Yet Another Potential Newbie to Symbian

[Archmagus]

I did it once: the Great Platform Switch, but that was from Palm to Windows Mobile, but with the eventual release of the Nokia N97, I might be up to trying it again...stess on the word "might"...so here are a few questions that I think are very basic, and hopefully some kind Soul out there may take pity on me and answer..

What kind of learning curve am I looking at here? As a Palm/Windows Mobile user, I'm used to different platforms, but are there things one has to do with a Symbian device that one doesn't with a Palm or Windows Mobile device?

The Calendar application is a very big deal for me: do Symbian devices feature a Today Screen, like that of Windows Mobile, and do they suffer from what I like to call "The Dog Barks At Midnight" glitch? An anniversary, birthday, or other so called "all-day appointment" has an annoying tendency to cause the alarm to sound on midnight the day of the event ! Despite this being a known problem, there has never been a fix, and this happens in both Windows Mobile and Palm! Does it happen with Symbian??

Most of the software I use is available in Symbian: I only really rely on three "major" programs, E-Reader Pro, HandyBase, and a world time, weather, and currency rate calculator called Fizz Traveler. I'm reasonably certain that the first two are available in Symbian, not so sure about the last one, is there something comparable in Symbian (world clock, weather, currency/metric converter) other than WorldMate, which has its own problems?

If you've read this far, thank you! If you can help me, thank you even more!!

[Antoine Wright]

Symbian (S60) is most like Windows Mobile with less memory issues (for the later models).

do Symbian devices feature a Today Screen, like that of Windows Mobile,

Yes. Its called the Active Standby screen and its not customizable. Different models will treat this differently, and the new Symbian S60 5th Edition models (the 5800 XpressMusic and the N97) use a totally widget-driven approach.

do they suffer from what I like to call "The Dog Barks At Midnight" glitch? An anniversary, birthday, or other so called "all-day appointment" has an annoying tendency to cause the alarm to sound on midnight the day of the event! Despite this being a known problem, there has never been a fix, and this happens in both Windows Mobile and Palm! Does it happen with Symbian??

In a word, nope. They don't have this issue. Alarms are handled like Palm OS, however birthdays and anniversaries are not shown in the Calendar app. Its stupid and still a broken feature in the latest edition of the OS available now (N78, N79, N85, and N96 with Symbian S60 Feature Pack 2). Some 3rd party calendar solutions do rectify this though.

Most of the software I use is available in Symbian: I only really rely on three "major" programs, E-Reader Pro, HandyBase, and a world time, weather, and currency rate calculator called Fizz Traveler. I'm reasonably certain that the first two are available in Symbian, not so sure about the last one, is there something comparable in Symbian (world clock, weather, currency/metric converter) other than WorldMate, which has its own problems?

Worldmate is the best world clock for the platform and is better than what other platforms have shown. There are a number of similar apps, check our Brighthand software store (store.brighthand.com) as there would be a ton of them there.

Finding apps for Symbian can be an issue as there is no centralized app store like a PocketGear, and the Nokia Download! application sometimes doesn't have all that you'd want to explore. That being said, folks do post in our news release forum about apps, and I'll occasionally do an article or two highlighting software that I've come across that would bring some solid value.

Feel free to continue to ask questions, that's what we are here for.

I'd recommend you to do a search for "Moving to Symbian/S60" here as well, as the articles written will give you an idea of how I have moved from Palm OS (Treo) to Symbian (N75, N95) over the past year.

[Archmagus]

Thank you for your help: I will do the search you suggested shortly, but before I do so, let me ask you this...

If you had it "to do all over again", with what you know now, would you make the same switch, or would you move to Windows Mobile, and why or why not?

Thank you for your help, far more than on other sites...

[Antoine Wright]

Yes, I would make the same switch.

While Windows Mobile is indeed a powerful platform, coming from the Palm OS I wanted something that was not so much a "PC in my pocket" as much as it was a system designed as a solid phone, and a more solid mobile terminal.

What I would have changed is the device that I started out with. Starting with the N75, while great for learning the platform, was horrible in terms of meeting my expectations. I would recommend that in a case like this where one is switching platforms that they would go for a mid-range model (on the Symbian side, the E71, N82, and N79 fit this bill) because it would be more tuned for longer short-term value, and there would be a better line towards seeing what the platform could do.

You are welcome for the help. This is what we are here for, enable others to see mobility as it best fits them.

[Archmagus]

I was surprised by how much improvement I'd seen in Windows Mobile: of course, the last time I'd used it was when it was version 2.0 (Compaq I-Paq). I also came from the Treo World, and while I loved the form factor--and still do think its best in that arena--I found the Treoes to have enough minor flaws in them to switch platforms. Still, from what you've said, perhaps actually trying both in store before committing would be a good idea. Of course, the N97 would actually have to be in the store before that would happen, because "its all vaporware until it hits the shelves", as my gamer-friends tell me.

One problem was, when I went to AT&T and looked at the Fuze, I was disappointed to see the keyboard detaches from the unit, or at least that was what I thought, as the salesperson wouldn't really let me touch it. For some reason, that really turned me off to the machine, but maybe if I gave it a second look, it wouldn't...

Anyway, maybe something else will turn up for AT&T, something with a normal-sized headphone jack so I don't have to run around with a kookie adapter to play my music. But, I really need the "true PDA" machine, as I have a lot of odd things to keep track of, that others out there probably don't, enough to buy a third-party database management program to deal with them all.

[Antoine Wright]

Smartphones are no less PDAs than anything else. You just get the added component of a cellular service with it.

Considering your Palm background, check out the Nokia E71. That might have the best balance between work and entertainment value for you.

[Archmagus]

Not a bad device: but I do need the touch screen: I've becomed too addicted to them to go without, as my experience goes back to the Samsung SPH-I300. I also use the calculator rather frequently, and its more intuitive to use a calculator on a touch sensitive device, at least for me.The touch screen was one of the reasons I was happy to hear about the N97. One question I did forget was whether Symbain could handle Word and Excel files, as I do use them from time to time. All things considered, I might be best off with Windows Mobile, even though they do wake me up at midnight to remind me of a distant cousin's birthday, or require some odd adapter thingy to listen to music...

[Antoine Wright]

The 5800 XpressMedia (coming in US 3G in late Jan/early Feb) might be something worth looking at as well. This model is already for sale now in the US, but its the European 3G version of it.

[Archmagus]

I will check out both devices, and the N97 if it ever comes out for AT&T. I wonder why Symbian was never really embraced here as it was in the rest of the world, or am I missing something, and people are using these devices here, but not as vocally as the average I-Phone user. I've had that device shoved at me several times, but I'm not thrilled at having no physical keyboard, and Apple in complete and utter control...Its almost like they are the Microsoft of the mobile world, as I've found Windows to be much more open in this instance...

[Antoine Wright]

The chances of the N97 coming out on the ATT deck are quite slim if I were to refer to the history of Nokia's high-end devices. You might just want to start saving and go from there.