Are you tempted…….
Now if your are reading this post right now I am assuming that you are some sort of a Nokia fan like me and all the other amazing writers on this blog, but this preview of the Motorola Droid X for the Verizon network in America(presumably for Europe with another name like the Milestone) by Joanna Stern for engadget got me thinking.
Have you as a Nokia fan been tempted to move away to another platform such as Android, Palm OS , Windows Phone 7 and dare I say iPhone 4 ?
I have got to be honest and say I have, I am really liking what Google are doing with to Android, and tried a couple of them and came away quite impressed. The hardware created by HTC and Motorola are spectacular such as the Droid X(or whatever its going to be called) or the HTC Desire
This week Nokia gave previews of the N8 to bloggers and journalists which Jay has amazingly covered here :
Nokia N8 Sample Pics: With and without Xenon Flash
Pics: Nokia N8 vs HTC EVO 4G, Google Nexus One, iPhone 3GS and Nokia X6 (w/ hands on video showing off animated wallpaper)
3 Nokia N8 Video Hands On: With PhoneDog’s Noah, AAS’ Rafe Blandford and The Nokia Blog (via Ira)
Biggest Nokia N8 Gallery Ever: Blue N8 Overload ^_^
Pic: Nokia N8 vs HTC Evo 4G vs iPhone 3GS Vs Nokia E73 Mode
Video: Nokia N8 Scratch Test with Shiny Media
Pics: Nokia N8 Phone Pile, Silver Green and Orange (Via Slash Gear!)
Gallery: Blue Nokia N8
Video: Nokia N8 720p Video Sample and Green/Orange N8 hands on!
Video: 10 Minutes hands on with Green Nokia N8 at Singapore
Videos: 8 piece Hands videos on with Black Nokia N8! Social Networking, Music Player, Web Browser demo and More!
One thing that was universally mentioned in all of the early previews was that the hardware was amazing but Symbian isn’t, I know its an early preview but the interface gets got slated for being old in all previews, even Jan Ole Suhr the developer for the popular twitter app gravity questioned Symbian 3 long term future in this article here.
Anyway I was just curious if any other folks felt like moving away from Nokia, let me know in the comments and you can also follow me on Twitter @jwf90 
Category: 3rd edition, 5th Edition, Android, aPPLE, Applications, Competition, Cseries, Eseries, HTC, iPhone, Maemo, MeeGo, News, Nokia, Nokian, Nseries, OVI, S60, Symbian, Touch, Xseries
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Hey welcome and thank you for reading my post. Well I am a student based in the UK, and try to blog about Nokia as much as I can in my spare time. I am also on twitter where you can follow me @jwf90 or also the site @mynokiablog. You can also contact us with juicy tips or suggestions at tips(@)mynokiablog.comSubscribe
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The symbian hardware seems always to be good enough, the featureset always unparalleled. The interface, experience and usability tends to be where the shortfalls arise. Can any of you imagine this phone running a polished, market ready version of maemo? I’ve got to say it, the interface has been passable, nothing more for too long. Part of the problem lies with Nokia and part of it being a lack of experience in the matter. Nokia has always been a hardware first- software second type of company. Unfortunately the scope of matters has changed and software has become so very important for these new devices.
I want a N8 but I can admit that I am indeed tempted, though never for long when I actually experience life on the other side of the fence. Android devices are good, some great but there are quite a few things that are missing and/or are bothersome that I’ve never had to worry about on symbian. The same is quite true of iOS4 (stupid name).
For me so long as they don’t release a buggy phone, promise an upgrade to S^4, work on that browser and give me a truly integrated experience and wonderful experience, I’ll be on that symbian train
Symbian^3 has no long term future.
It will be quickly brushed under the rug when Symbian^4 arrives which by then, Nokia fans will have MeeGo to drool over and fly the flag for Nokia high end.
S3 is merely a stepping stone whilst S4 is being tweaked. It’s a shame really as a lot of the things that annoy me in S3 are already fixed in S4. It’s just not ready enough for market. Technically even S3 isn’t and has been rushed.
With S4 and MeeGo, Nokia will make significant leaps (much more so with the latter) to appeal to those interested in polished eye candy UI.
Symbian is the most advanced mobile OS. It lacks however in polished UI so people can take advantage and actually use its features.
But, MeeGo is where it’s all at. The future for Nokia is its Mobile Computer platforms. This will rival Android and iPhone’s glitsiness. Combine with Nokia’s excellence in hardware, all that’s left is to build up that ecosystem (which helped by Intel and MeeGo crowd with Qt apps should be a whole lot easier than Nokia on their own)
S4 is Q1 next year right?? I’d gladly drop 400US on the N8 to tide me over til next summer I thinks
Q1 at latest.
I hope S3 can upgrade to S4. Much more possible as hardware’s much better (as opposed to the no hoper S1 handsets e.g. N97 which can barely breath with S1)
I think over all use, the N8 will serve me a whole lot better.
The major differences between S3 and S4 is QT runtime and no more AVKON.
There’s also the SHAI which is partly in place for S^3, which in my mind would make it easier to upgrade OS without having to make too many device specific modifications.
On the point of N8
- No it will not bring revolutionary UI that everyone’s been wishing for.
- But yes, it will have sufficient significant changes that the UI and OS will be much nicer to use. Combine this with the excellence in hardware and Nokia’s services and you’ve got a phone that for that price, will give the user an EXCELLENT user experience.
It’s the total package. The UI is “good enough” for what it’s meant to be.
I hope they don’t botch this, or delay it too long. My 5800 has gotta go. I need a camera to boot and I’d rather not have to buy them separately.
Yup. I’m needing a new camera for summer holidays but after that I know it’ll just sit in the drawer.
80% of my photos were often from a phone when I had N82. I expect it to be the same with N8.
One device to always capture all those snaps, unexpected moments. Great at clubs too as you only ever have one gadget to worry about (avoid losing it when drunk or having it stolen
)
hahahaha…nice
Actually I’m not sure. I think I will just wait. I will not buy the N8 for 2 reasons:
1. I saw that the OS is still has some lag , the browser is very bad
2. I don’t have any guarantee that it can be upgraded to S4
I don’t think I will buy an Android device either for the following reasons:
1. I don’t like the manufacturers:
a) HTC has a poor signal/battery life
b) Sony-ericson – well I never like their phones
c) Motorola – actually last time I had a motorola was in 1999 . And it was good hardware , but I like Nokia then because the phones with no antenna started to appear and from then I stayed with nokia.
Of course motorola will start to push on market as much android phones as they can , because they need to be aggressive until Nokia recovers from the lack of OS( meego is under development, and symbian is in rebuilding faze). They realize that once nokia has a good OS it will create phones like cakes.
I will wait until I see the meego device. If I’m not impress probably I will move away to other companies(probably motorola)
Yeah the meego stuff is very interesting and something to keep an eye on i think it could be a dark horse in the smartphone race (maybe being a bit too optimistic there but hey ho)
I was a Nokia fan but sincerely I’m tired about this company. I’ve bought this crappy N97 and I will think twice before buying Nokia again. Their phones are the same: same old OS, same old form factor, same bugs….
I use an Android, HTC Desire, and it’s wonderful. Really. I wonder why I should go back to Nokia. S^3 is a step. They announce their N8 since 3 monthes but it will be launch in september!!!! S^4 will appear Q1 2011 that means this N8 have only 7 monthes to live… and you’re not sure that it will be supported by S^4.
I have a N900 too but there are too many lacks in this handset. All these things make me bored, tired by Nokia. I use a Samsung Galaxy S and it’s really exceptionnal. I don’t care that it’s an iPhone clone. It brings me that I want: a functionnal OS, lots of Apps, storage etc. I’m even ready to buy an iPhone 4. Why? Because time has change. Now I think people want more simplicity. People want something that works. You’re agree that with N97 and N900/Symbian it’s not the case.
There are two things that could let me stay at nokia: ovi maps offline mode: it’s very pleasant to use and a remote control for my phone. I’m running and it’s very useful to change tracks by remote.
Oh dear. N97. I wish someone could travel back in time and erase that from all our memories.
Nice range of handsets btw. I’m looking forward to checking out Samsung iPhone Galaxy S’ 4″ SuperAmoled. I say if you can clone iPhone and get away with it, why not. Physically and on the UI with that touch wiz iPhoney theme going on there.
With N900 – that was unfortunately never meant to be about simplicity but geek use (though IMO much friendlier than S605TH). Nokia’s learnt much from that and will translate over to MeeGo (pretty much Harmattan Maemo 6) which is much easier, more mass market friendly (N900 very easy to use with a few tweaks with apps, something average user prob won’t do)
wow i feel lucky to have never owned a nokia n97 i would probably jumped ship to android if i did
Man i cannot believe i have never tried the N900 i feel like an outsider need to do it soon, but considering the how many UI aspects where improved such as the back button everywhere in Symbian 3 i have high hopes for meego
To be honest I left Nokia for Apple and stayed with Apple for about two years and then realize the hole I was putting in my pocket for useless apps and a phone that froze alot and a boring internet experience but I did like the fact if theres a problem with my device a Apple store is only at just about every major mall so no inconvience. Came back to Nokia for the N900 and been happy ever since. Never going away again and rather be patient and save money and get the best internet and messenging system on the planet far as mobile devices. I think to much stuff is put on apps as a determine factor of a device as being the best but that’s my opinion
Yup, a lot of shift has been put on apps. Mainly by apple because it’s a really strong unique selling point.
Make people more reliant on the need for apps and having a platform with the “best apps” makes for a compelling reason to buy that handset.
That’s not saying apps are a bad thing, it’s just as you point out, that really should be that big of a determining factor for all people as many have different needs.
You know what guys I was tempted at first. But the more you learn how to use the N900, the more you enjoy it ! It’s kinda messed up Nokia left Maemo because it really had alot of potential the there is so much you can do. But we have to give credit to the Maemo Community if it wasn’t for them I don’t know if I would be saying the same things! I recently purchased and Samsung L.E.D tv and I plug my n900 to it via usb to watch movies and the quality is exellent and the pictures taken with the n900 look amazing.
Still cannot believe i have never tried the N900 need to do it soon, imagine if Nokia actually paid full attention to it. I do believe all the nseries devices will run meego, they simply have to
This phone is mmm a monster .. Droid X is amazing but wondering if its coming here to my country ..
it got some gravity to be honest lol i feel i just want to touch it
eh
Hi, You really have an awesome blog and its a daily dose of nokia news for a nokia fan like me. However, these snapshots popups when you hover on a link are very irritating and annoying .. Can you tell me a way to turn them off. Many times it takes me away to some other page if I click them by mistake.
Coming back to the point… I got tempted by Iphone 4… but it was not long lasting. Being owner of N97 can make you a Nokia hater… I have been that phase … but realized that No other phone maker can do what Nokia does.
Hi thanks for your comment.
I was unaware we still had these dang previews (I turned them off the instant they first came on but it seems that only applies to my account and not the whole blog.)
I’ll see what I can do to turn it off, I can’t find it in settings.
New browser version 8.0 with QT runtime said to be in the pipeline.
AAS and Rafe blanford
I have the 5800, and while you all bash the N97, I shall say this: The 5800 is utter rubbish too. It never has enough RAM to open Opera Mobile 10 even when nothing else is running. I personally believe that S60V5 was a fail for Nokia, after owning their 6280. My fingers crossed for S^3
I have two cell phones now, a Nokia E72 and a HTC HD2. The Symbian S60 E72 is a great smarphone and I love it. The HD2 is a great “almost tablet”, wonderful for Web, mails, read RSS feed, etc, but is a very poor phone.
The N8 will be my next phone, sure.
If Android had Symbian’s Profiles, custom equalizers for the music player, make that S^3′s music player, their power management, ability to organize icons in the order you want, had a Nokia caliber Carl Zeiss camera, stereo speakers, and a good side sliding QWERTY model, I’d move to their platform.
Everything else from the 3.7”+ displays, 854×480 resolutions, 512MB of RAM, 1 GHz processors, fluid experience, multiple customizable homescreens, social network integration, large number of available applications for the US market is there.
Pretty much, Nokia would have to build it.
my story is i had the original iphone in 2007 bought the iphone 3g and got sick of the restrictions placed on the device i bought no adobe flash ban googletalk no hardware qwerty to me the n900 is better video chat over skype google talk and sip nice qwerty keyboard adobe flash open source so u can tinker under the hood 850×480 resolution 5 megapixel camera dual flash carl zeiss lens apple did copy and paste in 2008 and multitasking in 2010 welcome to the 90′s apple i dont see how that is innovation for my useage i do everything in the browser so an mobile computer is what i needed not a smartphone and not a feature phone like the iphone is, is what i needed and nokia had the best one the n900 available to me glad i purchased it and i will always purchase nokia mobile computers as i use the internet the most out of any feture nokia mobile computers provide what i need