To 3D or not to 3D?

So the N96 is being dubbed as the N95's successor all over. Now those 'in the know', as they say, know that isn't necessarily the case. I honestly feel it's just a design update to the N95 with a few (read:few) added features. And one left out. Which is the dedicated 3D graphics chip(set).

This happened because unlike previous Nseries, Nokia decided not to use Texas Instruments' OMAP chipset for the N96, instead relying on hardware supplied by STMicroelectronics.

So does this affect overall user experience? Probably not. Does it affect gaming experience? That actually depends on the game and whether or not it was written to take advantage of an integrated graphics chip, should one be available. Sadly, most of the newer N-Gage games do not fall into this category. Global Race, however, does. And James Whatley (deciding which of his countless online presences to link to actually took a while) did a (very popular) video putting the 3D-enabled N95 and the no-3D N96 side to side. Here's the resulting race:

No further comments necessary, I believe.

Share Online 3.0 can be uninstalled!

I spotted an interesting item in my App manager after updating my N95's firmware version to v21:

Share Online 3.0 is an uploading tool for your photos and videos that works with Flickr, Share on Ovi and Vox. It enables one-click uploading to any of these (currently supported) services.

Remember, Share Online 3.0 is only an upgrade for N95s, since a
previous version of Share Online comes preinstalled with every N95
firmware. And after upgrading you get, for example, a new line dedicated to Share in
your Active Standby. I personally have used 3.0 since it came out and
am very satisfied, but there were those that installed it just to try
and came to the conclusion that they didn't like it after all. And
sadly, it wouldn't go away except after a full format of the phone or after a firmware upgrade.

Well now it can be uninstalled just like any other app, from within the App manager. I have no idea if this is because the v21 firmware or because of an update to Share Online itself, since the version I installed after my firmware upgrade was the latest one (and presumably more recent than what I had during v20 firmware).

Good news anyway. Having choice is always better than not having any.

SkyeQuiKey has a competitor. Worthy?

Came across this post by Amir on his Mobile Space blog. Immediately saw how similar the app he described, T9 Nav by Nuance, is to SkyeQuiKey by Skyestream, which incidentally I've been using more or less since it came out.

What SkyeQuiKey does

Using a T9-like mechanism

Just press a few keys like you'd be typing on T9, SkyeQuiKey then shows you a list of contacts, applications and bookmarks that contain those characters and possible character combinations. "7593" in the screenshot above stands for "Skye".

It's an addictive app, the sort that you can't imagine living without after having it for a few minutes. It has, however, caused occasional issues, as in randomly deciding not to autostart (obviously in spite of it being set to), and from time to time freezing and thus causing a semi-freeze of my standby screen.

So after reading about T9 Nav, a very similar solution from Nuance (currently available as a free beta on their site, BUT there's no word on whether or not it will still be free after the beta phase has concluded), I decided to install it and do a quick comparison to SkyeQuiKey.

T9 Nav

It scans through a lot more 'stuff' than SkyeQuiKey, namely everything (think Nokia Search everything - Contacts, Settings, Media, which means audio, video and pictures, Bookmarks, Applications and Calendar) except messages, from what I could gather. Now at first sight this might seem to be a great advantage, however, unlike Nokia's Search, you can't turn anything off. It only searches for everything it can search for, and that may be unnecessary at times. Basically the only option you can change in the app right now is whether or not it should start automatically each time your phone is turned on.

Beta, granted. But sadly, beta in the way that the word was used before Google (with Gmail) came and rather redefined it.

First of all, SkyeQuiKey has a "Sort by" option. T9 Nav doesn't and therefore always uses a Last name, First name order which is rather annoying for me.

Oh, and I've experienced some general speed issues with my N95 while it's running. I can assume that this is due to it having to constantly scan and/or monitor pretty much everything that goes on on the phone, and does this in the background. Which brings me back to the fact that you should be able to manually select the categories you're interested in having indexed. Perhaps I'd turn 'Music' off, as I have thousands of songs on my memory card. I don't know, but I know I don't consider the speed compromise worthy.

Because aside from some general decrease in responsiveness that I've seen on my phone, the app itself is rather slow.

It's a good concept, though.

When you press whatever keys you press, you're presented with an initial screen that lists everything it found. But you can filter results by categories (Contacts, Media, Calendar, and so on) via the right and left D-pad keys. Quite resembling Nokia's Search, which however shows categories in a vertical list at its initial screen.

Since you use the left and right D-pad keys to navigate between the initial screen and each category, you sadly can't map these two keys to perform a set action for the contacts it shows, like in SkyeQuiKey. I have 'left' set to Send SMS and 'right' set to view. In T9 Nav, you can naturally press the green key to initiate a call, but for anything else, you have to press Options and then select.

Nice effort, Nuance. Yet sadly quite sluggish at this point.

Anyway, if for some reason you don't like SkyeQuiKey or don't want to pay for it, T9 Nav is an interesting beta alternative.

Fair warning, though: the link below is not direct. You have to enter your details to be able to download. Apparently, you should expect to get a few emails from Nuance requesting feedback on T9 Nav.

AND: the version currently available is set to expire on July 31st. However, should common sense prevail, by that time either another beta version should be available, or perhaps even the final version. You will undoubtedly be notified of such by email.

I for one will go back to using SkyeQuiKey but I sure will keep an eye on future T9 Nav versions. Should it get new customization options, I'll definitely give it another try and post my findings.

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JBak TaskMan review: don't call yourself a 'power user' if you don't have it installed!

You're like me. An 'enthusiast', a 'geek', a 'power user'. Scrolling through your App Manager is painful, due to the insane length of its list of apps.

All's well then.

A great while ago you cried in pain every time you used the integrated S60 task manager. Because you knew, since BC, what a long press on the Menu key does. And because what it did was simply not enough for you.

You were happy when alternatives to the, erm, let's just say...basic, task manager in S60 arrived. You immediately tested all of them. And then settled for Handy Taskman. A mighty app indeed. Probably the first you install on a new S60 device.

Till now.

JBak Taskman

It's what will make you forget Handy Taskman exists and wonder why you kept paying for it with each new phone you got.

JBak Taskman has all the functionality of Handy Taskman, in a more user-friendly design (more on that throughout the review). And it's freeware. And yes, it's Symbian Signed! (download link at the end of this post)


So here's the review/walkthrough in all its glory.

This is what shows up when you do a long press on the Menu key after you've installed JBak Taskman.

On the left pane are the running apps. The right pane is Quick Launch, an application launcher, very similar to that of Handy Taskman. However, in Handy Taskman that's not available right away, you have to click 'right' on the D-pad to be able to see it. JBak's solution handles screen real-estate in a much better manner in my opinion. Naturally, toggling between the panes is done via 'left' and 'right' keys on the D-pad respectively, but the fact that the App launcher is there for everyone to see in the initial app window is a big win design-wise in my book.

The upper part shows available space on the phone memory, the memory card and free RAM. This part can be turned on or off to your liking from the (incredibly extensive) settings.

If you wish to kill an app from within JBak Taskman, just press 'C' while it's highlighted. Now, again, depending on what you chose in the Settings, this will either kill the app immediately or ask for a confirmation.

You can launch the apps in the Quick Launch pane either by scrolling to them and clicking the center D-pad key, or, for the first 9 in the list, by just hitting the appropriate number on the keypad (just press '1' for the first one and so on). These are clearly marked to the left of the app's name, as you can see in the screenshots above. Yet another nice touch if you ask me.

The Menu

This is what 'happens' when you go into JBak Taskman's Menu. Now I won't go into details about the more advanced functionality, such as Program rules, Task info and so on. These are very welcome add-ons to the Taskman, however I find myself rarely using any. They are for the 'power users' among 'power users', so to speak. However, if you're interested, drop a line in the comments and I'll do a follow up post detailing everything.

Now back to the menu. Go to and Close app are obvious, since I pressed Menu while a running app was highlighted. Add to launch menu is exactly what it says, it lets you add stuff to the Quick Launch. If you click on it, this is what you'll see:

Another neat touch. If you select Application, the list of your installed apps will show up. You can set this list so that the most recent apps you used are shown first (how to do this is detailed in the "Settings" part of this review).

You can scroll through the list via the D-pad or just enter a few letters. Not necessarily the first letters of the app's name, as you can see from this example:

It searches through the whole names of apps and returns all that contain the letters you wrote. Just click on the app you want to be added and...it's added. Added as the last item in Quick Launch.

Another way to do this is make use of the App launcher list. This shows up whenever you press the '#' key while at JBak Taskman's initial screen. The list of apps is shown again, only this time you can launch any app by clicking the center D-pad key. To add it to the Quick Launch pane go to Menu->Add to launch menu.

If you'd like to move an app up or down in Quick Launch, here's how: highlight the respective app, then go to Menu->Quick Launch:

Then just select 'Move up' or 'Move down':

The Tools menu (Menu->Tools)

A lot of advanced functionality again, as you can see. You can view detailed information about Processes, Threads and Memory Chunks. There's also a very handy Reboot option which does exactly that (you have to confirm first, though). This has been seen in standalone apps but it doesn't hurt for it to be included in JBak Taskman, if you ask me.

The Settings Menu (Menu->Settings)

This actually consists of three separate menus. Undoubtedly the most important is the Program Settings. Here are the available options in this menu:

I'll explain some of the less obvious options.

Remember pos. in phone menu simulates a feature found in many recent Samsung phones (which has seen a rather equal amount of praise and loath). When you enter the phone's menu, if this is checked, the last item you have used is highlighted. Normally the highlight is always in the center of the menu grid (corresponding to '5' on the keypad). But suppose last time you used your phone's menu you were in Music->Music Store. With this feature on in JBak Taskman, the next time you press the Menu key on your phone you'll be taken directly there, or wherever you last were.

I personally have this set to "On", as I only go through so many menu folders. It might not appeal to everyone, but I still think it's good to have.

Info panel practically does what the Memory on top does, yet in a bit more detailed manner, however it occupies a lot of screen real-estate. Try this and Memory on top, one of them you'll surely leave "on".

Show menu/desktop/UID/hidden apps refers to whether or not to show these in the 'Running apps' pane. Here again it's a matter of personal choice, but unless you're a developer, I'd leave hidden apps off.

Compact menu refers to the Quick Launch pane and what it does is make more space for the app's name by showing a smaller icon. Recommended.

Close without confirmation I've described at some point above. With this enabled, when you press the 'C' key when a running app is highlighted, that app is immediately killed. The same applies to Delete without confirmation, only that is meant for the Quick Launch pane.

Apps launch settings alter the way the installed applications list shows up and behaves (the one you can go to by pressing '#').

Menu Key Settings

This menu handles the way the Menu (a.k.a. Yin Yang) key behaves on your S60 phone. This alters the key's behavior in JBak Taskman as well as in the whole OS (while JBak Taskman is running in the background, naturally).

Conclusion

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Turns out my N95 got jailbroken!

My N95 got hacked. Sorry. What I meant was it got jailbroken. By me.

As Mr.X points out in his comment to this post, I've hacked my N95. Does this come in direct contradiction to what I've stated a while ago, in this post? Do I feel bad now? Do I feel good?

Hardly either.

In what was a rare moment of ignorance (I've used tougher words on myself, not to worry), I published a post describing a procedure to sign and install unsigned apps. Since that particular procedure had nothing in common (procedure-wise strictly, mind) with the 'hacking' method(s) described all over the internets, I obviously figured that it had nothing to do with that. And was actually very happy that I had found (rather quickly) a solution to an annoying problem.

The Problem

What to do when there are all this interesting (if not all very useful) apps floating across the net, but in unsigned form?

Well, the simplest solution would have been to sit around and wait for them to get Symbian Signed. For days, weeks, maybe months, perhaps years. Until the Symbian gods decide "it's time". Time to care about freeware. Not a good perspective. Not to me, at least.

So, off to find a solution.

Again, what to do? To hack or not to hack? Honestly, I couldn't be bothered with complicated "hacking procedures". Arguably, I can normally be bothered to do a lot more than your average normob would, but I have my limits. Admittedly, when news of the 'great hacking' first occurred, I scanned through the 'steps' and never got the urge to try. I might have, see as I'm what they call a 'power user', and, well, the more power (read: capabilities), the better. But that's just theory. I just couldn't be bothered.

So back to the Problem. The most appealing solution to me? Use mighty Google (I say that with half-respect and half-fear of world domination, naturally) and find an alternative solution.

Which I did. Took 5 minutes to do what I've described. It works. It just works. It is, therefore, probably developed by Apple.

So

I decided to blog my experience. Perhaps more people would easily get past the hurdle of not being to install unsigned apps. And quickly and easily.

And then

Mr.X said that despite all my claims, what I describe is basically a hack, because it takes advantage of something that was developed for hacking.

So do I now have access to C:\Sys? I don't know. I don't care. Haven't even checked. Don't plan to.

That's the whole thing. Being able to bypass Symbian's carelessness towards freeware is something I do care about. A lot. Why? I don't earn anything out of blogging. And what I do is really a piece of cake compared to the work developers put into such freeware apps. Sure, they accept donations (most, anyway), but the software is free. They do what they do out of sheer passion and I can relate to that. Which is why I care.

And I must say (I think it was the All About Symbian forum where a while ago I said the same thing), I surely hope that the mess Symbian Signed is in right now (and has been for, literally, years) is not because when they imagined the software signing procedure, they didn't consider freeware to be a valid distribution model. I would definitely not agree with such tactics. We live in the always connected world, where content is more and more expected to be served instantly. And much of that content is and is expected to be free. Would you now be willing to pay for personal webmail bringing you, say, an amazing 6MB of storage? Didn't think so.

The expected ratio of freeware to non-freeware apps to be available in the upcoming Apple App Store for the iPhone should clearly point out (if anyone still felt the need for that) that pay-to-purchase is only one of many monetization strategies out there. And the one that's most rapidly decreasing its spread (see the desktop app vs. app in 'the cloud' dilemma and inherent difference in revenue model). Oh, and there are people with no immediate monetization scheme well thought out. Twitter, anyone? A VC's nightmare, no doubt, but still, such silly creatures, working only out of passion, still seem to exist.

Here's the thing, Symbian

You look like you're trapped in the '90s. And let it be clear that I'm only referring to the signing procedure. I do enjoy the fact that there practically are no viruses out there to target Symbian because there would be no point for anyone to develop them - that is thanks to the signing procedure. But something has got to be done. Today. Now. Not in 'the long run', because in a few years there may well not be any 'long run' left.

Companies that are universally considered as innovative (and tend to outlive their non-innovative counterparts, strangely) do it quick. They respond to the way the market changes, they respond to the way people's needs and (more importantly) habits change. And they react quickly. That's also a great way to build brand loyalty.

So hopefully Symbian will not go the way of the recording companies and movie studios. The stupid way that they react to something they will never be able to control anyway, namely torrent distribution. That's a classic "how not to". Not to say such companies will disappear in the near future, but there is no way that they will be the ones to influence a change in people's habits. It's ALWAYS the other way round.

So do I encourage jailbreaking your S60 phone?

No.

The word hacking is panic-inducing to the normobs. I've seen a lot of use of it lately, and that's only so that a few people can brag. It's a powerful word, sure. But pushing it into the world of the normobs is dangerous for S60. That's why I'm 'afraid' of hacking, Mr.X. Of the word itself and how easily it can be misinterpreted. Not of the procedure. I'm not a fan of that, but I know many other 'power users' are. And there's no problem in that.

See this is the issue. This is something that is clearly appealing only to power users, and of those only to some. It's a niche inside a niche. And that's a really limited target.

And I am not going to encourage anyone to do anything that sounds that bad. Not enthusiasts, because I can't (yet) see a true gain. Not normobs because I don't want service centers flooded with hacked phones. There's just no point.

And one more thing. Learn from Apple. Please. Learn. To jailbreak. Sounds so romantic. So idealistic. So...good!

Ok? Jailbreak.

So will I change my earlier post?

No.

Ok, so it's not as documented as it could have been, granted. Ok, that procedure may rely on hacking. Fine. But what it actually is is a simple and, frankly, useful, erm, use, of that.

Simple and useful.
And it works.
You sure it isn't Apple's guys behind these hacks? Because if that was the case, even the use of the word hack would make more sense (competition, you know...).

And I recommend it to anyone who wants to use unsigned apps in 2008. Next year, who knows...

So I guess I am in favor of hacking after all. If it is referred to as jailbreaking and if it turns out to actually be useful.
Go ahead, blame me.

Nokia E66 and E71 to be officially announced on Monday

After months and months of leaks, the E66 (left) and E71 (right) are set to be launched on Monday, June 16th, at events in London and Singapore. Here is the excerpt of Eldar Murtazin's review of the E71 where I've first seen this information:

Expect extensive coverage of the E71 and the E66 here on Monday.

In the mean time, Boy Genius Report have a great video review of the E71. Check that out! I wanted to embed it, but the quite unreasonable width of their player breaks things.

[Image Source: GSMHelpDesk.nl]

Nokia N78 Hands on

Hands ons, actually.

Certain luckier than me folks have got their hands on the N78 and luckily for us unlucky folks (this pun might prove to be headache-inducing, I realize now), posted great walkthrough videos of their experience with the device.

To name names, the first two videos come from Zach over at SiMo and Boy Genius Report, and the third one is courtesy of Jonathan Greene, of atmaspheric | endeavors.

I know this might come as a surprise for some, but I'm drooling over the N78's looks. Yes, the keys look like a compromise but I'm a sucker for the fact that when the key lights are off, it almost appears to have no keys at all (thanks to the extremely flush design) except for the d-pad and those 4 'bars'. Very, very sexy if you ask me. Can't wait to get my hands on an N78 myself! Let's hope the WOM World chaps might help with this.

Enjoy the videos!

Hands on with the Nokia N78 from Zach Epstein on Vimeo.

Hands on with the Nokia N78, Again from Zach Epstein on Vimeo.

Shake controlled music player: finally!

I've always been a fan of accelerometer-based apps, but with every such release I was as excited as disappointed. Because in spite of touting new and innovative features each time (well, almost each time), none of them introduced a feature certain Sony Ericsson phones have had for quite a while, namely shake control for the music player.

So I'm naturally anxious to see this concept by Daniel Rocha turn into an actual app. What's more baffling is that it took him 2 (two!) hours to write the code for this concept in Python.

The idea is simple right now: shake the phone in one direction to advance to the next track and in the opposite direction to go back to the previous track. Hopefully Daniel will continue his work on this and add a decent UI.

In the mean time, check out the concept video:

[Source: Symbian Freak]

Firefox Mobile browser concept

Boy, is the mobile browser scene getting crowded! Mobile Safari (as seen on the iPhone) definitely started this, the S60 Browser followed suit, but now concept after concept shows up. There's Opera Mobile 9.5 (as seen on the HTC Touch Diamond, though not yet available for download for the rest of us), the much hailed Skyfire, and who knows how many others! (I haven't included Opera Mini since my focus here is on native solutions). I wonder who will still be around in a year or so...

Anyway, here's the latest preview/demo video of Firefox Mobile. Big brand, surely. We'll have to wait and see if it will produce a 'big' browser for the mobile world. They are kinda late to the game. [EDIT: Stacey Higginbotham from GigaOM has similar thoughts]

Firefox Mobile Concept Video from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.

[Source: IntoMobile]

Nokia N79, N85, 6260 leaked? PLUS: New Nokia 5800 XpressMedia pictures and updated S60 Touch video

It's been all over the internets (I think I'll miss George W.Bush when he's gone). Interestingly, these 'leaks' showed up the exact same day Apple was announcing the 3G iPhone. Some say this is hardly a coincidence. If it actually isn't, all I have to say is "Way to go Nokia!". It was a smart move, even if at first glance it might not seem that way. One might argue that more attention would have been paid to this, especially by the 'mainstream' blogs, if it came on another day. The investors, however, might not agree. Nokia showed the world the fact that it has interesting things up its sleeve. And anyway, these were only leaks, not announcements. Announcing phones on the same day as Apple would have been a disaster. Samsung did exactly that with its i900. That was stupid.

Back to the leaks.

Problem is, in a way, deep down, I hope that these are not actual leaks. They don't seem to be Photoshop renders, so I can only hope that they were early prototype stages of other devices (like this N85 may have been to the N96). Because if they are leaks ...yawn... let's just say I'm not impressed (the 6260 is different, not that I'm overwhelmed by it or anything, but I see where that's going - more in the dedicated paragraph).

The N79

Um...This has got to be the ugliest Nseries I've ever seen! Seems cheap, overly cheap and has a design that is probably appealing to those in their early teens only. The screen doesn't seem to be bigger than the 2.4 inch ones found in both the N82 and the N78. I can only hope that this handset will bring something revolutionary (or at least interesting) spec-wise. Otherwise, it is sad in a way that Nokia appears to be going the Motorola and, more recently, Sony Ericsson way, as in releasing dozens of phones which are more or less the same thing. Again, here's hoping that's not the case...


The N85



Now...what is this? A while ago Eldar from Mobile Review posted some interesting information on their forums (no link for that, sorry). He said that the N85 will probably be the next video flagship device from Nokia, following on the footsteps of the currently aging N93. Expectations were therefore set high. But this... This looks like an N96 without all the gloss. Seriously. It apparently features a 5 Megapixel camera (soon to be dethroned in the megapixel race) with Dual LED flash. Sound familiar? I'm having real issues picturing this phone as a video flagship, and certainly hope this is nothing more than a very-early-stage rendering of the N96.


The 6260



As I said above, I see where this is going (or rather, aiming). It appears to be a slider version of the 6220 classic, has the same design language and presumably the same camera. Good move this, as it will further help pushing smartphones into the mainstream. Now a leak of such a phone may not be as exciting as that of, say, the N95 (back in the day), and surely devices like this will not get the blogosphere and media attention that the likes of the N96 and N82 get now, but that is a pity, really. For Nokia, the mass adoption of S60, made more and more likely by the 6120, 6220 classic and now the 6260, is more important in terms of prospective sales than any one flagship device. I know, it's the stuff no 'early adopter' wants to hear, but it makes perfect (business) sense. I can only wish for more 6220s instead of more N79s.


More pictures of the 5800 XpressMedia show up as well



First of all, people, please, pretty please, let's not call this the Tube anymore? That sounds disgusting. Kthx.

The first touchscreen device from Nokia (expected release: Q4) also popped up (again) during the infamous WWDC-day leaks. This time it sports Vodafone branding, which instantly leads to the question of whether or not it will be a Vodafone exclusive, like the 6124 Classic, for example.

Personally I look forward to the 5800's release. Even if a 'true touchscreen flagship' is yet to come (in 2009), this will undoubtedly be an interesting first-effort from Nokia in the touch scene.

However there is a certain element in the pictures above that I find very disturbing. I'm all for choice when it comes to input methods, but the stylus in both these pics just makes it look like it's 1999 all over again. If a stylus is there just to have a choice of input, fine. But stop picturing it! No one in their right mind (mind!) figures a stylus is a competitive edge anymore!

I obviously keep hoping that the stylus is not there because the interface is stylus-optimized, that, now that, would be a true catastrophe for Nokia. Luckily, judging from this updated video previewing the S60 Touch interface, that doesn't seem to be the case. Whew.

[Image source: MobileCrunch]

Sign and install unsigned S60 apps! No hacking, no OpenSigned, no developer certificate required!

After (finally) updating my N95-1's firmware to v21 (previously had v20 and was very happy with it, but anyway, I digress), a very nasty thing occurred. My developer certificate (this will be referred to as devcert from now on) expired, turns out. Now there are a lot of freeware apps ready for OpenSigned, some even (thankfully) Symbian Signed (it only took ages, Symbian, we really appreciate it!). But some are still as they used to be, plain-old unsigned apps. So. What to do, what to do?

Well I proceeded to OpenSigned Online, only to waste about an hour since it returned error after error after error. And by the way, the CAPTCHA implementation there is surely one of the least readable I've ever seen!

So I set myself out on a quest for a solution to this issue. I've had a developer certificate, as I said, courtesy of P@sco, but since it expired, I found myself in the exact position anyone who buys an S60 phone right now is in. No devcert, no OpenSigned capability of the app, no game. Or?

Well there is a rather simple solution to all this available courtesy of BiNPDA. Now, you might have heard of them in a, erm, less than legal context, but this has nothing to do with that. They have developed a tool that lets you sign and install any unsigned app.

Before I go into details, be advised that this is not a hack. Even if some people use that word incredibly loosely nowadays, this is not a hack by any standard. I have previously stated that I don't encourage anyone to "hack" their S60 phone. This, however, I strongly encourage you to do.

So...without further ado...


How to

First, a one-time procedure.

Download this package.

-Transfer to your phone and install "s60_3_0_app_trk_2_8_6.sisx" for NON FP1 devices (a.k.a. S60v3, S60 rel.3.0), or "s60_3_1_app_trk_2_8_6.sisx" for FP1 devices (a.k.a. S60v3 FP1, S60 rel.3.1).

-Make sure you have the latest Nokia PC Suite installed (get it from here) and Bluetooth on your phone is NOT active.

-Connect your phone to your computer via USB in "PC Suite" mode (NOT Mass storage).

-Start the TRK app on your phone (which you have just installed in step 1 - look for it in the Applications folder). It will first try to connect via Bluetooth, and therefore a prompt will show up asking you if you wish to activate Bluetooth. Choose NO.

-Then, in the TRK app, go to Options-Settings and change the first line to USB instead of Bluetooth. Also, remember the Port number listed in line 2. Now choose Options-Connect. If all is well, the app will show Status:Connected.

-On your computer, run SecMan.exe (included in the package above). Do NOT let it automatically pick the port, just enter COM1 for Port 1 (the appropriate number is according to the number for the Port field in the TRK app on the phone - see the previous step, above), COM2 for Port 2, and so on. Click OK. If SecMan on your computer returns an error, try again, perhaps changing the Port number on the phone and then in SecMan on your computer.

-Now disconnect your phone from your computer, go to the Applications folder on your phone and run SecMan. Choose Options-Install Root Certificate.

When you come across an unsigned app...

Download the app to your computer, run RootSign.exe (included in the package) and sign the app using this tool. Then transfer the RootSigned app to your phone, install and...voila!


Thoughts

This proves, yet again, that people hate the Symbian Signed situation. Furthermore, if Symbian itself doesn't fix the signing process (or continues to improve it in such a painfully slow manner), people will find 'alternative' solutions.

This is taking longer than usual...

Just had to quote Google on this one. Well, time has passed, and days turned into weeks and then weeks turned into months.

Now everything is slowly returning to normal.

You might have noticed the domain change, I don't think anyone would say that ssixty.info was better than s60online.com, so here it is! There are also a few 'cosmetic' changes, and more ads (of which the Chitika ones seem to be broken right now - I'll take care of that later).

More details about what's changed and what's not in the next post. So, if anyone is still here, following this blog (FeedBurner seems to think so!), hello again!

Stay tuned!

Over the last few days there haven't been as many posts here as usual. I apologize but this will still be the case for another week at most. It won't be a complete freeze of the blog, but I'll only post really important things that haven't been all over the blogosphere. Everything else will be covered by "Any chance you missed this?" posts.

I am in the process of buying a new computer and transferring everything to it from my current machine. I am also working on some things I can't reveal yet, but only for the better of this blog, I assure you.

Loads of post ideas are piling up in my head so when everything will be sorted out there will be a lot of original content here. Things to look forward to include a few more posts on the Nokia N810, a review of SpinVox, a comparison between Opera Mini 4.1 Beta and TeaShark 0.9 Beta, my take on the different 'ends' of the phone market and why Nokia is 'king' of the high end and low end, but lags in mid-market, and lots more.

So please bear with me for a few more days.
Thank you and thank you for reading S60 Info.

Nokia N82 gets a software update

It has been leaked a few days ago, and now it's available. Version 20.0.062, or apparently 20.1.062, depending on your region, is ready to download via the Nokia Software Updater for unlocked/unbranded devices.

This update brings:

• Flash Lite 3 (read:Flash video support in the browser, a.k.a. YouTube and the likes)
  
• WRT (Web RunTime, a.k.a. Widgets)
  
• GPS Location Tagging integrated as an option in the camera interface (don't worry, it's turned off by default)
  
• camera exposure improvements
• improvements to Bluetooth headset interoperability
• the usual bugfixes and performance improvements

Remember, the N82 has User Data Preservation, however I strongly advise you to back up your data before upgrading, just in case anything goes wrong. You can backup to a memory card or to Nokia PC Suite.

[Source: All About Symbian]

Speaking Freely

"Testing publishing through SpinVox this is a test toast which is publish through SpinVox. I'm just checking this out."

spoken through SpinVox

[EDIT] That wasn't perfect, but I will try again at more decent hours. There really is something wrong with my voice after 11PM, I kid you not. And you have to admit, "test toast" sounds like a million bucks!
Next time hopefully I'll be speaking something, not just testing.
And a review of SpinVox is coming.

Any chance you missed this? (1)

Here's the first post in this new section. Although everything in this post is interesting and worth a read, there is a high probability that you've already read some, if not most of these news items.
For good measure, I threw in a few things that were NOT heavily mirrored, so go ahead, read through the links, perhaps you'll find something worth your time...

• The Nokia N810 Internet Tablet WiMax Edition has been officially announced [WOM World]
  
• Nokia E90 firmware v200.something was released and then pulled off the NSU. Early adopters reported random crashes [All About Symbian]
  
• New Nokia N81 firmware is apparently on the way, it will bring Flash Lite 3 (Flash video support) and demand paging [Nokia Users]
  
• New Nokia N95 8GB firmware to bring User Data Preservation? [All About Symbian]
  
• MosKillto is an interesting accelerometer-based game, like Mirage Money [Symbian Web Blog]
  
• Text messages will become colorful [Crave]
  
• White Nokia N96 leaked [Symbian Web Blog]
  
• Coming soon to Japan: remote control with a wink [Textually]
• Astraware, the top name in PDA gaming, starts releasing games for Symbian OS [All About Symbian]
• EA Mobile games now available for Symbian [Symbian Freak]
• CellAdmin launches Jagango, community portal for mobile Internet websites [IntoMobile]
• SMS and Email pen saves and sends what you write [Textually]
• Wayfinder Active to go head to head with Nokia Sports Tracker [IntoMobile]
• How To: Embed Sports Tracker Data to Your Blog and Make Position Art Like Stavros [The Nokia Blog]
• mConnection shows you the amount of used traffic and the current speed of your connection [Symbian Freak]
• CNN, National Geographic, Wallpaper and Lonely Planet armed with N82 put a twist on journalism [The Nokia Guide]
• New slider version of the N95-1, photo and video proof [Symbian World]
• CarMeter can measure your car's acceleration and display the G force in real time on your phone's display [Symbian Freak]
• AutoThemes lets you schedule themes [Symbian Guru]
• Two of the world's largest environmental organizations, WWF and IUCN, supported by Nokia, are launching connect2earth.org for young people to tell the world what they think about the environment [Nokia PR]
• European Commission gives approval to in-flight calling over Europe [Engadget Mobile]
• Voiceless calling with the Audeo Think N' Spell [Engadget Mobile]
  

Still nothing on N-Gage

Disclaimer: I'm not a 'gamer'. I never was. Not on the PC, not on consoles. Not on the mobile phone.

But I was really excited about N-Gage. And still am. Not that I should be, at least not now. It's more about the long-term capability to influence the market, than it's about the present five games. Yes, five. A grand total of five games, that's what the official launch of N-Gage Arena, N-Gage 2.0 or whatever you'd like to call it, brought.

Since I'm not a gamer, I wasn't as excited with the games as I was with the social element of N-Gage. Online multiplay and so on. Which is all nice in concept, but in practice the app is slow and setting up a game is a pain. And you have five games to choose from.

Ok, I wrote two paragraphs about N-Gage, wow...but that's it. There's nothing else I can get myself to write. I will post more on N-Gage when a decent number of games will be available. In the mean time, I advise you to read:

• How to replay your N-Gage First Access games [All About Symbian]
  
• How to install the new N-Gage app to the N73, N93 and N93i, which are not officially supported yet [Symbian Web Blog]
• Why Devin Balentina is not impressed with N-Gage [The Nokia Guide]
• The official Press Release.
  

Dolby comes to Nokia S60 smartphones

At CTIA Dolby Laboratories showed off Dolby Surround support on the Nokia N95 8GB, dubbed Dolby Mobile.

Wait. What?

What is this, China? Are more-than-two speakers on a phone hitting mainstream?

No. It's an app, developed by Dolby Laboratories, that runs in the background and, I have to quote this, "takes plain, old stereo sound and give it a 3D feel and increased depth" (from IntoMobile).
According to the blogosphere (and especially the guys over at IntoMobile, who got some hands-on time with this at the Mobile World Congress in February), it's really useful and all.

I just can't believe this. An app that 'magically' turns stereo into surround, 3D sound? I remember now, I already have such a thing on my N95! And it's 100% useless! So hopefully the Dolby app will be better.

And now let's put this into perspective. Samsung have been constantly pushing dedicated Digital Sound Processors (developed by Bang & Olufsen) in their recent high end phones, including their S60 lineup. And according to Eldar from Mobile Review, one such Samsung smartphone, the i450, produces the best sound on the market right now.
And this... is... Nokia's... answer?! An app?

[Source and Image source: IntoMobile]

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Are the tablets consumer-friendly devices? (Thoughtfix edition)

Ahhh...Daniel a.k.a. Thoughtfix just wrote a post full of ideas I had for the last post on the N810. He obviously didn't employ any telepathic mumbo-jambo, and therefore it appears that I'm not the only one thinking what I'm thinking.

Don't get me wrong, I love the N810, but I really can not be convinced that the average consumer would. More on my thoughts will follow in a few days, after I decide on what to write that Daniel hasn't already mentioned. Maybe I'll do a post focusing on why I agree with what he wrote, and why I don't, where I don't (there are such parts, but very few).

More posts are coming on the N810, there won't just be one more post.

In the mean time, click here to read Thoughtfix's... thoughts.

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Mobilize your site for free with Mowser, FeedM8 or Mippin Maker

So you have your wonderful site or blog and you're proud of it. You're happy with the way it looks on a computer.

But wait. What if your readers want to access it from their mobile phones?

Sure, the S60 Browser for example renders pages more or less exactly like they are seen on a computer. But what if your readers don't own an S60 smartphone? What if they want to view your site on a razr? Or through Internet Explorer mobile?

Luckily, there are many services that help you 'mobilize' content. Few are free, though. Here are my thoughts on what I think are the Top 3 free mobilization services.

Mowser

Mowser mobilizes the web by taking HTML pages normally viewed on a PC and adapting them so they work on a mobile phone. You can use it by going to Mowser.com on your phone and entering the URL of the site you wish to visit. You can even bookmark a certain site you view through Mowser, since the mobilized URLs have permalinks. A service that works in a very similar way is Skweezer.
Nice and useful if you are stuck with a mobile browser that predates the 3rd Millennium.

What if you're a webmaster or blogger?

Well, if you have your own domain you can map the m. subdomain to Mowser. Meaning that your readers can then go to m.yourdomain.com and automatically view the mobilized version of your site. Even better is that any external links in the adapted pages go through Mowser as they normally do, but any links to your own domain stay as m.yourdomain.com. Which means that if a post entitled "Test Post" on your blog normally has the address www.yourdomain.com/something/testpost, its mobile version will be m.yourdomain.com/something/testpost. And again, these are permalinks, they can be bookmarked and the address stays the same.

Click here for instructions on how to map the m. subdomain to point to the mobilized-by-Mowser version of your site. You can also add an additional header to your HTML pages to inform search indexes about your mobile version as described here.

If you have a hosted Wordpress blog there are many mobilization options, I am aware. Mowser also have their own Wordpress plugin, available here.

To get an idea of how a certain web page looks when mobilized by Mowser, just go to the Mowser site on your computer and enter the URL.

FeedM8

FeedM8 has a different approach to mobilization. It grabs your site's RSS feed and creates a mobile site out of it. The mobile site you create using this method will have its own www.feedm8.com/yourchoice URL. You can customize the look and feel of your mobile site and all. I came across one major disadvantage while trying this service: download links simply don't work. As in, they're not shown as links at all. Weird. But this still is a service worth a look, if you don't usually have download links on your blog or site.

A very neat feature of FeedM8 is Text Alerts. For your readers who live in the US or Canada, here is yet another option for staying up-to-date with your content: yes, text messages. Depending on the type of information you're delivering, you can offer your readers all updates, updates for select keywords, or updates based on user specified keywords. If a keyword is selected, the user will only receive an alert if the new content contains the keyword. The deployment of the text messages is free. For you, at least.

Mippin Maker

Mippin Maker is similar to FeedM8, in that it fetches your RSS feed to create the mobile site. The URL of your mobile site will be mippin.com/yourchoice. Customization options are there, and furthermore, if you have an AdMob account, you can tie that to your mobile site, and Mippin Maker will serve ads that you receive the revenue for.

Also noteworthy is that the parent company, Mippin, has a mobile personalized homepage service available at Mippin.com (when accessed on a mobile device) and a mobile site search engine. If you use Mippin Maker to mobilize your site, the mobilized version will show up in Mippin search results. Mippin.com was reviewed by All About Symbian here and here.

Sadly, external links are only available if you choose to view the original (non-mobilized) page. At least you get this option, unlike with FeedM8.

Final thoughts

The fact that I use Mowser for the mobilized version of S60 Info says it all. I tried FeedM8, but its lack of external links was a deal breaker for me. And even if Mippin Maker does give you a "View original page" option at the end of each post, I strongly believe that external links should be shown inside each post, exactly where they are on the 'normal' version of the page.

However. If you haven't yet created a mobile version of your site or blog, I strongly encourage you to. It will make the lives of your readers much easier. And do check out all of these free options, you won't know for sure which best suits you until you try them all (except if, like me, you must have links shown inside your posts).

[UPDATE]

As you can see from the Comments section, Scott from Mippin wrote that they will be enabling external links in a few weeks. Whenever this happens, I will give Mippin Maker another try and will definitely post my experience.

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JoikuSpot turns your S60 phone into a WiFi hotspot

I know, I know. This has been available for a while now, however only the newest version (1.2), released a few days ago, features WEP encryption. The lack of any kind of encryption in previous versions made me not mention this app before. It just would have felt weird, encouraging you to download an app that creates a totally unprotected WiFi hotspot from your phone's 3G (hopefully), EDGE or GPRS connection. Anyone in your proximity could have connected to the hotspot you created, and easily browse away on your (probably expensive, if you're not in the US) mobile data plan. You being the one to pay the bill. No, no, no. Not me.

Anyway, this is a very interesting idea and it's still under development. Keep in mind that at this time you can only browse on http and https protocols, IMAP and ftp, for example, don't work. Yes there is WEP encryption, but hopefully future versions will also feature WPA (which is a way more advanced encryption standard).

Also with v1.2 came the announcement that in the future there will be two different variations of the software, namely JoikuSpot Light (free) and JoikuSpot Premium (which will not be free and supposedly will have more advanced features).

Click here for more information and to download JoikuSpot Light Beta v1.2

[Source: Symbian Guru]

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Two new sections

Two new sections (or categories, whatever you prefer) are set to debut here on S60 Info, Any chance you missed this? and Hot links.

Any chance you missed this? will be the title (and the label) of posts focusing mainly on news that has been reported, mirrored, and then re-reported across the blogosphere. It's the replacement for copy-and-paste posts, which disturbingly are becoming more and more of a trend nowdays. Don't get me wrong, there will still be dedicated news posts, but only when at least one line of such a post will be 100% mine. And this will happen whenever I have a thought, an idea about that piece of news, or when it is something that ranks very high on my interest level.

Other than that, 'news' will probably show up a few times a week in these Any chance you missed this? posts, with several news items covered by each. I myself am getting just a little bit tired of reading the same post, the exact same post, for at least ten times whenever some new app is released (to donators only, of course) or some new firmware version leaks (see? we now have firmware version leaks, I wonder what's next...), so I thought I'd spare you the same ordeal, since you are probably following other related blogs as well.

Hot links will basically be posts containing links to the most interesting original content I come across. Think Google Reader shared items, but without the spam and the useless crap. These posts will definitely be rare, and be warned that the articles they will link to will probably have more than the average length. This label is meant for very well-thought posts, insights, comparisons and so on. They won't be easy reads, but in my opinion they will be worth your time.

N-Gage is finally live!

DOWNLOAD THE N-GAGE APP HERE

Phones supported at this time: N81, N82, N95 and N95 8GB.

Details here, on Symbian Guru.

I have downloaded and installed the new N-Gage app and will update this post later with my thoughts.

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Opera Mini 4.1 Beta available

The well known Java-based web browser that is compatible with almost any phone on the planet just got an update, and the world of proxy-based web browsing from your phone just got even more interesting.

Opera Software were the first to release a Java-based web browser for mobile phones that worked through a proxy server. Essentially what that means is that before the site you want to view hits your phone, it first goes through an Opera server, where it is converted so that it will use less of your bandwidth. A lot less, in most cases. This goes up (or down, one might say) to 10% of the original site's size. Which makes such solutions ideal for people on very tight bandwidth limits.

Improvements brought by Opera Mini 4.1 Beta:

• speed - it is now up to 50% faster than 4.0
• autocomplete URLs (now where have I heard that before?)
• immediately find content in page
• save pages
• download and upload is now possible from within Opera Mini (before it would bring up your phone's default browser for such tasks)
  

Here is the video tour of Opera Mini 4.1 Beta:

DOWNLOAD OPERA MINI 4.1 BETA

Opera Mini 4.1 beta will install next to any existing version of Opera Mini on your device and will not overwrite any of your data.

TeaShark, a similar proxy-based Java browser that runs on top of the Webkit core (Opera's solutions use their own, in-house developed core) has also been recently announced. I was planning to do a review of TeaShark Beta, and now it seems that it will turn into a comparison post on the two.

Security concerns
The following is taken from the Opera Mini FAQ page, and it also applies to TeaShark (since the idea of proxy-based browsing is the same):

Is there any end-to-end security between my handset and — for example — paypal.com or my bank?

No. If you need full end-to-end encryption, you should use a full web browser such as Opera Mobile.

Opera Mini uses a transcoder server to translate HTML/CSS/JavaScript into a more compact format. It will also shrink any images to fit the screen of your handset. This translation step makes Opera Mini fast, small, and also very cheap to use. To be able to do this translation, the Opera Mini server needs to have access to the unencrypted version of the web page. Therefore no end-to-end encryption between the client and the remote web server is possible.

Can Opera Software see my passwords and credit card numbers in clear text? What is the encryption good for then?

The encryption is introduced to protect the communication from any third party between the client (the browser on your handset) and the Opera Mini transcoder server. If you do not trust Opera Software, make sure you do not use our application to enter any kind of sensitive information.

[UPDATE for S60v3 users]

To turn off the annoying Allow application to connect? prompts, go to App. Manager->Opera Mini 4.1, click on it, then click on Open (or Suite settings, the option depends on your firmware version), then click on Network access and select Always allowed. Press OK (left soft key), then Back (right soft key).

At this time, this seems to be the only Java app for which such a setting is possible. In N95-1 firmware v.20, at least.

[Update source: Daily Mobile]

Nokia N810: Customizing the appearance

Themes

The default OS2008 theme is nice, but there are at least two alternatives: the Nuvo Pearl theme and the LCARS PADD (Star Trek) themes. You can find them here. In case you want to install the Star Trek themes, be sure to read the detailed instructions first.

You can always switch between installed themes by clicking on Home->Set theme on the standby screen.

Wallpapers

Interfacelift is one of the best known wallpaper sites. Recently (after Ricky Cadden of Tablet Guru suggested this), they have added support for the N800/N810 (and Asus EEE PC) resolution of 800x480.

Click here for Interfacelift's wallpaper collection.

To change the wallpaper, while at the standby screen, click on Home->Set background image. Then click "Browse" to locate the folder where you have downloaded the wallpaper(s).

Note:
Needless to say, all these themes and wallpapers are free.

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Nokia N810: Video, part 2. Solutions

This is a first for me. Having to contradict what I've written in a previous post. Well, not all of it. Still somehow I don't feel bad about this, I'm happy I found a few solutions for the things I had issues with.

Now, I'll say this again, I normally can't be bothered to convert anything into anything else. Especially not video. My reasoning is quite simple, conversion usually takes more or less the same amount of time it would take to actually watch what I'm converting. And since my computer is not exactly top-notch, multitasking while a conversion is in progress is painful.

So the whole point of my N810 review(s) was to look at it from an 'average consumer' perspective. I have to tell you that I've never done this before, so hopefully my take on the Video capabilities of the tablet from this perspective was accurate.

Problem is, I couldn't let it go. I turned back into the usual me after writing that piece on Video. So I began digging, and digging. This post details my findings. Since it's clearly off the 'consumer perspective' path, there won't be any silly question answered at the end of it.

Here goes.

First, the Internet Tablet Video Converter. I was harsh, yes. Then I tested it some more. Got the conversion time (at "Better" quality setting) down to an hour for a ~700 MB .avi XviD file. Just conversion time, copying is a different story. An hour for converting what presumably is an hour-and-a-half video. Not exactly good enough for me. It might be good enough for everyone else, though. And one more thing. I achieved this conversion time by only running the ITVC, and turning off all background processes that aren't needed by the system. Which was good for testing purposes, although I don't think I'd ever use it like this in 'real life'.

Do keep in mind what I needed to constantly remind myself of: this is a beta product. It will certainly be improved in time.

Now for feedback for the ITVC team (I will also post this here, where I strongly encourage you to give feedback too):

• I'd like more 'Advanced' settings. The main Settings menu is fine for a 'normal' user, because it is so easy to use. The 'Advanced' tab, however should have customizable bitrates, customizable audio quality independent of video quality and so on.
• I'd also like the ITVC to support decoding for more codecs and containers (Matroska, for example, is not recognized, even if I have the necessary codecs installed).
• There's something wrong with copying speed. I connected a card reader with the MiniSD card in it, and copying was still as slow as if I had connected the tablet directly, even if it should have been around 4MB/s.
  

And now, the breakthrough:

MPlayer has just received an update. Which, for me at least, has managed to make this the single most useful Video app for the tablet. Version 1.0rc1-maemo.26 handles .avi XviD encoded files a lot better than I expected. Audio and video are almost always in sync, and even when they aren't, the sync is regained shortly. The only obvious downside is that frames do get dropped from time to time, but that really is normal given the device's hardware. It plays a lot smoother than Core Player does on my N95, so I'm finally happy. I can finally throw unconverted XviDs at the tablet and they play just fine.

It's not all wonderful, though. MPlayer does have its disadvantages. One is the fact that it doesn't have a touch-enabled on screen display (OSD). And while it does have keyboard shortcuts, they are not easy to find unless you try pressing every single key to find out what it does. Until now, I found that the 'Menu' key on the keyboard opens the OSD. Spacebar pauses and resumes playback. Left or right D-pad keys skip backward or forward a few seconds, while Up and Down skip backward or forward more. If you can't get rid of the OSD, press the hardware 'Back' key.

(Yet another) Rundown of the video players for the N810:

• MPlayer has been explained above
  
• Canola has the best UI, in my opinion. It will play everything the default player can, and rather smoothly. Since this is a beta app, there are unexpected hangs from time to time. One very nice feature is that the folders where you store your (different types of) media are fully configurable. This ensures that you only get what you want in the Media Library. Also of note is its YouTube plugin, which works wonderfully, however I would have appreciated having the ability to choose aspect ratio. Right now it doesn't have that, and automatically transforms YouTube videos, which are all in 4:3 format, into 16:9. Now that creates a rather disturbing stretch effect. What is nice about it is that "full screen" means almost full screen, there are only tiny horizontal letterboxes. Viewing them in 4:3 aspect ratio would create bigger and more nasty vertical letterboxes. Anyway, choice would be wonderful. Another good standalone YouTube player is mYTube. This does leave the aspect ratio unchanged, however it works rather differently. What it does is it downloads the video to your device, and uses the default Media Player to start playback whenever a sufficient part of the video has been transferred. Works very good, if you remember to delete the downloaded videos from time to time (otherwise it can use up a lot of space).
• The default Media Player will work very well for most people. It plays videos that have been converted using the ITVC better than any other player (which is surprising, to some extent).
• Video Center is the best choice for podcasts, both video and audio, believe it or not! To add a new podcast, just go to Tools->Services->Add, and enter the URL of the podcast feed. It will then show you the list of episodes, which you can download and view or listen to in the default Media Player. More on audio podcasts in a few days in the dedicated post about the Audio capabilities of the tablet.
• It has been my personal experience that all the other Video players for the tablets are not worthwhile. However, I strongly encourage you to try them all, so as to find out which suits you best.

Tip:
If possible, insert your miniSD (or SD, in the case of the N800) card into a card reader whenever you have to copy large files. If you connect the tablet directly, the best speed you'll get will be around 900 KB/s, whereas with a Class 4 card in a card reader you get about 4 MB/s (Class 6 cards reach speeds of up to 6 MB/s). Until copying speed is fixed in the ITVC (see my feedback above), try not using it for copying the converted videos to the tablet. Instead, in the ITVC, go to Settings, click on the Advanced tab and see where exactly it stores the converted files (the path can be changed, if you want to). Then manually copy from there to the card, either by using Windows Explorer ("My Computer") or software such as Total Commander.

Please note:
I honestly doubt that I would have found out what is described in this post had I continued to go on the 'average consumer' path. To give you an example, Gerry Moth made me aware of the update to MPlayer via Jaiku. And so on. The consumer-oriented review will however continue in future posts, this was hopefully a one-time thing.

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Stavros Q&A Session

Stavros is at it again! The 'Position Art Genius' has been interviewed by his fans! Here is the Q&A Session video:

Don't forget to check out Stavros' wonderful site and bloggy, The World is my Canvas.

I wish someone had told me about this, so I could have asked the 'Master of Position Art' a question of my own.

[Source: Symbian Guru]

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Concluded the search for the perfect phone. It's here. (Warning: iPhone killer!)

Yup, that's right! What you see above is the perfect mobile device for, I would guess, about 80% of the world's population!

Among its features are:

• the ability to make calls
• send and receive SMS
• integrated flashlight (or should I have written Flash Lite?)
• the ability to pre-set call times
• MP3-grade ringtones with adjustable volume
• One Touch shortcut keys for SMS messaging, calendar, contacts, loudspeaker, and flashlight
• Analog/digital clock, alarm clock
  
• countdown timer, and stopwatch (S60 phones do not have these features, I kid you not)
• Reminders for important meetings and appointments
• Calculator
• Converter
• Made from robust, durable materials with a non-slip backing to keep your phone firmly in your hand.

It is the Nokia 1200, and yes, it is the perfect fit for the oh, I just use my phone for calling and texting, don't bother explaining what else I could do with it crowd. It is what those who bought N95s only because at some point they were very expensive should have bought. It is an iPhone killer (and what isn't these days?) because aside from web browsing and listening to music, it can do everything the iPhone can. Now the iPhone may have a Touch UI, but it doesn't have a flashlight (or Flash Lite, for that matter)!

So next time you say "I only need a phone for calling and texting", remember that THIS is the perfect device for that. Or wake up.

Happy April Foolishness day everyone!

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Ease of use is THE thing

Right?

My bet is that you've heard this at least once in the past year. Since Apple 'revolutionized' the mobile industry, with their 500-years-ahead-of-the-competition product. It is understandable that Apple would want you to believe this. The main thing that makes the iPhone stand out (except from the absurd pricing) is its ease of use.

Fine. They can use any buzzwords they want. Marketing is like that. And if you have incredibly clever marketing (like Apple), then you come up with such catchy words.

But the problem is this: even those that usually don't get fooled by marketing stunts fell hard for this one. It now seems like this is THE focus that the whole industry should have. Which is good in principle. Yeah, there's no point to loads of features if they can't be easily accessed and/or used. Anyway, let's not get ahead of ourselves here, shall we?

WHO exactly is ease of use for?

I have not heard/read ONE good answer to this question. Nobody seems to care. "It has to be done". And that's it. Believe and do not doubt, that's what this is.

I for one DO doubt. Again, generally speaking, you know, "good is good" and "bad is bad". So ease of use is good as a principle.
But focusing the whole industry on this? Why?

Ease of use, the way the average Joe understands this concept, comes with lack of features. Always. The more features, the more the average Joe will be confused.
So the iPhone is easy to use. Good. Is a Nokia 1200 not easy to use?

Not to be misunderstood. The iPhone browser is the most easy to use browser out there. Which is nice, since that will push normobs to use mobile data more. Which is good for everyone. Operators obviously, but the rest of us as well, since presumably prices for data will keep going down.

But UI? Give me a break. The way Apple sees things, they know what you want better than you do. I know, this may be true, if you're a normob. But if you aren't, the last thing you should do is preach an Apple-like 'vision' of UIs. They have created a phone that is good for nothing else than calling, texting (in light of recent firmware updates only) and browsing. So it should be 'better' than the aforementioned 1200 because it also features that wonderful browser. THAT'S IT, ladies and gentlemen.

If Nokia came up with a UI similar to Apple's, I would not buy a Nokia smartphone. Period.

People might argue that this is only valid for so-called "power users". Exactly. It is. And what power users should do instead of constantly whining that the iPhone UI is not replicated by Nokia, Sony Ericsson and all others is actually SHOW a normob how to use those other, oh-so-complicated UIs. Which would make normobs either not want an iPhone or anything else overly simplistic, or make them suddenly realize that all they actually need is a Nokia 1200. Any other conclusion would solely be based on the desire to show off. Which I don't care for. I've seen way too many people that use N95s only for calling. I wonder what's worse: a holstered Blackberry or an N95 used for nothing else than calling? I haven't made up my mind yet, but at least the Blackberries are presumably given to such, erm, users, by their companies.

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