Feature Pack 2 is something that has been highly anticipated by the Symbian S60 community. It is an upgrade to the Feature Pack 1 firmware built into the recent batch of Nokia S60 phones such as the N81, N82, & N95. The Nokia N78 is the first phone released to sport the new Feature Pack 2. Needless to say this is one of the major selling points of the phone.
But is it worth it?
I really couldn't wait to try out Feature Pack 2. The new menu transitions are something we've been waiting for in Nokia smartphones for a really long time, not to mention better handling of data access points and other minor upgrades. One of the major complaints about S60 3rd Edition is the lack of eye candy compared to other devices such as the iPhone. Sure a Nokia N95 can do twice as much but sometimes people just want flash and glamor. I can honestly say after using the Nokia N78 for a few weeks that I'm not impressed by the transitions and effects. It feels like the phone is slowed down and that's not what we want from our multimedia computers. Maybe if they find a way to speed things up it will be useful but at this point I find it slightly annoying.
What else does Feature Pack 2 bring to the table?
It gives you a new look to the task manager. Instead of going down the left side of the phone, now it is shown front and center along the bottom and includes bigger icons. Most experienced S60 users won't really care because they install other applications such as Handy Taskman to do a better job of phone task management.
There is a new vertical active standby screen that cleans up the screen and makes it more pleasant on the eyes. It has seven icons from top to bottom. The top is active standby shortcuts, then search, calendar, music player, radio, FM transmitter, and Wlan Wizard. There is a lot of waste here because I don't often find myself using the radio or FM transmitter, so for now I'll be sticking with the original horizontal standby setup.
There are quite a few more things that the new feature pack brings to the table. I could do a more detailed review of Feature Pack 2 on the Nokia N78 but I'm strapped on time as going out of town for a week and need to start packing. For a very detailed look at FP2 click here to read a great article posted by Mobile-Review.com. There you'll find lots of explanations and screenshots.
Before I finish I'm going to answer my original question. Is Symbian S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2 worth it?
My straight answer is no. Of course this is just my opinion but I wouldn't buy a phone based on the fact that it has Feature Pack 2. I think Nokia and Symbian could have done a better job of letting us customize the standby settings and maybe made the transitions snappier. Hopefully we see some improvements with future firmware updates to the Nokia N78.
What's next?
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