cons of multitasking, every modern OS (mobile and desktop) supports it. No matter what Apple's real reason for not allowing multitasking, it is a serious impediment to the overal usability of the iPhone. I have an iPod Touch, and having to leave a running app just to check ie. the weather forecast is just plain stupid. It doesn't matter how well written an app is, it is never as quick or as easy to restart an app which has been closed as it is to simply switch to an already open app.

It's about Apple accepted this and did something about it. If not, they may end up going the same way as the last manufacturer before them who felt that multitasking was an unnecessary luxury....

"such as the various bugs in it that have often been in it since day one"

What bugs? Every operating system has bugs. I never noticed any in my N95 that are carried over to my N86? :con?

Having switched from my beloved Nokia E71 to the new iPhone 3GS I really can understand the problems faced by the engadget reviewer. I thought I'd post some thoughts on my 'switch'.

I've had the iPhone 3GS since launch - so a few weeks now. Put it this way - I love Apple computers and have used them since the 'Classic' many eons ago but when they launched the iPhone I stayed well away. Back then it was hopeless.

However cut to the latest incarnation and the 3GS is a fantastic device albeit flawed. Here are my thoughts, bullet point style:

Keyboard: The E71 is better than the iPhone's 'soft' keyboard and the lack of a T9 alphanumeric keyboard on the iPhone is seriously lame. However you do get used to the iPhone keyboard after some time.

UI / Speed: This is where the iPhone wins hands down. It is so completely slick and so much faster than my E71 that everything just seems faster, easier and more polished. It can keep up with you whereas the E71 and other comparable Nokias often seem very underpowered. The iPhone 3GS really IS fast.

Camera: The new iPhone camera is actually really quite good. It is infinitely better than the terrible camera on the E71 which I found pretty useless. Video on the iPhone is REALLY impressive, it just seems so smooth. I also don't mind the simplicity of the controls.

Apps: Wow. I have to say when I didn't own an iPhone i HATED iPhone users going on and on about their 'apps' but I can now understand why. Simply put some of the Apps available both free and paid are outstanding. In addition to the usual utilities such as instant messaging and so on there are some brilliant games (Sporting awesome graphics and speed) and also some ingenious creative Apps such as music production software allowing you to create totally useable loops or sounds. Nokia's 'ovi' store is just a little embarrassing by comparision. The implementation of the Apple 'App' store is also excellent.

Multitasking: To be honest the iPhone 3GS pretty much takes care of everything I used to enjoy on the E71. I LIKE the email client - although I miss the 'push' of 'SEVEN' email on my Nokia...however the rendering of emails is so good on the iPhone that I'm happy. There's a built in compass and turn by turn navigation now so that's covered...and so on. But where the iPhone fails so miserably is the lack of true multitasking as illustrated by the engadget author. Although the new push notification system goes someway to solving this problem it's just not good enough.

For example - I sign into MSN using IM+ on my iPhone 3GS. No problem. I can specify how long push is connected for. Ok so far so good. So I switch to MAIL. I can receive push notifications if someone messages me. But then I have to wait for the IM+ App to load...and as fast as the iPhone is it just cannot compensate for this truly outdated workaround. On my E71 I loved being able to instantly switch between apps by holding down the option key. It was easy, fast and enabled me to truly flick between a browser, email, calendar...and so on. This is sorely missed on the iPhone and Apple HAVE to sort this out.

General: The only other thing I think is quite rubbish with the iPhone is the lack of a decent home screen showing notifications, status updates and so on. Just seeing a confusing load of App icons isn't the best use of screen real estate especially with so much processing and graphics power available!

In general though when Apple do get it right they do it very well. Once these caveats are sorted I wonder how well other OS's will be able to compete because right now I'm loving my (flawed) iPhone and cannot see myself going back to an S60 device!

The only thing which stops me from buying an iPhone is that there is no Flash Video support and no multitasking. If Apple brings those features then count me in. Till then I am happy with my Nokia E71 which can do many many things that even Apple fan boys can dream of.

iPhone is just visual candy, thats all, when it comes to serious work, it is a complete flop, I tried both iPod Touch and iPhones, waste of time.

Sorry to veer slightly off topic.

But If Sony Ericsson phones that cost less than �100 on PAYG can multitask to an extent surely the Apple iPhone shouldn't find any problems

I like the Apple iPhone but as finger friendly it may be, my stubby fingers are pretty much USELESS on the iPhone, I'll keep waiting till the day Apple release a full hardware qwerty enabled phone.

I just fid it hard to be without qwerty nowadays, especially since I got an E71, so much so I'm using it more often and over the N95 8GB! WHich in itself is a great all rounder, so if Apple can maintain the ease of use for the general public and have an "EXPERT/ADVANCED Mode" for the geeky folks like the great majority of AAS readers then I'd but into the idea and invest in such a handset, oh and I'd like it SIM Free or on Multiple Networks. Hmmm the list seems a bit unrealistic seeing as it Apple. Anyways that's what i'll require before I get anywhere close to owning one.

The reason I say offer it on multiple networks is simply because her in the UK the 3G reception from O2 in large parts of the country is non existent and average at best when you're in big cities.

If they opt for a netwrk like 3, Orange, networks with a better 3G coverage, then the sales with increase significantly, lets face it, no good having an iPhone 3G as a multimedia monster if you're not able to make use of HSDPA where you live.

Just my opinion. 😊

That's why sales are so low over here I think chris. In the last couple of years out of all my friends...just one of them has an iphone, and she has only just bought it on contract with o2. What's even more incredible, is the fact that o2 have now got exclusive rights to the Palm Pre as well!

Super Chimp wrote:As far as TS devices go it seems to me that Symbian is something of fudge being something of a mess being developed from a non TS OS.

This is that moment in QI when all the alarms go off behind Alan Davies. Non touch OS? What about UIQ and the Psion devices? Symbian had touch long before any of the current pack.

It's S60 that is adapting to touch, and I love the 5800, it's still the only one in that package.