I have used Symbian as my phone OS for a while, not because of the OS itself, but because of the hardware it supports.
First it was the Sony Ericsson, then some Nokia’s. I need a full keyboard, and aside from the Blackberries, Nokia’s have the best keyboard (E-series).
But over the last few months, the complete lack of new application support for the Symbian OS platform is scarce at best.
I mean, even Facebook and Twitter do NOT have a decent Symbian application for the E-series (arguably Nokia’s bestselling mass-market devices). This lack of support from developers is a huge death-knell for this platform.
I have an E63, which I completely love, when it comes to keyboard and general hardware specs. But when it comes to actual applications, I look lovingly at Sid’s Android or Umang’s iPhone andthe hundreds of cool apps they download and ‘show-off’ reguarly.
My requirements in a phone:
1) Physical QWERTY keyboard is a MUST-HAVE
2) Keyboard in normal portrait mode
3) Touchscreen is optional. Don’t care either way.
4) A huge, well support, application library
Is this too much to ask? And what are my options?
14 Mar 2010 at 9:22 am
Good to see someone who thinks a physical QWERTY keyboard matters. I simply can’t type on a touch screen.
Btw, have you tried the OVI store? Am sure it does not have as much stuff as the other two platforms but am myself guilty of not exploring it fully. And now you know what I’m going to do right away.
14 Mar 2010 at 12:13 pm
The main reason I’ve not got android is for the app-store. sure i’m a developer and I could always write simple java apps for the E-series phone (love it, think its the best phone in the world). I wouldn’t have moved if it had a good app store. the OVI store just isn’t as big as the other two & IMHO I don’t think it’ll get there either without a “cool” phone targeted towards “cool” people.