No folks, those mythical
N8 review units still aren't on our doorsteps, but we can offer you the next best thing: a thorough (we mean
thorough) overview of the
Symbian^3 environment that will be front and center on Nokia's next great phone. Eldar Murtazin of
mobile-review reports on everything from the sophisticated handling of contacts and caller ID pictures, through the noticeable speed improvements, past the limited utility of online widgets that display only two lines at a time, beyond the "weak spot" web browser, and all the way to Symbian's unhealthy habit of "clinging to continuity." It's an enlightening read, which pulls no punches with its conclusion: Symbian^3 is an evolutionary step up from S60 5th edition, which brings nothing new to the market and offers no comparative advantages. Strong words from Eldar, particularly when he doesn't disclose what build of the OS he's using; his rationale, however, is that his analysis relates to overarching design decisions and ignores software bugs and version-specific foibles. Make of that what you will.
[Thanks,
scotsboyuk]
posted June 24th 2010 6:15AM
that is a harsh review...wow...basically saying Nokia doesn't even stand a chance...
@serge
they would do well if they made a handset as great as the N95 again, but they are stuck in those glory days and haven't advanced much since.
@serge This is no suprise. If people didn't like the old Symbian they're not going to like this one. I own a 5800 and I mean look at that ugly ass menuscreen, they haven't changed it and its exactly the same with the same icons.
I think when people hear of symbian^3, theyre expecting a new fresh OS with a totally new look. If you set your expectations low, and consider it an improved overhaul of S60 v5 that isnt slow, you won't be too disappointed
@roosta
In what way isnt this better than N95?
This time a really good camera, with flash, really big censor, improved lens.
Metal casing, as Ive understood... N95 had bad slide quality. Not the most durable case.
battertimes in this should be quite a lot better than N95.
The problem is that the N95 glorydays, is not far of in todays phone specs... it was just too good for the time, they still cant improve a device much over N95... its competitors havent done many!
@zzzzbest technically that would be MeeGo, as I understand it, MeeGo is for high-end smartphones and Symbia^3 will be pushed down to featurephones...
In theory, the MeeGo-Moorestown-based Nokia should be the top they will offer...let us see what comes out from there before saying goodbye to Nokia...
@zzzzbest For a 5800 owner...have you ever heard of themes? Why don't you buy that glass shattering phone which loses reception when you touch it. This should solve things for you, I think.
@serge
I'd say the write-up here gives a harsher image than the review itself, as the review itself he only brings up a few negatives. The problem is the conclusion, where he then brings up subjective drawbacks that are neither in the review, nor backed up in any other way. It's a shame, as the review is quite good, but then he goes and finishes it of with a conclusion that's based on almost nothing else than his oppinion. That really doesn't help his credibility.
@serge Sorry, by definition the Symbian OS is a smartphone OS. I think what you are trying to say is that featurephones will make way for smartphones as pricing of smartphones moves further down to channel. This is, in fact, Nokia's strategy. My understanding is that due to Symbian's code and its inherent efficiencies, Nokia has retained it because it would best scale across a large and deep portfolio while maintaining certain consistencies which would compliment the OVI ecosystem. It essentially can meet every functionality while allowing Nokia to maintain is global competitive cost advantage. However, if you demand something more...then the Bugatti is always available for a price...the Meego line.
@Engadget Fan 89 thanks for the clarification on the matter...so it is not Symbian going down to featurephones but rather smartphones getting cheaper running Symbian...now that makes sense.
Still, Nokia has remained leader worldwide, even though RIM, HTC and Apple have been growing...let us not forget that Nokia holds quite a big fan-base due to extremely durable phones (perfect example Nokia 1100)...I remember some years ago when basically the best to get was Nokia and Motorola was fighting back with the Razr, before the smartphone "boom"...
@serge
Let's be honest, we all knew in the Android iOS dominated market that Nokia stands no chance in taking over a portion of this revolutionizing and ever changing super smart phone market.
@serge I think it's him who is not *giving* Nokia a chance. Really, what's wrong with this phone? Nokia fixed on it a gazillion things that were wrong with Symbian^1 (speed, double tap, low memory). It's an evolutionary OS release, so what? All Android releases were evolutionary. All iPhone releases (except the first one) were evolutionary. Let's not even mention Blackberry. Still, all those phones sell like hot cake and nobody ever slams them for being "evolutionary".
Overall, this stubborness against whatever Nokia releases reminds me of the tale of the wolf and the lamb ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wolf_and_the_Lamb ).
@livefree sorry but I disagree. The market is not revolutionizing, it evolves...just like Motorola which had almost disappeared until the Droid, Nokia still has a chance in taking over. Honestly I find that both iOS4 and Android are highly overrated and overhyped. And I know I am getting downranked for this. Don't get me wrong, I like how the hardware has been pushed so far, and this trend of pushing better performance ('cause honestly I am tired of my BB loading a webpage slower than what takes me to turn on my Envy and launch the same webpage).
But honestly, the time I have to change my trusty BB, I am leaning towards RIM once more, as it works just fine, covers my needs and gives me a solid day of intense usage, and more on lighter usage I squeeze up to 3 days on one charge out of a small battery...
@serge
N95 was the phone of the future. But future is here.
@serge Everyone in Europe, the Middle East, and Indian subcontinent will buy this.
And who cares about what he says. this is the expected review from him.He just review devices looking at the brands. Technology or details doesn't matter And Nokia is not paying them so they will never write anything good with Nokia. I started to lose my trust to all blogs because companies are paying them and they are writing good things only for the companies who pays them
@KingFaisal94 Wow, that's a lot of sheep |!|
@KingFaisal94
No in western Europe...
@KingFaisal94
And that is the main market for Nokia!
@JonE I agree with you, it seems like someone else wrote the conclusion. Anyway. I read the entire article and I am more and more interested in this Nokia N8. Why? Well I m using an iPhone 3GS and it s a great device like many devices out there. But there is so many things I hate about this phone.
-the reviewer state the lack of iPhone-like animation as a minus for the N8. Well it's a plus for me. Because the iPhone screen transition is one of the reasons why I never bought the 2g and 3g (too sluggish for my taste). I thought I'll give it a shot when the 3GS came out and yes it was faster than the 3G but still, there's a slight delay between the moment u press the home screen and the start of the animation wich add up to the time u ll have to wait between each screen. the iOS4 multitasking capability decrease this annoyance; there s still some animation when switching app but u now only get one animation instead of two when switching app (an option to disable animation/stylish lag would be great).
-it's true that using the same icons other and other is boring. That's Why I hate the iPhone limited customization. But now we get to change the wallpaper with iOS4, wonderful :). The ability to use themes on the N8 is a plus for me, u can customize wallpaper, icons, sound, fonts!?.
-great call management, smartdial, widgets, SMS emoticons, SMS count, turn ur N8 face down to silence a call, Carl zeis lens camera with xenon flash and great editing apps (photo and video), Bluetooth FTP, turn ur N8 into a modem, turn N8 into a wifi hotspot!? , sd card reader, USB host and so much more make the N8 so much appealing to me.
After using the iPhone I found myself wanting 2 seperate device. One for mobile browsing, apps, maps, navigation, ereader and the other for phone(smartphone), taking pictures and videos, listening to mp3, email, social integration, voip. So no more heavy browsing on my dedicated smartphone.
And I already found my first one: it's the Dell streak, the 5inch screen and android OS is perfect for those needs.
I'm still looking for the second one, the smartphone. I think the Nokia N8 can fit there but I'll wait for a full review before deciding (the bold 9800, Dell lightning, palm pre plus/pre 2, HD2 is also on my list). I think the 3GS will be my first and last iPhone, with all the reception problem on all iPhone generation. the iPhone 4 is a really nice looking device but looks isn't high on my priority list.
Ps. If the next iPod touch is a faster iPhone 4 without the phone part but with facetime on wifi, glass front and back and all other iPhone 4 features I ll get one for sure.
@serge
I am sorry but Eldar has lost my confidence after his 1st N8 "review". This guy is trying to show he is doing an "unbiased" review but has already made up his mind before he even saw the phone. And on top of that, he hasn't really explained his magical excuse for this 1st review - he claimed that was a real N8 unit running the "latest" software. As it turns out from his 2nd review, it wasn't even running anything close! Care to explain, Eldar or are you going to hide behind your stupid biased commentary? His review sounds the same as saying the iPhone4 has all these nifty features but in the end it brings nothing new and it wont be successful coz it has a fruit logo in the back. I wonder if Eldar's ex-GF or someone works for Nokia coz he is a real lil' rageboy when it comes to anything Nokia ;-)
@renedescartes
I have giv en Eldar a big black mark in credibility when he leaked this device well before it was ready. It wasn't the leak, it was that he REVIEWED a pre-production device clearly not even at alpha yet and made judegement calls based on that.
It just takes one massively hair-brained move like that to lose all credibility. He should have known better. Far better.
@zzzzbest
The menu screen is ok for me. The point for a new OS is not the graphics, but how well it can run various programs without too much memory, battery or cpu consumption. Also, a really important role for a new OS is increased functionality and less bugs.
I already like my 5800 and i'm sure that i will certainly love N8.
@serge
well yeah he is an idiot so who cares.
But what is interesting is that even in the engadget little comparison chart N8 beat out all the other top of the line cellphones by wining 10 categories yet everybody was stuck on iphone and evo (with 9 and 5 cat's respectively)
Mind you this is not a top of the line Nokia it's just their photo centric phone.
http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/07/iphone-4-vs-the-smartphone-elite-evo-4g-n8-pre-plus-and-hd2/
@serge Can't even believe you guys even read the article. Didn't you see the name?
@serge
Eldar Murtazin: a name you can trust! *snark*
Seriously, didn't we have the same crap last time? He is more biased against Nokia than an Engadget blogger with the a Unicorn-White iPhone 4!
You simply cannot trust the guy with Nokia reviews. See, even if N8 really has every single one of those faults, his rep is so bad in this regard that I would be compelled to buy the damn thing, simply because I would be sure that the device would be the exact opposite of what he stated. Which is kinda sad, I guess, for a blogger for his status.
When I want a proper, thorough, reliable, "should-I-sell-my-firstborn-for-this-cellphone" review, I will wait for Gsmarena.
@serge Making Symbian open source was a good idea but no one really seemed to care and has ignored it. Basically, the OS hasn't changed much since then but on the bright side Nokia has probably saved a bunch of money while failing just as much as they would have before meaning they'll be able to fail just a little bit longer than before.
He says that ^3 is inferior to e.g. Android... I dont get it, Symbian does everything, and it does it well. Its fast and reliable, and it has lots of apps etc. What do people want... Eye candy, poor performance etc. Beyond me...
But yes, symbian and ^3 looks old, they could consider a better skin.
@Techtrino
If you want flashy, get SPB shell... N8 should be able to run it thanks to GPU and CPU... probably no other nokia symbian touch device can run it, because of hardware.
Vivaz, Omnia HD and Satio might all do it.
And yea, the good thing about Symbian is that it just does all the things.. and real multitasking on low speced devices.
and you can probably download themes to your device... it does things for the looks of the UI. The built in ones are never really that exciting... its the ones you can download that make your phone personal and more to your taste. With a theme that fits your taste, you really get more satisfied, Ive experienced that first handed, when I downloaded themes to my spare symbian phone, it just felt more right, and I started using that one instead. Unfortunately Ive had very bad experinces with Nokia symbian devices. So Im not a fan of that combination, right now. And satio has its problems, and so on.
Im not a fanboy of Symbian, and was looking for a WM 6.5 device not that long ago.
Im kind of glad that there is one non flashy smartphone OS out there.
I'd prefer MeeGo, but if I need a workhorse phone in my pocket, symbian is a pretty good choice.. often quite good battery times. And that real multitasking. If your not a gamer, you can get most of the apps you need.
And why should symbian bring anything new to the table, we ask?
It has pretty much all that iOS, Android has today.
What new could nokia bring to the table, when its competitors are still behind.
@Techtrino - Fast and Symbian in the same sentence - what!?
@JonHolstein
SBP shell actually runs lag-free on my 5800, though the battery time is too reduced for me to use it.
@tirim4
Even the 3D animations?
@Marko
Yes?
Symbian requires a lot less power than most other mobile OSés, which is why Nokia does not need a very powerfull CPU, and hence can get the best standby and operation times in the market. E.g. my e52 runs some 14 days between recharge with moderate use.
@Techtrino
We all know how easy it is to change icons and fonts with Symbian...so this doesn't concern me and I suppose if Nokia really viewed this as a concern, they would easily change them. I do see Eldar as an extremely biased reviewer who solidified his position of the N8 early on and (IMO) would not admit fault and lose face, even in the midst of conflicting facts. I honestly am more interested in reader reaction to his rants...than his rants. The non-news story here is that Symbian^3 is a big change to s60v5 but still evolutionary. It is no secret that Symbian^4 comes next year, with further changes under the hood and to the UI. The apps developed under Qt will not become redundant and the N8 will be a fully supported device. My guess is Symbian^3 is around for awhile since the top phones in the E, C, and X series will all carry this upgraded OS. It's fast, efficient, and highly capable. If you need eye candy, it still has some. If you need more, then pay more and go for the Meego...this is sure to trump them all.
@Techtrino We cant all forget that symbian is one of or if not the most worked on os in the whole world...it has been here for more then 10 years...the ios for only about 3 and only 2 years for android
@Techtrino
>>Symbian requires a lot less power than most other mobile OSés, which is why Nokia does not need a very powerfull CPU
well put. If other manufacturers are going to tout their 1 GHz processor phones which ultimately ending up achieving nothing more than what the N8 can achieve on an ARM 11 680 MHz processor, it speaks a lot about the OS
@JonHolstein Plenty of gaming on Symbian if you're into old-school (ie. emulators). If it fully supports Flash then you've got those games as well. And what about NGage? I'm assuming that's available somehow.
@Techtrino
+1
Nokia definitely holds down the fort when it comes to battery longevity, something every other company fails to consider it seems...
@Techtrino
They've kept the Symbian looking skin for continuity. However, there are thousands of themes out there that are superb. When I had my N97 (not a good phone), I had a theme for every every day of the week.
Themes and customisation are a lot of fun and to me, it's more fun than sifting through thousands of app (which you can do with Symbian also) as the only way to customise your device. Symbian was ddesigned for customisation /personalisation because their research foudn out that this was what most people wanted; not a controlled, locked down device.
@JonHolste
my wifes n97 runs spb with no prob and it never got the memory full msg.
"weak spot web browser"?
more like weak phone line-up.
you suck. get with it already Nokia.
@Kyle954
hehe right, you have an iPhone dont you :D
so long... and impressive.
@bbqbspareribs Cue certain unnamed meme.
it was known long ago that symbian^3 is here to remove many of the bugs in s60 5th, the big change is coming with symbian^4. and eldar says it loves symbian^4.
Nothing new there : we all knew already that Eldar doesn't like Nokia nor Symbian ;)
@smover He was a symbian loyalist, until i think he was slapped n the wrist by nokia (idk for what), n then he starts writing crap just because he can, a good journalist gone bad!
@shimoo
I thought I could recall times when he liked Nokia ans S0, but with his tone today, I doubted my memory.
Eldar is just pissed of cos Nokia ridiculed him in that prototype case.
Even though he has some valid points concerning the "bringing nothing new" to the table, Nokia already pointed out that this is an evolutionary release.
I have used the N8, a proto of course, and in my opinion, it is impossible to compare S3 and S60. S3 is that much better. I was blown away when I used it (and I dont LIKE S60).
But, if you are in the business of trashing Nokia no matter what they do, like Eldar, and it is known in the blogosphere that you have a clear support from the competitor, like Eldar and Samsung, then it is more understandable why nothing good ever comes from Nokia, in Eldars opinion.
@Mr w00t
What new could they really bring?
Symbian is not about flashy interface.
And featurewise, what is it really missing? Apps, sure, and QT might not solve the problem... but this is the first QT compatible Symbian device, so it cant gain from that. And non touch symbian, actually has quite a lot of apps... just they didnt win the programmers over for the touch version.
I didnt use to like S0 either, and Ive had problems with my nokia devices. 5th edition is very annoying with the double click/single click thing.
But Android, iOS, WP7,WebOS are all flashy interfaces, and featurewise Symbian has been far ahead. And real multitasking instead of flashy interfaces. So ironicly I started to like Symbians thought better after the arrival of those OSes.Less flashy, more performance.
@Mr w00t
How can one take Eldar's remarks seriously when he keeps repeating time after time the same mistake, saying that:
"The horizontal mode was definitely borrowed from Apple iPhone as it was introduced there for the first time. You can see the album covers and the list of tracks if you tap on an album."
REALLY?! Apple "invented" this media browsing method? I wonder what Sun's "Looking Glass" dev team has to say about this...