Roland Tanglao's Weblog

Steve Rocks (literally since he's a bass player! And figuratively since he's an articulate and very cool person!) ! Met him in Finland at Nokia Open Lab 2008. I applied to the program so, "Global Omnipresent Delivery Services" (GODS hat tip to Neal Stephenson) and Nokia willing, the N96 will make its way to Vancouver (apparently the N96 was designed/integrated in Vancouver) for me to take it on a bicycle and have my devious (ha ha !) ways

QUOTE [From N96 World Tour starts here! — Steve Lawson: Bass 2.0 — the soundtrack to the day you wish you’d had]

A few weeks back I was contacted about a project involving the Nokia N96 - the idea was to send one round the world, getting various people to use it, upload video and photos, add apps to the phone itself, leave stuff on it, basically put it through its paces and tell a story… It’s a great fun idea, and I’m the first one to get it! So I’ve got a brand new lovely N96 to play with for a week or so.

END QUOTE

Change 2008 to say 2009 or 10 and change Linux to Android (which is on top of Linux) and Russell was basically correct. Go Russ go! Looking forward to more mobile predictions now that you have joined Nokia (and I love how you continue to be honest!)

QUOTE [From The Future of Mobility is Linux - RussellBeattie.com]

There could be some spoilers out there. You never know what's going to happen tomorrow - Apple could pull out some amazing iPhone and change the market over night. But right now being in the industry this is how I see things progressing. As it is now, I use a Symbian phone and plan on recommending that platform to others looking for a good smart phone. But as the next 12 months goes by, I full expect that a Linux based phone will enter my world, and within the next few years become a standard.

See you in 2008.

END QUOTE

S60 5th edition and touch *sounds* good but if it's not in an easier to use form than the current S60, it's useless. And I am sorry but DRM'ed Windows only music doesn't work for me (I don't buy DRMed music from anybody including Apple)! Anyways Apple badly needs competition in the usability department so my fingers are crossed that this represents some sort of competitive threat to them. Go Nokia go! Viva la compétition!

QUOTE from Nokia unveils iPhone competitor — Alec Saunders SquawkBox

Comes with Music (press release, backgrounder) is Nokia’s new digital entertainment service. When you buy a supported Nokia device, including the NSeries, any of the XPressMusic phones and some other mass market phones, Nokia gives you access to the Nokia Music store at no additional charge for an entire year. Download (and keep) as many tracks as you like. This is not a subscription. You get to download and keep as many tracks as your heart desires. Tracks are delivered in Windows Media format, with DRM.

S60 5th Edition (press release) was also introduced. This latest operating system release includes support for new displays, the touch UI, a widescreen mode, a variety of new sensor support, and updated applications and browser support. Wonderfully cool things are possible with the new sensor support, like being able to stop the ringer by picking the phone up and putting it back down face down.

A touch screen phone and operating system were not unexpected. After all, Nokia had to respond to Apple’s phenomenal success with iPhone. However, the gutsy decision to give away the music goes straight after Apple’s cash cow, iTunes.

Scorched earth is a powerful offensive posture. One wonders what kind of deal with the devil RIAA Nokia had to agree to in order to gain the rights to distribute all those tracks for no money… and what the impact will be on their bottom line.

Look for 5800 XpressMusic devices with North American standard radios to land here Q1 2009. Exciting times are ahead.

[From Nokia unveils iPhone competitor — Alec Saunders SquawkBox]

END QUOTE

My video reflections on Nokia Open Lab 2008 (wiki)

Show Notes (selected)

It's been 3 weeks since Nokia Open Lab 2008 (wiki) in Helsinki and my mind is still reeling! If you don't want to watch my video (apologies for the audio quality) above, check out the show notes (which summarize maybe half of the video!):

1. Fantastic people, fantastic event, in particular the women I had a chance to really speak with were great: Micki, Jen and Anne - glad I had a chance to have in-depth conversations with you all. I suggest that the event needs  to be longer next time and include more non native English speakers in a more inclusive manner
2. The environment is everything. We need to get beyond an economy based on "gadget obsolescence". It's the end of  business as usual as Umair says. Thanks for leading me to further insight about the environment, Micki!
3. Nokia gratuitous advice time :-) Team 1 milks the cash cow of S60 by refining it. Team 2 starts with a clean sheet and comes up with a mobile to make the early adopters once again fall in love with Nokia (hint: it's got to be open, it's got to be an holistic experience, perhaps it's green, perhaps it's a lifetime hardware subscription, a lifetime phone!)
4. How about a"DeviceCamp" where people like the Nokia Open Lab Participants come together with Nokia Software and  Hardware people (under NDA if need be!) to produce a real device over a long weekend? It could be designed in a Wiki or in a visual riffing service like ConceptShare beforehand! Let's do it in Vancouver!
5. Nokia you know where to find me if you need further input and feedback! Love to help!
6. To everybody at Nokia Open Lab 2008: Come to Vancouver and I'll help you get a rental bicycle and I'll show you my city!

Ooops forgot to blog about Mobile Camp Vancouver 2 unconference (topics and sessions decided the day of, all welcome from users to hard core devs to artists and sales and marketing folks!)

Here are my session ideas

• • session on SIFT Mobile Muse social media aggregator for SMS, video, photos, etc
  • Bug Labs - my Bug arrives in late September, app brainstorming session
  • BIKUX - linux stamp/beagle board/crazy apps on a portable connected solar powered Linux computere brainstorm session (e.g. games and geo apps)
  • Reinventing Nokia mobile  - Brainstorming session on cool things Nokia could/should do in light of the iPhone, Android, etc - I am going to Finland on September 8th for a Nokia Conference and might be able to give this feedback to them directly

As well i'd like to work with John Biehler, Parveen Kaler and others on some iPhone sessions:

1) state of jail break
2) tethering
3) app development commiseration (that NDA s*xors)
4) what's on your iPhone i.e. fav apps

See you all on Saturday September 6th at WorkSpace in Gastown!

 

Details have yet to be finalized, but it looks like I'll be going to a Nokia Mobile workshop (paid for by Nokia, including carbon offsets!) September 10-14,2008 being organzied by Nokia's WOMWorld folks. Sounds like fun. Maybe I can lead a session on Mobile Muse and SIFTTool.

Here's a portion of their invite:

QUOTE

It's taking place in September between the 11th and 14th, and will be the first of its kind hosted by Nokia. We're contacting everyone from creative's, designers, video producers to open source software bloggers and mobile tech pioneers. There will be a number of workshops that'll see discussion with participants, and with Nokia guys, about the future of different online arenas and mobile technology. Workshops that we hope you'd like to join in with and make yourself heard.

END QUOTE

In the meantime, time to start my travel research. If anybody has been to Helsinki, love to have the following questions answered by a Helsinki person:

1. Where can I get a pay as you go SIM Card with several gigs (2GB or higher) of data so I can blog, flickr, youtube, et with my Nokia N95-1 while at the workshop?
2. Can somebody recommend the best place to rent a bicycle in Helsinki? I am a "born again" bicyclist who's been commuting to work for 16 months 5 days a week and who has taken thousands of photos from an N95 and uploaded to Qik while bicycling. So I'd want to do the same in Helsinki.

Got the 16GB iPhone yesterday. Stream of consciousness notes so far:

1. Just like the original iPhone, ithe iPhone 3G still camera s*cks and not having video also s*cks! A slow, 2 megapixel camera doesn't cut it in 2008!
   
2. Does seem a bit lighter and battery is faster
   
3. 3G doesn't seem that much faster than EDGE
4. Browser crashes more often
5. Google Reader is noticeably faster 
6. ShoZu doesn't geo-tag and only posts one photo at a time and only at 640x480 (yes i know shozu is working on it! go ShoZu go!)
7. AirMe is better but only does 1024x768 and rquires bogus userid registration (complete with bogus personal questions)
8. Apps are great; I have already thought of some that would satisfy Apple's p*ranoia :-) and might be fun to develop and might even make money! Apps are great both because of Apple's p*ranoia and also despite it! A "mass market, mobile GPS with decent connectivity and bandwidth" platform is what the iPhone is; the first ever. Sorry Nokia you don't have such a platform (S60 isn't it, Maemo isn't it, S60 Python isn't it, Widsets isn't it, Flash Lite isn't, etc,, time to focus Nokia!) yet. Vive la competition; I trust Nokia has something in the works; it's been a year and either the Nokia cupboard is bare or they are going to launch something truly great soon.
9. I am waiting for Qik (aka live video streaming) and Nokia Sports Tracker
10. I like Tap Tap whatever it's called even though it's dumbed down from the unofficial SDK version

Now all I need is a North American 3G phone to confirm 100% that my 3G plan is not locked to my iPhone.

IF you are a multimedia creator and a north american THEN get an N95 8GB NAM or N95-3 NAM

IF you are a multimedia creator and a european or asian (except japan of course) THEN get an N95 8GB or the original N95, the N95-1

ELSE get an iPhone 3G when it comes out

That's my capsule review of the N78 :-) What can I say? I am spoiled by the iPhone's ease of use and wonderful application environment and the N95's wonderful 5 megapixel camera and video! And with the N95 coming down in price, I can't recommend the N78 (which except for the GPS being faster seems like a downgrade!).

DETAILS:

1. Pricey at $US 500 for the N78 NAM (NAM = North American 3G version), especially when the the N95 North American is $469.97
2. Only 3 megapixel camera on the N78 (but it takes great pictures but not greater than the N95!) unlike 5 megapixel camera on N95
3. Camera is slower to focus (even in fixed focus mode) than N95 which means more blurry photos
4. N78 Keypad is awful, number keys are fine but the Green and Red Keys are very difficult to hit consistently
5. S60 3rd Edition FP2, the OS on the N78, has hardly any real improvements. I'd rather have an simplified, easier to use UI than FP2's eye candy. I'd also rather have a phone that doesn't reboot like the N78 did on me (could be due to the Nokia Sports Tracker beta I was running but all the S60 phones I have used since 2004 randomly reboot). Please make S60 more stable!
6. N78 Lanyard/strap clip is cool.
7. N78 GPS seems faster and better at getting a satellite lock.
8. Video is only 15fps unlike the 30fps on the N95 (and the difference is noticeable!)

Interesting. I still think that S60 needs a drastic UI overhaul and simplification to compete with the iPhone long term and that Nokia would be better off with a Linux core for their mobile phones rather than Symbian and S60 but we'll see. Go Open Source S60 go! Does this mean both S60 and S40 will be 100% open source within 2 years? As the cliché goes, the devil is in the details!

From Nokia Acquires Symbian; Takes on Google's Android - ReadWriteWeb:

QUOTE

Nokia isn't finished with its acquisition spree just yet. Tonight the Finnish company announced a plan to acquire the 52 per cent of Symbian it doesn't already own and make the platform open source

END QUOTE

From The Symbian Press Release :

QUOTE

Contributions from Foundation members through open collaboration will be integrated to further enhance the platform. The Foundation will make selected components available as open source at launch. It will then work to establish the most complete mobile software offering available in open source. This will be made available over the next two years and is intended to be released under Eclipse Public License (EPL) 1.0.

END QUOTE

Got my N78 yesterday from Nokia Blogger Relations yesterday (thanks!).

"Blink" reactions to the phone:

1. I like candybar phones
   
2. Why does the phone pre-flash even when I turn the flash off (I know it's to focus but why? The N95-1 didn't do this!!)? Can I turn off the pre-flash off?
   
3. I don't like the small buttons on the numeric keypad. I keep hiting "7" instead of "*"
4. Not a fan of brown. Can I have pink, green, orange, purple or some fun colour :-) ?
5. Nice and light. The N95 feels very heavy in comparison
6. Don't like the buttons in general: too small
7. I wish it would charge via Micro USB
   

"Blink" reactions to the S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2 software:

1. As a experienced S60 user, I don't like the text in the middle e.g. "Open" - When I first saw that, I though hmmm, is there a new button in the middle? Of course there isn't. you just press the dpad in the middle to select that operation
2. The zooming effects of the UI are ok but I could live without it. Rather have the menus simplified and fixed!
   

Bonus:

My unboxing video taken by the incomparable social media maven Dave Olson