03 Nowember 2006

Smartphone OS Battle:
Symbian S60 vs. Windows Mobile

Here's an nice article I've just found over the "the::unwired", actually its more like comparison review between the two mobile platforms with non touch-screen interfaces, Symbian S60 3rd edition and Windows Mobile Smartphone edition.

Alfredo Padilla’s comparison is quite interesting and definitely has some very valid points indeed and therefore it definitely worth reading.

Although I have to say that overview isn’t quite objective in my personal opinion, perhaps just because it was written from one long-standing Windows Mobile user stand point; after just couple of weeks of using a Symbian Series 60 device (E70).

However at least he refuses to write final conclusion and declare a clear winner because he has realized that it’s necessary to spend a week or so more with either before making a final decision.

So in short, have a nice weekend reading.. ..

“Both S60 and Windows Mobile Smartphone Edition (WMSE from here on out) are non touch-screen interfaces. You interact with the OS through a D-Pad/Joystick, soft keys, command keys (home, menu button) and a keypad/keyboard. Because both devices have a D-Pad/Joystick and soft keys, lets start with the most obvious difference, the built in command keys that provide useful functions.

In WMSE you get two keys, a home key, which takes you back to the Today screen, and a back key that usually takes you back to the previous screen, although in some programs like text editors and IE it can have other functions. Between them these two keys provide a lot of functionality and make getting around the device fairly easy.

In contrast S60 has three different command keys. The first is the "pencil" key, which gives you access to text entry functions. This includes standard things like switching to T9 entry, but it also includes functions that WMSE is missing, such as copying, cutting and pasting text.

The second key is the "menu" key. This is somewhat similar to the "home" key on WMSE, but it reveals the different perspectives in development between the OS'. In WMSE the center of interaction with the device is the Today screen, where the "home" key takes you. With S60 however, the menu key takes you to the application menu. In order to get to the S60 version of the Today screen (the Active Standby screen) you have to hit the menu key twice. For a Windows Mobile user who lives in the Today screen, this is frustrating, but I'm sure that longtime S60 users find it annoying to hit 2 keys in order to get to the Start menu in WMSE.

This is probably a good place to compare WMSE's Today screen to S60's active standby screen. Both are meant to provide you with fast access to key information such as signal strength, battery life, appointments, messages received, and shortcuts to often used applications. I must say though that in this area WMSE wins simply because the Today screen is open to 3rd party developers. This means that you can install a third party application and get a "plug-in" that puts information on you're today screen. S60 does not allow you to do this.

Back to the "menu" key, another feature is that a long press brings up a task switcher, which lists all of the active programs and easily allows you to switch between, or shut them down. This is particularly useful for taking advantage of the OS' multi-tasking capabilities, and unfortunately there is no similar function in WMSE.

The last command key in S60 is the "C" key, which I believe stands for Clear. This is most often used as a backspace when entering text, but also has some other functions, for example in the task switcher hitting the C key will shut down the selected program.

Apart from the command keys, both operating systems have the expected D-Pad/Joystick and soft keys. There are no appreciable differences in the D-Pad, but I did notice a difference in the soft keys. With WMSE when you hit a soft key and get a menu the choices are numbered and can be activated using the corresponding number key. In S60 you have to use the D-Pad/Joystick to scroll to your selection. Another peculiarity of S60 is that in programs one of the soft keys is almost always taken up by the "exit" command. This probably sounds nice to some WMSE users who get annoyed about the fact that there is usually no way to exit applications, but in practice it means that one of your hardware keys is relegated to an option that just isn't used very often, especially when you consider that the hang-up key also fulfills this function.

Both operating systems are fairly comparable in terms of speed and graphics. Once you have them figured out you can move around with equal speed, perhaps giving S60 a little bit of an edge because of the built in task manager. They are also both very stable, I did notice that I do more resets with WMSE, but this is balanced out by the fact that most S60 phones have a comparably small amount of RAM, which leads to more programs shutting down when you demand a lot from the device. ”

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-=[ THOUGHT: Symbian S60 vs. Microsoft Windows Mobile Smartphone ]=-