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Smartphone OS Comparison
Prasad Naik, Jun 05, 2009 1927 hrs ISTWe take a closer look at the top four OS' of the smartphone world
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We recently published an article on smartphones that described what a smartphone is and its pros and cons compared to standard feature phones. In this article we try to provide some more details about the top four smartphone operating systems in the world; Symbian S60, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry OS and iPhone OS. I have not included Google Android because it is still relatively new, not to mention the fact that it hasn't made its way into India as yet.
However, it is expected in the near future and we will be there to write about it when it does arrive. As of now let's get on with the top four OS' of the smartphone world. Here we have not tried to go in-depth with the technicalities of the respective OS', as there is enough to write to fill entire books. We have tried to summarise the strengths and weaknesses of each platform, so that a layman can undertand them better.
Symbian S60
Developed by Symbian Inc. and owned by Nokia, the Series 60 operating system, or S60 as it is commonly know, came to life in the form of Nokia's 7650. That was back in 2002 and now, seven years into its existence S60 is now the world's most popular operating system with a 46% market share.
The highlight of the S60 has always been its ability to multitask and install third party applications. You can run as many applications simultaneously as the RAM allows, whether they are native Symbian apps or even Java apps. Switching between them is also very easy, as all it needs is a press and hold over the Menu key and you could see the list of running applications and then switch between them or close them by pressing the 'C ' key.
Third party applications have always been a forte of S60 phones and save for the newly launched S60 fifth Edition, you have a healthy supply of applications available for all its versions, much more than you'll ever need or care about. The built-in applications are also very good and Nokia is constantly improving them. The browser is especially superb and is based on the WebKit engine. The S60 is also a very robust OS and hence crashing or hanging is something that you won't encounter very often.
Usability-wise S60 is fairly easy to use but more so if you have used the OS in the past (or of course you are a geek). For a newbie accessing some of the more intricate functions can be difficult as some of the settings are buried deep within the menu. However most of the basic functionalities can be managed without any problems. S60 also supports themes, so you can completely customise the way your phone screen looks.
One complaint I have with S60 devices is that the menu icons are never in the same place and each phone will have the icons placed differently. So if you use one S60 phone and then move to another it'll take you some time to get used to the icon placement. The good thing is that you can move around the icons and create and delete folders to move them into.
In its newest avatar, the fifth Edition, S60 has also gained touch screen functionality, though its execution leaves a lot to be desired. Nokia has basically made a few tweaks here and there to make the standard S60 third Edition touch compatible and it shows while using the UI as it lacks the polished feel of the iPhone UI and isn't very intuitive as well.
One of the problems with older versions of S60 (before third Edition) was security and it was easy to get a virus on your device over Bluetooth from similar devices, which would then wreak havoc with your phone. However, post third Edition, Nokia has resolved the security issue almost completely and you no longer hear people discovering viruses on their new S60 phones.
So overall S60 is a very robust and powerful OS and deserves all the success it has achieved but if it needs to maintain its position and compete with the likes of the iPhone UI and the upcoming Palm's webOS, then it needs to be a bit less geeky and a bit more easy to use for the common man.
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(8) Comments
Narendra
,manchester, on Jul 20, 2010 05:38 PM
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pcgamer
,pccity, on Jun 10, 2009 12:51 PM
Shekar
,Kolkata, on Jun 06, 2009 07:53 PM
rohit
,gurgaon, on Jun 06, 2009 09:01 PM
rohit
,gurgaon, on Jun 06, 2009 09:01 PM
Prasad Naik
,Mumbai, on Jun 07, 2009 01:30 PM
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