As a phone OS, is S40 better and more thought out?

I came across a picture of the Nokia 3110 Classic on Mobile Burn. Let’s examine at the UI for a moment.

Looks like S60 right? It isn’t. The 3110 Classic runs S40 3rd Edition.

Notice the time, signal strength and battery status in the upper right hand corner even though we are in a menu and not on the active screen? Why isn’t that in S60?

Ever since I got my first S60 device in September 2006 I’ve been noticing all the small things that I didn’t have access to anymore. Things I’ve been used to for a long time on my old trusty 3220 running S40 2nd Edition.

When I had more than 1 missed call from the same number, S40 would tell me the time of all the individual calls. S60 doesn’t.

S40 has a countdown timer. I used it multiple times a day to set myself reminders. S60 doesn’t.

S40 has a single button you could push and all your favorite shortcuts were there. No limit to the number of them either! S60 gives me a fixed number of icons, 6 to be exact on my N93i. I can’t hide them.

Why is there a gap between S40 and S60 usability? No matter how feature rich our "mobile computers" get, they are phones first. I’d like S60 to maintain that ethos when designing their next version.

Maybe a Nokia employee on the S60 team should use a 3110 Classic for a week and write a report on the differences. After all when it comes to getting ideas to implement in the next feature pack of S60 why not look inside the company, to the people who make "low end" devices?

(I’d do it myself if given the opportunity wink wink)

Update: If you’ve got the time, then read this review of S40 3rd Edition. Mobile Review walks you through the entire OS and you can really get a feel for how user centric the design philosophy is.

About The Author

Stefan Constantinescu

Stefan Constantinescu (@WhatTheBit on Twitter) has loved technology since as far back as he can remember. It started with computers, but in the past few years his passion has turned to mobile devices. As a mobile phone enthusiast who lives and breathes devices that connect to the internet, he knows he is not alone with this radical fascination of all things wireless. He is strongly opinionated and enjoys a good debate so leave comments in his posts and he’ll get back to you! Stefan began blogging as a hobby in the fall of 2006 and joined IntoMobile in the summer of 2007. Later he got a job at Nokia in March 2008, but as of June 2009 he has rejoined the IntoMobile team. He is currently based out of Helsinki, Finland.

PlayerKill

Hmmm… Good point. I did miss the coundown timer, stopwatch and stuff present in my old 3350 (which was darn old). That wasn’t even called S40 yet, was it?

Anyway, I think the point that Nokia eliminated features out is so that people will install third party apps to extend the feature list instead. Countdown timer in Handy Clock, for example. Ya, that’s kinda lame, but I can bare with it. The other stuff don’t bother me as much though. :/
Stefan Constantinescu

So Microsoft should ship the next version of Windows with nothing but Notepad, Calculator, and Solitaire?

I don’t buy that argument.

The out of box experience is the most important thing when designing any OS.
lutzs

that’s why cool guys use Mac OS X ; )
You’re right, i think it’s important that there are a few great apps shipped with, i hate it to install 3rd party software. You have to reinstall it, when making a “gold” reset, and the integration in the OS is often not the best. And remember: Simplicity is everything
Henrikki

You must be kidding!! Ok, some features are missing, but as an overall experience, you can’t be serious .:). No multitasking! No serious third party apps for all cool things and purposes!

And I never used the “single button shortcut list”..you are faster with S60 with menu button and using the number keypad if you need more shortcuts than 8. Let me explain: with S60 you have 8 shortcuts on standby..(and then there is the extra application button for instane in N73 (the shortcut list?). The shortcut list loses it’s meaning if the list grows too big. I think three is a maximum. More means too many joystick movements for it to be shortcut list..
viipottaja

I think Stefan’s idea is great. Stefan, why don’t you email Tommi and see if he would be willing to go cold turkey on S60 for a couple of weeks and just use a S40 for a while?
Stefan Constantinescu

I doubt any of them would be interested in doing that viipottaja =P
Marc

well, my N80ie shows battery and sgnal strength in the main menue screen, as does my N73ME and N93. no time though…
uday

can third party (application)software be installed on s 40 or s60 and used?