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. Ive been a Nokia fanboy since 1999, and a Symbian fanboy since I got my Nokia 6620 in summer of 2004. Since then, Ive personally owned 10+ different Symbian-powered smartphones, and have reviewed nearly every Symbian-powered smartphone thats been released in the past 3 years or so. Ive tried to use all of Nokias various products and services to the best of my ability, and I just cant do it anymore.
I cant 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 Nokias own employees dont use. I also cant 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 companys 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 Nokias 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 companys 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, shouldnt you give it a fighting chance? Yes, of course I *should*, but I wont. 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 Ive been convinced that the N8 is going to be better. Time and time again, Nokias 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 wasnt 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). Dont bother filling that 32GB of internal storage with music itll bog the phone down so much you wont 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 systems 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 Nokias own products install themselves is so small its 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, Im left with less than 10MB free. To add insult to injury, this 10MB tends to disappear on its own Im 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 Ive 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, theres 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.
Whats 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 (dont get me wrong, Mobbler is one of the reasons Ive stuck with Symbian, but its 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, Im 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 its 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. Its 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 Nokias phones. This is improving, but at a snails pace. Both Symbian and Nokia are dying brands in the U.S., if not already dead, and Im 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, Ive 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 Nokias consistently piss-poor hardware choices and Symbians lack of ability to even remotely compete in terms of features, abilities, and overall experience, Ive lost my passion for both. As mentioned, the site will remain, but it will not be updated any longer. To all of you whom Ive met both online and offline its been easily the best 3 years and 8 months of my life. Ill still be online in the usual places, and will still be actively blogging about mobile/tech/Internet at my personal site,
RickyCadden.com | Just a dude with a phone. Of course Ill still keep my eye on Nokia. If they can put out 2 flagship devices in a row that dont completely suck, I may even give them another chance. I wont 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. Ive been a huge Nokia fan since my 2nd cellphone, and I just cant do it any longer. You guys arent competing like you once were, and everyone but you seems to see that. You used to build the worlds best smartphones, the worlds best cameras, the worlds best GPS units youve 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, its 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 Ive talked to) dont even use them, so why should I?
To Symbian, if youd stop shouting about being open, youd see that youre losing too. Consumers are leaving and developers are staying away. Frankly, I think Symbian is better off than Nokia at this point. Ill 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 thats three times the work for your developers to get their apps to consumers. Second, you guys need to find someone else to build your platforms flagship devices Nokia is actively and consistently blowing it for you. Nokias 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, Ive wanted to write this post for the past several months Ive had numerous conversations with Dotsisx about this, and we both kept saying lets give them some time, surely Nokia/Symbian is going to improve. Guess what they didnt, and its 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 Ive 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 Ive 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 whats going on, and like I did originally, simply want to see Nokia succeed.