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Ask HN: Why U.S. people dislike Nokia?

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Re: Ask HN: Why U.S. people dislike Nokia?

#41

Post by baby »

notauser wrote: post #27
aidenn0 wrote: post #9

[edit] Quick clarification: The OP compared Nokia to Apple and Android, so my answer was specifically about Nokia smartphones. Nokia feature-phones have always had a decent market share in the US, and I think that the average person in the US thinks of those feature-phones when they hear the word Nokia, and has no clue that the E or N series phones even exist. [/edit] I live in the US. I've never actually seen a phon…

Which is odd because BestBuy used to sell unlocked E71 handsets (one of the best phones Nokia ever made) for 60-70% of the European retail price! They are like BlackBerries but actually good. I got mine for $250 SIM free, no contract. It worked fine on AT&T and T-Mobile (US). They also made an AT&T specific locked version called the E71X which had horrific software deformities and was much more expensive.

I own a E71 and I don't get the "one of the best phones Nokia ever made", maybe I'm mis-using it ?

Re: Ask HN: Why U.S. people dislike Nokia?

#42

Post by rokhayakebe »

aidenn0 wrote: post #19
rokhayakebe wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Obviously you do not know any drug dealer :).They love those Nokia prepaid phones.

Which don't run Symbian

I think those 3600, 6680,6681 and similar run Symbian. The 6630 run Symbian I believe as well, and it is big in prepaid.

Re: Ask HN: Why U.S. people dislike Nokia?

#43

Post by glabifrons »

I won't comment on Symbian, I don't know enough about it and it's been covered by others.

The Maemo project was going in a nice direction for a while, but Nokia missed the mark when it released the N900. I was one of those chomping at the bit waiting for it to finally be released... then it was, with a screen that is too small for the phenomenal resolution, and with a UI that is geared toward (finger input) touchscreen and a touchscreen geared toward the precision of pen input.

I'm one of the oddballs that loves the precision of pen input. People I meet are still amazed when they see my aged N800! They are disappointed when I tell them it's not a phone, and even more disappointed when I tell them it hasn't been made in years. Nokia was relying on word-of-mouth advertising for their Internet Tablet platform, but then they changed the platform to something it's not. When I tell these people there's a newer, much more powerful version that adds a phone - called the N900, they get excited! When I tell them that it has the same resolution, but compressed into a smaller 3.5" screen, they are disappointed. When I tell them that it is not subsidized by any carrier, and that you have to pay full price (or if discounted, is still $550), it doesn't matter that it's "unlocked" (never locked in the 1st place), as: 1, the price is too high and 2, GSM limits you to only 2 carriers in the US.

I hope the new direction (MeeGo) helps, but I'm not holding my breath.

Nokia had a "design by community" website not long ago (still up, but now closed for selection), but they guided the input by not allowing you to submit combinations Nokia didn't like! Read the comments on the project's web page and it becomes obvious that Nokia doesn't want to know what people want, they want to tell people what they want. The really stupid part? They didn't even allow people to select combinations that matched up with some of Nokia's most popular products! http://conversations.nokia.com/design-by-community/

Nokia needs to take the MeeGo project in two directions: They need a larger screen with the resistive input (and a keyboard that can actually be used, a 5-row like the SideKick) for one, keeping the "computer first, phone second" mentality. The other should be a capacitive input phone with application functionality. Both could share the same repositories (app stores, if you will), with guidance within the selection based on whether the application being viewed is appropriate for the model the user is using at the time.

If they do this simple thing, I'll be buying the computer-first/phone-second product, as that is what I need. I'm tired of carrying the N800 and a phone. If not, I'll have to settle for a nice Android, as they meet most of my needs. Sadly, the one need Android doesn't meet is the ability to run actual Linux software. Ironic, ain't it?

Oh, and my wife and I started with Maemo on the Nokia 770... and as much as she loves hers, her needs are slightly different than mine. She's considering the iPhone, but I'm fairly certain she would go for the 2nd option in the above paragraph were it made.

Re: Ask HN: Why U.S. people dislike Nokia?

#44

Post by sliverstorm »

I own myself an unlocked E72 that I paid full retail for.

The hardware is fantastic, better than any phone I've owned, and better than any phone I've seen. It hasn't got a fancy touch-screen like the iPhone, but I like it better. That's why I forked out money for it.

The software is flawed and occasionally a little buggy.

There are, as far as I'm concerned, no apps. I mean, there are apps, but not enough, and not ones I care about. An when I do care about them, they are usually unusably buggy.

I personally would like to see how Android does on a Nokia phone. Wish I could stick it on my E72, actually. I have no prejudice against Symbian, but right now it doesn't seem to be up to par.

Don't forget, Nokia's market share is largely tied to basic phones. The iPhone and Android are flagship devices; they are what gets all the press coverage. Nokia's current position reminds me of Microsoft's a little while back. Apple got all the press and the hype and the hey-isn't-this-amazing, while Windows was actually more widespread and probably making more money.

P.S. I have heard it's kind of an awful platform to develop for. It's allegedly more difficult to program, the platform is extremely fragmented, and a general lack of interest means it's not worthwhile.

> Is it seen as "unpatriotic" because is foreign?

^ America doesn't really do this anymore. Even if we wanted to, not enough good stuff is made here anymore, which is a shame. Most of the stuff I've owned that was very old or old-fashioned and was made in the USA was top-quality.

Re: Ask HN: Why U.S. people dislike Nokia?

#45

Post by expeditious »

What OS do Nokia phones run (Symbian, Maemo, or something else?)? What language and toolkit do I use? Is it locked-down, or can I load apps on to my phone (or my friend's phone) that I write?

I basically have a good idea what the answers are to those questions for iPhone and Android. No idea for Nokia.

Re: Ask HN: Why U.S. people dislike Nokia?

#47

Post by jzycrzy »

baby wrote: post #41
notauser wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is odd because BestBuy used to sell unlocked E71 handsets (one of the best phones Nokia ever made) for 60-70% of the European retail price! They are like BlackBerries but actually good. I got mine for $250 SIM free, no contract. It worked fine on AT&T and T-Mobile (US). They also made an AT&T specific locked version called the E71X which had horrific software deformities and was much more expensive.

I own a E71 and I don't get the "one of the best phones Nokia ever made", maybe I'm mis-using it ?

I've used my e71 for over a year and am very satisfied with it. I bought it unlocked in the US and have used it on international travel (switching sim cards) without hassle. The single best factor is the ability to choose which data connection I want an app to use (ex. 3g, wifi, MSM data, etc).

There are 2 "apps" that are the main benefit. (1) Fring allows me to have video conference calls through skype (basically an early "Facetime", apple in no way is the first one to bring this to the mobile phone). (2) Joikuspot, which allows me to tether my 3G data to wifi. Any number of machines can use the wifi-hotspot that this creates.

Oh, and i like being able to push buttons. I guess I'm old skool. ；）

Re: Ask HN: Why U.S. people dislike Nokia?

#48

Post by pavlov »

davidw wrote: post #4
jolan wrote: post #3

1) They don't do any sort of PR in the US. 2) Open source doesn't matter to the vast majority of consumers.

Nokia isn't really a big open source company. They're kind of ambivalent about it, actually. The real open source play, is of course, Android.

Sorry, but that's just nonsense. In the last three years, Nokia has:

* Acquired Trolltech, makers of the Qt toolkit (basis of KDE), changed Qt's licensing to the more flexible LGPL, and opened up the Qt development model to open source contributions.

* Acquired Symbian, the world's most widely distributed smartphone OS, then open-sourced the whole thing and turned it over to a non-profit foundation.

* Released several versions of their Maemo mobile Linux distribution on devices like N810 and N900.

* Fused Maemo with Intel's Moblin effort to create MeeGo, a unified mobile Linux for netbooks, smartphones and other mobile applications.

Where's the ambivalence?

Re: Ask HN: Why U.S. people dislike Nokia?

#49

Post by qw »

expeditious wrote: post #45

What OS do Nokia phones run (Symbian, Maemo, or something else?)? What language and toolkit do I use? Is it locked-down, or can I load apps on to my phone (or my friend's phone) that I write? I basically have a good idea what the answers are to those questions for iPhone and Android. No idea for Nokia.

You can create applications for free (you can even use Python), and they can of course be installed for free by anyone.

Re: Ask HN: Why U.S. people dislike Nokia?

#50

Post by rradu »

I used to be a big Nokia fan. Back when phones were simple. Just calls, text, a game of Snake, and maybe a camera. But then features started being added.

Some phones handled it gracefully. Nokia did not. I find them difficult to use, and in a place where iPhones, Androids, and BBerrys have taken over, today's Nokias don't stand a chance.

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