A few months back, I wrote what was on my mind regarding Series 60 phones, and since then Nokia has been churning out model after model with what I can only consider gleeful enthusiasm (not to mention wanton abandon where it concerns form factors).
As it happens, I've recently had (for many reasons) to investigate the state of affairs of a certain core feature of the Series 60 platform and, as a result, gone through a few (both recent and older) models.
And, guess what, there's light at the end of the tunnel. Although I have yet to use any model that won't start complaining of "out of memory" errors after a while, recent models are faster, way more responsive and (to a large degree) less of a hassle to use, providing a good boost to the overall experience.
Except for the N95 - I can't for the life of me figure out why Nokia hasn't put a decent battery on the thing, and find myself wishing that they set a pack of marmots on the new Gallery application to gnaw it out and replace it with a simpler, faster (and much, much less flashy) thumbnail browser of some sort.
Sorry Om, I couldn't really comment on your tips at the time. But I won't ramble on regarding the negative bits. Well, just one paragraph, then...
Sure, there is something to being able to, for instance, browse the news regarding Russell Beattie's new venture (good luck with Mowser, Russ!), click on this PDF and being able to actually read it properly on the big, friendly screen (images and all).
Thing is, the "low battery" warning kind of spoils the overall effect.
Anyway, there are other (leaner, faster, much more efficient) Nokia phones out there that are kind of growing on me, and if they ever fix that asinine message font (you know, the one that limits you to reading 6 lines of e-mail at a time on a 320 pixel high screen), they might (just might, mind you) yet give my Pearl a run for its money.
I'll give it another six months or so and get back to this topic around the time for the usual Xmas recommendations.
Update: Regarding Mowser, I will be trying it out for a few days - I use the Google mobile gateway every morning to read the news with my PSP, but the blue bars have been getting to me of late, and Russ's take on things seems a bit more pragmatic.