AAS: Articles and Features: UIQ (Full)

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�

For and Against: the case for the two UIQ Office suites

Tue, 12 Jul 2005 13:07:39 +0100

Elsewhere on AllAboutSymbian, I have reviewed�(here and here) each of the Office contenders on the Symbian UIQ platform, along with a potted history of each. Both Office suites for UIQ are available in fully working, time-limited trial form and the best course of action is for you to download, try and buy�in your own computing environment.

To help you choose which to try first, here's a simple tabular comparison of the strengths of each product.

Quickoffice Premier 3.0

Documents To Go 2.0

More standalone functionality in the UIQ Office applications
Support for multiple languages
The Quickpoint module has full editing functions
Quickpoint can drive a presentation via Bluetooth from your UIQ smartphone
New worksheets can be added within Quicksheet
Quickword supports generic .txt file formats�

Images shown within Word To Go, aiding readability and ensuring that images don't get accidentally deleted
Full range of font sizes and�table formatting shown in Word To Go
Faster document opening and saving
InTact technology means that there's perfect document integrity when 'round-tripping' Word and Excel files back to the desktop
Works with�more versions of Office (and Open Office)

Previewing UIQ 3

Tue, 12 Apr 2005 15:37:47 +0100

UIQ is sometimes some what unkindly known as the other Symbian UI. In terms of number of devices on the market it is dwarfed by Series 60, but held against other competitors such as Linux, Palm and Microsoft it looks more respectable. At 3GSM UIQ were publicly demoing for the first time their much talked about new version...

UIQ Technology is a relatively small company, especially when compared to its competitors in the smartphone UI business. It is a subsidiary of Symbian, but it is run as a separate company, with the CEO reporting to the Symbian board. With UIQ 2.1 it had a stable and mature product. Indeed the Sony Ericsson phones running the UIQ UI have been regular award winners and are considered by many to be the most powerful smartphone available, that is in no small part due to the UIQ UI.

However with UIQ 2.1 the company only served a small sector of the market of the potential phone UI market. To expand it was going to have to look outside it's pen based tablet origins. The problem was that, given it's size, UIQ Technology would not be able to support multiple UI platforms. Therefore if it wanted to expand its product it was going to have to think carefully about how to do it. Fortunately there was already a strict design framework in place in UIQ 2.1 and the initial thought that this could be expanded upon to support multiple device types was proved ultimately proved correct. The result is the technically impressive UIQ 3 which from a single code base allows multiple form factors and configurations.

UIQ 3 has a great deal of flexibility in terms of what can be used for display and interaction. Put simply what this means is that UIQ 3 has support for three device form factors � the classic UIQ tablet form factor, the smaller screened smartphone, and a landscape-screen orientation. On top of this you can use several different types of interaction � keypad (softkeys), QWETRY keyboard, and pen. This means UIQ 3 can potentially support a great variety of handsets such as the one handed smartphone, the clamshell communicator, the classic tablet, the QWERTY tablet, the fat (landscape) tablet or a combination of these. Although initially there will be two shipping reference designs (the classic UIQ touch screen slate device, and the one handed smartphone device), but that doesn't mean will not see other form factors, it is just an indication of the type of device we are likely to see first.

This many form factor approach may seem quite clever, but technically the impressive feat is that they all run off the same code base. This is harder than you might think since it is necessary to have a strict framework to make this work. There is an user interface 'presentation layer' at the very top � depending on the device and configuration � this will format the user interface to display in a given way. In a non touch screen device control will be through softkeys, where in a touch screen device control would be through menus. This 'presentation' layer of the UI will display in the way most logical for the devices configuration. There is a unique piece of code for each configuration, but this is relatively simple consisting of instructions that effectively say 'present menus like this, dialogs like this and so on'.

The other major element updated in UIQ 3 is the branding and customisation elements collectively referred to as the Operator Configuration Package (OCP). These have been put in as a result of operator feedback. On the surface this is a considerable upgrade to the theme support in UIQ 2.1 with a great deal more of the look and feel being customisable. New features include animation anywhere in the UI, transition effects between screen views, customisation of menus (for example this could comprise a menu item titled 'Download Games' linking to an Operator store).

More significantly it gives operators a much more powerful toolset for customising the looks of the phone. It allows hardware manufacturers to more easily create operator specific phones since the changes take place in the OCP layer rather than the software layer. It is also possible to update the OCP over the air. How much control the end user has will be up to the handset manufacturers and the network.

Aside from that UIQ 3 retains the applications from UIQ 2.1. Some of them take advantages of advances in the underlying Symbian OS (version 9). But for the most part a UIQ 2.1 user will largely recognise the in built programs as little different to those which they are familiar with.

The underlying code is a single codebase. The significance of this is that everything apart from the presentation layer is the same. Both the operating system itself and its accompanying applications run on the same code whatever device configuration and form factor is employed. The same is true for third party applications � a developer can write a program once and it will run on all UIQ 3 devices (although it may be necessary to optimise for specific configurations to get the best user experience � for example a drawing program would not work well without pen input). An interesting comparison to draw is between UIQ 3 and the pairing of Microsoft Mobile Smartphone and Pocket PC Edition. Where Microsoft has two products UIQ has one. There are obvious economic savings in development costs, but also in support costs and running costs for manufacturers, networks and enterprises. The idea of a portfolio of devices running the same software is attractive at all levels, for the manufacturers (lower development costs), the operators (who can create a common branding), and for the user (who can switch between devices more easily). Clearly UIQ 3 is only part of a trend. The integration of Series 60 and Series 90 and the forthcoming Magneto from Microsoft follow a similar pattern, but UIQ have been working on it longer than anyone else, and at the moment seem to have the most flexible approach while maintaining the single code base.

There is no doubting that UIQ 3 has a lot of potential and that it is technically impressive. However until we see devices on the market it is going to remain potential. UIQ say there are 8 devices in development and the chances are that the majority of those are UIQ 3 devices. It is tempting to see a portfolio of UIQ 3 devices from Sony Ericsson, ranging from a T6XX style device through the K and S series and up to the PXXX series. It would make a lot of sense strategically for Sony Ericsson; Nokia have already demonstrated the effectiveness of creating Product Platforms (such as Series 40 and 60), and the potential costs saving are large. It is quite possible to see a future where there are four key user interfaces in the market � Microsoft Mobile, Palm OS UI, Series 60 and UIQ � each of which is capable of running on a variety of devices and configurations.

Politically within the Symbian community the UI subject is a sensitive area. It is not possible to escape the conclusion that there is going to be competition between the various Symbian UI's. The public message is that it is not a concern and that everyone is concentrated on growing the addressable market. The reality is that Nokia's control of the user platform through Series 60 is not something every handset manufacturer is happy about. UIQ then is a real alternative, Sony Ericsson and Motorola have already invested heavily in their P and A series phones respectively, and that is something that is set to continue. There's also rumours of a great deal of interest from Far East manufacturers and operators.

If there's one thing to take away about UIQ 3 it is that it has the potential to become a major mobile platform competing with Microsoft Mobile, Series 60 and others. However until UIQ 3 devices are announced and they get into the hand of users it is difficult to tell just what the impact might be.

Catching Up With Motorola's Symbian Plans

Wed, 16 Mar 2005 22:40:53 +0100

Motorola probably have second place in the market share of UIQ devices after Sony Ericsson. The A1000 series phone son the Hutchinson Telecom 3G Network, �3� in the UK are the high end, maximum spec devices. Running Symbian OS and UIQ, Motorola have invested heavily to get the A1xxx series into pole position as 3G devices. With 3GSM seeing the launch of the A1010, Rafe and I caught up with Bill Werner, the 3G VP at Motorola, to ask about the A1010 and all things Symbian.

Unlike the Nokias of this world, Motorola have been involved with every Mobile Phone Operating System out there, including Symbian, Windows Mobile and Linux. What�s the story behind that? "Motorola are active in all the markets around the world," explains Bill, "and our customers [the Network Operators] have a lot of varied tastes." It makes sense to offer the networks what they would like � this seems to be the common theme at 3GSM this year. The A1xxx series of phones are pitched as high-end 3G devices, and when we were looking around to decide on the Operating System for those devices, we chose what was the best solution. And that was UIQ and Symbian OS."

Motorola rather spectacularly (in the eyes of some commentators) withdrew as a Symbian partner in 2003, but continued to use Symbian OS as a licencee. "This reflects our platform agnostic approach," Bill says. "If you step back from having a direct investment with one company, you gain more flexibility in the Operating System choice for certain markets and customers. That�s what the Motorola approach is. The relationship with Symbian is unchanged day to day, and certainly on the developer side of things, the agreements for enhancements and evolutionary changes haven�t seen any obstacles.

We�ll continue to see the UIQ interface in the A1xxx series of phones, and this range is growing at 3GSM, with the launch of the 3GSM. What�s new in this device? "Wi-Fi" announces Bill, which is impressive given that you�d hope Motorola would put this on the spec sheet. It�s been rumoured to carry this, and while there�s a certain crossover in the functionality between 3G and Wi-Fi, it�s something that proves popular with a lot of travellers. What does this do to the battery life, though?

With any phone, adding new features will always have a detrimental effect on the battery. But there is a need for the manufacturer to keep the battery life at an acceptable level. We realised with the A1000 that there would be a lot of high demand applications, such as Video Calling, so it shipped with a very large battery to take account of this. As well as the thinking behind the battery, we�ve been working with Symbian at the OS and Kernel level to ensure that the new features in the A1010 would have as little impact on the battery as possible. To sum up, there is a concern, but Motorola feel that what we�ve done is going to be in that acceptable range for the end-user.

Along with adding Wi-Fi capability, there�s nothing else obviously new. "We�ve taken advantage of a lot of enhancements in the OS, and the A1010 is now a more mature and stable product than the A1000. "A lot of our customers feedback has driven these changes." So it�s more an evolutionary change from a strong base than big flash jumps in technology, as some manufacturers will attempt.

Other than 3, the A1010 is going to be appearing on a number of other 3G networks in the world. We didn�t get any names, but appearances in early 2006 are likely. 3 is talking about a Q3 2005 launch for the A1010, so those dates probably fit in with a period of exclusivity for the UK 3G network.

Motorola are clearly pushing to get 3G into the mainstream, where they think their early adoption and investment in 3G handsets will pay off. Symbian OS is going to be a big pat of that. It�s unlikely that they�ll push UIQ devices to the mid range and mass market (that�s what they have the Linux and Java based platforms for). While other handset manufacturers struggle with their first generation 3G smartphones, Motorola will probably be hard at work on the successor to the A1010, with all the knowledge gained from their early entry. It should be fun to watch, because if the A1010 can break America, that�s a huge market for Motorola� and Symbian.

Rafe's also taken a look at the Motorola A1010 in this article...

�

Reviewing the P910i from Orange

Wed, 16 Mar 2005 22:29:04 +0100

P910i Review

I've been using the P910 for a while now, and up front I'll say it is a very impressive piece of technology. In some ways , with its phone centric � stylus input user interface, it stands half ways between the true smartphone (one handed use and phone functions first) and the PDA-phone (stylus usage, PDA functions first). As a result it has something of a devoted following and is a great example of device convergence. However - how much that suits you is a very open question!

There are plenty of other reviews available I thought I would so something a little different in this review. Since the P910i has been out since the third quarter of 2004 and there have been a lot of positive articles and reviews of both the hardware and the standard UIQ software. There has been less comment of the real world usage, and very little on what is perhaps the most important element for both first time and middle-of-the-road smartphone users (who incidentally make up the vast majority of sales) - the out of the box experience provided when purchasing via a network operator.

It's all very well for knowledgeable users who know how to configure their phones and who will be adding software before the first charge is complete and are more concerned with how easy things are to customise that the initial user experience, but they are still very much in the minority. So in this review we will be looking at the hardware and software briefly with emphasis on some real world usage and before looking at the extras and the user experience from the UK operator Orange. Thanks to Orange for providing me with the opportunity to do so.

Hardware

The P910 is the third in the line of the P series and it shows. While the P800 was pretty revolutionary as phones go the design left a lot to be desired. Things were improved greatly in the P900, especially in the design. With the P910 the looks and design changes little and internally the hardware gets upgrades in the keypad, more screen colours, more internal memory (internal memory quadrupling to 64MB and RAM up to 32MB) and support for larger memory sticks. It is the software that get the more visible overhaul, mainly through the addition of third party programs which greatly enhance the out of the box experience. The resulting device is a large improvement over the P800 and an incremental improvement over the P900.

Keyboard

The most talked about change in the P910 is the addition of a 33 button QWERTY keyboard behind the flip (phone pad). This was a response to user feedback about the difficult in entering large amount of text via the stylus and no doubt also a response to the P series closest competitor the Treo range. The keyboard makes the phone fairly unique in having three input modes � keyboard, keypad (T9) and stylus (hand writing recognition or 'hunt and peck' on screen keyboard). This offers a choice to the user and broadens the phone's appeal.

Despite being very small the keyboard is surprisingly usable and ideal for replying to emails with more than a single line or making notes. The keys are slightly concave which means even with relatively large fingers it is difficult to mash multiple keys at the same time. The tactile feedback is fairly poor, but not surprising given the size of the buttons.

It is possible to hold the phone by the flip when typing with the keyboard in a two thumbed mode. At first it feels very top heavy, but it is something you soon get use to and with practise you will find input speed increasing. It is definitely a case of something that is worth persevering with. Too facilitate this sort of usage the flip has been strengthened and feels considerably more robust than the P900. At the same time it is important to be realistic � the keyboard is very small and you are not going to be writing large amounts with it, after a sustained input sessions fingers can feel a little numb. You'll also find that you can not use the keyboard exclusively � you will still have to use the stylus at times � jumping between fields in a form for example. However it is a very welcome addition, especially for those adverse to stylus input, or those use to thumb keyboards.

What you use will be largely a matter of preference but I found myself using each method depending upon the situation. As a prior user I was familiar (and quite fast) with the Jot Pro handwriting recognition and for quick input this remained my primary choice, for quick text messages the keypad is very good having excellent tactile feedback. It can only be used in flip closed mode and so it uses are limited, but it ideal for one handed usage when on the move.

Screen

The screen is one of the most impressive I've seen in a smartphone and the extra colour depth is great in multimedia applications. It is the brightness that really stands out. Compared the the early P models and many other phones the improvement is noticeable. It makes the screen a lot easier to read and is a real boon if you enjoy eBooks on your phone or other activities that involve using the screen for prolonged periods. Where it really makes a difference is when used outside, the screen is viewable even in sunlight and in normal conditions the clarity is excellent. For battery conscious users the brightness can be adjusted which allows you to squeeze that extra bit of time out of the battery.

Memory

The memory situation of the P series has always had mixed responses. For many it has been adequate, but once you start to stretch the previous models the shortcoming became apparent. The small internal memory dictated the use of an external memory stick for storing pictures and other items and the limitation of the Duo format meant the maximum memory stick was 128 MB. In turn that limited the full use of the phone. Thanks to the more generous internal memory the phone now has enough memory out of the box for the majority of users. With support for Duo Pro the P910 supports memory sticks up to 1GB in size, which opens up more functionality. Previously using the phone as a practical MP3 player or mobile video player was a bit unrealistic given the memory constraints, but now that is not a problem. For such multimedia functions you are going to need to buy a memory card (a 64MB is supplied with the phone), but at least the support is there for the larger cards. The RAM situation is also improved and I had no problems even when running several resource hungry applications at once.

Upgrading?

Having looked at the major hardware changes from the P900, users may wonder whether its worth upgrading. For many it is only going to be worth doing so if you would like the support for larger memory cards and the use of the keyboard on the flip. The better screen is an improvement, with the extra brightness being particularly welcome, but it took a comparison when displaying photos for me to see a noticeable difference in the colour depth. If you are a power user and suffered from memory problems on the P900 then the extra memory will make the upgrade worthwhile, but I suspect this will be a small minority of users (the ones who will upgrade anyway to get the latest phone). The extra third party software can be added yourself and is therefore not a major consideration. With those exceptions there is not a great deal of extra functionality. However it is well worth spending a little extra if coming the P series for the first time to get the latest model.

Multimedia

Rather disappointingly given the numerous megapixel camera around the P910 only offers a VGA camera. On the bright side it is one of the best around (with small but noticeable improvements over the P900). The on board camera software is also improved with extra modes and preferences. The videos produced by the phone are of average quality. Like most phones the imaging functionality is such that it is really only for sending to others via messaging or viewing on the phone itself. It certainly will not replace any camera.

Connectivity

The phone has excellent connectivity options supporting USB, Bluetooth, and Irda for connections to a PC (for syncing and file exchange). Sending to other phones and devices is supported by Bluetooth and Irda as well as the usual messaging options. The Bluetooth stack seem very robust and I had excellent performance from a range of accessories including keyboards, headsets and GPS units.

When connecting the a PC its possible to use the phone as a GPRS modem, install software, back up the phone and sync to a variety of desktop PIMs such as Outlook. The sync software has been improved but even using the supplied SyncStation cradle it is very slow (partly because despite being USB it appears to still operate in serial port mode). It did work without any problems for me, but the more recent Series 60 phones have leapt ahead and Nokia's most recent version of PC Suite feels polished by comparison. Sony Ericsson has some work to do here, if only in speed terms, to keep up with its competition.

The phone does support SyncML out of the box, but it is still, unfortunately, not widely used and most users are going to be unable or lacking the knowledge to use it.

Battery

The battery life on the P910 was very good. The performance is better than the P900 and in tests it did approach the specified 12 hours of talk time. It is quite possible to use the phone for several days without recharging. It typical use I found I needed a recharge every 3 or 4 days. Even with intensive usage (near continuous GPRS) the battery lasted a full working day with room to spare.

Software

User Interface

The User Interface has had a small update in the form of UIQ 2.1. There aren't any major changes although the some of visible parts have been tweaked, such as larger icons and changes in scroll bar operations. There are some extra customisation options too and better behaviour when answering calls (you are not switched out of applications), and when the phone switches between voice and GPRS (alerts are given). These are all incremental changes and are likely the result of user feedback. UIQ generally produces mixed feelings, people either like it or loathe it, but the most recent version is very polished.

Before buying the phone it is well worth getting someone to give you a demo or having a go yourself. That way you can judge for yourself whether you will be able to get on with the way it does things. Personally I find it very intuitive and quick to use, it allows me to get at the most frequently used function fast. In real use you will end up customising it yourself (you can, for example, rearrange or change the application shortcuts along the top of the screen) and will have preferred ways of doing things. The jog-dial on the side of the phone means that you can navigate one handed for a lot of functions (and this is my personal preference), but I've seen that some people prefer to use the stylus.

It does takes a while to learn all of the user interfaces functions and ways of doing things, but it is very easy on the beginner and I've found that the phone can be handed to almost anyone and they will be able to use it. That is definitely not true of all smartphones.

Software

Many people will be familiar with the standard software. The P910 is no exception to the general rule that smartphones have got to the point where the personal information management applications are generally always acceptable. In the P910 case the extra screen real estate and the use of the stylus generally mean that it feels far more like a PDA than a phone when compared to a smartphone which generally makes it easy to use. The advantage it has over PDA's is an excellent level of integration unmatched on any platform.

With the standard UIQ software offering powerful agenda, notes, todo and time functionality is present. I've never found this lacking, indeed it as good as any I've used, although some long time Palm users may be somewhat disappointed. It is very easy to use and there are some nice touches (particularly in the integrations between programs). An example of this is the functionality that allows you to accept calls from anyone, only those listed in contacts, those listed in speed dial, or none at all.

The Calendar, Tasks, Jotter and Contacts programs make up the core of the PIM functionality and all do their job very well. Calendar has the expected day, week and month views and a whole variety of options when entering items. Similarly Contacts is a powerful application with plenty of integration with the telephone application so that using it to manage who you call, send messages to and the like becomes intuitive. Shows-offs always seem to like the picture identification on incoming calls, but it not something I really use.

The telephone application is extremely powerful (diverts, logs, speakerphone, conference calling, etc.) and there is a lot of customisation possible for those that wish to use it. Fortunately this complexity is well hidden from the user who just wants the basic functions. Ringtones can be MIDI, MP3, WAV, and AAC formats and can be customised on a user by user and number by number basis. Not surprisingly this has been one of the more popular features of the phone, but it does tend to annoy family members who here a different sound every time someone rings your phone!

The messaging software combines emails, SMS, MMS and other into one central place and this works very well. However the inability to see more than a handful of messages at any one time and large font size used (resulting in very short subjects) means that the inbox is not as clear as it should be. The software does have wide support for a variety of protocols and is an acceptable mobile email client. There are not problems with crashes or time outs and the handling of mail attachments, reading and composition of messages in generally very user friendly and intelligent. The P910 also has support for a wide variety of push email protocols (including Blackberry), but this isn't something I tested.

The web browser is fine for most uses, though the power user might want to install Opera which comes on the CD with the phone and is free for all users. Opera is the best in class for mobile browsers and the larger screen size on the P910 make it a pleasure to use.

The multimedia software is good too, and with the support for the larger memory cards the MP3 player really comes into its own. Software functionality is relatively basic, but more than adequate, and the sound through the supplied earphones was excellent. The video player (supplied by Packet Video) has a handy full screen mode, but you will need extra software to convert video if they are not in a mobile friendly format. You can view images using the Pictures application which is functional is not particularly featured. The CommuniCorder application handles picture and video taking and is a solid performer with plenty of settings.

None of the above is really changed from previous P series models, nor is it anything out of the ordinary for smartphones. What is new and somewhat innovative is the inclusion of raft of third party programs. This is something we are seeing more of on smartphones (Opera and NetFront and Quickoffice being examples on Series 60), and it is very welcome. There is an increasing realisation that many people are not getting the most out of their phones and that not everyone want to install new software to facilitate extra functionality. The inclusion of the extra software means that not only is the necessity to buy extra programs to add commonly used functions no longer necessary, it also means that such functionality is present out of the box.

On the P910 the software includes Pdf+ for viewing pdf files, and Quicksheet and Quickword (read only versions) for reading Microsoft Word and Excel files built into the ROM and numerous others available on the CD. The former are more significant as they add significant functionality to the phone. It greatly adds to the ability to view email attachments for example. Clearly Sony Ericsson are position the device for business users, and these additions make a lot of sense. All three are well polished and the products of some of the Symbian community best known and well respected developer.

Of course if the on board software isn't enough adding more is not difficult. A few programs you might wish to consider are MobiMate's World Mate (for the World Traveller), the full version of MDM's Quickoffice Premier Suite (allowing editing as well as reading of Microsoft Office files), Agile Messeneger (for instant messaging), and MobiReader (for eBook and text reading).

Use as a Phone

Reading the above it might be easy to forget that the P910 is a phone. The most admirable ability of the P series, is that, despite being very powerful devices, they do not sacrifice their phone functionality. In day to day use it is likely to be the function used most. The P900 is as simple to use as any other phone and you do not look like an idiot when you hold it up to your ear (unlike most PDAphones). It is a little large for the pocket, but works fine in the supplied belt case or in a bag. You can use as a normal phone without any changes in usage patterns (end and receive buttons, easy look up contacts, text messaging all in flip closed mode), but should you wish to get more out of it, the advanced functionality is but a moment away.

For me personally the device is used as a phone when out and about and only rarely for it more advanced functions, but when at home or work or during breaks in longer journeys) the PDA functions come to the fore be it for reading, email, or organising my life.

Orange Extras

Having run through what you can expect to find on any P910i phone it is time to look at some of the Orange specific features. Orange is one of the five main operators in the UK and is well known for it SPV series of phone powered by Microsoft Mobile. But it has also had every P series handset from Sony Ericsson, and they have been a main stay of their signature (featured) phones.

Orange have traditionally added features to their high end phones (Orange Signature Applications) and the P910 is no exception. Installed out of the box are Home Screen, Backup, Downloads, Orange ContactWiz and Orange EmailWiz. None of these are very sexy, but they do add something to the user experience.

The Home Screen allows one touch access to phone functions and orange services through a series of menus controlled from the jog dial and when you open the flip it appears by default. I have mixed feelings about the Home Screen, its very obviously an import from the SPV range (indeed the default Home Screen on the C500 looks exactly the same) and in terms of Orange users switching it is a good thing. However it does not follow the UIQ style and so in effect breaks the UI of the phone. I think this is a questionable decision from a usability stand point. It also can't be removed, and it occupies on the icons along the app picker bar at the top of the screen. I would like to have had the choice to remove it.

On the other hand it probably does make the phone a bit more friendly for first time users. It does speed up access to the calendar, messaging, multimedia and browsing functions. However I think an opportunity was missed. Orange would have been better off licensing Handy Day or Tracker, creating their own look and preloading that into the phone. It would have a similar effect, but also offer a lot more. As it is the Home Screen feels very empty most of the time, and if you know your way around UIQ its quicker to use the standard way. Its a good idea, but the implementation isn't there.

Backup allows you to backup your personal data (contacts, calendar) over the network and then restore it when necessary. It is a fairly basic program, but one of the nice options is the ability to set it to Backup automatically as a scheduled time and scheduled interval. The security of data on mobiles is an interesting area, by their very nature such devices are more likely to be lost or stolen and Backup presents a helpful safety net for this.

Downloads is intended to allow customers to get upgrades and new software as well as wallpapers and ringtones. In theory this could be an extremely useful idea since it makes getting and installing updates and new program much easier, making for a better user experience. When I tried it nothing was available so in practise it was not much use.

The Orange ContactWiz and EmailWiz are also helpful. The first for transferring contacts from a previous phone and the second to help set up your email on the phone. I see more questions about problems with setting up email than anything else (mainly revolving around using the right server for sending) than anything else so the EmailWiz is particularly good.

All of these Orange Extras provide for a much better user experience out of the box, and lower the barriers to entry for users. If we are to see the wide spread adoption and usage of such phones this is exactly the sort of thing that is needed.

Orange have also branded the phone, for some this is a negative, but for less experienced users having pre-defined links in the browser, access points and the like is not only a very good thing, but a necessity if they are to get full utility out of the device. Obviously it is also in Orange's interest too since it lowers the entry for barriers for mobile browsing and use of the more advanced phone features, which increases revenue generation. My opinion is that this branding is fine as long as it doesn't remove functionality and the visible aspects can be removed. Orange have done an excellent job adding value to the phone with their signature applications with the only downside being a less than perfect Home Screen.

Orange Services

Before concluding it is worth mentioning that the P910 takes full advantage of the services available through Orange World. Thanks to its excellent browser and screen, the user experience on the P910 is the one of the best available when it comes to using mobile services.

In talking to people from other countries, most noticeable the US, it is apparent that the UK and Europe are some way ahead in terms of the services that operators provide through their portals. Most of these services are accessd through the Orange World portal which is a series of XHTML pages. These range from the Fireplayer service (the ability to mix your own ringtones), the Find My Nearest service (find any number of services based on your current location), the Shazzam song recognition service (play music down the phone and get the name of the piece sent to you via SMS), Travel Information (plane, train and bus timetables), Orange Music Player (download the latest songs to your phone), as well as the usually news, information and entertainment offerings in the form of text, images and video. There is also, of course, the ability to download ringtones, wallpapers, games (both Symbian and Java) straight to your handset. These are well integrated into a single portal, and a fair amount of customisation is possible � for example via the My Page function which allows you to set up a bookmark page of frequently used items.

It is difficult to explain the portal offering succinctly, but it is an ever present part of the European smartphone offering. I would take if for granted that it is an essential part of the allure of smartphones that access to the portals is considerably improved by the better browsers and larger screens available on smartphones. I think it is such services, accessed via operator portals and via programs on the phone (such as the backup service on the P910) that will be the driver of the the future growth of smartphones and data service usage. The barrier to entry for such services is the user experience. It must be easy and, it must be cst competitive, and it must be intuitive. With the P910 Orange have done a good start to the job of lowering the barrier, but as a high and expensive handset the impact will be limited.

With the majority of the 1.2 billion mobile page views a month in the UK being on operator portals it is not difficult to see the impact and how important this is to both users and operators.

Conclusion

Given the P800's status as the ultimate smartphone in some ways the P910 was a big disappointment when it arrived. There was no megapixel camera, no EDGE or UTMS versions, no wifi, rtaher there were just incremental improvements. On the other hand it is very easy to get 'spec-blindness', and forget what a powerful device the P910 is, it remains a very well integrated and very powerful smartphone. While EDGE would have been a natural progression it still doesn't have wide support. The hit on battery life from either UTMS or Wifi would have been potentially disastrous. The omission of a megapixel camera is perhaps the strangest, but the reality is that Sony Ericsson probably do not see the camera as core functionality in the same way it is on a phone like the 7610. Perhaps the biggest issue for the P series is that the competition has caught up, the seamless connectivity, the ease of use and integration is no longer so special. Despite this, the P910 remains something fairly special, with a foot in both the PDA and smartphone space. For those that want this convergence and device type it is very difficult to beat.

Win a P910i

Now that you have read the review here is a chance to own the top of the line P910i.

We have teamed up with Orange to give away three Sony Ericsson P910i's. All you need to do in answer a few simple questions.�Please go to this page for more information.

Previewing the Motorola A1010

Fri, 25 Feb 2005 16:35:30 +0100

The Motorola A1010 is the fourth Symbian OS / UIQ device from Motorola following on from the A920, A925 and A1000. It the latest in the series of high end 3G tablet format communicators that Motorola have indicated will continued to be developed. It runs UIQ 2.1 which means the principal form of input is via a stylus. With the announcement Motorola is now the third ranking licensee in terms of number of Symbian OS devices announced after Nokia and Fujitsu. This will likely change when Sony Ericsson announces its series UIQ devices, but it is ironic considering that Motorola is often seen as the least supportive of Symbian from the major handset manufacturers. In reality that is not true, but Motorola see Symbian as just one plank of their strategy and their usage of it is driven more by custom demand that any potential economic of scale, control or technical imperatives as is the case with other licensees.

Curiously the key change from the A1000 to the A1010 was not mentioned in any of the press releases or indeed the specifications. Speaking to Bill Werner, a Motorola VP, I was told the key difference between the A1000 and the A1010 was the addition of WiFi. There's more from that interview in Ewan's write up. Clearly the addition of WiFi would be a significant move. The A1010 would be the second Symbian phone to support it (after the 9500) and would undoubtedly broaden the appeal of the phone, especially in Motorola's home US market. It also has interesting possibilities for VOIP (voice over Internet protocol) applications, which allow you to make voice calls using the Internet as your network. This was hinted at in a joint announcement by Motorola and Skype (a VOIP provider) that went largely unnoticed. In it Skype and Motorola announced their intention to work together to integrate Skype out of the box into some high end 3G and WiFi Motorola handsets. Although the A1010 was not specifically mentioned it seems a likely candidate and ties in with Skype's commitment to support other mobile platforms (currently it only supports Windows Mobile).

The rear camera has also been upgraded to 2 megapixels for still and video capture which should give some good results. The front camera remains at VGA resolution for video calling. Extra memory, currently up to 512 MB, can be added via the proprietary TransFlash cards. The business user is well catered for with VPN support and the ability to view office formats, pdf and other popular formats via the Picsel document viewer. Multimedia is also catered for with stereo MP3 playback available via a headset and support for streaming audio and video. Messaging support is beefed up with support for Instant Messaging added, although the protocol used is not yet clear. The Assisted GPS remains provide support for location based services. In the first models this wasn't much used, but there is an increasing amount of software available that does support the use of the built in AGPS. Notable among these are the car navigation products such as WayFinder. Having the GPS built in rather than linked via Bluetooth is an obvious advantage. We are also likely to see more Operators starting to take advantage of the location information.

There's only so much I can tell you about the A1010 in use since there was no working demo model available. Probably because if there are any they are not yet stable enough to be let out in public. The earliest release date mentioned was Q4 2005, with 2006 being mentioned as the global launch date. That probably means the handset is about half way through its development life cycle. Typically smartphone takes about 2 years to go from the first idea to the first product. That time scale does of course vary greatly depending on the type of phone and the level of experience within the product development team. Although the A1010 may appear little changed from the A1000 it is likely that the integration of the WiFi into the unit will take a significant chunk of development time. Symbian does not support WiFi within the OS, and so that is something that Motorola will have to develop and integrate themselves.

The shape is much the same as the A1000, though the design is a little less rounded. The buttons and general layout remain much the same. Thanks mainly to its tablet form factor it is still a large phone, but nothing like the pocket ripping monsters that were the A920 and A925, and it feels like there is a lot less unused space.

The A1010 is a technically very impressive phone integrating the leading mobile technologies including triband GSM, WCDMA, a multi mega pixel camera, Bluetooth, WiFi, and AGPS. Thus far the models have been limited to a single network, but that is set to change for both the A1000 and A1010, which Motorola says will be available globally on many networks. Together with the addition of WiFi this should mean you will be seeing a lot more of Motorola A series UIQ phones.

Rafe and Ewan also caught up with Bill Werner from Motorola at 3GSM - you can read the interview here.

UIQ Freeware

Tue, 30 Nov 2004 15:59:52 +0100

Following on from our popular Series 60 Freeware articles, it's time to turn our attention to UIQ. These phones are a bit more techy, but there's still a huge amount of free software out there. It's not as easy to find as their commercial counterparts (well, not yet, but that's a surprise for next week), but they're just as good (and in some cases more useful) than the full priced choice.

SMan

Steve Litchfield summed it up nicely in his review. SMan should be the first thing installed on any new UIQ device. As soon as a new interface is developed for a computer, the manufacturer rips out the useful things. Like the ability to close applications when you want. A decent Task Switcher. A file Manager that shows everything. As well as those functions, there's also a Today view, a secure data storage area and a few other features that are nice, but not as vital as the first ones listed here. An essential download.

ReadM

ReadM is a eBook Reader. Its has numerous options and features including slectable fonts, screen orientation and auto scroll. It is a highly configurable reader for electronic books, which could be scaled down to a barebone plain text viewer, but, if necessary, it could be enhanced with quite sophisticated bookmarks system (including highlights and text corrections) and with support for a variety of most popular text and audio formats (including Aportis DOC, TCR, and MP3.) Plain text files inside GZIP and BZIP2 (not ZIP) archives are also supported. You can download books via infrared, Bluetooth, or Internet connection (there are several popular Internet portals with free eBooks in supported formats, e.g., www.memoware.com.) The books you download could also be shared with other mobile devices and beamed through infrared or Bluetooth, or send with e-mail or MMS. ReadM can be used as an embedded viewer for compatible formats in e-mail attachments, MMS, or WAP pages. You can also playback any MP3 music files with ReadM (MPEG Audio Layer 3 versions 1, 2 and 2.5 are supported.)

Quirc

Quirc is an IRC Client, and it has to have one of the most basic homepages in the world (just a link to the zip or source, and then the readme text file), but that hides one of the most useful communication tools around. IRC has been around for a long time, and it consists of a huge number of IRC servers which you can log onto with any IRC client. Once on a server, you can go into public or private rooms (all named) or start individual conversations. The AAS team hang out on irc.freenode.net in the #mobitopia room. Maybe we'll see you there!

Shut The Box

Prolific OPL author Steve Litchfield is behind this one. Shut The Box is a simple counting game with two dice. It's very gentle, and while the mental arithmetic angle is great for helping children, there's enough strategy and tactics for hose looking for a quick and easy game on the early train to work on a Monday morning. Steve's also made the source code available so prgrammers can see what's going on and how certain things are accomplished.

Solun

This Pocket Planetarium has been around on various platfroms for a long time. Dave Rushall has continued to support the new Symbian OS devices, and the UIQ version (running under Personal Java) is choc full of features. There are multiple views from the 'simple' sky charts and views of directly above (zenith) and looking out to the horizon, through a world map display, the phases of the Moon, depictions of Jupiter and Saturn, and information on the Sun, Moon,Planets and stars. Think of it as the Route Planner to the sky and you're half way there.

Ogg Vorbis Player

Yes the world is full of MP3 players, but there is more audio than MP3. The Ogg Vorbis standard promised better compression with better sound than the MP3 standard, and it succeeded technically, but never really got the recognition that it would need. But being able to compress more music onto your storage card is a big bonus. Of course you'll need something to play these files, and Ogg Play is the player of choice. It looks good, makes intelligent use of all the controls, and it works in flip closed mode as well.

Agile Messenger

Agile Messenger allows you to connect to various IM accounts and send an recieve messages from your phone. You can connect simultaneously to Yahoo IM, MSN IM, ICQ IM and AOL IM. This means you should be able to contact anyone with an IM account. It will download your contacts (if your using one an IM that stores those things centrally). Instant Messaging can be very useful on a mobile. It's a lot cheaper than SMS chatting (as well as being quicker). Perfect for organising a meet down the pub. You can connect to the servers through a GPRS data connection. Alternatively its possible to use your desktop PC's internet connection via bluetooth. Some people use this second method to stay connected all day and use their phone as a personal IM tool.

Gridlock

There are any number of level based logic games, and you could write an article just on them along (hmm, there's an idea) but Gridlock is one of the earliest, and one of the best. You get a gameplay grid where blocks can go forwards and backwards on their long edges. You need to slide these around to free your grey smiley block so it can escape the grid and slide free. A simple concept which can be played in a long session or short bursts. Perfect mobile gameplay.

Yahtzee

Just making this page, having been recently released, James Trotman's version of the classic dice game adds no bells and whistles to the rules. It's a clear and simple interface, that allows you to play the game and see everything that's going on. It's well designed, and the simple addition of a high score table means you keep coming back for more, especially when your best friend pops in his name at the top of the table, forcing you to play it every waking minute just to knock him off.

OPL Programming Language

Not exactly a lightweight application, but OPL has contributed to more applications on Psion handhelds than any other langugae. It's now an Open Source project on Sourceforge, and allows anyone to write applications in an easy to understand language. Shut The Box on this page is an OPL application, as is my own Vexed tile puzzle game.

AVI's On UIQ - A Guide To Watching Movies on UIQ Phones (Part 1)

Fri, 17 Sep 2004 01:15:53 +0100

Introduction

This tutorial comes in four parts: Basic, Intermediate and Advanced followed by an FAQ section.

The Basic Guide will convert an AVI file to 3gp format with the best quality achievable, while still fitting on a 128 megabyte MemoryStick Duo card. The Intermediate Guide helps overcome some video/audio synchronisation problems which can be experienced when converting some AVI files as a result of the compression techniques used. The Advanced Guide deals with serious video/audio synchronisation problems resulting from bad sections of video and how to work around them. Each guide builds on the previous one, so it is best to read them in sequence.

This tutorial is primarily aimed at users of the P900 smartphone.�Users of the older P800 smartphone can also benefit, but the quality of the video playback will not be so good.

What you will need

For the Basic Guide:
UIQ Smartphone
128meg MemoryStick Duo
Reasonably fast Java-enabled PC, preferably running WinXP with at least 3 gigabytes free disk space (if your PC isn�t already Java-enabled, go to http://java.sun.com and download the latest Java runtime, which is free)
PV Author � a conversion tool from PacketVideo (http://www.packetvideo.com/shop/authordownload.asp)
PV Author profile for the P800/P900 (bundled with jWavlength from http://www.freepoc.org)
DivX codec � the free one, not the pro version (http://www.divx.com/divx/)

For the Intermediate & Advanced Guides:
VirtualDub � an excellent freeware video editing application (http://www.virtualdub.org/download)
jWavlength � a simple Java program by FreEPOC to find the exact playing length of a WAV file (http://www.freepoc.org)

Some general information before we get started

Video dimensions. AVI files come in a variety of video dimensions. Almost all of them will be larger than the P900�s screen size. This means that the video must be resized to display on the P900. As we will see, this can be accomplished directly in PV Author using the encoding settings. We will use video dimensions of 240x156, which nicely scale to the P900�s screen size of 320x208. We will see how to apply these settings in PV Author a little later. P800 users will need to use settings of 192x125.

Frame Rate. Most AVI files will have a frame rate of over 20 frames per second. Typically you will see numbers like 23, 25 or 30 perhaps including fractional rates. Realistically however the P900 is not sufficiently powerful to process anything more than 12 frames per second � and even then it sometimes struggles to keep up. We will therefore use 12fps as our setting in PV Author.

Bitrate. We want to create a 3gp file which gives the best playback quality while still fitting on a 128meg MemoryStick Duo. In simple terms, the size and quality of the 3gp file vary more-or-less directly with the bitrate. So varying the bitrate setting in PV Author will vary the size and quality of the 3gp file produced. We therefore have to calculate the optimal bitrate in PV Author each time we convert an AVI file. It turns out that an approximate formula for doing this is as follows:

Bitrate = 185,000 * 90 / (length of AVI file in minutes)

This formula works reasonably well for AVI files of between 90 and 120 mins in length (which will include most movies). Using this calculated bitrate setting will usually give a 3gp file of between 120meg and 125meg - just right to fit on a 128meg card (which normally hold a little less than a full 128meg of data). For convenience, we would normally round the bitrate to the nearest 5,000. Again, we will see how to make proper use of this PV Author setting later.

Video/audio synchronisation. AVI files come in all sizes and compression formats. A common format is video encoding using DivX with audio encoding using MPEG-3, a highly efficient compression which will typically encode a full-length movie in around 700 megabytes. However this AVI format can sometimes cause video/audio sync problems when directly converted by PV Author to 3gp for playback on the P900. For example any AVI file which has used a variable bit rate to encode audio will almost certainly cause a loss of sync when converted by PV Author. Typically the video will lag the audio by a small amount � enough to be irritating when viewed. If you follow the Basic Guide below and experience such problems, then try the Intermediate or Advanced Guides.

Setting up

Install the DivX codec, PVAuthor and VirtualDub on your PC. Copy the file jWavlength.jar into the same directory where you installed VirtualDub.

We now want to install the P900 profile for PVAuthor which is included with this guide. In Windows Explorer go to the directory

Program Files > PacketVideo > PV Author > Profiles > Device Specific

Create a new directory called P900. Into this directory, copy the file P900_b175000s240x156f12vbr.pvp (included with jWavlength from http://www.freepoc.org). P800 users should copy the file P800_b175000s192x125f12vbr.pvp instead.

Basic Guide

This is the fastest way to create a 3gp file which you can play on your P900. Firstly, let�s find out the length of our AVI file. We will need that to calculate the proper bitrate setting in PVAuthor. Right-click on the AVI file in Windows Explorer, and go to the Summary tab. Make a note of the length (in minutes) of the file.

Run the PVAuthor program. Go to the Encoding tab, and load the profile P900_b175000s240x156f12vbr.pvp which you already copied above. You�ll see that the bitrate is set to 175,000. Calculate a new bitrate using the formula we saw above:

Bitrate = 185,000 * 90 / (length of AVI file in minutes)

In this case, our video is 114 minutes in length, and the formula gives a result of approximately 146,000. Round this number to the nearest 5,000 and enter it in PV Author�s bitrate setting. If you wish, you can save this amended profile under a new name, for example P900_b145000s240x156f12vbr.pvp. This profile represents a bitrate of 145,000; screen size of 240x156; frame rate of 12fps; variable bit rate encoding.

Go to the Input tab and select your AVI file.

Go to the Output tab and change the name of your Output file if you wish. I recommend at least including the bitrate in the filename so that you have a record of the settings that you used for this particular file.

Press OK, and then Start. Once PV Author has finished processing, your 3gp file will be ready to transfer onto your 128meg card. If the 3gp file is too large to fit, slightly reduce the bitrate setting and convert it again.

Tip: keep your original AVI file until you are comfortable with the results of your conversion to 3gp format.

We are done. The 3gp file will have been placed in whatever directory was shown in PV Author�s Output tab. By default this is Program Files > PacketVideo > PV Author. Copy to your phone and watch the video in full screen in the video player. Enjoy.

Next week we'll have a look at some sync problems that may arise and how to deal with them.

Sony Ericsson P900

Wed, 30 Jun 2004 20:03:47 +0100

Sony Ericsson P900

The sucessor to the P800.

Key Features

User Interface: UIQ 2.1
Operating System: Symbian OS v7.0
Display: 65 000 colors,
TFT touch-screen
Display size: 40x61 mm, 208x320 pixels
Dimensions: 115x57x24 mm
Weight: 150 g
Standby time: Up to 20 days
Talk time: Up to 16 hours
Memory: 16 MB built-in memory
Memory card: 32MB Memory Stick Duo�
Triband 900/1800/1900 MHz GSM/GPRS/HSCSD

Features

VGA Digital camera, 640x480 pixels
CommuniCoder�
Video clip support /MPEG4
MP3 player / MP3 ring tones
Widescreen games
Web: WAP 2.0 (HTML, XML, cHTML, XHTML, i-mode) WTLS Class 3
Email, MMS, EMS, SMS
PIM functionality: Contacts, Calendar, Tasks
Connectivity: Infrared and Bluetooth�
Synchronization: SyncML
and USB
Handwriting recognition
Polyphonic ring melodies
Themes (Personalization)
Speaker phone
Picture phone book
E-mail attachment viewers
M-services and RSA compliant
Flight mode
Removable flip
Open development environment: C++, PersonalJava 1.1.1a, MIDP 2.0
P908 = Chinese version

UIQ Phones

Wed, 30 Jun 2004 19:57:56 +0100

Sony Ericsson P800
The P800 has a large 208 x 320 pixels color touch-screen, built in camera and Internet access, it supports tri-band GSM and packet data via GPRS. It was the first Symbian OS v7.0 and UIQ phone.

Sony Ericsson P900
The updated version of the P800 has many refinements including more memory a higher colour depth screen, an updated version of both the Symbian OS and the UIQ user interface and an updated design.

Motorola A920
The A920 is the first 3G Symbian phone. With video calling, and 3 services it is a very high end phone. Its is triband, and supports GPRS as well as 3G connections. It is available exclusively on the 3 network.

Motorola A925
Similar to the A920, this phone has fewer specialised 3 features. It is likely that as yet uannounced (officially) phone will be used by 3G networks other than 3.

Motorola A1000
Motorola's third Symbian phone is smaller than its too predecessors and looks set to be one of the most advaned 3G phones on the market.

BenQ P30
The BenQ P30 is a UIQ device desinged by the Taiwanese based manufacturer who is often contracted to design and build phones by the larger manufactuers. It features a large screen and pen based interface. It is the smallest and lightest UIQ phone available.

BenQ P31
A variant of the P30 the P31. The P31 has a 1.3 megapxiel camera and support for both MMC and SD cards.

Arima ASP805
The first Symbian phone from Arima is targtted at the far east market. It has a 1 mega pixel camera and a fold over lid give a window mode and a full mode akin to the flip mode and full screen mode of the Sony Ericsson P900.

BenQ P31

Wed, 30 Jun 2004 19:54:34 +0100

BenQ P31

The P31 is a slightly updated version of the BenQ P30. The design has been modified slightly with the most noticeable change being the internalising of the aieral. The camera has also been upgraded to 1.3 meagpixels.

Specifications

User Interface: UIQ 2.1
Operating System: Symbian OS v7.0
Display: 65 536 colors, 16-bit TFT touch-screen
Display size: 208x320 pixels
Dimensions: 117x52x17 mm
Weight: 100 g
Memory card: SD memory card slot
Triband 900/1800/1900 MHz GPRS class 10 for wireless data services

Features

Digital camera,�1.3MP resolution
MP3 and MPEG4 audio and video
Web: WAP2.0 browser
Messaging: Email, MMS, SMS
PIM functionality: Contacts, Calendar, Notes, etc
Connectivity: USB, Infrared and Bluetooth
Open development environment: C++, MIDP 2.0

Motorola A1000

Wed, 30 Jun 2004 17:43:20 +0100

Motorola A1000

The Motorola A1000 is Moto's third Symbian 3G phone.

Motorola Quote:
"Ready for a mobile that has everything? Motorola introduces the model A1000, the ultimate 3G convergence phone that allows you to do almost everything while looking stylish and staying on the cutting edge. With this multi-functional mobile�s voice and data functionality, you can feel confident leaving the office and taking your work on the road. Get more done while you review documents and conduct conference calls at the same time and open up a whole new way to communicate and share information with two-way videoconference capabilities. The Motorola A1000 is a smart phone for a smarter you. "

Specifications

Compact Tablet / PDA Form Factor
WCDMA 2100 MHz, GSM/GPRS 900/1800/1900 MHz functionality for global use
208 x320 TFT (65K) Color display
1.2 Mega-pixel & VGA integrated camera (video record / Image capture with 4X digital zoom)
2 Way video conferencing (Point to Point Video) � Multimedia: Streaming, Capture & Playback (MP3, MPEG4)
Messaging: SMS, MMS, E-mail (IMAP4, POP3) � Full HTML Browser with Small Screen Rendering
Picsel� Document Viewer (Supporting Microsoft Word�, Microsoft Excel�, Microsoft PowerPoint�, Adobe PDF, Unzip)
PIM Application (Calendar, Contacts, Notes)
Synchronization: SyncML (OTA), Desktop PC Sync
24MB of User Memory /Supports Removable Memory (Triflash-R)
Integrated USB, Bluetooth� Wireless Technology
A-GPS support for Location Services
Virtual Private Networks Support (User installable)
Symbian� 7.0 Operating System
J2ME� (MIDP 2.0 + APIs)
Download pictures, video, audio, ringtones, wallpaper, and applications

Arima ASP805

Wed, 30 Jun 2004 17:30:10 +0100

Arima ASP805

"ASP805, which is 100% developed by Arima, is an easily pocketed handset with superb telephony capability, all of the key PDA type functionality with special focus on personal information management, messaging, and browsing, tri-band GSM/GPRS/HDCSD connectivity, running over Symbian 7.0 OS and UIQ 2.11, with a 2.66 inch high resolution color display, integrated 1.3 MP CMOS camera, Bluetooth / IrDA / USB connectivity, 64MB RAM, 32MB Flash, SD and MMC external memory support.

Besides, ASP805 has a cool and distinguishing style, easy to use and fun to operate while reliable enough to manage valuable business information. It is intended for both the professional and young users.

Further more, ASP805 has a series of amazing features enabling users to take digital pictures, view them on a 320x208 pixel color screen, store them in the photo album and send them as an e-mail to a PC or as an MMS-message to another. Furthermore, ASP805 can be used in more than 150 countries worldwide as it runs on GSM 900/1800/1900."

Key features

E-GSM 900, GSM 1800/1900
Symbian OS v7.0 with UIQ 2.1 User Interface
32-bit TI OMAP RISC CPU based on ARM9 core
GPRS and HSCSD

Screen

Screen type: TFT, touch sensitive, anti-reflective
Display size: 208x320 pixels, 2,66"
Colour resolution: 16 bit, 65,536 colors

Memory

Internal user storage memory: 32 MB
External storage: MMC/SD cards

Imaging and Audio:

1.3 megapixels
Color depth: 24-bit (16,7 million colors)
Video size: QCIF
Video: recording, streaming and playback.
Audio: recording, streaming and playback. Audio player. Voice recorder.

Additional Features:

WAP/ JAVA/ J2ME MIDP
SyncML (Synchronization with PC)
User Customization (Wallpaper, Screen Saver, Ring tones, Alarm tones.)

AVI's On UIQ - A Guide To Watching Movies on UIQ Phones (Part 3)

Sat, 20 Mar 2004 05:33:38 +0100

Advanced Guide

You only need this Advanced Guide if your video and audio lengths were different by more than about a second when you were following the Intermediate Guide.� Normally when this happens it is the audio length that is shorter than the video length.� If you followed that guide and played the resulting 3gp file on your P900, you might have found that the start of the movie was perfectly synchronised but that, at some point, the movie lost sync.� It wasn�t a gradual loss, it just suddenly happened mid way through the movie.� Make a note of the approximate time during the movie at which sync was lost.

Let�s start by looking in a bit more detail at some of the characteristics of AVI files, in particular around video/audio synchronisation.� It would be helpful if you have kept your original AVI file and the one produced by VirtualDub above.� Open the second AVI file in Windows Media Player, Winamp or another PC video player.� Drag the slider across to scan to a position in the movie later than the time noted above.� Wait until someone is speaking so you can see if the sync is there.� Probably the video and audio are out of sync.� Now open the original AVI file in the PC video player and scan to the same position.� Probably the video and audio are in sync.� Strange, eh?

What�s happening here?� It turns out that many (but not all) AVI files are internally structured to keep video and audio in sync, even if the video and audio lengths are not identical.� PC video players use this internal structure to maintain sync during playback, even if there is a bad section of video.� However � and this is the key problem for us � AVI conversion programs such as PV Author are not always able to allow for bad sections of video which can cause video and audio lengths to differ.� For PV Author to work well, the video and audio lengths have to be the same within the AVI file.� We are going to resolve this problem by finding the bad section of video using VirtualDub and removing just enough of it to bring the video and audio lengths in line with each other.�

Let�s check the length of the AVI file which is out of sync and compare it to the length of the WAV file.� First the AVI file:

Now the WAV file:

Now the reason for the loss of sync is clear: there�s a difference of 9.88 seconds between the video and audio lengths!� Note that the audio length reported by the File Information option in VirtualDub will not always show this discrepancy � that�s why we are using jWavlength.

Anyway we need to fix this problem.� Let�s get started.

Step 1: Run VirtualDub.� Open your new AVI file in VirtualDub.� Go to Video and select Full Processing Mode.� Go to Compression and select the DivX Codec as before.

Step 2: Identify the bad section of video.� The task here is to find the exact position in the AVI file where we lose video/audio sync.� Unfortunately this will require some trial-and-error.� As above, you have already found a position in the video which is out of sync so at least we have a starting point - move the slider to that position.� Now move the slider backwards through the file until you locate a point at which the video and audio are in sync.� A good method is to look for a section where there are people speaking.� Press the Input button I to play, then compare the video and audio.� Gradually move the slider forward through the movie until you locate the bad section of video.� You can normally find this through some picture degradation or abnormality.� Before this section the video and audio are in sync.� After this section the video and audio are out of sync.

Step 3: Delete the bad section of video. Use the frame backward and forward buttons to find the first bad video frame.� Mark the current position in the file using the �start selection� button.� Make a note of the precise time (to the nearest thousandth of a second) of this first frame.� In the example below it is 1:06:07.333.

In order to restore video/audio sync, we want to move forward in the file by the exact difference in length between the AVI file and the WAV file.� Subtract the WAV length from the AVI length.� The result should be in seconds (to the nearest hundredth) � in our example it is 9.88 seconds.� Now use the frame advance button to move the video forward by as close as you can to this exact amount.� Mark this position using the �end selection� button.

As you can see, we have moved forward to a time of 1:06:17.250.� We have incremented the position by 9.917 seconds � as close to 9.88 seconds as we could.� Now go to the Edit tab and select Delete.� The bad section that we marked is removed.� In reality there may be a small number of additional bad frames but that doesn�t matter � the important thing is to restore the sync process.

Step 4: Save the new AVI file.� From the File tab select Save AVI.� It would be nice if this new AVI file was now in sync.� Unfortunately it probably is not.� We have one more, fairly quick, process to do.

Step� 5: Open the new AVI file in VirtualDub.� That�s right.� Open the AVI file that you have just saved.� This time select Direct Stream Copy mode in the Video tab.

Step 6: Open the WAV file in VirtualDub.� That�s right, the same WAV file as before.� This time select Direct Stream Copy mode in the Audio tab.

Step 7: Save the AVI under a new name.� For the final time, specify another filename for this (third) AVI file.� This file should be synchronised for video and audio.

Step 8: Run PV Author.� In exactly the same way as described in the Basic Guide.

We are done.� Hopefully you now have a nice new 3gp file which plays in sync.� That completes the Basic, Intermediate and Advanced Guides.� See the next article we'll keep for some general FAQs and anythign you want me to cover

�

AVI's On UIQ - A Guide To Watching Movies on UIQ Phones (Part 2)

Fri, 12 Mar 2004 05:17:26 +0100

Intermediate Guide�

As we mentioned in the previous article, some AVI files � particularly those encoded with the DivX codec � can cause video/audio sync problems when converted using PV Author.� If you experience such issues, then this guide is for you.� To work around these problems, we will use Avery Lee�s excellent VirtualDub program plus our own WAV file utility jWavlength.

From what we can tell, one reason for video and audio getting out of sync is the result of the way that PV Author handles the MPEG-3 audio compression used in DivX AVI files.� As previously mentioned, this can result in a small but irritating time delay where the video lags the audio in the converted 3gp file.� We are going to address this by stripping out the audio component of the AVI file, decompressing it in VirtualDub, before recombining the audio into a new, larger AVI file.� This resulting AVI file can then be fed into PVAuthor as before.� Here we go.

Step 1: Saving a new WAV file.� Run VirtualDub and open your AVI file.� Go to the Audio tab and select Full Processing Mode.

Go to the File tab, select Save WAV and specify a filename for your WAV file.� This will save the WAV file in uncompressed PCM format.� For a full length movie, allow up to 1.5 gigabytes for this file to be stored on your hard drive.

Step 2: Checking video and audio file lengths.� Once the WAV file is created, let�s take a quick look at its properties using jWavlength.� Double-click on jWavlength.jar and open up your WAV file.� Make a note of its exact length.�

Now go back to VirtualDub and look for File Information under the File tab.�

Compare the length of the video to the length of the WAV file.� If they are very close in length � say under a second different � then that�s a good sign.� We should be OK getting a good video/audio sync.� If they are more than a second different in length, that�s not a good sign.� It normally indicates there is a bad section of video.� In that case we�ll probably need to do more work with this file in the Advanced Guide.� As you can see, in this case the lengths are within 0.05 second � we are fine.

But back to business.� Now we are going to recombine this WAV file with our original AVI file thereby creating a new AVI file.� Later we will be running PV Author against this new file.� However while we are in VirtualDub, let�s do a couple of things to make PV Author�s task a bit easier.� We are going to resize the video to 240x156 and we are going to reduce the frame rate to 12fps.� P800 users should resize to 192x125 instead.

Step 3: Setting the video parameters.� Go to the Video tab and select Filters.� Scroll down to Resize and you will see the following screen.� Enter the dimensions 240 and 156 and select Bicubic as the filter mode.

Now go to the Frame Rate tab and enter 12fps as shown in this picture:

Go to the Compression tab and select DivX codec:

We�ve now finished with the video part.�

Step 4: Setting the audio parameters.� Now let�s just turn to the audio part.� Go to the Audio tab and select WAV audio.� Enter the WAV file which we created above.� Make sure that we are in Full Processing Mode.

Step 5: Save the new AVI file.� Go to the File tab and select Save AVI.� Specify a new file name (different from your original AVI).� Now sit back and wait while VirtualDub converts the file � this will take a while and depend on the speed of your PC.� Note that this new AVI file will probably be larger than your original AVI � this is because the audio is now uncompressed.

Step 6: Run PV Author.� Configure and run PV Author against this new AVI file exactly as described in the Basic Guide above.� Hopefully you will now have a 3gp file which will play on your P900 with good video/audio synchronisation.� Once you are satisfied with your 3gp file you can restore some space on your hard drive by deleting the �intermediate� AVI file that you produced with VirtualDub.�

If you still have video/audio sync problems then please refer to our Advanced Guide - which will be here next week!