Nokia vs Nokia vs Nokia: What S60 can learn from Series 40 and Linux Maemo
Published by Krisse at 12:57 UTC, August 18th 2008
Nokia currently has three platforms in development simultaneously, for their smartphones, normal phones and internet tablets. All of them have their good points and bad points, but in this feature we take a look at how S60 could learn from its two sister-platforms.
Nokia vs Nokia vs Nokia: What S60 can learn from Series 40 and Linux Maemo
One of the more intriguing aspects of Nokia's current product lineup is that they support three completely distinct platforms: Symbian S60 (on their smartphones), Nokia OS Series 40 (on their "normal" phones) and Linux Maemo (on their Internet Tablets).
Each of these platforms has its own advantages and disadvantages, and ultimately there is no obvious "winner". However, as this is an All About Symbian article, we're going to concentrate on which features of the other platforms would be nice to see Symbian S60.
One old chestnut to bury though is the issue of speed. The latest S60 models such as the Nokia 5320 are just as fast as Series 40, with virtually instant loading times for all built-in applications. There is no longer any kind of interface speed problem on S60.
The following article doesn't attempt to be an exhaustive list, but simply present some significant feature differences which this writer thinks the designers of S60 ought to pay attention to.
Incidentally, we've deliberately left out any features which S60 has already introduced or is about to introduce, such as touchscreens and over-the-air firmware updates, because clearly Nokia is already addressing those issues. This article concentrates entirely on things they're not even talking about doing on S60.
Some advantages of Series 40 over S60
1) Series 40 lets you text your most-used recipients much more quickly
For the past year or two most Series 40 phones have had "Recently Used", "Favourite Recipient" and "Call Register" (Log) options when writing a new text message, so sending texts to commonly-used or recently-used numbers can be just a few clicks away without any scrolling.
S60 has so far stubbornly refused to incorporate any of these extremely useful options, and instead forces you to scroll through the contacts list every time you want to write a text, or open the log up separately if you want to use that.
2) Series 40 lets you set the ringtones much more quickly and easily
For quite a long time now Series 40 phones have let you get straight to the ringtone settings page from the Settings folder. This is probably the most commonly-altered setting on any phone, and it's nice to have a fast way to access it.
S60 by contrast still forces you to do something much slower and less intuitive: either go through Profiles>General>Personalise>Ringing Tone or Phone Settings>General>Personalisation>Tones>Ringing Tone. These are both much harder to guess and slower to use than Series 40's direct approach. It's hardly surprising that people are still asking how to change their S60 phone's ringtone on support forums.
3) Series 40 lets you see themes as thumbnails in the Themes menu
Series 40 phones have thumbnails of all their themes in the Themes menu, so you don't have to tediously preview each one. This is very handy if there are many similarly-named themes, or if you just can't remember which one is which. Themes are possibly the second most customised phone feature after ringtones, so anything which makes them quicker and easier to use is very significant.
S60 by contrast just shows a list of theme names in its Themes menu, and only lets you preview themes one by one. It takes almost as long to load a preview as to apply the theme, which makes you wonder what the point of the preview feature actually is.
Some advantages of Linux Maemo over S60
1) Nokia Internet Tablets let you update the device to the latest platform version
When the Nokia N800 tablet was replaced by the Nokia N810 at the end of 2007, there was a new platform version that came with the N810 called OS2008. Because the two tablets had similar hardware, OS2008 was also made freely available for the N800, and was very easily installed using Nokia's own Update Wizard for Windows. OS2008 looks and works in exactly the same way on both tablets, and contains all the same built-in features.
So far S60 devices permanently have the same platform version throughout their lifespan, albeit with occasional firmware updates from time to time. If you buy a Symbian S60 3rd Edition FP1 device, you will never be able to upgrade it to FP2, even if the actual computing hardware on many FP2 and FP1 devices is very similar.
2) The Tablets let you extend the free RAM using flash memory cards
Although flash memory is much slower than system RAM, the Nokia tablets let you use up to 128 megabytes of a memory card to extend the tablet's own 128 megabytes of RAM, using "Virtual Memory". This can greatly reduce the chances of applications shutting down due to a lack of memory.
S60 doesn't allow any kind of flash memory-based RAM extension, you're stuck with whatever the hardware has available. To be fair though, S60 phones have seen their free RAM amount grow considerably over the past year, and it's unlikely that the average user would ever run out of RAM when using the latest S60 devices.
3) The Tablets let you connect and use USB peripherals such as keyboards and flash drives
It's not an officially advertised feature, but the Nokia tablets can be fairly easily placed into a USB "host mode", which means you can attach USB accessories to them as if the tablets were desktop computers. Not all USB accessories work, either because they try to draw too much current or because no drivers exist for them in the tablet operating system, but many do work, including USB keyboards, USB flash drives and even USB hard disk drives (the HDDs require a separate power supply though).
S60 cannot connect to any USB accessories in this way, and relies entirely on Bluetooth for its connection to peripherals. Bluetooth accessories tend to be more expensive than USB equivalents, and there's usually less choice too.
We've heard that an upcoming version of Symbian due in 2009 will have support for USB host mode, but there's no word yet on whether any S60 phones will actually make use of this ability. We'll just have to wait and see.
4) The Tablets use repositories for installing and updating applications
Repositories, also known as repos, are a method of bundling applications together with all the supporting files they need to work correctly on their target device. When you install a Tablet application from a repository, it will also automatically install anything extra that you need to get the app running on your Tablet. If you already have some of these extra files, they won't be installed again, which saves a lot of time and data. Another advantage of using repositories is that they provide a very easy way to update your installed applications to the latest versions, and the Tablets' latest firmware notifies you automatically when updates are available.
S60 apps are usually installed as standalone SIS files, and uninstalling an S60 app may remove some of the supporting files that other applications need to run properly. Some users of the new N-Gage platform found that the N-Gage app stopped working if they uninstalled certain other third party apps, for precisely this reason.
Categories: Comment
Platforms: Series 60, S60 3rd Edition
Feature Discussion
I know this is something small, but IMO very convenient. Something that a "smart"phone should definitely be having.
Something else small, but worth having - how about converting text smileys in the text messages to the graphic ones? Looks very nice. I know Nokia S40 phones do this. I have seen it on the 6300.
| Something else small, but worth having - how about converting text smileys in the text messages to the graphic ones? Looks very nice. I know Nokia S40 phones do this. I have seen it on the 6300. |
It would probably be very easy to do, and if people don't like it they can switch it off from the Messaging options menu (or it could be switched off by default, with the option there for those who want it).
| I started keying in numbers on the standby screen and the phone instantly gave me possible matches / suggestions from the phone book and the recently dialed numbers on the basis of the 3-4 numbers I had keyed. |
While, you can preview content in the gallery from s60, you cannot assign it to wallpaper or screensaver from the gallery. You must go through the personalization menus which are quite deep.
The process for downloading, installing and assigning this type of phone content should be the same on s60 as it is on series 40. s60 is too cumbersome.
Scenario: A person visits a place of worship/meeting.
S60: Power button>Toggle down to "Silent" and "Select". And at the end of the meeting the user has to manually set it back to General etc.
S40: Profiles: "Silent" but here you can decide how long you want the phone to be in that profile (Silent) so if meeting starts at 11:45 and is supposed to end at 12:15 you can easily set it to be SILENT TILL 12:20 (Just to be on the safe side ;¬).
That to me is smart; it cuts out the need for me to remind myself that the meeting is over.
| While, you can preview content in the gallery from s60, you cannot assign it to wallpaper or screensaver from the gallery |
I've got a 5320 in front of me and its gallery includes a "Use In" option, which lets you assign an image as wallpaper, or as a contact's image.
The Nseries version of gallery also has this option.
| That to me is smart; it cuts out the need for me to remind myself that the meeting is over. |
When you select a profile in the Profiles application on the 5320 there are three options: Activate, Personalise or Timed.
It seems that Nokia has already been learning some lessons from S40! :-)
BTW - the latest version of Handy Calendar has this feature. So while my smartphone does not offer me this, I am happily enjoying this convenience by installing handy calendar. :)
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Originally Posted by Tzer2
You can do that with the latest S60 phones
I've got a 5320 in front of me and its gallery includes a "Use In" option, which lets you assign an image as wallpaper, or as a contact's image. The Nseries version of gallery also has this option. |
On my E61i, in the Gallery thumbnail view, one of the options is "Set as wallpaper". I'm sure my 7610 had the same option.
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Originally Posted by Tzer2
Good point, that's been a feature of many S40 phones since 2006 and it does generally make messages easier to read.
It would probably be very easy to do, and if people don't like it they can switch it off from the Messaging options menu (or it could be switched off by default, with the option there for those who want it). |
Oh yes, the online "upgrade". I'm one of the unlucky who tried that "upgrade" and ended up with a tablet that is not only not upgraded, but stuck in the old formware, with only the option of -- once again -- reflashing the tablet and installing everything from scratch.
There is indeed much to learn from Nokia's Maemo. Unfortunately, most is how to not do things.
____
[*] Well, obviously I did just mention it. So there.
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Originally Posted by Chris V
Something else that is small but vital is the way S40 handles Profiles.
Scenario: A person visits a place of worship/meeting. S60: Power button>Toggle down to "Silent" and "Select". And at the end of the meeting the user has to manually set it back to General etc. S40: Profiles: "Silent" but here you can decide how long you want the phone to be in that profile (Silent) so if meeting starts at 11:45 and is supposed to end at 12:15 you can easily set it to be SILENT TILL 12:20 (Just to be on the safe side ;¬). That to me is smart; it cuts out the need for me to remind myself that the meeting is over. |
Plus can automatically switch to a profile if you come in the vicinity of a particular GSM tower. I have set mine to automatically switch to silent if I go to watch a movie.
| All of the advantages of Maemo (except the online "upgrade", more on that below) are not courtesy of Nokia, but of the user community. |
Nokia and the Maemo community aren't two separate things, Nokia is part of the Maemo community. They don't just sit there cherrypicking the hard work of others, if they did that no one would contribute to Maemo at all.
Many of the applications in Maemo Garage were written by full-time Nokia employees, and AFAIK the Hildon interface was written entirely by Nokia employees.
| The USB host feature is a non-Nokia enhancement |
The only thing that third party apps like USB Control do is switch host mode on, but you don't need them if you use a USB adaptor that has the correct power layout to activate host mode.
| even the repositories are one giant mess |
If you stick to the official ones (the ones that come with the firmware by default) they work very well, and the update system works well too.
You don't have to use the App Installer to get apps, at least not directly. You can browse installable apps at maemo.org/downloads and install them just by clicking on the green arrows next to them.
| Oh yes, the online "upgrade". I'm one of the unlucky who tried that "upgrade" and ended up with a tablet that is not only not upgraded, but stuck in the old formware, with only the option of -- once again -- reflashing the tablet and installing everything from scratch. |
However, you're completely missing the point the article is making. It's not about the update method, it's about the update being available at all:
When OS2008 was made for the N810, Nokia also made it available for the N800 and (in an unsupported "hacker's edition") for the 770. In other words all maemo tablet owners were able to use the latest version of the platform.
This kind of thing just does not happen with S60. When S60 3rd FP2 came out, Nokia didn't make FP2 available for FP1 phones, even though FP1 phones had very similar hardware.
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Originally Posted by Chris V
S60: Power button>Toggle down to "Silent" and "Select". And at the end of the meeting the user has to manually set it back to General etc.
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There were roumors that Nokia would enable an FP2 update for the N82... would be really nice... probabily improve battery consumption + some eye-candy for those who want it...
I have solved this issue. About a year ago I got annoyed by the same problem. So as a Symbian developer I set about solving it. The solution is TextQuick, an application I've written.
You can download a one month trial from:
http://www.mind-flip.com/textquick/download/
If Nokia can merge the simplicity and ease of S40 for basic phone functions with Maemo's ability to offer a full universal computing environment, they will genuinely have cracked the smartphone problem: that current phones (ALL of them) aren't smart enough to genuinely serve as mobile computers.
I recall Steve writing recently that phones had hit the apogee of functionality and that it's now all about design, UI and so on. I disagree only on this point - phones have all the hardware they need. What they don't offer the user is flexibility and freedom.
@malerocks,
Try T9Nav at www.t9nav.com - this behaves similarly to the Samsung feature you described, but does way more.
Mark.
All this just shows how once again the worse tech (s60) won over the best (UIQ)
1.1) Nokia is nicely exploring possible improvements. There is betalab's conversations and the N82 has its caroussel with Quick contacts. Most recent callers/sms'ers are top in you call log or inbox anyway. Admittedly, sorting your dialled log by frequency instead of time might be a nice option to have in conversations and your call/sms log.
1.2) If I download a ringtone (openatyourownrisk), it asks, do you wish to make it your new ringtone?
1.3) Not to loose your specific mutations on a specific theme (background, font, etc...)
2.1) Yes, I'd really be interested in 'firmware OS upgrades'. Part of it might come with S60 becoming open source. Surely they will split it into modules with propriety hardware driven modules and open-source modules. Allowing to buy a phone for its hardware and then select softwaremodules to fit your needs as buisinessman, consumer or media producer...
2.2) Have you forgotten Nokia's implementation of demand paging for memory starved N95's? And I prefer sufficient RAM instead of memory paging any day! The N800 has way to cramped memory for its screen size and applications. So did the N95?
2.3) USB-host support is not default available on the N800/N810. It needs additional 3rd party software and some special cables/connector to be acquired. USB drives and memory sticks feed from your mobile's battery life. Bluetooth is for wireless devices and NFC and carries its own powersupply.. In general USB is useful for AC or larger battery capacity devices like laptops.
And yes a decent package browsing and update system for S60 would be great. Unix had it for years, as such for OS X and thus the iPhone it was a logical choice to implement. It is a valid part of the mandatory growing steps Symbian needs to make to become a solid smart-OS.
Lunch is over, back to work.