I wrote about how I was eagerly expecting this, and here it is!
Well, it's not actually here, it's on KEYnetik's forum. Just register for free and you can download it from the forum. It is unsigned, so it will require signing with a valid developer's certificate before you can install it. And, if you haven't already, you must also install the N95 Accelerometer plugin before installing Rock'n'Scroll (or any other accelerometer-using app, for that matter).
If you don't have a certificate, just send an email to rocknscroll[at]keynetik.com, enter your phone's IMEI in the title of your mail, and they'll send you back a signed copy. (You can find out what your IMEI is by typing *#06# on your phone's standby screen)
I could have posted a direct download link for Rock'n'Scroll here, but I do strongly advise you to sign up at the KEYnetik forum, since you'll be able to give your feedback on this app directly to the developers, maybe shaping up future releases (and unlike other developers, they do read and post in the forum).
I can't wait to play with it, and will be posting a review very soon. In the mean time, Symbian Web Blog has a very, very detailed preview (excellent read!).
Rock'n'Scroll Beta 1 for N95 IS available!
Samsung adds WiFi to the i550 (S60 3rd Edition FP1)
This was rather unexplainable, to me at least, since they are starting to make good use of their S60 licensee state, but hardcore S60 (and general smartphone) fans surely did miss WiFi, which is present in almost all the recent smartphones, whatever the platform.
Very, very good move, Samsung! Now if only you could do the same for, say, the i560, and all future S60 phones, it would be great. Also great would be releasing truly innovative (feature and/or design-wise) S60 phones, but that seems to be a rather long way ahead.
Full specs of the original i550 here.
[Source: Engadget Mobile]
The picture of the i550w is from Eprice.
Why Yahoo Go! 3.0 is rather pointless
Ewan Spence, of AllAboutSymbian, has written a great review on the newest iteration of Yahoo's Go! application for S60. I must say I totally agree with everything he states, and when in an earlier post I was talking about IM apps that come as a bundle of very different services, I was thinking exactly about Yahoo. You do, as Ewan points out, have to be a very heavy Yahoo services user for this app to make even slight sense.
Read the full review at AllAboutSymbian - it's really a good read.
Why Beta?
Well, I decided to use the very famous "Beta" description to Ssixty.info in its current stage to clearly underline the fact that this is still a work in progress (and will be for at about another week). And I'm not reffering to posting (that will obviously always be a work in progress) but to the sites' elements and design. Actually, design-wise, the colours surely will stay the same (as I have been working on the template since December and it is very readable now imho), but the elements contained by the Sidebar and the Footer are still being worked on.
The S60 Freeware and S60 Themes sections/widgets (that were both covered in the Site Description post) are gone for now, until I figure out the best possible way to give you direct access to what I think are the best freeware apps and themes for S60 3rd Edition out there, with Date-descending sorting and with proper credits to the authors of the apps/themes.
The wallpapers ticker that is at the bottom of the site gives you access to my dedicated Wallpapers Channel on Share on Ovi. I will update this channel as soon as I find any more interesting wallpapers.
Also about the wallpapers: these are my favourites, and the wallpapers channel won't necessarily ever be divided into categories. As you might have noticed, most of them are landscapes, some abstract, and very few with animals. The wallpapers are mainly downloaded from Mobile9, which has tens of thousands of them (literally).
Please note that while 240 x 320 is the resolution used by the screens of most (if not all) S60 3rd Edition phones, the amount of pixels actually occupied by a wallpaper is 240 x 235 (as a result, if you set a 240 x 320 image as a wallpaper, it will get cropped). Such resolution wallpapers are very hard to find, which is the main reason there are so few of them on my Ovi channel now.
And a final note: because I'm still working on the sidebar and footer items, you may find them moving (or even changing) quite a bit over the next week (no changes will ever be made to the Ssixty.info feed however, so feel free to subscribe at any time). Please bear with me until I make all the finishing touches to Ssixty.info. When I feel that everything is well done, the "Beta" will disappear from the site's description.
First live pic of the black Nokia N82. 8GB?
Everybody has been posting this, but I still couldn't miss it. The black N82 will be available from April 2nd in the US (and hopefully the rest of the world will get it soon after).
Unlike many other people, I very much enjoy the design of the N82 (including its controversial keypad, that apparently doesn't seem at all controversial once you actually use it). And since black was always my preferred colour for a phone, this is the perfect mix.
NokNok.tv seem to be convinced that this colour will follow recent Nokia tradition and also bring 8GB of internal flash storage. Nothing sure for now, but this will definitely make it even more interesting.
[Source: The N82 Blog]
[March 2nd EDIT]
The black version of the N82 is now officially featured on Nokia's Hong Kong site. It doesn't seem to be a 8 GB version, though.
KEYnetik Rock'n'Scroll will redefine the way you use your N95 - starting February 29th!
I know that's a bold statement, but bear with me.
It's been quite a while now since I wanted to first write about this application, and now the news that the first Beta release will be available on February 29th has got me excited at its huge potential again.
After the accelerometer 'craze' started last year, when Nokia made some accelerometer-related APIs available to developers, everyone was focusing their attention on apps that automatically switch your phone's display from portrait to landscape and vice-versa (out of which my personal favourite is Samir's RotateMe).
But then, at some point after doing a lot of work on RotateMe, Samir presented us with a new concept: Nokmote. What you could do (at least in theory) with this app was tilt the phone to suggest movement (either in games or in the menu), very similar to the way the Wiimote works (hence the name). However, to this date, Samir has only released one beta version, which has a very sensitive sensor, that deems it usable only in games (and even there with some attention paid to the way you hold the device).
Since I first heard about the Nokmote concept, I obviously saw its usefulness in games, but, unlike many others apparently, in the browser. Because of the N95's mere QVGA resolution, even if the S60 (Webkit-based) browser renders pages almost exactly as they would be seen on your average computer, a lot of scrolling is needed. And this to me is highly annoying. Up/down scrolling, let's say that's bearable, but left/right as well...takes a way a lot of user-friendliness. (The higher-resolution screen is, for example, one of the reasons that the iPhone's browser, also Webkit-based, is a lot easier to use than the S60 browser - less scrolling is involved).
And to people like me who would like to have to scroll as little as possible, this situation is identical in every other browser available for S60 (Opera's Mobile and Mini, for example - even with Small Screen Rendering enabled, a lot of vertical scrolling is required).
Samir is still working on Nokmote, but, from what I know, focusing more on gameplay (he has actually hinted that Nokmote might support two operating modes in the future - Game and Menu, but nothing yet).
And this is where KEYnetik, Inc. comes in. A month ago, they announced (via their site and a very promising video) Rock'n'Scroll, an app that basically does three things:
- uses sensitive sensor movements when playing games (continuous tilt - also useful while scrolling through large lists such as songs or contacts)
- uses less sensitive sensor movements when in the menu or any other app (Flick-mode - requires a flick of the wrist in the desired direction for cursor movement)
- rotates the screen automatically from portrait to landscape (a la RotateMe), but with a twist: when the screen is in portrait mode, the default mode is Flick-mode, and when the screen is tilted to landscape orientation, the default mode is Game mode (these modes can also be manually toggled by pressing the Pen key).
What can I say, I can't wait for it to be Friday!
And btw, on Friday the 29th, Rock'n'Scroll Beta1 will be available for download from the KEYnetik forum (you must register for free in order to have access). Being a beta release, the developers will obviously (also) use this forum as a way to get valuable feedback from users.
Because of the recent (neverending) issues with Symbian Signed (that have been documented again and again over the net - just try googling it), the application (the first beta, at least) will be released in an unsigned form and will require signing with a valid developer's certificate before it can be installed.
[Source: Symbian-Freak]
Samsung discovers Widgets and coloured menu icons
Ok, so maybe that title is a little hard on the manufacturer of my favourite-looking phones.
So Samsung is jumping on the "widget" bandwagon that is so 'trendy' nowdays. Which is cool, but only if I can add ('widgetize') anything I want on my homescreen, and am not forced to choose between less-than-ten 'presets' (which seems to be the case here, btw).
However I don't get this whole "freely-moving-across-your-homescreen" thing. I can quickly think of many accidental scenarios which would result in quite a mess-up of your phone's homescreen.
And the other big news here is that this interface (which is apparently an evolution of the Croix interface used in the F700 and the Armani phone) has coloured menu icons. And yes, that is big news for Samsung's touchscreen phones. And no, the icons in the Croix interface did not have more than one colour. It's good that they still decided to fit the Croix devices with a colour screen, I might add.
Anyway, the Samsung F480 (shown) is not a smartphone, but with so little news from Nokia on S60 Touch, any new touch-based interface cathces my attention.
[Source: Phone Scoop]
Shift Content Between your Computer and your Phone!
The 'computer' component works either with the website or with a downloadable desktop application.
The 'phone' component works either by sending yourself SMS or by accessing their mobile site in your phone's browser.
Needless to say that everything done via either the desktop or the mobile site or the desktop application stays in perfect sync.
I am aware that competing services might exist, but here everything is kept very simple and the service looks very easy to use. This is a very interesting idea in my opinion, since almost anyone who uses their phone extensively has at least once come across the 'how-do-I-get-this-link-from-my-desktop-browser-to-my-phone" (or vice-versa) issue. I for one am very happy each time I don't have to manually input URLs into my phone's browser (the numeric keypad...well it's called numeric for a reason).
Sign up (FREE) here (more info is also available).
[Source: SMS Text News]
Nokia 6210 Navigator: A Welcome Evolution
I don't have any specific sales figures, but my guess is that the 6110 hasn't been the choice of many (at least as a smartphone, and not a Personal Navigation Device). It was a very interesting first attempt phone from Nokia (in the Navigator-branded line), however it was let down by the camera, the size-to-features ratio, and even, to some extent, by the inclusion of Route 66 navigation software instead of Nokia's own Maps application. And this was, if you care for an educated guess, probably because Nokia started developing the 6110 Navigator and/or had licensed the 66 software for this phone before they acquired Gate5 (makers of the later-to-be-renamed-into-Nokia-Maps Smart2Go software).
Now, whereas the 6110 Navigator represented a niche of navigation-focused smartphones, the 6210 Navigator will bring this concept to the mainstream, not in small part aided by...well its branding (Navigator) and its predecessor's (I mean the 6210, not the 6110 Navigator!) success and 'number-awareness', if I may call it that.
Why?
- It has the looks.
- The camera is something to write home about.
- The size-to-features ratio is (this time) very good.
- Nokia Maps 2.0 (which will be the default navigation software) is one of the most advanced, fully-featured and easy to use pieces of navigation software on the market even in beta stage (which it currently is in - rest assured that when the 6210 Navigator will ship, it will be a final release).
- S60 3rd Edition FP2 will add a lot of usability improvements to S60, more eye-candy, and will make devices based on it a lot easier for novices to use.
The camera is probably the unit also found in the N73 and the N78 (although apparently without the Carl Zeiss branding), as its specs are identical to that: 3.2 MP autofocus, LED flash, 640 x 480 (VGA) resolution video recording at 15fps.
There are no less than three HSDPA/GSM radio versions, meaning that the whole world is covered (by one of its versions, at least). Which is exciting news for those in the US and Canada, for example.
The screen has a 2.4 inch diagonal, 16 million colour-reproduction, and may as well be the unit used on the N82. A very welcome refresh from the 6110 Navigator, this screen (together with the S60 Browser as it will be improved for FP2) guarantees high quality web browsing and image viewing.
The 6210 Navigator also features an accelerometer, a slightly surprising choice at first glance (since the higher-end-branded N78 doesn't have one). But it all makes sense when learning about its use to rotate the screen as you rotate the phone in the Pedestrian mode of Maps 2.0, so that the direction you're heading always stays at the top. And with the tons of accelerometer-based freeware applications out there (some of which can also be found on the Freeware section of Ssixty.info), you're sure to enjoy this feature to the fullest.
The battery, as with the N96, might prove to be a headache, since it only has 950 mAh cappacity, but Nokia keep promising that software power-consumption optimisations in S60 3rd Edition FP2 will make you think you have a much bigger battery. We'll just have to see about that.
Because this isn't necessarily a music-oriented device, a standard 3.5 mm audio jack is not present, instead what it has is a 2.5 mm one. If you are keen on music and would like to listen to music on your own, third-party headphones, you can always buy a 2.5 mm-to-3.5 mm adapter. They're very cheap and can be found in almost any electronics store. The quality of music output from this device has to be at least on par with the N95 in my opinion, which is good enough for 99% of the users.
So what exactly is this device after all?
It's a Personal Navigation Device and a very capable (both hardware- and software-wise) smartphone, at the price of (just) a smartphone. If you're into PNDs and smartphones, why not join the two worlds?
Full specs here.
More pictures here.
Hands-on video here.
Native Skype Client for Symbian Coming Next Week?
Symbian-Freak reports that this might be the case.
I still can't understand why the major IM/VoIP companies haven't gone completely mobile (I mean free native application for Windows Mobile and Symbian S60/UIQ, not some lousy Java 'app' or a bundle of 50 different services). Are they so in love with their (so 90s!) computer-only business model that they just don't care?
I know there is Skype for Windows Mobile, and Windows Live Messenger (or whatever else they're calling it now) for more platforms, however Microsoft keep frightening users by repeatedly claiming they'll start to charge for the service.
But this is not enough. Why is it taking the others so long? I know that when all these IM platforms were created, very few people had the guts to dream about them being able to run on phones, but come on...it's 2008!
While we wait, let's all be thankful for Fring and Slick.
[Source: Markus Goebel's Tech News Comments]
Anssi Vanjoki (Executive Vice President of Nokia's Multimedia Division) on mobile gaming
Here is a short video interview with Anssi Vanjoki, taken at the Game Developers Conference, held in San Francisco between the 18th and the 22nd of February:
[Source: Symbian-Freak]
Nokia 6220 Classic: the successor to the 6120 Classic or an N82 without the Nseries branding?
This phone is certainly "5MP for the masses".
But is it a true successor to the 6120 Classic?
Well, when I first heard about it, I naturally thought it would be (with the designated number and all). And it does follow the 6120, phylosophy-wise, in that it is meant to take something to the mainstream. But here is where the differences occur. The 6120 Classic took S60 'to the masses' (it's the cheapest S60 smartphone to date). The 6220 however will be taking the 5MP camera and the xenon flash to the masses (S60 is also running the show here, and more notably, it will be 3rd Edition FP2, as in the N96 and N78).
And then there's the price. When it will hit, it will be about 100 euros cheaper than the N82, but still more expensive than the 6120 was when it hit the market.
So, I now see the 6220 Classic more as a 'bigger brother' to the 6120 Classic (which will, undoubtedly, continue to sell very well), rather than a successor to it.
So is it an N82 without the Nseries branding?
This one is a bit harder to answer. Because everything seems to indicate that it is. At first glance, it has the same camera, roughly the same dimensions (it's actually almost a mm thinner than the N82), obviously also a candybar form-factor, it has aGPS, and so on.
And, as I already wrote above, it will be 100 euros cheaper than the N82.
But the thing is that the cheaper price will mean compromising in a few areas. It has a 2.5 mm AV jack (the N82 has the very standard 3.5 mm variety), the battery is 900 mAh (as opposed to the N82's 1050 mAh), the screen is only 2.2 inches in diagonal (N82-2.4 inches), no WiFi, and only a mono speaker.
And, just to keep things (sort of) balanced, here's one feature the N82 misses: to Ricky's pleasure, the navigation key lights up to inform you of new messages, missed calls and emails. And there's also the (much more important) software improvement, the 6220 Classic running S60 3rd Edition FP2, based on Symbian OS 9.3, which will definitely bring more eye-candy to the UI than we've ever seen on an S60 iteration.
So I must conclude that it might not be an "un-nseriesd" N82 after all. It will find its place in the market, below the N82, and above the 6120 Classic (price- and feature-wise) and will be a real must-have for those very much interested in camera capabilities and maybe less into WiFi, big screens and listening to music and who could live with having to charge their device at least daily. I know it sounds like an impressive list of compromises, but keeping the price of just over 300 euros (without taxes) in mind, I think it might become one of the S60 best-sellers.
Features not analyzed above:
The camera module is the same one used in the N95, N96 and N82. Video recording up to 640 x 480 (VGA) at 30 fps. The intensity of the xenon flash is not yet documented, but I expect it to be on par with the one found in the N82 (which is the strongest on the market right now). Obviously, recording video in dark environments will be almost impossible, since the flash will only work with stills.
An interesting fact is that, at least in theory, FOTA and FOTI are supported (which basically mean updating your phone's firmware over-the-air, without the need for a computer for this operation). I wonder if these will actually (finally!) work.
Full specs here.
More pictures here.
Hands-on video here.
Smartphones Show #53
Steve Litchfield has created another episode of his very well-known series, Smartphones Show. Well worth watching. Enjoy!
For all the previous episodes, look here.
To subscribe to the Smartphones Show Video Podcast Feed, click here.
Updated Posts
Those of you who are not subscribed to the Ssixty.info RSS feed, or whose feed reader is set to ignore post updates, might want to go through my posts on the Samsung G810, the LG KT610 and Sony Ericsson's newly announced handsets again, since these posts have received (heavy) updates.
Thank you.
Nokia N78: Initial Thoughts
This is the successor to the N73, and will probably go way past the 50 million units sold milestone set by the N73.
It still has a very good 3.2 MP Carl Zeiss AutoFocus camera (but only LED flash, probably not to cannibalize sales of the N82 and, curiously, the 6220 Classic), integrated geotagging, video recording up to 640 x 480 resolution (but disappointingly only at 15 fps). It goes one step further from the N73 with WiFi, aGPS, the integrated FM transmitter, and, of course, S60 3rd Edition FP2.
The battery is BL-6F, 1200 mAh cappacity. This is a good move from Nokia, as owners of the N73 (probably the first targeted base of this device) are used to good battery life, but it is still funny to compare it to the N96 and find out that the 'flagship' N96 has only a 950 mAh battery. Anyway, good news for prospective N78 owners.
It is slimmer than the N73, following the trim/slim-down trend in the (mainstream) mobile world these days. And following up on what they said when the N95 was announced, GPS units in Nokia phones are becoming a commodity. The Navi Wheel, first seen in the N81, has improved functionality now and can be used wherever there are long lists (a very welcome addition that will probably make its way into the N81 as well via software updates).
The 2.4 inch QVGA display is probably the same unit used on the N82, and objectively speaking, we couldn't have expected a bigger display in a candybar form factor without having an influence on the whole size of the device.
The FM transmitter is a nice touch and it is another way to 'share' (probably much to Ewan's dislike, I might jokingly add). It also acts as a receiver, so there is no more need to have the headset plugged in for listening to FM radio stations (useful, I guess, where cheap or free broadband, be it via WiFi or HSDPA, is not available yet - because otherwise the Nokia Internet Radio app is a must-use).
The music-playing quality has, in the words of the N78 Product Manager, reached N91 level. That surely sounds good, but I'm still curious to whether it equals or even goes beyond the music-quality in the Samsung i450 (also an S60 device) and its dedicated DSP.
USB transfer speed when the phone has a memory card inside and is connected to the computer via Mass Storage mode should also be improved (as in the N96) to about 5MB/s, which is very good. Still no sign on the ability for Mass Storage mode to show both the memory card and the phone memory (C:) drive - this is possible with Sony Ericsson non smartphones for a while now.
While it probably won't get as much press attention as the N96, this is the device that will be driving sales for the Nseries in the coming year. It's the most affordable, has the best price/features ratio and with its unconventional design will surely appeal to many - the 'conservatives' will like that they're getting a candybar, and the more 'experimenting' types will enjoy the keypad design.
Full specs here.
More pictures here.
Hands-on video here.
And what is probably the best hands-on video yet, courtesy of Rafe from AllAboutSymbian:
S60 Touch is for now...S60 with a touchscreen!
I have been expecting this, since it was only marginally reffered to in the keynotes on Monday.
First, let's see the "demo" video. It's kinda hard to even call it that, since it runs on an emulator, but anyway, here it is:
Yes, it's not polished at all. Yes, it's only basically adding support for touchscreens in S60. And it might feel rather disappointing, however my take on this is that this will only be 'v1'. A second version, or generation, that will probably arrive in 2009, will surely be the eye-candy-packed one everyone's been waiting for since the announcement of the iPhone.
Why is this not a revolution? Well I don't think it could have been. I think Nokia is doing the right thing here. Touchscreen support was anyway long overdue for S60 (UIQ had it since the, ehm...beginning), so it's a nice addition. The fact that everybody was expecting an "iPhone killer" had more to do with people's expectations than with real R&D by Nokia. Let me explain: I think that Nokia's R&D have been working on adding touchscreen support (to rival UIQ) for quite some time when the iPhone was announced last year, but only started to think about an iPhone-ish Touch UI (as in very easy to use and entirely finger friendly) after that. So there really wasn't enough time, from then till now, for Nokia to show us something special. Also, anytime the desire for a UI that will kill the iPhone arises, please take into account the huge number of patents Apple holds on all things related to the iPhone.
What is in the video above is what Nokia managed to to in this short time, by shifting focus to a finger-friendly UI. And it's not bad. I personally am looking forward to to the second version more than to this first release (which does have one big 'thing' going for it: the learning curve for an existing S60 user will practically be inexistent).
A competitor for Nokia's "Comes With Music"
Omnifone have announced their unlimited mobile handset music programme, dubbed MusicStationMax. Similarly to what Nokia's "Comes With Music" offering should be, this basically means that once you buy a handset that has this service bundled, you can listen to any track in their database for 18 months (this is more than Nokia's 12 months).
What's more, there will also be a PC-companion product, that will keep everything in sync between the handset and the computer.
And the first manufacturer-partner is...(drums)...LG! Their MusicStation Max handsets are due out in the first half of this year.
It is still unclear to me if this is a streaming service or a download service, but nevertheless, it looks like Nokia's announcement of "Comes With Music" (why haven't we heard any news on this yet?) 'inspired' others. Very good. Bring on the handsets, LG and Nokia!
[Source: SMS Text News]
[UPDATE]
Engadget brought us some more information, and it seems that this service will indeed be a "download and keep" service, will come in 12 or 18-month forms (probably dependant on the phone). Sideloading and syncing between phone and PC are still there. Very interesting, I must say.
Google Android at MWC
Engadget have posted an impressive amount of pics showing Android in action on prototype devices. Click here for the full gallery.
(image from Engadget)
And here is the first video of Android in action on an actual phone (a low-specced one made by E28):
It looks promising. Runs rather smoothly, and it's only been in development for a few months. Looking forward to a more polished UI.
New N96 and N78 Hands-on Videos!
Norman John, from Symbian World, who is also attending the MWC, has posted his first hands-on videos of the N96 and N78.
Enjoy!
N96:
N78:
Live pics of the N96 and N78
Vaibhav Sharma from The Symbian Blog, who is attending the MWC, has posted live pics of the newly-announced Nseries handsets on his Flickr account.
Sony Ericsson's newly announced handsets
On Sunday evening, hours before the official kick-off of the Mobile World Congress (it's becoming a tradition really), Sony Ericsson announced quite a few new handsets.
Let's analyze them one by one:
XPERIA X1 (Specs)
This is beautiful, no doubt about that. The first Sony Ericsson device running Windows Mobile. Interesting move. Understandable. While Sony Ericsson does have a very long tradition of making smartphones based on UIQ on top of Symbian OS, the sales figures of these devices were never a match to Nokia's S60 handsets (also running on top of Symbian OS - expect a rather detailed explanation of the differences between S60 and UIQ soon). So they probably thought a competing OS might at least bring them some new customers. Microsoft also has reasons to worry, as their OS is really only popular in the USA (but even there it lags behind the OS on BlackBerry devices and the iPhone's OSX) and among business users. So two companies in need have found each other. (Although apparently it might be more of a threesome, as HTC seems to be manufacturing this device)
And, of course, Sony (trust me, this is Sony's touch, not Ericsson's) quickly came up with another brand (in the press release, they actually stress how happy they are it's the first brand "born from within Sony Ericsson" - LOL!).
The Xperia does seem like an interesting device, with its Motorola Z8/Z10-inspired slider mechanism (it's amazing that Motorola still inspires with their designs) and (supposedly) finger-friendly customized (by Sony Ericsson) interface on top of WM6. The interface does look snappy in this promotional video:
However, I don't see this leaving a niche, and this has always been Sony Ericsson's problem with their smartphones. They all are reasonably good devices, but all seem to operate in very narrow niches (one notable exception might be the W960i, if it's not marketed as anything else than the music phone). Except the scenario in which the price for the Xperia will prove to be very competitive (read: affordable), I don't see it crawling out of its niche-space. Time will tell.
G700 and G900 (Specs here and here, respectively)
G700 UI:
G900 Hands-on:
These are UIQ-based smartphones touted as 'organisers'. Although this marketing strategy seems useless to me, and in spite of their...let's say 'classic' looks, I actually think they may belong to the best-selling UIQ devices class (if priced appropriately). Why? Because of their design. Remember what Nokia did with the 6120 Classic? S60 3rd Edition FP1 in a candybar that anyone on the street might take for a dumb-phone (and with the lowest price-point at launch of any S60 smartphone to date). For many 'normobs' the word smartphone instantly brings up words such as "complicated". Many choose not to buy a smartphone exactly because they think the 'getting-to-know-your-phone' period would be excruciatingly long. I do think that once you go smart(phone), you never go back, but getting some people to buy a smartphone exclusively marketed as such (and having looks such as the P1i, for example) is hard.
Sony Ericsson might be on to something really cool here. Now if only they would make no further mentions of the word stylus in context... (or show any more pictures of the stylus of these phones for that matter)
C702 and C902 (Specs here and here, respectively)
Hands-on the C702:
Hands-on the C902:
First off, I really don't get the numbering scheme here. Sony Ericsson made us used to CyberShot branded phones to belong to the K series. Why this change now I don't know. And, come on, 702 and 902? 700 and 900 were not available? Maybe they're trying to bring the Japanese Operators' numbering schemes to the rest of the world. Probably so, as I would argue that even the looks of new Sony Ericsson devices are beginning to resemble those of the devices meant for the Japanese market. And this is good, it adds uniqueness.
Anyway, these two have interesting compromises built-in. While the C902 does have the better camera, it's display is smaller (2 inches compared to 2.2), presumably to make room for those touch based CyberShot-only keys. Which are a nice...touch indeed, but useful as well? Who knows. A 5MP camera phone with a 2 inch display is an oddity for me. Also, these phones seem to be minor updates (design-wise only) to the CyberShot line-up, which already includes recently announced K770 as a 3.2MP shooter, and the K850 as a 5MP shooter. They will make good sales figures I think, mostly because of the CyberShot brand, but I don't expect them to become top-sellers.
Z770 (Specs)
(image from GSMArena)
This is a very stylish clamshell, with a very interesting design. While it certainly looks good, we'll see if it really appeals to the fashion-conscious crowd, since at 16mm, it is rather thick by modern fashion standards. Sony Ericsson stick to their tradition of releasing relatively few clamshells, and those they do release always employ a "different" design than what the market is used to.
W980 (Specs)
Walkman clamshell. Rare iteration. What is rather baffling is that its index is higher than that of the UIQ-powered Walkman smartphone. Not the best of moves, if you ask me, since psychological factors often tend to impose on people the impression that the higher the index, the better the device.
Nevertheless, this is a very good dumb-phone (should I be calling them 'feature phones' instead?). The A200 software platform from Sony Ericsson is probably the most advanced non-smartphone platform to date, so the software can't be bad. Issues on thickness again, but hey, Sony Ericsson say the music experience on this handset is 'unrivalled', 'unparalleled', or something like that (you gotta love this PR yada yada). It's got all the Walkman goodies (TrackID, Shake Control, SensME, and so on), it looks good, so it will definitely sell.
Why did I cover these phones?
Nokia N96: Initial Thoughts
So, here it finally is. Pictures of it had leaked a while ago, now it's officially announced. The blogosphere is already heated up with previews and opinions, so I'm going to jump right into what I think are the defining points of this new device.
First, you may want to check out Meraj's detailed preview here. It's the most detailed view I read up until now and there are a lot of good points in it.
Yes, I do also think that this should be seen more as an N95-5 than a completely new device. At least to us bloggers, 'techi', 'early adopters', whatever you may want to call the enthusiastic crowd that we are. To me, the spec sheet isn't impressive enough to say I've fallen in love again (as I did when the N95 was announced back in 2006). I don't necessarily feel an urge to buy this right away, therefore I'm not at all put off by it's (only) Q3 release.
However, I really really dig the design. When I first saw the N81, I was really happy, although I didn't plan on buying one, but I saw a new design perspective make its way into the Nseries, and I think it is a welcome refreshment. Traditionally, the Nseries are/were all top notch featured devices for their time, but the design kind of shouted "geek" (and this started way back when 'geek' wasn't even cool). They did sell a lot, but this was, in my humble opinion, mostly because of the Nokia brand (one of the most powerful in the world), and, for those buyers aiming solely for features, because of those. With the N81, N82 and now N96 and N78 I see a more mass-market-adoption-kind-of-chic approach in the design. And I really like it. I even like that they're (for the first time) building a unified Nseries design identity, and therefore all the models resemble each other. That's cool. Anyone should be able to distinguish an Nseries even from a few meters away (just think about what the very distinguishable white headset did for the iPod). I mean, let's face it: we S60 fans will buy Nseries devices anyway, what Nokia needs to do is pack all the features in a nice 'box' and simplify the usage of some of the features so that the Nseries line will appeal to more and more people. And I think they're making some right steps into this direction.
But. This is where the 'nice' ends and the (slight) disappointment begins. So, you roll out this beautiful handset aimed at "multimedia consumption" (it's not my term, those are the words of the N96 Product Manager). Good. You focus on video capabilities. Strangely, not necessarily on video recording abilities, but viewing videos. Ok. 2.8 inches is a lot of screen real estate even by today's standards. But what is the point of this marketing focus if the resolution of that wonderfully big screen is mere QVGA and there is no DivX support? Come on, Nokia, Samsung made a deal with DivX more than a year ago. And it wasn't even for a smartphone. LG has it's Viewty (strange name, I do admit, but still...again not a smartphone)... Encoding videos to H.264 is a time-consuming process. Even ignoring that, please tell me how many 'normobs' (normal mobile phone users - I just love this term!) are aware of what H.264 is and how to convert videos to that format? Or how many are aware of the existence of CorePlayer? (and don't even get me started on the free DivX Player for S60, which is so well buried in their site it'll be a wonder if any normob finds it!) I think it's rather clear that the majority of videos (whether legal or not should not be of interest in this situation) on anyone's PC are encoded in DivX/XviD. If "out-of-the-box" experience is important for Nokia (their recent talks with Facebook seem to indicate that, for example), what's up with this?
Anyway, moving on to the screen resolution. Sony Ericsson just announced a WM6 smartphone (the Xperia X1 - gotta love Sony and their passion for brands, sub-brands, sub-sub-brands, and so on!) with WVGA resolution. That's 800 x 480, as opposed to the N96's 240 x 320! I won't even mention the hundreds of Chinese phones (clones or not) that boast higher-resolution screens, but I will mention that the N810 Internet Tablet does have 800 x 480 resolution. This is just plain odd. Even with 3rd party software that does decode DivX, because the resolution of what you're watching exceeds that of the display a lot of processor usage occurs, and the viewing experience is not always glitch-free. At first I thought it might be a supply-chain issue (that Nokia have already ordered a lot of 240 x 320 displays and need to 'finish' with those first). This might be the case. Or perhaps the problem resides within S60 3rd edition (be it FP1 or FP2), maybe they can't do the necessary optimisations for a bigger resolution. Strange issue, nonetheless.
I am happy to report that, according to the Product Manager of the N96, the USB transfer speed has increased up to 5 (five!) times compared to that of the N95 8GB. This will probably mean you'll be able to transfer files to the phone at about 5MB/s, which is not bad. The thing with USB "2.0" speeds is also funny, if I may digress a bit. All the phones released during the last year or so tout "2.0" speeds, but the actual speed for each phone is rather different. I've seen it all, from 500-600 KB/s in some Samsungs, to the more recent Sony Ericsson handsets such as the W910i doing about 4-5MB/s. And, keep in mind, these are all "USB 2.0" devices. What is the point in a common standard if the differences in speed can be so high, I do not understand. (Note: The N95 has a transfer speed of maximum 1MB/s, however with my also USB 2.0 card reader I can reach speeds up to 16MB/s.)
Getting back to the N96. Given the increase in transfer speed and the existence of a microSD slot, I think the 16GB memory is a very welcome addition. Until the end of this year, SanDisk promised 16GB microSD cards, so that means you may have up to 32GB of memory inside your phone. Very very cool!
Now for the camera. Actually, not the camera itself, as it is the exact same module used in the N95 variations and the N82, but to what has caused a lot of buzz on the interwebs, namely: the flash. I don't mind the dual LED flash. There, I said it. I will explain: I don't mind it, because I understand why the decision to include such a solution instead of a xenon flash was made. The N82 is and has to remain the imaging flagship (think pictures). The N96 should be the video flagship. After including VGA-resolution 30-fps capabilities in N95, N82 and now 6220, Nokia finally decided they should also market this. Why on Earth they haven't done this for, say, the N95, is beyond me.
So, to put it simple: if the power of the flash of the N96 is somewhere between that of the N95 and the N82 (hopefully closer to the latter), I'm ok. Why? Because services like Qik and Flixwagon will gain more and more popularity over the coming months. People will go beyond creating pictures (static) using the cameras in their phones, and will also like to turn to video-recording, live-broadcasting, the works (and I'm guessing Nokia did predict this, by launching Share on Ovi, which provides one-click upload of videos as well as pictures). In such cases the (always-on capable) LED flash is superior to a xenon flash. Why? Because of the way a xenon flash works. It produces a lot more light than any single (or maybe even double) LED, but for an instant. Always-on operation of a xenon flash would require cooling mechanisms and power consumption that are beyond what can today be fitted inside a phone.
And here it is, the dual LED flash of the N96, in action during the meeting with the N96 Product Manager, that a few lucky bloggers attended:
[Video source: The Nokia Blog]
Another question I saw today was why doesn't the N96 have an integrated FM transmitter, if even the N78 does? My opinion is that the FM transmitter (what it does it it sends whatever is playing on the phone via FM-radio waves to a compatible receiver, such as a car stereo, any type of FM radio, etc.) is a rather low-end feature. I have friends that can't afford an MP3-player in the car, and so they resort to such FM transmitters. However, if you shell out about 600 euros for a device, one might argue that the need for this feature could be somewhat limited. And I can also guess space (or lack of it, to be precise) also had to to something with this.
And now, the battery. It is the exact same unit I have in my N95. I charge my N95 twice a day. Nokia said they improved the battery consumption of the software and this will result in better battery life than we have come to expect from a 950 mAh unit. Doubtful. My N95 runs on v20 firmware (the latest available) which also supposedly brought such 'optimisations'. And while there may be a 10-15% increase in battery life, it still is not enough. And this, battery life, is a very relative issue. What I mean is a 700 mAh battery in a Nokia 1200 is more than enough for anyone, since it doesn't even feature a color display. Put the same battery in an N73, and the result would be...catastrophic. This device (the N96) screams "use me, use me, use me to shoot videos all the time, use me to take pictures, use me to browse the internet, upload stuff, watch YouTube videos" and so on. If I had one, I would probably browse twice as much and watch twice as many videos on it as I now do on my N95. Where would that take me? To the power outlet, twice a day. At least.
As for DVB-H (a standard that Nokia is pushing for watching broadcast TV on mobile phones)... let's (for the sake of the N96) hope it gets picked up by more and more operators around the world (right now I think there are under 10 countries with active DVB-H broadcasts). I personally think such implementation of mobile TV is already dated, because of the ability to view Flash video on the phone - which to me seems more flexible. But given the amount of cash Nokia poured into DVB-H, I will be glad if I'm wrong on this one.
So there it is. These are my initial thoughts on the N96. Dedicated posts for the other newly announced Nokia S60 handsets to follow.
The full spec-sheet of the N96 is available here in PDF. More pictures of the N96 are available here.
P.S.: Please understand that even if this post (and maybe others in the future) may seem overly rant-ish, my goal is to provide constructive feedback.
N96 Ad
I have to agree with Ricky Cadden, Symbian Guru, on this one. Very good ad (probably the first for Nokia, at least of a flagship product).
LG KT610: S60 3rd Edition FP1, E90-inspired design
So, after months and months in which they probably forgot they even had an S60 license, LG showed us their new smartphone, the KT610 (why "kt" and why "610" instead, of, say, "600" is beyond me). Trying to replicate the E90, in my opinion. Hopefully a cheaper alternative, since it only has a 2.4 inch QVGA internal display (the external display has a resolution I dare not write). If priced correctly, LG may be on to something here. Maybe there are people out there who love the form factor, but can't afford the E90 and maybe don't necessarily need all its features. This LG might then turn to be a good compromise, while still featuring the OS we all adore. If it's ever released, that is.
We might just see some real competition in the S60 world this year, which really gets me excited. Because competition is always good for us end-users, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Full specs here.
Share Online 3.0 now supports Share on Ovi!
Share Online 3.0 (beta) has just been updated to support Nokia's newly-launched Share on Ovi service. Download it here.
Position Art
Nokia have a new campaign (apparently for the N82, but I would guess it is applicable for all their imaging- and navigation-enabled devices), it's called Position Art. It's being explained by a very funny character named Stavros. The concept is to transform your movement on the map into 'art'.
There will be a number of live events in which such 'art' will be showcased, the first one being in Rome on March 14th.
Do head over to the site to check it out. And, you can also 'draw' on a map and maybe, maybe if you're lucky enough Stavros will choose your design to be a part of the 'art' that will be created in Rome.
I think it's a well-made campaign, it's witty, cool, and should make you think about a new way to use your device (although the concept of such 'art' is rather absurd, it aims to show that there are countless ways in which you can use your 'multimedia computer').
Specs for the N96, N78, 6220 Classic and 6210 Navigator
I don't claim that these are the specs to their fullest, however they are the features that seemed more important at first glance. There may be things not included in this list that are there (e.g. Bluetooth), they're probably not listed because they should be expected in any smartphone in 2008. My personal opinions to follow later today.
N96
-2.8 inch, 240 x 320 screen (this is really a disappointment)
-16GB internal memory + microSD slot
-faster USB transfer, apparently (it was about time to go beyond the 1MB/s marker, especially considering the 16GB of built-in memory)
-3.5 mm audio jack
-media keys
-location tagging of photos
-103 x 55 x1 8 mm (actually max.20mm)
-125g
-950 mAh battery BL-5F (another major disappointment)
-5MP Carl Zeiss AF camera (probably the exact same module as on the N95) with dual led flash (although a lot of people consider this to be another disappointing factor, I personally disagree as I understand that a xenon flash can not be used for video recording - and given this device's being marketed with a strong focus on video, it only seems natural to be able to shoot videos at night as well), video recording up to 640 x 480 at 30 fps
-aGPS
-micro USB
-Flash Lite 3 in browser
-S60 3rd FP2
-HSDPA only on 900 and 2100MHz
-WiFi, naturally
-and many more.
N78
-WiFi
-3.2 MP Carl Zeiss AF camera, video capture up to 640 x 480 at 15 fps
-up to 24 h (!) music playback time
-integrated FM transmitter
-113 x 49 x 15.1 mm
-102g
-aGPS
-2.4 inch, 240x320 display
-Navi Wheel
-1200 mAh battery
-micro USB
-and many more.
6220 Classic
-2.2 inch 240 x 320 display
-aGPS
-HSDPA, no WiFi
-5 MP Carl Zeiss AF camera with xenon flash, video capture up to 640 x 480 at 30 fps
-108 x 47 x 15 mm
-90 g
-micro USB connector
-and many more.
6210 Navigator
-accelerometer
-2.4 inch QVGA (240 x 320) display
-aGPS
-navigation usable without sim card
-103 x 49 x 15 mm
-117 g
-3.2 MP camera with led flash, video recording up to 640 x 480 (VGA) at 15 fps
-2.5 mm audio connector
-950 mAh BL-5F battery (disappointing again)
-and others.
A quick thought: the devices that presumably need the most power (the N96 because it's such an all-in-one device and the 6210, obviously, to be trustworthy for navigation purposes) have the same, low-life battery. Not a good idea in my opinion.
N78, N96, 6210 Navigator, 6220 Classic
6210 Navigator:
6220 Classic:
N78:
N78:
N96:
Specs will follow shortly.
Nokia 6220 announced
5MP Carl Zeiss camera, xenon flash, aGPS, HSDPA! All in a simple candybar factor. Incredible! 5MP "for the masses".
[EDIT] With an expected price of over EUR 300, maybe not so much for the masses after all.
Samsung G810: why?
Samsung have announced a Nokia N95 with optical zoom. Yes, it does have 3x Optical zoom. The rest of the specs, are, dare I say it, close to identical to those of the N95 (it also has a xenon flash, I know, but if the G800's flash is replicated here, than that's close to worthless). Which, as you may recall, was launched almost a year ago.
The Samsung G810 is aimed to become the 'imaging flagship' for the Korean manufacturer. This is interesting, since their previous 'flagship', the G800, made its debut on the market a very short while ago (the G810 adds S60 3rd Edition FP1 and WiFi to the mix). Maybe Samsung finally aknowledged that they might as well use their S60 license if they went to the trouble to become a licensee in the first place.
The phone does look very classy. Here's the issue. It trumps the N95 in only two respects, that are the looks and the optical zoom, respectively. And that's it. And while it does look good, I think the 'fashion-conscious' crowd would definitely go for the also newly announced U900 Soul, which is a lot thinner (granted, it's not a smartphone, but then again us smartphone lovers are used to bulky devices) and also features a 5MP camera (although without the optical zoom).
So what's left going for this phone is the optical zoom. But. How many people actually can not live without this feature?
If the rumors are true, it will cost 580 euros. That is more than even the N95 (which was a revolutionary device) went for when it was released, and way more than an N95 costs today.
So going back to the optical zoom. How many people are willing to shell out this much cash for that feature only? And how many will choose the N95 instead?
Don't get me wrong. I like Samsung. I like how they crawled their way up the ladder to become the world's No.2 handset manufacturer. I like how they decided to up the ante in the 'slimness' craze started by Motorola a few years ago. I like the fact that they are an S60 licensee. But I don't think this is the right way to go. The way I see it, on the S60 front Samsung (and LG, for that matter) have three options in order to actually sell S60-based devices:
-come with revolutionary features (like Nokia did with, for example, GPS on the N95)
-don't bring any revolutions in features, but pack already existing features on high-end devices from Nokia in a more pocketable (read:slim) 'box'
-again, do not revolutionize anything, just make what everybody else makes, but have your devices be a little bit cheaper (with features on par with other high-end devices, of course).
Either of these strategies would, in my opinion, mean that Samsung or LG would really gain marketshare S60-wise.
But the G810 delivers none of the above. I don't think that optical zoom or xenon flash are in any way revolutionary features (they've been seen before, the optical zoom on the Nokia N93 and Samsung G800 and the xenon flash on several Sony Ericssons starting with the K800, and now Nokia N82 and 6220).
Time will tell if that will indeed be the price for this device. I certainly hope it won't be. For S60's sake.
Full specs of the Samsung G810 here (please keep in mind that 18mm is the minimum thickness - this way of reporting dimensions is a tradition for Samsung -, the maximum thickness being 22mm).
A comprehensive and very detailed preview is available at Mobile Review.
Here is a hands-on video from Symbian France:
And another one from Portable Gear:
And some images from Mobile Review:
Mobile World Congress coverage on Ssixty.info
This will be a blog focused on S60. Just to make it very clear. However, because of the sheer importance that the MWC has in the mobile world, with announcements expected from all the major phone producers and software companies, during the MWC I will also cover non-S60 announcements/events/phones, whenever I feel it would be necessary. The world we know would be nowhere without competition, so even from the S60 point of view, covering competitive products/software will only be for the better, in my opinion.
Tonight (Sunday night) Sony Ericsson announced a few new handsets. The full info is here. I will be posting my opinions on these hopefully Monday evening.
Important announcements (these do concern S60 to some extent) are also expected from Samsung and LG. LG actually leaked a press release on Sunday (I can only call it that, even if it sounds funny, because a press release without pics is just a sort of a teaser) on the Symbian site. Full information about Samsung announcements during MWC is promised at 7 AM CET (GMT+1) on Mobile Review.
Nokia @ Mobile World Congress: what to expect?
So, with the Nokia announcements (at least the new Nseries handsets) only a few hours away, what should we expect?
It's almost sure that they will announce the N96, and some sources from the Mobile-review forum also speak about a N78, the successor to the N73 (at one point I was convinced that the N82 was this, but hey, I'm not complaining). This is also in line with the schedule of the Virtual event that lists two "???" items (obviously N something). We should also expect a few E-series devices, Nokia Maps 2.0 public beta (?) and the official launch of the new (beta?) Share on Ovi. This is basically one part of their Ovi portal, that resulted from the acquiring of Twango - a photo, audio and video sharing site. I sure hope they'll also update Share Online for it to work with Share on Ovi.
Well we'll see...
My thoughts on everything that will be announced will be posted throughout the day. I chose not to express my opinions on the 'leaked' handsets (linked above) because of lack of time, but also because if they somehow aren't announced it would have been pointless.
Mobile World Congress Nokia Virtual Event
They've done it before, and now they're at it again. Kicking off at 10:20 AM CET (that's GMT+1) today (in less than 6 hours, actually) will be an Nseries Virtual Event. Head over to the site now to view the schedule and the countdown timer.
The Urbanista Diaries
“Once upon a time 4 travelers began a global quest. They beat a path through our urban jungle to seek out the untold stories; they captured time only to release them back into the world. And they lay out a trail so that we cannot lose them”
The bloggers participating are Jose Montano a.k.a. Jose_R.A.M, Jennifer Hanen a.k.a. Ms. Jen, Ryan Gallagher and Devin Balentina. The Nokia sponsored Nseries Urbanista Diaries is a blogger global relay race where one blogger is dropped off somewhere in the world where he or she encounters challenges along the way and uses the Nokia N82 to document and share the experience as well as using it as a tool to find his or her way to the next blogger who will continue the journey. The cool thing about this is that it’s entirely interactive in the sense that we can follow the 4 bloggers along the trip as they document the journey in images and text.
The best part about it is that, as I mentioned before, there is a competition, where by correctly identifying where a certain photo was taken (on the Urbanista path, of course) you can win an N82 each week.
The site contents explained
I thought I should do a quick run-through the different elements on this site so you all understand right from the start what all's about.
So here goes: First, there is a mobile version of the site, available here. It is optimised for viewing on a mobile phone, something that, given the site's focus, is, I would say, logical. The optimisation is powered by Mowser, it's almost perfectly done, in my opinion, all this thanks to their wonderful mobilization engine. Which can, btw, also be used on any site. Just go to their site from your phone, enter the address and that's it!
If you have an S60 phone, you can get the link to the mobile site by opening the Barcode app and pointing your camera to the barcode on the sidebar.
The Subscription links are self-explanatory, given the mass-usage of RSS and email these days (if you don't know what RSS is, look here).
S60 Info search searches this site and everything that has been linked to from here.
S60 Themes is a dedicated themes section of this site. You can access it directly at themes.Ssixty.info. It has its own RSS feed, separate from the 'normal' feed of this site, so that if you want, you cand stay up-to-date only with the themes posts. Or only with the news and reviews. Or with both (in the best scenario). Anyway, it's your choice only.
S60 Help is actually only a more complicated way of saying: 'hey, if you need to ask me anything about S60, just write to me :)
The Wallpapers ticker gives you an idea of the wallpapers (again, for QVGA screens) that you can access on my dedicated Share on Ovi Channel. To access this channel directly, click here.
The Recommended Podcasts section is, I think, self-explanatory. You can subscribe to individual podcasts or get them all via the OPML file that is linked right below the list of podcasts. I must say those are very good quality podcasts, and definitely worth watching or listening to.
Last, but definitely not least, the Blogroll lists the 10 most recently updated sites/blogs that I read. Maybe you do know some (or most) of them, I highly recommend checking out the ones you don't.
Enjoy!
Hello, world!
After more than a month of getting things set up, tweaking layout(s) and so on, this blog is officially up and running.
I came to the conclusion that Mobile World Congress (formerly 3GSM, takes place in Barcelona, from today until Thursday the 14th) can not pass without me writing about it (and the many product and app launches I expect from it), so, naturally, the decision to start this blog today came.
A few things about me: my name is Vlad, I live in Timisoara, Romania, and am obviously passionate about the mobile world in general, smartphones and the S60 UI of Symbian OS in particular. I currently own a Nokia N95 (N95-1, 'classic', 'vanilla', etc.), but more on that and how I was introduced to the smartphone world in a later, dedicated post.
My plans for this blog include providing handpicked news from the smartphone world, reviews, personal views and rants, the works. I said handpicked because I don't want this to become another news portal, there are many out there that will surely always be better at this. I probably won't always be the first to report about something, but I surely will provide a sincere personal perspective on all events that will be (re)shaping the way we use our mobile devices.
I'm very excited to be doing this, the prospect of it has been in my mind for a few months, however I am new at writing (even though I have a degree in Journalism), so please bare with me as I will (surely) be making mistakes.
Stay tuned, as they say...
P.S.: A big thanks to all the people I read on a daily basis, they have given me all the information I currently have on smartphones. Check out my Blogroll widget at the bottom of any page on this site to find out who I'm talking about. (A post detailing how thankful I am is definitely on the roadmap)
