Two years ago the Nokia N95 8GB was on top of the world, the N96 was the newest offshoot, the E61i was the best bet for the common man in the business world, and their 2.8" screens were deemed massive. And, the oddity of the E90 notwithstanding, we were happy. Weren't we? These phones did all we asked them to and the the world was good. And yet, less than 24 months later we find the smartphone world dominated by 4" screened, touch-only devices that bear little resemblance to the champions of 2008. Is it all the iPhone's fault, or is there more to the change? And where do smartphones go from here?
Read on in the full article.
I think as usual Nokia have got it right with their future direction, touchscreens and touch + qwerty. Certainly larger screens will be seen across the board in all market segments - even the lowest end S40 with their small screens will continue to increase in size - just as all handsets grew in colour depth too. Non smart phones will continue to have keypad layout as will low end smartphones. medium and high end will be touch, or touch + qwerty. Xenon flash or something equivalent will inevitably make a comeback. Why? Because the current LED solution simply isn't in line with convergence, and is holding it back. There's a reason standalone digital cameras don't have LED flashes, and do have Xenons. Better quality TV out, e.g. HD level will arrive soon en masse.
One current failure point in media is there is no DivX-compatible media player for S60 5th edition, which is a bit of a shocker really. This clunky and unnecessary need for a media conversion process will not last much longer. I should be able to take a DivX encoded film (and I don't necessarily mean pirated though that is the current biggest source, but hopefully the media industries will embrace DivX more too, a DVD quality film for playback on a TV doesn't have to be 4.5GB, it can actually be 700MB with no noticeable quality loss as DivX has shown) and stick that DVD quality film on a microSD card with no conversion, and play it back via a TV out cable. CorePlayer on S60 (pre-5th edition) is almost there - it can just about cope, but we need official support in the OS.
iPhone was merely a kick up the behind for the mobile industry - the future is most definitely not pure touchscreen model, capacitive or not, though of course that will appeal to many.
We will see more awareness in hardware and software design of people using their handsets as CPUs for full size computing work, so UIs that scale to full size screens and so on. This is the inevitable evolution and convergence. The PC (/laptop) is dead, long live the PC! (which is why unless Microsoft have a major hit with Windows Phone 7 they are on the road to nowhere too).
Unregistered wrote:I think as usual Nokia have got it right with their future direction, touchscreens and touch + qwerty. Certainly larger screens will be seen across the board in all market segments - even the lowest end S40 with their small screens will continue to increase in size - just as all handsets grew in colour depth too. Non smart phones will continue to have keypad layout as will low end smartphones. medium and high end will be touch, or touch + qwerty. Xenon flash or something equivalent will inevitably make a comeback. Why? Because the current LED solution simply isn't in line with convergence, and is holding it back. There's a reason standalone digital cameras don't have LED flashes, and do have Xenons. Better quality TV out, e.g. HD level will arrive soon en masse.One current failure point in media is there is no DivX-compatible media player for S60 5th edition, which is a bit of a shocker really. This clunky and unnecessary need for a media conversion process will not last much longer. I should be able to take a DivX encoded film (and I don't necessarily mean pirated though that is the current biggest source, but hopefully the media industries will embrace DivX more too, a DVD quality film for playback on a TV doesn't have to be 4.5GB, it can actually be 700MB with no noticeable quality loss as DivX has shown) and stick that DVD quality film on a microSD card with no conversion, and play it back via a TV out cable. CorePlayer on S60 (pre-5th edition) is almost there - it can just about cope, but we need official support in the OS.
iPhone was merely a kick up the behind for the mobile industry - the future is most definitely not pure touchscreen model, capacitive or not, though of course that will appeal to many.
We will see more awareness in hardware and software design of people using their handsets as CPUs for full size computing work, so UIs that scale to full size screens and so on. This is the inevitable evolution and convergence. The PC (/laptop) is dead, long live the PC! (which is why unless Microsoft have a major hit with Windows Phone 7 they are on the road to nowhere too).
You expect all of this when? Surely not the next 3 to 5 years.
Considering the evolution that we have seen in the smartphone (and otherwise) world in the last few years, the points put in by the 1st unregistered (yes Steve it would be better if everyone logs in :tongue😊 do not seem unreasonable at all. All these seem very, very achievable.
One thing I would like to say - we keep saying if digital cameras have Xenon, then the Smartphones that claim convergence should have it too. But Smartphones have something that digital cameras dont (I dont mean the camcorders) - the video light. Tell me which digital camera can record a decent video in total darkness...
Score one up for the smartphones... yay!
widehead wrote:Touch is a fad.
Really? Is this just really subtle sarcasm? It's like saying disk is a fad for computer storage, or CD is a fad for music, or the mouse is a fad for computer HID, or DVD is a fad for home video. Maybe you're a REALLY LONG TERM thinker and think anything right now is just a fad 😊
Let's be honest about something - video isn't really a selling point for many smartphones manufacturers because there's no money to the end-supplier of video content providers. I don't see ppl willing to pay for portable video on the go, unless it's bundled with the home video equivalent of the same content, while at the same time making the hardware for portable video continues to be very expensive. So, without solving that gap, you'll never see premium video solutions break out of niche products - e.g. Samsung will probably be the only provider for Divx for a while, and Apple will NEVER license the iTunes business model out to 3rd parties, while Flash still seems like a fun novelty as ppl like Time Warner and Viacom start pulling OUT of streaming video. Can we talk more about the low hanging fruits in these type of articles?
In my opinion, growing popularity of texting on mobile device added to the fashion of phones becoming monstrous. I mean, even in 1999 sending SMS was much easier from Palm via IR of nokia phone using stylus. In 2003 it became even easier with 4inch Toshiba e800 with fullscreen SPB keyboard via bluetooth of nokia phone, some 6 years before Iphone.
This field is moving so quickly, at such a head-spinning rate, who knows where it is even two years from now.
Where I *think* it's headed is, smartphones will truly become portable computers/laptops. You'll carry the equivalent of an Intel core 2 duo processor on your hip, and when you actually need to sit down and do work, you'll go to your home or work dock, plug your smart phone in, the screen lights up with OSX or Windows (7/8/9....?) and you'll be computing away with gestures, like Tom Cruise in Spielberg's 'Minority Report'.
Like some else above me said, it's why Microsoft needed to re-enter this market and play to win. Smart phones will be one of the linchpins in the future of the PC.
With the technical specs of the HTC Evo, just recently announced, the smart phone is already about a year or two away from being as capable as a netbook. It's only a matter of a short time.
Specifically, I think Nokia realizes this, which is why we saw the N900; *that's* their future, not good but 'yesterday's' phones like the N86.
There's a general trend I see - and that's the widening of the type of devices. This is inevitable as phones beging to play a wider role.
Traditional - QWERTY - Touch only... with hybrid Touch + traditional and Touch + QWERTY being important too.
What I mean by this is we will still have traditional phones, and older style form factors, but we get new ones too. I too think hybrid devices will be most common. Keys+Touch (QWERTY likely being the biggest), but that could be disrupted by the emergence of some unknown technology and will vary geographically.
That widening of types of devices is translating is because device with SIMs in are playing a greater variety of roles. Phones + Smartphones + Connected Mobile Devices.
Incidentally, as post 1 mentioned, I think you can see this in the way Nokia has segmented their software strategy - Mobile Computers, Smartphone, Mobile Phones... of course it is not a simple clear cut boundary, but rather a continuum from one end to the other. What we're seeing now is both an evolution of smartphones (or rather an extension) and the emergence of a 'new' mobile computing space.
The only thing I would say is people tend to get carried away by the high end - just as they did with smartphones. Relatively speaking it is a pyramid in customer numbers. But what may be different is that both smartphone and mobile computers are being built on openness and therefore both can be fully exploited.... the smartphone, will have more numbers, and will therefore, for some time to come, represent a bigger market opportunity than the emergent mobile computer.
Form factor is dictated by function, plus technical limitations.
The numeric keypad was fine while it was only used for typing phone numbers and short texts. Email needed a Qwerty keyboard; the full web needed a larger screen. I suspect once it's possible to have a side-sliding Qwerty keyboard and still have the device no more than a centimetre thick then that will become the next standard for the top end devices.
No matter how cheap, small, connected and powerful your phone (computer) becomes, you are still the most important part of the human-computer experience.
In all honesty, it's this aspect of Nokia's future that seems, to me at least, to be their biggest weakness. I'm not suggesting for one minute that Nokia are alone in harbouring this weakness, practically all the large players, especially those who are involved in developing both hardware and software, are looking somewhat lost of late.
Note the recent performance of two companies that have shown that they have a good understanding of human-computer interaction, Nintendo and Apple.
Both companies have scored massive successes by focusing on humanity rather than technology. The DS, Wii, iPod and now iPhone are loved mostly because they require very little new understanding or specialised knowledge. Practically all the skills you need, you already know, they are part of your everyday life.
@ widehead, 'touch screens are a fad' , could have been from the mouth of the record company exec, who thought The Beatles would never make it !! They are here to stay, for phones I think they will max out bellow 5 inch, for pocketability, but once pandora's box has been opened it cannot be closed, people love them , use them and won't give them up. I was very 'anti touchscreen' but having used an N97 for 8 months, I wouldn't go back, and wouldn't buy a phone without a large touch screen (and a physical qwerty !)
Just my two penneth 😊
Whatever about touchscreen, larger screens are not a fad. Much as I love my N82, the screen is tiny. You can browse the web using it, but it's not a pleasure to do so. The phone, which is far from a touch phone would still be considerably enhanced by having a larger screen, and a higher resolution.
Hello
of course, surfing on a S60 V3 is little to no fun, but heh, is it on a Iphone or 5800 (S60 V5) so much better ? I would say no ! And then, there is the cost. I only surf tru WLAN connections, and this is at my home or my office. And there, I do have a PC. With a PC, surfing is really enjoyable.
So I do not need a touchscreen phone, because I do not serve outside.
For me, touch screenphones are nice phones, but I prefer compact and light, easy to use phones with S60 V3. Hopefully, Nokia will continue to support both in parallel.
My current phone is a E66, and I am totally happy with that.
Gerhard
People with Symbian still live under a rock.
HD2 is just a glimpse of the future.
Enjoyable web experience (4.3" 800x480 landscape + FAST) - check
Gaming machine - PSX Emulator at full speed + OPENGL 2.0 + 1GHz CPU - Check
Mobile Office - MS Exchange, PIM, Real Office - Check
PMP - Music, Videos incl. 700MB+ DivX/Xvid without conversions, large 4.3" pleasure - Check
Social Networking - Built into HTC sense - Check
Beutiful UI - HTC Sense - Check
Car Sat Nav - Check
Nice Camera/Vid Cam - Check
Stylish - Utilises the footprint like no others. 11mm thin and doesn't waste space around the screen like so many NOKIA's - Check
Its like your personal computer in your pocket without comprises unlike the crappy n900 I owned, bulky, ugly, buggy, terrible battery, terrible phone functions etc. No physical call end buttons. Slow etc.
Far easier to fit a thin device into your pocket than one that is thick but has a smaller footprint.
Touch screen gives you a thin device and more importantly a large screen. When it comes to screens the bigger the better. Its better for everything you do with the phone but there is a limit how large a screen can go because you still need to fit into your pockets and still must be handled quite easily. I would say the upper limit is between 4 - 4.3" before smartphones footprint becomes too big.
This is no different from having a netbook which started out at 7" but now 10" is standard. At home do you still have in your living room a 20" TV? (quite common in the 80's / 90's)
Thought not... People like an enjoyable and productive experience and larger displays provide that.
I loved the n95 but I wouldn't ever go back in time... Things has moved on. You maybe able to do 99% of what can be done on the latest Touch phones (which I doubt) but I can do things 5x faster on large TS devices and has a much better experience while I'm at it.
gadget geeks are just easily impressed by high numbers on specs on paper alone. higher the numbers (including price) , the better phone. HD2 no qwerty.
Unregistered wrote:Helloof course, surfing on a S60 V3 is little to no fun, but heh, is it on a Iphone or 5800 (S60 V5) so much better ? I would say no ! And then, there is the cost. I only surf tru WLAN connections, and this is at my home or my office. And there, I do have a PC. With a PC, surfing is really enjoyable.
So I do not need a touchscreen phone, because I do not serve outside.
For me, touch screenphones are nice phones, but I prefer compact and light, easy to use phones with S60 V3. Hopefully, Nokia will continue to support both in parallel.
My current phone is a E66, and I am totally happy with that.
Gerhard
I also agree with Gerhard and feel that there are many users out there who still need simple monoblock , solid formfactor like N82(I have it for 2 years), E52, N79 have.
Some people dont just need to have full "web" experience on their phones.
What they need is phone which is easy to handle, can take some beating.I find many of today's so called high end phones prone to physical damage than "older" phones.
Also N82,E55,E52 provide most online functions with good physical keypad only exception being large screen, which some people may not need.
I know friends of mine who bought touch phones and are not happy and include iphone also.
So It will be really bad if Nokia or Mobile companies on whole decide to drop Non-touch+hardware keys formfactor from their future plans.
With Nokia I dont think they will drop it , as long as there is demand for something like N82, E71/72(Non-Touch+QWERTY-great combination).
Over all , we need to have freedom to choose, be it formfactor, OS, Apps everything !!!
I think the focus on hardware distinctions tends to exacerbate the problem with the goal posts. It's precisely why Nokia will only be catching up to the herd with Symbian3. When I bought my E71 in AUG 08, it was at least equal to if not superior to the iPhone in terms of convergence and capability. What the improved iPhone really kicked off are new ways of using the internet. Right, they all make phone calls, but the hundreds of apps available on the iPhone that simplify the most tedious online tasks is what distinguishes it at the moment. I just returned an N97 after comparing it to my 10 year old son's iPod Touch. Sure, you can find food, cue up Netflix, see AP videos and play pinball on the N97 too - but it's nowhere as refined; why does AP take twice as long to load? (oh...nevermind) There are still a few things that a Nokia "does" better than the Droid or the iphone, like straight forward file management, but in terms of harnessing the web for productivity - not just entertainment - the iPhone is a much more pleasant experience. I don't have time to think about all these crazy ways to use the convergence, but I'm glad that there are legions of others who do come up with interesting ideas. In the Symbian world, there's nothing like the App store, even though it's supposedly opensource shared by other hardware makers. Ovi only runs on underpowered Nokia devices, remember? It took a computer manufacturer to truly merge the convenience of cellphones with the intelligence of advanced CPUs.
Let me recapitulate. Form factor is somewhat moot. Look what's happened to Palm. Brilliant little device with a very capable touch OS, yet the extremely poor adoption base. If Nokia is going to succeed with the S3, it needs to open up the Ovi Store and maybe even some of the services to other S60 licensees. It needs to provide future S60 users with a thriving community that seems/is every bit as vibrant and prolific as the App store community.
Unregistered wrote:People with Symbian still live under a rock.HD2 is just a glimpse of the future.
Enjoyable web experience (4.3" 800x480 landscape + FAST) - check
Gaming machine - PSX Emulator at full speed + OPENGL 2.0 + 1GHz CPU - Check
Mobile Office - MS Exchange, PIM, Real Office - Check
PMP - Music, Videos incl. 700MB+ DivX/Xvid without conversions, large 4.3" pleasure - Check
Social Networking - Built into HTC sense - Check
Beutiful UI - HTC Sense - Check
Car Sat Nav - Check
Nice Camera/Vid Cam - Check
Stylish - Utilises the footprint like no others. 11mm thin and doesn't waste space around the screen like so many NOKIA's - Check
Oooh specifications. Not impressed. Because it will do nothing that I need more than a cheap Symbian phone will do for hundreds less. I would be an idiot to shell out all that extra money just to see a few higher figures on the spec sheet with no benefit.
Unregistered wrote:
Its like your personal computer in your pocket without comprises unlike the crappy n900 I owned, bulky, ugly, buggy, terrible battery, terrible phone functions etc. No physical call end buttons. Slow etc.
What has the N900 got to do with Symbian???? Interesting also that you mention bulky, terrible battery and buggy when comparing to phones like HD2 - pot kettle black.
My 5800 goes for 2.5 times longer per charge than the HD2 I trialled did, is more stable with V40 firmware and is FAR better one handed operation device.
Under a rock? Windows Mobile got there first.
Unregistered wrote:Far easier to fit a thin device into your pocket than one that is thick but has a smaller footprint..
Don't a agree. A large flat slab actually gets in the way when in a hip pocket compared to a narrow phone, especially in jeans. I am carrying an iPhone currently and it is far less pocketable than the candybar shaped 5800. Not only that, but the narrow form of the 5800 makes thumb over one handed operation much better. The iPhone tends to be cradle in one hand and poke with the other. The 5800 is cradle on finger, and operate with thumb. Much better when you are carrying something in the other hand.
Not a touch vs buttons argument, but a narrow vs big wide slab argument.
I think there is something in the future that will trump all input methods. An innovation breakthrough - remember there has been nothing particularly special or new appear since iPhone in 2007. Not from any manufacturer.
E71er wrote:Let me recapitulate. Form factor is somewhat moot. Look what's happened to Palm. Brilliant little device with a very capable touch OS, yet the extremely poor adoption base. If Nokia is going to succeed with the S3, it needs to open up the Ovi Store and maybe even some of the services to other S60 licensees. It needs to provide future S60 users with a thriving community that seems/is every bit as vibrant and prolific as the App store community.
Awful plastic casing and keypad though, and unfavourable slide design. Put people off at the point of sale because it didn't have the right appearance and feel for something in its price bracket when compared to the obvious competitor.
OS was very good though. Yes, I did mean was.
AAN(okia) staff is disguised as unregistered users now... Interesting.
Unregistered wrote:AAN(okia) staff is disguised as unregistered users now... Interesting.
Are you talking about yourself.
If not, back up your comment with facts?
I think the need for a keyboard is being overrated.
Apart from writing long articles, a good touch screen is quite good.
I'm using swype right now and it is fantastic.
All input single handed on a nexus one.
Though a good rubbery case stops me dropping it.
The one big one for candybar is the ability to type whilst moving. Trickier on a touch screen.
Zuber
I have no idea what the new "special feature" should be. But I know that I'd love to see some more "rugged" smart phones. Most Japanese high-end phones are water-resistant or waterproof. That would be a nice feature to have and something that would differentiate it from the rest of those high powered but frail smart phones.
I would love to see the new QT-based Ovi Maps be as slick and user-friendly as a Garmin navigation device. I would love to see skype with Video integrated into all new symbian handsets. Maybe my dream device would be one that had both T-Mobile and AT&T 3G built in. Or better yet, have a Gobi-like setup where you could have the device go to any/all carriers.
Gobi allows the selection of the carrier at boot-up time for laptops and since Nokia is now cooperating with Qualcomm they should make that a possibility even if it requires 2 radios. It would be nice to have one device that works with any carrier you want and that would be a real "game changer" and that is where the goalposts will be moving to one day.
@carmen58 The world sure would be boring if we all agreed on everything! I jumped at the chance of getting a touchscreen nokia back in January 2009 when the 5800 was released here in the Philippines. It was ok but clearly S60 5th Edition is awkward to say the least. It couldn't replace my main phone at that time, the mighty N95 8GB. Fast forward a year or so and I am now using an N86 whilst my N97 mini sits dormant on my desk. I cannot express how totally and utterly dreadful the N97 is. Touch UIs will never, ever replace physical keypads. Touch is slow, unresponsive and most importantly impossible to use without looking at the screen.
Add to this the absolutely INSANE "predictive" punctuation horror of the N97 mini (how HOW does anyone use it?) and I just want to smash things.
Well, I say things but I mean touch UI phones to be precise.