AAS: Articles and Features: Featured (Full)

All About Symbian Pub Meet, October 2005

Thu, 06 Oct 2005 14:46:14 +0100

All About Symbian Pub Meet
Monday 10th October 2005, The Crosse Keys Pub, London (City)

Every year on the night before the Symbian Expo (or the Exposium, or the Smartphone Show, depending on what the marketing company calls it), All About Symbian organise an open meeting for Symbian users, developers, manufacturers and interesting people to come along for an informal get-together. This year is no different, and we hope that everyone who comes along will find a warm welcome, friendly conversation, and have a good night out.

We're using a different pub this year, having finally outgrown The Dover Castle. We'll be in the Cross Keys (a JD Wetherspoons pub). Our meetings always see the room bursting at the seams with excitment, so you'd be a fool to miss this one. With almost everyone involved with Symbian OS in town that night, we expect some early technology being discreetly demonstrated under tables, software previews, and perhaps a few surprises as well

The AAS Team will be there from 5pm - an earlier start than normal - there's plenty time here for developers to show off their latest software before it gets really busy for the main program of events, which will start at 8pm.

Where To Find Us

Out thanks this year to the Crosse Keys Pub for hosting the event. We'll be in the function suite up the stairs at the rear of the pub.

The Crosse Keys Pub
9 Gracechurch Street
EC3V 0DR
London

Google Maps Link

The Crosse Keys is within walking distance of Liverpool Street and London Bridge Mainline stations, and numerous Underground stations on the Jubilee, Circle, Central and District lines.

Whats Going To Happen

The main program of events, as listed here, will commence at round about 8pm, to give everyone time to get in from work, changed, and head to the bar, or land from their aircraft flight and find the hotel, or to finish any meetings they have and head on over. We'll be at the pub until 11pm at the very earliest.

Rafe's "State of the Union"
What's been happening with AAS, and what's planned for the future.
Guest Speakers and Lightning Talks
Not yet announced (watch the AAS Front Page for news), we're looking for a copuple of 4-5 minute lightning talks from interesting Symbian OS people.
The Raffle
With lots of great prizes and free software to be won.
The Mystery Star Prize Bag
Traditonal fun in the raffle, the first prize is always memorable. Could this be the year you win?

The Raffle Prizes

Thanks to the following companies for supporting the AAS Pub Meet with raffle prizes, support and encouragement.

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Our top prize this year, after the Mystery Star Prize Bag, is the N-Gage QD Sivler Edition,

A Nokia QD Silver Edition, in silver presentation tin, with the MMC 'Cigarrette Case' Holder and a bundle of N-Gage MMC Games
Copies of O'Reilly's Nokia Smartphone Hacks book.
A selection of books from the Symbian Press range will be on offer, including All About Symbian's Ewan Spence's OPL Book.
Software vouchers from Handango.
Your choice of any registered apploication from RMR Software's collection.
A rather tasty prize from UIQ should keep the winner on edge throughout the pub meet, through the Smartphone Show, and beyond.
Four software titles from the ZingMagic range (winner's choice).

There may well be more prizes announced as we approach the date of the meet, so keep us bookmarked. Good luck to everyone and we'll see you on Monday night.

It goes without saying that while everyone can enter the raffle, there are going to be a few people who we've decided won't be allowed to win the Nokia. For a start Rafe, Ewan and the rest of the senior AAS team don't get to win it. Neither do employees of Symbian or Nokia or any of the super big companies that have them already. And on this one, we're not open to bribery. Sorry.

It's all about the software � the rise and rise of Series 60

Tue, 27 Sep 2005 18:42:09 +0100

The year is 2001 and the Nokia 7650 has just been launched, the world's first Series 60 smartphone. I'd been using the Nokia 9210i Communicator, but its lack of RAM, relative paucity of software (this was before OPL had been released for it) and bulk meant that I wasn't incredibly attached to it. I took a look at 7650 and Series 60 but dismissed the PIM applications are extremely poor, bemoaning for the umpteenth time that Symbian's trademark applications hadn't all made it across to the new platform. In addition, there was almost no storage memory and no expansion card. And, of course, very little third party software (being a new platform). In short, I dismissed Series 60 from my mind as an underpowered, simplistic platform.

Instead, my eye was caught by Handspring and their Palm OS-powered Treo 270. Having previously used a Palm III for a while, I knew I liked the easy synchronisation, interface and power of Palm's applications, plus there was a huge catalogue of add-on programs, from office suites to utilities to games. To get all this with Symbian-like telephony included seemed too good to miss and I plumped up for the Treo. I wasn't happy at heart though, if only because I knew that, back in the Symbian world there was the possibility of real multi-tasking and doing 'proper work'.

With a view to getting back into the current (2003) 'cutting edge' of the Symbian world, I snapped up one of the earliest UIQ-interfaced Sony Ericsson P800s, followed fairly quickly by the newer P900. The form factor was right, the design was generally excellent and it was great to have a camera on board and stereo music blasting into my ears, even if that silly 128MB limit on the expansion cards did limit what could be carried around. But, gradually, the cardinally stupid 'return to base state' behaviour of all UIQ applications began to really annoy me, and I never really got on with having to extract the stylus just to input a few characters.

Hallalujah! [FX:heavenly choirs] Nokia put everyone out of their misery with the announcement of the Nokia 9500, a single keyboarded Communicator device with oodles of RAM, oodles of flash memory, all the built-in applications I used to know and love, plus a VGA camera, stereo music output and support for 1GB MMC cards. This was the device that I had been waiting for, for the last five years. By now, OPL had been finished for the Series 80 platform and I could program away on my handheld, just as in the days of Psion, plus others could run my programs with a simple runtime. The extra comms capabilities (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPRS) were also vital in establishing the 9500 as�the businessperson's communications device. And quite right too.

Yet, only seven months later, a glance at my hip will show you a Series 60-powered Nokia 6630. What on earth happened to the 9500 and how come I'm using a platform I was so dismissive of four years ago? Well, the 6630's Megapixel camera had something to do with it, it's true. Once you've seen your daily snaps (and with a young family, there are a lot of these) with four times the number of pixels, it's very hard to go back. But there's another reason, and it's not to do with the relative sizes (size isn't that important to me, since my devices tend to stay on my hip).

It's all about software. To a small extent it's about the built-in software within (take a deep breath) Series 60 version 2, Feature Pack 2 devices (now you know why sites tend to stick to quoting simple model numbers!) - Series 60 has come a long way from those early Nokia 7650 beginnings. The PIM applications are slicker, the interface has been tweaked and optimised, and the underlying Symbian Operating System (v8.0) is much more powerful and robust.

But THE main reason why it's the 6630 that's staying with me every day is that there's now a critical mass of top notch software that just isn't available for the Communicator. Software like iSilo, which lets me archive web pages and HTML file sets. HanDBase, which lets me keep all my business data on both PC and smartphone. And games, games, games galore. I'm not a big PC gamer, but I absolutely love snuggling down with my smartphone in odd moments and knocking down a round of bowls in Bowling Master, or trying to achieve a lowest under-par round in Golf Pro Contest. Or spending time with any one of the dozens of quality games.

And of course the killer applications for Series 80, such as OggPlay (for music) and TomTom Mobile 5 (for navigation) are also available for Series 60 and installed on my 6630.

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iSilo,�HanDBase and Golf PRO Contest,�three of the newest stars in the Series 60 world

Text input was always a concern of mine, preventing me from giving 'predictive' input on a numeric keypad the time of day, but now I've learnt some of the tricks, I find I can knock out up to 20 words per minute fairly easily (compared to about 30 on the 9500's keyboard). And, for those occasions when speed is of the essence (like writing this article), I reach for my Bluetooth keyboard and I'm connected in a couple of seconds.

Do I still think Series 60 is underpowered and simplistic? No, but I still hanker for notes on Calendar entries and more than one To-do list, all synced nicely to Outlook. Is this too much to ask for, Nokia and Symbian? And I'd really, really, really, really, love someone to find a way to get the OPL runtime working properly on Symbian OS 8 so that I and other OPL stalwarts can start converting over the large number of OPL programs from the rest of the Symbian world.

My 9500 isn't exactly gathering dust these days, it's too good a unit to be left alone for long. But when I leave the house it's my sleek black 6630 that comes along with me. And, for the moment, I'm pretty happy with the arrangement.

For me, it really was all about the software. There's enough now for modern Series 60 smartphones that there's very little need to look elsewhere.

Steve Litchfield, Sept 2005
3lib.ukonline.co.uk

The Smartphone Show 2005, Previewing Symbian and The Handsets

Tue, 27 Sep 2005 14:27:48 +0100

Here we go again. Every year we all gather at the ExCeL centre in London�s Docklands to find out what�s been going on and what�s going to happen with Symbian OS in the next 12 months. There�ll be disappointments, shocks, and decisions that seem ludicrous. But there will also be welcome surprises, possibly official word on some new phones, and more opportunities for developers, vendors, operators and manufacturers to make more money.

The biggest news is either going to be "Sony Ericsson P1000 Breaks Cover" or "Sony Ericsson P1000 Missing Presumed Having A Good Time." While Nokia have their anticipated next generation Series 60 phones and a new model almost every quarter, the SE phones, running UIQ, have a stronger association with Symbian OS than any other, by virtue of Symbian owning UIQ (the company).�An official appearance of some new hardware at The Smartphone Show is a must for the credibility of both Sony Ericsson and Symbian.

Symbian�s credibility also rests in a large part on Symbian OS 9.1, and the third version of UIQ, being available. With UIQ 3.0 announced in February 2004, it has used up all the goodwill due to it, and then some. Unless it�s actually running on devices that attendees can hold and experience, then the industry will probably consign it to the scrap heap. I�m not asking for units to be on sale at the door, but seeing it running on actual hardware, with a shipping date, will calm the markets enough.

Symbian OS 9.1 is another tricky one, with its rewritten kernel�to handle both telecomms and�general handheld�functions, and with a mass of new�library calls (APIs) and functions.�There are architectural changes that developers are going to need to get to grips with, so expect most of them to be squirrelled away in the small dark corners of technology seminars.

How much�credibility should be placed in�malicious programs, viruses and trojan applications is still a strong point of contention between industry commentators and software developers. But even if the risk is theoretical, OS 9.1 takes a number of steps to limit the effects of �evil programs� at the API level (around 40% are restricted). The Symbian Signed program is due an overhaul to take it away from the �complete lock down� it has previously threatened to implement, to something that is workable across the board, from freeware developer to massive third party software houses. Expect some not insignificant reworking of the Symbian Signed program.

Beyond hoping that Hermione (the code name for the P1000) turns up, what can we expect from the other handset manufacturers? The short answer is not a lot. In previous years the Symbian Show has never been the place for a high profile launch, companies preferring to either run their own event or launch at a large scale event such as 3GSM. Although there may be one or two models from the smaller licencees, Nokia will hold back anything big for the Nokia Mobility Conference in November. It�s a shame Sendo left us so suddenly, because the X2 would probably have been in the stores for a month or so and been one of the star performers on the exhibition floor.

We�ll be taking a look at the show floor, some of the companies at the Smartphone Show, and what they could be showing off in our next preview.

In The Palm Of Their Hand - Symbian's Newest Licensee?

Thu, 22 Sep 2005 14:22:22 +0100

Are there going to be any surprises from Symbian at The Smartphone Show? Probably, but the question will be how big are these surprises, and will they be aimed at developers, existing licencees, or at the broad marketplace? So gather round our Crystal Ball...

I can see Nigel Clifford at the keynote. He�s taking about a new licensee, with history in mobile devices and smartphones � the mist is thick, I can�t make out anything on the screen, but someone is walking in from the wings as Clifford welcomes his latest signing to the stage. Ed Colligan. Palm, inc. are taking Symbian OS with UIQ 3.0 to power the Palm Treo.

So is this the way of the future or just a crazy vision? Let me explain.

Firstly, never lose sight of who Symbian�s customers are. They are not you or I. Nor are they developers. They have one product, Symbian OS, and this is sold to a handful of handset manufacturers. Everything else is incidental. If Symbian are not talking to every handset manufacturer in the world, then the sales team aren�t up to scratch.

�But Nokia won�t like Palm as a licensee!� I hear you say. Well, if you follow that thinking through then Nokia wouldn�t like the whole UIQ concept, which is owned by Symbian. They wouldn�t like any other phone apart from their own running the OS. So ask again why Nokia are in Symbian, and then forget about notions that Nokia wouldn�t welcome Palm to the table.

But most of the building blocks to this idea are from the Palm side of things. Colligan, now the CEO of Palm, has been around since before the launch of the Pilot 1000, many, many years ago. So he�s been in many wars and already faced down Microsoft and the Palm PC machines previously. Rumours of a Windows Mobile powered Treo are growing on a daily basis, and I for one am certain we will see one of those this side of 3GSM 2006. So if he�s made the decision to go multi-OS in his product line, the hardest decision has already been made.

Palm is in desperate need of a multi-tasking, multi-threaded operating system that can handle the modern day requirements of a smartphone (e.g. a push email client, IM client and web browser all running at the same time). PalmSource as yet can�t provide this in a stable form using their Cobalt platform � they�re relying on a Linux base to appear in the next two to three years. Palm OS is fine for standalone PDAs such as the Zire, and Palm don�t want PalmSource (now of course owned by Access) going anywhere. Perhaps that�s why the renewed licence between the companies�announced in�May has Palm paying a guaranteed minimum number of unit sales per year to PalmSource? With that income stream in place, PalmSource can take their time polishing the Linux OS variant.

Palm can�t wait that long, they need something that works now. And they probably started work with Microsoft at the start of 2005 (if not before) to work on the Windows Powered Treo. As to the brand name Palm, all of these rights were purchased back by Palm, inc. from PalmSource just after the licencing deal. There�s nothing to stop Palm branding a Windows Treo as being a Palm device. And in recent surveys, the significant majority of users associate Palm with the hardware and not the software that�s running on it.

OK, so it�s a given that Palm can switch the OS in their Treo phones without significantly harming the market or major business relations. So why the link to Symbian?

Simple question � would you bet your entire company's mobile strategy on Microsoft? A company that has been trying to squeeze Palm in the PDA market for a number of years? Would you make yourself beholden to their licence terms? Or would you make sure you had a second option?

And that second option can only, realistically, be Symbian. If you�re happy to go with a multi-OS approach, there is nothing to stop them launching a Symbian OS-based Treo. UIQ 3.0 should be on show in October and in production phones during Q1 2006. The UI/skinning option has already been demonstrated, and Palm working with UIQ to get a �Palm UI� look and feel on the phones would not be a massive undertaking. The UIQ classic skin, in any case, has many of the artefacts in place from Palm OS (e.g. categories and pick lists). It is eerily similar, but not enough to warrant second looks from a lawyer. It provides the same level of functionality, and speaking to some Palm users who have made the switch, they�re very comfortable with UIQ. Now add in the ability to tweak the UI layer in UIQ 3.0... and you now have both the will and means to make a Symbian/Palm marriage viable.

Palm gains itself a modern OS that it can mould to look exactly like everything else - the Windows Mobile Treo shows they�re happy to break compatibility for the right product (in any case Symbian OS 9.1 does this with previous Symbian apps). Symbian gain a new licencee that, while it may not have the bulk selling power of others, has a huge mind share and could finally break open the American market to this Symbian thing. Palm gain all the tools and power they need to push their vision of a smartphone out to the world, while maintaining their independence.

Looks like that it might be crazy after all � no-one is going to believe in a deal that benefits all sides�

Mile High Pinball Interview: How High Is High Enough

Tue, 20 Sep 2005 14:32:55 +0100

"Aliens come to Earth, they create a giant pinball tower, the usual stuff." Dennis Roy laughs off the plot line of an N-Gage game with a knowing wink, and while that might surprise some commentators ("The thing is, our N-Gage Game has a story!" -�(c) random Nokia PR), Dennis� passion for "the giant pinball tower" game is boiling over as All About N-Gage meet up with him to catch a look at the latest build.

The title is Mile High Pinball, and if you�re looking for a sleeper hit during the Christmas 2005 season, this is it. And while the story is a bit fanciful, it gets over the principle of Mile High Pinball. "You�ve a number of pinball boards and as you �solve� each one, a gate opens to the board above, so you can climb up the tower and get to the top."

"You start off with boards at ground level that have a soft, organic and green look. The music has a Mayan feel. And as you climb up, solving the puzzle on each board, or defeating an enemy, or scoring a points goal, the boards change and you get taken up through the mile, through these great themed boards." All the above is pretty much said in one breath, as Dennis waves at the N-Gage being projected onto a massive screen with one arm, and handing out N-Gage QD�s with the other so we can see just what he�s raving about.

...time passes...

You know what, he�s got a point. It takes about ten seconds to work out how to control the game (left flipper and right flipper) and you�re away. The physics feel spot on to me, you can trap a ball on a flipper, and hitting targets needs some practice, but it�s pretty accurate when you get your eye in. And then I stumble onto a hidden board... "There�s a fair few of these, and�five of these are�based on other N-Games," points out Dennis. One of the five, for example, is Pathway to Glory, where you need to take out a tank with your pinball.

"But a mobile device is different to anything else. Because it�s connected." Dennis leans in, and it�s obvious this is where the innovation lies. "Obviously the basis is the N-Gage Arena � and what you need to realise here is that the game tracks every possible stat for your pinball. How high has it been? Where is it just now? How far has it travelled? How much money has been earned? You can upload the data to the N-Gage Arena, search for your friends, or see how you�re getting on compared to others."

How big is that upload? "About 10-15K for the first upload, and it gets progressively smaller as you go along."

All of this is at www.milehighpinball.com, along with one of the greatest customisation options around. "You can design your own boards on the N-Gage," demonstrates Dennis, "and then upload them to the Mile High Pinball website [via the Arena] and anyone can download and play them. You can view the gallery on your PC and then download them onto your N-Gage. Talk about extending the playlife of a title�"

Nokia also seem to have worked out that demo versions of their MMC games are a really neat idea. Hopefully Mile High Pinball is no exception. "There�s an eight board demo that's going to be available. It�s single player only, no Bluetooth or Arena multiplayer unfortunately, but it�s gonna be a blast in any case for single players." And something has to be left to make people buy the game. I can�t help but feel that Nokia have missed a trick though. Early coverage of the game talked about the full version being able to send a "client only" version via Bluetooth to people without the game so they could have the demo� and try a multiplayer game as long as they connected to a full version of the game.

"It would have been nice," explains Dennis, " but we�ve not implemented it." Awwww� "But the eight level demo will allow itself to be distributed virally and sent via Bluetooth in exactly the same way as Snakes was."

Although the realities and timescales of the programming world mean this isn�t a huge surprise to us here at All About N-Gage, I�m personally disappointed � this is something the Gameboy Advance multiplayer games have been able to handle since the launch of that device.

To finish up, it's time for some rapid fire questions. How long does it take Dennis to climb the tower from the bottom. "I can do the first 40 boards in 90 minutes, but then I do know all the secrets!" Favourite pinball machine in the world? "I liked �Addams Family� when I was at college." Favourite gaming platform? "I destroyed three Intellivisions, does that count?" (For those of you who missed the golden years, go look up Intellivision on Wikipedia).

Mile High Pinball. It�s gonna be big, just you watch. Thanks for your time Dennis.

Nokia N-Gage QD Silver Edition

Fri, 09 Sep 2005 15:48:13 +0100

It's an N-Gage QD. That's silver. Next!

(Ehrm, we'll need a bit more than that, Ewan - Rafe)

Will we? Okay�

It'a an N-Gage QD. That's silver. Nothing else has changed. Next!

(Oi!!! - Rafe)

But it's true! And here's the perennial problem. Where the Nintendo's and Apple's of this world can create a massive demand in the market through a simple cosmetic change (think of the impact from the Nintendo Gameboy Advance "Pokemon" Edition handheld), the media and parts of the handheld gaming industry are going to see this as Finland "not understanding the market" and "using cheap marketing." The fact that everyone else does this and doesn�t get called in the mainstream is neither here nor there.

And this is a shame, because the N-Gage QD Silver is damn sexy. It's acres away from the tired orange/grey combo the AAN review unit is, and improves on the muted grey of my personal device. If you're thinking of getting a QD, then there's no real reason to choose the others. Unless you work for a certain mobile phone company.

The problem, of course, is the perception of the N-Gage, so let's tackle this for the moment. Nokia have only ever released one sales statistic for the N-Gage family, a rather shadowy reference in an annual report. But roughly translated there's about 3 million N-gages out there, and sales of 80,000 to 90,000 a month are probably realistic. A million and a half units a year is a failure? Psion, for their ten years or so as the crown holders for the PDA world, struggled to sell more than a million devices in that time span. They would have killed for numbers like that. That's a comparable number to the number of Apple PowerBooks in circulation, and it's more than the combined sales of Microsoft's "Next Big Thing," the Tablet PC's.

There's been a subtle shift in the N-Gage marketing strategy that ties in with the arrival of Gerard Weiner. Moving away from "it's a gaming device that�s also a phone" to "a phone for gamers" may seem a subtle change, but it's enough for the platform to continue to thrive.

The games catalogue is approaching 60 titles either released or in the final stages of development. These aren't minimalist titles, they're heavyweight names and brands which command instant respect. The return of Pathway to Glory, Asphalt and the X-Men for Christmas 05 may bring about a sense of d�j� vu, but I doubt you'll see the accountants complaining - nor and the gamers that loved these titles.

The Fins are no longer taking route one to market. Route one being aimed at direct sales campaigns, store fronts and shelf space. How could you with the PSP looming over the whole market like a steamroller? What's happening is Nokia is recruiting fans through the game titles, as it should be. By buying into existing fan-bases with titles such as the Games Workshop's "Warhamer 40,000," and Kevin Simbedia's "Rifts," this almost guarantees a slew of new fans coming into the system from the sidelines. With a QD and MMC game package units approaching the cost of one of the larger console games, it's almost an impulse buy for the gamer looking for a phone.

And never, ever, underestimate the strength N-Gage has simply because it is a Series 60 platform. That opens up over 3,000 applications. Beyond jaw dropping games like Stunt Car Extreme, you've got practical built-in and third party apps that turn your phone into something comparable to a laptop. While the PSP crowd go bananas over getting a web browser working on their cracked devices, the N-Gage can load up Opera, an AOL or MSN Messenger client, VPN access to desktop machines, IRC channels, FTP, Doom, emulators for almost every 8-bit platform in the world (Mame, Spectrum, NES, Genesis�) with more released every day.

Nokia still want to be seen supporting the N-Gage system. There have been many opportunities to quietly draw a line under the system, but they just roll with the punches and keep returning to battle. The experience Finland has gained here will be vital in the next few years. So what we have here is a bit of care and attention from the patriarch to reassure the family. Spit and polish to bring the bling into focus if you will. That's exactly what the Silver is. We're still supporting it, you're still buying it, we're not going anywhere, and there's more to come.

It's an N-Gage QD. That's silver. And no matter what you might think, it's doing its job beautifully and will do for a long time to come.

The true Next Generation

Sun, 07 Aug 2005 12:46:28 +0100

I was intrigued by comments yesterday over in the Palm world, with Jeff Hawkins (come on, keep up at the back, if you don't know who Jeff is then your knowledge of mobile computing is sadly lacking...) hinting at a 'secret' program of Palm's, producing something for the next generation, when high-speed always-on Internet is a given. The idea presumably is that the Internet (and your own chosen servers/RSS feeds/portals/whatever) becomes the centre of your mobile computing experience. For example, why carry around static reference databases when you can look things up on the master�system online? Why struggle to type/scribble a long email when you can make a call or leave a voice mail in a fraction of the time? Why copy over documents and then convert/work on them and then send them back (risking damage) when you can edit the originals directly? Why mess around with map databases on expansion card when you can access bang-up-to-date maps, route planning and traffic information online? Why�keep your PIM information totally to yourself when you could be working with PIM data online, with selected colleagues and family given access to the bits they need?

And so on. Of course, the economics of today's GPRS and EDGE connectivity (and even 3G) don't quite match up to this mobile nirvana, and quite appropriately. Coverage across the whole of the UK isn't perfect (let alone the rest of the world), and it's a huge letdown when you find yourself needing to send an email, make a call or get navigation information, only to see no signal bars on your network display.

As a result, today's cutting edge mobile devices represent something of a 50:50 compromise,�mixing local applications and Internet-reliant functionality. There's still some way to go.

This trend towards working online shouldn't really have caught anyone by surprise. It's certainly what Symbian had in mind at its creation. Look back 10 years to the era of the all conquering Psions and fledgling Palms. There was no concept of connectivity, the information on your palmtop was all there was until you next got back to your PC and managed to copy things over, and local text entry was crucial.

Fast forward to the current day and the role of a modern device has changed out of all recognition, adding email, instant messaging, web, music playback and photography. Not to mention gaming, telephony and�video playback. Absolute text entry represents a much smaller fraction of the workload than it used to. As an experiment, I've been using a Nokia 6630 instead of my trademark 9500. And, apart from writing this piece (for which�I cheated slightly by using a Bluetooth keyboard), I've found that I've actually been able to do more with the smaller device. My photos have been miles clearer, the sync with Outlook on the PC has been better (support for Notes, yay!), email checks have been quicker and I've had an awful lot of fun playing some seriously addictive Series 60 games (shhhh.....)

As the mobile world shifts away from solitary uber-geeks (like me, I admit it) tapping away on palmtop keyboards, to averagely technical professionals using their smartphone to interface with their networks, their friends and the world in general, I think Jeff Hawkins is on the right track. Not that Palm are the only ones thinking along these lines � Nokia and Microsoft (to name but two) will be right along for the ride too.

When 3G�data services are�more or less universal and costs are down to a sensible level (say �15 a month in the UK), the prospect of keeping your data, your sources and your life online will start to make sense. Not that you'll do all this through whatever web browser is installed on your device. A true smartphone of the future will feature intelligent applications, integrating the Internet with local data seamlessly and efficiently. Others will be able to see what you're up to (with your permission, of course), access your images and video, share common data, compete with you in cutting edge games, wherever you are in the world.

There will have to be some technological improvements to match the new telephony, of course. Longer battery life (or, better, recharging by magnetic induction, solar power or simple movement) and faster processors spring to mind. But, as I've noticed with the way the Series 60 world has come together in the last 12 months, technology often comes good at the right time.

Those familiar with the Symbian OS world will recognise a�lot of the concepts I've just mentioned. The activities currently enjoyed by leading edge adopters, fairly expensively and with a not inconsiderable amount of fiddling around, will in a year or two be mainstream, inexpensive and an awful lot easier. And that's good news for all of us�who plan to be around to enjoy this next generation of mobile computing.

Steve Litchfield, 3-Lib

The Sendo X and a half

Thu, 21 Jul 2005 15:52:51 +0100

The saga of Sendo and its 'X' smartphone could fill a book. Possibly two. Starting out with Microsoft, getting (ahem, now what was Ewan's word? - no, can't possibly use that officially...) err... let down by them and starting (more or less) all over again using Symbian OS and Series 60 as its base, the Sendo X was at best visionary and at worst too late and too full of issues.

As one with a soft spot for the Sendo X, I'm inclined more towards the 'visionary' end of the scale. The X's specifications, although looking a little dated now, were certainly fairly impressive even in late 2004 when the device was finally�launched. Over and above the specs of Nokia Series 60 smartphones of its time, the X offered:

Separate�GraphiX/SoniX processors, handling screen display and stereo music playback, with a built-in MP3 music player and a standard 2.5mm headphone/audio socket
Infrared as well as�Bluetooth�connectivity
A camera with�a 'flash' (actually a very bright LED)
A built-in Now! screen, bringing lots of info together and providing a mini-desktop, with user configurable 'panes'
An extra-high screen, giving an extra 12 pixels for a permanent status bar of battery/network strength and operation icons
DocView and Opera in ROM
User-installable firmware upgrades. These work brilliantly over your standard USB serial cable and don't even wipe any of your settings or files (the way every manufacturer should do it)
Oodles (32MB) of internal flash memory
A hot-swappable expansion card (no rebooting needed to swap cards), and every variety of both SD and MMC are accepted
An optional plug-in keyboard with fabulous 'gotta try it one more time' 'Butterfly' expanding action

Which certainly impressed me when comparing it to, say, the Nokia 6600 or 7610. Of course, to get all this working on top of Nokia's Series 60 interface and Symbian's underlying OS 6 meant quite a lot of custom code. Since the X's launch,�there have been�numerous serious and not-so-serious issues (crashes, clashes, that sort of thing), plus the fact that with Series 60 v1 and OS 6�being the base,�some of the Series 60 software being released these days simply won't run on the 'X'. Notable examples being Quickoffice and TomTom MOBILE, two of the 'killer' apps for the platform.

Still, despite a few quirks, the X mostly did a good job for its fans. It was sold by Vodafone, though never pushed as it ought to have been, and it�never accumulated user numbers big enough to set the world alight. Yes, the screen was a bit dim (even set to 'Ultra bright'), yes the PIM software was stuck at Series 60 v1 status and yes the camera was�about as bad as VGA cameras get, but we loved it anyway, if only because it was different. And British. With a capital B.

So what if we had to reboot every now and then just to get things working again. Sendo's limited software team were beavering away fixing issues and writing new code but somehow most of their efforts never made it into official firmware releases, possibly for political reasons. Then came the announcement of the X2, with music very much at its heart. The X was already pretty darn good at playing back music, what with SD support, proper headphone jack and a choice of several different music players (the built-in 'MP3 player' and the freeware OggPlay). But the X2 promised to put dedicated music control buttons right up front, with nice extras such as a revamped themes engine, OS optimisation, new Now! screen features and an 'Easy Start' application to help new users get connected and working online.

Then came Black Wednesday, June 29th 2005, when Sendo went into administration. I'm not going to dwell on the reasons for the company failing here, these things are inevitably complex. But, as chronicled on SendoSmartphones.com, the engineers at Sendo (henceforth referred to as 'the good guys') saw the writing on the wall and determined that if nothing else, they were going to get all their hard work released in one final uber-firmware upgrade or die trying. And, aside from a false start, the new firmware, 1.198.8.2, was released for the Sendo X, bringing many of the improvements that were destined to arrive with the X2.

1.198.8.2 effectively turns a Sendo X into a Sendo X and a half, with quite a bit that's worth commenting on. For starters, the 'X' is now faster and more stable, with over a Megabyte more free RAM now that the�extra Sendo�layers (over the OS) have been well and truly optimised. The Camera algorithms have been tweaked, it's still a lousy camera but at least the photos come out looking the correct colour (and 'night mode' has gone, not being needed anymore) and video capture and playback�are now smoother. The Speed Dial system has been extended to include launching applications (giving you no less than three alternative application launching systems in the one device - you're spoilt for choice here). Finally, in addition to a number of bug fixes and tweaks, there's a new application, Easy Start, a wizard to help beginners�set up�MMS, WAP, GPRS and so on.

Aside from the limitations of the camera, the 'X and a half' firmware help make the Sendo X a valid option in the smartphone world, mid-2005. Of course, there's the immediate ramification of there not being any official support or warranty, but there are plenty of Xs on the second hand market and being able to pick the Sendo X up for well under �100 and then flash it to 1.198.8.2 yourself makes for a cheap well-specified smartphone.

What of the future? Motorola haven't bought up Sendo for its current handsets (they're probably after Sendo's talent, ideas�and systems for customising handsets for different operators), so the X and a half is probably as good as a Sendo is going to get. But as smartphones come and go in the AllAboutSymbian (virtual) office, I keep picking up my Sendo X and admiring its many good points. If only... If only...

Steve Litchfield
Links: Sendo X top tips, SendoSmartphones.com

Nokia Nseries N70

Wed, 27 Apr 2005 16:43:24 +0100

As part of their Nseries announcement Nokia today unvieled the N70 a 3G Series 60 smartphone with a 2 megapixel camera. Clearly focused on imaging other camera features include improved desktop and printing connectivity, an integrated flash, x20 zoom, and an improved on board gallery application. Other features include a a stereo FM radio (with support for Visual Radio) and music player. The phone is expected to be available Q3 2005, an EDGE variant will be available at a later date.

Nokia Press Release:

Slide and Shoot with the Nokia N70: the smallest 3G Series 60 smartphone with 2 megapixel camera

Nokia N70 is part of the Nokia Nseries high performance multimedia range

Amsterdam, Cancun, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur � Nokia today introduced the Nokia N70 multimedia, a beautifully designed, compact and easy-to-use 3G smartphone with versatile mobile photography, personal productivity and entertainment features. Incorporating a complete smartphone feature set, as well as a 2 megapixel camera, flash and front camera for video calling, the Nokia N70 comes fully equipped with stereo FM radio, a digital music player and new 3D games.

�The Nokia N70 perfectly illustrates our commitment to offer powerful, all-inclusive handsets that aid people in their daily lives. In addition to advanced smartphone and entertainment features, mobile photography is extremely easy and enjoyable with the elegant Nokia N70,� said Joe Coles, Director of imaging product marketing at Nokia. �The number one reason why people today purchase new handsets is the camera. Indeed, we foresee that by the end of 2005, over half a billion people worldwide will own a camera phone.�

Easy mobile photography
The slide and shoot design makes mobile photography fast and simple. The rear camera slide reveals and automatically activates the 2 megapixel camera, ready to instantly shoot photos or video. The intuitive slide is complemented with an integrated flash, 20x zoom capability and a range of capture scene settings for optimizing image quality in various environments, including Scenery, Portrait, Night, and Sports. Furthermore, the dedicated shutter key on the side of the phone enables users to capture images like they would with a regular camera, allowing for greater stability and ease of use.

The storage, management and organization of images and video clips is convenient and efficient with the Nokia N70. With the Nokia XpressTransfer storing solution, all new photos and video clips can be automatically copied to the PC. Photo albums created on the phone are also automatically saved in similar albums on the PC. Furthermore, the Adobe Photoshop Album Starter Edition software offers users an efficient way for organizing or editing photos
and video clips on the PC.

The new improved rotating Gallery provides for enhanced browsing of images and video clips. Images can, for example, be organized into slideshows, with the viewing experience further heightened with added background music. Images and video clips can also be instantly printed from the Gallery with the Nokia XpressPrint printing solution using a USB cable, wirelessly over Bluetooth connectivity, or using the Reduced Size Dual Voltage MultiMediaCard (RS-MMC).

Smart productivity
An excellent and powerful tool for personal and professional information management, the Nokia N70 offers a full set of smartphone features, including very easy-to-set up email functionality with extensive attachment support, Internet browser, video streaming and 3G-enabled features such as two-way video calling* and video sharing*.

Furthermore, additional applications can be installed from various sources**, while organizer information can easily be synchronized with compatible PCs.

Entertainment on the move
Equipped with a digital music player with stereo audio, FM radio and support for Visual Radio, the compact 126 gram Nokia N70 also doubles as a great pocketable music device. For an even more playful multimedia experience, theNokia N70 supports S60 and Java 2D and 3D games, some of which are pre-installed in the phone or on the standard in-box RS-MMC.

Measuring just 108.8 x 53 x 17.5 mm (95.9 cc), the Nokia N70 is the smallest ever 2 megapixel 3G smartphone based on the leading Series 60 Platform. The Nokia N70 is expected to be available in the third quarter of 2005. Additionally, a variant of the Nokia N70 for EDGE (Enhanced Data Rate for GSM Evolution) markets will be available at a later date.

Convergence and the rise of the smartphone

Wed, 23 Feb 2005 20:20:13 +0100

Convergence and the rise of the smartphone

In which Steve Litchfield enthuses on ultimate integration, in which he finally gets the point of Series 60 and in which the world finally becomes a happier and safer place.

(OK, maybe I lied about that last bit)

A visit to a friend brought the message home to me yet again - the all-in-one smartphone is the future, whatever standalone PDA fanatics might say. You see, my friend has been a rabid iPod fan for the last couple of years. He also had a Treo 270, one of the first really useable smartphones, on my suggestion in 2003. But the 270's backlight died and he wanted to treat himself (and had to stay with Palm OS because his wife was also a Palm OS user and they 'shared' categories in DateBk5, so I had to resist waxing lyrical about Symbian... again), so he got himself a Treo 600.

Now, despite the Treo 600 not coming with a stereo headset, the processor power and audio electronics are there under the hood, so my friend bought a third party headset, a suitably large SD card and then loaded up half a dozen albums of favourite music. No matter that the song capacity of the ensemble was a fraction that of the iPod. No matter that the sound quality wasn't (quite) as good. What blew his mind was that that he was listening to CD quality music on his 'phone'.

Of course, power users of PDAs and top-end smartphones have known this for a while, but it seems that the world in general is just starting to wake up to the possibilities. Other analysts have called 2005 'the year of the music phone'. Even Nokia, who have tried to avoid stereo output from their smartphones for years, are finally cottoning on, with stereo in their latest handsets. Visionaries like Sony Ericsson and Sendo have had full stereo audio for a couple of years and full credit to them.

Whether it's integrating a camera, an MP3 player, a video player, GPS or digital TV, the future will bring smartphones which are more and more 'converged'. For many people, there hasn't really been much of a reason to carry around more than one device since about 2003. It doesn't matter that your smartphone isn't (yet) a perfect camera, that it's not (yet) the best MP3 player, and so on. What matters is that it's a single, compact device that does everything, and that it can only get more and more powerful as time goes on. By 2006, most smartphones will have serious Megapixel cameras, a Gigabyte of internal flash memory, expansion to 4GB by popping in a SD card and, of course, stereo music output (and will come with the necessary headphones). Next on the integration list will be digital radio and TV receivers.

All of which brings me to Series 60 and what the man in the street actually needs. I'm guilty here of judging Series 60 rather too harshly in the past and I intend to put things right, right here, right now. From my perspective, as a hardened Psion/PDA/smartphone enthusiast, the PIM applications in Nokia/Symbian's Series 60 interface are very limited. No notes on any entries? Only one to-do list? Having to input all text using a phone keypad? And what's with that tiny 176 pixel wide display? Who on earth is going to buy such a system?

The answer, it seems, is just about everybody else. The sales figures for Series 60 smartphones have gone through the roof in the last 18 months (five million smartphones per quarter? - now that's impressive). What I'd failed to realise was that Series 60 isn't aimed at PDA veterans or road warriors. It's aimed at putting something that has relatively huge functionality into the hands of Joe Average in the High Street.

For him, 'advanced' Symbian OS functions such as proper media support, easy addition of third party applications, an MMS-enabled camera and access to the Internet through the wonders of GPRS, are all reason enough to buy. The keypad-only text entry, seen as a limitation by me, is in fact a major attraction for casual users who 'already know how to use it'. The narrow display, set deliberately at 176 pixels to accommodate quarter-width video frames, means that devices can be tiny and generally acceptable to a public for whom the relative bulk of the 9500 would be abhorrent. Most of all, the fact that a Series 60 smartphone is designed to be used one-handed is tremendously appealing, enabling shopping or a briefcase or a child's hand to be held in the other, and the lack of a touch-screen means that the display can be covered by bullet-proof plexiglass that should stand up to the rigours of every day life without constant worry of damage.

It's still early days both for smartphones in general and for Series 60, but they're on the right track, I believe. And with palmOne lost in an operating and filing system maze of its own devising, and with Microsoft seemingly unable to close the gap, Symbian is still my best bet to power our mobile future.

Community, not marketplace. Altruism, not greed. And Symbian OS

Thu, 17 Feb 2005 03:20:55 +0100

I�have a dream.

I have a dream of a world where people help each other, a world where people create simply because they want to and not because it's a way of making money, a world where there's a common desire to see our daily experience grow to be more than just the sum of its parts.

In case you're wondering, I'm talking about smartphones and communicators here, but in order to explain more I'd better go back to the very beginning of time.

Well near enough. To 1991, with the creation of the Psion Series 3. This, more than any other device, enabled the likes of you and I to put a serious amount of computing power in our pocket without crippling battery power limitations. In addition to keeping your diary and address book, the Series 3 enabled the creation of games, calculators, journals, spreadsheets, and so on, all on the move and all within a keyboarded device no bigger than a spectacle case.

The upshot for Psion was a sales phenomenon, with 3a, 3c, 3mx and eventually Series 5 and Revo models following over the next eight years. Sure it sold a million units and made a decent profit, but back in 1991 (and indeed ever since its creation in the mid-Eighties) Psion wasn't simply trying to make money, under the guiding hand of David Potter it was implementing a vision of how mobile computing could be.

In parallel with the Psion phenomenon, a community grew up. Helped enormously by Psion's inclusion of their OPL programming language in the ROM of each unit, owners started to write programs and share them, first on bulletin boards (remember them?) and then on the emerging Internet. Again, the goal of each developer wasn't to make his fortune but to 'fill a gap' by creating something new and useful. The vast majority of Psion applications were released as freeware or shareware, the latter often with minimal restrictions when unregistered. The idea was that the applications would actually help improve somebody's life, make them more productive. And if a few registrations came in to help fund further development then great.

For the user's part, there was a delightful honesty. This was a time before 'warez' and 'cracks', a time before demo and trial versions, many applications only had a single nag screen when started up. And yet users registered applications in their thousands, simply because they wanted to. As part of the Psion community, they wanted to contribute in some way.

Fast forward today and my dream, largely fulfilled in the heady old days of Psion, is in dire need of renewing. Symbian (many of whose staff are the same Psion arhictects and visionaries - people like Richard Harrison and David Wood) are doing their part, on the whole, continuing to create a great operating system and environment. Nokia, Sony Ericsson and the like are doing fairly well, too, creating devices at reasonable cost that we can base our mobile environment on. Even the network operators aren't doing too badly, their prices kept down by mutual competition.

Some blame must lie with (some, but not all) third party software developers. Take a look around a big download site like Handango - you'll notice that many programs don't have trial versions, usually because they knew that if a user actually got to try the software then they wouldn't buy it. And then there are copy-cat and get-rich-quick applications, such as the recent craze for 'anti-virus' software. And there's surprisingly little freeware. Come on developers, you're not going to get rich on a dozen registrations a year of some little utility, so why not make it freeware, go for the glory and contribute to the Symbian OS community?

Most of all, though, the blame lies with you and I, the people who own Symbian smartphones and communicators. Well, perhaps not quite you and I - the average AllAboutSymbian user is probably as enthusiastic and honest as it's possible to be - but certainly the millions of owners across the world who have somehow acquired an attitude of 'I must be able to get everything for free, however illegally, if only I know where to look'. Started by the craze for swapping music illegally online, software was a natural follow-up. After all, which of us doesn't get a spam email every day from someone trying to sell us Microsoft Office for $50? And now the warez scene has become a real problem in the Symbian OS world. Every time someone downloads a cracked copy of a game or application from a warez site instead of buying it from the developer, they're depriving the latter of their livelihood.

This isn't just conjecture, either. I was talking to Makayama, a small developer (several staff, spread across Europe), last month and their 'DVD to Mobile' software was apparently so widely pirated that they very nearly didn't continue. A couple of years ago, SymbianWare released a shareware game for the Nokia 9210 and saw it pirated widely within a few weeks. Again, they very nearly stopped developing altogether. There are other developers who have simply stopped writing software altogether.

Yes, times have changed since Psion ruled the Earth. We live in more commoditised world and a buyer expects a smartphone to come with everything they need. Therefore they try and acquire anything else for free. But it's the 'anything else' bit that ultimately builds a community and improves the capability of the smartphone for all of us.

There's more to mobile computing than popping into Phones 'r' Us and making a purchase, and Symbian OS device owners need to play their part. Both by being honest in their downloads and purchases and by contributing applications (OPL really is easy) and help to others.

Sendo X2 Music Phone

Mon, 14 Feb 2005 15:42:43 +0100

Here are some picture of the X2. Click through for high resolution versions:

�Here's the press release from Sendo. More details to follow as we get them, and a hands on report from Cannes:

Sendo adds music mobile to its play list - Sendo X2

State-of-the-art digital music player, one touch access to music and phone, expandable memory

14 February 2005

The sleek Sendo X2 Music Phone, announced today, is a state-of-the-art digital music player that doesn�t compromise on phone features or usability. The bold new phone is the first in a series of innovative mobile entertainment devices from Sendo.

The Sendo X2 boasts high quality sound direct from the phone or through the included stereo headset. It supports the hugely popular MP3 format and offers easy transfer of music from a PC over Bluetooth or USB, so that users have instant access to all of their music. Plus, the Sendo X2 is one of the first phones to support the high-quality, efficient AAC and AAC+ music formats adopted by the mobile industry as standards. Also, the Sendo X2 offers protection to music sellers and content owners with advanced Open Mobile Alliance digital rights management. Most importantly, tapping in to all of these features couldn�t be easier.

Ron Schaeffer, Product Management Director for Sendo, commented, �The Sendo X2 is the first phone that makes playing music truly as simple as making a call. Just switch the phone on and press Play. There�s no wading through menus or searching to find your songs. The exclusive Sendo Now! Screen with its built-in Music Player and clear control keys literally put your music at your fingertips.�

�Phones haven�t really been credible alternatives to dedicated digital audio players until now. The Sendo X2 changes all that. It�s got the music format support that both consumers and operators want, memory that�s expandable to over 1GB and rich, high quality sound powered by Sendo�s custom-designed SoniX� system.�

�With the Sendo X2, you�ve got only one light device to carry around and one set of headphones to manage. When you make or receive a call, the music pauses, ready to resume from the same point when you�re done�, Schaeffer concluded.

The acclaimed Sendo Now! Screen means that both operators and consumers can adapt the phone to the way they want to use it. For the consumer, it�s an all-in-one music and communication device, while for operators it�s a highly customisable phone that will help to drive sales and ARPU through its uniquely easy access to their music services and wealth of powerful features.

The 18mm-thin Sendo X2 is the smallest and lightest Symbian OS phone announced to date at just 85cc and a mere 95g.

Other powerful features include:�

1.3MP camera with 8x digital zoom and camcorder
Approximately 32MB free memory expandable to over 1GB with tiny miniSD cards
Bluetooth and USB connectivity, including charging over USB from a compatible PC�
Large, bright 2.2� TFT, 65,536 colour display
Speaker independent voice recognition for quick access to all of your contacts without lots of� training
Real HTML internet browsing capability plus WAP
Triband GSM/GPRS
Symbian OS / Series 60 and Java MIDP application support

The Sendo X2 will be available in Europe during this summer.

AAS: Articles and Features: Featured (Full)

All About Symbian Pub Meet, October 2005

All About Symbian Pub MeetMonday 10th October 2005, The Crosse Keys Pub, London (City)

Where To Find Us

Whats Going To Happen

The Raffle Prizes

It's all about the software � the rise and rise of Series 60

The Smartphone Show 2005, Previewing Symbian and The Handsets

In The Palm Of Their Hand - Symbian's Newest Licensee?

Links:

Mile High Pinball Interview: How High Is High Enough

Links:

Nokia N-Gage QD Silver Edition

The true Next Generation

The Sendo X and a half

Nokia Nseries N70

Convergence and the rise of the smartphone

Convergence and the rise of the smartphone

Community, not marketplace. Altruism, not greed. And Symbian OS

Sendo X2 Music Phone

All About Symbian Pub Meet
Monday 10th October 2005, The Crosse Keys Pub, London (City)