Before Nokia was assimilated and digested by Microsoft, it open sourced the OS
Huh. Did not know.
Symbian’s swansong was the remarkable Nokia 808 PureView. The 808 and other late-model Symbian devices run Nokia Belle which was really quite nice.
I still have a device here that runs that version. A Nokia 701. With AngryBirds games on it. It had an extensive app store. And that wonderful tiny charger connector (but also takes a charge from USB micro).
there was that brief attempt at a revival by Planet Computers but it really didn’t stick
Oh, again I did not know that. I was interested in one of their later devices for a while, a keyboard phone running true Linux iirc.
Have a look at what came before Symbian : Psion series 5
In the end, when the Series 5 finally shipped, it was like being transported into the future, only through a very murky tunnel.
Gretton’s hardware clocked in at a meagre-sounding 18Mhz — but performed like a desktop Intel PC from just two years previously — and it could still maintain 30 hours use on two AA batteries. Once the circuitry was complete, the Series 5 performed the same tasks as its Windows CE rivals but used only a quarter of the power.
I still have two working Psion 5MX palmtops and love them to death.
Oh, maan… I still remember my 5800, I loved that phone to pieces… Excellent speaker system for the time (it was genuinely stereo and had a bit of meat on the sound, too!), my first touchscreen (which was a bit frustrating due to my thick logs, but worked perfectly with the stylus), and it was also my very first experience with multiplayer on a phone! Used to play that default racing game with a year mate in Uni, and it was very fun! And the OS was as an OS should be: so smooth as to not even register with the user!
Edit: oh, and the full QWERTY was very nice, although I was fresh off the keypad, so it was a bit awkward.
My Nokia 701 also has Stereo:
And the sound isn’t too shabby either.Well, I can’t speak for that one as I’ve never used it (nice though, looks like a proper Nokia should, gone through war and still running fine!), but the 5800 was a completely new experience for me in terms of phone-mounted speakers. Like, this was like a miniaturised sound system. The levels were unexpectedly balanced, the speakers were mounted well apart (at either end of the phone lengthwise), the stereo definition was very clear and dynamic, and it was loud and crisp enough to use as background music generator for a light social gathering, like a dorm room mini-party, setting the mood for… other activities, etc. without sounding like frying bacon.
Edit: I’m not a “play stuff through phone speakers” kinda’ person, but the 5800, the Nexus 6, and the Zenfone 10 are the only phones with speakers so good, that they determined me to make an exception:))
