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Sony Ericsson, Nokia pull handsets

Published on 25th November 2009 by Gareth Halfacree

Sony Ericsson's Saito joins Nokia's N97 as being temporarily removed from sale while bugs in the Symbian-based software are ironed out.

Nokia's Symbian mobile platform was dealt a blow today with two devices from different manufacturers being pulled from the UK market for unspecified software issues.

The platform, which powers both simple handsets and smartphones, has seen increased competition from Google's Android and other Linux-based mobile platforms - so much so that Nokia's latest and greatest handset moves away from the company's once staple software to the Linux-based Maemo platform. Sadly, this exodus away from Symbian as a platform for modern smartphones is unlikely to be helped with the news that two manufacturers - Sony Ericsson and Nokia itself - have temporarily pulled handsets from the UK market.

The first to be pulled was Sony Ericsson's Satio handset, which had as its main selling point a 12 megapixel camera - higher resolution than many point-and-shoot standalone cameras. Sadly, software bugs plagued the device with Reg Hardware reporting that the company had chosen to temporarily suspend sales while it investigates unspecified software issues with the handsets.

While the official statement from Sony Ericsson might be unspecific, users of the handset are anything but: quality issues with the on-board camera, problems with ringtones, and software freezes and crashes have all been reported and are likely to be at the heart of Sony Ericsson's decision to remove the device from sale.

While the removal of a single manufacturer's device is bad news, Nokia itself appears to be suffering from similar problems with its N97 smartphone. UberGizmo reports that attempts to purchase the much-vaunted N97 from Vodafone UK's website result in being redirected to the newer N97 Mini - an apparently more stable version of the smartphone.

With Nokia themselves already looking towards Maemo for future devices, and with many companies throwing their weight behind Google's open-source Android platform, these issues could be indicative that Symbian's reign in the mobile arena is coming to an end.

Do you believe that it's time Symbian was retired in favour of something designed from the ground-up for smartphone devices, or is there life in the old dog yet? Share your thoughts over in the forums.

21 Comments

Discuss in the forums Reply

Tokukachi 25th November 2009, 14:24

I had a N95 8GB and Symbian drove me crazy for 18 months :( It slow, buggy and not at all user friendly, I for one won't be buying another Symbian phone.

crazyceo 25th November 2009, 14:29

I think I'll wait for Windows Mobile 7 in the new year before I upgrade from my HTC Touch Diamond. This is a shame though as I believe these handsets were pretty good.

licenced 25th November 2009, 14:45

I stuck with Nokia for over ten years, from my first ever mobile in 1998.

I recently bought an HTC Hero though and am really glad I did - the only thing it doesn't do as well as Nokia is the music player, but I can kind of live with that.

Nokia got stuck in the past with Symbian (or their implementation of it) and it'll take a lot to catch up.

Atomic 25th November 2009, 15:18

Symbian S60 v5 is a lost cause, it's rubbish and the UI is years behind the iPhone and Android...

fodder 25th November 2009, 15:31

I had some SE phones with the older Symbian on, although the oldest were great the newer ones just became more and more unstable. I think symbian has become too bloated from it's original form.

Using Android now, and it's very very good so far. (makes WM look like an ADD kids project). These newer phone OSs have the advantage of being built from the ground up with things such as G3, Wi-Fi, GPS, camera/video and media streaming etc. taken into account and not bolted on to an existing core.

B1GBUD 25th November 2009, 15:44

Got an N81, so far I'm pretty happy with it. Fring is really all I use.... oh and music of course

K.I.T.T. 25th November 2009, 15:45

My N97 was near unuseable when i first got it and even now its still got lots of annoying little UI issues and random crashes and just the stupid little ways Symbian does it own thing. Symbian in my mind work sas long as you don't ask it to do too much, like on the N72 it was awsome and you could get a weeks battery life out of the phone to boot but the N95 and N97 have just shown how badly it scales as a software platform.

It'd be amazing if Nokia plan to do anything about all the N97's that are already out in the wild...

scawp 25th November 2009, 15:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neat69
I had a N95 8GB and Symbian drove me crazy for 18 months :( It slow, buggy and not at all user friendly, I for one won't be buying another Symbian phone.

I've had my N95 for about 8month and it drives me mad for the exact same reasons, also its very unintuitive nothing seems to work as you think it should and the menus are just stupidly organized

scawp 25th November 2009, 16:23

p.s. I should have learned from owning an n-gage, the Symbian OS on that was shocking as well

vampalan 25th November 2009, 18:14

N series phones are all show really, sort of like beta test for the E series, the E series are the ones you want if you dont want it to be full of bugs.

Jipa 25th November 2009, 18:51

Symbian dies - everybody celebrates. Really, is someone going to miss that pile of steaming --?

(N95 here and had I paid for it, I'd be really upset.)

D-Cyph3r 25th November 2009, 19:29

I was an N95 owner for 18 months aswell. Hated every time I had to use it.

Good riddance symbian.

docodine 25th November 2009, 20:41

Returned my E71x after a week of use, the OS seemed like it was put together over the span of years, way too slow.

Shielder 25th November 2009, 21:24

I've had an N95 8GB for about 14 months and I'm really happy with it. Yes, you have to LEARN where things are in the menu (so who is really still using XP because they can't be bothered to learn a new OS?) and the predictive text is a little wierd, but it is still a good phone.

I'm going to get a cheap deal on a new crappy phone in 4 months time and keep using the N95. Best phone I ever owned.

Andy

Yes, the sig needs to be changed...

TWeaK 25th November 2009, 23:49

I've got an N97 but now I've gone back to my N95. Not because of problems with the phone's features as such, but the touch screen got damaged and it's become almost useless (have to open it up and use the arrow pad to actually do anything with it, can barely make or answer calls). I do miss it somewhat though, the FM transmitter was useful since I don't have a bluetooth radio in the car and typing with a keyboard was a godsend after the N95.

I'm going to be claiming for accidental damage on the N97's insurance soon so it will be interesting to see what I get offered. I don't think I want the mini, if I end up with another broken touchscreen I won't have an arrow pad to use and one of the draws of the N97 was the screen size. Tbh I think I just want to get away from Nokia and get a decent HTC 'droid phone. Damned 2 year contracts...

keir 25th November 2009, 23:59

Maemo5 does seem to be the way forward.

So looking forward to the N900

crazyceo 26th November 2009, 08:45

Been using Windows Mobile for 3 years now. Currently on 6.1 which I've had no problems with at all. With Mobile7 out in the new year and Windows7 installed they're supposed to sync like peas and carrots, cheese and crackers, Breasts and whipped cream.

DarkLord7854 26th November 2009, 09:33

I'm surprised Symbian has even lasted this long.

Unknownsock 26th November 2009, 09:58

3-4 months into my N97 contract and hating every second of it. Most bug filled piece of crap ive ever touched.

leexgx 27th November 2009, 19:03

norm told most people to stay away from any N9x phone due to the software been unreliable

windows phones with the Flip software is the first thing you remove form the auto start up norm goes unstable after an day or 2

pelton 7th December 2009, 10:03

I suggest all you guys upgrade to a Smartphone with winmo 6.5 as the OS. There are many options from the Hardware you can choose. The HTC HD2 is the best in the category and easily outstrips the i-phone 3GS. The Samsung Omnia 2 is another slick phone powered by winmo 6.5. The touch Diamond 2 would rate 3rd in my list. The UI, convenient browsing makes this OS a desirable one. Even the prices are well within reach and is justified with regards to the upgrade! You could try the Andriod phones but it will take a while to ge used to it. Besides winmo 7 is the next big thing that will be launched next year!