Working with my current client and developing mobile applications for every mobile platform under the sun has made me more aware of the user experiences for each device. In the past, I have dabbled using Windows Mobile, but for the past 5 years have stuck with Symbian powered phones from Nokia (with a brief 5 month dalliance with Blackberry) . In particular, Symbian powered phones built using the S60 platform. I know—sounds confusing, but the best description that I can come up with is that Symbian to S60 is as Linux to Gnome desktop interface.

Why S60?

After the weekend with the iPhone, I began to wonder why I like Nokia smartphones? My current phone is an e61i (running Symbian 9.1, S6 3rd Edition), it is a fabulous messaging phone, but hobbled by the lack of North American 3G (and European as well, as the North American build has it disabled in software). Can’t say I’m upset, I bought used for $250 back in January 2008. With a data plan, Nokia Messaging, and MS Exchange support it performs admirably. A bit slow, but it does a great job and I am still learning more about it each day (e.g., I am looking at setting up the SIP client for VoIP).
Back to the question at Hand. Why Symbian?

Sucky User Interface

I mean, the user experience isn’t anything to die for. Its industrial design is lacking (i.e., my 6620 was a brick and I’ve been told that I could land a plane using my e61i). It runs on underpowered hardware—the thing is like molasses sometimes—even though people have been talking about OMAP 3 processors for a damn long time. Moreover, there are some huge, absolutely atrocious usability gaffs like:

1. Why can’t I access a contact’s alternate number from the Caller Log? When I make a call, and I can’t go through, why push me into the contacts again—at least provide a means to get to the contacts from the call log. UPDATE: My wife showed me how this worked on her cheapo free Nokia flip phone—You just hit the OK button and you’re brought to the contact’s list. WTF?!
2. I refuse to upgrade to newer S60 phones, v3 FP1, v3 FP2 and S60 v5 (touch), because the caller log only tags all phone and mobile calls using the mobile phone icon. Thus, you can’t distinguish between home, work or mobile numbers. This makes the call log even more useless. Oddly enough, it does distinguish Internet calls (VoIP). Nokia has publicly responded that this is by design. However, in S60 v3 phones like my e61i shows the expected behaviour (and the practical norm since the late 1990s) and distinguishes between calls to a mobile phone, work phone or home phone. I’m deeply troubled by this (how many people have VoIP set up anyways?).
3. Accessing the speakerphone while receiving a call requires the user to go into the options menu and scroll down quite a bit—this is inconsistent with outgoing calls, where speakerphone is accessed through the right smart button.
4. The Application menu is horribly organized (Author’s note: They have taken steps to correct this in the latest versions).
5. Language is horrible; multiple things named the same e.g., (Nokia Messaging vs. Messaging, Settings > Connections vs. Connections).
6. What use is a connection manager if it only shows access points that the phone finds and not hidden access points that I’ve inputted into the system? Why can’t I use the connection manager to “connect” to an available wlan network?

I could go on, but I won’t.

Secondly, there is absolutely no application integration. For example, how do you send a contact your location? Granted, my e61i doesn’t have a built-in GPS, but even devices with aGPS like the E71 or N95-4, it is no easy task.

Nokia has a shitty product strategy

Nokia’s biggest problem is that they take a “shit on the wall” approach to marketing devices: they take every conceivable combination of features and throw them at the public to see what sticks. Over the past 1 1/2 years, they’ve created 3 artificial distinctions in their smartphone line: The enterprise E-series; the multimedia focused N-Series; and the music focus Xpressmusic series. Why can’t I get a recent device that has a great camera, enterprise messaging and VOIP, hardware graphics acceleration, and hardware music decoding? The N95, arguably their most successful smartphone ever manufactured had all of those features—but it’s stuck at S60 Feature Pack 1. The N96? It has a smaller battery and no SIP/VOIP client.

Nokia also refuses to provide firmware updates to newer feature packs for their phones—they rather have you buy a rehashed version. These phones are not that old—and if there is one thing that is genius about the iPhone is that Apple gives away updates for free. FREE?! Apple understands the value of software and the immense loyalty it can garner amongst its customers.

Open source won’t save you

Opens ource is where good things go to die. Nokia has taken steps to open their platform by creating the Symbian Foundation. Releasing the Symbian codebase to the public is a great boon for developers, but I am not convinced that Nokia will execute this strategy properly. I have a feeling that they feel that the open source approach is a cheap way of getting 3rd party developers to pick up the slack (Nokia is by far the largest Symbian developer in the world). That’s the wrong approach.

The Symbian foundation will live and die on the good / ill-will it creates amongst the community. They need to have kickass documentation, code samples, test harnesses, and hardware platforms straight from the gate. Keep in mind that Symbian and S60 are not one and the same. You can expect the Symbian Foundation to work on lower-level operations (e.g., stretching battery life) while Nokia’s Developer community (a separate entity) will focus on creating value for Nokia (like better multimedia applications).

I really don’t know how it’s going to turn out. All I know is that the landscape has change so signifcantly with Apple and RIM pushing both their software and hardware design.

I am a Symbian apologist

I guess the reason why I am loyal is history. I remember times when my phone saved my bacon. In 2005, I was consulting with an automaker who provided niceties for their consultants. No phone, no Internet—just a printer where you had to have an Infrared port to print. One event that sticks out in my mind was the time where we needed to get a time-sensitive contract signed. I remember saying…no problem guys, just fax the latest version of the contract to my mobile. My S60 phone had its own fax software. I could receive faxes on my phone, print it directly to the printer and get my client to sign it. I can’t think of any phone that can do that…yester-year or today.

There are other examples, but the potential uses for S60 have always been great—although I admit, next to messaging, I don’t push my phone anymore. I think its the realization that even with all the great features—they are just not easily accessible.

Granted, Symbian is also evolving nicely. The new Nokia 5800 is a fine first-time touchscreen offering. The phone’s firmware is actively being improved (no SIP client though, if ever) and it’s selling well. While I still think that the 5800 is a test-bed for the N97 being released this year, it is a significant step for Nokia in creating rich user interfaces. Moreover, new v3 FP2 devices and v5 Touch devices finally have Over-the-Air firmware updates—that is absolutely huge.

Nokia has also kept their N97 device under tight wraps. From what I’ve seen, the hardware and it’s performance looks impressive. Some of the things that they have demoed involve some great software integration and ease of use. While I am doubtful that these innovations will make it into the other phone lines, it’s an exciting time to be a Nokia fan.