Nokia's Symbian mobile platform was dealt a blow today with two devices from different manufacturers being pulled from the UK market for unspecified software issues.
The platform, which powers both simple handsets and smartphones, has seen increased competition from Google's Android and other Linux-based mobile platforms - so much so that Nokia's latest and greatest handset moves away from the company's once staple software to the Linux-based Maemo platform. Sadly, this exodus away from Symbian as a platform for modern smartphones is unlikely to be helped with the news that two manufacturers - Sony Ericsson and Nokia itself - have temporarily pulled handsets from the UK market.
The first to be pulled was Sony Ericsson's Satio handset, which had as its main selling point a 12 megapixel camera - higher resolution than many point-and-shoot standalone cameras. Sadly, software bugs plagued the device with Reg Hardware reporting that the company had chosen to temporarily suspend sales while it investigates unspecified software issues with the handsets.
While the official statement from Sony Ericsson might be unspecific, users of the handset are anything but: quality issues with the on-board camera, problems with ringtones, and software freezes and crashes have all been reported and are likely to be at the heart of Sony Ericsson's decision to remove the device from sale.
While the removal of a single manufacturer's device is bad news, Nokia itself appears to be suffering from similar problems with its N97 smartphone. UberGizmo reports that attempts to purchase the much-vaunted N97 from Vodafone UK's website result in being redirected to the newer N97 Mini - an apparently more stable version of the smartphone.
With Nokia themselves already looking towards Maemo for future devices, and with many companies throwing their weight behind Google's open-source Android platform, these issues could be indicative that Symbian's reign in the mobile arena is coming to an end.
Do you believe that it's time Symbian was retired in favour of something designed from the ground-up for smartphone devices, or is there life in the old dog yet? Share your thoughts over in the forums.
The platform, which powers both simple handsets and smartphones, has seen increased competition from Google's Android and other Linux-based mobile platforms - so much so that Nokia's latest and greatest handset moves away from the company's once staple software to the Linux-based Maemo platform. Sadly, this exodus away from Symbian as a platform for modern smartphones is unlikely to be helped with the news that two manufacturers - Sony Ericsson and Nokia itself - have temporarily pulled handsets from the UK market.
The first to be pulled was Sony Ericsson's Satio handset, which had as its main selling point a 12 megapixel camera - higher resolution than many point-and-shoot standalone cameras. Sadly, software bugs plagued the device with Reg Hardware reporting that the company had chosen to temporarily suspend sales while it investigates unspecified software issues with the handsets.
While the official statement from Sony Ericsson might be unspecific, users of the handset are anything but: quality issues with the on-board camera, problems with ringtones, and software freezes and crashes have all been reported and are likely to be at the heart of Sony Ericsson's decision to remove the device from sale.
While the removal of a single manufacturer's device is bad news, Nokia itself appears to be suffering from similar problems with its N97 smartphone. UberGizmo reports that attempts to purchase the much-vaunted N97 from Vodafone UK's website result in being redirected to the newer N97 Mini - an apparently more stable version of the smartphone.
With Nokia themselves already looking towards Maemo for future devices, and with many companies throwing their weight behind Google's open-source Android platform, these issues could be indicative that Symbian's reign in the mobile arena is coming to an end.
Do you believe that it's time Symbian was retired in favour of something designed from the ground-up for smartphone devices, or is there life in the old dog yet? Share your thoughts over in the forums.
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