Smartphones Now: Symbian
- November 1st, 2006
- 14 Comments
Smartphones Now is a special group of features by CrunchGear writers on the latest smartphones available or soon to be available in the US. In this installment, we discuss smartphones running the Symbian Operating System.
Because there are only a few “flavors” of Symbian, most programs written for Nokia phones are compatible throughout the line. UIQ phones are slightly different, but there is some overlap.
On the whole, Symbian is easy to use and designed for the relative novice. It has a clean, fresh and everything–from phone status to email notifications–is visible from the main screen.
What Symbian Doesn’t Do
When pushed, Symbian tends to crash rather than slow down. However, in our years of using Symbian phones, a soft reset usually solved all problems. Also many complain about the syncing system, which is non-existant for Linux and often subpar on other OSes. The music syncing system, for example, is quite poor but is getting better.
Most Symbian phones eschew the QWERTY keyboard, making messaging apps a bit hard to handle.
Before You Buy
Before buying a Symbian, or any smartphone really, make a list of the applications you’d like to have on the road. Symbian supports most major word processing and spreadsheet application viewers along with a wealth of travel programs including currency convertors and alarm clocks. It is very full-featured out of the box and there are a number of other programs available from Nokia in open- and closed-source form including a podcasting app and an Internet Radio system.
The Phones
Nokia E62
The E62 is the smartphone for the road warrior on a budget. Available from Cingular for $99 with a 2-year contract. It has a full QWERTY keyboard and supports almost every push-email service out there (Good Mobile Messaging, BlackBerry Connect, Intellisync Wireless Email, Mail for Exchange (Microsoft ActiveSync) and Xpress Mail) along with POP and IMAP. One caveat–this device doesn’t have WiFi, which might turn off hotspot fans.
Designed as a business phone, the E62 has 80MB of built-in memory and runs Symbian Series 60. No camera means you can carry it in high security places–like the locker room (??)–and an improved interface makes getting from program to program a breeze. It might be lacking in features, but sometimes a pared-down phone is just what you’re looking for.
Product Page [Cingular]
|
Phone |
Manufacturer |
Carrier |
MSRP |
|
|
|
Touchscreen |
|
|
|
|
Verdict |
|
Nokia N95 |
Any GSM Carrier. Should be |
About $600 |
Y |
Y |
N |
N |
Series 60 |
About 5 ounces |
TBA |
5-megpixel camera, HSDPA |
A flagship phone, but a bit pricey. |
|
|
Nokia N80 |
Any GSM carrier. Available |
About $599.99 |
Y |
N |
N |
N |
Series 60 |
4.7 ounces |
3.76 x 1.97 x 1.02 inches |
3-megapixel camera, EDGE, |
A mini slider phone for |
|
|
Sony Ericsson P990i |
Any GSM carrier. Available |
About $650 |
Y |
N |
Y |
Y |
UIQ |
5.3 ounces |
4.4 x 2.2 x 1 inches |
2-megapixel camera, FM |
A real powerhouse – |
|
|
Sony Ericsson W950i |
Any GSM carrier. |
TBA |
N |
N |
N |
Y |
UIQ |
5 ounces |
TBA |
Walkman Music Player |
A media phone with real |
|
|
Nokia E62 |
Cingular |
$99 |
N |
N |
Y |
N |
Series 60 |
5 ounces |
4.61 x 2.76 x .63 inches |
Push email |
A slim work phone. No |
Guiyo (Who am I?)
1 year ago
What about the Sony Ericsson m600 with QWERTY and that costs $350??
Could you also elaborate on the syncing problems=? It’s 2006, I can’t beleive they havent managed to do this properly really…
John Biggs (Who am I?)
1 year ago
i agree completely re: syncing, but it’s still happening. the n91, for example, has a horrible music syncing app and desktop app.
Susie (Who am I?)
1 year ago
I’d contend that the Syncing on the S60 3rd Edition phones is at least as good as anything else if not better. The fact that you can Sync with various Entperise solutions in addition to PC Suite (plus there’s the extra you get with PC Suite - easy tethering, filemanage, sms from your PC etc etc.
I also don’t agree that Symbian phones crash when pushed. Symbian phones are more advanced and far more stable than on other platforms (though you need to be outside the US to appreciate it). Look at the important stuff like call quality, basic phone functions, browsing, build quality and generally Symbian phones are ahead.
Music Sync does suck a bit, but then you do have the choice between Windows Media Player, Nokia Music Manager and USB host - so you shoudl find something that works for you.
I think what is most striking is Symbian get dealt with in a single post in this series (the Blackberry Pearl gets its own). It is the biggest player by far… Even just taking one phone - the 3250 - it sold 1 million in 4 months - the same as the Treo does in a year. However because of its low US presence it is largely ignored by the US media.
Not banging on CG - at leats you talked about it, but there’s a good reason Symbian phones are way ahead in the markets where the devices / platform are on an equal footing and all the latest devices are available for consumers to choose from.
Jim Hughes (Who am I?)
1 year ago
Guys, I expected much better than this.
You’ve written an inaccurate (since 1998? Symbian OS can be traced back to around 1991 in the earlier versions of EPOC), and frankly rather odd overview of the Symbian OS, covering a handful of the 120+ Symbian phones.
Are you aware that Symbian OS has a market share close to 80% of smart devices in the hands of EMEA inhabitants? http://blogs.s60.com/seeintos60/2006/11/are_high_end_smart_mobile_devi_1.html
It’s hardly a bit-part player like Palm or WM, or even Blackberry who’s devices barely count as smartphones anyway.
dansus (Who am I?)
1 year ago
Not forgeting that there is an E61 which is the exactly the same as the E62 but has Wifi and UMTS.
Jerry
1 year ago
Please note that there is a concentrated propaganda attack by Apple fanboys going on against Symbian and other iPhone threats. Other reviewers who don’t understand this take cues from such very negative texts and let it reflect in their otherwise normal reviews. This is how propaganda works.
Reply
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1 year ago
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1 year ago
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Gerald Grey (Who am I?)
5 months ago
Speaking from personal experience I have to say the n95’s web browsing capabilities leave alot to be desired,Remember we are talking about a very expensive handset here.Content heavy webpages cause the device to ‘freeze’ also it suffers severe operation slowdown.Symbian 3rd party applications are extremely limited especially when you pit them against the WinMob counterpart that said the n95 does have a nice camera and musicplayer.