Nokia demonstrates Ovi updates
Published by Rafe Blandford at 23:18 BST, September 9th 2008
Today, in an online event, Nokia summarised and demonstrated its recent additions to the Ovi.com service offering: Ovi Suite - a PC software offering media management and phone sync, Files on Ovi - an online file storage and remote access to PC files, and Ovi Sync - a service which syncs contacts, calendar events and notes to Ovi.com. Read on for more details.
During the online event we got a look at a new set of Ovi icons which will, in the future, be used through-out Nokia's products and services. The new icons will go live on the Ovi.com website sometime in the next few weeks.
From the Nokia Conversations Blog:
What's most significant is that this fresh collection of crafted pixel art won't be shackled solely to Ovi - this new icon style will ripple across to Nokia devices, and begin to appear on handsets and platforms of all shapes and surprises. But a one-size-fits-all approach to a fine detail such as this, across a company with so many people and products as Nokia, requires serious collaboration and shared visions.
This is a screenshot, provided by Nokia, of the new look Ovi.com using the new style icons.
Here's a brief run down on the services talked about today:
Ovi Suite
Ovi Suite is the first version of the PC component of the Ovi service offering. Effectively it is a redesigned version of Nokia's standard PC Suite enabling sync between your PC and Nokia phone.
However it has closer ties with Ovi services (e.g. drag to upload media file to Share on Ovi) and offers a more integrated media management and sync experience (close links with Nokia Photos and its own media viewing component). It also looks to use the same design language and layout as the Ovi.com website.
We'll be covering Ovi Suite in more detail in due course.
Files on Ovi
Files on Ovi offers a way to access files stored on your PC directly from your phone. It also offers online file storage, which allows access to your files even if your PC is switched off. Files on Ovi works by installing a program on your PC that facilitates remote access to the files stored on your PC. It can also, optionally, sync files onto an online server (the 'cloud') so that they can be access at any time. Files on Ovi refers to such files as Anytime Files.
You can access you file remotely through a web browser either on another PC or via the browser built into your phone. Files can be both uploaded and downloaded giving you a complete remote access solution.
Browsing the files on a PC from my phone.
Viewing the contents of a folder (stored on my PC) full of pictures through the web browser on another PC.
Files on Ovi also gives you the option to share folder or files with third parties. This works by sending them an email which grants them temporary access to the file or folder of their choosing. Nokia envision this as a good way to share large files or collection of files, in a secure way, without clogging up inboxes.
Files on Ovi is built on the technology Nokia acquired in its Avvenu acquisition. It competes with other online file storage systems in general and faces particular competition from Soonr (especially the Soonr powered Quickaccess).
Ovi Sync
Sync on Ovi allows you to sync contact, calendar, to do and notes entry from your phone to the Ovi.com web site. Information can edited or added to on Ovi.com and then synced back to the phone. It offers an alternative to the PC based sync solution that is typically used with mobile phones.
Sync on Ovi is built on the SyncML standard and competes with many other SyncML services such as Zyb and MobiCal. It also indirectly competes with other online contact and calendar management software such as that provided by Google.
The Sync is achieved using software that is built into every S60 phone. It is currently a manual process, but in an online event today Nokia said they were working on an enabler for automatic sync.
Once the data has been synced to the site it can be edited in the online contact management and calendar applications. Both of these 'applications' make use of typical Web 2.0 technologies such as AJAX to give a more PC application like feel to the Ovi.com website. Once data has been edited it can be synced back to the phone.
There three key advantages to Sync on Ovi: backup, ease of data entry on PC compared to mobile, and availability of data via any PC / browser. Its likely that, in the future, we will see the Ovi.com offering expand to add additional functioanlity and to make greater use of this data (e.g. interacting with third party services).
General
We have also written, in more detail, about both Files on Ovi and Sync on Ovi when they first became available.
Here's a Nokia video summarising the update with sections on Ovi.com, Ovi Suite and Files on Ovi:
Categories: Software, Links of Interest, Editorial Thoughts, Events
Platforms: General, S60 3rd Edition
News Discussion
Otherwise: I am impressed - as far as I know no other phone company or even a 3rd party developer has anything coming close to even this level of integration.
I love how the puzzle in the promovideo is not complete at the end! :)
I must admit both look very very similar...
When I sync a Memo created on the E71 it always ends up as a Appointment from 00.00 to 23.00 over two days.
I contact Ovi Support about the problem and got an interesting reply, here is the message I sent.
1 - All Days Events (Memos) created on the my Nokia E71 fail to sync correctly with Ovi Sync, showing instead as an appointment spanning two days.
2 - All days events created on Ovi Sync, show on the E71 with an reminder alarm even when none is selected.
The reply was....
Thank you for emailing Nokia Careline.
'With regard to your enquiry, I would advise you to ensure that your device is not used to synchronise with other applications. If your device is synchronised with different applications (e.g. Mail For Exchange, Intellisync, etc.), the data will be corrupted. As such, please ensure that the calendar entries are created on the phone or on the OVI website only and not synchronised with other applications.'
That was helpful, not.....especially as it only effects memo created on the E71 and Ovi, but might serve as warning for others syncing to other services.
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Originally Posted by fidolatry
So I guess I'm the only person in the world who can't get an activation SMS for this service...?
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http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/forum...1&postcount=33
WHY would using Nokia App1 (PC Suite) and Nokia App2 (Ovi Sync) for syncing cause data loss and corruption? And only a workaround is all you get in response???
It's like, if, using Microsoft Outlook for sending e-mail, and then later accessing it via Outlook Web Access would corrupt your mailbox??? Crazy dinosaur stuff...
Maybe - focus just on hardware, and leave s/w to Android?