What does the future hold for users not "on the cutting edge"

A

ajanimal123

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I have been enjoying my N86 for the past few months. I have only had 1 or 2 hiccups in that time. An occasional freeze that required a battery pull, and the fm transmitter not working for about 2 minutes one day. My only complaint would be the slow down of the device over time. The phone is much quicker right after a hard reset or fw upgrade (I do a full wipe of my devices with each new fw) But, after a couple of months things tend to slow down. Things dont open as quickly.

With all the new devices having 4" screens, 1 ghz processors and tons of RAM, what does the future hold for people like me. I'm perfectly happy with my 2.6" screen. Can we expect to see newer phones with average size screens and faster processors and more RAM?

Could you imagine the N82, N86, or N95 with a 1 ghz processor and 512mb of ram, running S60v3?

Is there hope for simpletons like me?
 
The current trend is touch screens. So to put it simply, no there is no hope for another device like the n82, n86, or n95.
Even the e7 is rumoured to have a touch screen.
I would't expect nokia to release a smartphone with an alphanumeric keypad once meego hits next year.
 
Sort of. The E5 has a 600mhz processor and 256mb of ram. Nokia might put out some more phones in the 5 series with similar guts. (C5, X5, another E5)

All the high end guts will be for 6, 7, 8 and 9 series, all of which will most likely be touch centric.
 
I thought I read somewhere that Nokia wasn't abandoning Symbian. That S60 was going to be moving down the ladder and wont be used on its flagship phones. Considering the relative speed of technology, I was thinking we would see some of todays hardware in a mid/lower range phone in 2-3 years.

After all, not everyone wants to carry a 4" brick in their pocket.
 
I'd say that S60v3 is just about dead. It will still be sold on the lower end but with minimal upgrades. S60v3 and v4 is getting Nokia's Symbian love. It's so weird that S40 now has touch capabilities but S60v3 doesn't...

What I think may happen (depends on how S3/S4 handle screen resolutions) is what we kind of see with several Android handsets. Specifically the X10 mini (has a keyboard) and the IDEOS phones. Smaller handsets with modest specs (600 mhz, 128-256 ram, etc) running S3/S4. The Nokia 5250 is a touch screen phone but smaller than the N86. I don't see the desire for smaller smartphones disappearing.

The trend for phones is what's new - which is bigger and larger. It'll swing back around when more and more people realize that they don't care for carrying a phone with a 5" screen everywhere. It's new and the novelty will wear off.

--edit
as far as today's technology in smaller phones... I agree with what others say... ~ 2 years. There needs to be die shrinkage and then the R&D work to fit (eventually) combined components on a smaller board. The A8 processor is fairly new-ish and that probably won't see a shrink for a year or two in itself.
 
As a (now) happy E51 owner (since the last firmware), I am with the original poster on this one. There is nothing to replace my phone with in the Nokia US product range, even the N86 has been withdrawn. The E52 never arrived. I want something small with one-handed operation. To improve on the E51, I would simply like a slightly bigger screen, a 3.5 mm headphone jack, longer battery life, slightly faster operation and long-lived buttons (not rubber). It doesn't seem much to ask. But Nokia seem willfully determined to not offer the phone I want.

It took two years of firmware upgrades before Nokia finally finished making the E51, and going through the early revisions of that phone's firmware I have no desire to witness the company finishing another new product live in front of a paying audience.
 
I think that the "cutting edge" is on the software side of things now: UI, social connectivity, quality/quantity of side-loaded applications, etc -- or what I personally call distractions.

I honestly can't believe how fast things have accelerated away from the N95/N82, and while I like new devices and new experiences, I do miss the days of simply having "just" a phone that is capable of taking pictures and listening to music. I just felt like the devices were more focused, and were tools instead of toys.

On with the future, I suppose.
 
Yes, indeed. The future can turn full circle. Here's why.

The 4" plus superphone remains in a state of a flux. Its not a permanent situation nor a permanent niche. It happens because its pointing to the next stage in mobile device evolution, MIDs and tablets.

The people who are buying superphones for mobile web now, will be buying tablets later. From iPhone to iPad. From Samsung Galaxy to Galaxy Tab. And so on.

As most people are not going to keep two or more data contracts, or even a prepaid data plan with a data contract, they're going to make a choice of having only one mobile data connected device. That choice in the future is likely to be the tablet.

The phone then reverts back to the cheap featurephone on prepaid plans.

Starting to see this happen with people carrying cheaper featurephones or smartphones like Blackberry Curves, while carrying iPod Touches and iPads. Soon Android tablets will join into this mix. In many ways, happening in China already where the Android situation is, very unlike the US, settling between cheap tablets with cheap smartphones, instead of one superphone.

There are signs that mobile convergence is stopping and we maybe headed back to divergence (carrying two or more devices).

So if you want, you may keep your older smartphone or featurephone, and just save up towards a touchscreen tablet like an iPad or Galaxy Tab.

Another portent in the future: See the Huawei Ideos.

Its a cheap Android smartphone under $200 without a contract. But it has Froyo. Which means it has a mobile wifi hotspot for free.

See cheap smartphone with mobile wifi hotspot while using iPod Touch 4, iPad or some Android tablet.

If you can convert your old Nokia Symbian smartphones with Joikuspot for this purpose, you can preserve that investment for the future.
 
Nokia has always kept a broad portfolio of devices, they have everything from $30 GSM only phones to $1000 super-smartphones. I'd say they'll still have something like what you're looking for down the road.
 
I'm sorry, but people are not going to replace their smartphone with tablets and carry 9-10" devices instead of 4" devices. And these people are all not going to buy them with 3G built into them. Tablets complement your smartphone but these devices are not pocketable enough to carry around every day to replace your slim handheld device.
 
+1

My current phone has already entirely removed my need for a laptop for personal use.

I have absolutely no need for a tablet, and can't foresee that situation changing any time soon.
 
I think some people are confused with my original post. I was just wondering if the hardware of today was going to trickle down to the mid and lower range phones of tomorrow.

I think we can all agree that a phone such as the N82, N95, and even the N86 (with exception of the camera module) would be considered mid range phones if they are released today. Since S60v3 has been worked and reworked over the last 5 years, I see a boost in hardware specs as being the only thing left that would improve the user experience. The N95/N82 was released in 2007, both had the dual 332 mhz processor. And this was considered the flagship of Nokia. (as was the OS) In 3 short years, we have seen only fp2 added to the OS. Nokia has now moved on to s60v5's and meego. And the flagship will 680mhz dual processor. Imagine if the N95 had a 680mhz processor and 256mb of ram. It would be blazing fast. Battery life would be even better since its not running a 4" screen every time you check your email or twitter update.

Most would say that S60v3 is a stable OS, including me. My only complaint is the speed at which some apps open or run. (email, music player w/large music library) Since Nokia will still be pushing out phones 5 years from now with S60v3 on them, you would have to think that they would be using some of the hardware of today in those phones.
 
@Snotick I agree with what you're saying and it's already trickling down. Look at the E5; S60v3, 600MHz proc/256MB of RAM, etc. all for $250 retail which means it will be cheaper when it hits distribution channels like Amazon and Newegg. Will we see a similar form factor to the N95/N86 again? Unknown. But keep an eye on the 5 series, maybe 6 series and under.
 
^ It probably won't be that much better. I don't think you are getting over excited over the e5 since it's not that much better than the e72 for you right?


Nokia is in the crossroads right now. They still want Symbian, but APP Developers want to write for Apple and Android. So they need a device like the N8 to do well if they still planning on S^4 to get them back on track.


If S^3 tanks, then who knows what will be left for Symbian. You might not even have that much of a choice.


Don't get me wrong I want Nokia to do well because they do make good hardware, but they take forever to release devices and people are losing their patience waiting around. Unless you're an Apple fanboi, most people don't really care about the name on the phone anymore.


2011 will definitely give you a better picture of "where you will be" with Nokia 5 years from now...
 
CCrows, you still keep tying the success of S^3 and S^4 to the future of Nokia's mid and low range phones. Nokia has already stated that S60v3 will move down the ladder. I have no experience with S40, but I wonder how the most recent phone released with S40 runs compared to one 3-5 years ago. I would assume that the changes in technology/hardware have improved the S40 user experience.

Gorgonesh, thanks for pointing out the E5. I was looking at the E52/E55 (also running the 600mhz processor) but I still consider the E series phones to be in the higher tiers of Nokias offerings. But the E5 price of $250 is interesting. (will probably be below $200 within 8 months)

The C5 is more of what I was looking at. It also has the 600mhz processor, but only 128mb of Ram. I would be curious to see how it handles web pages, large music libraries and tons of emails.
 
Fully agree. I wouldn't doubt, in fact, carriers selling you one bucket of data, and using it for multiple devices. I actually JUST bought an iPad, and I looooove it.

It's an instant on computer, basically. A computer as simple as a TV.

I can see myself, aside from email, text, music, and google search, not really needing a do-all smart phone, with a tablet available.
 
It's a man-purse, lol.

No, actually, I just tossed it onto my coffee table. It stays there or near the bed for ebooks/comics at night. The Marvel Comics app is staggering on an iPad.
 
And where do you think S^3 is going to be 5 years from now, it will be on low to mid range phones.

Also with the c5, do you really want to deal with another 128mb device? Everybody knows that 256mb should be the minimum for s60...
 
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