The main problem I had with the Nokia 5800 was the 7 screen navigation to search a song. Can you please please create a video on how the music search work in Music Player application while searching a song in "All Songs" Menu....
Thanks
Symbian flagship: i8910 HD, Satio, Nokia N8 vs Apple iPhone 4 and HTC Desire
I am sooo getting the N8!
After seeing the specs (of course) and the videos that demonstrates how fast and smooth it is, I am sold.
This is a good idea!!! Steve, you could do a post like: Why you should upgrade from ... to N8!
Then you put a lot of phones comparing... like... why should I upgrade from iphone 3GS to N8... this is a really hard question, and I know you have the knowledge to make the answer!
It's so suprising to see this feature comparison thing done over and over again. And it's even more suprising to see people get excited over the spec sheets.
Especially when one of the Symbian flagships i8910 is a living (sort of😉 proof that even best hardware doesn't make the best product when they are not properly used, wrapped in user friendly software, supported and developed further and so on...
Someone here pointed out that UX is what is most important. I agree with that. I wish reviewers would finally focus on comparing devices in everyday scenarios. Life is about performing and completing tasks (well...not only about that😉. Phones are supposed to help us in completing real-life tasks. Make reviews task oriented, not specs oriented.
How fast and how easy can the tasks be completed? That is what I would like to see measured. That would truly show how capable the hardware-software combination really is. MHz or Mpix do not show that.
I think this "longest feature list" / "biggest number" mania is what obviously plagues manufacturers. The bigger the numbers that describe the product, the better it is - seems to be the thinking behind decisions that influence final designs. This is utterly wrong. What's worse customers eagerly join this megahertz-megapixel-megawhatever;] race and believe that, say, 14mpix is better than 8mpix or that 1GHz CPU will perform better than 600MHz.
Everyone should do some reality check and thoroughly test the device in real-life use cases. And create the device that is truly and seamlessly integrated - with life. That will be the winner.
hi Steve!
Have you tried the HX V5? Is very better than V4. you sould try it now. ;P
Unregistered wrote:Surely a feature when shelling out hundreds of pounds for a phone should be the ability to update the OS (not minor service packs).You can (generally) upgrade Android.
You can (generally) go to the latest version of iPhone OS (for a price sometimes).
But Nokia have no history and there has been no mention of upgrades to the next major release of Symbian (E71 couldn't go to S60 3.2, N97 can't go to Symbian^3, etc).
Top end smartphones (in my opinion) have become too expensive to expect users to upgrade their phone every 12 months, and most subsidised phones are now on 18-24 month contracts. I hate to say it, but if I was paying for one of these phones, I'd be looking for one that could still be running the latest software in 2+ years time, and that's not Nokia.
I pretty much agree with this. I'm rocking an i8910 right now, but if I'm going to shell out $300-$500 for a new smartphone, one of the top things I'll be considering is if it'll offer the next best version of the OS somewhere down the line.
I guess Android/Google has raised expectations, or ruined things if you're a manufacturer, for everyone.
Plus, here in the U.S., I'm getting App Store envy. I wish Nokia would do something about Ovi and their lack of real content. I'm guessing partnering with Amazon or Netflix for HD movie rental downloads is too much to hope for? After all, what are you supposed to do with that HDMI out? I'm betting most of your friends and relatives can only take so much of your 2 minute 'wacky' videos shot on your cell phone.
And if somebody brings up a handful of movie trailers available in the Ovi Store, I think I'm smacking a dude. That's not real content. Those are commercials.
Interesting, how can you pitch a soon to released iPhone 4 among the bunch?
I understand that you were able to see and feel and somewhat play with the N8, but is this report conclusive knowing that you haven't truly tapped the N8's full potential?
Again, I can see a tint of bias towards your Sammy, try minimizing your use of the word 'BUT'.
I am not an iPhone fan, but given the hardware and software specs I must admit that Apple outdid themselves leaving the likes of Nokia and the rest to play catch up.
We are yet to see a truly formidable opponent for Apple's beast, no matter how much we like and appreciate our Smartphones, iPhone 4 is an absolute stormer.
I hate to admit it, but Nokia and the gang are biting Apple's dust.
Tacsiyapo!!!
Don't agree with your score on the camera front. The exposed camera glass in the N8 vs. the Satio's covered lens should have won this for the Satio easily, particular as they're both amazing 12 mega-pixel sensors.
Erm... How can N8's 256 MB ram be called 'plenty' while HTC Desire's 584 MB is just adequate?
SEcondly, while I have never tried N8, the Desire is faster than ALL the other devices listed.
And as one reader said above, Nokia NEVER upgrade the OS on their devices unlike HTC and Apple. Firmware updates are different.
talhamid wrote:Erm... How can N8's 256 MB ram be called 'plenty' while HTC Desire's 584 MB is just adequate?SEcondly, while I have never tried N8, the Desire is faster than ALL the other devices listed.
And as one reader said above, Nokia NEVER upgrade the OS on their devices unlike HTC and Apple. Firmware updates are different.
You're comparing apples to oranges.
Android *needs* more memory than Symbian. That Symbian devices can happily work with less ram (ie. N95 with 64mb, N95 8gig with 128mb, 5230/etc with 128mb) is a well known fact, and that the N8 doubling that is definitely plenty.
Nope, Nokia haven't (so far) given major OS updates, but they have added a lot of features - A2DP added to the N73, N86 got face recognition, 5230/5800 got full kinetic scrolling.
Oh, and how can you say the desire is faster than all the other devices when you haven't tried them :con?
Unregistered wrote:Don't agree with your score on the camera front. The exposed camera glass in the N8 vs. the Satio's covered lens should have won this for the Satio easily, particular as they're both amazing 12 mega-pixel sensors.
Satio with a typically small phone type sensor is not necessarily equal to a sensor thats considerably larger though, is it?
Recessed, with heavily toughened glass should be more than adequate.
Heck, I've got a Panasonic FT-1, thats also got no lens cover. If I get a chance, I should try to do a comparison to the step daughters Satio, and I'm willing to bet that the Panasonic will do a considerably better job than the Satio.
I too was surprised that Nokia chose a 3.5 inch AMOLED for the N8. I do understand that Nokia may be trying to squeeze the iPhone 4 between the N8 and the N9, and that a 3.5 inch may have helped in this effort for cost reasons. But I would've gone with a 3.7 inch screen for the N8 and 4 inch or larger for the N9. Leaving AMOLED 3.5 in. for the E7, X7, C7. By doing so, Nokia may have also found a little more room in the N8 for a larger battery (>1300MaH) and possibly dual LED for video lighting. Yes, a little heavier, but I think that might've been better from a portfolio perspective. Maybe Nokia wanted to streamline the specs and get a larger critical mass of 3.5 in screens for supply chain reasons....but the portfolio would've been better served with N series differentiation bumped up even more. JMO. I still love the N8 as a device. It really is well done. Now they just need some professional PR people in the USA to sell the damn thing.
whats new, i like: + bluetooth 3.0 (will surely be relevant in 2011)
+ connect usb-on-the-go!
whats not hot, i dislike: - its 3.5" w/ 16:9 ratio screen is smaller than 3.5 iphone. how i wish they are wider like iphone (sweet spot) or at least make it 3.7."
- physical design and color is more youth-oriented. i wish its all-age friendly like iphone or htc desire (yeah, they are pricier but still..)
- being 1st symbian^3 phone, that would make n8 buyers as "certified" symbian3 beta testers for detecting early bugs and complains.
- ??? if the UI will be as snappy as iOS or android 2.2..or will be slow and boring?
Unregistered wrote:whats new, i like: + bluetooth 3.0 (will surely be relevant in 2011)
+ connect usb-on-the-go!whats not hot, i dislike: - its 3.5" w/ 16:9 ratio screen is smaller than 3.5 iphone. how i wish they are wider like iphone (sweet spot) or at least make it 3.7."
- physical design and color is more youth-oriented. i wish its all-age friendly like iphone or htc desire (yeah, they are pricier but still..)
- being 1st symbian^3 phone, that would make n8 buyers as "certified" symbian3 beta testers for detecting early bugs and complains.
- ??? if the UI will be as snappy as iOS or android 2.2..or will be slow and boring?
I disagree regarding the screen. I think the 16:9 format is genius, the iPhone aspect ratio is terrible and looks dumb, esspecially when set head to head with a 16:9 nHD screen.
Does the silver or dark gray N8 look "youth"-oriented? I don't think so. The silver is my favorite.
According to Nokia themselves, the N8 will NOT be released until the software is READY! They have indeed learned their lesson.
Symbian^3 UI is snappy, smooth and very fast. Haven't you seen the N8 videos?
Unregistered wrote:one good point is that steve jobs in his presentation did compared iphone4 os with android , rim but he didnt mentioned symbian but he simply said others and he knows nokia and its pet need not to be cared with the horrific mistake done with n97 nokia will never make to the top three thats for sure
You're looking at it from the wrong direction. Nokia has a very low presence in the States and when it is thought of it is generally as the manufacturer of low end phones. If Jobs were to mention them it would only be giving them free publicity and suggesting to iPhone buyers there was another option. Something he most definitely would not want to do 😊
talhamid wrote:And as one reader said above, Nokia NEVER upgrade the OS on their devices unlike HTC and Apple. Firmware updates are different.
Erm . . .What's the difference? Apple just call their firmware updates an OS update. It's all smoke, mirrors and magic numbers 😉
Having said all that, I still suspect I am going to hang on to my i8910 until Symbian 4 phones appear. Hyperex and the other cookers have really transformed this phone.
I am surprised more people are not complaining about this..
"135MB of (C: ) system disk"
My N97 is completely unusable if I try and use any C: hungry apps - i.e. Nokia Messaging, Maps etc, so much so that I have to choose between using 1 or the other.
I think that with only 135MB on the N8, the same problems are inevitable and I can't face having a phone which I can only use half the functions for 18 months!
@jejoma and others: Yes I partially agree, but the problem is: no, 128MB is NO LONGER enough to run Symbian. When I compare my HTC Desire to my N97, the difference is like night and day. Both are respective flagships of their vendors. Both cost me roughly the same. Why the experience on one is horrid and the other is sublime? No, its not subjective or biased - it is a question of just picking up the phone and typing out a message and counting the seconds and mis-hits and double taps and corrections. I think it is high time we stop pretending that Symbian's technical merits mean anything.
And SO WHAT if Symbian TECHNICALLY requires less RAM? In real life, it stops and stutters on no end on every Symbian^1 device I have owned. Launching anything more than 5-6 apps on N97 brings it to a freeze especially if it includes web pages. it takes a second to launch the apps menu. it takes a further second to make it to its lower half. It takes ages to launch a game (even shitty java games). There is no smart dialing.
What? Is this 2010 or what?
Looking at Symbian^3, it has only BEGUN to offer features that Android has been offering for ages. And it still doesn't look very responsive even in promo videos. Yes, they N8 hardware is stunning and that will ensure it as a sales success, but it won't take HTC or Moto or Samsung to match that feature set in the MONTHS that Nokia plans to take to launch N8, and they will already have a better software to run it.
Sorry.
Is there anything more substantial than speculation about an N8 with a physical QWERTY? it wouldnt look as sexy, and might spoil the one piece metal back but would be a really useful phone the N9 perhaps
The 2 things that stop me swapping my N97 are the lack of a QWERTY and non removable battery - It will take me some time to trust a Nokia that you cannot easily reboot by taking the battery out!
And a final suggestion if Nokia do produce this how about a discount for anybody who brough an early N97 at full (over)price!
RJB
You're confusing RAM and flash memory. The N8 has 256MB of RAM, double that of the N97 - and with about four times as much free. It also has two and a bit times as much free disk space on disk C: - I'd have thought that 135MB free is going to be fine - the N97's 50MB or so was only 20MB or so short of where it needed to be as a minimum. IMHO.
but it would be interesting and reasonable to compare all these devices with SAMSUNG WAVE S8500 based on Bada OS. I wonder about the final verdict in this case....
dear steve, great job, and generally AAS and phones show is avery remarkable source of info for me...
regards & grettings
seb
Jejoma wrote:Erm . . .What's the difference? Apple just call their firmware updates an OS update. It's all smoke, mirrors and magic numbers 😉
That's not really true. There is a HUGE difference between a FW update which fixes bugs and adds limited extra functionality and a full-blown OS upgrade. If Nokia applied the same logic as Apple, older phones would be upgradeable to later versions of Symbian, which has NEVER happened as far as I am aware. This may well negatively influence people considering the N8 as their next phone but who may prefer to wait until Symbian^4 is released.
jb8967 wrote:Now they just need some professional PR people in the USA to sell the damn thing.
Nope, they need more than that.
They need operator support - AT&T, etc. A major advertising campaign.
And not wanting to be too negative on the guy doing the 3 part product demos - no doubt he's good at his job, but the presentation was ..... relatively amateurish.
Now, the big question is ... which colour? Every since the W550, i've had a thing about Orange on a phone, so thats probably the route I'll go .... although the black would look a lot better sat in a cradle on the dash of my Audi 😎
Unregistered wrote:but it would be interesting and reasonable to compare all these devices with SAMSUNG WAVE S8500 based on Bada OS. I wonder about the final verdict in this case...
I've been reviewing the WAVE over the last week. It's only about 90% finished, as you might expect for a new OS. Great screen though. The Galaxy S will be more of a competitor to the phones in this roundup, albeit Android.
slitchfield wrote:You're confusing RAM and flash memory. The N8 has 256MB of RAM, double that of the N97 - and with about four times as much free. It also has two and a bit times as much free disk space on disk C: - I'd have thought that 135MB free is going to be fine - the N97's 50MB or so was only 20MB or so short of where it needed to be as a minimum. IMHO.
The N97 has 73MB on C drive and if you need to load Maps, Messaging and Quickoffice and do a bit of web browsing its completly full.
135MB will only be fine if applications can be loaded off the C drive.
RAM is less of a problem - but only if you buy a 3rd party manager
RJB
I find myself decidedly un excited by todays phones. Oh for someting new.
clonmult wrote:Thats about the only possible negative so far, and I've yet to hear stereo speakers on a mobile that gave anything more than a vaguely interesting effect - you'll never get true stereo separation when the speakers are a few inches apart.
Then, listen to the Nokia N95 with the built-in audio player, stereo widening enabled - after that, you'll surely start loving stereo speakers (assuming widening is supported in software)
slitchfield wrote:I've been reviewing the WAVE over the last week. It's only about 90% finished, as you might expect for a new OS. Great screen though. The Galaxy S will be more of a competitor to the phones in this roundup, albeit Android.
Frankly, I don't think Samsung Bada has any chance against the "big players". I've been playing with the SDK and it's way less capable, programming and API-wise, than, say, the iPhone.
I love these articles because you know which one is coming out top without even reading it...
Sorry Steve.. I've lost respect in you with this comparison.
1) Processor in the Iphone 4 is an A4 @ 1Ghz from official specs with multitasking capabilities. This is definitely a winner compared to the N8. Even the Vivaz has a faster processor than the N8 (720Mhz). The Desire has a faster processor and as good with the Multitasking.. How did the N8 win? err?
You also failed to mention that the Iphone 4 will have 512MB of RAM compared to 256MB of the N8..
2) The Iphone 4 video will have 720p.. at 30fps in comparison to the 720p 25fps on the N8.. How do they tie in that??
3) The argument about the updates is pretty irrelevant quite frankly. If you are going to update the phone, OTA has been known to cause more issues than to use the traditional USB updates.
Quite frankly, the scores are very much rigged in favour of N8.. I would highly recommend that you revisit your scoring on this because it is just wrong.
I am a dedicated Nokia Fan, but seriously - Nokia has dropped the ball so many times that even the most dedicated fanboys have to think twice before buying their products again.
bchliu wrote:Iphone 4 is an A4 @ 1Ghz from official specs with multitasking capabilities. This is definitely a winner compared to the N8. Even the Vivaz has a faster processor than the N8 (720Mhz). The Desire has a faster processor and as good with the Multitasking.. How did the N8 win? err?
Apart from concerns over the way RAM is used on the Desire, Symbian's full multitasking is run close by Android - but the latter only lets you switch back to one of 6 recently run apps - Symbian OS shows you *everything* that's running. That's enough to swing it for me. The iPhone 4 does NOT have proper multitasking. And you can't go by processor speed.
You also failed to mention that the Iphone 4 will have 512MB of RAM compared to 256MB of the N8..
How is this relevant? Symbian OS needs a lot less RAM than OS X.
2) The Iphone 4 video will have 720p.. at 30fps in comparison to the 720p 25fps on the N8.. How do they tie in that??
I made them joint winners here. The N8 gets a nod because the sensor is much larger and because it has intelligent digital zoom. And better Audio capture, I suspect.
3) The argument about the updates is pretty irrelevant quite frankly. If you are going to update the phone, OTA has been known to cause more issues than to use the traditional USB updates.
Oh, don't talk rot. 8-)
Steve