BGR Breaks it Down: Keep your data connection alive on S60 handsets

I think its clear how zach feels about nokia phones. Im sure he owns a iphone. But you know what, A pretty big sum of people like nokias (the largest sum in fact) and I think his tone was simply arrogant.

Look, the iphone is great for what it is, but its not right for everybody and its by far the perfect phone.

I’ve had an iphone for 6 months and got rid of it for a e71; soon to be n97

The Iphone is more of a toy, if you ask me, but Im not gonna dog on it because I personally dont like it.

clarification on usa data plan prices. On att for 15 dollars we get totally unlimited data, no cap. If you bundle that with text the data goes down to 10 dollars unlimited. So yes we have pretty cheap data compared to uk and other countries. Those prices posted above are the high tethering plans, not what’s needed for the n97 for example. For my n97 i pay 10 dollars for 3g hsdpa unlimited data with NO CAP.

@christextaport

i visit SF daily, great website and great reviews on there. keep up the good work.

@agent smith
no wifi? huh? all my nokia’s have wifi

I am a member of SF and I visit the “genius” as well. They both are part of my daily scoop. SF doesn’t blindly give everything S60 an award, if a device has missed the mark, SF will surely tell you and also criticize Nokia’s decisions (wheres my OMAP!!!??!). Along with the critique, SF will give you factual reasons for disappointment or praise, all the while respecting other manufaturers successes or failures. Yet BG refuses to to stick to factual information in their reviews and information concerning Nokia. Everything seems “twisted” to somehow result in a negative viewing of their hardware and software. When I see the word “review”, I expect a review of the components of the phone and the quality of the software. It seems like BG gave the N97 such a bashing they didn’t even take time to properly review the device. It seems like a casual review of “well this isn’t like this device so I am not goinig to take the time to review it.” It looks as if an hour was given to review the N97!

How is the camera? How speedy is the device? What is the transfer rate of data to the 32GB? Does the device suffer without having an OMAP chip? How is the video recording quality? Sound quality? Video playback? Codec support? Did I miss those things in the review? For a $600+ phone, that is what matters.

BG, is it because most of the phones that you use or review cannot do the things that S60 does with ease? Is that why they were not mentioned?

What am I getting for $600? Does the shift key being to the right matter more than what I am able to DO with the phone? Last time I checked, S60 is able to do more, and do things better and freely (easy installable hacks too) than most OSes and phones.

The OS (Operating System) is supposed to be about how the system operates. The UI is how the user interacts with the OS. There really isn’t much to complain about the S60 OS, and if you don’t like the UI, then fine, I wish it was a little more advanced looking too. But I would expect you treat the other phones that you view with the same judgement. Even touchwiz doesn’t get the BG beatdown and it isn’t a great OS (on non-smartphones), just a fancy UI. I could complain all day about why I can’t scale down to the level of hardware found in the Iphone or why the lack of VGA 30fps in any device is a deal breaker for me. But I don’t bash those devices. Maybe a buyer doesn’t care about Xenon like I do but it is important to mention its presence or lack thereof for those that are shelling out the Car note on a device.

I have been “stuck” with my N82 because I can’t find a better equipped phone in the US market that meets my technological needs. No, a fancy touch UI does not equal a technological powerhouse or an advanced phone. I constantly see readers get excited over phones with poor cameras, poor mono speakers, no 3D hardware acceleration, no copy and pase, lacking MMS, poor 2003-era video recording, missing either wifi or 3G and BG takes a neutral or POSITIVE “news reporter style” approach to those devices.

YET, as soon as a device even sounds like it’s a Nokia or S60, BG throws neutrality out of the window hits the invisible caps lock key and OVERLOOKS all of the hardware and software features that are CLEARLY better than the majority of the phones that grace BGs bandwith and completely bashes Nokia around the world and back.

Where is the tunnle vision coming from? Is it an internal goal to help dethrone Nokia from #1? Why? I am happy for all the people who are happy with their company of choice.

Truth is, Nokia makes better hardware components (different than build quality) that really push the device into the Multimedia Computer category as they call it and their software, while not the flashiest, is mature, open, and easy to use.

Just for FYI, my family OSes are made up of Nokia S40, S60, WinMo Touch and varius Samsung OSes. I have spent QT with the Iphone, the G1 and the likes of the Memior and everytime, I am forced to come back to my N82 because no other company has matched all of it’s features and high level components (OMAP, Zeiss, Xenon, wifi, VGA 30FPS, Multitask, Great browser, easy to install apps, logical OS, customizable UI, pre-unlocked GPS…) in one device and I refuse to accept a downgrade. And even knowing all that, I STILL don’t bash other manufacturers or carriers or other readers opinions or needs.

I come here for news and another opinion, I like your site but sometimes it is as if you forget that there are people who count on what you say when they make decisions with their money. Please educate people on the products so that they don’t become sheep without a justifiable cause. It almost seems like you are spewing hate to only further your agenda rather than reviewing a viable product.

My N82 looks like a burnt brick, but it is still one of the best phones in the world based on what it can DO. Isn’t that why we buy gadgets?

I am NOT buying the N97 because it is not a techonological step UP from my N82. Where is my OMAP, where is my Xenon, where is a >5mp camera? I desperately want a touchscreen phone but what I have learned from a full review of the phone at other sites(even in previews) is that the phone, while providing a vastly different UE (User Experience) it is Not a hardware upgrade and is a disappointment considering it is supposed to be a flagship phone.

What I am saying is, if I read your review only, I wouldn’t know enough about the phone to make an educated decision because the review was one sided.

In a perfect world, all I would need is BG and SF, but somehow, those hopes keep getting dashed with every one-sided post that I read.

BG is a good site, please don’t ruin it by alienating your viewer segment and letting personal bias bog down the “report” part of BGR.

Zach Epstein, if you actually knew something about mobile data, you’d know that “packet data” refers to a GPRS connection, not 3G data connections.

3G phones, such as the Nokia N97 and other Nokia Nseries devices, primarily use 3G HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) for data. The “packet data” setting that you mention in your post doesn’t affect 3G, but only GPRS, and it’s there just to help the user to conserve battery power. See, if the setting for GPRS is set to “When available”, the device tries to periodically connect to a GPRS network even if you aren’t currently using it. That consumes more batter power.

If you’re on a 3G HSDPA network, you need not to be concerned about the setting.

All this information, Zach, you could’ve of course found in the Nokia user guide. Some might even say that this should be common knowledge for anyone who writes about mobile devices. But hey, Zach, who does research before they write about stuff? Not you. Not in the USA.

It really looks like on this site anything goes.