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"Nokia is doomed" - screamed the banner of a Nokia N97 review at Gizmodo,
one of the more popular tech blogs these days. While the editors at
Gizmodo might have gone a tad overboard with their crystal ball gazing,
the N97 in general seems to have uncharacteristically split the
consumer tech world -- or at least the consumer tech gurus commanding
popular opinion, right down the middle. I say uncharacteristically
because Nokia has historically been the strong, silent type - releasing
scores of handsets across the entire price and feature spectrum with
little or no fanfare; and in the process, controlling a clear majority
of the global handheld market.
The
N97 seems to have changed all that. At the very least, these opinions
have certainly brought the Nokia fanboys out of the woodwork. A species
not known to be particularly aggressive were now out there, getting
their hands dirty in the kind of blog-wars that are attributed to the
Microsoft-Apple rivalry. It would be nice and simple to dismiss the
entire ruckus as an installment of the strained relationship that Nokia
has had with the US market; more importantly with US carriers and US
'tech gurus'. But the problems Nokia faces with making any significant
impact in the US are certainly not new and nothing in the launch of
this handset suggested that the status quo was about to change in any
significant way. On the other hand, Nokia seems to be trying to develop
better relationships with carriers like AT&T as evidenced by the
launch of the Surge recently. So that leaves us with the device itself.
Is
the N97 an inherently bad device? Probably - other than a bit of time
spent with the device at a Nokia store, I have very little hands-on
experience to form any opinions. But let's for a minute assume that the
N97 is indeed a bad device. The question is, how bad does one device
need to be for it to mark the beginning of the end for an organization
that, as per its latest results, sells more than 103 million mobile
devices a quarter? How bad does it need to be for certain analysts to predict a halving of Nokia's market share from 40% to 20% by the year 2013?
Something
just doesn't feel right. Is the N97 really the first nail in the coffin
for Nokia -- as proclaimed by some analysts? If so, why the N97? Nokia
has launched mobile devices by the truckloads, and not all have been
shining bastions of innovation and craftsmanship. Is it evidently clear
that this is the best that Nokia can achieve and it just doesn't hold
up in the post iPhone, Android, Pre world? Or is it something else?
Let's
take a closer look at some opinions of the device itself. As mentioned
earlier, this is not a review - I'm just going to be looking at some of
the key aspects of the device and the opinions that have been made on
them.
The Hardware
Broadly
speaking, the overall opinion across most reviews has been positive, as
far as the hardware is concerned. That, given the apprehensions over
build quality, with the attempt at a tilt screen and the problems the
N-series has faced with sliders in the past.
The Kitchen Sink Approach
Interestingly,
one area that a lot of reviewers seem to have highlighted is 'the
kitchen sink approach' - in other words, the fact that Nokia seems to
have thrown in every feature it knows into the device. I'm a little
surprised at the surprise being expressed at this. This is not new to
Nokia, and especially not new to the N-series where Nokia's strategy
has been to tick every single box possible as far as the hardware/
feature set is concerned.
In fact, at least for me, the other
approach (most noticeably practiced by RIM in their Blackberry range of
devices) of introducing multiple devices with different combinations of
wireless capabilities, seems needlessly complicated. I can't for the
life of me differentiate between most Blackberry model numbers - with
an insane number of models with all possible combinations of EDGE,
Wi-Fi, 3G, etc under each umbrella brand.
Anyway, coming back to the point, this has been Nokia's approach with all high end phones and appears to be a good thing.
The Processor
One
sticking point of a lot of reviewers has been the processor of Nokia
N97. I'll have to admit, with the iPhone 3GS and the impending arrival
of mobile devices on the Snapdragon platform, on the face of it, Nokia
does appear to be slow on upgrading their processors.
That
said, I have used a number of Nokia phones and a few HTC phones (all of
which had significantly faster processors than Nokia). From a user's
point of view, I have consistently failed to see any significant
advantage of HTC's faster processors over Nokia's. This is probably, as
many would say, the fault of Windows Mobile and probably the Android
based HTC Magic or Hero. Or for that matter, the iPhone 3GS does
actually demonstrate the sheer joy of a blazing fast processor on a
smartphone (apart from burning a hole through the phone casing that
is). But this does raise the point of the utility of the infatuation
with processor speed (beyond a point) in mobile devices. I would be
willing to give Nokia the benefit of the doubt that they do not see the
need to put in a faster processor given that I have used the less
powerful processor on the 5800 and have not faced any major problems as
far as the processor's response is concerned. Also, when it comes to
the N97, I haven't come across too many reports of slow response or of
the phone hanging either.
The Touchscreen
Another
debate that isn't going anywhere anytime soon is 'capacitive v/s
resistive touchscreen'. Now, I'll be the first to admit that my
experience with capacitive touchscreens is limited to some brief
fondling of an iPhone at an Apple store. So I'm going to reserve my
opinion on the merits of either. However, given Nokia's global
perspective on their handsets and the need to have a certain degree of
handwriting recognition in various markets, this is something that I
feel is not going to change quickly. Unless of course, Nokia decides to
launch region specific hardware - which it hasn't done till date.
That
said, it must also be noted that even among the resistive touchscreen
loathers, a majority of the opinion is that this is just about as good
as a resistive touchscreen gets. And given that I've never encountered
any supposed resistive touchscreen problems in my experience with the
5800 XM, I would think Nokia deserves the points for whatever it did to
further improve the sensitivity of the touchscreen.
The Keyboard
Finally,
the most talked about aspect of the N97 - the keyboard. Actually, more
than the keyboard on the N97, I think the broader question that remains
lingering is whether well implemented touchscreen keyboards are really
sufficient. Or, are physical keyboards the Holy Grail for anybody
interested in typing more than a few text messages a day on their
handhelds? If you think about it, this is a pretty significant question
that could impact the way the smartphone evolves. For now, I think the
opinion is split right down the middle and Nokia seems to have thrown
in both for good measure.
As far as the keyboard itself is
concerned - it does break a few well established norms for QWERTY
keyboards and hence, has got varying reviews. However, most suggest
that the keyboard does well enough once you're used to its quirks (if
you ever get used to them) - primarily the displaced space bar and the
relatively limited feedback due to a significantly short travel
distance for each key-press.
DROPDOWN__PAGETITLE__Touchscreen, Keyboard__/PAGETITLE__DROPDOWN
The Software
S60
5th Edition, which drives the N97, is Nokia's latest foray into the
new, touchscreen driven (or obsessed, depending on your point of view)
world of mobile devices. Nokia launched what will probably be the last
S60 branded Symbian OS without much fanfare on the 5800 Express Music.
That's a handset which was never meant to be treated as Nokia's grand
entry into the touchscreen oriented market, but rather Nokia's
sideway-squeeze into the same market by positioning this handset as a
part of a larger range of music-oriented handsets. There are a number
of theories abound as to why Nokia chose this particular handset and
branding to launch their foray into the touchscreen space; but none of
them are particularly relevant as of now. The N97 is what many have,
probably rightfully perceived as what was always meant to be the true
vehicle of launch for Nokia's touchscreen efforts.
A majority
of the complaints and outright loathing for S60 5th edition, though,
stems from one basic grouse - that Nokia just didn't put enough thought
into developing a truly relevant OS. This, in spite of being one of the
later entrants in this space and probably having had enough time to
observe and understand the 'game changing'. This in turn has led to the
widely held perception that Nokia just didn't put its heart into it;
that the S60 5th edition is a haphazard tacking on of touch abilities
onto S60 3rd edition.
For a second, let's admit that they're
both fairly valid points - in today's world where form and function can
no longer be looked at two, distinct aspects of any consumer oriented
technology, the S60 falls quite short of being glitzy and smooth.
There's no 'wow factor' to it. And in the post iPhone world, this just
does not measure. So it's actually S60 5th edition that was doomed from
the start, right? Not really. That's because the latest Nokia results
(Q2 2009) show that sales of 5800 have touched 6.8 million devices. And
just to remind you, this device was launched in December 2008. That
says a lot about a product with an alleged outdated OS that, according
to a lot of tech gurus, feels like something the cat dragged in back
from the early part of this century.
Having used the 5800 for a
while, here's my brief take on trying to understand this dichotomy -
yes the 5th edition, on its own, is not the best OS launch one could
imagine today. But the point is that it's not on its own - it's built
on the S60 platform that millions, if not billions (outside the
geographical boundaries of the US), have grown up on. There's a sense
of familiarity - I knew, without having to read the manual or be
prepared to get online for some real time assistance, just how to get
everything I needed up and running on the phone. Sure I had my share of
confusion with the focus based UI, and consequently pressed once too
often or once too less a number of times (and probably still do on the
rare occasion), but that doesn't destroy my user experience as much as
some people would want to have me believe.
On the other hand,
Nokia will assert, and many Nokia loyalists will aggressively argue,
that S60 has been rocking a plethora of features that the 'new kids on
the block' with all their glamour and pomp are still to get their heads
around. Some cases in point - multitasking, Flash support,
cut/copy/paste (okay, so they seem to have finally figured this one
out), etc. The conclusion to be derived out of this is that while
there's a lot of spit & polish missing, the core of the system that
is S60 is still rock solid and one of the most feature-rich mobile
operating systems around.
Is the S60 5th edition really a good
enough OS to carry Nokia forward in the touch-based mobile device
space? Probably not - and that's why Symbian2 is on its way. And I'm
reasonably sure Nokia is resting a lot of its smart phone ambitions on
its rather young, open source shoulders. But it certainly will be
exciting to see what the renewed Symbian Foundation (www.symbian.org)
is able to do in its new avatar.
DROPDOWN__PAGETITLE__The Software__/PAGETITLE__DROPDOWN
The Ecosystem
This
is the new battlefield where the mobile device/smartphone battle will
be fought. Or at least that's what everybody seems to think so and I
would largely agree with it. A smart phone is only as smart as the
applications you can put on it. Right from enterprise productivity apps
such as email applications, document readers/ editors, Microsoft Office
based applications, all the way to Social Networking applications like
Facebook, Twitter clients, and Instant Messaging applications. Or for
that matter, consider accessories and add-ons for the hardware itself -
you'd be hard pressed to find any unique accessory from a third party
provider for Nokia phones, while you've got iPhone and iPod cases
coming thick and fast way before the product is even formally launched.
The
problem is not that you can't find applications for your Nokia device
if you look for it - the problem is that you need to spend a
considerable time and effort to find them. Apple, with the App Store
has changed the game. I haven't used the App Store and it could be true
that it's more or less an extraordinarily large collection of 'fart'
applications, but that's not really the point. The App Store has been
universally appreciated and there has to be a reason for it. I've used
the newly announced Ovi store and right from finding an appropriate
version to install on my phone to the selection of applications is just
not something that I would go out and recommend as of now. It's a
little too haphazard for my taste at the moment.
Nokia, in
their recent earnings conference call with their CEO clearly states
that the industry is changing in a big way and building a functional,
vibrant ecosystem is the key to success for Nokia. So they probably
have some way to get there, but are definitely on their way and that is
good news for all Nokia fans.
DROPDOWN__PAGETITLE__The Ecosystem__/PAGETITLE__DROPDOWN
Conclusion
In
conclusion, I don't think (and none of the reviews have managed to
convince me in the least bit) that the N97 is a train-wreck and has
heralded the beginning of the end for Nokia. The hardware has been
universally praised, barring the processor, the significance of which
remains debatable for me at least. Nokia's build quality is second to
none and the N97 appears to set new standards across manufacturers for
the sheer thought that's gone into the design. I'm sure every Nokia
user in India at least will vouch for the fact that no other phone
brand can withstand the extreme weather and rough use that mobile
devices in India have to encounter.
The Software bit is
debatable and, like with all software, it's a matter of personal
preference. It is definitely not completely unusable! Yes, it may not
be as slick and smooth as some other Operating Systems, but that's the
price Nokia could be paying for retaining a sense of familiarity for
long term Nokia users switching to their touch based devices. That
said, a little more polish to the UI would be more than welcome.
So,
is the N97 a bad device? I don't think so and I don't think any of the
reviews out there can make that claim with any degree of conviction. Is
it a groundbreaking new handset that has changed the game for
smartphones? Sadly, once again, I don't think so. But it still appears
to be a decent, new product launch with some innovative features that
should appeal to a certain segment of the population. And as I write
this, I see another blog post saying that the N97 is now the top
selling device for Vodafone UK for the month of July. So it is possible
that outside of the US, this could turn out to be a solid N-series
handset that does relatively well for Nokia.
So how does the N97
spell doom for Nokia? Quite frankly, I'm not sure how one arrives at
that conclusion. And you've got Nokia's big investment in Symbian and
their plans for the same. Although, there is work that Nokia needs to
do to build an efficient and effective ecosystem around its products -
Ovi seems a little disorganized as of now, but that will change given
Nokia's expressed focus on the area. I would think, based purely on
objective evidence available, that there is no substance in most
Nokia-doom pertaining claims and is probably, true to the times, just
sheer hype.
Disclaimer: Views or opinions
presented in this article are solely those of the author and do not
necessarily represent those of the company.