In the first of a two part feature, Steve Litchfield looks outside the Symbian world to ask if the current Android flagship could replace a Symbian-powered smartphone. In the process of answering the question, he starts to analyse (in order) the 15 essential functions which devices like the Nokia N97 perform for him - how easy would it then be for a non-Symbian device to step up to the plate?
Read on in the full article.
Symbian
Bada
iPhone OS
Android
Windows Phone 7
WebOS
Maemo
BlackBerry OS
prize!
Was going to post the same as above...
Second ! lol !
Android
BlackBerry OS
iPhone OS
Meego
Symbian
Windows Phone
Windows Mobile
WebOS
Bada is a feature phone OS.
Prize! 😃
Hows android in terms of multi tasking ?..Imo that should have been #1...
Actually, the eight I had in mind included "LiMo" rather than "maemo", but jerm's list is close enough (and as valid). Email me for your prize details ([email protected])
Android
BlackBerry OS
iPhone OS
Meego
Symbian
Windows Phone
Windows Mobile
WebOS
Blackberry is not and OS - J2ME is used.
Windows mobile is dead and it was not a competition in first place.
Meego does not have devices with it , hence - it does not exists for now. Same goes for Windows Phone.
Rest is Android, Iphone OS, WebOS. Two of those are semi-closed platforms, so that leaves Android as a direct competitor.
Steve, few reasons for me to stick to my good old N95-8GB are -
1) Nokia Messaging - Though not the best solution, but the only possible way where I can get to see my Gmail, Yahoo, Ovi and Hotmail accounts. I can't seem to find anything that matches it.
2) Outlook Sync - I am in a profession where I get to attend many meetings through out the day. Though I don't carry a BB, I can't survive without the Nokia Sync through Bluetooth. It syncs with my Outlook calendar every 15 minutes whenever I am in the range of my laptop. I haven't found anything that beats this in other platforms.
3) Camera Quality - My N95 still produces fantastic pictures and videos. I have captured lot of good moments with my N95, and I miss this the most if I am not carrying N95.
4) Task Manager - I just got used to Handy Taskman so much that I can't seem to like anything else. 'Close All' is an excellent feature, and I get a view of my remaining RAM every time I open my task manager.
5) SIP Calls - Fantastically integrated SIP Client. No hassles, no qualms - Just plain easy internet calling.
6) Fringe Video Skype Calls - Works flawlessly and is a charm.
7) Reliability - Very few hang-ups in last 2.5 years of usage. It just goes on and on. It has fallen down a couple of times, but except for few scratches - it just goes on.
8) Buttons - Yes, indeed! Buttons are handy. I tried 5800 for 2 months, but gladly switched back to N95. Comfort of searching for a contact by not even looking at the screen is a bliss. Able to dial my favorite contacts using fast dial, without even seeing the phone is really helpful. Touchscreen phones are jazzy, but in my opinion I loose the very basic usability. Ability to stop/snooze an alarm or a calendar reminder just by the feel of buttons - ah, I love to be back on buttons.
9) D-Pad shortcuts - Everything by a touch of button. Up - bluetooth, right - file explorer, left - clock, down - contacts, select button - task manager. Everything just a click way. No more searching through panes, and nice glossy screen. Its just more simple.
What I miss about touch-screens -
1) Internet Browsing - Yes, Browsing is comfortable on a touch enabled device.
2) Facebook Integration of Contacts - Well, not so much! Its a handy feature but not something I can't live without.
Anything Else! Hmmm. No
whee! sent!
Steve,
Does podcasting album art show up all the time?
It never shows up on my N97-3 v21.
edit: If I play out of a file explorer or the podcasting app, the art shows up. But not so in the music player.
slitchfield wrote:Actually, the eight I had in mind included "LiMo" rather than "maemo", but jerm's list is close enough (and as valid). Email me for your prize details ([email protected])
Bah, thought i would try to be clever and snatch it from under his nose. Ill catch that pigeon next time.. :tongue:
Hardware gets more and more sophisticated, and software improves over the time, all good? able to get a dream phone soon? maybe not anytimes soon.
There is the human factor - with mobility devices, ppl expect them to do tasks faster and easier than on desktop counterpart. Tainted with growing laziness the convinence which smarter technology enables - ppl definitely expect things to be simple. Out of the eight competitive OS, non comes close to being perfect all round. I've used many symbian phone over the years, was lucky enough to be one of those to see tele-communication develope with such remarkable pace over the last decade; and to a extent I grow up with those mobiles; (from old 7610 upto i8910) though I must say, my demand has also grew as I grow up. At the start I was satisified with merely 1.3 mp camera, no wifi, no 3G - as my life became more dependent on these devices, my taste in gadgets have became far more fanciful.
Everytime a new OS surfaces, it seem to bring along a better, more specialised take on handling some given tasks; sadly most of these transcendental trend rarely spread coherently across the board. It too often make a step forward, but two back.
I wanted a great smartphone - Starting from 2008, I've had a trusty N95-2, though the poor built quality meant the search continued - i8510 had rather poor screen protection, so it went; 5800 quickly replaced my broken N95-2 later, however I wasn't satisified with the UI, camera, nor the screen, however the speakers were delightful though; decided go flashy next, even then had to rid myself of the i8910 - because of the poor network support (took me hours to get Uni internet working), and the lack of apps at the time - irony was that opera mobile 10 came out soon afterwards; skipping away, went with a iPhone 3G - it was sluggish, when came to things that mattered, additionally I found dusts under the screen - on the day it was delivered, being a perfectionist as I was, sold off on eBay the next day. Since then I fancied myself another 5800, and even a iTouch in hope of finding a match. Enough said, I now just have a Nokia 1661, it's nice, it's simple, and it just works.
In the past I've always been amazed by the capabilities of these devices; yet having wasted so much of my time and effort, not doing something properly, I chose to make a change - even as of now, these 'smartphones' are still imho Jacks of all trades, master of none these days I do things as it should - typing document is to be done on computer, taking pic or vids is for SLR, uploading and processing pictures is for quadcore workstation - there is a time and a place for me, no more compromises.
Personally for me a iPhone 3Gs would work the best - my now gone iTouch 64GB has proven to be quite the step-up from iPhone 3G in speed; while offering the same easy network access(with enterprise standard), decent social networking apps, and a okay camera. That said, being a Uni student, I just don't have the money for one.
junchao8, good point!
Though I have money to buy any device my recent experiments with iPhone & reading about Android features brings simple fact: modern devices somehow replaceable. I said: somehow. You will have to:
1. Install 3rd party-crutches (no one device good w/o it out of box);
2. Migrate your data (contacts, calendar, bookmarks, notes, accounts, data files);
3. Solve GPS maps problem (no standard format yet);
Everything possible (especially impressed by iPhone word - quite huge community & flexible OS) after some days / weeks of researches & experiments.
What you will certainly loose - your lifetime. Will it give effort? You decide!...
Steve,
What compromises are you talking about giving up? Poor quality from the factory. Still crappy software? Out of memory errors? Are these things really close to your heart or are you such a Nokia fanboy that you can not make objective decisions? I have no problem with liking a particular device or brand but your tacit devotion to terrible phone truly lessens your credibility.
@junchao8,
There is no such thing as an iTouch. It is an iPod Touch.
Unregistered wrote:junchao8, good point!
Though I have money to buy any device my recent experiments with iPhone & reading about Android features brings simple fact: modern devices somehow replaceable. I said: somehow. You will have to:
1. Install 3rd party-crutches (no one device good w/o it out of box);
2. Migrate your data (contacts, calendar, bookmarks, notes, accounts, data files);
3. Solve GPS maps problem (no standard format yet);
Everything possible (especially impressed by iPhone word - quite huge community & flexible OS) after some days / weeks of researches & experiments.
What you will certainly loose - your lifetime. Will it give effort? You decide!...
What?????
@Unregistered
Just because one or two Nokia phones had factory defects doesn't mean they all do. None of the Nokia's I've ever owned have had such problems. Still crappy software? That's just your opinion. To be honest Android doesn't float my boat much and I could never live with Apple patronising me to the max (one place to get applications, only one of which may run at a time, basically only one model. one everything !) The only point I can agree on is that OOM errors are frustrating and I wish Nokia would put more RAM in.
I thought the list of current major mobile OSs would be:
- Symbian
- Android
- RIM Blackberry OS
- iPhone OS
- WebOS
- Windows Mobile/Windows Phone
- Maemo/Meego
- LiMo (mainly Vodafone 360, I suspect)
- Bada
@Brendan Donegan,
One or two phones. How about:
1. The original N95.
2. E90
3. N81
4. N96
5. N85
6. 5800
7. N97
8. E71 (Stupid 2.5mm headphone slot)
Just to name a few. All of these phones, ALL OF THEM, had or continue to have screwed up software. Soooooooooooooooooooooo your one or two phones with defects argument is crap.
Unregistered wrote:@Brendan Donegan,One or two phones. How about:
1. The original N95.
2. E90
3. N81
4. N96
5. N85
6. 5800
7. N97
8. E71 (Stupid 2.5mm headphone slot)Just to name a few. All of these phones, ALL OF THEM, had or continue to have screwed up software. Soooooooooooooooooooooo your one or two phones with defects argument is crap.
and the other brands never had a problem? go visit HTC,Samsung,LG,Apple,HP, any other manufacturer that sells anything. You will hear a complaint because the ones who are satisfied with their phones, rarely visit the forums and blogs to write about it. Of course anly Apple blames it's costumers for mishandling the device if it ever breaks and the complaint went publicly.
Steve, Google has its own podcatcher called Listen. It actually now integrates into Google Reader so can easily add podcasts from a PC and have the subscription synced to the Nexus One. It will also download podcasts at night while you sleep if WiFi is on and you are in range of a connection.
Yes, I know about Listen. But it's horribly buggy. Or was. I'll grab the latest version and see if it has improved!
First of all, for those 7 tasks one does not need Nexus at all. Almost any phone with decent java support can do those things at least not worse, then mentioned devices. In some cases, hardware depended (better screen, keyboard, camera etc.), even better then mentioned devices. For the maps i would say, that Google's coverage of the world is much better then from Nokia. Meaning, in many places Ovi maps are USELESS, because there are not ovi maps there and in some cases WILL NOT BE for free or for price.
Secondary and this is collaborating with following - "Windows mobile is dead and it was not a competition in first place". In Steve place, i would rather argued things which CAN NOT be reproduced on smartphone due hardware, platform etc.
Unregistered wrote:and the other brands never had a problem? go visit HTC,Samsung,LG,Apple,HP, any other manufacturer that sells anything. You will hear a complaint because the ones who are satisfied with their phones, rarely visit the forums and blogs to write about it. Of course anly Apple blames it's costumers for mishandling the device if it ever breaks and the complaint went publicly.
Good try. The models listed show a continuing pattern of Nokia releasing defective phones directly from the factory. Nokia has a track record of releasing buggy software, broken hardware, and having a group of apologists ready to continually forgive them for their mishandling of a crappy product.
If Nokia had only one phone to compete against the likes of an iPhone, or a Nexus, or HTC offering, do you really think they could compete? They would get blown out of the water by a slow and decaying OS, and factory produced hardware failures.
Get a clue.
"Google's coverage of the world is much better then from Nokia. Meaning, in many places Ovi maps are USELESS"
I can't let this go without comment. Over something like 85% of the world's land area, there is NO phone signal at all, let alone 3G. How the heck will Google Maps work then? At least Ovi Maps lets you preload every country, so that you can navigate in the absence of phone/data connection.
daos wrote: Meaning, in many places Ovi maps are USELESS, because there are not ovi maps there .
In much more of the world Google maps are USELESS because there isn't a data connection available. Or the data connection is too slow.
slitchfield wrote:"Google's coverage of the world is much better then from Nokia. Meaning, in many places Ovi maps are USELESS"I can't let this go without comment. Over something like 85% of the world's land area, there is NO phone signal at all, let alone 3G. How the heck will Google Maps work then? At least Ovi Maps lets you preload every country, so that you can navigate in the absence of phone/data connection.
You are 1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000% correct Steve.
Unregistered wrote:Good try. The models listed show a continuing pattern of Nokia releasing defective phones directly from the factory. Nokia has a track record of releasing buggy software, broken hardware, and having a group of apologists ready to continually forgive them for their mishandling of a crappy product.If Nokia had only one phone to compete against the likes of an iPhone, or a Nexus, or HTC offering, do you really think they could compete? They would get blown out of the water by a slow and decaying OS, and factory produced hardware failures.
Get a clue.
I've fled Nokia and tried other manufacturers phones. I've found them to be equally as bad as Nokia for bugginess and firmware stability. With the exception of the iPhone, which is not perfect but has a much more bug-free OS, it has had its problems that have been corrected by Apple with firmware updates. However, whilst the iPhone is a brilliant UI, internet device and application platform, it is an absolutely crap phone for voice calling and practicality, whilst Nokias almost always are excellent phones for voice calling and practicality.
There is another discussion on AAS somewhere that spells out why.
One fundamental difference is that the N97 has a keyboard and Nexus doesn�t. To my knowledge you can get the Nexus unlocked down to $500, similar for the N97. For comparison you can get the 5800 for as little as $250. If Nokia had built a flagship touch only phone and sold it for $500, the comparison would have been fairer. I believe we will see such a device later this year. It has been mentioned by Nokia execs at CMD (two months ago) that we will see these upcoming devices at the end of Q2 (like 4-5 months from now).
Too often I think people forget the cost of all these Android phones (running on expensive hardware) when compared to Nokia�s models. In the US the consumers may be somewhat fooled by subsidies, but this is not so in the rest of the world, and in the US of course Nokia/Symbian is not selling much anyway, while Apple sell most of their iPhones there (50+%?), so the competition is likely to be more between Android phones and iPhone, than Android versus Nokia/Symbian. My guess is that iPhone will not sell much more in 2010 than it did in 2009, amongst other things because of all the Android devices, the iPad (some cannibalization is likely to occur), and the fact that iPhone has lost some of its "novelty"; people start to want something different and there�s more and more iPhones in circulation.
What about comparing the N900 with N97, or N900 with Nexus?
There is nothing "superb" about nokia podcasting. It is perfectly adequate, but nothing more.
Getting urls into it is a pain(thanks to s60 browser having no copy/paste function) and the built in search never finds anything of use.
But the worst things are:
No playback resume. You have to remember where you left off in long podcasts. You can of course minimize it but then you have to be carefull not to listen to any music or fill the ram.
No option for streaming(At least I haven't found one). So you HAVE to download the whole podcast before you can start listening to it. My iphone and N900 will happily stream them.
Have to manually delete old podcasts.
These are all things that my n900(with gpodder and panucci, both free) and iphone 3gs(out of the box) handles with ease.
None of them are deal breakers for me though and I still use it.
Tenkom wrote:There is nothing "superb" about nokia podcasting. It is perfectly adequate, but nothing more.
Getting urls into it is a pain(thanks to s60 browser having no copy/paste function)
No playback resume. You have to remember where you left off in long podcasts.
Agreed. This should be fixed.
No option for streaming
Why would anyone in their right mind want this? Seriously. We're talking about 20MB+ files here!