O for Opinion: 5 Reasons Series 60 needs to update their interface

The recent release of the Nokia N95 with U.S. 3G recently gave us an excuse to play around with Symbian Series 60 (as if we need an excuse to play with phones) and reminded us of something that's been on our minds for awhile. Ever since the iPhone was released there's been a lot of talk in the mobile space about the need to create more intuitive and easy to use phone interfaces. We've long felt that Series 60 is one of the biggest offenders when it comes to an overly complex and confusing UI. We certainly hope that Nokia moves to compete better with Apple's iPhone by addressing this issue, and we have five suggestions for where to start.

1) Make Wi-Fi Easier - While I was using the N95 I took advantage of the built in Wi-Fi to access the internet. Initially it seemed pretty simple, when I launched the web browser I was asked if I wanted to scan for available Wi-Fi access points. I did so, found my wireless network, connected to it and entered my password. What I found frustrating was that the next time I went to browse I had to enter the information again. It seems that Series 60 doesn't save this information like the iPhone does. Instead I had to go into the settings to create a new access point, where I had to figure things out like whether my network used 64 bit or 128 bit WEP encryption and ASCII versus hexadecimal format. Hexa-what? This is ridiculous, regular users shouldn't need to have to try and work out what this means: just save my password when I connect to the network initially and then let me connect easily next time I'm in range, please.

2) Figure out what you're doing with the multimedia key - In the past year or so Nokia has gone from having a user customizable shortcut key (yay!) to replacing this key with a five way navigation that allows you to access multiple programs, then there was the carousel type thingy and now they seem to have gone to some type of tabbed interface. Here's a hint Nokia, how about instead of playing around with yet another point of entry for applications you just make it easy to get to stuff from the very beginning? I understand that power users want multiple points of entry, I am a power user and appreciate it. But most users just get confused, especially if they've moved between devices in this time period and found that the same button has changed dramatically. You already have a menu system, I have no problem with improving that interface, but don't leave it alone and create a completely separate and rapidly changing interface. How about a tabbed interface in the normal menu instead of folders and then can we please just have our easy to use customizable shortcut key back?

3) Back off on the buttons - The Nokia N95 has 16 buttons, counting the D-Pad as a single button and not counting the keypad. That's just too many. Don't get me wrong, I like buttons, and I wish the iPhone had more buttons, but 16 is just too many. It's time to start making better use of fewer buttons. For example why is one of the soft keys constantly wasted in applications by being assigned to the exit function when the end key does the same thing? Speaking of which why even have send and end keys, Sony-Ericsson has gotten along without them quite well? Let's stop the madness ok? Every time a new feature is added you don't need a new button.

4) Make email setup easier - Why is it that every time I set up a new email account I go through these long setup wizards and they don't even ask me for my login and password? For that reason why do I have to know the server settings for every email account I setup, it cant be that hard to load a database of the most popular email services on the device. Just have me login with my username and password and then have the phone take care of the rest. Windows Mobile seems to have gotten the hang of this, why can't you?

5) Start triaging menu options - The menus in Series 60 are just painful to use. Long menus with sub menus and no easy way to quickly navigate them. Most phones allow you to quickly access the fourth or fifth item in the menu by hitting number 4 or 5 on the keypad. Some phones even number the menu items to make this easier, amazing isn't it. Nokia needs to take some notes. Either come up with a better way to get through big menus, like BlackBerry's trackball, or cut them down.

Now, let's be fair for a second. We understand that Series 60 is a platform that's been in development for years with features being added along the way while the iPhone interface has the clean design of a 1.0 device. But this is no longer a good enough excuse, Apple's ease of use with the iPhone is not just an accident of an early rev product, it's the result of a concerted focus on creating a simple and effective user experience. As geeks we love that Nokia tries to pack as many technologies as possible into devices, but as users we cringe when moving through the interface. You can do better Nokia, and these suggestions are just a start.