I used to have an old Nokia E63 which was, for all intents and purposes, my very first smartphone. Sure, it didn't have a touchscreen or accelerometer/gyroscope features that seem to be the norm in smartphones now, but it carried me well into 2012 when I got my very first "modern" smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy Note.
Nokia was on top of the mobile phone world before Apple, Blackberry and Samsung started coming into the picture, and you could easily see why. My E63 had features out the wazoo:
1. A 2.36" display at 320x240px resolution
2. A boatload of connectivity options including GPRS, EDGE, 3G, WiFi, and Bluetooth
3. Around 100 MB internal storage, and MicroSD card up to 16 GB officially (32 GB unofficially)
4. A Micro-USB connector (very few phones had this at the time)
5. A 2MP fixed-focus flash camera with video recording @ 320x240px and photos @ 1600x1200px
6. And most importantly, a full Qwerty keyboard
With its included operating system, Symbian OS9.2 S60 3.1 Edition, and all the features listed above, this truly was a highly capable business phone. Its included software had essentials like a PDF viewer, Quick office with MS Office 2007 support (Word / Excel / Powerpoint editor), a WAP browser, and an email client. And thanks to the then prolific Symbian OS development scene, I also had apps that let me share my 3G data connection as a personal hotspot, browse the internet with synced bookmarks using Opera, chat via instant messenger apps such as Yahoo! Messenger, AIM, MSN, and even Whatsapp, play roguelike games such as Dweller (which work so much better with a physical keyboard than a touchscreen), and even use Spotify. I'm fairly certain that if Nokia had continued developing the Symbian OS, it would be bigger than the Windows app store.
While I do miss that little beast of a phone and the amazing keyboard it had, technology quickly left it behind. WiFi N and AC are here now, as well as HSDPA and LTE, leaving the old wireless connections in the dust. Mirroring displays via Miracast/AirPlay/Chromecast is super neat. Bigger, faster storage and processors allow for apps and features that simply aren't possible on my old Nokia E63. And ever since Swype came out on Android back when I had my Galaxy Note, I've become more and more efficient at typing/swyping on a touchscreen keyboard.
It's good to look back and think of our past gadgets and the "good times" we had with them once in a while. But improving our technology is what got humans from sticks and stones to silicon and lithium, so it behooves us to continue to adapt.
I think the reason why Nokia was left behind by everyone else was because of Symbian. If they had focused their efforts on Meego sooner, things may have turned out differently.
I used to have an old Nokia E63 which was, for all intents and purposes, my very first smartphone. Sure, it didn't have a touchscreen or accelerometer/gyroscope features that seem to be the norm in smartphones now, but it carried me well into 2012 when I got my very first "modern" smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy Note.
Nokia was on top of the mobile phone world before Apple, Blackberry and Samsung started coming into the picture, and you could easily see why. My E63 had features out the wazoo:
1. A 2.36" display at 320x240px resolution
2. A boatload of connectivity options including GPRS, EDGE, 3G, WiFi, and Bluetooth
3. Around 100 MB internal storage, and MicroSD card up to 16 GB officially (32 GB unofficially)
4. A Micro-USB connector (very few phones had this at the time)
5. A 2MP fixed-focus flash camera with video recording @ 320x240px and photos @ 1600x1200px
6. And most importantly, a full Qwerty keyboard
With its included operating system, Symbian OS9.2 S60 3.1 Edition, and all the features listed above, this truly was a highly capable business phone. Its included software had essentials like a PDF viewer, Quick office with MS Office 2007 support (Word / Excel / Powerpoint editor), a WAP browser, and an email client. And thanks to the then prolific Symbian OS development scene, I also had apps that let me share my 3G data connection as a personal hotspot, browse the internet with synced bookmarks using Opera, chat via instant messenger apps such as Yahoo! Messenger, AIM, MSN, and even Whatsapp, play roguelike games such as Dweller (which work so much better with a physical keyboard than a touchscreen), and even use Spotify. I'm fairly certain that if Nokia had continued developing the Symbian OS, it would be bigger than the Windows app store.
While I do miss that little beast of a phone and the amazing keyboard it had, technology quickly left it behind. WiFi N and AC are here now, as well as HSDPA and LTE, leaving the old wireless connections in the dust. Mirroring displays via Miracast/AirPlay/Chromecast is super neat. Bigger, faster storage and processors allow for apps and features that simply aren't possible on my old Nokia E63. And ever since Swype came out on Android back when I had my Galaxy Note, I've become more and more efficient at typing/swyping on a touchscreen keyboard.
It's good to look back and think of our past gadgets and the "good times" we had with them once in a while. But improving our technology is what got humans from sticks and stones to silicon and lithium, so it behooves us to continue to adapt.
I think the reason why Nokia was left behind by everyone else was because of Symbian. If they had focused their efforts on Meego sooner, things may have turned out differently.