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I Can Has Dialtone?
Apr. 7th, 2008 06:10 pm
"I Can Has Dialtone?", Nokia N73, London, 2008
(no subject)
Mar. 25th, 2008 05:26 pmI am in the market again for some system to play the music on my omputer in my small flat. The standard "tiny cube + subwoofer" PC speakers is out, since I want better sound, and not just for the area around my desk, so I am looking into actual library-shelf HiFi systems. I still don't know what is simply going to sound good and what is going to be the set the HiFi Store Salesperson wants to get rid off when he sees this sucker walk into his store, so I am reading up what I can. So far I need to avoid Bose -- well, ok, I didn't want a subwoofer anyway -- Sony, and B&O acording to some bloody religious online battles. And which amplifier in these mini-systems actually will not make my MP3s sound any worse than they already are, who knows.
Thing is, none of the little systems have what I really want, which is the ability to play two inputs at the same time. I like playing my music or net radio, but not from the computer I am actually working on, since that impacts performance. I'd like to use the print server laptop for that. However, when I actually did hook up the computer to the stereo, being able to hear the chimes from chats and other processes even when I was not at my desk was really useful, and those sounds do come from my main computer.
I have been thinking about multiple-input audio a lot when looking at Bluetooth headsets. I want headsets that will partner with my laptop so I can listen to music and sounds and use Skype without wires, but also cut over when the actual mobile phone rings. I want them to play music on my phone at the same time as game sounds from my laptop, each at a level that I an set as comfortable.
Current users of technology multi-task, especially younger ones, using multiple devices. Yet all amplifying peripherals support sound coming from only one. This is not right. I think I will start with buying a little HiFi set to drive some loudspeakers, but also hunt for an extremely simple two-channel mixer, although so far the only ones I am finding are for DJs and those are not simple at all. As for multi-input mixing wireless headsets, anyone can run with it. I bet you can't do it with Bluetooth anyway unless the headset incorporates multiple separate receivers. Not to mention that BT stereo transmission still isn't really that good.
Thing is, none of the little systems have what I really want, which is the ability to play two inputs at the same time. I like playing my music or net radio, but not from the computer I am actually working on, since that impacts performance. I'd like to use the print server laptop for that. However, when I actually did hook up the computer to the stereo, being able to hear the chimes from chats and other processes even when I was not at my desk was really useful, and those sounds do come from my main computer.
I have been thinking about multiple-input audio a lot when looking at Bluetooth headsets. I want headsets that will partner with my laptop so I can listen to music and sounds and use Skype without wires, but also cut over when the actual mobile phone rings. I want them to play music on my phone at the same time as game sounds from my laptop, each at a level that I an set as comfortable.
Current users of technology multi-task, especially younger ones, using multiple devices. Yet all amplifying peripherals support sound coming from only one. This is not right. I think I will start with buying a little HiFi set to drive some loudspeakers, but also hunt for an extremely simple two-channel mixer, although so far the only ones I am finding are for DJs and those are not simple at all. As for multi-input mixing wireless headsets, anyone can run with it. I bet you can't do it with Bluetooth anyway unless the headset incorporates multiple separate receivers. Not to mention that BT stereo transmission still isn't really that good.
My bet is that when the music labels allow iTunes to drop DRM, the biggest losers will not be those studios. I doubt their wares will be pirated any more or less. No, the biggest loser will be Apple as suddenly all kinds of other players besides iPods will be usable for the contents of the store. I want to use my phone as my player, but can't yet.
In other brainstorms, Apple is saying the WiFi-enabled iPod Touch could be a whole new computer platform. Well, Nokia has had one for a while, pretty equivalent in many ways, but I think it has been positioned wrong. It shouldn't now be positioned as some kind of media player, no, that space is taken, and certainly the current branding as Your Mobile SSH Solution is, um, limiting. But it would be really useful and notable if it was an adjunct to the phone, a real one, with which I could SMS and MMS and email and browse the phone-book and adjust the settings of the phone it is paired with when in proximity. In fact, when it can see the phone it has been paired with over Bluetooth, the N pads should be the ones that ring when a message has been received, and some trials should be done how headsets and cameras should be distributed across the hardware for video calling or browsing while calling. This way I could have a tiny phone, comparable in size to the 6100 or even the 7380 that I could carry everywhere, even in the shank of my boot, when I am in a state where my outfit uh, has very few pockets, yet when I have jackets and cargo pants I can also carry a messaging and media device that is comfortable and has lots of storage, and these items work together and apart. I kept seeing this weekend people having to make trade-offs between having usable small phones and liking full thumb keyboards or large surfaces to get with their friends and have plenty of music to play. Usually they had committed to some kind of hardware that was ok in some situations, but making other situations difficult.
In other brainstorms, Apple is saying the WiFi-enabled iPod Touch could be a whole new computer platform. Well, Nokia has had one for a while, pretty equivalent in many ways, but I think it has been positioned wrong. It shouldn't now be positioned as some kind of media player, no, that space is taken, and certainly the current branding as Your Mobile SSH Solution is, um, limiting. But it would be really useful and notable if it was an adjunct to the phone, a real one, with which I could SMS and MMS and email and browse the phone-book and adjust the settings of the phone it is paired with when in proximity. In fact, when it can see the phone it has been paired with over Bluetooth, the N pads should be the ones that ring when a message has been received, and some trials should be done how headsets and cameras should be distributed across the hardware for video calling or browsing while calling. This way I could have a tiny phone, comparable in size to the 6100 or even the 7380 that I could carry everywhere, even in the shank of my boot, when I am in a state where my outfit uh, has very few pockets, yet when I have jackets and cargo pants I can also carry a messaging and media device that is comfortable and has lots of storage, and these items work together and apart. I kept seeing this weekend people having to make trade-offs between having usable small phones and liking full thumb keyboards or large surfaces to get with their friends and have plenty of music to play. Usually they had committed to some kind of hardware that was ok in some situations, but making other situations difficult.
Dear Google Maps, Get To Work
Jan. 17th, 2008 09:50 amThe 'How Bad Is Traffic Now' stuff is nice, but what also would be useful is if you also had a week-by-week or month-by-month average of traffic on major routes over the years you have data, so users can predict how bad traffic will be if they do their trips next week at 6 AM or 3 in the afternoon. Or you find out the patterns in some places are mathematically chaotic, and that would be good to know too.
(no subject)
Dec. 17th, 2007 01:31 pmWhy is twitter not sending me an update to my registered IM when someone I follow updates? I am expecting a IM window to pop up from tiwtter@twitter.com showing me the update form this person. Isn't it supposed to do that? Does anybody have it working?
(no subject)
Dec. 10th, 2007 10:03 pmWell, Google Maps for Symbian Devices is nice, and the fact that it will do aproximate positioning based on which cell tower your phone is attached to if the phone does not have GPS is actually useful: ok, so you won't get proper turn by turn directions, but a local search actually ends up being properly local within a few blocks. But a nice new feature that would integrate Google Maps beyond what a standard GPS can do, is to allow me to select a destination from my phonebook. Yes, I can save a destination into the phonebook, now I should be able to, when I want to enter a location, be able to click through and pick a name from my phonebook if it has a street address stored. I have a lot of addresses in my phonebook.
And then the next step is that, when I am going to a location, Google Maps should keep a running estimate based on current movememnt and expected traffic how long it will take to get to the destination. And make it really easy to call, or better, send a one-click text message to the person in the phonebook you are going to sayong how late you will be. Try that, TomTom.
And then the next step is that, when I am going to a location, Google Maps should keep a running estimate based on current movememnt and expected traffic how long it will take to get to the destination. And make it really easy to call, or better, send a one-click text message to the person in the phonebook you are going to sayong how late you will be. Try that, TomTom.
And I Repeat
Dec. 2nd, 2007 07:24 pmMy recipe for making LJ decentralized and under individual control, while retaining the community-aspect and friends pages.
Now I also want a script that migrates a previous journal to a new system, and a server that you can use to update old comments and RSS feeds when a friend tells you they migrated to their new system. It may be time to blow LJ up into the new blogging paradigm for everyone.
Now I also want a script that migrates a previous journal to a new system, and a server that you can use to update old comments and RSS feeds when a friend tells you they migrated to their new system. It may be time to blow LJ up into the new blogging paradigm for everyone.
Dear Rhapsody on TiVo
Nov. 27th, 2007 02:26 pmI would have been more inclined to pay money for your service if you hadn't stopped streaming music in the last week of my trial. As in, song never loads. I could have dealt with your sucky, sucky interface, but I really do insist on actually having music to listen to, even if your catalog was a steaming pile of blah. (Bryan Ferry's section came up empty for example.)
3G Is Really Really Fast
Nov. 1st, 2007 11:52 pmUnfortunately I am no longer on a global corporate mobile account, so I am paying $0.015 per kb. Uploading 3Mb pictures is not a good idea, nor is YouTubing in the train.
(no subject)
Nov. 1st, 2007 01:11 pmI made it out with all travel documentation. Now I spend two hours in Dulles before the final leg.
I should blog about having dinner high on a hill in Malibu at night, a few nights ago, and a job interview I had that turned more into an initial consulting round. But my brain is not working: I tried to enter a previous mobile phone number into the T-Mobile WiFi account connection page 7 times, getting increasingly pissed the password wasn't working, before I realized that maybe I actually want to enter the current one.
I should blog about having dinner high on a hill in Malibu at night, a few nights ago, and a job interview I had that turned more into an initial consulting round. But my brain is not working: I tried to enter a previous mobile phone number into the T-Mobile WiFi account connection page 7 times, getting increasingly pissed the password wasn't working, before I realized that maybe I actually want to enter the current one.
(no subject)
Sep. 27th, 2007 11:45 amActually, it's really not that bad; there have been issues with my job since day 1 here, 17 months ago, and this 60-day lay-off period is a rather excellent way to end if it has to end. I hope to finally take some time for myself like I wanted to do when I left Nokia.
From a distance, I know my life this year looks like a country song: partner gone, cat dead, job gone, now all I need is for my truck to break down and my trailer to be re-possessed. But in reality, me getting a kick in the pants to leave Disney Mobile by virtue of Disney Mobile shutting down is not just ok, it's all right. I have been prospecting, but due to the nature of how recruiters find jobs through keyword hits, all I have been offered so far are Symbian C++ coding jobs. My answer has been identical every time: "You couldn't pay me enough to go back to that. I'd rather work a garbage truck." Oddly enough, recruiters do not answer that email.
I guess I won't get a chance to have a snippy exit interview in which I tell management how they obviously are losing the best person ever to work for them!
From a distance, I know my life this year looks like a country song: partner gone, cat dead, job gone, now all I need is for my truck to break down and my trailer to be re-possessed. But in reality, me getting a kick in the pants to leave Disney Mobile by virtue of Disney Mobile shutting down is not just ok, it's all right. I have been prospecting, but due to the nature of how recruiters find jobs through keyword hits, all I have been offered so far are Symbian C++ coding jobs. My answer has been identical every time: "You couldn't pay me enough to go back to that. I'd rather work a garbage truck." Oddly enough, recruiters do not answer that email.
I guess I won't get a chance to have a snippy exit interview in which I tell management how they obviously are losing the best person ever to work for them!
(no subject)
Sep. 6th, 2007 10:31 amWhen the Motorola RAZR was introduced in 2004, it's unsubsidized price was somewhere between $800 and $600, with subsidized versions -- 2 year contract required -- starting at $300 if you were very lucky. Right now, about 3 years later, you can practically get it as the prize at the bottom of your box of Wheaties (and Motorola has basically run the design into the ground by overexposure). Let this be a lesson to any high-end mobile phone buyer: you pay your money to have it now.
Also, if the latest rumors are true and the iPod Touch has, or will soon have, Bluetooth, the whole Nokia Tablet effort now has a fierce fierce new competitor. One that has effectively disguised itself from a geeky multimedia device into an iPod "that also can do other stuff". Which is probably a better strategy to make a device like this sell bigtime to consumers.
99c is expensive for a ringtone of music you already have -- in effect you end up paying for the convenience to splice out the 30 seconds of ringing exactly like you want, not like some ringtone aggregator thinks you should want, with a minimum of hassle. Customization is a huge seller for these intensely personal devices, and being able to make your exact ringtone like you want is a win here. Apple did manage to irritate both ends of the market, though: 1) the ringtone-maker costs less than buying a ringtone would if you had already bought the song, so aggregators are being undercut 2) people end up paying twice for music they already have, pissing consumers who know what is going technology-wise off, and mildly annoying the consumers already used to paying two bucks fifty for a ringtone of music they already acquired otherwise. I predict a huge success.
Also, if the latest rumors are true and the iPod Touch has, or will soon have, Bluetooth, the whole Nokia Tablet effort now has a fierce fierce new competitor. One that has effectively disguised itself from a geeky multimedia device into an iPod "that also can do other stuff". Which is probably a better strategy to make a device like this sell bigtime to consumers.
99c is expensive for a ringtone of music you already have -- in effect you end up paying for the convenience to splice out the 30 seconds of ringing exactly like you want, not like some ringtone aggregator thinks you should want, with a minimum of hassle. Customization is a huge seller for these intensely personal devices, and being able to make your exact ringtone like you want is a win here. Apple did manage to irritate both ends of the market, though: 1) the ringtone-maker costs less than buying a ringtone would if you had already bought the song, so aggregators are being undercut 2) people end up paying twice for music they already have, pissing consumers who know what is going technology-wise off, and mildly annoying the consumers already used to paying two bucks fifty for a ringtone of music they already acquired otherwise. I predict a huge success.
(no subject)
Aug. 28th, 2007 11:01 pmBy law, digital cameras in Japan must make a sound when taking a picture. Being able to take a pic without a shutter sound or a beep or chime to let people know they are being photographed is a no-no. When I got my N73, at a time it had not been officially released in the US yet, the importer got it from Hong Kong, guessing by the plug on the charger, and thus it had an Asian software build. Had.
When I used to work for Nokia, I was lucky enough to be a beta tester for phone models. This means that often the phone I was testing had to have a new version of its operating software put on it so we testers could find new bugs and report them. This process of updating the system software was called 'flashing the phone', and it could be the quite the production. It always involved a strange custom plug at the end of a data cable that would fit strangely inside the battery compartment, with pins that would probe deeply into nooks and crannies to find the contact points of the memory-chips, and bizarre instructions for using software so unfriendly only a chip-designer could love it. Seriously, on some models getting the flashing to work right involved holding your breath and slaughtering chickens and doing incantations while walking clockwise around the computer. During one beta test we managed to completely brick my phone. Flashing went awry and it could not be reflashed. It had to be sent back to the Mothership. Yes, I managed to really find the bugs everywhere, including updating procedures.
Nowadays the smartphones can be reflashed by anyone at home. I guess Nokia realized that since they were unavoidably shipping bugs on these sophisticated machines, allowing the user to upgrade to new builds would bring support costs down. It must be cheaper than users shipping phones back or going into stores to get an upgrade. You download the Nokia Software Updater, tell it to sense your phone attached to the computer with the bog-standard data cable that was in the box, the Updater downloads the latest build off the net, and shoves it onto your phone. No chicken required.
Back to my Asian-identified phone: even when I set it to the 'Silent' profile (make no noise ever), it will still make a shutter sound when I take a picture, as it should by Japanese law. I didn't like that. It screws up pet pictures: they wonder what the sound is, or wake up, and come over to sniff. Over on Facebook I joined the N73 group, where someone posted a pointer to a page on how to update an N73 to N73 - Music Edition. It turns out that you have to find another shady piece of software that will allow you to screw with the memory settings in ways the standard official Nokia Software Updater doesn't. Specifically, the software allows you to change the Product Code set inside the phone. As in, you change the number and your N73 is no longer Asian-identified, but Euro-identified. Or Bulgarian-identified. Or Australian-identified. Inside it seems they are all the same chips for all versions anyway, it's just that one code set in deep memory tells the phone what software it should have.
I installed the software, and felt nostalgic: the interface is indeed so techie only a chip designer could love it. I found the Euro product code on the list. I hooked up my phone, and made the software overwrite the Asian product code deep in the bowels of my phone, and burn in the Euro code. Yes, phone, you are now an imperialist round-eye model! Then I started Nokia Software Updater, who took one look at my phone and said "Ohgod, you are running completely inappropriate and also outdated software for your model. Here, let me get the latest build that is right for you, you Euro thing."
Now when I set my phone to 'Silent', the camera no longer makes a shutter sound when I take a picture. And a couple of browser bugs are gone. But no shutter sound. Europeans are a devious people.
When I used to work for Nokia, I was lucky enough to be a beta tester for phone models. This means that often the phone I was testing had to have a new version of its operating software put on it so we testers could find new bugs and report them. This process of updating the system software was called 'flashing the phone', and it could be the quite the production. It always involved a strange custom plug at the end of a data cable that would fit strangely inside the battery compartment, with pins that would probe deeply into nooks and crannies to find the contact points of the memory-chips, and bizarre instructions for using software so unfriendly only a chip-designer could love it. Seriously, on some models getting the flashing to work right involved holding your breath and slaughtering chickens and doing incantations while walking clockwise around the computer. During one beta test we managed to completely brick my phone. Flashing went awry and it could not be reflashed. It had to be sent back to the Mothership. Yes, I managed to really find the bugs everywhere, including updating procedures.
Nowadays the smartphones can be reflashed by anyone at home. I guess Nokia realized that since they were unavoidably shipping bugs on these sophisticated machines, allowing the user to upgrade to new builds would bring support costs down. It must be cheaper than users shipping phones back or going into stores to get an upgrade. You download the Nokia Software Updater, tell it to sense your phone attached to the computer with the bog-standard data cable that was in the box, the Updater downloads the latest build off the net, and shoves it onto your phone. No chicken required.
Back to my Asian-identified phone: even when I set it to the 'Silent' profile (make no noise ever), it will still make a shutter sound when I take a picture, as it should by Japanese law. I didn't like that. It screws up pet pictures: they wonder what the sound is, or wake up, and come over to sniff. Over on Facebook I joined the N73 group, where someone posted a pointer to a page on how to update an N73 to N73 - Music Edition. It turns out that you have to find another shady piece of software that will allow you to screw with the memory settings in ways the standard official Nokia Software Updater doesn't. Specifically, the software allows you to change the Product Code set inside the phone. As in, you change the number and your N73 is no longer Asian-identified, but Euro-identified. Or Bulgarian-identified. Or Australian-identified. Inside it seems they are all the same chips for all versions anyway, it's just that one code set in deep memory tells the phone what software it should have.
I installed the software, and felt nostalgic: the interface is indeed so techie only a chip designer could love it. I found the Euro product code on the list. I hooked up my phone, and made the software overwrite the Asian product code deep in the bowels of my phone, and burn in the Euro code. Yes, phone, you are now an imperialist round-eye model! Then I started Nokia Software Updater, who took one look at my phone and said "Ohgod, you are running completely inappropriate and also outdated software for your model. Here, let me get the latest build that is right for you, you Euro thing."
Now when I set my phone to 'Silent', the camera no longer makes a shutter sound when I take a picture. And a couple of browser bugs are gone. But no shutter sound. Europeans are a devious people.
Distributed LJ
May. 31st, 2007 01:45 pmNecessary to create a distributed blogging sturcture with different levels of access to posts:
Pleasant to also have: a protocol for user-icons in this distributed blogging network so that leaving a comment with my OpenID will also point to the icon hosted on my blog / site with the right mood. Polls. Voice posts. Good integration with picture hosting, or its own.
- Blogging software on a host
- that can serve as OpenID validation (the 'home account')
- that can authenticate readers with their OpenID identity (friends)
- using cookies stored in the browser so friends don't have to log in every 20 minutes
- that allows comments based on these identities
- that allows posts based on these identities as moderated by the journal owner (communities)
- that understands different authenticated OpenID readers have different access to posts based on groups (filters, friends groups)
- that will show a different RSS feed to RSS readers that authenticate based on OpenID
- that has an RSS reader page that can be pointed to other feeds and will authenticate itself when asked (friends page)
- A central page that lists
- how to download and install this blogging software on your own domain
- which hosters will host this blogging software for you, and a brief overview of what their access, bandwidth, acceptable use, and suspension polices are -- preferably with one-click selection and install (choose name of your blog, accept TOS, blog is now hosted on provider of your choice)
- fee-based or ad-supported hosters available for different users
Pleasant to also have: a protocol for user-icons in this distributed blogging network so that leaving a comment with my OpenID will also point to the icon hosted on my blog / site with the right mood. Polls. Voice posts. Good integration with picture hosting, or its own.
2nd Lifeblog post
Mar. 26th, 2007 01:06 pmThen again, it does yay better in a brightly lit room than it used to. I guess it was my dim living room last might that threw it off.
Note that this is the camera on the front of the phone, meant for video calling (much movement, low res) not the 3MP back camera I usually use.
Mon 2007/03/26 13:00 20070326527
Note that this is the camera on the front of the phone, meant for video calling (much movement, low res) not the 3MP back camera I usually use.
Mon 2007/03/26 13:00 20070326527
Snake Issues
Mar. 13th, 2007 11:06 pmSo the product manager inside Nokia of the high-end N-series, intent on alienating the US market by using marketing terminology that will never play there while also sounding borderline stupid in Europe even among the geeks, has decided that these phones need to be referred to as 'multimedia computers'. And indeed, these phones have one thing indeed in common with actual desktop or laptop computers: you can update the system software. In fact, you pretty much have to: although they aren't being released with as many bugs as the first run of the Nokia 7710 was (hi ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jered), the N-series phones are not perfect machines once out of their testing period. They're just too multi-functional, and every model pushes a new frontier in functionality. You'd need longer and bigger beta tests to get that perfect.
Instead they get pushed out the door when they are acceptable, and owners can get updates for the OS over the web, easily installed over the supplied USB data cable. Now, I am not saying releasing buggy phones in a sort-of public beta test is actual Nokia policy: I have not worked for Nokia in almost a year and when I did I never had insight at what level of bugs -- and there are always bugs in every system released, no matter who makes it -- Nokia deems a product releasable, just so you know. But yes, these fantastic machines, and I do like my N73, can now have their base OS updated without having to go to a store.
I have already done so once, and it was smooth and brilliant. Now it seems a new update is out for the N73, and I could do it again, except for one tiny stupid thing. While you can back up all your data and 3d-party software easily before an upgrade and restore it all just fine afterwards, it seems the upgrade wipes out the data of the levels reached on the built-in game of Snake 2.0. According to the progress bar there seem to be 36 levels, and, after months of play in the subway, I am now at level 36. I don't want to throw all that away. Not even to fix a lingering memory leak with the camera, or the inaccuracy of the battery meter. I keep thinking I am just one day away from finishing that last level...
Then of course I saw on the Wikipedia that Snake 2.0 actually has 45 levels. Drat. Here I was hoping for some festive 'You won!' graphics and music sequence after level 36. Still not doing the update, though.
jered), the N-series phones are not perfect machines once out of their testing period. They're just too multi-functional, and every model pushes a new frontier in functionality. You'd need longer and bigger beta tests to get that perfect.Instead they get pushed out the door when they are acceptable, and owners can get updates for the OS over the web, easily installed over the supplied USB data cable. Now, I am not saying releasing buggy phones in a sort-of public beta test is actual Nokia policy: I have not worked for Nokia in almost a year and when I did I never had insight at what level of bugs -- and there are always bugs in every system released, no matter who makes it -- Nokia deems a product releasable, just so you know. But yes, these fantastic machines, and I do like my N73, can now have their base OS updated without having to go to a store.
I have already done so once, and it was smooth and brilliant. Now it seems a new update is out for the N73, and I could do it again, except for one tiny stupid thing. While you can back up all your data and 3d-party software easily before an upgrade and restore it all just fine afterwards, it seems the upgrade wipes out the data of the levels reached on the built-in game of Snake 2.0. According to the progress bar there seem to be 36 levels, and, after months of play in the subway, I am now at level 36. I don't want to throw all that away. Not even to fix a lingering memory leak with the camera, or the inaccuracy of the battery meter. I keep thinking I am just one day away from finishing that last level...
Then of course I saw on the Wikipedia that Snake 2.0 actually has 45 levels. Drat. Here I was hoping for some festive 'You won!' graphics and music sequence after level 36. Still not doing the update, though.
6 months from now: iPhone Nano. Smaller form factor, more standard keypad, stripped down functionality (calls, messaging, music, cam, limited browsing), same ease of synchronization. It is the sync that will make people so happy. Can you sync with Windows PCs?
My off-the-cuff advice to Nokia and SE: dump Symbian now. It won't catch up to this kind of experience. Linux barely will unless you put a fuckload of work in it, in-house, using enlightment. Sign an agreement with Adobe and concentrate on having your high-end phones run FlashLite as much as possible in the OS stack, with a J2ME subsystem for compatibility. The tech can handle it, and the UIs 3d partys will make will be amazing.
My off-the-cuff advice to Nokia and SE: dump Symbian now. It won't catch up to this kind of experience. Linux barely will unless you put a fuckload of work in it, in-house, using enlightment. Sign an agreement with Adobe and concentrate on having your high-end phones run FlashLite as much as possible in the OS stack, with a J2ME subsystem for compatibility. The tech can handle it, and the UIs 3d partys will make will be amazing.
On The iPhone
Jan. 9th, 2007 11:32 amThe Apple Phone is an astounding technological marvel. Where Microsoft set up a whole new OS product line for years, at great cost, to bring the Windows experience to mobile users, Steve, in standard Steve fashion, just waited until the hardware caught up to be able to leverage his current software assets. It's his style. Just like when he was leading NeXT: they were one of the last workstation makers to stay exclusively Black & White, waiting until they could offer color without all the compromises like color mapping X11 required.
Cingular, I am totally guessing and speaking on my own behalf, is subsidizing this for around 200 dollars. Which means that this device's real market price is around 800 to 900 dollars. For that price he is in the same ballpark as the Microsoft-powered big smartphones like the high-end GPS enabled HTCs and iPaqs. He has blown them out of the water with their interface, though. It looks amazing and will be a joy to use just for the eyecandy.
However, he is taking two big risks in that UI. One is text entry. Soft keyboards are not as well liked as thumbboards. No, I cannot point to a reference for that. Just trust me on it: people would rather use their two thumbs to enter text that having to use their pointing finger while holding the device in the other hand. Mac OS X does have handwriting recognition built in, it is called Inkwell, so maybe that will be a text-entry modality that will make this more pleasant for a minority of users.
The second big risk is the touch screen itself. You can't dial this thing blind. You can't feel your way around the keys. Touch feedback is always a concern for users when they use keypads. Yes, the controls can be totally flexible when you have no defined hardware buttons, but without the spring of the key back to your finger, users feel lost, insecure, unhappy. This has been reported since the Timex Sinclair ZX81 became a global hit in home hobby computers in the early eighties. I truly hope Apple got the engineering right on this touch screen to make it a joy to use. I do not see it. It still am not entirely happy usingpinkfish's click wheel on his iPod.
Then there's the next little issue nobody noticed yet, well, except for the guys at Gizmodo: its size. Yeah, that hand model they are using for the promo shots of the Apple phone? <insert big hands / big wrists joke here>. This thing is marginally more pocketable than a Newton was, and that was one of the big minusses against the Newton.dpnash did some fact checking and found out that Apple lists a different size for it than Gizmodo does. This new size is far more viable as a pocketable device. Still on the big size, but not ridiculously so. No longer in MessagePad territory.
ranger1 just pointed out to me that, four, this thing may just be terribly fragile. Mobile devices like phones have to be engineered to withstand actual life. That people throw their phones arouns is a fact, whether people mean to do so or not. Nokia phones, for example, can take drops that would destroy most other equipment. Even the hard-disk N91 can be dropped from heights on floors that would make iPods cry anguished tears.
I can tell you all one thing, though: the mobile Researchers, Product Managers, designers, and all other staff involved in the high-end Nokia N and E series lines are right now in need of a stiff stif stiff drink. Maybe two. Same for the Walkman people at Sony-Ericsson. Because whether the Apple Phone is a success despite its size and interface or not -- both issues did hamper the also insanely marketed Sony PSP after all -- the whole set of expectations people will have for a high-end mobile media phone device just changed. Offering the N93 feature set for 800 Euros simply will not do anymore. Over. Go make something hugely better. In fact, stop dicking around and just rush this into production now.
Cingular, I am totally guessing and speaking on my own behalf, is subsidizing this for around 200 dollars. Which means that this device's real market price is around 800 to 900 dollars. For that price he is in the same ballpark as the Microsoft-powered big smartphones like the high-end GPS enabled HTCs and iPaqs. He has blown them out of the water with their interface, though. It looks amazing and will be a joy to use just for the eyecandy.
However, he is taking two big risks in that UI. One is text entry. Soft keyboards are not as well liked as thumbboards. No, I cannot point to a reference for that. Just trust me on it: people would rather use their two thumbs to enter text that having to use their pointing finger while holding the device in the other hand. Mac OS X does have handwriting recognition built in, it is called Inkwell, so maybe that will be a text-entry modality that will make this more pleasant for a minority of users.
The second big risk is the touch screen itself. You can't dial this thing blind. You can't feel your way around the keys. Touch feedback is always a concern for users when they use keypads. Yes, the controls can be totally flexible when you have no defined hardware buttons, but without the spring of the key back to your finger, users feel lost, insecure, unhappy. This has been reported since the Timex Sinclair ZX81 became a global hit in home hobby computers in the early eighties. I truly hope Apple got the engineering right on this touch screen to make it a joy to use. I do not see it. It still am not entirely happy using
pinkfish's click wheel on his iPod.dpnash did some fact checking and found out that Apple lists a different size for it than Gizmodo does. This new size is far more viable as a pocketable device. Still on the big size, but not ridiculously so. No longer in MessagePad territory.ranger1 just pointed out to me that, four, this thing may just be terribly fragile. Mobile devices like phones have to be engineered to withstand actual life. That people throw their phones arouns is a fact, whether people mean to do so or not. Nokia phones, for example, can take drops that would destroy most other equipment. Even the hard-disk N91 can be dropped from heights on floors that would make iPods cry anguished tears.I can tell you all one thing, though: the mobile Researchers, Product Managers, designers, and all other staff involved in the high-end Nokia N and E series lines are right now in need of a stiff stif stiff drink. Maybe two. Same for the Walkman people at Sony-Ericsson. Because whether the Apple Phone is a success despite its size and interface or not -- both issues did hamper the also insanely marketed Sony PSP after all -- the whole set of expectations people will have for a high-end mobile media phone device just changed. Offering the N93 feature set for 800 Euros simply will not do anymore. Over. Go make something hugely better. In fact, stop dicking around and just rush this into production now.
