Nokia 5800 : The videos say it all
Nokia 5800
While It’s probably clear for me that the 5800 is not an iPhone contender, and I think it’s not even supposed to be, it’s clear some of the details that makes the iPhone stand out from the competition. Don’t matter if it’s Nokia, Samsung, LG. The problem is always one:
It is not about putting touch and transitions. It’s about the whole package. It should be consistent, responsive, integrated and with visual clues to whatever you’re doing.
If you take time to look at the videos :
http://gizmodo.com/5058503/nokia-releases-5800-xpressmusic-tube-full-video-tour
What will strike you in the first seconds are several minor things that unfortunately ruin most of the experience, even the whole device / software looking quite solid:
a. Lack of responsiveness : 2 presses? Press and nothing happens for more than 1 second? Touch to zoom and it takes half a second?
b. Still carrying the past on it’s shoulder: Focus when there’s no focus? Ok, if you want to mix hardware controls with touch controls you can focus on another features but not on the list.
c. What is that pick? I am a guitar player, but to kill the stylus by putting a pick that is funny :) The portrait qwerty, the full qwerty the T9 and recognition are hitting that spot : Let’s try to please everyone. At least for me, IMHO this is where things get really ugly. Trying to please everyone is one of the most dangerous decision a design team can make.
d. Build on top of legacy: Ok you need to maintain S60 compatibility, but come on, s60 was not made for touch. Even with series90 the touch was not planned for fingers. Legacy is the worst nightmare of all.
e. the icons. Oh, the icons. The GUI icons for Camera, Video player and so on are really bad. I hope this are not the ones in the final package, but that looks so amateur :/ What is that recording light?
f. Transitions where is not needed, missing when needed : From one screen to the other a simple fade, but the selected item title slides up and decreases size to fit the former title space’s. Complicated.
g. Keyboard flying around? Consistency at least in the input method is key. The keyboard is supposed to be in the same place always, but if you look when adding a feed to your favorite friend, the keyboard goes to the middle of screen, with buttons bellow. Not good.
So, there’s a lot of things going on in the video, but they are there. At least Nokia didn’t trying to make the videos be something the device is not. The real deal seems to be there, and you know what you’re getting.
I will for sure try to use one soon, and post here if my impressions based on the video are right, and see if I can at least detail in really fine-grain level some of this small things, somebody can be reading and can be helpful!
Two touches are required in many places, because it is touch to focus, touch to select. So it isn’t unresponsive. The S60 touch development guide mentions this.
The icons in the 5800 are going to be standard across all devices and all Nokia services (Ovi). I didn’t watch the videos, but they may or may not be the final ones.
October 3rd, 2008 at 10:50 am@jOdy: yeah, but look even when there’s 2 touches, it takes more than half second to answer. And even more when you rotate the screen. This is were I was pointing the unresponsiveness as well.
Icons: even if they change, and better if they go along with all the others, still bad :/ I have been talking about the bad anti-alias in Nokia icons for quite a while, as well lack of consistent margins, spaces and more proportion between elements.
Eg: look at the playback window, the buttons (really important ones) are “stick” to the bottom along with the really used back and options command, when there’s a huge gap between it and the music name/info. There could have been a better use of the white space (and still make it clean) if there was a better grid for spacing, as well consistent margins and alignments.
BR
October 3rd, 2008 at 11:36 amIf you look at this video I think some of the UI choices become more reasonable, at least as far as number of input choices with Asian language support.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6aM9MHdLqc
As far as legacy I am very familiar with s60 as are millions of users out there, this device is for us, s60 users who wants touch, not a user who wants an iPhone. Apparantly plenty of S60 3rd ED apps are compatible without modification.
October 7th, 2008 at 5:30 amHi Mobiledivide:
a) Yes, indeed some choices are reasonable, for sure. But the point I am saying is that it’s not just matter of “Let’s add touch” and that’s it. No, you need to think at the whole not just do a simple adaption.
c) The legacy, the case is not be an iphone, not AT ALL. I am a s60 user. I want a better information archictecture, I want less menu drill dives, I want more consistent choices across the s60, so what I want is a more consistent and smooth s60 not an iphone.
My critics are towards the lack of “unity” of several s60 applications not the s60 itself. Just to add transitions or touchs are not going to fullfill my s60 touch need. I was talking about fast and meaninful transitions, simple menus, better multi tasking, more integration between apps, faster browser and so on.
:)
October 7th, 2008 at 8:27 am“Two touches” is the worst, IMHO.
Ah, valeu lá a correção. :)
[]’s
October 7th, 2008 at 2:39 pmsooo slow that i got impatient just by watching the video. I dont like this kind of transition that slice the screen in the middle, looks like a ppt slideshow. The screen goes black when rotating, i dont like it. Is it double touch or the guy is a poor feedbackless user?
But the pick is amazing, it gives personality to it!
October 8th, 2008 at 6:24 amcan we be serious about this phone….well since its the first touch screen nokia has offered its not like they were going to go all out with the production….but they did a sufficient job to beat the iphone hands down…..the iphone disappointed me with the camera and the resolution of the screen ,no flash, and the price was ridiculous for such small advances in technology…i even thought the N95 8gb was a better option than the iphone….i still do…..the 5800 though having a 3.2meg camera does it for me!!!
it sexy,(could have been a bit slimmer),and all the media features are really cool……so i give it 8 out of 10….its a really nice phone…
November 10th, 2008 at 6:33 pmHi brad :)
Again my comment from the above: The thing is not the phone itself. Like the E71, this little dude has all the potential to kill the iphone, even being cheaper etc. like you said it has more features, and like everyone knows the iphone feature-wise is actually beaten by most of nowdays phones.
The point is the experience. Look at the way things are organized in the phone. Look at how “disconnected” the applications feel. look at the choice of having moving focus combined with the touchscreen (seems just legacy because of s60 non-touch nature), look at the speed of the transitions and the 6 different keyboard layouts. and so on so on.
What I am criticizing here is that it looks more like a rushed product than something that could have been done if there was a dedicated team, with POWER to change stuff on the design side.
The phone itself it like almost all the other nokia: way better than the iphone. But the experience of using one? Sorry way far behind.
November 12th, 2008 at 3:57 pmThere are over 200 million people who have had S60(mostly in Asia and Europe) and I, who have used S60 devices for couple of years and my iPod touch as media player, have absolutely no problems with the usability. I got also more choice of how I use my S60 phone and no need to pay about everything.
Most people still thankfully are able to look behind the first impression. Nothing away from other manufacturers thought.
December 7th, 2008 at 11:49 amHi Pde:
Again, the problem is not with the usability in itself. It is the experience, and the little details and connection between apps.
I totally agree that several million people use the s60 phones (I also do, mine is the E71) but they could be at the same level as the hardware also in software wise.
The problem is most related to a known fact:
Teams are working clearly separated creating the products, and there’s not too much “after-life” when the phone is release. It’s quite rare to have updates, and when they come are mostly bugfixes.
anyhow you got the point :)
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:52 pmbottom line here is you iphone lovers look at your phone first. it doesn’t multi task. hardware needs upgrade. camera is stuck 5 years ago now it’s 5 megapixel or more! battery should be removable this is good design so users can keep the phone for at least 5 years! the should be modem capable iphone is not! browser should display the whole internet not just html iphone not capable. speakers external should be stereo iphone only has one mono and too silent! the list goes on and on. So I don’t think it’s that revolutionary. touch tech has been around for years!
March 23rd, 2009 at 1:32 pmepgomez:
That’s the point. We are not talking about iphone features or comparions in feature wise.
First: I am more than a simple nokia user. And what you say there I talk here since iphone was launched. Those are iPhone problems. but now comes the question:
Why, a phone so bad in feature wise, with outdated, crippled hardware features (but indeed a much better use of cpu and the feedback to the user for that) is putting all the other players on trial?
Why Nokia, SE, Samsung with much more powerful phones are suffering in comparison on such a “crap” phone.
It’s because it’s not about the features, but the experience. Is about using it and getting what you want to do done, in a simple organized way.
I will not use less is more as an argument, but the lack of consistent on S60 and the clear visualization that the phone is made of several non-connected components is the key to the mistake.
I think reading as a simple critic to the device or the manufacture is not the point.
Br
March 24th, 2009 at 9:01 am