Most of todays web elite use Firefox, hell I’ve been using it since version .6 back when it was called Phoenix. Their philosophy has always been to make a bare bones web browser and have users create extensions that allow functionality and features to be added. If you compare Firefox 2.0.0.1 to Phoenix .6 right now you’re going to come to the conclusion that they haven’t been following that one ideal they proclaimed at the beginning. Should we shun them for it?
Absolutely not!
The out of box experience, aka the first impression, is the most vital when considering ANYTHING; your car, your girlfriend, the restaurant you want to eat at tonight, the CD you buy. More and more features have been added to Firefox since it’s inception and honestly no one is complaining. Maybe the people who still have 200 MHz computers, but they’re a minority.
The same should be said about S60. Out of the box it’s adequate, but the experience leaves a lot to be desired. I’m going to start pointing third party applications that do things so well it makes you wonder why doesn’t Nokia just hand them a big check already and build the best phone that they possibly can.
What inspired this? I just finished reading Ed’s review of an application called ALON Contact Guide PRO. Horrible name, even cornier website, but the application looks like gold. I highly recommend you check out his review, and I suggest the S60 application team check it out too.
One of my personal favorites, and sadly my free trial is over, $20 is too much, is Handy Clock (read All About Symbian’s review). It does everything I would ever want to do with a clock. Countdown, stopwatch, repeating alarms, custom alarms, it’s frankly beautiful and makes me wonder why such functionality isn’t built into my phone.
So now I ask you guys, what third party application makes you want to slap your forehead and go "WTF; Why isn’t this built in!?"
I’ve even created a new category called "Why aren’t you built in?" to make these applications easier to track; I hope that together we can find a lot. I’m not talking about games, I’m not talking about highly specialized programs, I’m merely talking about things that should be included to make the out of box experience of S60 a beautiful thing.
Nokia is known for making crazy high end phones that do everything, the software however has been lacking behind the advances in hardware. I want you to change that Nokia.