I was having a conversation a few days ago on Twitter with @rkhigham about the Nokia E71 and whether or not the E75/E55 could be a suitable upgrade for it. The conversation drew my attention to the form factor issue. I had said, for a long time, that candybar T9 is the best form factor for me: pretty traditional but it simply works. Yesterday I realized that this affirmation is plain wrong.
I’ve had my hands on more form factors than I care to count: candybar T9 (N82, Nokia 6610), slider T9 (E66, N81, 6210 Navigator), candybar qwerty (E61i, E71), side-sliding qwerty (HTC Wizard, N810), dual slider T9 (N95, N95 8GB, N96), twisting T9 (Nokia 3250), flip T9 with swiveling display (N93i), T9 with flip qwerty (E90), and maybe more. All I can say for sure is that if the build quality was good and the software was responsive, I enjoyed each one of them and adapted pretty fast. I can type on T9 as easily as I do on Qwerty , I can adapt to a small screen or a big one, I can enjoy sliding or flipping to get to the keys or having them right under my fingers. I guess I’m not picky, especially when the device does well what it’s supposed to. Sure, I may have a small preference for candybars, since they always offer the best build quality, and I really enjoy the N82 and E71, but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t like the N95 8GB or the E90, for example.
I know for a fact that a lot of mobile users have a preferred form factor, which they say is a MUST for any handset they’ll ever pick. But I also know that some other users can easily adapt like me, so they put the form factor criteria on the bottom of their list when choosing a new device. Which one are you, and why?
