Apple iPhone 4 vs Nokia N8 (Part 2)

Phew. Its time for the second edition of our big fight between the Nokia N8 and the Apple iPhone 4. In the previous round, we saw a basic comparison of the features on both the devices and objective reasons as to why one phone is superior to the another based on just the specs. While the iPhone 4 might just be a tad superior when it comes to some features, is the Nokia N8 really that bad? In this section, lets also find out why using the iPhone 4 might be a pain in the rear for some others for the simple reason that Apple tried to make it .. er.. differently.

We start with a major problem now. The iPhone uses a micro SIM. Yeah, I know your SIM card is quite small. But its just small enough to be called a mini SIM. So yes, the micro SIM is even smaller than the mini SIM. So, if you were thinking of getting the iPhone 4 – unlocked and get it working on the network of your choice (which of course Apple doesnt want you to do) you have to actually ask for a Micro SIM from your network provider which they wont provide you with. The only option left for you now is to actually cut your SIM into the size of a microSIM and pray that it works. Now that you have cut your SIM, it means you would no longer be able to use it on another phone should the need arise. (You do get micro SIM adapters). Worse, if you are going abroad, you’d be stuck with a provider that Apple and the network provider in your country has tie up with. In short, Apple wants you to “be within their control”, which frankly, I (and hopefully, many others) simply won’t like.

Compare this to the N8 which you can (mostly) buy SIM free. Even if you don’t, you can use it after unlocking it without much issues.

The N8 supports HSDPA 10.2 Mbps while the Phone 4 is slightly lower down the order with 7.2Mbps. Although I doubt we would be seeing such speeds on 3G at many places around the world, the fact is, the N8 is actually better with 3G. Now, if you are stuck with 2.75 G because of the oppressive prices tag 3G might come with, let us also remind you that the iPhone 4 supports only class 10 GPRS which is (shit) slow. On the other hand, with the N8, you are far better off here in India with it supporting EDGE networks. Simply put, mobile internet with the iPhone 4 would be a painful experience in India. Even with 3G, spec on spec, the N8 is better poised. Although the performance difference wouldn’t be that evident.

Winner: Nokia N8

When Symbian^3 was first launched, the most important thing I was looking forward to use was the “new” browser phones running the OS would sport. Unfortunately, there is virtually no improvement on this front on Symbian^3 over its previous versions. The browser is pretty decent and now supports pinch to zoom – but thats just about it. The iPhone 4’s Safari on the other hand might not get Flash support – but is very easy to use and is far more fluid. Symbian users have the option of installing Opera Mobile though – which is by far the best browser for the platform. Its new version will support hardware acceleration and pinch to zoom as well.

Winner: iPhone 4

Whether you like it or not, Symbian still offers the best multitasking prowess on a mobile platform – except maybe for some competition from Palm’s WebOS which too is very good at it. But then, Symbian has been multitasking since time immemorial now and it does it with aplomb. While early Nokia devices were let down by slow processor speeds and full fledged multi tasking usually ended up in the dreaded “memory full” message, the N8 is inherently better at it now. The best multitasking phone I have ever come across is the Omnia HD (as mentioned in the part 1 of this review). I frankly have never ever managed to make it run out of memory in the 1.5 years I have used it. The Omnia HD was just an example of what Symbian is capable of. While the N8 may not have stellar specs, the nimble OS that Symbian^3 is, you are bound to get a very good multitasking experience on the N8. The iPhone does multitasking as well – but not in the way most power users would like to. Also, multitasking is not supported in all the apps. For true blue multitasking enthusiasts, the choice is pretty obvious.

Winner: Nokia N8

The N8 supports all kind of file transfers. Want to send a picture from your N8 to another phone? You can easily transfer it over Bluetooth. This is simply not possible on the iPhone 4 – out of the box. This is seriously lame. Period. And it doesn’t stop there. The iPhone 4, just like all previous generation iPhones would not act as mass storage device and you are left at the mercy of iTunes to do manage your stuff on the phone. Nokia on the other hand doesn’t insist you use their Ovi Suite to manage files. The N8 also plays most video files with finesse – unlike the iPhone 4 which would ask you to convert the video to a format it understands before you start playing it on the phone. Lame.

Winner: Nokia N8

Right from the time of its launch, the iPhone  4 boasted of a very good on-screen keyboard. Symbian, on the other hand was very bad at this. On Symbian^1, it the on screen QWERTY keyboard did not support auto correction or word suggestions. Amazingly, at least from what I have seen, the N8 STILL doesn’t have this option (do correct me if I am wring here as I couldn’t get to verify this when I handled the N8 briefly). The N8 does have T9 thought which works pretty well. Swype is also set to make an official entry to the N8 very soon. So, the future isn’t looking very bleak for the N8.

Winner: iPhone 4

This was a major issue with Symbian. Once you buy a Symbian device you are stuck with the OS till the phone reaches the end of its life. You did get Firmware updates – but thats just about it. Compare this to the iPhone’s iOS which sees frequent updates and feature additions. BUT, if we are to believe what Nokia has told us recently, this is set to change. Very soon. A few days ago, Nokia made a significant announcement whereby it said that it would be  making some moves to streamline its development environments across device platforms, focusing squarely on Qt. The company has made Qt its sole application development framework – meaning, that if a developer creates their application in Qt, they’ll be able to easily deploy it to Nokia devices on Symbian and MeeGo platforms. The most important part?, And I quote, “You can buy a Nokia smartphone confident that any improvements introduced later to the Symbian platform, such as the user interface, can be made available to download on your device as well. No need to wait for Symbian^4 — the improvements we were planning for Symbian^4 will be introduced as and when they become available. In fact, we will no longer be talking about Symbian^3 or Symbian^4 at all – it will be one constantly evolving and constantly improving platform.” Now, this is a major step ahead (in the right direction) for Nokia and would surely be welcomed by most Symbian fans (including yours truly).

Winner: iPhone 4 as of now.

Here are some other things that the N8 can do and the iPhone 4 cannot. The N8 has FM Radio. The iPhone 4 doesn’t. Apple also seems to hate microSD cards. So you have no option to increase the storage capacity of the iPhone 4  – unlike that of the N8 which has 16 GB plus the option to expand it further using 32Gb cards. The N8 has HDMI out. All your videos and HD content hence can be directly played on your TV -directly from the phone. This is a great feature and is very simple to do. The iPhone 4 can’t even come close to deliver this.  The iPhone can make video calls now – but using Facetime and only using Wi-Fi. The N8 can obviously do this as well – even on 3G.

Nokia and Apple have different approaches. Apple likes to keep things simple. However, their idea of keeping things that way is to tie the user to a world of Apple centric products and services. Apple never likes it when you want to leave their closed ecosystem. This has its advantages and disadvantages. For a person who would like to have things done the easy way, a closed system actually works well – but not every time. But Apple has somehow managed to pull it off. They have the UI and the experience bit covered so well – many users are ready to give up some old conveniences. For others however, this simply doesn’t work. They would like to buy their phone and want the freedom to do whatever they want to do with it – using their own tools and methods, for such people, the N8 still is the preferred choice.

The question is, which side of the divide are you?