Why is Nokia so annoying?

E

Ess 94

New member
So I've been wanting to pick up a Symbian phone for a while now.
From about 4 months ago actually when the N76 and and N95 were announced.

There's a few things I'm looking for in a phone.
1. A decent sized screen (2.4" or greater is ideal)
2. A good camera (the 3.2mpix ones on the N73 or the Sony 790a look great)
3. A2DP
4. A reasonable size (has to be 20mm thick or less)

There's a few other features that 'would be nice' like US 3G, wifi and a 3.5" headphone jack but that I could live without if I had to. I don't think my demands are unreasonable.

I figure that the N75, N76 and the N95 are the 3 upcoming phones that fit the bill, with the N95 obviously being the ideal in every area except price.

Now, the N75 seems to have some mysterious issues with Cingular that nobody has any actual facts on and seems destined to never be released. There's no official word from either Cingular or Nokia as to when this phone is coming, nothing but rumors.

The N76 isn't destined for North America, so there no information at all here as to a release date. I've heard April 6th whispered about, but again, nothing but rumors.

The N95 has supposedly, finally been released, but not so as you can actually buy one anywhere yet. Nobody knows what the price is. Some say $500-600, others say $900. That's quite a range.
And now there's even new rumors that a US 3G version will be coming (again, no one can say when), which would make buying a European one now, somewhat foolish.

Has Nokia always been like this? Why can't they just issue a statement with approximate release dates and approximate pricing.
It's all very frustrating. I'm no closer now to being able to buy a phone than I was 4 months ago, and the misinformation and rumors are so bad I don't even know if I SHOULD buy a phone now.
I'd love to get at least SOME sort of information from Nokia. I'm getting pretty sick of reading 'facts' from people whose friend's cousin's 2nd wife supposedly dated a guy back in collage who used to work for Nokia, and he says the Nokia N107 will be released in August and it make my breakfast for me.

Is this ridiculous to anyone else, or is it just me?
 
I dont know man...to each his own I guess.

as far as Nokia is concerned, the N95 was released within the times they quoted and the N76 will be released on time. If you've got a beef about the N75 then take that up with Cingular. Your personal preferences have nothing to do with Nokias launch dates so lets keep them out of this
 
Believe me, we understand your frustration. However, it's similar situation with all the cellphone manufacturers. As was pointed out, though, the N95 was released on time according to the press release back in September. Usually the press releases are a good source of information as to when and how much.
 
Well, I don't blame Nokia for not meeting my preferences. I guess that's just my general frustration with my inability to find a phone that meets what I thought should be fairly basic requirements.
 
I'm not sure how it's fair to call Nokia annoying because they cant meet your basic needs. Between the N93/93i, N73, and N95, if those dont meet your needs then perhaps your not looking for a phone at all.
 
How are your requirements basic? What other phone manufacturer on the market offers all of the features you were looking for, with a smartphone OS no less? Nokia has been cramming more features into their phones than any other manufacturer on the market. I really don't understand how you can complain if there is no alternative? I mean, I could complain about SE not having WLAN, EDGE, or even GSM 850 in a lot of their phones; that's annoying. I could complain about WM phones not having even decent cameras; that's definitely annoying. None of these companies are perfect, but Nokia is definitely closest to the mark with their devices. There are RAM issues, lack of minor features here and there, and specs that aren't standard across the line, but i really mean it when I say it, who else is doing it better?
 
I can understand his frustration. One has the sense of being jerked around by the phone manufacturers, who are always dangling carrots in front of us that we can?t reach. It?s not a new marketing technique to announce a product far in advance of delivery, in order to build up consumer interest. But I?ve never seen this technique carried to such extremes as it is by the mobile phone industry. The idea is announce a new model with great fanfare, provide detailed specs and photographs, show it off at trade shows, give prototypes to reviewers, and then let the public stew for half a year until the item finally comes to market. During this period, the manufacturer offers no further information, but rumors and speculation abound. The N75 Release Date Discussion, which started December 15, has almost 2,000 posts as of today.
 
A2DP is not an unreasonable demand -- neither is an 8mp cameraphone. It's reasonable to want those things sure, but what's not reasonable is to ignore the fact that there isn't a market demand for them right now. A2DP sounds like ****, plain and simple. It's garbage audio in every version that's been released so far ... so until the technology improves, what's the point? Your Joe Average 2007 consumer isn't the same as your Joe Average 1986 consumer when it comes to portable electronic gear. Yes, there are still several million *******s that are buying RAZR's -- but even those *******s are demanding more from Motorola now, so you get a RAZR with the ability to "download songs in a bar" as the commercial says.

In 1986 it was cool for Joe Average to have a portable tape player -- never mind that the first generation of Walkman's sounded like crap. But now? Joe Average isn't impressed with just the novelty anymore, they want quality to boot -- this is how the portable gadget market has progressed.

When A2DP stops sound like crap, more people will demand it, and Nokia and SE and everyone else will have an incentive to add it to more phones -- it's exactly what happened with the Walkman V2.0, and it's exactly what happened with bluetooth headsets in the first place. And, if you pay any attention at all to the cell phone market, you'll see the same with the iPhone. Outside of your couple million Apple fanboys, 99% of people aren't going to buy it until iPhone v2.0 comes out.

Market analysts, Mobile industry analysts, computer industry analysts, all are saying the same thing: there is nowhere near the demand for the iPhone as there was for the iPod, and Steve Jobs is delusional if he thinks otherwise.

The iPod filled a space that barely existed when it came out -- there were, what, 2 other high capacity mp3 players on the market at that point? And how many were tied to an easy to use music service?

The iPhone is entering as a featurephone (not a smartphone, make sure you keep hammering that into your skull) into a market where the featurephone set is already dominated by Motorola, SE, Samsung, and Nokia. Will it make a dent in the market? Sure, in the same way that a pebble dents a semi-truck.

To the OP -- I share your frustration, and have for years, it's the double edged sword of knowing so much about phones -- the perfect phone will never exist. The trick is to try to find one that's as close as possible, and then start saving your duckets for the Next Big Thing (TM) that will get you even closer.

-olly
 
I actually understand him. The N95 is the closest thing to perfection, so leave the N95 out.

What I can't comprehend is... The N76 and N77 being no major improvements from the N73 and N72. (and N72 not being any improvement from the N70, other than S60v3)

C'mon. What's new with the N76? OK, 3.5mm port, but that's really it. No Wi-Fi. No A2DP. The 2MP cam is fine, as it is quite a slim phone... (although it's long and wide)

Didn't Nokia say WiFi will be standard for all N Series now? Why, oh why, hasn't this be the case?

Worse, N77... The damn monoblock is just an N70 with S60v3 and DVB-H... No WiFi and no 3.2MP cam... C'mon, there should be one already... What's the point of releasing yet another 2.0MP phone without WiFi and such? There isn't much improvement here. Sure, you can say this compensates for the lower price. But, we are talking about N-Series here, which is meant to be high-end...

Nokia phones now are just 2.0MP cam without Autofocus, with crappy LED flash, and probably 3.5mm... OK, 3.5mm is becoming standard, but where's WiFi and A2DP?

E-Series all have Wi-Fi, except the E50 (correct me if I am wrong). The difference between E-series and N-series are really the music application that came with it and the camera quality. I don't think there is much difference in camera in the first place other than software side... Nokia is basically crippling software to segment markets...

Seriously, it can't keep producing the same old type of phones (like I said, leave N95 out)... There should be major improvements like A2DP and WiFi as actually standard...

My feeling now is:
N7x : no WiFi
N9x : WiFi and high end features, thicker and more bulky, higher price

I don't like Nokia for not making much improvements too... Let's not talk about the competition, let's talk about how the company should actually evolve.
 
1. Yes, Nokia said that WiFi would become standard, but they said that at CES, I believe. Anything that they've announced since then has been basically ready, minus a few tweaks here and there. The WiFi "rule" would count for phones that arent' out yet. Keep in mind that phone development-to-market time is still roughly a year, give or take.

2. E-series is supposed to be focused towards enterprise, or business users. Hence the WiFi. N-series is meant for multimedia, either camera or music (or both). This is the differentiation they're going for. There will be some fudging along the lines but that's it.

3. To Olly's point, it's right. Take a quick inventory of your friends (the average joe cellphone user ones). How many A. even have a phone with A2DP and B. (more interesting) have an A2DP-enabled phone but don't want to plunk down for the ~$100 headphones?

Case in point, my gf. She has the LG CU500. It's A2DP-enabled, and there's no way in hell she's going to drop ~$100 on a pair of headphones. In her mind, she might as drop the same ~$100 on an iPod shuffle and have $20 leftover for music. Once the headphone prices drop, you'll see a difference. And there's the music quality. When I had the N75, I went to the Nokia store with a few MP3s on my phone and tried both of the A2DP headsets that they push up there. Neither was very impressive in the sound quality department. IMO, it's the same quality as listening in one ear with my regular bluetooth headset (which I actually do often).

4. No one's disagreeing that manufacturers should innovate a bit more. And no one's disagreeing that the OP has a point. What we're saying is that 1. this isn't an isolated Nokia problem and 2. it'll come around in the near future ~1 year, imo.
 
Point taken on A2DP, altho I think it sounds slightly better than garbage audio.

However... someone needs to *****slap Nokia while screaming this in their faces: "True multimedia phones have either a headphone jack or A2DP. If you have neither, don't bother calling the phone a 'multimedia device'". Plain and simple.

Speaking as someone who has a stupid amount of pop-port accessories, the pop-port must die. It must die yeterday. And it should never, ever appear on a 'multimeda phone'. Headphone jacks and mini-usb please.
 
Believe me when I say you are preaching to the choir. A 3.5mm jack would change my phone from being 'pretty good' at multimedia to being 'freakin' awesome' at multimedia.

-olly
 
Back
Top