As of today, I will no longer be updating Symbian-Guru.com, and will be purchasing an Android-powered smartphone – my new Nexus One should arrive tomorrow. I’ve been a Nokia fanboy since 1999, and a Symbian fanboy since I got my Nokia 6620 in summer of 2004. Since then, I’ve personally owned 10+ different Symbian-powered smartphones, and have reviewed nearly every Symbian-powered smartphone that’s been released in the past 3 years or so. I’ve tried to use all of Nokia’s various products and services to the best of my ability, and I just can’t do it anymore.
I can’t continue to support a manufacturer who puts out such craptastic ‘flagships’ as the N97, and who expects me to use services that even most of Nokia’s own employees don’t use. I also can’t continue to support a mobile operating system platform that continually buries itself into oblivion by focusing on ‘openness’ while keeping a blind eye towards the obvious improvements that other open platforms have had for several iterations.
When I received my HTC Eris, I was 100% convinced that using Android would ruin Symbian for me. Ironically, the Eris showed me the ugly side of Android – the side that reveals itself on crappy processors paired with piss-poor amounts of RAM. In fact, it was the Nokia N97 – the company’s last real “flagship” Symbian device – that has completely and utterly killed Symbian for me. The Nokia N97, when announced, was supposed to be the epitome of Nokia’s high-end smartphone offerings. Nokia is the largest cellphone manufacturer in the world, with the largest worldwide marketshare on the planet. The Nseries was originally conceived to be the company’s top-notch smartphones – the best of the best, if you will. The N9x devices have always been the best of the Nseries, as well – the cream of the crop of the best of the best, and yet the N97 is quite possibly one of the most embarrassing devices ever to come out of the Finnish monster.
You may be saying, ‘well, sure, but the N8 is set to come out any month now, shouldn’t you give it a fighting chance?’ Yes, of course I *should*, but I won’t. When the Nokia N8 was first announced, I was dead convinced I would purchase one out of my own pocket. I started putting money aside, ready to even pre-order the N8 as soon as I could. However, the more I use the Nokia N97 as my primary device, the less I’ve been convinced that the N8 is going to be better. Time and time again, Nokia’s high-end smartphones have arrived with pathetic processors, stingy amounts of RAM, and small batteries – why should I put up another $500 of my own money ‘just to see’?
(image credit: The Nokia Blog)
If you recall, when the Nokia N97 was announced, we all drooled over it endlessly. We marveled at its features, its monstrous internal storage, sliding hinge assembly, 1500mAh battery, and more. We waited a disturbing 6 months for it to actually be available…only to actually get it. The launch firmware on the Nokia N97 was so bad, I sincerely hope that whoever gave it the A-OK to be released has been fired from Nokia. It took them another 6 months just to release a firmware that wasn’t rubbish, and now, the ‘flagship’ languishes behind other devices, frustrating owners like myself more and more each day.
Despite getting one that was manufactured much later than the initial batch, my Nokia N97 had the famed camera slider issue, where the ‘protective’ lens cover was actually damaging the lens it was designed to protect, flooding photos with the dual-LED flash and making them useless. The GPS, once strong, now loses signal every 10-15 seconds, making the free voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation offered by Ovi Maps a complete waste (not to mention the POI database in my area is abysmal). Don’t bother filling that 32GB of internal storage with music – it’ll bog the phone down so much you won’t be able to use it for a thing.
The pissant processor in the N97 is another aspect that completely kills the device. The phone is hardly able to keep up with the operating system’s multitasking capabilities, frequently running out of RAM and slowing to a crawl. Worse, the C: storage – where you install 3rd party applications and where the majority of Nokia’s own products install themselves – is so small it’s ridiculous. After installing Nokia Messaging for Email (which should have been pre-installed in such a flagship device), Ovi Maps’ latest update, and Ovi Contacts, I’m left with less than 10MB free. To add insult to injury, this 10MB tends to disappear on its own – I’m down to 2MB after being at 10MB a week or two ago. The only way to recover it is to hard-reset the phone, which I’ve done several times, and then painstakingly re-installing all your stuff. It still takes me close to an hour, and I would consider myself a pro.
After this experience with the Nokia N97, there’s simply no way I trust them to not screw up with the N8 – not enough for me to fork over $500 of my own money, at least. Sure, the N8 looks good on paper and in the first reviews – but then again, so did the N97, as I recall.
Symbian Foundation is also a factor in my decision to dump it all and go Android. Like Android, Symbian Foundation prides itself on being open and free – loudly and oftentimes obnoxiously boasting about how its source code is free for all – despite no one really caring about this, at least in my circle. The platform still languishes behind Android in simple features – being able to replace various pieces of the OS at the users’ whim, native threaded SMS/MMS, integrated IM, and a usable app marketplace, among others.
What’s worse is that developers of popular online services are completely ignoring Symbian, putting it further and further behind the other platforms. To date, there is still not an official client for Dropbox, Pandora, Last.FM (don’t get me wrong, Mobbler is one of the reasons I’ve stuck with Symbian, but it’s still not official), Foursquare, Twitter, and a host of others. Yes, there are solutions to this on Symbian, but nearly every other platform has an *official* client from these popular services – showing that the developers see those platforms as something their users would actually be using.
To be truthful, I’m also exhausted with trying to be a Nokia/Symbian fan in the U.S. There is absolutely zero marketing effort from either company in this market, and it’s not for lack of opportunities. For the past 2 years, the season finale of American Idol has been held at Nokia Live theatre in Los Angeles, California. I watched both finales, and did not *once* see a Nokia logo anywhere on the screen through the shows. In fact, the only mention of Nokia, at all, was when they said the name of the venue. No banners hanging anywhere, no ad space during commercials for the latest Nokia device from the U.S. carriers, nothing. It’s pathetic. While European carriers stumble over themselves to carry the latest Nokia devices, American carriers tend to pick up the lame-duck and low-end versions of Nokia’s phones. This is improving, but at a snail’s pace. Both Symbian and Nokia are dying brands in the U.S., if not already dead, and I’m sick and tired of banging the gong alone.
Most of my friends and family now carry Android-powered devices. My dad traded in his Nokia 6126 for a Motorola Backflip, and my mom, who previously used my N95-3 and 5800 XpressMusic, did as well. My little brother just picked up an HTC Hero, and my wife, who has carried the N81 8GB, N96, and E71, is now eyeing the HTC EVO 4G. As mentioned earlier, I’ve already sold off my N97 and ordered a Nexus One from Google.
The Nexus One has the fastest mobile processor available today, a whopping 512MB of RAM, and is consistently being updated to the latest version of the Android operating system. Its hardware also conforms to the requirements put in place for Android v3.0, surprisingly.
And so, after 3 years and 8 months, Symbian-Guru.com is officially done. Thanks to Nokia’s consistently piss-poor hardware choices and Symbian’s lack of ability to even remotely compete in terms of features, abilities, and overall experience, I’ve lost my passion for both. As mentioned, the site will remain, but it will not be updated any longer. To all of you whom I’ve met – both online and offline – it’s been easily the best 3 years and 8 months of my life. I’ll still be online in the usual places, and will still be actively blogging about mobile/tech/Internet at my personal site, http://www.RickyCadden.com. Of course I’ll still keep my eye on Nokia. If they can put out 2 flagship devices in a row that don’t completely suck, I may even give them another chance. I won’t hold my breath.
To Nokia, you guys are losing. Hard. Wake the hell up. Doing the same thing repeatedly while expecting different results is the definition of insanity. I’ve been a huge Nokia fan since my 2nd cellphone, and I just can’t do it any longer. You guys aren’t competing like you once were, and everyone but you seems to see that. You used to build the world’s best smartphones, the world’s best cameras, the world’s best GPS units – you’ve lost pretty much all of that, and with nothing to show for it. You unveiled your Ovi vision over 2 years ago – I was there. Today, it’s still a complete mess. I have to log in every single time I visit the site – regardless of how many times I check the ‘remember me’ box. I spent 6 months (and about 3 hours at Nokia World 2009) trying to find someone to help me with Ovi Contacts on the web – no one knew who to point me to. You spent millions of dollars purchasing your Ovi pieces – Ovi Files, Ovi Share, and a host of other little companies – are you proud of what you ‘built’ with them? Most of your own employees (that I’ve talked to) don’t even use them, so why should I?
To Symbian, if you’d stop shouting about being open, you’d see that you’re losing too. Consumers are leaving and developers are staying away. Frankly, I think Symbian is better off than Nokia at this point. I’ll give you a hint: the first step is to consolidate. Your top three manufacturer partners (Nokia, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson) all have their own app stores – that’s three times the work for your developers to get their apps to consumers. Second, you guys need to find someone else to build your platform’s flagship devices – Nokia is actively and consistently blowing it for you. Nokia’s lost a few folks to HTC – see if you can get them to build you a platform flagship. The best operating system in the world can still be crippled by crappy hardware.
This was not an easy decision to make. To be honest, I’ve wanted to write this post for the past several months – I’ve had numerous conversations with Dotsisx about this, and we both kept saying ‘let’s give them some time, surely Nokia/Symbian is going to improve.’ Guess what – they didn’t, and it’s just….sad. Like watching your favorite sports team lose game after game after game. Eventually, even the most die-hard sports fans have to find a new team.
I do want to say, however, that Nokia is not without the talent to do some awesome things – nearly every single Nokian that I’ve met personally – save for a few – are the friendliest, nicest folks; eager to listen to (and better understand) feedback on any product at any time. Some of this feedback is immediately reinvested in future products, which is awesome. As I’ve attended Nokia World three times, every time has been awesome and reassuring to see the Nokians who are actually doing things and who get just as frustrated as I have with various things. Unfortunately, this awesome talent seems to be wasted somehow. I sincerely hope that the upper brass at Nokia starts listening to the folks who are putting in extra time and effort – these folks know what’s going on, and like I did originally, simply want to see Nokia succeed.
When I told Dotsisx that I had finally made the decision and started writing the post, she confessed that she was at the same point that I was, and put together her part. We’ll both be leaving the site, but she has her own reasons:
Well, what can I say after this articulate tirade from Ricky? How much can I add when The Symbian Guru himself gives up on Symbian, just like when a few days ago, a company called SymbianGuru (without the dash) started releasing software for Android. It should be a sign, nah, it should be a freaking glowing DANGER light if someone cares to notice.
Although my experience has been different from Ricky’s in some areas (I have a Nokia N97 Mini and don’t suffer the internal memory issues he has, I also live in Lebanon where Nokia is huge and does a lot of campaigns and marketing), Ricky sums up a lot of my frustrations with Nokia and Symbian right now. Much like him, I have been a fan and a power user from the moment I bought my Nokia 3250 XpressMusic 4 years ago. Since then, I’ve owned and trialed more Symbian/Nokia devices than I care to remember, but for posterity’s sake here’s the list: C5, E52, E55, E61i, E66, E71, E72, E75, E90, N81 8GB, N82, N85, N86 8MP, N93i, N95, N95 8GB, N96, N97, N97 Mini, X6, 5530 XM, 5730 XM, 5800 XM, 6210 Navigator, 6700 Slide, 6710 Navigator, 6720 Classic, and Sony Ericsson Satio. Woosh! I’ve evangelized Symbian and smartphones when people didn’t know what those weird words meant, I’ve shown friends around me how to use every single feature in their phone and I’ve convinced many colleagues in the Pharmacy and Medical field that they don’t need a PDA or a Windows Mobile to access relevant medical information, they can do it right from their Nokia with several applications especially MobiReader and its collection of medical eBooks.
Unfortunately, times have changed. The E71 is and will always be the absolute best phone I ever used and one that symbolizes the epitome of mobile technology for me. Since its release though, it has been a steady decline, and although I currently own and use a Nokia N97 Mini daily, I’m annoyed by many aspects of it, not the least of which is how Nokia’s own applications lag painfully on this rehash of a flagship that was supposed to fix some of the original N97′s shortcomings. Take Nokia Messaging for Email, IM or Social Networks. The UI is ugly, the features have been evolving at a snail’s pace, and I’m pretty convinced the team tests those apps on different hardware with 1GHz processors because no one in their right mind would release apps like that, not beta, not alpha, not even pre-alpha. I swear I could get a VISA, buy an airplane ticket, travel to Texas and talk to Ricky in person before Nokia Messaging for IM loads and opens a conversation with him on my N97 Mini. Another pet peeve I have is with the nonavailability of official Dropbox, IMDB, Facebook, Paypal, Ebay, Read It Later, … applications on Symbian. But honestly, how can you blame outside developers when Nokia themselves can’t seem to pull through a decent application?
This is nothing though compared to the absolute lack of any medical application on Symbian^1. There’s none. None whatsoever. Not decent, not half bad, not totally bad. NONE. Absolutely Zero. Zilch. Niente. How silly is that, when the Apple App Store has a complete category dedicated to Medical software?! On my E71, I used to use Skyscape apps as well as MobiReader for my 200$ bought medical ebooks. Now I no longer have those: Skyscape never ported their apps from S60 3rd to Symbian^1, and MobiReader went into oblivion. The one reason I fell in love with Symbian/Nokia in the first place is now the reason I hate it passionately. Ironic, isn’t it? Some pundits will argue that there’s a bookmark for that. I’m sorry, when I need my info instantly and my mobile connection is slow and costs a ton, there’s no bookmark for that, “there’s an app for that”. As it goes, I have been carrying an iPod Touch daily and am bedazzled by the amount of amazing quality and quantity of freeware medical software for it, let alone paid applications. The fact that huge companies like Epocrates, Lexi-Comp, Medscape, Vidal chose to ignore the Symbian platform speaks a ton about how bad things are for the ecosystem.
What good does it do me, as a user, if you have 40 or 50 or 60 % marketshare when you fail to gain any developer traction? There’s Qt, widgets, Python, an SDK, Java, d’oh. But where are the medical applications? Where are thespecialty apps that I once wrote about on S60 3rd but were never ported to Symbian^1? Where are the games that make me pop my eyes in awe? The N8 will get Angry Birds. Big whoop. It took me all of 2 days to finish all levels of Angry Birds on my iPod Touch and you know what? When I was done, I moved on to the next game. Could I say the same about the N8?
When I think back to 3 or 4 years ago, when the iPhone and Android were first launched, I remember how they were a joke for many Symbian users. But look at them now! Look how much has evolved and grown in those two, software and feature-wise as well as ecosystem-wise. Four years ago, I had a long list of arguments to use when friends told me they’re getting an iPhone. But year after year, that list grew smaller. Now I just stand there and nod, knowing that there’s nothing I can argue with. The mobile space has seen a mind-blowing acceleration, hugely thanks to the iPhone, and meanwhile, Symbian and Nokia have stayed the same. I have now come to expect that whatever feature is still missing from Android/iOS will probably be added soon in a future firmware update. I wish I could have the same faith and certainty about Symbian.
I’m pretty sure these words will surprise if not astonish many of you who know how much of a Symbian faithful I am. Right now, I honestly don’t know where I stand exactly in regards to Symbian. The fact that I’m doubting my position is reason enough for me to stop writing here. I can’t evangelize a platform when I’m no longer 100% convinced myself: that would be hypocrisy and I’m not a hypocrite. (This is *precisely* my position, too – Ricky)
As I repeated many times, I love my iPod Touch but I’ll probably never buy an iPhone. There’s just so many hoops I have to go through to make it work like I want it to, thanks to Apple’s closed walled garden approach, and that’s not something I’m willing to go through with my main phone. I don’t like the touchscreen-only form factor and I’m not wow’ed by the eye candy of the OS either, but I can definitely see the appeal of iOS thanks to that ever-growing App Store. So for now, I am locked to Symbian for a couple more years mainly thanks to the lack of any decent mobile data service in Lebanon and Symbian giving me full control over data consumption, but my heart is no longer in it. I am currently actively seeking and drooling over any Android device, and I know that despite the data consumption issue, if I get an Android with a slide-out qwerty, it’ll be the end of Symbian and Nokia for me.
On a personal level, now, it’s time to move on. Those who have followed me on Twitter know that I have been actively seeking a location to open my own pharmacy. I finally found it. I’m moving from being an employee to becoming my own boss with my own little business. I’ve also gone back to writing. I used to be an amateur English/French writer/poet before I started blogging and I miss it a lot. I’ve recently taken back my (virtual) pen and will see if I decide to start self-publishing some of my work. I guess God closes a door and opens a window. Those are two amazingly big windows!
But this isn’t a farewell. You know me, you know I’ll always be passionate about mobile and tech. It’s not as much as I’m quitting Symbian, it’s more like I’m quitting being a Symbian advocate, and exclusively a Symbian fan. If you need your Dotsisx fix, I’ll still be around on Twitter as @khouryrt, on FoneArena where I’ve been contributing galleries, reviews and opinions for the past year and a half and where I’ll continue writing whatever floats my boat, be it Symbian, iOS or Android, on NokiaLB which tackles Nokia news (not just Symbian, ie let’s cross our fingers for Meego) with a slight twist on Lebanon and the MiddleEast, as well as my personal DotsisxBlog. I hope to see you there.
I just went back and re-read the title of this post “Symbian-Guru Is Over”. It saddens me that we have come to this, but Ricky and I have been discussing it for a long time, yet we never got past the “we should close it” talking stage, always digging in and finding a reason to keep the passion flowing. It’s staggering that we now finally decided to sit down and write our final post. It had to be done and although it was hard at first, I’ve now come to terms with the decision. I was a Symbian-Guru reader and fan long before I became a writer here, 2 and a half years ago. I love the community, I love how strongly opinionated you, our readers, are, how many times you’ve set my facts straight or argued with my point of view. I love the people I got to meet through Symbian-Guru, be it passionate Symbian fans, other bloggers, or Nokia employees, I cherish the moments and opportunities that have risen since I joined the site and the tons of things I learned that can’t be put on paper and that are related to Symbian but that stretch well beyond Symbian. It’s time to close this chapter and hand the torch to all the new and passionate bloggers out there who still love Symbian and Nokia dearly.
We both also want to thank the various contributors to the site over the years – Wampyre, who has stuck with us the longest, but also PseudoFinn, Ollywompus, SchawlaF, and yes, even Gorilla. We couldn’t have done it without ya’ll.
You guys could easily be writing about me, I have owned most Nokia N-Series phones and most of their range since 1998. This abruptly stopped after I bought a Nokia N97 SIM free on launch day. I now own a HTC Desire (ie a Nexus One) and can't believe the difference. Nokia have to take note of this and see how a phone should behave for it's user
Thank God, finally you leave symbian, a piece of junk, I appreciate.
Thank you
I was really shocked reading your message! It could have been saying the same!
I have never had anything then Nokia, but already with my last phone I was in doubt, but got again a Nokia.
Some of my colleagues bought iPhone's and I had to configure them to work on our Cisco callmanager.
I was chocked, I mean really CHOCKED to see how easy I could make these devices work! I have never succeeded making Nokia work on our callmanager.
Having said that, I don't want an iPhone, I don't want to be locked in the world of Steve Jobs.
What the hell, I am going to ask our secretary how much Vodafone asks for a HTC desire, I am fed up with Nokia.
i think the same things then Ricky!
Is time to US to wake up too, Nokia losted the Battle, and we have to move On , Move on in to a Good OS, Good devices
Well it is so sad that the symbian praiser today has become criticizer for this he has solid reasons, I also have been a long follower of Nokia-Symbian devices so far i have not used all of them but from Nokia N-GAGE classic, N73 to here I'm with my Nokia N-82 might be the last, almost using from last 2 years facing so many problems like phone get hanged which while listening music. then i have to put out battery and reinsert it to restart the device, this is not all there's another problem this this one I'll call bug. It doesn't have disable option for other -tones like in profile, like when we make any call or send text messages we get a message which pop up and display charged rate and other sort info which actually called Post Call Notification (PCN) that is default setting by operator, this message tone has been assigned with your general message alert tone e.g. if you send 100 text messages you will get 100 PCN and 100 times your phone ring which is of course a lot irritating it will ring if you have assigned your message alert tone. So many time i called to operator to stop PCN service on my phone and has given reason for that.Nokia makes good product but they never make a complete featured phone somehow they drop some feature on that phone i think its their marketing strategy here's the example on their recent N8 phone which doesn't have lens cover for 12 mega-pixel phone why so ? if you can protect 3.2 MP why not 12MP this is totally ridiculous. Hoping to have linux based phone soon.
The entire industry and the whole China is aliging with Google and Android. What makes people think Nokia and Intell can rally so much support and hype?
the nokia stores in USA have closed. Both of them. I used to go to the one in NYC
A well-thought out scheme, but unfortunately, completely unfounded. I can also assure you that no one at Nokia/Symbian was even aware of this decision before it was published – not even as a 'hey, here's what I'm about to do' type personal thing.
I bought a nokia phone just before the android ccame out. I'm a comp. sci student in uni, I was really keen to do mobile development, I know python, java and c++, Im something of a java evangelist on campus and an event organiser. I organised competitions for students to develop nokia apps for our uni……anyway, my phone malfunctioned, I sent it to be fixed and nokia refused to honour the guarantee.
This may not seem like the end of the world to some people, but for a student who eats cornflakes for dinner occasionally its a budget breaker. I have only ever owned nokia phones in over 10 years..this was also a heartbreaker.
I trawled ebay, saw I could get a replacement screen, but just then I thought to myself “you love mobile, you love java – get android” and that was it.
I have a spare phone if anyone wants to hack it for parts because I know I will never use it. I recently joined the android app competition in uni, Im heading in a new direction, to sum it up I know how you feel symbian-guru. Ive been there too, but now its good to know where I'm going …with a platform that seems to have a better long-term vision
hey dude what u say was so fucking true… i had to admit it i used n97 for a week n i ditched it
and btw about ur comment on e71 yes it was the best nokia fone i ever had no doubt
i am currently using a e72 which i have regretted changing to it..
i should have kept my e71 instead of selling it
anyway since you are running more on apps i'd say anroid is better for u
but for a high school kid like me who dont bother to run apps i think my e72 will be more than enough for me
good luck to u… n i hope that u will start a android guru blog instead
I belive in Nokia and Symbian! I know that Symbian^4 will be a monster, and will kicks all others OS out!
Go Nokia! Go Symbian! The future is now!
Samsung Galaxy S and Samsung Wave has a higher powered 1GHz processor than the Nexus One Processor.
Jeromeo says:
April 3, 2010 at 8:10 am
I was a proud early adopter of the N900. I can say that I don’t believe Finnish society has the aggressive nature that is essentially the essence & backbone of American culture. Updates cannot come at the speed nor consistency of large American companies. South Korean companies like Samsung and Taiwanese companies like HTC are kicking it into high gear-sacrificing innovative design for rapid advancement of technology. Canadians keep pumping out boring, outdated Blackberries and might eventually become more relevant (but I doubt will be able to keep pace fast enough).
Nokia will never make anything as beautiful as the 8800 series modern with touch, an amazing form factor like the 6260/N93 with touch, or even something as stable & well rounded as an N95 with a modern operating system. Instead they will keep trying to stay in the game with high megapixel, overdesigned yet unfinished, high end devices while mass chruning out crap phones for the 3rd world to stay afloat financially. They will continue to stay out of one of the highest cell phone penetrated countries in the world (the US) and will never make devices that can support more than 1 set of European 1 set of American frequency bands.
5 of 6 in my immediate family stopped upgrading to newer Nokias as they have since 2000; one by one they all bought iPhones (as nearly half of my friends did as well). They all pay nearly double for service because of US exclusivity contracts, but were willing to switch carrier and shell out more $ without hesitation. Ask any of them if they will ever change to anything other than an iPhone ever again in the future. Then ask them if any would ever consider buying a Nokia device ever again and they will laugh.
They will forego options they have used for nearly a decade (like bluetooth file transfers or being able to save any file to any folder on the system architecture) for stability. They know that even though Android will be constantly updated across various hardware platforms, the huge popularity of iApple will all but guarantee tremendous, continued support & wide range upgrades to features.
No desktops or main screens look as cool as Meego/Maemo or WebOS, but maybe Android 3.0 will be closer one day?
Nokia cannot ensure enough stability before releasing a product, cannot provide the popularity and interest for developers, cannot push updates out fast enough (or regularly before completely abandoning a model), cannot keep up with cutting edge hardware (processors, screens, etc.), nor innovate the way they once did when they ruled the market.
I’m afraid that I have to agree with the author completely on every point made in this article. This N900 will most likely be my 6th and final Nokia. Unless the management can be shaken up hard, I can only sit around and wish for the company to return to its former glory. But as the saying goes, “you can wish in one hand and sh*t in the other and see which gets filled first”. (By which time I’ll probably be using a jailbroken iPhone with a front-facing camera or super techie and masculine looking Android device).
Nokia, you will be missed…
Kyllikki Varvisaari says:
April 4, 2010 at 8:37 pm
Dear Jeromeo,
don’t forget that there about 6 billion people on Earth who either don’t want or either cannot afford Apple or Google device. Nokia is there in order to serve needs of these people. What Nokia probably is good for in the future, is to bring smartphones available for these 6 billion other than who “if they will ever change to anything other than an iPhone ever again in the future”. That will likely to take place parallel with developments of Maemo/MeeGo super-highend devices, which will kick Iphone ass big time. In many aspects.
Jeromeo says:
April 5, 2010 at 12:13 am
C’mon Kylikikykiky, are you trying to say that only 8% of the global population will be able to afford an iPhone or Android device (around $250 US and less of which nearly every carrier in the world will subsidize for those who need extended payments) for the forseeable future? Ridiculous. Remember that every 6 months about 10 new Android devices are released and every year the iPhone gets updated-making every previous model drop in price month after month. And those older devices will still continue to receive updates, unlike Nokia who discontinues a specific model completely and stops offering general firmware updates to an individual product at about 2 years after it’s initial release. [I've read on many blogs that people believe] developing nations should be ever so thankful that Nokia is offering the same 12 key, 256 color sh*t phones that they’ve been churning out since 2002 and revel in their self-centered benevolence by giving the 3rd world products that developed nations havent used in nearly a decade? I find it so sad that Nokia used to be the pinnacle of innovation and is now proud to make monochrome garbage for the impoverished. They used to offer a wide range of devices. Advanced luxury for those who could save up, marvels for the techies, virtually disposable candybars for the poor, and constant innovation to all. I feel so strongly because I am so disappointed in how horribly Nokia has slacked off for nearly 6 years. Everything they will ever do from now on will be a never ending game of catch-up. It’ all because their culture doesn’t have the cut-throat nature that American corporations have.
I can only hope that Meego will help them attain their former glory. I would LOVE to see that, but I will not hold my breath. I hope for their sake they kick ass because I do think they have genuinely altruistic goals for ‘connecting people’ around the globe while making money in the process, where Apple will make a product that is so amazingly intuitive that they expect you to hand over your savings while kissing their feet to stroke their ego for their hard work. Google just wants all eyes to be channelled through their products to dominate the advertising market. Asian manufacturers simply want to reach higher numbers in sales, profits, market shares, and company rankings-nothing more than numbers.
I find it sad that not everyone should expext technology to evolve exponentially. I had my very first smartphone in 2003 and I’ve realised that No One (rich or poor) should just sit around and accept a feature phone in the year 2010. All should demand convergence! No more digital camreas, laptops, watches, phones, netbooks, desktops, eReeders, mp3 players, MIDs, but instead ONE multipurpose device. And please don’t argue that not everyone needs a camera or one person might not want to use a music player-making dozens of mediocre devices instead of one usefull to all device is unintelligent and wasteful with the the earth’s natural resourses (more factories, more production lines, more electricity, more product ehich will never be recycled).
Nexus One?!?!?!?!?!? Excellent choice!!! ;-) hahahahahahahahaha…
The N900 was still a mistake since it was replaced by Meego and will not get a firmware update.
Totaly right ,I was a fan too ,even hated people when they talk about other devices ,i was a nokia fan since 1995 was my first device from nokia ,and now i was dying to get my hands on the N97 ,i bought a nightmare for me, iam really sick ,this device made me sick ,why should i hack my device ! and try to overclock and dumb files craeting dummy files to save some space on drive C: they made a big mistake with the ram and drive C: after people complains and the whole waiting action for more than 7 monthes for the new firmware release they did nothing it got worse after the update ,and nokia knows well what the people are facing the whole time with this crap they sold us and the funny thing calling it a flag ship ya ya ya … and when you download an app from ovistore you are forced to install it on c: personaly i use siscontent unpacking the app and change the destination to install it on E or F some of them works some not ,and the god damn magical CPU which is a waw such a big fail ,i hate nokia ,even they are not shamed telling people (yes it was a mistake the nokia n97) what the heck ,why should i pay for a mistake i didnt do if nokia wants the people back instead going in tv and telling people it was a fail ,they should call back the n97 and give their users their fans a new device .
i bought my device from like more than a year 4 monthes in nokia service they replaced my device 5 times ,lol they made me crazy i send my device there to be repaird i get it back with the same faults and errors (cam,GPS ,signal is weak ,and the big problem is the battery 5 hours ) what a shame ,and there is nothing no apps for nokia n97 its like i travled back in time ,now we are playing xbox360 and i went back in time to play sega mega drive ,no 3d support GPU is turned off by defualt to save some battery oh yes iam talking about everything ,yes i hacked the hell of this device ,even tho lil change barely noticable iam not gonna say more iam sick and tired from nokia last device ,and one thing for nokia get some new engineers you should replace your whole team ,its the worst device i ever had in my life ,bye bye nokia my next device its going to be running andriod ……
Ps. Disturbed My name is well known on the internet and in the world of mobile devices …
Gotta agree with you guys. I've been a Nokia smartphone user since 2005, but I just got an Android phone in February, and I haven't looked back. Symbian was good back then, but iOS and Android are moving ahead rapidly, while Nokia is essentially standing still, or more like stumbling around like an alcoholic at closing time. Looks to me like Nokia's been left in the dust, with little chance of ever catching up, especially in the app category. I'd suggest that they adopt Android and focus on their hardware if they want to have a chance at remaining relevant in the smartphone category 2-3 years from now.
guys, pls don't get dissapointed. nokia knows wat they are doing. I'm sure the meego will emerge as a killer OS n nokia will rule the segment again………
I'm still stuck with my e66 waiting to upgrade it with the first meego device…….
Ricky, it is so sad to even think that the GURU is not there writing anymore. Nokia is loosing the huge impact you have made for them and their products. I don;t know of anyone else anywhere that supported them like you did, They should have listened a long time ago to you. All i know is you are THE GURU for me on cell phones and i am sure for millions others out there since you stated all this blogging many years ago. You have impacted so many lives out there and shared incredible amounts of knowledge to people all around the world. GREAT JOB SYMBIAN GURU! KUDOS! CHEERS! GREAT JOB. WAY TO GO.
Rick Cadden
Dad
Thanks Dad. :)
thank god you are going away from nokia and their per symbian
nokia org run by dumb arses no doubt on that part but whats the problem for nokia to atleast make n97 usable i had purchased it 6 months back that to some whooping 700$ on the first day i had noticed i need to put some extra energy to scroll the touch screen it has let down me on various issues music player horrible which was buggy , camera lens so many scraches , waste photo album [we may see same basic album in all nokia mobiles] with frequent rebooting , hanging problem ,and not too many apps in ovi store may be some 100s and my n97 got discolored already the sound bar looks ugly which makes me to at least not to carry
what irritates me is still those run nokia not learning even after years of launch they are not updting their firmware one after another each update had bugs and laughable thing is even upcoming n8 also had same problems as shown in ur review then whos going to buy this dumb asre phone
u made a good choice for letting nokia to die with their own ideas
I have been an active participant on many local Symbian Forum. Recently I started a little war, by saying Symbian was going into oblivion by programmers (not designers, since everyday new themes appear).
A couple days later, another forum member gave me this link. I've visited this site in the past and was in shock to see people who are obviously way beyond my five Nokia phones experience take this decision.
I'm also movingo to Android, and will be receiving my Motorola Milestone by tomorrow morning
(according to DHL). I will miss my E63, which I believe is one of the best value/price phone ever. And I will never know how was the E72 I was expecting to arrive to my country just a few weeks ago.
But… enough is enough. And I don't want to go around using a Betamax in a VHS world.
im using Nexus One since two month ago, and guess what, i am android fanboy now. i felt sorry on symbian but i have no choice
but Nexus also 1Ghz?
to be honest (((from an android fan prospective)) i really do support nokia for the services they are offering which are kinda missing in google… i do own an htc hero and just recently tried to try something new so i went and bought the n97… i knw it might sound weird to you u ppl but i kinda liked the n97 alot.. i mean despite the responsiveness and the attractive UI on the Htc hero thanks to the android platform,,,,still the n97 did serve me in many things like setting up the my email clients that took less than a minate to setup, where on android ppl where stuck with setting up a gmail and relying on internet browsing to check their hotmail and so on… i live in Brazil and when i got my google phone for the first time it didnt have the android market!!!!!! i ended up hacking it after months of fear of what will happen to me if the phone got bricked but i finally hacked it and i did learn many things from the xda-developers site but the lack of support for the phone made me upset as i thought that i could easily navigate through the android market on pc and simply download the apps but unfotunantely that wasnt the case…. after getting the n97 i did realise the diffreneces between the two platforms… for sure android was ahead..especially with the 7homesceen that i used to customize on htc but i knew i had to discover more about nokia because it is not all about the homescreen…first thing came to mind is the ngage thing where it was all about gaming in the end it wasnt bad i mean FINALLY i was able to purchase a paid game thanks to mobile billing method of payin where on android i had to rely on the credit card but hey aonline shopping isnt my forte so i had to rely on free apps… i do agree on the problem adressing the lack of RAM but i simply close apps that are in the background when i dont need them simply to free the RAM and save battery which is also adviced by when using android phone mid-low range..the battery is grreat and i did like how nokia line up there services for their customers… ovi contact/calender/mail been usefull as i been using them to sync my stuff and the ovi files amazed me with the amount of 10 GB of online storage offered opossed to the 1GB of storage in google docs…the ovi music/maps where great as the ovi music store felt like the itunes music store which is ahead of google since it doesnt have any music services yet but just announced recently it will start to, and there was no need to have a creditcard to browse the online store and the ovi maps did kinda alright in terms of navigation speed but you can download the maps from the ovi suite and even find hotel, restaurant and events near you where on google maps you couldnt beable to browse maps offline… finally.. the ngage…i did like it becuase it was more of a socializing gaming network… i did like the worms games which wasnt on the android market tho i wish if it did…after all there is a potential in nokia and the n8 is promissing to bring major upgrades in terms of performce and usebility((remeber it is still a prototype things might change in it))…there is also nokia labs which apps in beta are provided to ppl and feedbacks are welcomed…in the end there is no perfect phone but as long as the phone does serve your needs well then you can call it a perfect phone for you.. i am still use both phones and in the end am no hater to google or nokia but i cant also blame nokia becuase experiencing something like trying out things is differnt than just throwing word at nokia without realising the real thing..after all thats my opinion… as much as i love android and symbian it is hard to say that symbian is over cuz i think n8 will do well with the support nokia gives in terms of customer services…
Quit being so sensitive. I'm Indian and there's truth to his statement, though it comes off as a tad ignorant. Nokias are popular in the Middle East and India, as they are all over the developing world in part because of price.
How well would an unlocked iPhone 4 or Nexus One or Xperia X10 or Galaxy S sell in India? Do you really think sales of those devices would outpace cheaper Nokia Symbian phones?
You should be proud of your son. I am sure he's helped literally millions of Symbian fans!
Hey Ricky, show your dad the website traffic stats!
I hear you :(
However Nokia is showing signs that they are willing to face the truth and do something about it. Vanjoki, their new head of mobile solutions has this to say – http://www.conversations.nokia.com/2010/07/02/t...
we're all dipshits :))
Google will stop selling Nexus One… http://googlenexusoneboard.blogspot.com/2010/07...
Looks like the hole where we are is deepest than expected.
The work you did on/for symbian was worth it. The decision to move forward to android is a good one too. all the best.
The N900 is an exception, because it runs Maemo (this is open as well) which ROCKS! Symbian sucked and continues to suck.
Well, it is sad and happy at the same time.
I'm sad because Symbian Guru has been my favourite symbian resources throughout my smartphone experience.
I'm happy because I feel exactly the same as you guys do. Nokia N97 is supposed to be phenomenal but it turns out to be catastrophic instead.
I wish you all the best on your Android-gurus-to-be path.
Thank you for your great job and effort in maintaining your web site for the past several years.
Cheers,
Funny that the Nexus One wasn't a big splash either … Google isn't even selling them anymore. Also, your reasons for discontinuing Symbian-Guru is based around the N97 – sure it may have been bad, but at least Nokia is trying to recover from that, by admission and revamped Symbian OS on the way. But I can surely understand your displeasure, if it weren't for the E71, I would have given up on Nokia as well, and now the N8 is approaching, I am on the full swing of promoting this device.
I wouldn't say the Nexus One wasn't a big splash – if you're on AT&T in the U.S., IMO, it's really the only option. I go into a bit more detail here (http://www.rickycadden.com/2010/07/why-i-chose-...)
While my reasons on this site were *based* on the N97, they include other factors, such as the constant fail that is Ovi, Nokia's insistence on piss-poor execution (there are at least half a dozen examples of this recently), and Symbian's habit of ignoring glaring issues to address minor or insignificant ones.
i understand your feelings… i was a real nokia fan until 1 year or so ago…
wake up nokia! your brand value is degenerating – without any flagship cool phones who will buy the cheap ones? why do you still produce dozens of different phone models a year – when producing 3-5 really good ones would be more than enough? why do you still torture us with symbian, small screens and sluggish processors?
the mobile OS market is consolidating, symbian is dead. there is no hope, not now, not ever. meego is your only chance, but it is getting slimmer by the minute. nobody will buy the n8 and reviews are bad.
only a radical solution will help you: slim down your bloated organization. forget symbian and fire your complete software department. choose android and make a hard living determined by hardware margins and innovative phone designs. or die.
my 3310 classic still rocks.
N900 is an another dead-end phone from Nokia.
N900-line will not be supported by MeeGo, so why would one bother to buy one?
i would say what everyone who buys the nokia n8 is stupid because nokia self knows what the time of symbian is over and the n9 shouldnt come much later but it will have meego. and the n900 with maemo haves so mutch fans (i would buy n900 if n9 wouldnt be anoncet) what the meego cant be so bad.
i read it very often that eople are writing that so i do it to
sry for bad english but im living in a non english speaking country
Bro, i understand your situation, i owned nokia QD, X6, 5300, 6120, 6630, N70, N73, N95, N95 8gb & N97 mini. I loved and argued so much for Nokia, but now it is proven not comparable to Android/Iphone anymore.
WSOD still cannot fix after latest firmware update, frequent lag and hang. N97 mini will be the last Nokia phone for me.
Sad but true.
I agree with the Nexus One option for AT&T – I get a discount through my employer for AT&T service, else I would be with another carrier. Nokia is far back from the competition, but their transition to an open-source platform with S^3, S^4, and MeeGo, there will be great strides.
Loved Symbian-Guru, and will be sad to see it go, but I will continue to follow your ventures into the Android world for great insight. Hoping to get my hands on the N8, and will scrutinize it in an in-depth review.
I agree with everything you said… Other competitors are way ahead of Nokia & Symbian… Good luck with your future projects :)