My phone and my view on phones

So I recently got a new phone and I am really enjoying it.
I got the Nokia N8 - now before you say anything let me finish and explain! This is going to be quite lengthly and if you are easily offended it may be recommended you do not continue reading. I am just providing you with my opinion and I do not mean to offend anyone.


I really enjoy my smartphones, in my opinion it is a bit of a waste to get a phone which is not a smartphone - but not everyone makes full use of a smartphone so I guess for those people it does not make a difference. When it comes to smartphones the OS makes quite a difference and not just the hardware, although the hardware plays a huge role as well. It's really the combination of hardware and OS which the smartphone has which makes the phone what it is.



The Symbian OS was great, although it has now reached the end of its life and is dead - no doubt about that. I enjoyed it while it lasted although it simply cannot compete with the other smartphone operating systems.


Windows Mobile - I have yet to use Windows Phone 7, I really enjoyed WM6.1 and 6.5, in my opinion it is a really great operating system, you can do a lot with it, layout is awesome etc. I am actually really eager to see what Phone 7 is like although it is still kind of incomplete. The partnership with Nokia and Microsoft made me feel like a kid in a candy store (really happy and excited).


Android - I have not played around with many Android devices and am not a big fan of the menu and layout / look of the OS. I find it looks a bit too similar to the iOS which I find to be really crappy... More about that later. The Android OS has loads of potential and has really stirred up a lot of attention and a really big fan base quite quickly.


iOS - As I mentioned above I am not a big iPhone fan, not a big Apple fan actually. I personally think iOS is crapy although its more the phone than the OS I guess, but then again I have not played around much with the OS just general, basic usage on an iPhone.


I am not even going to bother with the Samsung Bada OS as IMO it is already dead. I do not think it will go anywhere. Then we get to Blackberries with their Blackberry OS. Well, I see the Blackberry OS similar to Symbian is the sense that I do not think it has too much of a chance to compete with the other OS's. I am not a big fan of Blackberries, I see them more as accessories then actual cellphones. Blackberries seem to attract really stupid users towards them (No, I am not saying ALL the Blackberry users are stupid, just I feel as if Blackberries are "stupid people magnets"). The only reason, that I can see, as to why someone would want a Blackberry is if their whole lives revolve around social networking... but even then you can do it on other phones too. BBM and BIS combined with social networking. There we go, that is the only reason I can think of as to why someone would want a Blackberry. Nothing else appealing about them.


Alright, well let me get back on track with what I started this post about. My new phone, so I have an N8 which can be seem by some as jumping on a sinking ship. Yes, I do agree. It kind of is like that although I must say the N8 is actually really amazing. Decided to test out the codecs and hardware last night so copied a few 720p videos onto it (Video was H264, Audio was Dolby Digital and all in an MKV container). 41 minute long video totaling 1.1GB in size (per video) and playback so suuuper smooth, supported by the default media player and even jumping to the middle of the video was really quick.
Then the N8 has a 3.5mm audio jack, something really basic and simple yet soo much better.
The HDMI out port I think is a brilliant idea, I think it should become as regular and common as bluetooth and WiFi are.
Now the camera. I think one of the big selling points of the N8, a 12MegaPixel camera with AutoFocus, Carl Zeiss and a Xenon flash. The camera is seriously impressive for a mere cellphone camera! The flash, wow... Pitch black at night, take a picture in a room and it comes out really well. The one disadvantage of the Xenon flash as opposed to an LED flash is that you cannot use the flash as a torch but then again I guess you need to sacrifice somethings for other things. A cellphone is not really a torch and rather give it a better flash when the main seller is the camera than allow it to support something which not that many may would even use.
The new Symbian OS is extremely fast compared to the older versions, I am really enjoying it. The keyboard and its layout really annoyed me at first but I am getting use to it and it shall be sorted out with Anna. The default media player, I dislike it and have yet to find one which I like...


But anyway, I probably will not be keeping the phone for too long as my girlfriend really likes it and mainly wants it for the camera. Which is fine by me as I have my eyes on the HTC Sensation. Although staying in South Africa I will probably have to wait an extra 2 or 3 months before we get it. So we shall wait and see.


Cheers,


Psy