The hardware of the Nokia N97 mini passed with flying colours (see yesterday’s review) and it is difficult to fault in every area, apart from the quirky keyboard layout which takes some time to get used to. Today I am going to look at the OS and the included software and see how it compares to the other mobile platforms and to see how much it has been improved with the recent software updates from Nokia.
The updates have greatly improved the feel of the OS and the scrolling and general navigation is much improved. However, there are still too many schizophrenic areas where one tap seems to be required followed by two taps and it gets a little confusing very quickly. For example, you can scroll throw the app screen by moving your finger up and down in the main screen. Do the same in the messaging app when trying to read a long email and it will just select text- you have to use the scroll bar here which is not good for a right hander because your thumb blocks the text. Throw in a selection of confusing layers with so many apps and settings listed that you soon start to feel overwhelmed by what is on offer. It feels like an old fashioned OS which looks modern, if that makes sense.
The quirks do not stop at the OS though- I set up my MS Exchange account and was naturally asked to input a password. The problem is that no matter how hard I tried it wanted a password consisting of numbers and letters. I struggled with this, especially without opening the hardware keyboard, and found the whole process to be less than intuitive. The oddities continue with the calendar which ‘still’ doesn’t include the ability to set a default alarm time for new entries and the default onscreen keyboard in apps like contacts which offers a QWERTY keyboard over 2 screens; A-J on the first screen, click and arrow to go to K-Z. It is all quite bizarre.
Nokia has done some work on the overall interface, but completely forgot about the real features behind the icons and left us with a software experience which feels unfinished and which is simply not up to scratch in 2009. It is hard to fault the capability and the quality of the media playback and camera performance, but it needs to be wrapped up in a much neater solution than what is on offer here.
All of the above sounds remarkably negative and it is deserved in my opinion, but that is because I do not feel that I should have to spend time fiddling with an OS to set it up and I don’t want a learning curve to climb. In a world where every other OS is fairly intuitive Symbian stands out as an OS which requires the user to do too much in the first few days.
The problem is that if you do persevere and spend some time learning the OS quirks you will end up using a super stable operating system which is gentle on battery life alongside hardware which provides a superior voice experience and a feeling of reassurance that it will get you through the heaviest of days. I have spent 80% of this review dissing Symbian, but have to acknowledge that the entire package is still one that will perform for the individual who needs good media, great voice capabilities and a hardware solution which can take almost anything that is thrown at it. I am not a huge fan of Symbian, but I can’t help but still feel positive about the whole package.
If you are considering this against the N97 I would say to go for the mini. You lose little screen size, but gain more program memory and there are a bunch of small improvements which mean that it will work for you longer term than its bigger brother.
Available from Clove for £412.85.
You’ve hit the nail on the head with Nokia’s implementation of Symbian. On the E series it seems to be somewhat more straightforward, but s60v5 it gets more confusing and difficult without any good reason.
It’s a pity, because they have a good solid OS, which needs a face lift and some common sense.