My 1st symbian device was a nokia 6630,so I’ve been familiar with the OS since that, which means from version 8.1.it was a time that the menu system had lot more to improve, it was very hard for a new user to get adapted to that kind of folder layout which they might have thought easily accessible. but it worked only for professional users rather than getting in to ordinary mobile users. To get done some work you have to navigate through several sub folder which in definitely irritating for usual phone users. And in the other hand the amount of complicated folder and icon layout virtually had nothing much to give so that the user get what he wants. What I mean is that they were not pre-loaded even with the basic applications which were include in other java phones at that time. This was a key point to the popularity of s40 gained against s60.
Then the N80 packed with OS 9.1 was a real successor over the past software versions, in means of both looks and performance. The nicely catered icons and graphics gave a real fresh enthusiasm to the users like it was done when windows xp shifted to vista. Not even that it brought the standby view on to the front screen which was previously available only for N70 and N90 released under a extension of OS 8.1.This standby screen mode which became integrated in both e and n-series, but with some differences, where the e-series standby screen gives more control and more information over the organizer and events whereas the n-series one still offer the basic calendar entry option. At least they could have offered this in the 8gig version. If you are a busy guy on a tight schedule, it is possible for you to skip a missed call notification by mistake and if you are using an e-series device it won’t be missed because it would be displayed on the standby screen until you check it.
For sure the N95 is an advanced phone packed with features but are the arranged well and categorized well so that the user can get the best of it. I don’t think so, it has so many icons and folders which makes it very difficult to get used to it and achieve a specific task. This issue has been solved, up to some extend in some phones like 5700 and 6120 classic by using some new menu styles like horse-shoe and v-shaped rotating menus which shows the content of the main folders at a side while it is on the rotation,don’t know whether the 8gig version has this cos still I haven’t got my hands on a one for full use. Anyway there is something nice in this feature pack 1, I found is the rotating multimedia menu which has a nice interface and transition effect, wonder why they changed the interface totally in the 8gig.it would have been better if they can make a hybrid of this multimedia menu and horse-shoe style to make a new menu layout for the multimedia key.
Also another solution for easy access of applications is integrating the skyequickey into Nokia’s future firmwares with necessary adjustments. These are the cons and pros I’ve come across with this device during my trial and there will be a nicer and more user friendly menu structures in the future. So let’s look forward for it.
Update: Oops I missed it! actually nokia them self has introduced a alternative to skyequickey,The Search Internet and My content standby screen application.Which is a great solution for simplify the searching both on the web and in your device with real-time updating.This makes things lot more easier than it was before,So I think I should cover this up on a separate post.
