One of the biggest problem with Symbian development is strings. I mean what the @@@@, do the C++ programmers have less string types to deal with that they introduced six of their own? That scared me, only reason why I asked my boss to switch me to other non-Symbian project. It was a complete nightmare.
Symbian-Guru.com Is Over
21–30 of 43 posts
Re: Symbian-Guru.com Is Over
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
Total false dichotomy, you don't have to become nokia if you open your garden. It may be what he wants to avoid but it's not true that opening the garden will automatically result in customer dissatisfaction (otherwise why would Android market share be growing?)
> (otherwise why would Android market share be growing?) Because it's the least-awful alternative if you don't want to go to AT&T. People will live with bad things or bad situations quite well, if they believe they have no choice. ETA: Of course, for them to have 'no choice' but to go Android, they have to perceive AT&T and/or an iPhone as unacceptable, as well as the other alternatives.
Is there data out there that most people (in the US) are getting Android phones because they don't want to switch to AT&T (for reasons other than price)?
Re: Symbian-Guru.com Is Over
#23I too feel bad for Symbian. I did my first mobile dev on my Nokia N70 phone which I still have (bought my HTC Desire a week ago). I can only see 2 reasons here... 1.) Too much fragmentation. Fragmentation in android is nothing compared to slaughtering in symbian phones. 2.) No unified app store for developers. And that's probably due to #1 And #1 and #2 made it pretty easy for others to compete after apple showed the…
FWIW, i-mate was never a phone manufacturer, it just resold phones made by others. For most of its existence, the company sold HTC phones under licence in some of the territories where HTC did not have a brand presence. This ended once HTC started selling phones under its own brand.
And a minor nitpick, but Symbian was limited to Nokia's smart phone range, their low-to-mid-end phones run either Series 30 or Series 40 which are far more basic yet far more responsive software platforms that are not based on Symbian, unlike Series 60. To be honest, I've never been impressed with Nokia's smart phones, as I've found their implementation of Symbian to be slow and buggy with a clumsy UI. This is in sharp contrast to their S30 and S40 phones, which quite justifiably have a reputation for performance and no-nonsense ease of use.
Re: Symbian-Guru.com Is Over
#24I worked as an intern at one of the Nokia's branches (won't tell you where, but it's in N.A.) in a city where there are quite a few Symbian software houses. I talked to a few Symbian developers and they absolutely hate it with passion. We're not talking technology for technology sake but more like "Business wise, it's not worth it unless you'd want your workers to suffer productivity nightmare". My (short) time at th…
During the last 2 weeks I was there, some high-level management guy came from Europe. He would gathered everybody to a room to do some sort of All-Hands meeting. In this meeting, he would announce some organization structure "roadmap". I find it strange; instead of talking about the products, this roadmap discussed the company's plan to expand to China and India (DING DING DING!). Of course the guy would immediately told us all that "there won't be any lay-off". But you get the idea...
That's how I imagine the Windows department at Microsoft when Vista and Windows Mobile 6 was in development
Re: Symbian-Guru.com Is Over
#25I worked as an intern at one of the Nokia's branches (won't tell you where, but it's in N.A.) in a city where there are quite a few Symbian software houses. I talked to a few Symbian developers and they absolutely hate it with passion. We're not talking technology for technology sake but more like "Business wise, it's not worth it unless you'd want your workers to suffer productivity nightmare". My (short) time at th…
After some 8 arduous years of dicking around with the horribly broken Symbian/S60, Nokia finally realized in 2008 that their software process sucks and is fundamentally unable to deliver a competitive mobile app platform. Their solution was to purchase a smaller, nimbler company with a ready product, and let the subsidiary produce the user-visible framework more or less independently of the suffocating Nokia structure.
After two years, they've finally shipped the first SDK which targets existing devices with the new framework. It's actually pretty nice: http://www.forum.nokia.com/Develop/Qt
However, these transitions simply take a long time. Apple purchased NeXT in late 1996, and the first usable Mac OS X release appeared almost five years later.
Nokia has split their "OS X moment" into two separate operating systems: Symbian^4 and MeeGo. But neither is ready yet. Meanwhile Nokia investors are getting very antsy: over the past decade, Nokia's stock has lost over 80% of its value, or something like $200 billion in market cap... If the Qt transition stumbles, heads will roll in Espoo.
Re: Symbian-Guru.com Is Over
#26I've used Nokia for a long time and I can't remember a phone that didn't have SOME annoyance. My e72 has several. I'm looking forward to MeeGo, a true Linux mobile computer. Neither Android nor the iPhone cut it for me so far. The iphone is great fun, but too locked up and hyped, I hate hype and fashion. I don't like Android because I think that it's just one more piece in Google's plan for world data domination. Sti…
Hype is just marketing. The actual device is really nice. Just because the reality isn't quite at the level of "revolution", is it really necessary to discount the platform in its entirety?
I had a friend who refused to get an iPod. They were then stricken with using stuff by Creative, which were plagued with hardware issues. Getting them serviced was a chore that took months at a time without the player. They still refused to get an iPod. Even if the iPod was as problematic (in my experience it wouldn't be) she would have gotten replacements so easily by going into the Apple store.
Re: Symbian-Guru.com Is Over
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
You know that you can install apps on E:, right?
Yeah, no problems installing apps on E: Doesn't seem to help much though.
Then they changed something.
I had several Symbian phones (6260, 6120c) and the free space on C: was always somewhat constant. I installed most of the stuff on E:. During my use of the phones, I never had to reset or wipe them.
Of course, I switched to Android.
Re: Symbian-Guru.com Is Over
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
Total false dichotomy, you don't have to become nokia if you open your garden. It may be what he wants to avoid but it's not true that opening the garden will automatically result in customer dissatisfaction (otherwise why would Android market share be growing?)
> (otherwise why would Android market share be growing?) Because it's the least-awful alternative if you don't want to go to AT&T. People will live with bad things or bad situations quite well, if they believe they have no choice. ETA: Of course, for them to have 'no choice' but to go Android, they have to perceive AT&T and/or an iPhone as unacceptable, as well as the other alternatives.
How did you come to that conclusion? I can only speak for myself.
I have been using iphone for 2 years now and I don't see myself getting another one. When I do get another phone (mine working just fine right now) I will move to android based device as soon as my contract is up.
And no I am not leaving because of AT&T, unlike most people my coverage has been fairly good even here in NY. The main reason I am leaving iphone is because I don't like being told how I can use my phone and what I can install, putting artificial limitations. And most importantly, I love having more than one choice.
Re: Symbian-Guru.com Is Over
#29I worked as an intern at one of the Nokia's branches (won't tell you where, but it's in N.A.) in a city where there are quite a few Symbian software houses. I talked to a few Symbian developers and they absolutely hate it with passion. We're not talking technology for technology sake but more like "Business wise, it's not worth it unless you'd want your workers to suffer productivity nightmare". My (short) time at th…
After some 8 arduous years of dicking around with the horribly broken Symbian/S60, Nokia finally realized in 2008 that their software process sucks and is fundamentally unable to deliver a competitive mobile app platform. Their solution was to purchase a smaller, nimbler company with a ready product, and let the subsidiary produce the user-visible framework more or less independently of the suffocating Nokia structur…
I never follow the company anymore ever since I left. While I have no bitter feeling since I was there only for 4 months for the fun, name, and to know what's inside, it strikes me that they don't have a very strong grasp of anything. The market, the talent, the process.
I do think that they need to trim down quick. I know that might have hurt their stocks like a kick in the groin, but they've already lost a lot of their stock values. They should do some sort of reboot and becoming an underdog. Slim down that confusing offerings. Back then, they have tons of numbering systems that confuses people who happen to have interaction (reading news, chat, or whatever) with other people that live in different countries.
In Country A, the model might be called E1234, in different parts of the world, the model might be called E1235. The capabilities differ by tiny margin. It just doesn't make any sense. It might be because of regulation or whatnot, but very confusing.
If Microsoft offering is confusing, you should check Nokia's.
Currently, they have nothing other than cheap cellphone to be sold to Asian markets. I happen to be born in another part of the world. Back at my home country, Nokia is still strong because they sell cheap unlocked cellphone (coincidentally, the providers aren't operating like N.A. providers). Having said that, the mid-to-upper level economy population are full of BB users (weird isn't it, not Android, not iPhone, but BB).
BB at least has this "PIN" thing (I don't have a BB so I don't know much about it) where I noticed that most of my high-school friends are exchanging PIN, or exchanging stuff within BB. So I'm assuming there's some sort of ability for BB to have a "soft" vendor lock-in. Nokia has nothing other than cheap price.
I think they're almost done.
Re: Symbian-Guru.com Is Over
#30I understand that. I have an N97 and it is a dog. I hate it. 32 Gig E: drive which is plenty, but the C: drive has around 100 Meg or so, around 50 free, and after using it for a week it is straight down to 10, after a month it sits around 5 and you get errors all the time and you have to do a hard reset which takes it back to 50 so you can use it again. I don't even use it as more than a phone anymore because it is n…
I have an N97 I feel so sorry for you. A few years ago I really wanted one but the people that already had them told me not to do it to myself.
N97 was released barely one year ago.