All About Symbian - Symbian, Nokia and S60 unwrapped.
Battle of the Budget Smartphones: Hardware
Published by Ewan Spence at 9:41 UTC, August 11th 2010
Summary:
In a followup to his previous introduction to this review mini-series, looking at the £100 ZTE Racer (powered by Android) when compared to Nokia's similarly priced 5230, Ewan looks at the base specifications of each. Which comes out on top and do specs even matter in this target market?
In previous years, the first thing tech websites looked at were the specifications of a mobile phone. As I continue to look at the Nokia 5230 (Symbian S60 5th Edition) and the ZTE Racer (Android), how do these two smarthones available for under £100 compare in terms of raw numbers? And does it matter?
Let's start with the frequencies supported by the phones. We're used to quad band GSM smartphones, so the loss of one of them in the ZTE Racer (sometimes known as the ZTE X85)) makes it a tri band (900/1800/1900) model. If you are going to be travelling, you might have to do the old fashioned thing of checking the frequencies of the networks you'll be roaming on.
The Nokia 5230 covers all four frequencies, so is pretty much a global phone and if you're a international frequent traveller this could be an important consideration. But what the 5230 gives with one hand, it takes away with another. The 5230 does not have Wi-fi.
This isn't as much of a problem as you would initially expect. As long as you have a sensible data package then you'll be able to do most of your data over 3G (dual band, supported by both phones, though the frequencies again vary slightly in the 5230's case) – just be sensible and use a PC connection to grab music and sideload mapping data and big application downloads and you'll be fine. I found that 50MB of data for a two week trip in the US was sufficient, so even snagging a 500MB or 1GB plan and you can take your eyes off the bandwidth clock.
Of course Wi-fi nice to have, and if part of your day is sitting around an office or workplace that does have Wi-fi then this is going to be part of your consideration when deciding which device to go for, because as well as 3G, the ZTE Racer does have Wi-fi. It's the older version of Wi-fi, which is not as fast, but it is there, alongside the 3G circuitry, although the 3G on the Racer is limited to 7.2 Mbps (as opposed to more expected 10.2 Mbps on the higher end smartphones). The 5230 has 3G that maxes out at 3.6Mbps. So it looks slower on paper, but really if you're not right under the cell tower, you'll never get close to even the 3.6Mbps speed.
When a company is going for a budget, you juggle components and bulk buying to get the cost down. This is an area you can compromise to get the price point to under £100, because people will ask if it has Wi-Fi, 3G and maybe GPS. If the shop assistant says yes, they're happy, and the sale is made.
All these specs might be fun for the geeks, but it doesn't matter as much in this market as it does with the high-end devices. People buying these phones are not looking for an extra 50Hz of processing power because the temperature can be lowered, they're not looking to squeeze another few millimetres of macro zoom or the perfect reproduction of Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of the War of the Worlds.
What the regular phone users (and that's the market that is going to pick up these phones) are looking for is not the same as power users. They want a reliable phone, they want a phone that does what they want it to do, and it needs to just work. That's actually a pretty tall challenge.
For example, the power users are going to be happy to grab third party applications to fix functionality that is missing in the operating system. For everyone else, it just feels like something is missing.
Symbian, especially in S60, has a pretty solid feature set, so most of the holes that you would expect to be covered are already part of the firmware. So in that sense it does just work – the problem is that to get to the settings and icons to adjust these basic functions is not a simple thing to do. The options are spread out over apps or hiding in a mammoth multi-page application icon.
Android fares little better. Yes, the settings are all together from the main menu, but there's not a huge amount you can change here. In terms of functionality, there's quite a bit missing from the Android OS. Yes, it's being filled in by third party applications, but I'm not sure that's a valid solution. If you're happy with the out of the box set-up, then Android is great, but you can't deviate too much away the norm without a lot of hacking and extra applications.
Neither of the handsets make it easy to tweak your phone, and while out of the box is good enough for most people, they can't step away too much from this without some serious study.
And why is it that Android keeps looking for an Internet connection? When in Wi-fi coverage, the ZTE Racer switches to that to get a connection. If outside of Wi-fi, the handset switches to 3G and goes online. No matter what the external conditions, or apps opened, Android is constantly looking to get online and stay online. Which might be fine in a Silicon Valley lab or on a high-end £30-£50/month contract phone, but not on a contract-free phone.
Let alone the impact it has on battery life. With “auto-sync” running in the background, making sure Google Mail, contacts and calendar are always matched up with the version in the cloud, you'll be hard pushed to get to late lunch with this all running. Where does it say you need to switch this off to save battery life? And that you need a third party application to suspend the data connection (ApnDroid)?
When you're asked the difference in ethos between Symbian OS and Android, here's a big one. Symbian (and Epoc before it) was designed to run in constrained circumstances, both in hardware but also in connectivity. Symbian works as as an online and offline computer. Android is essentially a computer that thinks it will be 'on' all the time. It's a vital distinction both in ethos and use.
Where do you notice it? Battery life. Keeping a 3G connection open (even if not used) drains the battery and the ZTE racer can barely manage through to mid afternoon without a top up charge (thankfully over microUSB). Using a hack/app to edit the Access Point Name allows you to drop offline and then you can manage a full day of out and about, with just a little bit of internet access when you need it. But forget about popping the headphones on to listen to some music, keeping Facebook updated and reading your mails at the same time. You can, but you'd better be carrying your charger.
The 5230? A working day and commute, with music, social networks, and general use, still with battery left over if you need it. Game set and power match to Symbian. It's not a huge difference in the battery capacity (1320mAh on the 5230, compared to 1100mAh on the Racer) but how the underlying operating system manages the power. That's not something that can be tweaked, it's a fundamental of the OS, starting at the kernel level.
I suspect Android will always be a battery hog. And remember this is on a low end device. Throw in the graphics cards and faster processors and it's going to hurt the battery life. But back to the Racer. It's tough to show the real life battery use in the stores, but this is not going to be seen as a good phone for battery life.
There's one other area that the Racer fails at. Switch on speed from the “black screen” it sits at in your pocket. There is a noticeable lag when you tap the power button (slightly recessed on the top of the unit, quite awkward, truth be told) before the lock screen comes up. The 5230 has a ridged sliding button, twitch on that and you're ready to rock. So it takes a second more on the Android device, but these seconds all add up.
Both devices use a resistive touch screen, which is only natural given the cost to the units. I was expecting some sort of revelation on the Android OS. Err, no. In fact quite the opposite. For all the complaints of the touch interface on S60 5th Edition, there are very few moments when you need pixel perfect accuracy on the touch screen to carry out a manoeuvre. Buttons are large enough to accommodate a finger pressing down. Yes there is a lack of consistency sometimes in terms of one tap and two taps, but if the choice is between that or frustrating button presses, then I'll take the former.
Because Android is a frustrating touch experience on a resistive screen. It is more cramped, and making accurate choices in the mail application, the tiny icons at the side of Google Maps, and the cramped keyboard make a stylus almost a pre-requisite for the device – and no, there isn't one in the box. In general Android needs a larger, capacitive screen with smart code to work out which spot is being pressed. Because on the resistive screens, especially the one on the Racer that requires a heavy press, it feels like a layer of treacle on the top.
The 5230 has one place where its screen fails to cope – and that's on the scrolling contact bars on the homescreen, so it's not unique to ZTE's devices, but it's much more noticeable during the day. And especially when entering any text on the device. A finger just isn't enough.
In terms of hardware, I'd give the budget battle to the 5230. The build quality is a little bit better, and while the screens are roughly the same physical size, the Nokia's 640x360 stomps all over the 320x240 Android screen. Even with more pixels it's easier to use the touch interface accurately on the 5230. Battery life on the 5230 is excellent, and Android can't hold a candle to it (in this price range) now or in the near future.
How about in day to day use though? We're told that Android is all about the software (first and third party) – in a sense that's true, because the hardware depends on the manufacturer, but when you split software and hardware you get problems (ask Psion, ask Palm, ask HP...) How does Android cope with the real world, doing the grunt work of emails, texts, browsing and social networks?
In the next article, I'll revisit the 5230 challenges, and see how the £100 Android device fares with them.
-- Ewan Spence, Aug 2010.
Discussion
I'm certain Google are aware of the pros and cons of that decision. Google did take a performance hit but they have gained portability and security benefits.
The Dalvik JIT in Android 2.2 appears very well thought out; start-up time is barely impacted at all, typically only 2% of an application's hot traces are translated, the code compiled expands five fold for roughly a 10% overall increase in footprint, but performance increases 2-5 fold depending upon the application. I'm a Java sceptic but I think Google have made some smart choices here.
There are other advantages that we may see the benefit of in the future. If the Intel Medfield variants are any good and Android phones are built around them, the applications will run without recompilation by the developers. Performance, security and efficiency improvements of the JIT will benefit all applications, developers need do nothing. Google can do the heavy lifting and every application benefits.
I compared the screen on the 5230 (3.2") to that on the N95 8gig (2.8" - same size as the ZTE), and there's no comparison - that extra .4" makes a huge difference in overall usage, sat nav, browsing, etc.
Interesting comment on the differences between 7.2mbps and 3.6mbps 3G connectivity, and its pretty much what I've experienced. My works laptop has a 7.2meg dongle, and I rarely see even a quarter of that speed. The 5230 sees about the same download speeds, despite only having "half" of the claimed speed of the dongle.
Battery life is pretty good on the 5230. Typical daily use is a bit of music, few calls (roughly half with a bluetooth headset), some web (facebook, news, etc.), and it can sometimes go for up to 3 days before needing a charge.
Although that latter point is irritating - it would be nice to have a phone that had the features, but would last 4-5 days between charges.
On all the android handsets Ive played with you can disable data by going to Settings > Wireless & Networks > Mobile Networks and unticking "Data Service"
turning of all the background stuff is a simple tap in the settings for android ... turning on and off the 3G / HSPA wireless has a widget for the home screen and involves one finger tap
i get easily a day and a half from my HTC Desire using it as i do my N86 ... the N86 lasts longer on a charge of course because i do less with it as doing things like web browsing and video watching are a royal pain
the N86 wins hands down for camera (pics and video capture) and i do like having real keys when typing (even T9 keys) however the Desire wins hands down for just about everything else
i guess it depends on what you want from a phone and who pays you to write about them no?
:)
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Originally Posted by thehobnob
"...you need a third party application to suspend the data connection (ApnDroid)"
On all the android handsets Ive played with you can disable data by going to Settings > Wireless & Networks > Mobile Networks and unticking "Data Service" |
I'm not sure what screen resolution (more pixels) has to do with the ease of use.
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Originally Posted by viipottaja
Isn't it awful when they hide settings under such horrible multilayered menu structure??!? Android is doomed!!! :p
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HomePage1->Settings->Wireless Controls->Mobile Networks->Data Traffic Uncheck.
Because only Symbian buys stuff deep in menus.
It's amazing how many critisisms of Symbian phones can be equally applied to other platforms.
The advantage to this is that to run on different devices you just change the VM and everything should stay the same. The advantage is mitigated by the fact that different devices have different form factors so software still need to be changed for different phones.
When you are selling top end phones the consumer won't notice the negative impact of a powerful processor as much but it is still there.
In the low end the negative impact is very noticeable.
A low end phone must have a cheap battery. A more powerful processor, in this case, 600mhz vs. 484mhz, will eat the battery alive. A virtual machine will eat the battery alive. A monolithic kernel will eat the battery alive etc. etc.
This processor also drives up the cost or BOM so the manufacturer has to skimp on other parts of the phone to stay within the price budget they are aiming for. Screen size, resolution and battery compromises make the Racer terrible for watching videos or other media (the comparable 5800 is perfect for this and even has superb viewing angles, I assume this phone is the same). The build quality will also suffer, as described here and elsewhere.
Symbian is a microkernel it is designed for this kind of efficiency, Android will simply never be as efficient as Symbian, it is JUST NOT POSSIBLE unless it is completely rewritten from scratch. And so, Android phones will also always be poorer value for money.
This proves Nokia's, 2 OS, 1 dev platform is the right way to go if you want to play in the top end and low end.
As far as I am concerned Samsung (Bada) and Nokia are the only game in town if looking for a cheap smartphone and these OS also provide good value for money in the mid-range compared to Android. In the top end where huge batteries and reduced cost sensitivity make these issue less of a concern then Android or MeeGo or whatever makes more sense.
I've the ZTE Racer i front of me. Wireless and network settings / mobile networks has no option to turn off data. Data roaming yes, but not data all told. Fragmentation in the core settings of the platform? Nice!
Fakefur
I agree, turn it off is needed, but its on out the box, there is no mention of what this does, and there is Auto sync AND Background data. Confusing options and no mention of battery hit. The etyhos of always on always connected is default, and the default action is to eat battery power.
Fakefur
You also win the prize for the first mention of bias. Here's the deal, you know the site name, you can read the text, and you can see my justifications. It's not like I;ve ever broadsidded Nokia before (eg the origianl X6 review)
David,
More pixels and bigger buttons mean a larget target area for a fat finger on a touuchscreen.
Generally microkernels result in more IPC and privilege related context switches than monolithic kernels, and as a result they generally use more CPU time. But you know what? IT DOESN'T MATTER. The old monolithic versus micro argument is so much hot air, it has raged for decades and no clear winner has emerged.
Whatever failings Android may have the Linux kernel is not one of them, I would be surprised if even the Symbian Foundation used such an argument to knock Android.
The iPhone uses the hodge-podge of Mach/BSD and does do too badly, compared to that Linux is miraculously efficient and well designed. :)
At least the ZTE has Wi-fi unlike the 5230 which has none. Wifi can be switched off easily as can 3G - sorry but Android is leaps and bounds ahead of Symbian in terms of User Experience and this is from a Symbian fan. No need to be biased Mr Spence.
I got the 5230 for my relative a few months ago and while I can attest to its build quality, the lack of Wi-fi is just not on.
Perhaps Mr Spence should compare the 5230 with other Android budget phones - e.g. the LG540 .
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Originally Posted by oniox
At least the ZTE has Wi-fi unlike the 5230 which has none. Wifi can be switched off easily as can 3G - sorry but Android is leaps and bounds ahead of Symbian in terms of User Experience and this is from a Symbian fan. No need to be biased Mr Spence. . |
Unfortunately for me I read internet hype on forums like these about how great Android is, went out and got a Desire, very disappointed. No great advance in the UI, and a huge battery pig. It's good from the point where some apps can be had that do things without the need for jailbreaking as on the iPhone, like getting cell information etc. But way way behind the iPhone UI, and down there in the Symbian^1 for being an average dull UI.
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Originally Posted by oniox
"When in Wi-fi coverage, the ZTE Racer switches to that to get a connection. If outside of Wi-fi, the handset switches to 3G and goes online."
At least the ZTE has Wi-fi unlike the 5230 which has none. Wifi can be switched off easily as can 3G - sorry but Android is leaps and bounds ahead of Symbian in terms of User Experience and this is from a Symbian fan. No need to be biased Mr Spence. I got the 5230 for my relative a few months ago and while I can attest to its build quality, the lack of Wi-fi is just not on. Perhaps Mr Spence should compare the 5230 with other Android budget phones - e.g. the LG540 . |
The only phone I can find that gets anywhere near is the T-Mobile Pulse.
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Originally Posted by Unregistered
A more powerful processor, in this case, 600mhz vs. 484mhz, will eat the battery alive. A virtual machine will eat the battery alive. A monolithic kernel will eat the battery alive etc. etc.
This processor also drives up the cost or BOM so the manufacturer has to skimp on other parts of the phone to stay within the price budget they are aiming for. |
A. Google will, as of now, cease to make continual improvements to the OS and improving its efficiency and optimization. In the real world, they seem to be releasing a new version of the OS almost every six months. They also just hired away the software executive for Palm's WebOS (somebody Nokia should have poached, but that's another argument....)
B. ..that component prices for today's mobile processors and batteries will both stay the same and will stop being continually improved upon.
If technology and prices stay the same for the next few years, as they are in August of 2010, sure you have a point.
But I somehow think that nobody's going to be standing still while Nokia and Symbian (for all its open source status, the SF and Nokia are essentially tied at the hip) catches up.
While you seem to have endless faith in Google, despite the technical impossibility that a VM can ever be equal in performance to native code, you seem to assume that Nokia will stand still and not even further optimize their OS(s) anymore, even though they have already proven that Symbian^3 is vastly faster than Symbian^1 and the fact the N8 beats devices like the Nexus, Desire, Evo 4G and other Snapdragon devices by up to a factor of 5(!)
Of course BOM will never be as good on Android, it is self-evident, no matter how you look at it.
If you care to read the article, you will find that it is the ZTE Racer vs. Nokia 5230, NOT the Desire.
Just because it is Android doesn't mean all Android devices are identical.
But even so, it is immidiately apparent how to disable it, and that is what is being critisized. Just like people complain about "how oooh so difficult" Symbian is to use, because some things are not immidiately apparent.
But all in all, I think the problem today is, that Steve Jobs has made it legal to be stupid. If you can't figure out how something works within a gold fish' attention span, it is crap.
I wonder if humanity indeed is degrading in intelligence from now on...
"Impressions
This is the fastest Symbian smartphone, pure and simple. It overtakes Sony Ericsson Vivaz and similar phones will become more numerous in future, which is good. But is it the fastest smartphone on the market? Unfortunately, I have to give a negative answer. The speed of its interface and software are well behind Apple iPhone 3Gs, let alone iPhone 4. This is just my personal judgment, but this is how I feel. Many Android smartphones are also faster. Bada phones are equally fast and sometimes even have the edge. Sadly, it is not the fastest device and I mention only available models without taking into account Android 2.2/3.0 (it is too early), which will show considerable increase of performance. There are also several top devices, which cost a couple of times more.
Nokia highlights the multimedia features of N8 and while they are good, they are not too impressive. Video player is common, the screen is not the best in its class (iPhone 4 and Super AMOLED from Samsung are superior and many Android phones offer higher resolution). The camera is one of its advantages, but only in terms of photos and resolution. The picture quality has not improved dramatically and the video recording is on par with other models (Vivaz and Motorola XT720 are comparable, as well as other phones as it is a standard functionality for the market).
I am upset by one more typical Nokia mistake when the company economizes on components. 256 MB of RAM are not enough and the browser has not been polished to allow its simultaneous use with multimedia features without the crash of applications in the background mode. The insufficient amount of memory is a hardware issue. "
Boom, not even as quick as a 3GS, never mind the iPhone 4. And the measly 256mb RAM means it's most likely going to be just as bad as the N97 fiasco! Heh.
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Originally Posted by Unregistered
Boom, not even as quick as a 3GS, never mind the iPhone 4. And the measly 256mb RAM means it's most likely going to be just as bad as the N97 fiasco! Heh. |
How many reviewers have had a final release (not pre-production) N8 to test? None.
Does Symbian need more than 256MB RAM? Has anyone using an N8 come up against memory errors?
The N8 is, as has been repeatedly stated, a lower cost phone pitched in the mid range. From the quoted text: "There are also serveral top devices, which cost a couple of times more".
Nobody who actually knows anything about VMs, JIT compilation and optimisation would ever use the phrase "despite the technical impossibility that a VM can ever be equal in performance to native code".
A couple of counter-points for you to consider, JIT compilation can perform instance-dependent run-time optimisations that no amount of profiling can capture for compiling in advance, they can potentially generate code for CPU features that didn't exist at the time an application was written and compiled. And those are in addition to the general advance of compiler technology that a pre-compiled application never benefits from.
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Originally Posted by Unregistered
I am both a Symbian user and an Android and iPhone user. Android is better than current Symbian^1, but "leaps and bounds" is a gross exaggeration. iPhone is way ahead and a ui, but Android is just a bit better.
Unfortunately for me I read internet hype on forums like these about how great Android is, went out and got a Desire, very disappointed. No great advance in the UI, and a huge battery pig. It's good from the point where some apps can be had that do things without the need for jailbreaking as on the iPhone, like getting cell information etc. But way way behind the iPhone UI, and down there in the Symbian^1 for being an average dull UI. |
Lesson of the day, Eye candy does not a good GUI make.
Tell that to the 3 million + that bought the iPhone 4 in one month
I've seen that at Mobile Review, if you have a problem with their writing style, take it up with them ;-)
"How many reviewers have had a final release (not pre-production) N8 to test? None."
You're right, none. But what SIGNIFICANT changes will be made in a month? None. The software and hardware will be finalised if you think otherwise then you're a fool.
"Does Symbian need more than 256MB RAM?"
No one knows as Nokia has been a tight ass with their hardware lmao.
"Has anyone using an N8 come up against memory errors?"
Yes, they have. Eldar did numerous times, with everyday tasks like listening to music and browsing a couple of internet pages, which has been proven to be poor. Oh dear.
"The N8 is, as has been repeatedly stated, a lower cost phone pitched in the mid range"
At €475 or whatever it is?? That's a lower cost phone? Jeez, you must have 5 of those diamond encrusted iPhones huh.
