S60 vs. Windows Mobile

[Stul]

yes keep in mind this is the Symbian Forum.

[synfulpinion]

When doing this comparison, you need to think about what you are comparing. Seeing as its S60 in question, you have to really compare it to WM5 for smartphone (pocket pc is completely different). Most people know this, but does need to be mentioned.

From experience, I'll compare my SPV C600 vs N80 - the N80 simply wipes the floor with it from an operating system perspective. Its quicker, easier to use and looks a lot better. I'd say that WM5sp is better for games, but thats about it.

You couldn't, for example, compare an N80 to an SPV M3100 (which I'm about to get) - the operating system is WM5 for Pocket PC, which is far more powerful than S60. Granted, the N80 will do most of what the M3100 does, but being a pocket pc it gives you so much more.

Bottom line - the better operating system will depend on what you use your device for.

[ktroutsh5]

For my purposes and usage habits, WM 5 on the 8125 worked just fine. Yes, Outlook loaded slow, but that was about it. I saved files to the mini sd card, and used a memory manager to delete temporary files which kept my device running smoothly and with no stumbles or crashes.

I like the e62 also, but it is certainly not a speed demon, either.

[Sahil S]

I don't have an S60 series phone, but I do make my living programming, among other things, Windows Mobile and CE. Quite frankly they suck. Stability isn't there, elegance isn't there, clunkiness is.

So which is right for you depends on what you really want. Do you want a miniature computer, complete with blue-screen-of-death equivalent but also with the normal apps? Or do you want a PDA that can stretch to the app stuff? Or do you want a phone that can stretch to the PDA and app viewing stuff?

The Windows phones are getting better, but really they're best viewed as tiny PCs with a bit less power. The Nokias are phones with a lot more power than phones. For me, a phone should first be a phone... but if this is primarily a work-extension device, and it sounds like it might be, the Windows system might be the better choice.

[loveoasis]

yea, emotional fits really increase credibility, I'd think twice before asking any1 "sensible" enough to have an iPOD for any technical advice. course if you do have an iPOD too, then you might as well wait for the iPhone, won't have any registries, installations, files, settings or even buttons to worry about, the only button on the entire phone called iTalk will do.

[Amberly S]

I've had both S60 and Pocket PC 2003. S60 for Nokia 6620 and WM2003 on HX4700 (VGA scr, 624Mhz CPU) I find Symbian pales in comparison to WM, it's basic system functions are lacking. Simple things like file manager in weak, copy and paste is almost non existent. Can't manually hack anything in S60, no registry for modifying things beyond default design in S60, while WM obviously does. Unfortunately ppl count this as a weak point in WM, they claim that one MUST edit the registry to use WM properly. Well I have many friends with the popular JAM and Universal phones, and they seem to receive and make calls to me and their contacts without registry edits just fine. But if they felt the personal WANT to further customize things, they have that option. This option (as opposed to a LACK of) is (for some reason) perceived to be a disadvantage to WM where as the LACK of such option in S60 isn't..... Sounds just like the case of ppl complaining about the supermarket containing too many types of cerials for them to choose from in time for work to me.

As for crashes, to be statistically correct one must take into account the many MORE 3rd party types of applications one can and does install in to WM compared to S60. As one installs more in to WM, WM gets used more often and chances of crashes increase proportionately to amount of use. On the S60 I only had a handful of useless games and document readers, so I hardly use resulting in less chance of crashes. This overall creates an illusion that WM crashes more often, only cuz one uses it more often, increasing the chance of encountering a crash. I've had both devices and if I were to compare number of crashes between both systems (fair statistically ) I'd have to say they are equal.

Programs I have on my HX4700 (not a phone but other phone devices use WM2003 as well) The HTC Universal has VGA screen (even Nokia N95 is 1/4 of this resolution) and WM5

Internet:
IMPlus (Yahoo, MSN, Google Chat, AOL, Jabber)
MSN Messenger
Netfront (full desktop internet broswer, with Java and flash)
Opera Browser (full not mini)
Ping utility
Pocket IRC (IrC)
Terminal Services (GUI for remote control my PC from internet)
WinMobile Download manager
WinMobile Torrent manager (BitTorrent on PDA BABY !!!!)

Entertainment:
Resco Photo Viewer
Conduits Pocket Player
Core Media Player TCMP (divx, xvid, WMV @ DVD resolution)

PIM:
eWallet
Pocket Informant (powerful as MS Outlook)

Reference:
Adobe Reader PDF
MS PowerPoint Reader
Lextionary (open source dictionary )
Pocket Street (street maps, GPS tracking)
Text Speech Pro (reads everything in text aloud)
xConverter (converts units)

Office:
HiCalc (full 3D graphing and scientific calculator)
TimeKeeper (stop watch)
TextMaker (word processor with 90% of the features in MS Word)
Office Excel
Bluetooth Printer
Notepad

Utilities:
....u dont wana know that amount of tweaking u CAN (not HAVE to) do here

Games:

Ancient Evil (Diablo)
EverQuest
Metalion 2
Skyforce
Online Poker
about 10 more.....

If Symbian can do all of this, and it's software is as powerful, you bet ppl like iPOD users would be complaining about it just as much.

As for my Nokia 6620 before I dropped it on the train last month....

from what I can remember there was:
Answering machine
units convertor
file manager (I had to manually buy this one in order to see all the partitions containing all the files inside the phone) (a decent file manager is included in WM)
Notepad
Pocket Counter
nothing much else

I really expected a lot more from the Nokia 6620 as a smart phone (granted it's better than dumb phones) but the purpose of smart phones is customizability, and Symbian as an OS lacks the degree of fexibility of that of WM by far(surprisingly some perceive this as an advantage (which contradicts the point of getting a "smart" phone in the first place as dumb phones are even more straight forward and crash proof)). Never the less, S60 is still very much a PHONE navigation system, not much more.

[??????????a?]

do I even need to say "let the flames begin!!!"? or are they in process already?

[ghostgirl]

There's a whole stew of devices that run the full WM, O2 atoms, HTC Jam, K-Jam, TyTN. At the prices ppl already pay, >$600 I'm not sure why ppl choose anything less. basically if it has a touch screen it's full WM.

[yasmin94]

They probably didn't mention it because they don't realise that there are two versions of WM. The trouble is, the PocketPC devices tend to be large, PDA style devices that just so happen to have phone functionality. As S60 is a mobile phone OS, it's only right to compare it with WM mobile phones such as the QTek 8500, HTP Mteor etc. These deivces all run WM Smartphone. Should Nokia make a PDA device with S60, only then is it right to compare it with WM PocketPC.



All of these devices you mention are large PDA devices, not mobile phones. Please compare S60 with phones such as these...

http://www.gsmarena.com/o2_xda_orion-1373.php
http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_mteor-1658.php
http://www.gsmarena.com/qtek_8500-1483.php

ie, a normal sized mobile phone.

[11 ESTRELLAS]

unless my eyes deceive me, many WM devices are small as well. O2s, Jams and K-Jams, even the latest TyTN is a size quite comparable to E61, if not smaller (E61 is not a small phone by any stretch)