Mobile Phone Blog:

Much has been made, recently, of the brand new T Mobile G1, the first phone in history to be built around Google Android and how it will change the world of mobile phones. Equally, there’s been loads of talk this year about the iPhone, and how it will, yes, change the world of mobile phones.

But then, there’s a third player, and unusually (and refreshingly), this one isn’t saying it’s going to change the world of mobile phones.

Which is odd in itself, because of all three, I’m firmly convinced it’s the one most likely to actually change the world! I’ve banged on about it previously, and I’m sure I will in future, but that’s how important I think Symbian Foundation phones will be.

It’s time to take a look at the state of play, and see why I reckon that when Symbian Foundation phones start to appear, the world of mobiles is going to be given a shaking up of epic proportions…

Apple iPhone – innovation versus smugness

Ok, I’ll concede that the iPhone has been a bit of a game-changer. It’s kick-started a lot of big name manufacturers to start chucking out mobile phones with touchscreens. But, in truth, has it really changed the game that much? Steve Jobs jumped on stage at that very first presentation, and proclaimed that here, in his hand, was the future of mobile phones.

Sure, there’s a lot of good in the iPhone. The interface is nicer than a most other mobile phones, and it has a massive screen, topped only by the screen on the HTC Touch HD. But a lot of commentators (myself included) have said it’s nothing but a flashy toy, and that in truth, other mobile phones (the HTC Touch HD springs immediately to mind yet again) stand head and shoulders above it in terms of features.

Add to that the thing I really don’t like about Apple: Steve Jobs, someone who, in my opinion, is possibly the single smuggest man in Christendom. The way he described it, everyone in the world would be using only the Apple iPhone in a few years time. Not according to the people out there who don’t want a top-end phone, who just want an emergency phone to stick in the glove-box.

Mind you, Apple fans will say that’s because they’re not cool.

Trust me, I know, one did that to me on the interwebs, and said that because I couldn’t identify the brand of my shoes, I wasn’t cool, which is why I didn’t get the iPhone. I obviously wasn’t cool enough. Honestly, people like that make our very own Dan (resident genius, according to himself) look rational and even-tempered.

It’s a shame, really, because the iPhone itself has some really nice bits. The screen and the interface are brilliant. It’s just shame it misses out on some key areas like MMS, and it’s a shame that a worrying number of Apple fans assume everyone who doesn’t like it is a fascist who doesn’t know what makes mobile phones good…

Google Android – rethinking the world of mobile phones

With the launch of the T Mobile G1, the world has now seen its first Google Android-powered mobile phone. It’s been heralded by several (not least Google) as being a world-changing phone, and that it’s just the start of a campaign.

Google Android, they say, will make us all rethink mobile phones forever.

Well, not in the T Mobile G1, it won’t, but my views on that are already well-documented, so I won’t go on about it. Besides, at the moment, the whole venture is in its infancy, and you can’t judge a whole family tree on just the first member in it.

What I’m interested in is what happens after the T Mobile G1, what mobile phones will appear to in Google Android’s list of phones. Because that’s the point: the T Mobile G1 may be the first, but Google Android is open source, so phone makers can, theoretically, change the operating system as much as they want when putting it in their mobile phones. That, right there, is crucial, and in future, we could be seeing some really world-changing mobile phones running Google Android.

The T Mobile G1 is a good start, but in future, with Google Android, will Google actually dominate the world of mobile phones?

Well, it stands a better chance than Apple, but let’s not forget there’s that third player to think about… and while it’s a name you might not be massively familiar with right this minute, it will be in future!

Symbian Foundation – the real mobile phones of the future!

The biggest smartphone operating system in the world at the moment is, without a doubt, Symbian. It powers Nokia (Nseries and Eseries, in S60 form) and Sony Ericsson (P-Series, plus the G900, in UIQ form) smartphones, and last year, 77 million Symbian mobile phones were sold.

As for back story, it amounts to this: Nokia bought Symbian outright, and donated the whole shebang to the Symbian Foundation, a non-profit organisation set up solely to develop Symbian into a 100% open source operating system.

Seems they were taking the threat of Google Android seriously!

What’s more, Symbian Foundation members get to use the new operating system on their mobile phones without having to pay royalties or licence fees, essentially letting them build super-powered, personalised smartphones for minimal cost. Now, that makes good business sense.

I’m not the only one to think so, as well; you should see the list of people already signed up. As the time of writing, 40 different companies have joined the Symbian Foundation, including (tellingly) all of the big five mobile phone manufacturers, and all but one of the big five UK networks (only O2 haven’t signed up yet), not to mention such massive names as Opera (web browser masters) and EA Mobile (virtually guaranteeing a huge range of games for Symbian Foundation phones)!

So, what we have, in fact, is a whole new operating system that’s open source (matching Google Android’s open source claims) and is being overseen and developed by every major existing name in the world of mobile phones, each bringing their own experience to the table. And as the final straw, it will also be totally backwards compatible with Symbian Series 60, easily the most widespread smartphone system in the world, since it’s the one Nokia use on their phones, like the Nokia N96. So, not only will Symbian Foundation phones be open source, and be supported by years of mobile experience, they’ll inherit the massive developer and user base from Nokia.

To put it bluntly, whilst the iPhone and Google Android have their own selling points, let’s see them top that. That’s why, without a single shadow of a doubt in my mind, Symbian Foundation phones will rule the world…

Don’t want to wait till the Symbian Foundation opens its doors? Get the stunning Nokia N96 today!