TamsS60 – the Symbian Blog

Krusell is a huge Swedish manufacturer of protective cases. Their top list tends to be somehwhat representative for “average users” – and saw some severe changes this month.

RIM fell out, Palm didn’t get in (no wonder due to European focus)….and Sony Ericsson has gone amiss too:

1. (3) Nokia 6300
2. (-) Apple iPhone 3G
3. (-) HTC Touch Diamond 2
4. (2) Nokia 3109
5. (-) Nokia E51
6. (1) Nokia 5800
7. (5) Nokia E71
8. (6) HTC Touch HD
9. (-) HTC Magic
10. (-)HTC Touch Pro2

11. (4) Samsung SGH-i900/i910 Omnia

() = Last month’s position.

Last month Nokia took a Grand Slam by taking all Top 3 positions at Krusell’s best seller list for May. The list in June also gives an impression something is happening in the market. Nokia takes 5 out of 10 positions, HTC takes 4 and Apple one. Samsung, LG and Sony Ericsson are all out of the list.

To me it is surprising even the previous best seller Omnia had to leave the list this month, says Ulf Sandberg MD at Krusell. Yet another surprise is that everybody in the industry always talks about how short the lifecycles of mobile phones have become. This month’s No 1, Nokia 6300, was introduced in February 2007 in Krusell’s assortment and is now back on the No 1 position 28 months later, he ends.

People who own more than one handset can tell a tale of the charger eekers – every manufacturer has at least one (usually two or more) incompatible charger types.

This is not only annoying (extra weight), but also bad for the environment. As such things tend to attract EU regulators attention, manufacturers had to act – Yahoo Tech reports the following:

…

The agreement by Nokia, Sony Ericsson and other industry majors will mean phones compatible with standard charging devices are available in Europe from next year, said the EU executive, which has pushed for such a deal.

…

The Commission said the agreement would involve the creation of an EU norm, and that the new generation of mobile phones would use a standard micro-USB socket to ensure compatibility.

…

According to them, the situation will go even further: chargers and handsets will be unbundled one day (which would lead to even lower handset prices).

Even though I personally prefer MiniUSB as I feel it handles better, MicroUSB nevertheless seems to be a pretty robust solution. My Nokia XPressMusic 5800 is still alive and kicking, and Nokia’s large-scale roll-out has started with the Nokia N85 (review here)…

Nokia’s 6790 Mako has first been leaked in an AT&T roadmap – the image on the left is the first somewhat official image we see of the phone. it hits us via the Bluetooth SIG who describe the handset as follows:

The Nokia 6790 is messaging focused and optimized for landscape use to enhance the messaging and media experience. The optimized UI and multitasking ability of S60 combine to create a powerful device targeted for those that choose to browse, text, IM, or email rather than voice call.

As of now, no further information is available – visit the Bluetooth SIG in case you don’t trust us:
http://gadgetguide.bluetooth.com/gadgetGuide.cfm?lpid=8270

I have to say that it probably doesnt take an industry analyst to predict this – the UK branch of Hutchison 3G has just added the Nokia N97 to its web site:

Seeing that Three has traditionally endorsed Skype and seems to prefer users Skypeing rather than using voice calls to other networks, the carrier will likelz provide an excellent level of service to customers owning an N97. This post is written on a Hutchison 3G data connection – this should be endorsement enough…

Nokia’s recently-announced partnership with Intel has caused concern for quite a few key players in the industry: is Nokia planning to give up on S60, Maemo or anything else? Is this a game-changing move? Or is it just a matter of maximising marketshare and revenue? Read on for the full scoop!

In order to understand what is going on here, we IMHO need to take a step back and look at how the majority of netbooks is being sold nowadays. The little critter pictured above (yours truly’s MSI Wind U100) was purchased directly from the manufacturer: which is a way very few people go. It is furthermore used as a subnotebook (and is also referred to as such)…and generally does a formidable job.

Most people get and use their netbooks in a completely different fashion. For them, the device does what a smartphone does for us – and simple always-on internet (no tethering) is a must. Thus, they head to the places where wireless internet can be had: every “fat” Austrian carrier is now selling netbooks. This has allowed companies like Acer to enter the mobile phone market with relative ease: carriers already bought netbooks with them, so why not simplify the supply chain by also getting netbooks?

Nokia obviously wants to keep carriers bound to its brand – and thus has to keep other manufacturers out of the game. Providing netbooks allows Nokia to close a gap where other manufacturers could enter into their market segment…which is something the company definitely wants to avoid. If the netbooks sell well, the better – but it IMHO is like Starbucks and chocolate…

P.S. S60 users could maybe benefit from Nokia’s subnotebooks – I imagine that they might provide excellent integration between S60 and their devices like IBM did to its WorkPads…

Developing for S60 is not exactly easy – there is an awful lot of things you simply have to figure out all by yourself. One of these lovelies involves renaming folders – according to the documentation, it can be accomplished with the following snippet of code:

CFileMan* fileMan = CFileMan::NewL(CCoeEnv::Static()->FsSession());
fileMan->Rename(completePath, newPath);
delete fileMan;


Unfortunately, it is not as easy as it may look – the paths need to match the following scheme 1:1:

completePath: L"C:\\Private\\20022533\\Zeiss"
newPath: L"C:\\Private\\20022533\\Zeiss"


Easy enough if you know how to do it …

P.S: For all who always wonder why the Carbide debugger insists on putting L before almost all strings…it stands for literal!

Nokia’s touchscreen handsets are known for their large 640×360 screens, which enforce a rather strange and wide form factor. As touchscreenless handsets are based on QVGA, the manufacturer can be more liberal when it comes to form factors. Let’s see how the N86 stacks up…

Our first contender is the Treo 680. It is one of the largest handsets on the market; and the N86 is quite a bit smaller:

Nokia’s XPressMusic 5800 is next – the N86 is much more compact:

The N96 is slightly bulkier:

Sony Ericsson’s XPERIA X1 is a lot wider:

Small PDA’s like HPs rx4240 are similar in size:

Finally, here’s a shot next to an iPod touch:

So far, the Satio / idou has not been handled by analysts – this has fortunately changed now. The video below is from an Italian web site about cell phones:

The seven-minute video does not show much new stuff – but nevertheless is one of the first-ever demos of Sony Ericsson’s GUI in action. Hit play if you feel like it…

Microsoft Austria has just gotten in touch with us for some further information about the WIndows 7 upgrade program. First of all, it starts on the 26th of this month.

From that time onward, Austrians who buy their PC at a participating retailer will be able to obtain an equivalent version of Windows 7 after its release. In particular, the following transformations will be possible:

• Vista Home Premium
• Vista Business
• Vista Ultimate

to corresponding version of Windows 7. System Builder licenses will get the same treatment – so people who get their PC with an SBC license (decoupled OEM licenses, are very popular in Austria) will also get their upgrade free of charge.

The offer will be free except for processing fees, which are said to be different from manufacturer to manufacturer. The Offer will run to the 31st January of 2010.

Nokia’s N85 might not be too popular among reviewers (especially as the N86 8MP is already being reviewed) – but the folks at Hutchison’s nevertheless believe in the critter.

The picture on the left hits us via the never-sleeping Dr. Paul from Hutchison Austria-a according to her, the box is available _NOW_ for 3 Euros with a large 24mo contract.

Many consider the N86 8MP to be the spiritual successor of both N82 and N85: while the first of the two critters is almost universally loathed, the build quality of the latter sent folks like Rita El Khoury from dotsisxblog into a hissing fit (while others defended it). Where does the N86 8MP end up?

Like most recent Nokia phones, the box is a slider:

However, it can also slide to the opposite side to reveal the N-Gage, zoom and media buttons:

The keypad is excellent, and the keys themselves boast excellent tactile handling:

A quick look at the back reveals the Carl Zeiss lens, which is covered under a mechanical lid:

Removing the back is a very comfortable process, and lets you access the battery and SIM compartments:

Kickstands debuted with the N96. The N86 takes the concept one step further by embedding a microswitch which allows you to launch an app of your choice when the stand is unfolded:

This image shows the top of the box (with a partially closed lid – was in a hurry, sorry). 3.5 inch jack, power button and MicroUSB charge/sync port are all there. Fortunately, Nokia did away with their standard charger port…which means that tethering no longer requires two cables and two USB ports:

The little slot in the bottom is for taking the back cover off:

Nokia introduced a feature from its touchscreen handsets: enabling and disabling the keylock is now done via a slider at the left side:

Finally, a look at the right side – camera key, volume keys and stereo speakers:

In the end, I have to say that the N86 8MP is one of the very few phones which leave me completely satisfied from a physical standpoint. It is extremely well-built…nothing to add here.

Nokia’s engagement in the Flash game has always been great: S60 handsets are among the best on the market when it comes to Flash support. Unfortunately, all of this is not quite enough – many Flash sites require features not found in our (somewhat basic) Flash utility.

Fortunately, our handsets might just be in luck – the slide below is from an Adobe keynote:

As of now, nobody knows which devices will be affected – but things nevertheless could get very interesting soon…

The full slide deck can be had here:
http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/invrelations/09q2analyst/

Looks like I was too busy with LocaNote and simply missed the announcement below – here are the two latest top-seller lists:
8th – 15th of June

1. Dance Fabulous
2. Tetris®
3. Worms World Party
4. Bounce Boing Voyage
5. Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D

1st of June – 7th of June

1. Tetris®
2. Worms World Party
3. Bounce Boing Voyage
4. Age of Empires® III
5. Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D

Looks like the time of Tetris being at #1 is gone – finally…

3D shutter spectacles have been on the market for quite some time – some loved them, Others (especially those with spectacles or eye diseases) did not get much out of them.

A small startup called MyVu then set out to produce the Myvu, which took the idea into the mobile space: its glasses could be connected to various devices and allowed you to look at videos on the go. This worked somewhat well, but with visible barrel distortions.

My recent trip to Carl Zeiss unveiled the Cinemizer – which could just turn out to be the MyVu done right. Here is a picture of Sir Troppenhagen, the project manager, handling his baby:

The Cinemizer is radically different from the MyVu as it comes with cradles for the devices used. This means that the battery and other heavy stuff are in the same place as the phone, and furthermore allows for better handling as there are less cables involved. Our demo cradle was for the N86 8GB:

As expected from Carl Zeiss, image quality was great. People with spectacles can use the two toggles to correct the vision – this is necessary as the Cinemizer uses two LCDs (which were not color matched on my sample):

The earpieces are made out of PVC – no cables here:

Zeiss’s Cinemizer works completely independent from the phone and requires no extra software. Unfortunately, this leads to funny effects like the one below (and to higher power drain as the phone screen seems to remain on all the time):

Here’s a shot of the box for all skeptics:

Finally, it’s time to look at pricing and availability. As of now, this device can not be bought anywhere. Zeiss is planning to push it out onto the German market next month – it will set you back 400 Euros…

In the end, I am very happy with the device. Of course, using one LCD display and adding software on the phone side would have made for a smoother experience – but the device is more than usable as it stands. If Zeiss manages to eliminate the (small) eekers and gets the price down, this could be a blockbuster…

My major eeker with the Nokia E71 was its insanely bad keyboard – its sibling E63 was significantly better and managed to impress me immediately after it was unboxed early in the morning (Doris and I will never forget the shock we had when we opened the box and saw an unreleased device).

Chit-chat aside – the image below is from symbian-guru:

They describe it as follows:

the Nokia E72 is roughly the same size as the E71, but also features a redesigned keyboard, similar to that on the E63, and a new navigational cluster

Hit the link above for more shots!