Thursday 14 August 2008

Final thoughts on 6220 Classic vs. G900

Well, the 6220 Classic has been retired, and I'm back to the G900. Here are some parting thoughts.
  • I was expecting a lot out of Sports Tracker, and was sorely disappointed. It never once held onto the GPS tracking for more than ten minutes, and once it lost it, could not reconnect without stopping the activity (which prevents you getting statistics for your whole session). This was different behavior from Nokia Maps, which is very reliable.
  • This flakiness (yes, I know it's a beta -- so is gmail) and variable results were a common characteristic of my experience with S60. For example, I wanted to try out the Conversations threaded messaging app on Nokia's beta labs site. Unfortunately, there's no FP2 version, the the old versions simply don't work on FP2. Considering that messaging, contacts and calendar don't seem to have been upgraded much (if at all), why doesn't Conversations work?
  • Nokia's input method is a bit easier for me than SE's, but either one is very clunky compared to something like a P1i (or, presumably, an E71).
  • S60's calendar is truly atrocious -- the update from the new E series phones is sorely needed.
  • TV-out looks like a useful feature, but unless you're using the 6220 as a media player, or you're very hard of sight, it isn't really.
  • The 6220 Classic feels solid in the hand until you put it to your ear (or it does for me). Then the way it's held to your ear makes it feel very flimsy. The G900/G700 always feels pretty solid.
  • The 6220c crashed probably about once every three days for me. The G900 very rarely crashes, although it does do a deliberate, but unsolicited, reboot every few days (to "free up memory").
  • The 6220c only does auto-keylock from the standby screen. Dodgy.
  • The 6220c's screen really is gorgeous.
  • Nokia's PC Suite is more user friendly than SE's, but also more unstable.
  • Even after all these years, the S60 keypad-only UI still feels suffocating to me, and I prefer the more open pastures of UIQ 3. I'm looking forward to S60 Touch.

It will be interesting to see how the Symbian Foundation platform develops. I'm thinking about ways that UIQ 3's better features can be integrated into S60, and I'll be blogging on that soon.

Tuesday 5 August 2008

New Carnival of the Mobilists

The latest version of Carnival of the Mobilists is available at Mobile Point of View.

Check it out for the latest in mobile ruminations, including my comparo of the 6220 and G700/900.