The iPhone Verdict!!! (updated)
Recently, I wrote about being tempted into succumbing to the Apple iPhone craze, especially after a successful hack becoming generally available and Apple's recent announcement in price cut. But I was still on the fence. Should I jump on the bandwagon? For the right price, I may be willing to buy a superbly inferior product that has just one cool and desirable feature that is the touch user interface.
Well, I can tell you that as of this past Friday, I no longer use my beloved Nokia N91. The Nokia N91 is a device that I have come to love. It is simply the best convergence device the handheld market has ever witnessed, considering it was introduced all the way back in April 27, 2005. It has a 4 GB hard drive for music, a 2 megapixel camera capable of making VGA quality videos with unlimited length, WiFi for wireless web browsing, a web browser that can view the real internet just like the new iPhone (unlike most other phone browsers that can only browse the "watered-down" version of any given website), Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity with many profiles, a built-in radio tuner, and a built-in PDA functionalities that can be synchronized to Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes, and Apple Mac OS X PIM software (via iSync). Best of all, the Nokia N91 came wide open, which was ready for any GSM network operator. The N91 came out so long ago that by the time the Apple iPhone was released on June 29 of this year, Nokia has discontinued the N91!
Sure, the iPhone has the really cool touch user interface, but does it perform well when it comes anything else? The answer is a resounding no! There are numerous complaints from several power users that it doesn't work well as its most basic feature: a phone. Personally, not owning the iPhone myself and based on user reports from the Internet and my long and inconsiderate play time with the iPhone at the Chicago Apple store, I suspect that the GSM chip along with the software written by Apple may be faulty. Sure, the iPhone's usability benchmark is ridiculously high, but it sacrifices a lot, namely functionality.
{Update 2007.10.01: The original post had comparison of my old Nokia N91 to the Apple iPhone sandwiched here, but it has been removed and archived to the end of this post as I realized the eight paragraphs were redundant to what follows below.}
Of course, the most damning thing about the iPhone is its marriage to the AT&T service. Owners cannot take the GSM iPhone and pop in SIM cards from other GSM carriers such as T-Mobile or Vodafone. Worse yet, I cannot even pop in my own, current AT&T SIM card into the iPhone without "upgrading" my plan. This has huge ramifications:
1) You are forced to buy AT&T's special iPhone plans that has a $20/month premium above the exact same type of plans on non-iPhone smartphones,
2) You are forced into a two year financial contract for a service that does not even subsidize or offset any part of the iPhone device cost, and
3) You will end up with the most expensive and fanciful paper weight if you applied Apple's feature update to your hacked iPhone.
The supposed update with "new features" and "improvements" coincidentally did not provide much of any useful new features as analyzed by my friend. It did not even address most of the flaws cited by me.
Nah! Yours truly on Friday decided to buy the Nokia N95. Mind you, this smartphone has been available for almost a year since September 26 of 2006, and yet it surpasses the iPhone in every single aspect except for the user interface. So why didn't I buy it at the Nokia Flagship store here in Chicago for the entire last year? Well, it didn't support the US version of 3G networks. And I was very happy with my aging Nokia N91.
Ever since Nokia's announcement on August 29 that they will introduce a US version of the N95 that not only will cost $50 cheaper than the European version sold here for the last year, but will have bigger battery (1200 mAh) and more memory, I have been calling both Nokia Flagship stores in Chicago and New York almost every day to determine its availability. And my patience was rewarded on Thursday, September 27th.
When I finally returned to Chicago on Friday, even the long delay from the medical emergency that got me home so late in the afternoon did little to deter me from getting off the subway train in downtown and hiking over to the Nokia Flagship store on the Magnificent Mile. And when I got home, I could not wait to rip open the box and play with it! The excitement pared with having sex for the very first time!
Granted, the new US version of the Nokia N95 is $100 more than the iPhone's original price, but its features are far more superior than that of the iPhone. The obvious advantages are:
1) Network independence straight out of the box, so anybody with T-Mobile or AT&T or Vodafone can start using it,
2) 3G capability, whereas the iPhone only has EDGE which Nokia's GSM phones have had built-in for many years,
3) A 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens capable of recording 30 frames per second (!!!) video is included, and
4) A powerful music player feature that have long been the standard of any Nokia N series phone for years!
But below are some of the more advanced advantages that you may not know right away:
Knowing your way around: Unlike the iPhone, Nokia provides free maps of over 150 countries. Better still, it has a GPS receiver, so I can see where on the map I am, live!!! And not only is it just a regular GPS device, it is an assisted-GPS, which means that it works in conjunction with the wireless data network to tell you about nearby places of interest and assist in looking for the right satellites! How sweet is that?
Battery replacement without being phoneless: Unlike the iPhone, I can replace the battery in the Nokia N95 anytime I want. I am not forced into paying extra for labor to get the battery replaced, and I don't have to go without my phone for days while Apple replaces the iPhone battery.
Truly the next generation camera-phone: Unlike the iPhone, the Nokia N95 has two (!!!) cameras! One 5 megapixel camera with auto focus Carl Zeiss lens and flash, and another simple one similar to the iPhone's to shoot low quality images for sending to your friends. The iPhone has, uhm, a pretty crappy camera that is crappier than some of the first generation 2 megapixel camera-phones Nokia and Samsung has ever introduced.
Better than an iPod: Unlike the iPhone, the Nokia N95 can play 17 music file formats, including AAC+ which is considered the best audio encoding method, which the iPhone doesn't support. The iPhone can play only nine formats (counting MP3 VBR and standard MP3 as two separate formats is cheating). Furthermore, the N95 has been said by several technical gurus all over to have a better audio codec chip than that in the iPhone and all other Apple iPods, which is the Wolfson codec chip. Translation: the N95 plays music better than the iPhone and iPod when it reaches your ears in terms of audio quality. Sadly though, the chipset that controls the music playback is not as good as the Nokia N91, probably in an effort to reduce power consumption. Luckily for me, a software setting, once enabled, instantly matched the audio quality to that of the Nokia N91, probably at the cost of higher batter consumption.
More than just music: Unlike the iPhone, it has a radio tuner, which doesn't tie me down to only the music I load onto it. This was one of the biggest red marks I have to give the iPhone, because I like to be able to listen to the radio and have my phone too while running without being forced into choosing between carrying two devices for the sake of running safety, or forego either the radio or a cell phone. Radio stations sometimes previews new music not in stores yet, so this is definitely a plus!
Graphics appeal: Unlike the iPhone, the Nokia N95 has a separate, dedicated 3D graphics hardware accelerator! The included 3D games are so freaking sweet! I assume that the N95 hardware specification called for a 3D GPU as part of Nokia's re-focus on the N-Gage platform. The iPhone is rumored to have a 3D graphics coprocessor built onto the main Samsung CPU. Of course, Apple is not known to divulge any technical specification of their products' internal components, so the information is based on technical gurus who took the iPhone apart and analyzed its parts in great detail.
Open platform, unlike Apple's Microsoft Vista approach: Unlike the iPhone, the Nokia N95 is open to any software written for it. So far, I have installed Widsets, a suite of light applications much like the widgets found on Mac OS X; a conversation application that allows me to view my text messages like a regular conversation similar to iPhone's; Opera Mini, which is by far one of the most powerful browsers to supplement the equally-powerful Nokia browser; Google Maps for the mere ability to see live traffic data; a powerful file browser utility that allows me to see protected system files and the entire system structure; PDF reader; a freeware that allows me to view files of Microsoft Office applications; and GMail. Of course, you can do not-so-nearly similar things with the iPhone, but that requires you to hack it. And I'm not even done with loading freeware applications! There is a freeware out there that keeps track of your exercise and keeps track of your distance based on the GPS unit. How cool is that?
Oh, and speaking of iPhone hacks, you do know that Apple will break your iPhone if it is hacked, right?
Better stream than no stream: Like the iPhone, it can also play YouTube videos over the Internet. And unlike the iPhone, it can stream Real Audio videos and music over the Internet, either through WiFi or the 3G data network. iPhone doesn't stream; it requires you to download static videos via iTunes and then synchronize.
Featherweight: After looking at the specification, I was really surprised to see that the Nokia N95 is 11 grams lighter than the Apple iPhone! How about that?!?
Synchronization choices: Unlike the iPhone, I have more than just one way to synchronize my music. With the iPhone, you absolutely must use iTunes. With my N95, I have four different ways, although one of them is sort of illegal. I can synchronize my music through 1) Nokia's PC Suite software, 2) Microsoft Windows Media Player (similarly to how iTunes work with iPod), 3) Connecting the N95 to my computer as a disk drive, and 4) Using iTunes along with the Bad Apple plug-in software. The fourth option isn't specifically for the N95, but any portable music player that is treated as a disk drive when connected to a computer.
"I'm a baller" ringin': Unlike the iPhone, I can pick and choose any music I have on the phone as my ringtone. With the iPhone, you have to use iTunes, purchase an extra 99 cents license to have your downloaded song be set as a ringtone. If you want that Nelly Futardo Promiscuous Girl song as your ringtone, but you don't have the song yet, then you have to pay nearly $2 just for the ability to use that song as your ringtone. Yet another way Apple nickel-and-dimes you.
The Internet Internet: Just like the iPhone, the Nokia N95 also has a browser that lets you see the entire Internet like the way it was meant to be. Personally, I think the zoom/pan/overview feature of the Nokia browser is far superior than the iPhone's Safari, which is nothing more than just zoom in and out and pan. Funnier is the fact that Apple touts this feature as the only one of its kind, Nokia have had this for years. Interestingly, both Nokia and Apple's browsers are both built on the same web development kit!!!
Well, after playing with the Nokia N95 for a couple days, I am freaking in love with it. Sure, it only has a 2.6 inch display that is not touch screen, but it is a high resolution display that works extremely well and has the ability to rotate its rotational view mode! Now that I have experienced the 3G speed that is almost as fast as my home cable modem download speed, I don't think I can ever go back to non-3G phones and browsing the Internet.
Some of you may say that my Nokia N95 is not thin, therefore a disadvantage. Well, let me tell you this: After playing with the Motorola Razr and the Apple iPhone, thin is not exactly all that desirable. Super thin is really nice when you hold the device with both hands, but when it comes to single handed operation, the grabfeel (I made that word up) is just piss poor! Yes, my Nokia N95 may be nearly twice as thick as the iPhone, but it is shorter and easier to hold. It feels comfortable in my hand. Seriously, it is no wider and taller than the original iPod Mini. Think about that for a second...
Insofar, I'm very happy with my purchase. And in the two days of using it at home, I stopped experiencing the mysterious sudden loss of cellular signal every once in a while when I'm at home in my condo in Chicago. I suspect it's probably because it has all four bands of the GSM spectrum. My Nokia N91 was missing the GSM 850 MHz, which is a predominant band that AT&T uses. Of course, I'll have to use it longer and see if I truly no longer have that issue.
Note: Of course, I'm not saying that my Nokia N95 is perfect. There are some flaws that I would like Nokia to address, but it certainly isn't near 10% of the flaws I found in the iPhone... Because of that, I'll write another entry in the future outlining the N95's flaws.
Opening and playing with the Nokia N95 right after returning home:
Update 2007.10.01: I made some grammatical corrections and added a few information to make the flow of information clearer after removing a chunk of the original text above. The original text is archived below, which basically compared the Nokia N91 with the Apple iPhone.
The iPhone doesn't have 3G connectivity, other than the blazing molasses speed of EDGE. The aged Nokia N91 had both EDGE and 3G, albeit the 3G was not compatible with the US 3G frequency (you can blame American wireless carriers for that).
The iPhone's camera is nothing but a piece of crap! The aged N91 not only allowed me to take pictures with digital zoom, but it even had the video recording feature without limit (except for the free space on my 4 GB hard drive)! Many of my videos on YouTube from live concerts were captured on my N91!
The iPhone can play a limited number of audio formats, while my aged N91 could play almost every format imaginable (15 formats to be exact). Of course, it can't play Apple's proprietary DRM'ed music format.
The iPhone does not have any profile settings. If you want to modify the volume of the ringer, or toggle the vibrate feature, you have to go to different areas of the iPhone, akin to Microsoft Windows' Control Panel. All Nokia phones from years ago allowed you to predefine several profiles, and further letting you switch between profiles on the fly!
The iPhone's Bluetooth does not have many profiles. You can't wireless transfer files with another Bluetooth-enabled devices. My aged N91 can.
The iPhone, for its initial price, does not have any GPS-enabled phone! It has Google Maps. Google has long had their Google Maps software on the Symbian operating system such as the N91. I can even dial the phone number of the result from a search of seafood restaurants in San Francisco.
The iPhone is a closed system. Apple has long decided not to open its operating system so that applications can run freely on it. Instead, they may in the future allow a closed and restricted environment space for which applications can run in, which means the applications may not be very useful. A quick search on the Internet will show that there is a vast amount of software, mostly free, that can run on the Symbian operating system. Of course, with the recent hack, developers have begun writing applications for the iPhone, but they are not nearly as diverse and amount as what's out there for Symbian.
The iPhone does not let you pick any of your music library and set it as a ringtone. Instead, you have to pay an extra 99 cents to do that. On my aged Nokia N91, or any Nokia phone produced in the last many years, you can easily pick any MP3 file you have loaded on your phone as a ringtone!
Despite what Apple would like you to believe, they are not the first to come up with a browser that allows you to view the real Internet as many websites originally created. Nokia's browser on Symbian OS 3.0 allowed that two years ago! Here's a little surprise. Both the Nokia browser and Apple's Safari browser were built using the same open-source web kit!
Well, I can tell you that as of this past Friday, I no longer use my beloved Nokia N91. The Nokia N91 is a device that I have come to love. It is simply the best convergence device the handheld market has ever witnessed, considering it was introduced all the way back in April 27, 2005. It has a 4 GB hard drive for music, a 2 megapixel camera capable of making VGA quality videos with unlimited length, WiFi for wireless web browsing, a web browser that can view the real internet just like the new iPhone (unlike most other phone browsers that can only browse the "watered-down" version of any given website), Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity with many profiles, a built-in radio tuner, and a built-in PDA functionalities that can be synchronized to Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes, and Apple Mac OS X PIM software (via iSync). Best of all, the Nokia N91 came wide open, which was ready for any GSM network operator. The N91 came out so long ago that by the time the Apple iPhone was released on June 29 of this year, Nokia has discontinued the N91!
Sure, the iPhone has the really cool touch user interface, but does it perform well when it comes anything else? The answer is a resounding no! There are numerous complaints from several power users that it doesn't work well as its most basic feature: a phone. Personally, not owning the iPhone myself and based on user reports from the Internet and my long and inconsiderate play time with the iPhone at the Chicago Apple store, I suspect that the GSM chip along with the software written by Apple may be faulty. Sure, the iPhone's usability benchmark is ridiculously high, but it sacrifices a lot, namely functionality.
{Update 2007.10.01: The original post had comparison of my old Nokia N91 to the Apple iPhone sandwiched here, but it has been removed and archived to the end of this post as I realized the eight paragraphs were redundant to what follows below.}
Of course, the most damning thing about the iPhone is its marriage to the AT&T service. Owners cannot take the GSM iPhone and pop in SIM cards from other GSM carriers such as T-Mobile or Vodafone. Worse yet, I cannot even pop in my own, current AT&T SIM card into the iPhone without "upgrading" my plan. This has huge ramifications:
1) You are forced to buy AT&T's special iPhone plans that has a $20/month premium above the exact same type of plans on non-iPhone smartphones,
2) You are forced into a two year financial contract for a service that does not even subsidize or offset any part of the iPhone device cost, and
3) You will end up with the most expensive and fanciful paper weight if you applied Apple's feature update to your hacked iPhone.
The supposed update with "new features" and "improvements" coincidentally did not provide much of any useful new features as analyzed by my friend. It did not even address most of the flaws cited by me.
Nah! Yours truly on Friday decided to buy the Nokia N95. Mind you, this smartphone has been available for almost a year since September 26 of 2006, and yet it surpasses the iPhone in every single aspect except for the user interface. So why didn't I buy it at the Nokia Flagship store here in Chicago for the entire last year? Well, it didn't support the US version of 3G networks. And I was very happy with my aging Nokia N91.
Ever since Nokia's announcement on August 29 that they will introduce a US version of the N95 that not only will cost $50 cheaper than the European version sold here for the last year, but will have bigger battery (1200 mAh) and more memory, I have been calling both Nokia Flagship stores in Chicago and New York almost every day to determine its availability. And my patience was rewarded on Thursday, September 27th.
When I finally returned to Chicago on Friday, even the long delay from the medical emergency that got me home so late in the afternoon did little to deter me from getting off the subway train in downtown and hiking over to the Nokia Flagship store on the Magnificent Mile. And when I got home, I could not wait to rip open the box and play with it! The excitement pared with having sex for the very first time!
Granted, the new US version of the Nokia N95 is $100 more than the iPhone's original price, but its features are far more superior than that of the iPhone. The obvious advantages are:
1) Network independence straight out of the box, so anybody with T-Mobile or AT&T or Vodafone can start using it,
2) 3G capability, whereas the iPhone only has EDGE which Nokia's GSM phones have had built-in for many years,
3) A 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens capable of recording 30 frames per second (!!!) video is included, and
4) A powerful music player feature that have long been the standard of any Nokia N series phone for years!
But below are some of the more advanced advantages that you may not know right away:
Knowing your way around: Unlike the iPhone, Nokia provides free maps of over 150 countries. Better still, it has a GPS receiver, so I can see where on the map I am, live!!! And not only is it just a regular GPS device, it is an assisted-GPS, which means that it works in conjunction with the wireless data network to tell you about nearby places of interest and assist in looking for the right satellites! How sweet is that?
Battery replacement without being phoneless: Unlike the iPhone, I can replace the battery in the Nokia N95 anytime I want. I am not forced into paying extra for labor to get the battery replaced, and I don't have to go without my phone for days while Apple replaces the iPhone battery.
Truly the next generation camera-phone: Unlike the iPhone, the Nokia N95 has two (!!!) cameras! One 5 megapixel camera with auto focus Carl Zeiss lens and flash, and another simple one similar to the iPhone's to shoot low quality images for sending to your friends. The iPhone has, uhm, a pretty crappy camera that is crappier than some of the first generation 2 megapixel camera-phones Nokia and Samsung has ever introduced.
Better than an iPod: Unlike the iPhone, the Nokia N95 can play 17 music file formats, including AAC+ which is considered the best audio encoding method, which the iPhone doesn't support. The iPhone can play only nine formats (counting MP3 VBR and standard MP3 as two separate formats is cheating). Furthermore, the N95 has been said by several technical gurus all over to have a better audio codec chip than that in the iPhone and all other Apple iPods, which is the Wolfson codec chip. Translation: the N95 plays music better than the iPhone and iPod when it reaches your ears in terms of audio quality. Sadly though, the chipset that controls the music playback is not as good as the Nokia N91, probably in an effort to reduce power consumption. Luckily for me, a software setting, once enabled, instantly matched the audio quality to that of the Nokia N91, probably at the cost of higher batter consumption.
More than just music: Unlike the iPhone, it has a radio tuner, which doesn't tie me down to only the music I load onto it. This was one of the biggest red marks I have to give the iPhone, because I like to be able to listen to the radio and have my phone too while running without being forced into choosing between carrying two devices for the sake of running safety, or forego either the radio or a cell phone. Radio stations sometimes previews new music not in stores yet, so this is definitely a plus!
Graphics appeal: Unlike the iPhone, the Nokia N95 has a separate, dedicated 3D graphics hardware accelerator! The included 3D games are so freaking sweet! I assume that the N95 hardware specification called for a 3D GPU as part of Nokia's re-focus on the N-Gage platform. The iPhone is rumored to have a 3D graphics coprocessor built onto the main Samsung CPU. Of course, Apple is not known to divulge any technical specification of their products' internal components, so the information is based on technical gurus who took the iPhone apart and analyzed its parts in great detail.
Open platform, unlike Apple's Microsoft Vista approach: Unlike the iPhone, the Nokia N95 is open to any software written for it. So far, I have installed Widsets, a suite of light applications much like the widgets found on Mac OS X; a conversation application that allows me to view my text messages like a regular conversation similar to iPhone's; Opera Mini, which is by far one of the most powerful browsers to supplement the equally-powerful Nokia browser; Google Maps for the mere ability to see live traffic data; a powerful file browser utility that allows me to see protected system files and the entire system structure; PDF reader; a freeware that allows me to view files of Microsoft Office applications; and GMail. Of course, you can do not-so-nearly similar things with the iPhone, but that requires you to hack it. And I'm not even done with loading freeware applications! There is a freeware out there that keeps track of your exercise and keeps track of your distance based on the GPS unit. How cool is that?
Oh, and speaking of iPhone hacks, you do know that Apple will break your iPhone if it is hacked, right?
Better stream than no stream: Like the iPhone, it can also play YouTube videos over the Internet. And unlike the iPhone, it can stream Real Audio videos and music over the Internet, either through WiFi or the 3G data network. iPhone doesn't stream; it requires you to download static videos via iTunes and then synchronize.
Featherweight: After looking at the specification, I was really surprised to see that the Nokia N95 is 11 grams lighter than the Apple iPhone! How about that?!?
Synchronization choices: Unlike the iPhone, I have more than just one way to synchronize my music. With the iPhone, you absolutely must use iTunes. With my N95, I have four different ways, although one of them is sort of illegal. I can synchronize my music through 1) Nokia's PC Suite software, 2) Microsoft Windows Media Player (similarly to how iTunes work with iPod), 3) Connecting the N95 to my computer as a disk drive, and 4) Using iTunes along with the Bad Apple plug-in software. The fourth option isn't specifically for the N95, but any portable music player that is treated as a disk drive when connected to a computer.
"I'm a baller" ringin': Unlike the iPhone, I can pick and choose any music I have on the phone as my ringtone. With the iPhone, you have to use iTunes, purchase an extra 99 cents license to have your downloaded song be set as a ringtone. If you want that Nelly Futardo Promiscuous Girl song as your ringtone, but you don't have the song yet, then you have to pay nearly $2 just for the ability to use that song as your ringtone. Yet another way Apple nickel-and-dimes you.
The Internet Internet: Just like the iPhone, the Nokia N95 also has a browser that lets you see the entire Internet like the way it was meant to be. Personally, I think the zoom/pan/overview feature of the Nokia browser is far superior than the iPhone's Safari, which is nothing more than just zoom in and out and pan. Funnier is the fact that Apple touts this feature as the only one of its kind, Nokia have had this for years. Interestingly, both Nokia and Apple's browsers are both built on the same web development kit!!!
Well, after playing with the Nokia N95 for a couple days, I am freaking in love with it. Sure, it only has a 2.6 inch display that is not touch screen, but it is a high resolution display that works extremely well and has the ability to rotate its rotational view mode! Now that I have experienced the 3G speed that is almost as fast as my home cable modem download speed, I don't think I can ever go back to non-3G phones and browsing the Internet.
Some of you may say that my Nokia N95 is not thin, therefore a disadvantage. Well, let me tell you this: After playing with the Motorola Razr and the Apple iPhone, thin is not exactly all that desirable. Super thin is really nice when you hold the device with both hands, but when it comes to single handed operation, the grabfeel (I made that word up) is just piss poor! Yes, my Nokia N95 may be nearly twice as thick as the iPhone, but it is shorter and easier to hold. It feels comfortable in my hand. Seriously, it is no wider and taller than the original iPod Mini. Think about that for a second...
Insofar, I'm very happy with my purchase. And in the two days of using it at home, I stopped experiencing the mysterious sudden loss of cellular signal every once in a while when I'm at home in my condo in Chicago. I suspect it's probably because it has all four bands of the GSM spectrum. My Nokia N91 was missing the GSM 850 MHz, which is a predominant band that AT&T uses. Of course, I'll have to use it longer and see if I truly no longer have that issue.
Note: Of course, I'm not saying that my Nokia N95 is perfect. There are some flaws that I would like Nokia to address, but it certainly isn't near 10% of the flaws I found in the iPhone... Because of that, I'll write another entry in the future outlining the N95's flaws.
Opening and playing with the Nokia N95 right after returning home:
Update 2007.10.01: I made some grammatical corrections and added a few information to make the flow of information clearer after removing a chunk of the original text above. The original text is archived below, which basically compared the Nokia N91 with the Apple iPhone.
The iPhone doesn't have 3G connectivity, other than the blazing molasses speed of EDGE. The aged Nokia N91 had both EDGE and 3G, albeit the 3G was not compatible with the US 3G frequency (you can blame American wireless carriers for that).
The iPhone's camera is nothing but a piece of crap! The aged N91 not only allowed me to take pictures with digital zoom, but it even had the video recording feature without limit (except for the free space on my 4 GB hard drive)! Many of my videos on YouTube from live concerts were captured on my N91!
The iPhone can play a limited number of audio formats, while my aged N91 could play almost every format imaginable (15 formats to be exact). Of course, it can't play Apple's proprietary DRM'ed music format.
The iPhone does not have any profile settings. If you want to modify the volume of the ringer, or toggle the vibrate feature, you have to go to different areas of the iPhone, akin to Microsoft Windows' Control Panel. All Nokia phones from years ago allowed you to predefine several profiles, and further letting you switch between profiles on the fly!
The iPhone's Bluetooth does not have many profiles. You can't wireless transfer files with another Bluetooth-enabled devices. My aged N91 can.
The iPhone, for its initial price, does not have any GPS-enabled phone! It has Google Maps. Google has long had their Google Maps software on the Symbian operating system such as the N91. I can even dial the phone number of the result from a search of seafood restaurants in San Francisco.
The iPhone is a closed system. Apple has long decided not to open its operating system so that applications can run freely on it. Instead, they may in the future allow a closed and restricted environment space for which applications can run in, which means the applications may not be very useful. A quick search on the Internet will show that there is a vast amount of software, mostly free, that can run on the Symbian operating system. Of course, with the recent hack, developers have begun writing applications for the iPhone, but they are not nearly as diverse and amount as what's out there for Symbian.
The iPhone does not let you pick any of your music library and set it as a ringtone. Instead, you have to pay an extra 99 cents to do that. On my aged Nokia N91, or any Nokia phone produced in the last many years, you can easily pick any MP3 file you have loaded on your phone as a ringtone!
Despite what Apple would like you to believe, they are not the first to come up with a browser that allows you to view the real Internet as many websites originally created. Nokia's browser on Symbian OS 3.0 allowed that two years ago! Here's a little surprise. Both the Nokia browser and Apple's Safari browser were built using the same open-source web kit!
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