iPhone vs. S60 devices
For the past week, not a day goes by that I don’t wake up, shuffle downstairs, pick my Wall Street Journal off the front porch, sit down to eat cereal, and see a full page article on the iPhone staring up at me. And it is not just the Journal that has gone Ga-ga over the iPhone. The mainstream press (Time Magazine, the New York Times, the Economist), the techie press, and the Style press are all covering the iPhone.
Apple is scoring big in the marketing and PR department– to say the very least. But more thoughts on Apple PR and Marketing in a future post. For now, let’s breakdown what consumers are getting in the iPhone, vs. what they can currently get in an S60 device like the N95. I’ve listed the functionalities in order of importance, according to Nokia’s consumer research and my personal experience regarding which features/traits are most important for consumers of “smart” devices.
1) Phone functionality: This criteria is always the number one criteria in any comparison I do, because, at the end of the day, we are talking about phones. Devices are used to make calls between people.
In this category I put ease of making phone calls, quality of sound in phone calls,reception (radio quality) and access to PIM functionality as well as advanced call functions such as conference calling, speaker phone, and voice dialing.
Since the iPhone has not hit the shelves yet, it’s impossible to judge whether sound quality and call reception will be better/worse than the N95. However, we do know that the iPhone supports only 3 way (as opposed to 6 way) conference calls, and that the iPhone does not support voice dialing. We also know that it is impossible to dial the iPhone while wearing gloves, as it does not have a physical keypad. And we know that Nokia has, over the past 15 years in the mobile industry, earned the reputation of having the best and most reliable call reception in their devices.
Advantage? N95
2) E-mail: Next to voice calls, the number application North American consumers use their phone for is e-mail. Both the N95 and the iPhone support POP3 and iMAP protocols. Both can be, in theory, connected to Microsoft Exchange, the most prevalent e-mail server in North America. But IT managers are slightly more suspicious of allowing Apple products in general, and the iPhone in particular, on their networks. The WSJ wrote an article on June 21st that listed the myriad reasons why IT manager will not allow the iPhone on their corporate network. The N95, meanwhile, is already integrated with Intellisync, the most prevalent mobile mail network in the US market after the Blackberry. Nokia’s Enterprise Solutions team has also created licensing agreements to allow S60-based devices (such as the N95) to run Blackberry Connect.
Advantage? N95
3) User Interface: There is no question that the iPhone is delivering the better “wow” in terms of user interface. Multi-touch looks cool, especially (at least?) in the iPhone commercials. Of course, there will be those who prefer to have a physical keypad, especially if the iPhone touch keypad is buggy, or especially if the owner lives North of Buffalo and has to spend a couple of months of the year wearing gloves. But for now, we’ll give the advantage to iPhone. Otherwise the Apple fanboys will cry foul.
Advantage? iPhone
4) Browser: This is a tough category, because the browser is so dependant on the overall user interface of the device itself. In terms of sheer audacity, iPhone might win this one, simply because they claim in their PR materials to be the first full-HTML browser on the market, where S60-based devices have been shipping with a full HTML browser for over a year. But the N95 also has MiniMap, Page History, and Page overview, all of which make browsing a pleasure and have, until now, made the S60 browser the hands-down winner in nearly all of the press and blogs I’ve seen. But then there is multi-touch, and much as I’d like to limit Apple’s “Win” for multi-touch to the UI category, the fact is that the demo’s we’ve seen on YouTube, on TV commercials, and in analyst reports make the iPhone look and sound very cool. So, I’ll call this one a draw.
Advantage? Draw
5) Imaging: In this category I put camera quality, image and video sharing capabilities. The N95 has more megapixels, and I think it’s safe to predict it will have a better camera than the iPhone. The Chicago Tribune recently wrote the N95 camera took better pictures than any other mobile phone. The N95 also has MMS while the iPhone does not. And the N95 is capable of sharing video clips, while the iPhone doesn’t have a video camera at all.
Advantage? N95
6) Music: Well, this is where Apple shines, right? The iPhone is, as Steve Jobs puts it, the “best iPod to date”. Until and unless the early adopters tell me otherwise, I’ll take his word for it. No doubt the end-to-end model works for many millions of consumers. So, the advantage has to go to iPhone. I will say this tho: There are consumers out there who prefer not to use iTunes, mostly because of DRM issues…if I buy a tune on iTunes, why can’t I put it on my Oakley MP3-playing sunglasses? Or my mobile phone? Or my wife’s PC? If my iTunes enabled laptop gets stolen, why can’t I re-download the songs I already purchased from iTunes? Well, Apple’s business model is what it is. And Steve Jobs gets extra points for helping to convince EMI to go DRM-free.
Advantage? iPhone
7) Miscellaneous stuff that N95 has and iPhone does not have: In this category I put download speeds (N95 sports 3G speeds, iPhone is 2G) messaging (N95 supports IM, iPhone does not) and Security (iPhone details are conspicuously missing, N95 supports SSL, VPN, remote lock, AVG from Symantec and F-Secure. A smorgasborg of features, no doubt. And some would argue that some of these features deserve a category of their own. But I’m lumping them together here. If you ask “Why no category for stuff iPhone has that N95 does not”, my answer is that I honestly can’t think of anything that consumers use/want that I haven’t already listed that fits this category. Therefore N95 wins this category.
Advantage: N95
Conclusion: There are undoubtedly many many people who will buy the iPhone on based entirely on its strength in the User Interace and Music categories. Those of us who use GPS, Instant Messaging, want the best imaging phone on the market, and perhaps most importantly want the ability to add and remove software, the N95, based on S60 software, might be a better choice. I believe comparing the two products is fair, and for me, the N95 is a better product. Why the N95 gets about 1/100th of the attention out there, is, I believe, a function of marketing and PR as opposed to legitimate product/feature/value advantage of the iPhone over the N95. But more on Apple PR and marketing in a future post.
Ciao Phil,
seems everyone here is going nuts about a device that practically no one has tested.
It’s strange this situation since other OEM give away their products before launch to get real feedback, while the iPhone is an unknown object.
In any case I posted my thoughts about the iPhone in my blog back in January http://www.biskero.org/?p=1062, Apple wants to become a content provider using iTunes. Many people missed this.
Alessandro
2 things
1) “We also know that it is impossible to dial the N95 while wearing gloves, as it does not have a physical keypad.”
I think that’s a typo. You meant iPhone instead of N95 there, right?
2) E-Mail
I dont think they’re going after the business segment for the reasons you gave. However, iPhone does have full HTML e-mail and is the only phone to my knowledge that does so. That’s a clear advantage vs N95.
Of course, the wealth of features found in the N95 that are not found in the iPhone (video, GPS, a billion other things) make it the clear winner.
The Blackberry Connect client is only available for E-Series devices so can’t be used on the N95. It’s the same with the Exchange Activesync client (though you can purchase one from Roadsync for 49 USD). I have no idea why this is the case and why you can’t at least pay for the Blackberry client for N-Series devices. I’d be 1st in line.
I would love to see more email connectivity on the Nseries devices as well.
Hi Phil,
You said that the iPhone is for US market, in US Nokia N95 does NOT do 3G (fighting with Qualcomm).
The quirky OS on the Nokia is slow at best, delays to switch apps, not enough memory for browsing big HTML pages.
The N95 pluses IMO are: VoIP, GPS, 5MP Camera.
This is only Apple’s first phone, they will eventually get it right.
Upping the Megapixels and adding a GPS chip and the rest of the functionality will come in the future, I am sure.
VoIP and IM can be added via firmware upgrades, with 4GB/6GB and a fast processor you can add quite a bit.
I remember the futuristic videos of cool nokia phones with touch interfaces, and they never saw the light.
If anything, you have to work harder now, Nokia has been sitting on its laurels for a long time.
As for the US market, I can never buy anything here. Your US online shop is bare, all the cool Nokia devices are in Europe.
But I am sure you have a reason for this.
Jon,
You can buy the N95 N80, E61i and others through online retailers such as Amazon, buy.com and dell.com
Well.
I don’t know the N95. I use an N73. And I really am not satisfied at all. Why?
- It is terribly slow. This device just takes ages to boot up. I have to wait every time I switch it on until it will finally ask me for my PIN code.
- It is still terribly slow afterwards. Open your phone book. Wait. Start to type a name. Wait. Wait. Wait.
- I really don’t care about more than 2 party calls, as I would alsways use a conference bridge to organise something with more participants.
- I really don’t like the messy user interface of Nokia N73.
- The major “feature” I really liked about the N73 was its voice quality, and especially with the stereo earphones. Wow. Finally a phone which allows me to understand what the other party says. We will see if the iPhone does that as well.
I also use a Blackberry. That one at least is nice for email. The phone voice quality is crap though. Nevertheless, I never would even think about replacing it by an N73 for email.
What About E65, E90(Asia Only), How long did we have to wait for the N95? Dell started a few weeks ago! Amazon? would you trust some of these resellers. Some of them were selling the N95 before it appeared , one minor detail you had to wire funds to Nigeria!!!!
What about firmware upgrades, everyone upgraded their firmware except the US.
I am glad you guys are reshuffling, the party is over, you have to work harder now.
Yes, was a typo Al thank you…
Thanks for the comments Siegfried. I agree that the N73 was sluggish. The N95 is much quicker (boot up and reaction times) than the N73.
I’ve heard lots of people complain about voice quality on the Bberries. If you want voice quality + qwerty keyboard, I wonder if the E61i would do the trick. Let us know if you try that device out, what do you think of it…
You are preaching to the choir (about S60 availability, not so much about working at Nokia being a “party”) Trying to bring more S60 devices to the States has been a battle for me. For a long time there was a 850 band problem. Now that quad band is becoming part of the phone’s “hygiene” that’s starting to change. Today there are MANY more S60 devices available for sale. But still it is not enough. We continue to push to get these devices through channels which will make them available to consumers here in the States. I believe we’ll see even more S60 devices in the near future, and we’ll also see the “lag” between European and American availability shrink as well. I’m curious what part of the country you are in? I know that there is a large direct channel campaign ongoing in NYC, check it out at http://www.nseries.com/nyc
Daniel,
sad but true that such blog of ‘comparing features’ clearly shows that you haven’t gotten the point yet. The iPhone is not going to be beaten by features (Nokia, listen) and certainly a ‘feature comparison’ in which the grand N95 wins is just silly. The iPhone is about more than features, any iPod user is going to tell you that.
I’m not a huge fan for Apple products, have had Nokia for most of my ‘mobile life’. But if you want to understand what the iPhone is all about, get out of your ‘feature’ box quickly. It might help Nokia design products for which their customers have a similar passion than Apple users. That’s something to envy Apple for. A product must become more than a feature checklist, if you want to beat companies like Apple.
I give you an example: Nokia products (like other vendors’ ones) have music capabilities for quite some years now. I do use my N80 extensively for music. But nothing comes close (backend integration plus actual musicplayer implementation on the handsets, which still sucks) to the iPod. In all these years, Nokia has still not gotten it right to integrate music well. And this isn’t an issue of DRM (which many people even live with since it is still the best integrated one). In fact, Nokia’s silly attempts of ‘music editions’ make things even worse. Same phone as before with slightly changed ‘applications’, nothing else. It shows that the responsible product managers haven’t understood what music integration really means.
Good points Dirk. First things first: while I agree that iPhone has been successfully marketed and hyped, and that it is now an “it” product. And this is not b/c of the features. I would say it is largely because of the UI and overall look and feel of the device. And also because the iPhone is revolutionary from the perspective that a non-phone company is making it.
The N95, on the other hand, is an evolutionary product from the perspective that the company that makes it has been making great mobile phones for a long time. Great for us, but not great from a PR perspective, as there is no “news” in Nokia putting out a mobile device with a 5 MP camera/GPS/3G, whereas there is news in Apple doing the same.
I’ll also say, however, that for some users the feature list IS important. I’m talking about technophiles/early adopters, those who buy, for example, the latest souped up and customized Dell instead of the Mac b/c it has greater RAM or a faster processor.
At the same time, one competitive advantage for Nokia in this case is that we have a platform-based approach to mobile development. This has allowed us to stay on top of the game since the 90s, while other companies and other platforms have come and gone. Think of Motorola, a phone with a great look and feel. It made lots of money for Moto, but look at Moto now.
This is not to say that Apple will suffer the same fate. By all accounts Apple looks like they are here to stay. We welcome them to the industry. They’ll certainly help grow the multimedia pie.
Daniel,
Apple entered the music player market from scratch and it was a success through creating passion and love for a product that was not bad at all (despite feature-wise probably as good or even better products from competitors were available).
What I am saying is that Nokia lacks the same draw to passion by their users. On the contrary, the long time users are increasingly locked in ‘feature advancements’ that are available for phone A and magically don’t run on phone B (so much for platform approach which is rather laughable), e.g., mail solutions that are locked into E series and don’t run on N series or new player software that runs on newly released phones but not on older ones. That creates disapppointment within the segment that you’re targeting and endangers to ever expand beyond this group of users.
I am not convinced that Apple is necessarily going to be successful but I do hope that it is a wake-up call for companies like Nokia to concentrate on what users want, which is often more than a pure feature list. Once that lesson is learned, the next comparison will not be driven by comparing features only.
>”I agree that the N73 was sluggish. The N95 is much quicker (boot up and reaction times) than the N73.
Well, maybe that’s also one of Nokia’s problems.
You know, I got my N73 around December 2006, i.e.
6 months ago. The life cycle of these phones seems
to be so short now that Nokia seems telling its
customers (at least that’s what I perceive) that
6 month later I should just buy a new phone.
I am not tempted to spend money now to try the N95. I know that 6 months from now, Nokia will have a new model, and will drop maintenance for the old one.
The real reason why I would be happy to try an iPhone is that Apple in the past has always shown that they make a real effort to understand their customer needs. And part of their customer needs is not functional, it is simply that you don’t want to buy a new phone every 6 months.
Dirk — I agree that Apple’s entry into mobiles will shake up the industry. And feature comparisons, while sometimes necessary, are only one part of the overall picture.
Daniel,
Given the title of this blog is “See Into S60″ why don’t you write about Nokia and/or S60 marketing where you have special knowledge, rather than, Apple marketing.
Sadly, this was Nokia’s game to lose in the US. How could Apple beat Nokia at their game? That’s the real and interesting story. And as one other commenter mentioned, Nokia - listen - at long last - listen. It’s past the time that the company listened instead of broadcasting only.
Hi mobilejones — The original post was largely about comparing an S60-based phone to the iPhone. Does that not fit into the “See into S60″ format? “See into S60″ is described as follows in the “About this blog link”:
“Welcome to the See into S60 blog, where we’re dedicated to keeping you in touch with S60-related news, events and hot topics. We hope you’ll respond by posting your views and comments once you’ve read what we think.
The See into S60 blog consists of the posts written by a group of people who work with the S60 platform every day, whether in business planning and marketing or product management and software development. ”
On the US market being Nokia’s to lose: I wish that were the case, but for a variety of reasons the US market has long been a sore spot for Nokia in general, and S60 in particular. Bberry, WinMob, and Treo have outsold S60 here for some time. So from that perspective this market was MS, RIM, and Palm’s to lose. That’s not something I’m proud of, but it’s a fact nonetheless, so let’s start the conversation from there.
On “Listening”: I agree that Nokia could do a better job here. Nokia (famously) took far too long to respond to user design needs in the US (clamshells). On the other hand we are fully committed to listening to consumers and fans through this blog site. So there are *some* good things going on here.
I have a new blog in the works that will also help the marketing team listen to S60 consumers, in part by allowing consumers to shape an off-line Word of Mouth marketing campaign. That blog should be up by next week, pls keep checking back. And I’m curious to have a conversation with you about what else we can do to listen once that blog is up and running.
Daniel,
I should have included your statement that spurred my comment for context. You wrote,
“Why the N95 gets about 1/100th of the attention out there, is, I believe, a function of marketing and PR as opposed to legitimate product/feature/value advantage of the iPhone over the N95. But more on Apple PR and marketing in a future post.”
Perhaps now, my suggestion that you write about Nokia marketing can be understood as it was conjured.
The case you make above is the superiority of the N95 product - which I won’t debate at this moment but which deserves a more critical review. There were 1 billion devices/handsets sold last year by a handful of manufacturers because different people have different needs which are satisified by different form factors, and feature sets.
In any case…I say that this was Nokia’s game to lose precisely because it is Nokia not the other device or platform makers you listed who have the Internet device mentality. S60 and Nokia have been present in the US market long enough to have figured out how to market here, and yet results say there’s been no learning.
Yes, the slow response to US demand for a calm shell form factor, qwerty keyboards, and CDMA products have left Nokia/S60 in the unenviable position of having their whole product line ignored in the US.
Nokia has to fight it’s instinct to listen to the already converted. It has to fight it’s instinct to feel secure in the glow of past successes. The iPhone hasn’t hit Europe yet, but strong awareness and demand for the iPhone there illustrates the lack of innovation coming from Nokia and S60 with a single handset launch.
Hey, both these phones are for different segments according to me. I mean the n95 is usually bought for it’s features by people who understand computers and modding. People who have n95’s usually mod and customise them heavily and have(2have) an indepth idea of softwares and computers. Also the styling is way off.
The i-phone on the other hand is aimed at the cool dudes out there. These people don’t need a 5mp camera( cuz they’re not photographers?) nor the gps(not going trekking!) nor the dual slide…which is a waste of time and very clumsy too being full of bugs.
But in the end ibouht myself a n95 :D..
i’ve posted sum things bout it in my blog .. do come sumtime and we’l cotinue this debate mayb…
http://s603rd.blogspot.com.
Microsoft have been delivering “features” by the bucketload for decades, and their software sucks. Apple has mostly always been about ease of use, about simplifying the complex. So, comparing features is a mugs game. The hoopla has died down, and owners still love their iPhones. The features it lacks are well known, but they will appear in time, and some are missing now because it’s not possible to deliver them in a way which is up to Apple’s high standards.
My N95 is great and crappy in equal measure. The latest and greatest Nokia phones always feel like a work in progress, and the N95 is a golden example. I hope that Nokia is learning much from Apple’s success.
Oh, and calling those who like the iPhone “Apple fanboys” is beneath you.
Phoris — I typically use the term not as a pejorative, but for fans of Nokia/S60 and Apple alike. As in S60 fanboy/girl. But I see your point. In the blogosphere I’ll need to be more careful.
Instead of making a comparison, here is a list of differences between the iPhone and the N95
Bluetooth
iPhone - May work, but is a very limited and closed system with few practical uses.
Nokia N95 - Has A2DP and AVRCP. This means you can
Use it as a wireless music storage device in your car to transmit your music in excellent quality to your car stereo to play back the music.
Control the phone’s playback of your music collection from your car radio.
Use both cameras of the phone as an excellent wireless webcam for your PC with Mobiola Webcam.
Use microphone of the phone as a wireless microphone for your PC with Mobiola Microphone Remote.
Use a wireless keyboard such as space saver Think Outside keyboard or any typical BT wireless keyboard.
Use high quality wireless headphones (Sony, Bose, Motorola, etc.) that allow control of the music playback on the phone.
Use your PC wirelessly to move, copy, delete, and edit files directly on the phone.
Use your PC to wirelessly control all the features of the phone and at the same time display the phones screen on your PC, recording it if your wish, with Mobiola Remote Phone Control.
Access and utilize external Bluetooth GPS positioning devices.
Computer access
iPhone - Very limited closed system with no direct access to the data for repair if it were corrupted.
Nokia N95 - With cable, WiFi, and Bluetooth you can
Drag and drop, synchronize, share, and stream files, (music, pictures, video, documents, files, and folders) to or from any PC on your network, to any uPnP device.
Map network drives on your phone for access from PC’s, access mapped network drives on your PC’s from your phone with SymSMB.
Access and download all the data on your PC’s and listen to and watch your entire PC media collection of streamable media (music and movies) from anywhere in the world with Orb.
WIFI
iPhone - Works
Nokia N95 - Works and is reported to stream data at a faster rate than the iPhone.
Bar-code reader
iPhone - None
Nokia N95 - Get contact information instantly at trade shows from the other members cards.
Record sounds and voice
iPhone - None
Nokia N95 - Excellent microphone with which you can
Record anything you want, including calls. No limit in length.
Remove the required 5-second beep with Ultimate Voice Recorder.
GPS
iPhone - Cell tower emulated triangulation. Voice instructions.
Nokia N95 - Built in real GPS hardware, cell tower emulated triangulation, External Bluetooth hardware capable, Assisted GPS or any combination of all three. You always have some kind of fix. With the GPS you can
Find your current location in a foreign city at night and find and get direction from where you are to where you want to go.
Get directions to services of all kinds.
Use third party add-ons such as Tomtom.
Use the Nokia Sport Tracker for walking, riding bikes, hiking, etc. This provides several different statistical analyzes of distance, elevation, time and distance, including laps and the actual path taken with the ability to save and compare your results with other results.
Camera
iPhone - 2 mega pixel. A common place phone camera that will not produce images that most people would want if they went to a concert or show.
Nokia N95 - 2 cameras. 5 mega pixel and VGA for video conferencing on EU networks. The 5 meg camera takes stunning pictures day and night. Carl Zeiss optics. Comes with editing software right on the phone. With third party applications your can take pictures of pages and email them or fax them.
Video capture
iPhone - None
Nokia N95 - 640 x 480 @ 30 fps. Stunning quality, even at night, with audio. Includes digital stabilization.
Activation
iPhone - 2 year contract that adds up to quite a bit.
Nokia N95 - Buy it unlocked from Nokia or Dell directly and have a warranty and no contract to take it where ever you want.
Infrared
iPhone - None
Nokia N95 - Works great. With it you can
Transfer data.
Control all the Infrared devices in your house and office.
Connect to your PC and use the phone as a modem.
Screen
iPhone - Very nice large touch screen. (finger print prone). Requires 2 hands to operate easily.
Nokia N95 - Smaller screen than the IPhone. A larger screen would have been nice. Easy one handed operation.
TV Out
iPhone - None
Nokia N95 - Works great with the supplied cable. Use it in a hotel room with a BT keyboard to read email and edit office documents, Use it on your TV to play video games, movies, and share pictures.
Cable Interface
iPhone - proprietary iPod type connection.
Nokia N95 - Mini USB and a standard mini plug that all ear buds use. (same plug for TV Out)
Speakerphone
iPhone - ?
Nokia N95 - People do not even know I am on it.
Speakers
iPhone - Mono sound
Nokia N95 - Probably the best set of stereo speakers every installed in a cell phone.
Ring tones
iPhone - Is it even worth mentioning?
Nokia N95 - Use pretty much anything you want. Any audio track on the phone can be used. Create your own mix right on the phone itself and save it as a new mp3 or ring tone.
Traveling
iPhone - You are locked to ATT, period.
Nokia N95 - Unlocked and support for various networks across the globe. If you are traveler, the iPhone is not even a consideration if you do your research.
Sexiness (I am putting this here because CNET mentioned this)
iPhone - Sleek and cool looking, but viewed as a toy in the workplace.
N95 - Viewed as THE phone of a technologically competent professional.
Battery
IPhone - Longer lasting than the N95, but not removable
Nokia N95 - Replaceable battery. If you find yourself in the EMERGENCY situation where you need to make a call and do not have access to a charger and your battery is dead, you can just replace the battery with a spare. With the iPhone you could be stuck off the side of a cliff in a car with no power and trapped. Unfortunately, Apple seemed to overlook this MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE OF HAVING A CELL PHONE IN THE FIRST PLACE. EMERGENCYS!!! I would actually be willing to get my wife this phone if it were not for this issue.
Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)
IPhone - None
Nokia N95 - Excellent on board chip for hardware decoding of video and 3D games. Supports DirectX and OpenGL. Stunning game playback on the phone or your TV that the most hard core XBOX/PS# games are impressed with.
Additional third party applications
IPhone - None at this time.
Nokia N95 - Several different office applications, programming, game emulators such as MAME (allowing playing pf 1000’s of known arcade game classics), Synch applications, Tune musical instruments, Gmaps, Google maps, Phone Guardian, GSM Tracker, ybroswer, FExplorer, SysExplorer, studio nokia, mobile web server, cCam, Carbide ui, SymSMB, Instant Messaging, VoIP,, SSH/Telnet, rar files with Mobilerar, stream with Orb or TVersity, Mobiola Webcam, Mobiola Microphone Remote, Mobiola Remote Phone Control, Tomtom, NavXS and others, Aspicore GSM Tracker, ultimat voice recorder, really nice 3D games by the hundreds, HourPower, Digital Clock, Mobisophy InteractiveVoice Call Master, Webgates Advanced Call Manager, MobieGenie, Divx player, CORE Player, Flash 5 player, PeerBox, TextQuick, Mobile Weather, eBuddy, MSN, Mig33, ScanR, Palringo, Adobe PDF support preinstalled, MS Excel and Word support pre installed, S60 Internet Radio, VCEL, ShoZu, TypePad Mobile, OperaMini, The Kaywa Reader, Jaiku, Nokia Sensor, Nokia Team Suite, Gmail Mobile, Symella, SymTorrent, Python for S60, PuTTy, QReader, ReadM, Chords for S60, S-Tris 2, Nokia - Wellness Diary, Acala 3GP Movies, studio_nokia, MyStrands, OggPlay, JabpLite, Calcium, GCalSync, Autolock, MobileRar, Nokia Local Search, Scenetone, Tasky, Nokia DJ Mixer, Fring, WorldMate, CellTrack, Loc Bluepulse, Spodtronic, Mobixie, Hibaru, DJMixerNSeries, SafeTxt, GamesFlash, Market Simplified for Mobiles, myNumbers, Qibla Compass for Mobiles, Handylearn Counter, Weight and Measures Quick Study Guide, mShell, Virgin Radio & Podcast Player….
I could add to this list for hours. Many of these applications are free. Most of these programs are well written and feature rich. These are not trivial little tidy bits. If you really want a smart phone, it has to be smart enough to know that it will not do everything out of the box and some things should be left to outside programmers to develop. The iPhone ’s application list is not even a bad joke compared to the N95. The problem with comparing the two is that it takes months just to get a handle on the capabilities of an N95. Most N95 users do not take the time to respond to such comparisons, as the comparison is not only foolish, but requires quite a bit of time to accurately list the N95’s capabilities.
N95 for sure more preferably choice in comparison with iPhone.
As much as I love Apple, I have to say Popular Science hit the nail on the head with this one.
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/whatsnew/dcaa76b033265110vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html
Though I disagree with the point about E-mail (claiming G-Mail accessibility to be the be-all and end-all of E-mail connectivity is unfair IMO), I think everything else is fairly written.
I believe David Pogue at the NY Times defined technology = “it doesn’t work” and commodity = “it HAS to work.” IMO S60 devices are technology, while Apple turns technology into commodity. Anyone can pick up and use an iPhone, and hardly have a problem doing so; S60 devices, OTOH, have a *huge* learning curve, and afterwards still throw a few glitchy curveballs.
Thank you for link Doctor. A good one. And I like your moniker.