My first Feature Pack 1 experience came with my girl’s 5700,And when I saw the menu system for the first time there was something pretty interesting,a feature that I always wanted(after seeing the tabbed menus on P990i)for easy navigation,but never had an idea of how it would be implemented.That is the new menu system,which had 4 menu styles,two of them are very familiar for s60 users as they were there on the OS from the very beginning,the Grid and the List.The two new arrivals were the V-Shaped and the Horse-shoe style menu layout,which have two different patterns but have the same functionality.The reason why I’m saying that these two menu styles are better than the Grid or the List is obviously clear if you are using your s60 through few generations or if you are a person who loves to keep things neatly arranged and perfectly organized.OK so to make things clear and for the people who haven’t used this Menu style we’ll go for an explanation,so it would be easy to figure out what I’m trying to say,
What is the additional functionality that these two new menu styles have?
When you are using the List or Grid,nothing happens as you select a icon or a folder while you are navigating through them.But in this new style you can see the content of a folder on a side or at the bottom of the screen as you select it,without opening it.
Why it is better than the traditional menu view.
- Can find easily whats inside the folders without opening them.
- With this system it is convenient to organize you applications inside custom folders,as it is easy to view and find with a simple scroll.
- If you have used different s60 (especially 3rd edition) Nokia devices,you’ll notice that non of them have the same Icon arrangement,and with each and every new device we see the icons and folders are moved here and there and been rearranged.And this happens in firmware updates too.So even for a professional s60 user it is not easy to remember all the locations for the applications,So this will ease up things with a preview option.
- As the Symbian OS keeps on growing with the addition of more and more built-in and 3rd party applications,we see that there are so many new folders popping up,so who likes to make it complicated,though they need more applications.
- This new rotating menus are ideal for Navi-wheel equipped devices,I think that’s why Nokia tried it out on N81.So do the N78 and N96 which have much improved navi-wheels.
But why they omitted it from N95 8GB which was released with the N81,and why don’t they offer it for the devices like N95 and N82 even though there were many firmware updates.Is it because it did’t gain much attraction from users?Why did they offered it for non N-series devices like 5700 and 6120 classic,while they could have included it on N95 and N95 8GB?Will Nokia do the same as it was with the N81 in the future,or will the continue to include this on future devices,or may be a more improved version,or will they just forget it after the N78 and N96?(this is not included on the E66 and E71 if I’m correct).There may be mixed thoughts,Above are only based on my personal view.So what do you think about this feature,do you wish to see it present on oncoming E and N series devices?