What I’ve Missed About the S60 Experience

August 27th, 2008, 18:59 Posted By: wraggster

After finally getting my thoughts on the iPhone 3G out into a blog post last week I felt it was finally time to go back to using a Nokia S60 device again. I’d really missed the S60 experience and I’ve wanted to try some of the new devices running the latest software (top of my list right now is the Nokia E71).

As has become the norm I posted my thought to Twitter and got this reply from Frank:



That got me thinking about what I really missed about the S60 experience while I was using the iPhone and here is what I came up with.

1) Video - It hasn’t always been the case but recently Video has become important to me. I love absorbing everything related to New Media and Social Media and the emergence of some interesting video-based services have got me really interested in video again. My favourite of these has to be Qik, a service which allows you to live-stream video directly from your device to the internet something I have regularly noticed I’d want to do in lots of situations recently. Other video services like Phreadz and Seesmic are on my radar too and video taken on your phone is the ideal way for me to dive in to their world.

2) Geo-Tagging - The easy way. The iPhone can Geo-Tag images but I just haven’t found a good way to upload that data to my preferred destination (Moblog). If I email it Apple strips out the location data and 3rd Party Apps also seem to have a problem retaining the data. On S60 devices this is just easier to do and I’ve never had problems with the data being stripped out. On top of that I really want to get back to using Sports Tracker (a better name is Life Tracker). Being able to upload that data and share it with others is pretty compelling and not something you can do with the iPhone yet.

3) Background Application - This is probably what I missed most and given that I normally have at least 3 apps going in the background when on an S60 device it’s hardy surprise. As I mentioned in my iPhone post this is something that I think really hinders the iPhone experience. A great example is Last.fm which i can use on an S60 device and let it run in the background while doing anything else with the device but on the iPhone I’m stuck in the App and if I go anywhere else the App is shut down. I’m sure that we’ll eventually see some iPhone Apps that are allowed to run in the background but until then this is a big winner for S60 and also Windows Mobile.

4) Bluetooth - Yes, I know the iPhone has Bluetooth but what can I do with it? I can’t send files to other phones or to my laptop using it. I can’t connect to any headset that I like or any other Bluetooth accessories that I might want to use. Bluetooth on the iPhone is totally toothless and there really is no good excuse as to why Apple have limited it so much. I had hoped that the iPhone 3G would have improved matters but as it hasn’t I have little confidence that we’ll see improvements in future iPhone hardware or software.

5) Tethering - I work away from home a lot and while WiFi is usually easy to find it’s good to know that I can always use my HSDPA phone as an internet connection if I ever get stuck. Unless of course I’m carrying an iPhone. Traditional tethering via cable or Bluetooth are missing from the iPhones arsenal which is surprising given that so many devices on the market support this, and not just Smartphones. Again when the iPhone 3G was announced and Apple indicated it was starting to aim at business user I hoped that tethering would be a new addition. Unfortunately it wasn’t and I doubt it will be added in future either. It’s also worth mentioning that if you use an S60 device there is the fantastic Joikuspot application that allows you to turn your phone into a WiFi hotspot, another thing I’ve really missed.

6) Copy/Paste - This one of those features that you might not realise is that important to you until you find yourself without it. I repeatedly found myself wishing the iPhone had the S60 pencil key in the month I was using the Apple device. On S60 devices it’s a joy to use (once you realise you can do it) especially moving text between different apps. This is by no means a vital feature but considering Apples great implementation of the screenshot feature (which could also be considered a minor addition) I hope it’s something they’ll throw in to a future update.

7) Options - Wasn’t sure how to title this one. Basically while I was using the iPhone I felt trapped having to do things the Apple way. I’ve already mentioned how closed the iPhone is in terms of Bluetooth, tethering and even Geo-Tagging. What I missed even more was being able to just plug in the phone and view its contents without having to use iTunes (which I loath) or iPhoto. I regularly use Linux and my daily PC right now is an Asus Eee 900 from which I can do nothing but charge my iPhone. With S60 you have far more options to interact with the device and load music, photos and other content and I miss that flexibility. I know this is to be expected because Apple have always had very closed environments and I’m sure there might be some benefits but for me as a power user nothing is more annoying.

Form Factor - With S60 you have a whole bunch of choice when it comes to form-factor. What do you prefer, Slider? Candybar? QWERTY? S60 devices cover them all, do them well and provide them at a variety of price-points. You also have your choice of different features. Love to take photos? Pick up and N82 which has a great camera and a proper flash. Want a work-horse that does everything? The N95-8GB will be your beast of choice. With the iPhone you’re stuck with the one option (I know there are 2 versions but you can only buy the 3G now) and if you don’t like touch screens or a large device you’re a bit stuck. While I know there are people out there that prefer to have less choice for me and I’m sure many others choice is important which is why the Mobile Device industry will always be fragmented.

9) Battery Life - A cheeky one and something I never thought I’d miss about S60 devices. Nokia S60 phones have aways had notorious battery life, especially the original N95. If you compare the specs the iPhone 3G should come out on top when it comes to battery. However when it came down to how long it lasted through regular use it fell short of the S60 battery performance. From what I’ve heard the latest S60 devices (bar the N96) have improved battery life so that should be an added boost when I buy a new Nokia phone. It’s also worth mentioning that, like every other mobile phone on the market, the Nokias have replaceable batteries.

So for all these reasons I’ll be moving on to a new S60 device as soon as I can. For now I have an E51 and E65 to keep me going. And the iPhone? Well I’ll certainly be using it every now and again to try out new apps and the new software updates. There certainly are aspects of the iPhone that I’ll miss, but that’s another post all together which I should put together by the end of the week, so stay tuned

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