Paul Jacobson

The N97 really seems to have had a rocky reception in the USA in particular. I just read a particularly vitriolic review in Gizmodo where Matt Buchanan declared that the N97’s UI is a “crappy half-assed UI, it’s a steaming pile of suck on a slab of garbage toast”. This was fairly typical of the tone of the rest of the post. I’ve had numerous debates with people about the N97 and how it compares to the iPhone which has become the gold standard in many people’s eyes. The discussion inevitably involves me agreeing that Nokia devices really don’t have the same great UI that the iPhone has or even the range of great applications you can find in the iTunes App Store. I don’t think there is any denying that. It is simply an area where Apple excels and the S60 UI doesn’t.

That being said I have been wondering lately about the Symbian operating system itself. I listened to a great interview with Scott Weiss, the User Interface Technology Manager at the Symbian Foundation which is now tasked with developing Symbian and there are clearly some changes coming which bode well for Symbian. Whether they come too late is another question. What I have been wondering about is this: if you look beneath the UI at the operating system itself, is Nokia using a robust, powerful and modern operating system or is it as dated as the UI? The N97 seems to be running a slower processor and have less RAM but if the operating system is lightweight enough to thrive on those more limited resources then users shouldn’t see too much of a problem with performance. Buchanan commented that the N97 begins to slow down when running multiple processes but he neglects to mention that the iPhone, for one, doesn’t run multiple processes at all and all the power of its processor is dedicated to running single processes.

As far as the N97 and the iPhone 3Gs is concerned, I found two helpful comparative reviews in the last few days. Alec Saunders took the N97 and the iPhone 3Gs for a walk around San Francisco and tested a number of features of both devices. I think his post is pretty helpful if you are deciding between the N97 and the iPhone 3Gs so be sure to read it. Another helpful comparative review is this video review comparing the two devices literally side by side:

Also take a look at Michael’s profile page on YouTube, he has also compared the two browsers on the two devices.

The N97 is taking a lot of heat for its UI and given its competitors the criticism isn’t unwarranted. At the same time it will be some time before we see any major changes to the Symbian UI (Scott Weiss spoke in terms of 2011 or so). Hopefully that won’t be too late for Nokia which is losing ground in the smartphone market and will continue to lose ground, especially to Apple which has priced its iPhone 3G at $99 (on contract) in the US. I imagine we will see the price reduction filter through here eventually and the iPhone pick up more fanatics in SA too.

I was chatting to Craig Nicholson and Chris Onderstall at the end of alt.conference the other day about the iPhone 3Gs and the N97. Craig is in the market for a new device and was debating the relative merits of both devices as platforms and in their own right with me. I told him that if I was faced with a choice which device to buy (on contract or cash), I would be very tempted by the iPhone 3Gs. It is the iPhone I have been waiting for Apple to produce for some time now. It still has a couple limitations when compared to the N97 which has quite a bit going for it too. With this kind of competition, Nokia has its work cut out for it going forward.

Oh boy, I dig the new iPhone 3G S! This is what the iPhone should have been last year and possibly even when it first launched. I think Apple has actually produced an iPhone I could see myself owning, happily.

I have been excited when Apple launched its previous two iPhone models and was disappointed when I took a look at each device’s specs. It is probably because I expected more from Apple than what it actually produced. I still believe Apple’s OS and UI on the iPhone are the best I’ve seen (the Palm Pre or Android phones may change that perception when I have a chance to play with those devices). What I haven’t been impressed with is the hardware side. Apple has produced the awesome Mac range and Mac OS X which just keeps getting better with each new iteration. I expected something equally amazing from the iPhone and it just hasn’t met my internal (and quite possibly, impossible) expectations.

The iPhone 3G S looks fantastic. The camera is only a 3 megapixel camera but Simon Dingle has pointed out that even with 2 megapixels, people are taking awesome photos with the iPhone. A number of people have also, correctly, pointed out that megapixels are not the important thing, it is more about the optics and the sensor on the device. I can imagine that this camera will be perfectly adequate for casual photos at the very least. The addition of video capture and editing as well as the way the iPhone 3G S focuses make the iPhone even more exciting. It is worth watching the guided tour, there is a lot more about the iPhone 3G S to love.

There isn’t much about the new iPhone 3G S that is revolutionary and not available in other high-end devices but Apple does it so well. I love the interface for the digital compass and voice memos, to name two features. It looks beautiful and the retro look appeals to me. Even the slightly gimmicky voice control UI looks cool. No question about it, the iPhone 3G S is a sexy, useful, smart phone/iPod/Internet device!

One reason in particular not to get the iPhone 3G S comes to mind. My time with other touchscreen devices (including my wife’s iPod Touch) has reinforced how much I prefer having a physical keyboard on my devices. As nice as the onscreen keyboard is, I want the option of a physical QWERTY keyboard. I might be showing my age a little there and the fact that I am just not hip/cool/insert-descriptor-here but I want to type with actual buttons. And no, the Blackberry Storm doesn’t really appeal to me. Besides, I have something else coming my way which I am just as excited about, possibly more so.

I see that the iPhone 3G S is coming to SA next month. If you have been thinking about an iPhone for yourself, take a good look at this baby. It could be sunshine and happiness in your pocket.