So as some people may know, I used to own a Motorola e815 as my cell phone. Easily the best phone I've ever had - not because of the features, but because of how much of how hackable the phone was. Basically any services that Verizon disabled, you could re-enable by modifying the firmware. Awesome! I knew eventually there would be a time when I would finally upgrade, and due to a hardware error (sadly the phone would no longer recharge) I was forced to make the switch a bit prematurely.

iPhones are no fun

The Choices

Today there's obviously the iPhone choice. As awesome of a piece of hardware the phone is, and as great of an interface it has; I've just never been that impressed. For starters... Why would you require that you hook up your phone to a media player in order to perform updates?! I haven't been a fan of how the iPod requires that you sync data with your computer, so why would I buy a phone that synce more than your music using the same interface.  Not to mention all of the minor inconveniences and troubles I've had with Apple/Macs/OS X in general.

Then there's the Windows Mobile phones, with the more recently anticipated HTC Touch Diamond. Initially I was strongly looking into getting this. The UI was great, it wasn't an iPhone, it seemed to have a decent amount of features. However, there was one problem once I was researching it: it runs Windows Mobile. Granted, I don't have a ton of experience using Windows Mobile devices, but every single review I read at least alluded to the sluggishness of the OS. So that was out as well.

Finally I was directed by Joe to check out some Symbian devices. As of June 2008, the Symbian Foundation's main goal was to "provide royalty-free software and accelerate innovation"; exactly what I'm looking for! To elaborate on "accelrating innovation"; much like Google's Andriod, Nokia is currently purchasing up all the shares of the Symbian Foundation in an effort to completely open source the OS. Even more awesome! In my opinion all of this is great for multiple reasons:

  1. I can develop applications for my phone!
  2. Other people can develop applications for my phone!
  3. Symbian has been around for a while, it's a stable and well known OS with tons of features
  4. Symbian is deployed on over 50% of mobile phones/devices worldwide
  5. The more users, the more support there is and the more innovation there will be

Most of the more feature filled Symbian phones need to be purchased unlocked; they're notably more expensive than getting a phone through a domestic provider. Being that they're a little pricey I thought I would try to stick to the mid-range prices, and if I liked it, I could go all out and get a more expensive one a few years down the road. After being very pleased with my n800 purchase, I decided to stick with Nokia. Resolving to stick to all the above criteria, I was eventually led to choose the Nokia N78. I've only had it for a week or so, but stay tuned for a review!

PS: I also moved into a new apartment!