My trip to SXSW earlier this month illustrates another hard truth that’s important not just for Symbian, but for any mobile platform and application developers looking to make any headway in the socially networked online world. People need to be able to work with their online friends as quickly as possible.
Way back in time, around 2007(!), after he first tried the Apple iPhone, long time Nokia camera-fan James Burland confidently stated that he'd seen the future and that physical keypads and keyboards were a thing of the past. And in the main he was right, as demonstrated by many recent phone designs, as I'll explain below. But there's a holistic aspect to a particular QWERTY form factor that's missing from this analysis, and it helps explain why all of us on the All About Symbian have a bit of a soft spot for the E7 and its predecessors, despite logic, specifications and prevailing popular opinion.
You'll have read my review parts here for the Nokia E7 and here for the N8, of course. But, reading those standalone and viewing the separate sample clips, it's hard to get a feeling for how the two devices capture video relative to each other. What's needed here is one of those fancy split-screen 'live' comparisons - I've had my first go, embedded below, and will be interested in your comments.
[Updated to just a two device head to head, by popular request, with a new summary] Whether the QWERTY-equipped top end models on each mobile platform are indeed 'flagships' in the true sense of the word is debatable, but it's interesting that we now have two such devices, on Android and Symbian, duking it out for essentially the same professional market. After several requests to put the Nokia E7 and HTC Desire Z head to head, both of which I've used quite a bit, I thought I'd do just that.
Adding the BBC's News feed to a Symbian^3 homescreen is nice and simple - it's preloaded on many devices, so you can pick it from a list. But what if you want to add BBC News or another news source to the homescreen of an older, S60 5th Edition smartphone such as the Nokia C6-00 or N97 or N97 mini? It's a tiny bit fiddly, but then that's what our 'How to's are for - to make the fiddly somewhat easier!
Take a look at the slab of high tech in your hand. Are you struck by a sense of wonder that it's so compact and that it can do so much? I am. But then I'm old-school, coming from a generation for which things could do a whole lot less. For someone under (say) 20 years of age, there's a completely different attitude to technology in general and to mobile technology in particular. Is losing one's sense of wonder at how things work necessarily a problem? Or could a new attitude to technology promote higher standards of expected quality and reliability from manufacturers?
You'll remember that I listed the HTC 7 Pro in a previous Nokia E7 comparison? That was based on specs alone and here I present a direct head to head: the Symbian QWERTY flagship against its equivalent from the Windows Phone world, made more poignant by the ultimate demise of one OS in favour of the other. No prizes for guessing the outcome of this 'face off', though the sheer scale of the slaughter has to be seen to be believed.
Yes, yes, it's a Friday feature, which can only mean that I'm allowed a certain leeway in terms of content. In this case, and I'm sure the designers of the Nokia E7 will be utterly horrified, I present a DIY way of improving the Nokia E7 using nothing more than a glue stick and a couple of scraps of grip matting, in true 'Blue Peter' style....
It's a commonly held 'fact' that the apps in the iPhone (iOS) App Store blow away the competition, especially the young upstart that is the Ovi Store, with the latter having something like 10 times less bona fide applications. In the light of my recent editorials (e.g. here), I was curious as to how true (or false) this 'fact' is. Looking at the top selling and top freeware applications (and the best games) in the Apple iPhone App Store, how many are also available for Symbian, either directly or via an equivalent? More than you might think...
Regular listeners to the podcast will know that I’m getting ready to head over to America, primarily for the South by Southwest Interactive, Film and Music conference to be held in Austin, Texas. I’m packing my bags now, and something has occurred to me. My smartphone (no matter which I take) is not going to cut it unless I can keep it powered up for the flight, and during each day in the Austin halls.
