• http://exhorto.net Ze Stuart

    “No writing aids or auto-correction facilities”

    Gmeh? Predictive text is a pretty well developed writing aid if you ask me…

  • http://3lib.ukonline.co.uk/ Steve

    I meant on its virtual qwerty keyboard…

  • moylan

    hi,

    i have an iphone and a nokia e71

    got the iphone as a second device to stop carrying a second nokia and an ipod.

    nice device but there were too many limitations for me.

    * smaller capacity of iphone compared to ipod classic. understandable but when coupled with the iphones inability to sync with more than 1 itunes became the main reason i gave up on the iphone.
    * no disk mode. i use my devices all the time to transfer files.
    * hated the on screen keyboard. really really hated it. didn’t like the one i had on nokia 770 but hoped the iphone would be better. it wasn’t. especially when you’re supposed to type in messages in portrait mode.
    * web browser on iphone isn’t as good as opera mini on nokia. the ability of opera mini to compress whats coming down made my prepay go 5 times further. also easier to navigate on opera mini compared to iphone. safari did score over opera mini in that i could hand it to another person and allow them to browse in safari without having to tell them how to use it.
    * gmail app on nokia way better than mail app on iphone. could use safari to access gmail but then why have an app on main screen that i will never use.
    * book readers can’t just have files copied on. had to download books from the web. have 100s of files i’ve acumulated over the years that i wanted to copy on but couldn’t
    * iphone would ignore wifi and use 3g wasting my prepay credit.
    * notes on iphone have no search option. what’s the point of having an application that can hold 1000s of notes but can’t search them for you.
    * calendar can’t be changed to having monday as first day of the week. the version on macosx can, why not on the iphone?
    * inability to use bluetooth for anything useful like transferring files.

    and then o2 my supplier started sending me junk sms. which if i’m on night shift wake me during the day.

    that been said theres a good chance that the nokia will be my last nokia device. was all geared up to getting a n97 when it is released but now not going to. a really small thing happened with the last firmware update on e71. they turned on a mandatory click when you take a picture. it’s so fecking annoying that i refuse to buy another nokia till i can be assured that it can be turned off. in the same way that wga on winxp accuses the user of been a thief that click is accusing every user of been a pervert. so f@eck nokia!

    may even break my e61 out of storage and use that in place of e71!

  • Chris V

    Nice insight Steve! I own neither of these phones but hate them equally, simply because touch screen isn’t the best way to operate anything (imho) Imagine cars having touch screen steeting wheels and controls (wont take long before mayhem is introduced onto the roads). I do think touch screen technology isn’t mature enough for users to be content with it as the only source of input. I do however think dual input devices such as the Palm Pre, Sony Ericsson G900 are tremendous. Useful in almost all situations.

    @ moylan
    Regarding the camera “click” noise; just turn the profile to Silent and all is well. Not a great or convenient solution, I know. But it’s the only one most people are aware of.

  • Hardeep Singh

    @moylan let me give you a clue. The biggest positive Symbian has over any other platform is innumerable third party apps. Who cares if the click is mandatory, google is your friend.

  • http://www.serious60.nokia.com Serious60

    You can’t cut and paste from the S60 web browser. Which really doesn’t put it at that much of an advantage over the iPhone.

  • function over form

    The list goes on.

    In favor of the 5800XM:

    – MMS

    – replaceable battery, so you can carry a charged spare on a trip, or recharge an empty battery without having your phone tied to the charger

    – memory cards that you can read/write without having to install iTunes or similar apps, which you can plug into other phones and card readers, or change for a card with more capacity so you can add extra gigabytes without buying a new phone

    – a choice of web browsers and voice navigation programs

    – using the software store of your phone manufacturer is optional, not mandatory

    – 97 vs 133 grams. Sounds like a small difference, but put your phoe in your pocket when you go jogging and you’ll notice

    – full bluetooth, including file transfer and stereo audio

    – you can choose between finger and stylus input, and you don’t have to take your gloves off when you want to use your phone outdoors during a cold winter

    In favor of the iPhone:

    – it’s a bit thinner

    – the user interface looks more polished

    If you want to look at your phone, the iPhone wins. If you want to use your phone, the 5800 wins.

  • http://web.mac.com/jamesburland/Nokia_Creative/ James Burland

    To ‘Function over Form’:

    Does the 5800 charge over USB. I should imagine that the ability to do so is vastly more important to 95% of the population than a removable battery.

  • http://3lib.ukonline.co.uk Steve Litchfield

    Yes and no. The microUSB cable itself doesn’t take charge, but there’s a ‘USB to Nokia 2mm-charging pin’ cable that works well.

    In Nokia’s defense, they’ve avoided USB charging on almost all of their devices for a reason – USB charging is often essentially ‘trickle charging’, i.e. large currents aren’t available. The end result is that a full charge of a 1300mAh battery takes 4 or 5 hours, not ideal when you want to grab your phone and go. A full charge on a normal 2mm phone jack charger from the mains takes only an hour or so. Just my tuppence worth.

  • http://symbianism.blogspot.com symbian underground

    You can connect the power inlet of any Nokia to the USB port of any computer.

    Not with a standard USB cable, but Apple uses a proprietory connector on the phone end of their cables instead of a standard mini- or microUSB plug. This means that Nokia and iPhone users are in the same boat when it comes to charging their phones from a laptop or other device with USB ports. They both need a non-standard cable or adapter for it, because the standard USB plug only works on one end of the cable.

    Nokia and other phones all have an advantage that the iPhone lacks: if you pop in a spare battery you can carry your phone with you and keep using it while you recharge the empty battery. When an iPhone battery runs dry you’ll have to chain your entire phone to a power source. So when you travel to places where charging opportunities are few and far between, you’re better of with a 5800.

  • Xerxes

    USB charging is less of an issue on S60 because the phone is much less dependent on use with a pc, and when a connection is used it is often over Bluetooth.

    I personally have bought the Nokia usb charge and sync cable but I only find that I need it when I use my N95 as an HSDPA modem for long periods of time while travelling on business.

  • Xerxes

    @Moylan,

    Take a look at Stanza on your iPhone. It’s the best ebook reader I have seen on any mobile platform bar none. Its pretty much worth buying an iPod Touch just for this program. It allows you to copy any ebook format from your pc and read it on the go.

  • http://wordpress.pocosin.com Counsel

    I have an iPhone (1.0)–no 3G where I live…

    However, I, having used a Treo650, am tired that I have no IR or transmittal via bluetooth, MMS, additional memory card support, etc.

    Sure, the screen is nice. The UI is pretty. I can’t run more than one application at a time? I thought OS/X was “better”…

    I llike Apple (used a //e back in the day), and I use a mac laptop now. However, I won’t be getting the #G iPhone. I consider it a networkphone, and I want a smartphone.

    I don’t want to HAVE to use the apple store. I want to MMS and send contacts to different folks without having to retype them or use a thirdparty app (that the person getting the contact would also have to use…).

    So, it is winmo or Symbian for me from now on. Let me see…Nokia, Samsung, HTC, and LG are left?