Originally Posted by Karel Jansens

It's not only Nokia. I own a Sony Ericsson P910i smartphone, which has what can probably be described as one of the best and smartest one-finger-control-devices (I'm talking about the 5-way rocker wheel) ever invented for a phone.

"Focus groups" told SE that the wheel was too complicated to use (which leads me to believe that at least that focus group was of simian origin, most likely chimpansees), so they dropped it on the P990 in "favour" of a 3-way rocker and two buttons. Suffize to say that that decision was not exactly applauded by the actual users of the phones and has in more than one case resulted in refusal to upgrade, or even total dropout of the SE camp.

I now believe "focus group" may be a synonym for "drunks who happen to be stumbling by our office entrance today".

That, or just apes...

Originally Posted by Milhouse

And that is precisely what the old Communicator users are unhappy about - the really good S80 features loved by users that Nokia saw fit to ditch while offering not very much in return.

Originally Posted by swing

However, some applications are tied to the IMEI, so you will still need to purchase a second license.

As for the Psion stuff - yes, I believe it's all true. Remember a lot of Psion staff moved to Symbian (it was a spin off from Psion), who were then bought by Nokia, so have now ended up at Nokia.

Originally Posted by Milhouse

Isn't this what focus groups are for, to avoid this kind of mess?

The focus group members who gave input on the E90 are probably the same focus group members who said a hard cover wasn't necessary on the N800... I do wonder where Nokia find them, they certainly have a knack for finding the least suitable people to give feedback on future products. Talking to people who care about the old/existing products would surely have identified the failings and shortcomings in the E90 (and N800 for that matter).

Originally Posted by Milhouse

The impression I got from the article was that S80 could be used one handed whereas S60 cannot, and complex tasks were easier to accomplish in S80 than S60. And the loss of fax functionality may seem like no big deal but think how many offices still have fax machines and also consider that fax machines far outnumber scanners in a typical office environment meaning that fax functionality is quite often critical for remote users.

While Nokia could have tweaked the S60 UI to satisfy these use cases which appear important to the existing Communicator user base, it seems Nokia chose instead to ignore them. I doubt that any amount of additional 3rd party apps will make up for the shortcomings of a device that existing users simply don't want to use. It looks to me that Nokia may be out of touch with it's Enterprise users, which is rather unfortunate as the Enterpise division has only just turned in it's first ever profitable quarter.

I can understand the logic behind the move to consolidate on S60, however I don't understand why Nokia would release a premier product such as the E90 which is in terms of day to day usage inferior to it's predecessors. In some ways I see the same scenario playing out here (with internet tablets) - the attitude seems to be that Nokia knows best.

Originally Posted by sapporobaby

Yes some apps are tied to the IMEI. This is a given. However there is not one company that I have come across with the software that I use that has made me purchase another license

Originally Posted by swing

I thought we were talking about using the software on two devices concurrently...

I agree most will happily move a license to a new IMEI (if only to handle warranty replacements / stolen devices), but in the context of using it on 2 devices together you would need a second license.

Originally Posted by Milhouse

The impression I got from the article was that S80 could be used one handed whereas S60 cannot, and complex tasks were easier to accomplish in S80 than S60. And the loss of fax functionality may seem like no big deal but think how many offices still have fax machines and also consider that fax machines far outnumber scanners in a typical office environment meaning that fax functionality is quite often critical for remote users.

While Nokia could have tweaked the S60 UI to satisfy these use cases which appear important to the existing Communicator user base, it seems Nokia chose instead to ignore them. I doubt that any amount of additional 3rd party apps will make up for the shortcomings of a device that existing users simply don't want to use. It looks to me that Nokia may be out of touch with it's Enterprise users, which is rather unfortunate as the Enterpise division has only just turned in it's first ever profitable quarter.

I can understand the logic behind the move to consolidate on S60, however I don't understand why Nokia would release a premier product such as the E90 which is in terms of day to day usage inferior to it's predecessors. In some ways I see the same scenario playing out here (with internet tablets) - the attitude seems to be that Nokia knows best.