There's a Time To Tinker and a Time to Stop!
Published by Steve Litchfield at 11:36 UTC, April 30th 2008
Steve Litchfield argues that sometimes you just need to stop lusting, stop fiddling and simply enjoy.
To everything there is a season,
a time for every purpose under the sun.
A time to be born and a time to die;
a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
a time to kill and a time to heal ...
a time to weep and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn and a time to dance ...
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to lose and a time to seek;
a time to rend and a time to sew;
a time to keep silent and a time to speak;
a time to love and a time to hate;
a time for war and a time for peace.
ecclesiastes 3:1-8
...to which I'd add "a time to tweak and a time to leave well alone"...
Does this scenario sound familiar?
You buy device X, love it to pieces, and over the next month or two you install all your favourite applications and games, you set the menus to be perfect for your day to day use, you tweak and fiddle and then proclaim it to be well and truly 'tuned'. And then the next day you see device Y has become available. Lust sets in and you start mentally listing all the ways in which it's better than device X. After a little saving and some arm-bending of your SO, you give in and purchase device Y (or persuade your network to let you have it as an upgrade), relegating to device X to a drawer or perhaps selling it on eBay.
You love device Y to pieces, and (you can see where this is going, can't you?) over the next month or two you install all your favourite applications and games, you set the menus to be perfect for your day to day use, you tweak and fiddle....
Etc. ad infinitum. We're talking about 'early adopters/geeks/technology professionals', call us what you will, and 'shiny, shiny ultra-high tech gadgets'. As my daughter would say, 'Do the math'...
But having gone through the setup and tweaking process now for around 6 smartphones in the last 16 months, I find myself back at the exact same device I started with (the Nokia N95 'classic', in case you're wondering) and I have to question whether all the swapping and fiddling around was actually worth it.
You see, the value of a smartphone to our lifestyles isn't just about the abilities of the handset itself. Sure, the extra-clear camera and the higher RAM spec make a difference to usability. But just as big a deal are:
- how you set it up (your chosen menu order and preferences, your profiles, your settings)
- what you choose to install (from Download! freebies to third party utilities to full commercial software, no two of us are alike and, as I've already described, that's the beauty of smartphones)
- what your smartphone knows about you (from cookies in Web telling sites who you are, remembering your location and password, to all your Messaging email account details)
- what the aforementioned software knows about your smartphone (such as media and application licenses, IMEI-specific registration codes)
- the fact that, if your smartphone is now stable (i.e. doesn't crash regularly), perhaps you should stop adding 'new stuff' and obey the golden rule of tech: 'if it ain't broken, don't fix it'...
- the (positive) impact on your bank balance (from sticking with one device for longer!)
In other words, reaping the benefits of a stable, configured, working device after weeks or months of twiddling, tweaking and experimenting, will probably outweigh the marginal benefits of a slight increase in specification, gained by chasing after the latest shiny release. And having to start all over again. And again. And again.
Steve Litchfield, All About Symbian
PS. Oh, who am I kidding. It's a disease. Anyone care to bet I won't have switched device again in a couple of months' time? No, thought not! 
Categories: How To, Comment
Platforms: General, S60 3rd Edition, UIQ 3
Feature Discussion
Thanks for the reminder.
In the past year I've owned an MDA Vario 2, MDA Ameo, Nokia N95, MDA Vario 3, LG Viewty, N95 8gb, Nokia E90 Communicator...and guess what: I went out and bought an N95 classic again a few weeks ago and it's easily my favourite.
Vario 2: Too old; needed replacing
Sony-Ericsson K810: Good camera but a creaky case and limited applications owing to very basic OS.
MDA Ameo: too big, too glitchy, poor speaker quality. I used to get laughed at in public, but I did keep it and use it in-between phones until recently as I liked the big screen.
Nokia N95: glitchy owing to early firmware (camera too slow, out of memory errors)
MDA Vario 3: flimsy, rubbish camera and by this stage I'd gone off Windows Mobile slightly. The QVGA screen is not as nice as that of the two N95s, despite being bigger.
LG Viewty: for a few days in which I got frustrated with the temperamental camera and slow input method. Then I found it was blocked and swapped it for....
N95 8gb: Looked and felt nice at first, then I got fed up of the slow data transfer rate of the internal flash drive and started to long for my fiance's lighter and SDHC-capable classic (such is life)
Nokia E90 Communicator: I really like it, but it was just too big, considering that I usually have an EEE pc with me anyway. There was also the signal glitch - whereby if you put your fingers in the wrong place in open-clam mode the signal drops out. Poor placement of the receiver there I think Nokia.
.....and it crashed a lot....
.....and Nokia seemingly think the 'business' people who allegedly go for these phones want twee, windows 95 backdrops and boring-looking media players and menus - not so Nokia.
N95 Classic: I'm sticking with this for now, it's got the best camera on the market, it's small and now I've got Garmin XT all my Satnav needs are met. I also have a bigger viewing size for Youtube videos than on the E90....I do miss that keyboard though!
In contrast, I usually spent days and weeks to tweak every Symbian devices :( Hopefully, Symbian can do something to give greater flexibility for advance users...
Ok! I am suffering from that illness too...
It started some years ago with a Psion device!!! Some time after arrives Palm, and after many devices I arrive to Nokia from where I will not leave (I've said this before).
When I bought the E90 I said (only to myself) that I will stay away from this world for many months... But I am stucked to sites like AAS and BetaLabs from Nokia.
I have to say thanks to people like Steve Litchfiel and Rafe Blandford and many other, because this guys make an excellent work of compiling a lot of news, tests, and genious articles (like the one that origins this post).
And for me it keeps on beeing time to Tinker: I am looking for a device to substitute my sports phone (N73). I am thinking about N78! What about it?
Thank you all Tinkers don't stop doing this messy thing that is openning this world to other people.
| PS. Oh, who am I kidding. It's a disease. |
Been there done that and have at last reached the karma where the device i have really does satisfy my needs. My simple conclusion is there really is no ultimate convergence device and i am beginning to doubt there ever will be. After 22 odd years of using different devices i still have yet to find my Ultimate device my current E90 does do it all bar Music but then i have a iPod for that. It may not be to everyones taste but for me it as good as it gets, personally i will always sacrifice form for function and the price for a 4" screen and the QWERTY is size which is an acceptable trade off for me.
Currently there is nothing announced or around that has my interest in the slightest for once.
Marc
I thought the E90 would solve all my problems/wallet-shrinking addictions but, no. Too big, too glitchy and saddled with frustratingly limited apps.
Ho hum. Right now I'm in love with my E51/N810 combination but I can already hear the siren call of the E71...
I was quite happy with the N95 until I saw the article on the E90 on this website lol It got me thinking about QWERTY mobile devices and after trying the E60 last year and more recently the E61i (both were ok but not what I was hoping for) I decided the E90 was the only real option left.
I am very happy with the E90 (despite it's size and weight). The lovely large internal screen and keyboard make it a joy to use, especially for web surfing and messaging tasks. I don't miss my N95 at all so believe I have made the right decision.
I am planning (hopefully) to stick with the E90 for a while and will try to resist the temptation of buying the latest smartphones lol I will be watching the 3g iPhone very closely when it's launched but doubt I will upgrade to it any time soon (famous last words lol)
Even though the E90 is BIG I love the hi res wide screen and qwerty. It is much easier carrying this than the n95 + n800. For me upgrading to the next handset is not exactly expensive. Most of the time it's free on contract anyway and giving that I need the "free minutes+text" anyway I would spend on average £35-£40 /month.
You're right (again!), but I am 'stuck' with my N93. I'm inclined to agree that the N95 is the best around, as far as I can tell from reading about it and lusting over badly damaged phones with keys missing glued onto ropes in Carphone (eh?) Warehouse, but it's not 'better enough' to bother moving, and the same goes for all of the other Nokia offerings. I will move when I can get a 3" VGA screen device, and I will pay plentifully and recklessly for it - go on, Nokia! Now, back to deciding whether to upgrade the 770 to a N810.....
I will dearly hold on to my commie as long as possible...
And try not to fill it to the brim with trivial junk that might bog it down. I'm pretty picky these days.
Umm, having said this I can't wait until 32 gig memory cards come out. ;)
And Here's food for thought.. E90 is newer than the N95 platform.
Hey don't worship N95 all too much. I played with both betas before release.. and I chose N93! It's far more stronger in build. It reminded me of 9300i which I was upgrading from. Being tired of waiting for the next gen commie I chose N93 for the usual reasons ie faster everything & great camera/video & good video editing sw (although I missed the bigger screen & qwerty) .
And you're correct to note that changing to N95 may not bring so many changes in your life except that your wallet might get lighter.
In conclusion don't change yet. So far Nothing can beat your phone hands down that would be financially sound. All you need is a bigger memory card ;)