My Symbian history
I was tagged by Jonathan Greene from the atmaspheric endeavors blog about my Symbian history and I wanted to start off by letting readers know I started using mobile devices with the US Robotics Pilot 1000 back in 1997 and then moved through Palm OS, Windows Mobile/Pocket PC, Linux, and Symbian devices over the last 10 years and have skipped around to the operating system that works best for me at the time. I only dabbled in Linux with some cool Zaurus devices and I dropped the Palm OS last year since Windows Mobile and Symbian are so far out in front in terms of functionality and innovation. I am now using devices from just these two systems with more usage of Symbian the last 6 months.
When I moved from my ancient Qwest dial-up data service (connected to my Palm IIIx and IIIc via a cable) to T-Mobile back in 2003 I looked for a free mobile phone that could serve as a Bluetooth modem. The phone I ended up with was a Nokia 3650 that ran Series 60. Like probably 90% of the people who have S60 devices, I didn't explore much beyond the fact that it could work as a phone and a Bluetooth modem. However, being the geek that I am I soon discovered how powerful the S60 platform could be and started loading up applications like Opera on the 3650. I then picked up a Nokia 7610 that was a much sleeker device with some improvements in S60 over the 3650, including a very nice 2 megapixel camera. My middle daughter now uses the 7610 and loves it! The 3650 and 7610 served me well for a few years since I was pairing them with PDAs via Bluetooth and didn't make the converged device jump.
The next major milestone in my Symbian history was the email I received from Andy Abramson in regards to a new Nokia Nseries Blogger Relations program he was starting up and I jumped at the chance to try out some of the latest and greatest Symbian devices. I received a Nokia N90 to evaluate and was quite impressed with it as I posted in my Geek.com review. Wow, I just looked at the review and can't believe it has been almost a year and a half since I started with the Nseries program. I was VERY impressed with the N90 and like Jonathan said the camera form factor design was better on the N90 than on the N93 and N93i. I actually used the N90 on vacation in DisneyWorld and found it was taking better photos in some lighting conditions than my wife's 5 megapixel Canon camera. I carried the N90 around quite a bit as a mobile camera, but didn't use it as a main device due to the lack of vibration mode which was causing me to miss calls at work where silent phone mode is mandatory.
The Nseries program then sent out a N70, N91, N73, N93, N80ie, and just recently the Nokia N95. I used the N70 for almost 2 months exclusively and found it to be a good compromise in size and functionality and understand why it was one of the most popular Nokia models of all time. The N91 is an amazing digital audio player and I just wish it had a higher resolution display for better quality video playback. The N73 takes the N70 to the next level and is a very good phone that I personally would consider one of my all-time favorites. It doesn't have WiFi, but the camera is excellent and even though the keys may be small I have found it to be reliable with a good battery life and cool looks. The N93 takes excellent video and I am using it as my new video review device with the Nokia tripod. I have had firmware issues with the device off and on lately so it never really filled a daily device role for me like the N70 and N73 did. The N80ie has an amazing display and the VoIP support is outstanding. However, I have only been able to go half a day with the battery so I carried around an extra battery at all times with it. I am testing out some software for a Forum Nokia program on the N80ie and with a better battery life would have probably used it as a daily device.
The N95 arrived last week and after a week I have to say that this is the ultimate Nseries device I have tried out so far. I have lots more testing to do with it, but the camera is awesome, the music playing capability is superb, the GPS integration is a great addition, and it pulls in everything good about the N80ie (except for the higher resolution display). I am blessed to be able to test out these Nokia devices and look forward to trying out future devices.
I also purchased a Nokia E61 last year because I am a big fan of thumb keyboards and the only thing I really miss from the E61 is a camera. With three young daughters I take a lot of snapshots with my phone and look forward to possibly upgrading to the E61i. The Nokia E90 Communicator also has me excited since I almost pulled the trigger on a the 9300 last year and think a Communicator would be a nice business product. Nokia reminds me a lot of the Sony CLIE Palm OS devices (I owned several of these models) because of the innovation and aggressive new device release schedule. I hope to see S60 making more progress in the U.S. so that others can share in the joy that these devices bring to gadget freaks like me.
I should also point out that I tried a Sony Ericsson P990i UIQ device for about a month, but found it to be a bit too unresponsive compared to other devices on the market. It did have the best reception of any device I had tried to date, which has been surpassed now by the N95.
I think I am encouraged to tag others for their history, but everyone that I know who has a Symbian history seems to have already posted something. If you haven't yet posted your history, send me an email at palmsoloATgmailDOTcom and I'll update this post with a tag :)
