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.
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...
Nokia's strategic announcements on February 11th (and clarified on the 13th) placed an 'End of life' notice on Symbian, even if its immediate future is assured. Many have asked whether it's a good investment to buy a Symbian-powered phone now, others are surprised that this very site is still going under the same name, still others are treating Symbian enthusiasts as if they're infected with something nasty. The truth is that Symbian OS isn't going away overnight - and here are three compelling reasons why.
In this in-depth feature we look at the thinking behind the smartphone portion of Nokia's new strategy, which was announced on February 11th and sees, in essence, a transition from Symbian to Windows Phone. We consider Nokia's three options and explain that ultimately the necessecity for a competitive and sustainable ecosystem proved to be the vital factor in the decision.
INQ CEO Frank Meehan got himself into hot water a few days ago for suggesting that "pretty girls prefer iPhone and BlackBerry to Android" - making sweeping statements about demographics always gets quoted and there's usually a backlash of some kind. But, with no mention of Symbian (naturally enough, given Nokia's recent pronouncement), I figured that if Frank could do it then so could I. Read on for my own sweeping (and equally unscientific) demographic analysis, delivered with a healthy degree of hyperbole....
The Nokia Communicator marque strikes a chord for most of us, especially those who have been here since 2001 or so. The original 9210 was a break through device, offering most of the functionality of our old Psion palmtops, with a large full colour screen and phone and connectivity built-in. In many ways it was ahead of its time, as was the Psion before it. After ten years, how close are we now to the 'Ultimate Nokia Communicator'? Not very. Let's look at the background to the question and examine a few contenders.
