Sooo, How is Symbian so popular. I know folks with Blackberrys, iPhones, Palm phones and WinMo phones... But.. only Symbian phones I know of are High end Nokias "N-series" and Sony Eriksan smart-phones.
@ Duscrom, You seem shocked that the iPhone isn't as popular as Symbian devices. (Must be an American like me...) Outside of the US, the iPhone isn't nearly as popular. We lead the world in buzz creation.
The Symbian OS and especially Nokia's Nseries and Eseries, are the world's most powerful and popular devices spanning a multitude of similar specialized models vs. one Apple model. You may know about Apple's iPhone, but Nokia's N95 greatly outsold it worldwide with 11 million sold and counting, and has been the real global smartphone phenomenon for people that need a device with more features and capabilities.
The only reason its not big in America is carriers are so afraid to carry the device because its so powerful, goes around all its apps and services profits with better, many times free alternatives, the unlocked models' mobile broadband radios only work on at&t's pitiful 3G network, and Nokia spends zero dollars marketing in America.
European and Asian smartphone users laugh at us Americans for favoring WinMo and iPhones, claiming them to be best, because everyone else knows the N95 8gb will absolutely embarrass an iPhone in most power usage and functionality tests that aren't rigged to favor simple tasks or avoids anything that requires alot of computing power. In fact, I'll be make the bold claim that my N95 8gb can perform every task the iPhone can, but all at once.
I wrote this comment on my device, and have replaced my laptop with it. The iPhone couldn't replace a laptop in anyone's imagination. So point blank, Symbian is more popular because its so much better.
Claims of difficult to use interface are unfounded. My teenage niece and nephew had no problem figuring it out, and they both agree it does way more than an iPhone, and more like their desktop PC. It only needs 2 buttons and a D-pad to operate. That extra button will only throw off the folks that need lessons to use Windows. And using it will immediately prove Symbian has 50x's more features and functions. Nseries devices take pictures and videos of such high quality, your iPhone can't even open them. The iPhone is simply to underpowered to open such high spec files. It can't even compare to an N95 8gb's DVD quality video capture, 5 megapixel camera with pro grade camera optics for the best photos on a phone, and ability to install ANY app the user wants.
@ EvilPaul, Don't mislead by claiming Symbian's dominance is mostly attributed to featurephone sales. They have nearly no US marketshare despite plenty of featurephone sales. They have 40% of global SMARTPHONE SALES. That's multitasking, open app installation, S60 Nokia devices, not S40. Americans aren't very exposed to them, but the world isn't stupid, we are.
christexaport: Oh I'm much more knowledgeable then to think that the iPhone is as popular elsewhere as it is here. I actually just didn't know where the extent of Symbian's market is. I will admit my foolishness at thinking that the US was a major part of the Cell Phone market. (blame me for being a gamer where the US us over half the market)
Though I have to ask, And be, honestly impressed that you could write up such an extensive post without a hardware keyboard. (Owns an HTC Titan, aka Sprint Mogul)
@chistexaport Care to elaborate on your statement that "The iPhone is simply to underpowered to open such high spec files"?
Every source I've seen puts the iPhone's Processor (Samsung S5L8900 - 667MHz underclocked to 412Mhz) significantly ahead of the N95s (332 MHz Texas Instrument OMAP 2420). Additionally, the iPhone's 128MB DRAM equals or betters the N95's 64-128MB (depending on model).
Having used both the N95 and the iPhone 3G extensively, I'm afraid I would beg to differ on most of your claims. While the N95 obviously has a vastly superior camera, claiming it has "pro grade camera optics" and records at "DVD Quality" is exaggerating somewhat.
As for your sale numbers, by most counts they appear to be roughly tied when you compare them based on how long they have been on the market. The Nokia N95 celebrated 10 million sales in April 2008, ~13 months after is launch in late March 2007. In comparison, the iPhone had 13 million sales by October 2008 - ~15 months after its launch. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, neither company has recently announced the reaching of the same milestone, making direct comparisons slightly difficult.
I am in no way claiming the N95 is a bad phone - I have used it extensively and it most certainly is not - however your comment appears to have a number of pretty severe misconceptions and unfairly portrays the iPhone in a negative light.
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Sooo, How is Symbian so popular. I know folks with Blackberrys, iPhones, Palm phones and WinMo phones... But.. only Symbian phones I know of are High end Nokias "N-series" and Sony Eriksan smart-phones.
All nokia phones for a long time use the Symbian OS. The cheap phones use S40 and mid to high end use S60.
@ Duscrom,
You seem shocked that the iPhone isn't as popular as Symbian devices. (Must be an American like me...) Outside of the US, the iPhone isn't nearly as popular. We lead the world in buzz creation.
The Symbian OS and especially Nokia's Nseries and Eseries, are the world's most powerful and popular devices spanning a multitude of similar specialized models vs. one Apple model. You may know about Apple's iPhone, but Nokia's N95 greatly outsold it worldwide with 11 million sold and counting, and has been the real global smartphone phenomenon for people that need a device with more features and capabilities.
The only reason its not big in America is carriers are so afraid to carry the device because its so powerful, goes around all its apps and services profits with better, many times free alternatives, the unlocked models' mobile broadband radios only work on at&t's pitiful 3G network, and Nokia spends zero dollars marketing in America.
European and Asian smartphone users laugh at us Americans for favoring WinMo and iPhones, claiming them to be best, because everyone else knows the N95 8gb will absolutely embarrass an iPhone in most power usage and functionality tests that aren't rigged to favor simple tasks or avoids anything that requires alot of computing power. In fact, I'll be make the bold claim that my N95 8gb can perform every task the iPhone can, but all at once.
I wrote this comment on my device, and have replaced my laptop with it. The iPhone couldn't replace a laptop in anyone's imagination. So point blank, Symbian is more popular because its so much better.
Claims of difficult to use interface are unfounded. My teenage niece and nephew had no problem figuring it out, and they both agree it does way more than an iPhone, and more like their desktop PC. It only needs 2 buttons and a D-pad to operate. That extra button will only throw off the folks that need lessons to use Windows. And using it will immediately prove Symbian has 50x's more features and functions. Nseries devices take pictures and videos of such high quality, your iPhone can't even open them. The iPhone is simply to underpowered to open such high spec files. It can't even compare to an N95 8gb's DVD quality video capture, 5 megapixel camera with pro grade camera optics for the best photos on a phone, and ability to install ANY app the user wants.
@ EvilPaul,
Don't mislead by claiming Symbian's dominance is mostly attributed to featurephone sales. They have nearly no US marketshare despite plenty of featurephone sales. They have 40% of global SMARTPHONE SALES. That's multitasking, open app installation, S60 Nokia devices, not S40. Americans aren't very exposed to them, but the world isn't stupid, we are.
christexaport: Oh I'm much more knowledgeable then to think that the iPhone is as popular elsewhere as it is here. I actually just didn't know where the extent of Symbian's market is. I will admit my foolishness at thinking that the US was a major part of the Cell Phone market. (blame me for being a gamer where the US us over half the market)
Though I have to ask, And be, honestly impressed that you could write up such an extensive post without a hardware keyboard. (Owns an HTC Titan, aka Sprint Mogul)
@chistexaport
Care to elaborate on your statement that "The iPhone is simply to underpowered to open such high spec files"?
Every source I've seen puts the iPhone's Processor (Samsung S5L8900 - 667MHz underclocked to 412Mhz) significantly ahead of the N95s (332 MHz Texas Instrument OMAP 2420). Additionally, the iPhone's 128MB DRAM equals or betters the N95's 64-128MB (depending on model).
Having used both the N95 and the iPhone 3G extensively, I'm afraid I would beg to differ on most of your claims. While the N95 obviously has a vastly superior camera, claiming it has "pro grade camera optics" and records at "DVD Quality" is exaggerating somewhat.
As for your sale numbers, by most counts they appear to be roughly tied when you compare them based on how long they have been on the market. The Nokia N95 celebrated 10 million sales in April 2008, ~13 months after is launch in late March 2007. In comparison, the iPhone had 13 million sales by October 2008 - ~15 months after its launch. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, neither company has recently announced the reaching of the same milestone, making direct comparisons slightly difficult.
I am in no way claiming the N95 is a bad phone - I have used it extensively and it most certainly is not - however your comment appears to have a number of pretty severe misconceptions and unfairly portrays the iPhone in a negative light.