History Platform / Symbian

Symbian was also notorious for being unstable, and the default S60 web browser ran far worse than competing browsers; it also didn't help that Nokia was shipping phones with rather arbitrary RAM allocation, sometimes [[http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/features/item/why_the_penny-pinching_over_ram.php skimping on RAM]] to save on production costs even on a relatively expensive device such as the Nokia 6680 just as when the N70--its closest Nseries equivalent which was released only a few months after the 6680--had over 32MB of free memory.[[note]]Especially considering this was during the time when manufacturers weren't disclosing technical specs beyond just screen size/resolution, cellular capability and camera resolution, leaving just the phone's price as a rather naive metric of how supposedly good the device is; more often than not, [[https://stevelitchfield.com/s60history.htm such detailed specs]] were usually shared amongst dedicated enthusiasts and power users. Such "Intel Inside"-style ingredient branding campaigns wouldn't be used until the likes of Qualcomm started publicly marketing their Snapdragon systems-on-chip during TheNewTens.[[/note]] While casual users may not see this as an issue, those running games and other system-intensive apps would feel the pain of running out of RAM in the middle of a game. Malware was also a problem, and Series 60 first and second edition devices are prone to virus-laced .sis packages circulating through Bluetooth and/or MMS; this threat was mitigated by the fact that none of these viruses use any flaws within the operating system itself, instead relying on SocialEngineering to convince unwitting users into thinking that the malicious app is a game or some other utility--the only time the poor user would know that their device is infected is if it suddenly racked up a costly phone bill for sending dozens of MMS messages in an attempt to further spread the virus. Later Symbian versions were far more secure thanks to code signing requiring developers to sign their apps for retail distribution, though they're not free from vulnerabilities either, and it also had the side effect of forcing some users to jailbreak their devices in order to run pirated apps or other unsigned code, which is now ''mandatory'' for retrocomputing enthusiasts who collect vintage Nokia devices as most if not all of the certificates used have long since expired. It also didn't help that there wasn't a centralised app store back then apart from Nokia's Ovi Store, placing the burden on the user who had to dig through either their wireless provider's media portal or at a shady warez site carrying cracked .sis packages.

Symbian was also notorious for being unstable, and the default S60 web browser ran far worse than competing browsers. Malware was also a problem, and Series 60 first and second edition devices are prone to virus-laced .sis packages circulating through Bluetooth and/or MMS; this threat was mitigated by the fact that none of these viruses use any flaws within the operating system itself, instead relying on SocialEngineering to convince unwitting users into thinking that the malicious app is a game or some other utility--the only time the poor user would know that their device is infected is if it suddenly racked up a costly phone bill for sending dozens of MMS messages in an attempt to further spread the virus. Later Symbian versions were far more secure thanks to code signing requiring developers to sign their apps for retail distribution, though they're not free from vulnerabilities either, and it also had the side effect of forcing some users to jailbreak their devices in order to run pirated apps or other unsigned code, which is now ''mandatory'' for retrocomputing enthusiasts who collect vintage Nokia devices as most if not all of the certificates used have long since expired. It also didn't help that there wasn't a centralised app store back then apart from Nokia's Ovi Store, placing the burden on the user who had to dig through either their wireless provider's media portal or at a shady warez site carrying cracked .sis packages.

Symbian was also notorious for [[ObviousBeta being unstable]], and the default S60 web browser ran far worse than competing browsers. Malware was also a problem, and Series 60 first and second edition devices are prone to virus-laced .sis packages circulating through Bluetooth and/or MMS; this threat was mitigated by the fact that none of these viruses use any flaws within the operating system itself, instead relying on SocialEngineering to convince unwitting users into thinking that the malicious app is a game or some other utility--the only time the poor user would know that their device is infected is if it suddenly racked up a costly phone bill for sending dozens of MMS messages in an attempt to further spread the virus. Later Symbian versions were far more secure thanks to code signing requiring developers to sign their apps for retail distribution, though they're not free from vulnerabilities either, and it also had the side effect of forcing some users to jailbreak their devices in order to run pirated apps or other unsigned code, which is now ''mandatory'' for retrocomputing enthusiasts who collect vintage Nokia devices as most if not all of the certificates used have long since expired. It also didn't help that there wasn't a centralised app store back then apart from Nokia's Ovi Store, placing the burden on the user who had to dig through either their wireless provider's media portal or at a shady warez site carrying cracked .sis packages.

While Symbian did become popular in Europe and Asia in the 2000s, it wasn't without its issues. Unlike custom UsefulNotes/{{Android}} shells by manufacturers like HTC Sense, Samsung's One UI, Amazon's Fire OS or Oppo's [=ColorOS=], which while drastically different from one another are still compatible with apps made for mainline Android, applications written for one Symbian or EPOC distribution are incompatible with one another, leading to fragmentation and thus the burden of having to port games and apps to account for ''different Symbian varieties''. It's even worse with the Japanese MOAP platform, which for whatever reason did not allow for ''any third-party applications at all'', making it no better off than a dumbphone. The interface was seen by some as being cumbersome and confusing, particularly with language selection--one Russian reviewer [[https://mobile-review.com/review/nokia-e7-en.shtml lamented]] the ''unnecessarily complicated way'' of toggling between keyboard languages, slowing down text input.

While Symbian did become popular in Europe and Asia in the 2000s, it wasn't without its issues. Unlike custom Android shells by manufacturers like HTC Sense, Samsung's One UI, Amazon's Fire OS or Oppo's [=ColorOS=], which while drastically different from one another are still compatible with apps made for mainline Android, applications written for one Symbian or EPOC distribution are incompatible with one another, leading to fragmentation and thus the burden of having to port games and apps to account for ''different Symbian varieties''. It's even worse with the Japanese MOAP platform, which for whatever reason did not allow for ''any third-party applications at all'', making it no better off than a dumbphone. The interface was seen by some as being cumbersome and confusing, particularly with language selection--one Russian reviewer [[https://mobile-review.com/review/nokia-e7-en.shtml lamented]] the ''unnecessarily complicated way'' of toggling between keyboard languages, slowing down text input.

Symbian was also notorious for [[ObviousBeta being unstable]], and the default S60 web browser ran far worse than competing browsers. Malware was also a problem, and Series 60 first and second edition devices are prone to virus-laced .sis packages circulating through Bluetooth and/or MMS; this threat was mitigated by the fact that none of these viruses use any flaws within the operating system itself, instead relying on [[SocialEngineering]] to convince unwitting users into thinking that the malicious app is a game or some other utility--the only time the poor user would know that their device is infected is if it suddenly racked up a costly phone bill for sending dozens of MMS messages in an attempt to further spread the virus. Later Symbian versions were far more secure thanks to code signing requiring developers to sign their apps for retail distribution, though they're not free from vulnerabilities either, and it also had the side effect of forcing some users to jailbreak their devices in order to run pirated apps or other unsigned code, which is now ''mandatory'' for retrocomputing enthusiasts who collect vintage Nokia devices as most if not all of the certificates used have long since expired. It also didn't help that there wasn't a centralised app store back then apart from Nokia's Ovi Store, placing the burden on the user who had to dig through either their wireless provider's media portal or at a shady warez site carrying cracked .sis packages.