Nokia at this moment seems to be a sinking ship, they should have ditched the S60 platform ages ago. However it's not too late, they need the Maemo OS to be a major success, otherwise they're facing a bleaker outlook come next quarter
And why should they? S60 is a wonderful platform for small mid-range devices. I have been using one for a couple of years (previously a PalmOS and WinMob user) and it is a brilliant platform designed for one-handed ease of use.
Obviously I have nothing against Nokia introducing a new platform. S60 was once new, though it is now mature enough to power most of Nokia's none-touchscreen mid-range devices. I myself am looking forward to future Maemo devices, but until they can get it onto small sub-100g mid-range devices, S60 (and future Symbian^2 and up) will continue to exist simply because the market demands it.
Not everyone wants a touchscreen phone, and Nokia knows this.
S60 is dead if you didn't know. They have been making new fully touch optimized UI (in fact it's only for touch screen phones) called DirectUI for some time now.
Maemo OS doesn't know word "vertical" - doesn't understand what you want from it when you try to hold the device (N900) vertically. The only screen I remember in vertical orientation was calling someone (try to talk horisontally). As far as I know, Symbian isn't the greatest of all smartphone OSes. But, as far as I know, it doesn't remotely delete your apps, doesn't make you use app store and doesn't limit you to 65k colors, which is more than enough for me to call it nice. Besides, it user-friendly since my father, who has trouble working with new PCs, never had a single problem working with symbian (phone part). Imagine ease of use on Windows Mobile phone or Windows Phone as they call it now.
Oh, and I don't understand how new OS, which isn't compatible with old OS, is going to make programmer's life easier. It means learning new programming language, new OS, new limitations, completely re-writing old codes. I don't see this as "good". It might become "good" in 2 years if its faster and more reliable, but during the transition period, its a waste of resources.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
Nokia at this moment seems to be a sinking ship, they should have ditched the S60 platform ages ago. However it's not too late, they need the Maemo OS to be a major success, otherwise they're facing a bleaker outlook come next quarter
And why should they? S60 is a wonderful platform for small mid-range devices. I have been using one for a couple of years (previously a PalmOS and WinMob user) and it is a brilliant platform designed for one-handed ease of use.
@ KIFF you might love S60, but from the look of Nokia's latest numbers a lot of people don't seem to agree.
People are obviously still buying them. It may be less, but 16.4 million S60 phones sold in a quarter still seem like a success to me.
The problem is that reviews like this only show pictures of phone bleeding... and that is it.. they sell the red chronicle...
We have to take into consideration the number of new competitors that have entered the arena. Apple, Android, KIRF!!!
Nokia has to shared the 100% pie with he other competitors, and we knew beforehand their share will decrease as Apple and Android have been a success.
@ KIFF that is an impressive number, but even Nokia knows they're fighting a losing battle with Symbian S60, hence the introduction of Maemo.
Obviously I have nothing against Nokia introducing a new platform. S60 was once new, though it is now mature enough to power most of Nokia's none-touchscreen mid-range devices. I myself am looking forward to future Maemo devices, but until they can get it onto small sub-100g mid-range devices, S60 (and future Symbian^2 and up) will continue to exist simply because the market demands it.
Not everyone wants a touchscreen phone, and Nokia knows this.
S60 is dead if you didn't know. They have been making new fully touch optimized UI (in fact it's only for touch screen phones) called DirectUI for some time now.
There used to be Nokia UI fully optimiced for touch screen phones, S90. It was used in 7210, long time before iphone.
Nokia killed it which was a mistake in a long term, but right for a short term strategy by my opinion.
Symbian^4 is going to be intresting. They are going to drop old S60 binary compability in it which might make it more programmer friendly.
Maemo OS doesn't know word "vertical" - doesn't understand what you want from it when you try to hold the device (N900) vertically. The only screen I remember in vertical orientation was calling someone (try to talk horisontally).
As far as I know, Symbian isn't the greatest of all smartphone OSes. But, as far as I know, it doesn't remotely delete your apps, doesn't make you use app store and doesn't limit you to 65k colors, which is more than enough for me to call it nice. Besides, it user-friendly since my father, who has trouble working with new PCs, never had a single problem working with symbian (phone part). Imagine ease of use on Windows Mobile phone or Windows Phone as they call it now.
Oh, and I don't understand how new OS, which isn't compatible with old OS, is going to make programmer's life easier. It means learning new programming language, new OS, new limitations, completely re-writing old codes. I don't see this as "good". It might become "good" in 2 years if its faster and more reliable, but during the transition period, its a waste of resources.