17 July 2009

Nokia Wants To Know Your
Five Biggest Likes And Dislikes Of N97

I've been participating in select group of Nokia N97 testers, and periodically, we meet to discuss the particular aspects of the device, as well as discuss features and functions of mobile devices of the future.

Tomorrow will be a very special treat, as we'll be attending a special discussion session with the project manager at Nokia, where we'll specifically discuss the device in depth, and gather data to best decide how it can improve the design and user experience of any future devices.

One thing we've been specifically asked to do is state the 5 things we most like and 5 things you would change about the Nokia N97.

I have my own personal list, which I'll share later in our discussion forums, but what I'd really like to do is hear from the readers. What are your 5 biggest likes and dislikes about the N97? How do you suppose Nokia could improve it?

If you haven't already, please feel free to register and reveal your opinion in our free discussion forums, and let yourself be heard. I'll gather a summarized list to share with the project manager, and maybe your next device will be exactly what you were asking for.

1. The large display
with a much improved screen resolution

Even if it weren't a touchscreen, I'd love this screen. The screen size could be slightly bigger, say 4.1 inches, and a resolution at 480x800 would've been the more appropriate resolution for a flagship device at that price, and a capacitive screen would be icing on the cake, but for a longtime Nokia Nseries user, it was welcomed and embraced.

2. The widescreen video capture aspect ratio

This is how movies should look, and for the large faction of amateur videographers and aspiring Spike Lee clones, its an entry into the true movie maker experience. When combined with the lovely screen, the video playback on the N97 is amazing.

3. The build quality

Though it's not the tank the legendary Nokia N90 was, the N97 is a marriage of the spirit of the build quality of yesterdays N90 with today's light, durable, and buttery materials. The hinge makes a solid snapping sound when opened and closed that says BMW, instilling confidence in the stability and quality of the N97's physical build. My only wishes would've been for a direction control pad on the face of the device, and a glass capacitive screen, and brushed aluminum or stainless instead of the metal trim they chose. Still, its hard not to like the N97.

4. Kenetic scrolling

I can no longer live without kenetic scrolling. It makes it easy to find things on a tall webpage. It seems so effective, I wonder why Nokia chose not to feature it in its menus and the Photo application. One of the biggest problems with S60 is its deep menus, which sometimes take alot of scrolling to navigate through, and I already have over 840 videos and images stored in my N97, and attempting to use that scroll bar is painful at best. I found myself being forced to use the direction pad on the keyboard, wishing menus and lists had kenetic scrolling instead.

5. The prioritizing of the internet access points

Now, if you have multiple WiFi internet access points, you can set which one the device should favor first. This is very good for people that regularly access multiple access points, and really makes things easier.

1. Choosing landscape QWERTY
over a portrait or swinging T9 numeric keypad

Even though QWERTY is a convenience for many, I am a lot faster using T9. I hardly use the QWERTY at all, going for the on screen numeric keypad 95% of the time. I understand a large part of the growing Smartphone demographic prefers QWERTY, but T9 still has a large following, and I wished there'd been two versions of the N97: one with T9 and one with QWERTY. Otherwise, you leave T9 users favouring the 5800 if they want to have a 5th Edition device or a high resolution screen, since they don't really need to pay $300 extra just for a text entry method it doesn't need, and you give the perception that T9 is not an appropriate method for high end devices, which is a mistake, especially seeing as Nokia supposedly holds the T9 patent. Text entry method should be a major device form factor category, and T9 shouldn't be left at the wayside. T9 is a great ambassador for the spirit and heritage of one handed usage, Symbian's heritage, and QWERTY makes that nearly impossible.

2. Navigation of menus and long lists

Before I scare anyone, let me make myself clear. I'm not one to remove a feature for simplicity. I want more features, in fact. But the menus as they stand are long and deep, and without kinetic scrolling, its a hassle to try to scroll through any long lists. That small scroll bar on the side sometimes causes jumps and skips you don't intend, even overshooting the mark in my experience.

There really needs to be a new model for presenting so many powerful options to the user without intimidating the user. I think it needs to be a multipronged effort. We should be using kenetic scrolling for all lists and menus, completely dumping the inefficient scroll bar altogether. And putting options in written form works, but visual icons can do a better job, and can be listed in large amounts on such a large screen. Nokia Messaging and the camera features menu's usage of icons to represent options is a good example and a glimpse of a better option.

3. Weak task management and multitasking

This is a multipart problem. First, for all its glamour, the task manager really needed to be rethought and optimized for a touch interface. With no <c> key to close items, there is entirely to much poking all over the screen just to close or switch apps. This is true with the third party task managers out there as well. 3rd Edition was so much quicker to use with actual keys and a direction pad, and simply porting the same experience to touch was a huge mistake. Jbak Taskman and Handy Taskman were workhorses for 3rd Edition, and hopefully they will reinvent their UI to make it easier for 5th Edition.

I think having all apps shown as icons and a "trash can" to drag apps to in order to close them would be a decent and effective model, or maybe a list featuring kinetic scrolling where users could either swipe an app left or right or even long press until it "pops" closed would also be more ideal. As it sits now, my thumb gets tired touching so many places on the screen just to close or switch an app. Palm's WebOS has a good looking task manager, although it only shows a few running apps at a time, but they're a good point of reference for changing how we think.

The second problem is the lack of RAM. This thing seems alot less robust than my N95 8gb, and I think having less free RAM has alot to do with it. 256-384 MB would've been alot more suitable for a device with such lofty expectations.

4. UI, graphics, and activity transitions

I'm all for substance over style, but since the iPhone was released, everyone worked to add a visual excitement component to its UI...except Nokia and S60. I don't think its necessary, but at this price point, its an expected feature, along with a dedicated GPU.

I think Nokia should've had a fast GPU with a part of the cycles dedicated to running some sort of OpenGL 2.0 TAT Kastor designed UI similar to the SE Rachael UI. This would also help in the gaming department, especially if the GPU were needed for the UI. This would make it standard in more devices, which would drive Ngage developers to make games for it.

5. The email experience SUCKS!

I couldn't stand going back to the default email client after using Nokia Messaging, but with the N97, unless you are using a SIM and can receive an SMS, you can't completely install the Nokia Messaging client on the device in the US. Even though I have been using it since it was Nokia Email in its beta form on my N95 8gb, I have no solution on getting it working on the N97. New users don't even know that it exists, although alot of blogs are mentioning it. What's worse is when they go to download it, unless you have an active SIM to download via SMS, all it does is setup your mailboxes in the default client without allowing the Nokia Messaging UI to open, so people think they're using Nokia Messaging when they aren't.

Nokia Messaging should've been standard for the N97. Period. The old messaging client needs to die a quick, painful death.

Teamwork is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results