Nokia N93: some months later

It's likely that this will be my last post about my Nokia N93. I've used it now for a couple of months. Here's my findings:

• The N93 is built solidly. I've dropped it a couple of times now (on wood floor, on tar, on concrete, ...), without ever causing damage.
• You can do phone calls in good quality with the N93.
  
• The camera is nonsense. Yes, it is a 3.2 Megapixel camera, but it has a horribly bad sensor that causes very serious artifacts all over the picture you take. It's okay for some snapshots, and it's a way out if you're really desperate. But if you're a photo enthusiast, hoping to have a 3.2 MP camera with you all the time in case you stumble across something, then forget about the N93. Even my first digital camera, a "first generation" 2 MP Canon Digital Ixus beats this camera hands down.
  
• My N93 is a great Backgammon and Chess machine, it also acts nicely as a MP3 player. But for the last purpose it can't compete with the iPod due to its rather clumsy user interface. (and I'm buying music on the iTunes store so I'm stuck with the iPod anyway :-( ).
  
• Outlook synchronization works as smooth as I hoped for. The synchronization bug that I've described some time ago never showed up again. Particularly having the meeting location right at my fingertips is great.
• MP3 ring tones :-)
• The speakers are quite okay; you can use the N93 as a MP3 player (e.g. in hotel rooms) well.
  
• The device is big, and yes, a lot of people ask you what that bulky thing is.
• The UI is designed badly in many respects. The N93 doesn't find a way to hide its complexity so it's there if you need it, but it doesn't hinder you if you don't.

Okay, a few more words on that last topic.

To me it seems that Nokia (or Symbian) have spent much time implementing very generic and powerful features, but they have not spent time in thinking about usability, fast click sequences, easy access of the "top 10 features".

Example: writing an SMS
"traditional phone" (e.g. my old Sony Ericsson T610):
- new SMS => address book appears
- press e.g. JO to write to John Doe => cell phone number appears
- press OK => you're in the SMS composition screen

Nokia N93:
- new SMS => composition screen appears, you're in the to: area
- press OK => you're transported into the address book
- press e.g. JO => multi-select appears
- select first entry => list of contact numbers appears
- select cell phone => you're in the composition screen

See? Two annoying steps more. And this is not an exotic, but a rather typical example. You can't change the ring tone, but have to change the default ringtone for your personalized setting of the "general" profile. Finding the "last calls" list requires me to be in a true explorer's mood. Sure, you can customize most of that, but for that you have to again browse around in the depths of the N93's menus.