Why Does Nokia Pc Suite Suck So Bad?

[nikster]

PC Suite has some nice features I would like to use such as music synchronization and firmware updates.

The only problem is, it was apparently hacked together by a bunch of monkeys.

Yesterday, I tried the music sync - simplest of things one would think. I add mp3s, drag them onto the phone, excellent. Except PC Suite crashes midway through. And except that once it does work, the new mp3s don't show up anywhere on the phone. Ok, they do, one just has to do select "options" in the music player and select "update music library". Why, I don't know.

Next nasty surprise: My Bluetooth connection, which previously worked, is now not working anymore. The error is "COM port is already in use!". Yeah, thanks for that.

I figured maybe PC Suite decided to take over the bluetooth connecting functions from my (very nice) WIDComm bluetooth control panel. So I try "connect" on the PC Suite, which wants me to "set up the connection". That's just stupid - it already knows my phone type and model, it's already bluetooth-authorized on both sides, and still wants to do set up?

At this point I gave up and did a system restore to remove all those Nokia processes and restarted. I was greeted by an empty screen, thanks to PC Suite Explorer was hanging on startup and I had to manually shoot down the process, start a new one, got a half-functioning explorer back, good enough to uninstall PC Suite. Now, thankfully, everything is back to normal.

So PC Suite is great except that

- It automates the wrong things

- It installs itself all over the system

- It crashes - syncing music should be the simplest of tasks, really, as should be connect to BT modem.

- It doesn't really work as expected - music synced to the phone doesn't show up in the music library by itself

- It disables your Bluetooth connection

- Last not least, after a software update, one has to set up the phone again

If I had a lot of time on my hands and were bored I would bother to find out in which ways the other functions don't work - but I really don't. You have been warned.

The music sync thing sounds like a trivial annoyance but I just don't understand how this happens - there is a perfectly working example on how this should be done in iTunes/iPod, they'd just have to copy that. How hard is that for a company with the resources of Nokia?

/rant

Ok so I have heard it's a lot better when using a USB cable. Apparently it's just unable to deal with the whole Bluetooth thing. Which has been built into Nokias for a few years now, but ok.

[lomatopo]

I use and like Nokia PC Suite, for certain applications: originating SMSes, synching with Outlook, backing up. For other applications I find it more straightforward to use the Bluetooth application: file transfer, GPRS connectivity. So I just used my Bluetooth app. (BlueSoleil), file manager, to drag 1 gb of MP3s onto my Nokia 6151.

I never tried the Nokia Music Manager in Nokia PC Suite.

[Gary A]

I got so aggravated with the PC Suite that came with my phone that I Frisbeed the disk. Since that I have downloaded version 6.83.14.1 and it works great.

[sierra01]

Ditto with Gary, the latest version works ok for me. I also have blueSoleil and that is much better for dragging music to the phone.

[steffi]

FYI I've managed to do backups of my N80 running PC Suite under VMWare Fusion on my mac using drivers from the bootcamp drive cd so it can't be all that bad. But yes using the phone over a data cable and drag and drop sounds like it might be a whole lot easier.

Another itunes/ipod like feature I'd like to see in my N95's music player is the ability to resume a track where you left off. Very useful for podcasts that you come back to later. Currently it just starts from the beginning again.

PC Suite has some nice features I would like to use such as music synchronization and firmware updates.

The only problem is, it was apparently hacked together by a bunch of monkeys.

Yesterday, I tried the music sync - simplest of things one would think. I add mp3s, drag them onto the phone, excellent. Except PC Suite crashes midway through. And except that once it does work, the new mp3s don't show up anywhere on the phone. Ok, they do, one just has to do select "options" in the music player and select "update music library". Why, I don't know.

Next nasty surprise: My Bluetooth connection, which previously worked, is now not working anymore. The error is "COM port is already in use!". Yeah, thanks for that.

I figured maybe PC Suite decided to take over the bluetooth connecting functions from my (very nice) WIDComm bluetooth control panel. So I try "connect" on the PC Suite, which wants me to "set up the connection". That's just stupid - it already knows my phone type and model, it's already bluetooth-authorized on both sides, and still wants to do set up?

At this point I gave up and did a system restore to remove all those Nokia processes and restarted. I was greeted by an empty screen, thanks to PC Suite Explorer was hanging on startup and I had to manually shoot down the process, start a new one, got a half-functioning explorer back, good enough to uninstall PC Suite. Now, thankfully, everything is back to normal.

So PC Suite is great except that

- It automates the wrong things

- It installs itself all over the system

- It crashes - syncing music should be the simplest of tasks, really, as should be connect to BT modem.

- It doesn't really work as expected - music synced to the phone doesn't show up in the music library by itself

- It disables your Bluetooth connection

- Last not least, after a software update, one has to set up the phone again

If I had a lot of time on my hands and were bored I would bother to find out in which ways the other functions don't work - but I really don't. You have been warned.

The music sync thing sounds like a trivial annoyance but I just don't understand how this happens - there is a perfectly working example on how this should be done in iTunes/iPod, they'd just have to copy that. How hard is that for a company with the resources of Nokia?

/rant

Ok so I have heard it's a lot better when using a USB cable. Apparently it's just unable to deal with the whole Bluetooth thing. Which has been built into Nokias for a few years now, but ok.

[Crushdepth]

PC Suite is kind of famous as crapware and (amazingly) Nokia has never managed to get syncing right. My experiences here - including a fix if it breaks your bluetooth.

[nikster]

PC Suite is kind of famous as crapware and (amazingly) Nokia has never managed to get syncing right. My experiences here - including a fix if it breaks your bluetooth.

Thanks for that.

From your blog: "I later tried to reinstall Activesync over the top of a successful PC Suite installation causing my computer to hang very badly, with problems restarting windows afterwards."

This is what happened to me too. I had to use all my windows-fixing skills to get the thing back up and running.

I am now thinking of re-installing it but turning off Bluetooth first so it maybe doesn't destroy my perfectly working WIDCOMM bluetooth software, and then only using it via the USB cable. BT is dog-slow anyway.

[BelfastMike]

The endless problems I had with PC Suite were one of the reasons I have now left the Nokia fold after 10 years of faithful ownership.

The other reason was the incredibly Slllloooowwww Symbian OS on my Nokia N70.

I now have a Sony Ericsson K800i and it is the BEST phone I have every used.

Games, MP3z, Movies, 3.2Mpixel Cybershot Camera. It's got the lot!

Came with a data-cable and software (which is a little temperamental but works)

Try a Sony and you'll never use a Nokia again.