Nokia N80 - So what could be improved?

New post for MUSE

N80 experience - the second week

If you live in Canada and you own a Nokia N80, you likely didn't get it from a network operator (it is GSM, so Fido and Rogers are the only likely candidates, and they don't mention it on their web sites). So how did you get it? From expansys perhaps?Anyway, you have the phone, and you have your reasons for getting it. Part of the appeal, of course, is having the latest thing before others but one of the downsides of that is the inevitable gaps and **glitches**. These range from the trivial (power) to the show-stoppers (no UMTS).

For example:

1. Power. The power adapter I received was made for European wall sockets - two round pins. This was readily solved by a visit to my neighbourhood shaver shop (highly recommended, by the way, on Dunsmuir between Seymour and Richards, right near the Railway Club) for a $2.50 plug-adapter. The power brick itself handles the 110v power that we have locally, so the plug adapter itself is all you need. They also have a great web site: http://www.shaverspot.com

2. Crashes. The software is not finished yet. I think that is the best way to put things. Specifically, the device can "crash" in a variety of ways for a variety of reasons. These crashes range from freezes - the phone just stops responding - to spontaneous reboots to applications crashing. Mostly it isn't a huge problem, and you can live with it for the most part.

3. Inconsistency. One of the strange things is the extent to which different assumptions are made about your data connection by different applications. If you are coming from the PC world, where the "transport layer" is abstracted from the applications - in other words, your browser doesn't ask you about your data network interface (whether it is WiFi, modem, or wired ethernet) - this is very unsettling and unintuitive. The OS itself allows you to configure and choose data transport options (e.g., an 802.11b access point) but then each and every data-using application seems to make different decisions on what to do with that information. One application will just accept your choice and use it. Another will ask you to confirm it, once. Another will ask you to confirm it repeatedly, even in the same session. Others (e.g., the new version of ShoZu) will simply refuse to believe that there is an interface other than GPRS/3G. Someone needs to talk to the application developers and convince them to stop messing with the transport. This is like working with DOS or Windows 3.11 back in the day.

4. UMTS/2100. The phone is a European one, and it *seems* to be one that only looks for a UMTS (i.e., "3G") carrier on the 2100mhz frequency. This does not work on North America's 1900mhz UMTS system. Since Rogers doesn't yet provide UMTS in Canada, this is all moot at this points, and I am unable to tell if there is UMTS support on the 850mhz band - which is supported on the phone, but perhaps only for GSM/Voice? I guess we'll see...