Originally Posted by clonmult:
“Interesting viewpoint, but I can't help but feeling that you're incredibly wide of the mark.”
You're entitled to your own view as I am mine. I'll do a little explaining as to why I think the way I do...
Originally Posted by clonmult:
“I can see that the N97 was viewed as a dog, but other incarnations of the S^1 platform worked perfectly - the 5800 in later releases, the 5230 (on release) were perfectly capable, reliable feature rich devices.”
They were good, but having made the jump to Android looking back at them they now feel dated. The recent, modern Android handsets are really setting the bar high for smartphones and Symbian is one of the OSs that's starting to flag, which is shown by the fact that although Symbian is currently the leader in smartphone OS in terms of most users, it's starting to see a decline and other OSs are catching it up - most notably Android, which will soon over take it.
Originally Posted by clonmult:
“As I've said before, the only area that S^3 is obviously lacking is in the theme and icon design, which is straight off the original 5800. Just get a free theme and it looks as good as anything else out there.”
I don't agree. I doubt you'll find any theme on Symbian that will give you as good an experience as Sense or even modern iOS for example. It's not just about the looks either, if what's under the bonnet is starting to feel dated then there's only so much polish you can put on it...
Originally Posted by clonmult:
“And Symbian very definitely hasn't had its day, S^3 has had a complete re-write under the skin, and the UI on top has been refined to be consistent in its operation.”
Again I disagree. Although it currently has the most smartphone users it's starting to see a decline and other operating systems are rapidly gaining on it. Also consider that Samsung has just ditched it in favour of Android and Bada etc. and Sony Ericcson have also just ditched Symbian, again opting for the more popular Android OS. Nokia's starting to get lonely with it's dated operating system as lack of interest spreads. In fact, in June this year Nokia were even reporting that they were thinking about dropping Symbian for their N series handsets after the N8!! What does that tell you?
You may think that with Samsung and SE leaving Symbian it's not big deal, but it is. These are two very big players who were contributing to the Symbian project and with them leaving so will their input and funding. Fair enough, they may remain in a position where they monitor how it's progressing, but if they aren't using it they won't be giving much more than a passing glance. This will certainly hamper Symbian's future development.
Such problems for Symbian have even caused Gartner, an organisation who produce many of the facts used by articles and even internet forum posts, who are recognised for their reports - as a failure! And this isn't old news, we're talking about comments made in 2010 by respected analysts.
Yes, we're seeing a newer release of Symbian, but the problem is that it still has a similar general feel and appearance. It doesn't look like a modern OS and with the hype surrounding Windows Mobile 7 too, it's another possibly new kid on the block to knock it back.
Another issue for Symbian is that it just doesn't have the interest currently that Android and iOS both have in terms of developers producing software. While you get a lot of pointless and useless apps, there's no denying that app sales are big business and people are seeking phones that allow them to download and use a wide variety of software.
In all truth, I honestly hold the belief that in a year or so we'll see Symbian demoted from running on Nokia's flagship handsets to being the OS that runs on their budget handsets.
Originally Posted by clonmult:
“I can't help but feel that the majority of commenters are following some of Dilberts Logical Fallacies ....
1. AMAZINGLY BAD ANALOGY
Example: You can train a dog to fetch a stick. Therefore, you can train a potato to dance.
6. GENERALIZING FROM SELF
Example: I’m a liar. Therefore, I don’t believe what you’re saying.”
I suggest that people are simply posting their views. And remember that these people are buying handsets, if the majority are going off Symbian then that's less sales for Nokia and couple that with less companies being involved too, it's certainly not a very bright future for Symbian as a flagship smartphone OS.
So considering all the above it seems you suggesting that I'm wide of the mark is perhaps not true