10 things a smartphone can do (that the iPhone can't)

[slitchfield]

Smartphones Show 33, now live and on YouTube, has a hands-on review of the WinMob-powered HTC S710, plus a video feature looking at ten things current smartphones can do that the otherwise cool Apple iPhone can't. The ten are demo-ed on current S60 3rd Edition hardware, but many also apply to other Symbian OS-powered devices.

Read on in the full article.

[TANKERx]

I'm an Apple fanboy, I guess. I love my Mac and I'll never go back to Windows on my home desktop. Why? I love OS X and the innovations it offers.

I also love my iPod. I think it's fantastic.

But I won't be loving an iPhone. I agree with much of what Steve said; Apart from a few UI features, there's nothing in the iPhone that I can't get on my Symbian Smartphones.

I've long said that the only company that could move me from Symbian/Nokia would be Apple, but the iPhone isn't enough and I think that Steve Jobs (much as I hang on many of his words) is just plain wrong in what he says about the usability of current Smartphones. In my opinion, he completely misrepresented the Smartphone market when he got is graph going with usability and smartness.

I wish every success to Apple, but I think that the iPhone is entering a market that is vastly different to that of the digital music players of yesteryear and I think it will be utterly impossible for the iPhone to transform the market in the way it transformed the music market. It will, without doubt, have an influence, but it won't be a market leader and it will be playing catchup for some time.

This is just my opinion, of course, and I could be wrong (first time for everything), but I don't see the iPhone achieving as much as is being predicted by iPhone fans.

I do think, though, that Steve has maybe ranted enough about the iPhone and there's a risk that any more on this topic would make him look like Jacek Rutkowski and his attitude toward Nokia... And you don't want that

[slitchfield]

>>I do think, though, that Steve has maybe ranted enough about the iPhone

Point taken. I promise not to talk about it again until it's actually launched in the UK - in the Autumn?

8-)

But am I allowed to keep ranting on about how cool the Nokia E90 and E61i are?

Steve

[TANKERx]

Oh, but yes!


(isn't that compulsory?)

[elp]

Steve: good to see that you'll stop whining about the iPhone until it's actually released. It started to look a bit too desperate.

Actually it'd be great if you could start ranting *a lot more* about about those small things in S60 that, for some, could be easily fixed but are really annoying. Some S60 people read AAS regularly so that could be a lot more effective than keeping saying that Symbian phones can do so much more than iPhone (we all know that already). Like the really slow folder opening in Menu when you've got many apps installed (I see that you have eventually acknowledged this issue in your recent E70 vs HTC something comparison), the terrible Messaging email UI (what's this "Connect" menu item that really should be "Check emails"? why don't email disappear right away when I delete them? why can't I scoll line-by-line in an email? Why are email displayed with such a huge font that makes reading long emails a chore? etc), the lack of an "Open with" command when opening a file, the keypad shortcuts that are either missing or so well hidden that most people don't even know about them, the general lack of customization, etc, etc

Keep up the good work anyway.

[Slartibartfast]

... and what about the PIM apps? I would love to know why NOKIA think that having a calendar that can't cope with multiple day-spanning all day events is okay.

Steve & Co. you mention the weakness of the PIM system in every review (even, God forbid, the E90) and yet NOKIA appear oblivious.

I'm praying that very recent firmware upgrade to Steve's new E90 will magically contain a better contacts and calendar database ...

.. but I doubt it.

Slart.

[slitchfield]

elp: all GREAT comments about niggles in S60!

With regard to preaching to the converted, etc., remember that we're talking about my Smartphones Show, being watched by people from all over the tech world - it's not an AAS production, and 90% of watchers *won't* already know the things you know.....

8-)

[slitchfield]

Not that it's my job to defend S60, but I thought I'd comment on:

>> Like the really slow folder opening in Menu when you've got many apps installed

Valid more for some devices (e.g. E70) than others (N95), so probably FP1-dependent. And of course, not everyone has as many apps installed as you 8-)

>>the terrible Messaging email UI (what's this "Connect" menu item that really should be "Check emails"?

Semantics, you're actually 'Connecting' to a mail server - but yes, your phrase is more intuitive.

>>why don't email disappear right away when I delete them?

Because they're not deleted immediately on the server. They get zapped when you 'Disconnect' from the POP3 server etc.

>> why can't I scoll line-by-line in an email? Why are email displayed with such a huge font that makes reading long emails a chore?

Ah. You'll be wanting an E90 then, sir. Far less scrolling needed 8-)

>>The lack of an "Open with" command when opening a file

Er.... can you give an example here of what you're trying to do?

>>the keypad shortcuts that are either missing or so well hidden that most people don't even know about them

But then my 3-Lib tips pages would be out of a job!

>>the general lack of customization, etc, etc

With themes, ringtones, icon moving, etc. I'd say that S60 was extremely customisable....

Steve

[elp]

>> Semantics, you're actually 'Connecting' to a mail server - but yes, your phrase is more intuitive.
>> Because they're not deleted immediately on the server. They get zapped when you 'Disconnect' from the POP3 server etc.

As a software developer, I understand perfectly the (programmer's) logic behind Messaging's behaviour and UI. But my point was that whenever I'm using Messaging to check my e-mails, I'm not a software developer anymore, I'm just an end-user who expects things to be logical and intuitive. And that includes being able to click "Check emails" whenever I want to check my emails and see my emails disapear from the Inbox whenever I delete them (whatever happens to them afterwards, I, and I'm sure 99.99% of the people out there, do not care).

>> Ah. You'll be wanting an E90 then, sir. Far less scrolling needed 8-)

I sure am wanting an E90. Unfortunately, despite my numerous hints, my girlfriend did not get me one for my birthday. Seriously thinking of getting a wealthier girlfriend before Christmas.

>> Er.... can you give an example here of what you're trying to do?

The same thing as what you'd do on a PC. You don't always want to open a Word document in QuickOffice, you might want to open it in the built-in Office suite instead. In practice, this Open With command would be most useful in Messaging to open hypertext links and attached documents in the proper application instead of opening them in whatever Messaging thinks is the best (no, Services is never the best for hypertext links in emails. Whoever at Nokia thought that it was a good idea to open all hypertexts links in Services must have had smoked way too much illegal substances before going to work this day).

>> With themes, ringtones, icon moving, etc. I'd say that S60 was extremely customisable....

Well, I'd say that this makes S60 as customisable as the average mid range phone. Themes, ringtones, wallpapers and such are all nice and cute and I wouldn't want to see them go away.

But with Multimedia Computers on one side (note the "Computer") and Enterprise devices on the other, i'd expect more than just being able to change the ringtone or move icons around.
I'd expect to be able to set the default application to use to open specific file formats, to rename programs in the menu, to set the font size to whatever I want so that I can read more than one or two sentences at once on the screen, to affect special hardware keys (Recorder and Email key on the E61 for example) to any application I want, to customize the shortucts in *every* built-in application (I'm sick and tired of having to click Options then scroll 6 (!) times then click the joystick then scroll again just to be able to view the size of an email in Messaging in order to know whether or not it's reasonable to download it over GPRS. It should be possible to affect a shortcut for the Message Details option. Just an example) etc.

That's what I mean by customization. And what I hope we'll see in someday in S60.

1 thing the iPhone can do (that Symbian phones can't) is selling in the US. 1 month and nobody will care about your precious E90 and E61i LOL

[lordvaderr]

Hi
Please tell me will i be able to Hear the Voice of videos i recorded by my E90
on my regular bluetooth headphone Like the Jabra BT500 i have now or Jawbone i will be getting

cos i will be talking on the bluetooth so if i sit down & recod home Videos on it can I sit & see my Videos & hear its Audio on my blue tooth head set & not have to carry an Extra wired or the Nokia Bluetooth headset to do that

Hope U understand

Re: small annoyances in S60, whoever wrote the app 'Installer' application on the E61 needs to be shot ! If you have anything over a dozen applications installed, it takes 30 seconds to open up and present the list of apps. Does anyone actually test these things before releasing them ?

[slitchfield]

>>As a software developer, I understand perfectly the (programmer's) logic behind Messaging's behaviour and UI.

Yeah, I know, we're both playing devil's advocate etc 8-)

The message myself and most other folks have been banging home about the iPhone is that its interface will be intuitive enough to make other device makers think seriously about improving their own interfaces... which can't be a bad thing. Personally, I think 80% of some apps functionality should be hidden behind an 'Advanced' option, to help out beginners while still retaining functionality for when it's needed...

>>The same thing as what you'd do on a PC. You don't always want to open a Word document in QuickOffice, you might want to open it in the built-in Office suite instead.

Err... Quickoffice is the ONLY suite on the E61i and E90.... In almost all cases, there IS only one app to open each file type. Hence my confusion at your original statement.... 8-)

>>of opening them in whatever Messaging thinks is the best (no, Services is

No Services in the E61i and E90 and future devices. FP1 knocked it on the head!

>>Whoever at Nokia thought that it was a good idea to open all hypertexts links in Services must have had smoked way too much illegal substances before going to work this day).

I think they thought that it would open and display faster and with less RAM overhead. Annoying for power users though!

>>I'd expect to be able to set the default application to use to open specific file formats, to rename programs in the menu, to set the font size to whatever I want so that I can read more than one or two sentences at once on the

Etc. Good points, yep.

>>email in Messaging in order to know whether or not it's reasonable to download it over GPRS. It should be possible to affect a shortcut for the Message Details option. Just an example) etc.

YES! That's one I would love to see shortcutted as well....

Steve

[slitchfield]

Originally Posted by kriegspiel

Re: small annoyances in S60, whoever wrote the app 'Installer' application on the E61 needs to be shot ! If you have anything over a dozen applications installed, it takes 30 seconds to open up and present the list of apps. Does anyone actually test these things before releasing them ?

Not that I condone the appalling slowness of App Mgr, but if you just press 'C' (or backspace) on an app icon, it can be uninstalled FAR faster.....

Steve

[jah]

Some would say that Smartphones are for the minority while the iPhone is aimed at the masses. BUT look at the sales of the N95! Nokia must have sold millions already. I was in London today and within 1/2 hour I saw three N95s in use. I think Euro consumers are going to be less convinced by the iPhone by the time it reaches us, late 2007.