Open letter to Nokia about the E90

Posted by
July 15, 2008

I love my E90. Really, I do. It is by far the best phone I’ve ever owned. But it is not without niggles, so here’s an open letter to Nokia detailing them. I have no hope that my suggestions will ever come to anything, so this is more of a steam-vent than anything else.

Dear Nokia,

Thanks for producing the wonderful E90 phone. But please send your software people back into the labs and right a few wrongs? The items that particularly annoy me are:

  1. The navigation software.
    You were joking, right? Can we have the real stuff now? And can we also stop with the silly subscription service? When the phone costs over six hundred pounds, don’t you think you’ve made enough money? I can BUY a (good) stand-alone sat-nav system with windscreen mounts & everything for what you want to charge me to use this rubbish for a year. Either fix it so it works, or let me use it for free. You don’t even have to do all the work here – partner with TomTom or whoever, give them what they need to release an E90 version.
  2. The office software.
    See above. Same bad joke.
  3. Networking
    While it is awesome that I can do Bluetooth, Wifi, IR and GSM-based comms all on the same handset, you’ve made it extraordinarily painful to use. EVERY TIME I want to do something I have to tell it that it can go online, and then tell it HOW to go online. PLEASE give me the option to tell it “my home and office Wifi connections are ALWAYS authorised, you NEVER need ask my permission. If you can see one of those, just use the bloody thing and stop wasting my time.”
  4. The Camera
    Another one of those jokes. It SO fiddly to use and SO unresponsive it really is quite silly. Fix it or remove it, I could live without the added weight and complexity, and if I want a half-decent photo I’ll need a proper camera anyway ‘coz this one takes terrible pictures.

  5. Other useless bits
    Maybe some people still use IrDA, but I haven’t heard about them for a few years now. If you absolutely insist on adding it, at least give it enough guts to be useful! Honestly, what’s the point in something that only works at a range of six inches? Is that supposed to be easier than plugging in?
    And an FM radio? Whose bright idea was that?

So right now I’m carrying around what is admittedly a huge phone, but with a several hardware modules that are almost as useful as soggy tissue paper, due to the lack of a bit of software effort. Come on, Nokia, you can do better than that!

And a couple of hardware niggles too:

  1. Where’s the cradle?
    After making me sell a kidney to get my hands on this phone, you could have at least given me a desk cradle. Fiddly little plug-in chargers and USB cables PAH! Who has the time?
  2. Where’s the car kit?
    Professional people want a good solid vehicle mount that holds the phone firmly, charges it, routes calls through the car’s sound system if possible (while muting the radio, of course), and connects it to an external antenna.
  3. Why change the charger plug?
    This has got to be the most idiotic one of all. D’oh!

Fix or replace the software, for starters. And let me know so I can download an update. Then chuck out all the useless hardware and make it smaller, cheaper, lighter and faster. Now put a sync/charge dock in the box and a proper car kit in the shops. And you’ll have an absolute winner. I’d probably have to sell my other kidney. Or maybe a child.

Should you wish to discuss all or any of these ideas with me, please feel free to leave a comment with your contact details. (yeah, like THAT’s gonna happen)
Sincerely,

pembi.net

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