Nokia Blog Slams Nokia Messaging Beta

In a surprisingly candid appraisal of the Nokia Messaging app, the Nokia Blog concluded after testing the beta program that it “sucks.”

Nokia introduced Nokia Messaging on its new C3, E5 and C6 messaging phones 13 April, and 19 April followed with the release of Nokia Messaging for Social Networks beta for the Nokia E72, E71 and E63 phones.

“I installed it on the Nokia E72 and the experience was awful,” wrote blog contributor Mark Guim. “Don’t waste your time downloading this version. Stick with Gravity or the mobile web.”

Key features of the client include a homescreen widget that lets users jump directly to Facebook or Twitter posts or comments, as well as have updates from both sites pushed directly to the homescreen.

It additionally offers quick communication choices for each contact, options to call, email, SMS or post a comment for the friend. Users can also share their location or places they like, using Ovi maps and GPS, as well as upload multiple pictures and videos, perform searches, import events to a calendar.

Guim complained that when logging in, his password – and not discrete bullets or stars – showed up on the screen. Once he signed in, a “loading” message tested his patience, followed by an “updating” message. The reward? Just five tweets or news feed items, followed by more load time for friends’ thumbnail images.

“This app is slow… even if you are connected to 3G or Wi-Fi,” Guin wrote, again steering users to Gravity, a Twitter client available in the Ovi store, or Facebook and Twitter’s mobile sites.

While not great news for Nokia, it’s certainly what beta versions are for.

Guin has also posted a video of Nokia’s C3, E5 and C6 devices on The Nokia Blog.

In the fourth quarter of 2009, Nokia, which has stumbled in recent quarters, shipped 126.9 million handsets, which was an improvement of 12 percent from the same quarter a year earlier, Strategy Analytics analyst Neil Mawston reported 29 January.

Despite competition from Apple, RIM and others, the firm said it expects Nokia to continue to grow its share of the smartphone market to 39 percent.