5 Things That S60 Should Learn From S40
I recently had the opportunity to review the Nokia 7900 Prism for MobileBurn.com (you can read the review here), which is based on the S40 5th Edition user interface. Aside from sharing name similarities, S40 and S60 have grown to be very similar to each other both in look and feel, and in organization. During the review, I noticed several things about the 7900 Prism and S40 that I firmly believe S60 could greatly benefit from.
1. Active Standby. The Active Standby screen on S60 is not very customisable. Sure, you can choose the different icons across the top, but you’re limited to 6-7, and you have absolutely no control over the information that appears below those shortcuts. Not so with S40. The top row can have an unlimited number of shortcuts, and allows the user to scroll through them side-to-side, offering tons of options.
Also, the elements of the S40 Active Standby screen can be moved around at the user’s discretion. There are several different ‘plugins’, and you can select which you’d prefer, and in what order they should appear. Thus, on S40, I could have the shortcut bar going across the middle of my screen, with the calendar above, and internet search below. The possibilities are endless, and wonderfully so.
2. Shortcuts. In S60, when you have Active Standby on, you’re unable to assign shortcuts to the 4 d-pad directions. Not so with S40. On my 7900 Prism, I chose to have ‘up’ activate the active standby and allow me to navigate through the various sections. Down went to contacts, and I was able to set left or right to perform a function, as well. Genius.
3. Stopwatch and Countdown Timer. There’s really just no reason to not have these on a ‘multimedia computer’. Period.
4. Music Player. When I load up a new set of tunes to my 7900 Prism, the S40 music player automatically sees them and updates the library. I don’t have to remember to refresh my library like I do with S60.
5. USER-CHANGEABLE KEYPAD LIGHTS. I really, really can’t say how completely BRILLIANT this feature is on the 7900 Prism. Directly in the menus, I’m able to choose from over 45 different colors and shades, and the keypad backlights automatically change based on my selection. This is the most completely beautiful and ‘duh’ feature on a mobile phone that I can think of, by allowing me the ultimate personalization in making my entire phone coordinated. As was pointed out in the comments, though, this would be OK implemented only on the Nseries, since it’s not necessarily fitting for a ‘business’ class device. You can see the video showing this off here:
and that is without even mentioning, birthdays in contacts show up in calender and built in timed profiles
I tend to agree with all statements, especially when it concerns active standby. I would really like customizeable plug-in’s such as weather feeds, specific information from applications installed on the phone. Etc. I know I’m being vague, but oddly enough, it could be more like WinMo’s standby screen.
I have to say, I totally agree with you on all points. S60 could be just as FUN as S40 if they tried.
You could implement stuff like the keypad lights on hip phones like the N96/N96. Actually, you could apply this to the entire Nseries. I just don’t think it’s fitting in an Eseries device. I can’t see my business-driven E61i having this feature. So IMHO, this shouldn’t be an S60 feature, but an Nseries feature.
N95/N96, I meant.
@Razor1973 I can agree with that. Updating the post.
Cool. I just realized you’re Rcadden on Howard Forums. Almost 12K posts! Darn! I’m at a mere 1K.
Heh, that’s me. Been on there for I think 3-4 years now.
Yeah, when I saw your name here, I remembered seeing an Rcadden on HW, so I searched and voilá. I’ve been on there since Jan 2004 and used to post A LOT, but haven’t in a very long time.
Def agree with all of you guys. S60 could benefit a lot from the ease of use and the “smart casual” feel of S40. Although I might never see myself carrying an S40 again, I do remember my 6610 and how functional it was, like changing the menu colors by one click, and timing profiles.
I’m slowly coming around to the idea that I don’t need the S60 phone and considering going back to an S40. Just the speed of the phone alone makes it worthwhile.
There’s literally nothing I can’t get on the S40 that I can on the S60, except - and this is a big except - a QR-code reader. Perhaps my next phone will be an 8×00 phone.
“There’s literally nothing I can’t get on the S40 that I can on the S60″ — I’m sure you meant nothing YOU use, because there’s TONS of things you can get on S60 and not on S40. I personally could not see myself at this point without IMAP IDLE support (which may have found its way into an S40 device by now… I’m not sure), QuickOffice, PDF reader, ProfiMail, CorePlayer, full Opera, ShoZu, emTube, qik and cool messengers like Live, Slick, IM+, EQO and Fring.
Also, @Varun, you’ll be hard pressed to find an S40 device with a decent camera. The vast majority sport a 2mp with no autofocus or flash or anything, and even the later ones MIGHT have a 3mp. I simply can’t go back down below 5mp with autofocus, not to mention the video quality.
I’d also like to see “Call” as an option on the S60 PIM, which I used to have on a previous S40 handset. The other S40 feature I liked was being able to scroll through anniversaries if I forgot when someone’s birtday occurs. Of course the S60 In-Device search helps, but a direct anniverary scroll feature is useful.
And thanks for a cool blog, Ricky!
For the E65 that user-changeable keypad lights wouldn’t matter, since they would stop functioning too. Maybe one could customize the annoying buzz that appears when the keypad light dies, now THAT would be useful.
Hello,
Few months ago I published a video comparing S40 & S60 interfaces explaining the “10 things S60 should lear from S40″.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2kk3l_s60-vs-s40-les-10-fonctions-qui-man_tech
Greg,
Thanks for the link! Awesome video, though I’m not great at understanding French I was able to pick some things up.
@TheGuru - That’s precisely my point. By the time you can get the camera started, pointed and take a shot, the time for the picture has come and gone. Until S60 speeds up (ditto for WM), there’s absolutely no incentive for me to spend $700 for a 5mp camera phone, because for that number, I can spend $300 on a good quality S40 phone, AND $400 on a 7mp+ DSLR… or the other way around! One of the major issues I have is with startup time. My stock install of Ubuntu 7.10 starts faster on a sub-1.0ghz P3 box than the optimized-as-heck build of Sym9.1/S60v3.1 on the N95-8GB in new OOTB condition, without any custom software installed.
@Razor1973 - Yes, precisely; I’m not a savant and can’t tell you that your needs are also served by S40. Also FYI - IMAP Idle exists as far back as S40 3rd edition. I’m looking at a 7370 right now and can see that it’s still idling on Gmail. I agree that the S40 email client blows, but I’ve seen steady improvements there and I hope to keep seeing them, whereas all I’ve seen from S60 of late is slower and slower response times. The one major speed-up I’ve seen lately came from demand paging.
@Varun true, you can spend the same amount of money, but then you’re carrying 2 gadgets and your mobility is hampered, severely. 2 batteries to charge, two pockets used up, 2 memory cards, etc etc. It’s redundant. I personally have no issues on my N95-3. The camera app starts up on a second or two behind my fiance’s Sony DSC-W30. However, the convenience of only carrying one device, and also being able to upload my content immediately is totally worth it.
Im slighly underwhelmed by my first s60, the nokia N82, but I only brought it cos of the hardware specs. Being able to install apps is sound good in theory, but come to think of it my S40 devices never really lacked anything like a stopwatch and many utilities are available in java anyway. I get the impression nokia have left out certain useful functions or utilities from s40 to purposefully create a void that will be filled by software developers. Previous s60 phones havn’t even had an auto key lock for gods sake. One thing nokia didnt forget was to litter the menu with annoying “download” options. Ive paid for my phone now can you please stop sniffing for my credit card? ($20 for an English dictionary?? how can that be justified when a real physical dictionary is half that in a bookshop where the things been published, printed, imported, transported, stocked! then they liken piracy to robbery lol)
I installed officesuite, but because of the small screen haven’t used it once. I think an expandable operating system will only benefit me once screen resolutions get bigger. The only app which is truly useful is the nokia sports tracker.
The performance of the phone is way slower than when I first brought it. It seems installing apps slows things down, even if they are uninstalled afterwards. Kinda like windows when things are left behind in the registry after uninstallation. Ive done a flash *#7370# a few weeks ago, and think I will do another very soon.
A major annoyance is the inability to set full screen wallpapers. The only alternative is make your own theme or install someone elses, and they almost always have something wrong and slow the phone down.
Symbian-guru I’ve got my lustful eye on your 7900…
@TheGuru - Ricky, unless you’re carrying an E90 and, I don’t know, a Canon Digital Rebel, mobility is not really much hampered by carrying two devices. Two pockets, sure, but look at your person on a typical day and chances are good you’re going to have enough pockets to spare.
Two batteries is a boon, not a bane - you can’t kill your phone and primary communication device’s battery snapping photos, and you don’t have to forego photos to conserve battery power. Two memory cards is not an issue, especially if you don’t keep taking them out. And if it does bother you so much, why not get yourself a phone and a camera that use the same-ish card type?
And I don’t know what optimizations you’ve managed to put into your N95, but I can attest to the stock, new from box, N95-8GB with demand paging enabled here taking longer to switch into the camera app than it takes my svelte little Canon to startup, charge the flash, and take the first picture. I can time it a couple of times if you’d like to let you know the exact timings, if you’d like.
All of which is simply to say this: S60 is slow - not as slow as Windows Mobile, but slow nonetheless. Either the Symbian group needs to get on code optimization, or Nokia needs to start putting faster processors in the phones, or most likely, both. After using a S60 device for a while, it feels like driving a supercar when you switch to S40.
s40 offers also full screen wallpaper , no freezes , 6500slide has 3.2carlziess autofocus VgA vedio recording, extremly fast , send sms in no time , timed profiles , ease of use , user friendly, s40 has all things .., no one uses office documents on 2 inch display!!!!!! fuck s60 the turtle i call!!!!!!!!!!
Feb 29th, 2008 at 9:23 am
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