The Role of Simple Things in Cementing Nokia's Success in the Mid-High End Segment

[Adi23]

Hi guys, we all know good features make a good phone...or do we?

The Iphone proved that the top features of the day arent a requisite for a successful phone in the mid-high end segment. Rather, the Iphone proved without question that a unique design, killer UI and icons and general prettiness seals the deal.

Now often ive heard people say Nokia's icons look the same as they did on the 3650 and its the same complaint people had about Motorola and their menu system. Additionally, Nokia needs to spend more time into outlets that have all their stuff in one place like themes, wallpapers and applications. When I say spend more time I mean a neat clean idea like an app store or an app store like forum. Also yes im aware that they finally redesigned their icons for FP2. My whole point is that a lot of really nice themes are available for Symbian devices but not many people know where to find them. I change my themes often on my phones and people are always commenting how nice they look and that they didnt know Nokias could do that.

Many will read my post and say wow a theme is going to make me buy a phone yeah right. However, its not about you its about the millions who gravitate to something which is aesthetically appealing.

My next point is the fact that Nokia can gain an advantage by becoming the first traditional handset manufacturer to implement TV in their devices and maybe even dual sim (though I know Samsung has dual sim phones).

Chinese knock-offs and general cheap Chinese phones have tv and dual sim. These phones may be cheap and unreliable but they are selling like hot bread worldwide. Consumers cannot get enough of tv and dual sims and in many countries people are glad for dual sim devices since they usually carry around more than one phone. If official figures could be had you guys would be surprised at just how much they sell.

Apple already has the Apple TV do you guys think its long before they score more points by being an innovator by including the tv feature on the Iphone.

Its little things like these that Nokia can do as well as improving features and reliability and gain more ground worldwide and in the US.

US citizens love the television and I think if Nokia were to say create a N900 like device with TV it would be a massive hit.

Also Nokia could score points by making the sms experience better in Sony Ericsson phones emoticons were built in the sms feature and you could send cool emoticons. Nokia could easily add something like this to their phones.

Im going to leave you guys with some of my favourite themes (i.e. the ones that get the most attention) by the way lol:

[jontymisra]

Neat themes - dont have an S60 phone on me though!

[Adi23]

Hey Jontymisra, any other opinions for me and Nokia in general?

What did you think of my post? Agree? Disagree?

[jontymisra]

I agree, to a certain extent - but my issue isnt with poor UI, it's with poor functionality in certain key areas, which need to be addressed from ground up. Unfortunately, Nokia is quite stubborn in that sense and that's why I've left the S60 camp. I've mentioned my issues across several threads over the past few months since I defected from S60, and the recent offerings arent doing anything to bring me back. I wish seasoned users like you could modify/change integral functionality of the phone as well.

But I'm sure the forum appreciates your efforts in giving a facelift to the S60.

[Attera]

I really like theme #3, where did you get these?

The US does not have a good mobile TV standard by the way. N96 also already had DVB-H tuner.

But if there's no infra to support the feature, what's the point? The default method of delivery for mobile TV in the US is through data. (MobiTV and vCast)

[Blaxx]

My god those themes are hideous. Someone call TehkSeven quick!

[kits]

I agree. First Nokia needs to get the simple things that appeal to the mass right. While SE does a wonderful job with their feature phones they mess up with insane prices and lousy marketing and delay of products.

If Nokia can get several of their phones subsidized on all networks they should do well with some minor tweaks to their UI and functionality.

[arjwright]

Simply UI changes are indeed needed; but its more than themes and apps. The entire user experience is what needs work, and this is something being worked on both by Nokia and the Symbian Foundation.

I dig that 3rd theme (hand-drawn one). If it were light (in terms of space requirements) and had some neat transition animations with it, I'd rock it on my N97.

[Hlorri]

IMO, S60v3 FP2 -- particularly on the N85 -- is "as close to perfect" as you can get in terms of UI, interactions, etc for a phone with numeric keypads and no touch screen. These are devices that are first and foremost phones, but with basic computer functionality (i.e. web browser, PDF/office reader, flash, etc).

Symbian/S60 did not do the transition to "touch" UI very well. Let's face it, it will never (Nokia are shafting this platform by assigning only the most demotivated and junior programmers to it - maybe as much to throw a wrench at Sony Ericsson as for any other reason, now that SE were planning to use it for some of their devices).

Maemo is now where they are putting their money, and it is also the most capable of any mobile platform -- much moreso than e.g. iPhone OS, which is also hindered by all kinds of restrictions due to Apple's arrogance. Yes, there is a place for iPhones, but face it, that's mostly for people who were previously using RAZRs. Unlike the OP, I don't think "purty" icons is enough for everyone.

There is Android (which could help companies like Sony Ericsson and Motorola, who can't afford the time/money to develop new smartphone platforms on their own) - but it too has a lot of restrictions that are hard to get past (for instance, no native application environment, Java only; also limited in terms of multitasking).

If only Nokia can be a bit more cooperative with others w.r.t. the future of Maemo (yes it is an open platform already, but I am referring more to the stewardship of it), then there is no reason that could not be the "standard" mobile platform in a few years.

[corduroy]

A theme isn't going to do it. It doesn't need to have top end features but the features a phone has, it needs to do well.

This is where Nokia has faltered.
Dialing: If someone calls from my address book, I can't tell if they are calling from their cell, landline, or work. They're stored separately in my address book but Nokia S60 doesn't differentiate between sources. This also applies when I dial out and look at my previous calls and have called a cell phone instead of a landline because I thought my last call was to their landline.
Settings: I go into tools and I can change my Bluetooth settings via the homescreen, the tools folder, or go under Settings >> Connection. Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS). I know the bluetooth icon is a shortcut but in general, they need to keep a very simple structure and not this menu within a folder within a program.
E-Mail: Do I need to say anything about how poorly it handles email?
Web: Ok browser but 3rd parties have Webkit browser that act quicker and have better browsing support.

There are more, but I believe it's been ranted enough and these are the most glaring issues.

However, if they would have fixed these issues early in S60v3, they wouldn't be dealing with these issues now and have a much more successful product, IMHO. Especially with S60 being the successor to S40 in the low and midrange phone market, they're going to have to spend more on resources just to do basic things correctly which should (and could) have been fixed ages ago (because they keep adding and not fixing the basics).

As far as TV and dual sim... not really a huge demand for them here in the states. Maybe TV as soon as the standard is deployed. As for dual sim... it's a meh. There isn't much of a need for 2 services on a single phone in the states. The people who would be interested in such a thing are, I would guess, business peoples.