Nokia E7

[LancelotSA]

Some more on QT and cross platform developing.

http://www.unwiredview.com/2010/07/...okia-symbian3-devices-and-fragmentation-post/

Damn! Just read Marcus Christopher McFann's (from Symbian-Freak) comments at the bottom of that article. Some real interesting stuff!

You can blindly go into Android and iOS because of their percieved graphics/UI prowess, but realize they have to make severe sacrifices to make it work fluidly. Both have no full API access for multitasking applications, because they simply CAN'T as currently constructed. The UIs take too much resources to work when combined with their one app and maybe the background audio stream, presence connection, and download pipe.

I should point out that Symbian^3 is just as fast now, still not using the Qt UI, and is lightning quick with FULL API access. Imagine the benefit of the low overhead Qt UI coming in winter in Symbian^4. See the MeeGo Tablet UI videos for a clue of how good Qt works with UIs. Same underpinnings as MeeGo Handheld, but a totally different UI, using the same toolkit to make it, and all the apps are still compatible. See a trend here? Where's your fragmentation?

I don't expect consumers to pay attention to me and others first. They will likely buy the cutest, fastest looking, most popular devices available on their carrier shelves, especially neophyte US consumers that just caught the smartphone craze. But you can't keep trying to put the fastest processor in a device and removing features. Pretty soon, you'll want more, and say “Chris tried to tell me.”

...amongst other things said!

 

[EtienneK]

I have read something along this line but it is great to have it spelt out here. I highly doubt Nokia would release a phone like the N8 with Symbian^3 and then leave users with no applications as a result of no one developing for it.

And remember: Meego is a stock standard Linux distribution that uses the X-Windows system. Which means that most desktop Linux apps should be able to work on it.

I am fairly certain that we will see a lot of apps for Meego. But Nokia HAS to push the American market. Say what you want about the Americans, but they know how to pump mindshare. And once you have mindshare, the apps start flowing.

 

[LancelotSA]

And remember: Meego is a stock standard Linux distribution that uses the X-Windows system. Which means that most desktop Linux apps should be able to work on it.

I am fairly certain that we will see a lot of apps for Meego. But Nokia HAS to push the American market. Say what you want about the Americans, but they know how to pump mindshare. And once you have mindshare, the apps start flowing.

Then there is this :

Qt development is already big, just not in the mobile space quite yet. But the way it is designed, Qt apps will have a separate UI layer, so all of the Qt apps on our PCs willl work, and just need a reworked UI for mobiles. This means powerful Qt apps form the desktop world, such as VLC Media Player, Google Earth, Amarok, Skype, KOffice Suite, Adobe Photoshop Album, Avogadro, Walt Disney Animation Studios, and other high end software programs can be ported to mobile and other interface paradigms by merely adjusting the UI for the target device while retaining the rest of the underlying code. This is a time saver that will see the Qt mobile app catalogs rise exponentially now that officially supported Qt devices are now shipping with libraries installed at the factory.

 

[BeVonk!]

What you guys are saying sounds great but the questions that linger are: Isn't it too late? Hasn't Nokia lost too much momentum to be a threat to Android and iOS? Will Nokia ever be able to capture a sizeable high-end smartphone marketshare coming from behind?

Technically Symbian and MeeGo may be the best thing out there with huge potential, but what are the perceptions out there in the market? It's often not the best that win, but the one that seems to be the best.

 

[EtienneK]

What you guys are saying sounds great but the questions that linger are: Isn't it too late? Hasn't Nokia lost too much momentum to be a threat to Android and iOS? Will Nokia ever be able to capture a sizeable high-end smartphone marketshare coming from behind?

No, I don't think it's too late.

I don't think we have seen THE mobile OS, yet. I think we are at the same place where PCs were before Windows. Everyone is trying for a shot at the market, but there is no clear winner, yet. And I don't think any of the current mobile OSs will be the winners. Each of them have their own issues.

iOS: Closed and locked down. Plus I don't see Apple licensing the use of iOS to other manufacturers.
Android: Patent issue with Oracle; Fragmentation is hurting its image.
Symbian: Feels dated. The new QT interface helps, but you still get the clunky feeling coming through.
RIM: Same as Symbian - feels old and clunky. Plus, like iOS, it won't be licenced to other manufacturers.
Bada: The API is absolutely useless + it isn't targeted at "smart" phones. Plus, like iOS, pretty locked down.
Win 7: Too early to say. But it looks like it will also be as locked down as with iOS.
Meego: Too early to say. Might suffer the same fragmentation issue as with Android, but I have read that Nokia have strickt guidelines in place for OEMs to follow if they want to use the Meego brand. Might help.

So we are still in early days. All I can say is that the next 10 years are going to be exciting times for lovers of tech.

 

[BeVonk!]

Good summary EtienneK. With that summary in mind what will you go for right now, and why?

Update: Okay, I see you've answered that in another thread (Galaxy S). Would the E7 be on your shortlist if it was available now?

 

[BeVonk!]

Nokia Is the McDonald's of Phones

From Gizmodo: The innovation race is one that Nokia's losing, badly. And the sad part is, there's no indication that they're about to claw out of the hole they've dug themselves. Reading Nokia's official statements these last few months about the N8, the company sounds like a degenerate gambler just waiting for this one big score to get him back in the game. Every financial release cites its imminent release as the light at the end of a very long tunnel. But—in a clumsy metaphorical extension—it's just more tunnel.

 

[LancelotSA]

I, for one, will be sticking with Nokia for now. Nothing else out there is really appealing to me. Everyone is talking software but totally ignoring hardware.

 

[Maddmatt]

I, for one, will be sticking with Nokia for now. Nothing else out there is really appealing to me. Everyone is talking software but totally ignoring hardware.

The only hardware that it beats the competition at is the camera on the N8, which is awesome. Everything else is behind them when you look at other high end phones
Although it probably has great signal reception, Nokia seem to be the masters with that. Maybe battery life is great too. I'm sure they will sell those phones at a lower price than the high end competing phones.

 

[LancelotSA]

The only hardware that it beats the competition at is the camera on the N8, which is awesome. Everything else is behind them when you look at other high end phones
Although it probably has great signal reception, Nokia seem to be the masters with that. Maybe battery life is great too. I'm sure they will sell those phones at a lower price than the high end competing phones.

Like? (and this is an E7 thread but you mentioned N8) Xenon flash? FM transmitter? HDMI out put?

And if you are referring to the processor then you will see elsewhere that it has bene mentioned that Symbian^3 performs as well with a 680Mhz processor as other phones do with 1Ghz processors.

 

[Maddmatt]

Like? (and this is an E7 thread but you mentioned N8) Xenon flash? FM transmitter? HDMI out put?

Processor, RAM, screen resolution (E7 only, I think that res is a bit too low for a 4 inch screen, for the N8's smaller screen it's perfect though)
Xenon flash falls under the camera. FM transmitter is a cool feature I wish I had I admit. HDMI isn't unique to the N8, and phones without it make up for that with DLNA (although that requires a DLNA TV or some kind of equipment).

And if you are referring to the processor then you will see elsewhere that it has bene mentioned that Symbian^3 performs as well with a 680Mhz processor as other phones do with 1Ghz processors.

It's been mentioned, but I call bull****
I've seen videos of the Symbian 3 phones in action, they still don't have that fast fluid movement between menus and apps that the fast phones can manage. I saw the E7 take over 5 seconds to open the email client in one hands-on video although that was the worst case.
It's performance looks decent, what I would expect from that processor. But not as fast and smooth as my Galaxy S or videos I've seen of other 1Ghz phones.

I do see major improvement over my old Nokia 5800 of course, after 6 months it had to go.

 

[EtienneK]

Lance: The E7 sadly doesn't have an FM transmitter Which is a pitty, since that is one of the best addins in the N8 for me.

 

[LancelotSA]

Lance: The E7 sadly doesn't have an FM transmitter Which is a pitty, since that is one of the best addins in the N8 for me.

Yip, I am aware of that. I realise the discussion had unfortunately slipped onto the N8. It just seemed that a sweeping generalisation was made about Nokia having inferior hardware.