wow, Symbian-Guru shutting down, blasts Nokia

[TheWart]

Doesn't bode well for Nokia when to major platform evangelists that run a popular site promoting your products call it a day because your products "Suck. Hard."

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.

----


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.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

I totally agree. I used to laugh at the iPhone and I would bust out the N82 and show them Garmin Mobile XT and 5MP + xenon flash and a front facing camera..... But it became more and more tethering on the iPod Touch + Games along with the N82....

And then in the end it became a joke when we had to search things on the web and Opera Mini kept crashing out on me on Symbian. Sigh.

Probably once a week there's a thread asking if Nokia has woken up yet on Howard Forums. There used to be a lot of hardcore guys and there still are that are loyal to Symbian. I used to jump on there to blast the iPhone or defend Symbian, but I know myself and many others have slowly left and jumped on board the Android bandwagon or the iPhone one. It's still interesting, and once totally hardcore partisan hacks like your P&N Moonbeam, dmcowen, Harvey who used to fight for S60 to the death and would flame you to death have accepted Android and moved on. It's very different there now. I mean there's still a lot of hardcore guys, but a good number of the old hardcore guys just say things like "Wow, if you still think Symbian is a modern smartphone OS you gotta be smoking some great stuff"

It's sad really, but it seems Nokia's MeeGo strategy might be a lot better. Who knows? Symbian is dead that's for sure. S^3 is nothing revolutionary at all. It's really just S60v5 with things that should've been fixed. But it's the same old look in the end....

 

[QueBert]

I've owned 3 Samsung cell phones, I don't care how good the newer ones are. They were easily my #1, #2 & #3 least favorite phones by far. Horrible reception, slow, clunky UI & just overall nothing about them I liked. A shame Sanyo doesn't make more phones because the 2 Sanyo phones I had were on my top 5 list. I really loved the few people I knew who shelled out retarded amounts of cash to have an N97 imported. The phone sucks Donkey balls. I fail to see how Samsung is the largest cellphone manufacturer, do people actually go to the store thinking "hay, I want to buy a total POS phone"? S40 & S60 suck badly as mobile OS's, even when they were "new" they were nothing special. Ugly and always felt cheap to me.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Ehh, what good phones did Samsung make in the US anyway? US phones aren't representative of what's good.

SE used to be at the top because they made some of the best dumphones. They never really made it to the US. Nokia had awesome N-series phones. Any phone guru who KNOWS phones knows the N95 ruled the market in 2007. Of course only a few people even know of it in the US.

Tethering? GPS? Wifi? FM Radio? 3.5mm jack? No phone came even close. The iPhone of the day was beyond restrictive.

You're right. Today S60 is a dead thing. It's pathetic, but to say that Samsung sucks because of their offerings in the US is completely wrong. They've made great phones....

 

[Narmer]

I've owned 3 Samsung cell phones, I don't care how good the newer ones are. They were easily my #1, #2 & #3 least favorite phones by far. Horrible reception, slow, clunky UI & just overall nothing about them I liked. A shame Sanyo doesn't make more phones because the 2 Sanyo phones I had were on my top 5 list. I really loved the few people I knew who shelled out retarded amounts of cash to have an N97 imported. The phone sucks Donkey balls. I fail to see how Samsung is the largest cellphone manufacturer, do people actually go to the store thinking "hay, I want to buy a total POS phone"? S40 & S60 suck badly as mobile OS's, even when they were "new" they were nothing special. Ugly and always felt cheap to me.

WTF does Samsung have to do with this thread?

 

[DivideBYZero]

Ehh, what good phones did Samsung make in the US anyway? US phones aren't representative of what's good.

SE used to be at the top because they made some of the best dumphones. They never really made it to the US. Nokia had awesome N-series phones. Any phone guru who KNOWS phones knows the N95 ruled the market in 2007. Of course only a few people even know of it in the US.

Tethering? GPS? Wifi? FM Radio? 3.5mm jack? No phone came even close. The iPhone of the day was beyond restrictive.

You're right. Today S60 is a dead thing. It's pathetic, but to say that Samsung sucks because of their offerings in the US is completely wrong. They've made great phones....

Indeed, the N95 series was the first phones I know of that had video editing built in, but now you have it in the iPhone and it's new...

 

[abaez]

It's kind of sad how Nokia has fallen. Millions of phones and million of dollars of R&D and nothing has come out of it. When you read an article on any new Nokia phone: http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/14/nokia-n8-preview/ it's just so... boring and uninspiring and unexciting.

Before my Nexus One in January I had an E71, which I personally think had some of the best hardware and qwerty keyboard around (definitely better than the nexus one and EVO). But the software.. the software was just abysmal. And it doesn't look like they will be improving much at all.

 

[CTrain]

WTF does Samsung have to do with this thread?

LOL. I think he thought we're talking about Touchwiz or something.

I agree though.
The lastest Nokia mystery phone is a slider that has the 4" screen.
It looks nice and pretty thin for a slider but then you see the OS and 640x360 resolution and you say what ????
800x480 is the minimum these days with smartphone and they put 640x360 for a 4" inch screen.
Make you scratch your head.