Mobile – Page 13 – ɔimoɈɒ

Tom Raftery on the Nokia N810

Tom Raftery rips Nokia a new one with his review of the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet. Last summer there was a huge amount of interest in the Nokia tablets after the 770 was available for a knockdown price. I was about to go on holiday for a week and couldn’t wait for the 770 to arrive and so I bought an N800 model (which I reviewed earlier). I’ve not yet upgraded to Internet Tablet OS 2008 but that’s because I’ve been using my iPhone pretty much 90% of the time (and the other 10% has been with this laptop).

First off the maps for the GPS are terrible. … and the GPS application doesnâ€™t plot routes either.

Next is the low memory of the device. I only had around 3 applications running at the time so I was surprised that this consumed all the RAM on the device.

The UI is really clunky. I mean really clunky! In this regard I have been spoilt by my iPod Touch experience.

It is slow opening/running applications and the browsing experience is painful compared to Safari on the iPod.

The display doesnâ€™t change orientation if you turn the device through 90 degrees.

It is a brick – big and heavy. Am I likely to carry this and my N95 with me when I am traveling? I donâ€™t think so!

I have most of the same functionality with the combination of the iPod Touch and the N95 as I do with the N810 and the N95 for a fraction the pocket real estate!

Ouch!

Admittedly I didn’t find the N800 to be as much hassle as Tom describes and there are some times I wish it had had the hardware keyboard of the N810 model (Nokia needs to talk to Apple about onscreen soft keyboards). But it did save my geekness while I was in Skegness.

I guess we’ll have to wait until February to see if the iTouch and iPhone really start to challenge the Nokia internet tablets in terms of available software. We’ve already heard that SAP is building their native application for iPhone and there’s the recent news that Sling Media were also building for the iPhone/iTouch too.

The Nokia wouldn’t be enough for me to ditch a laptop and frankly neither is the iPhone or iPod touch. The issues with the iPhone/touch are 90% in software. I need more and better apps. But it’s getting close that these small devices could change our lives.

The other issues with these devices is also their strength. There’s something nice, something essential about using a proper keyboard. Finding a keyboard for the N800 was difficult enough that I eventually gave up after buying one and finding it wouldn’t work. If someone made an external keyboard for the iPhone, even a wired model, I think they’d be onto a winner.

I can’t wait to see what Nokia and Apple are going to bring out next.

Gnostics

Don Reisinger, a freelance technology journalist, writes for MacNN: Once it hits a critical level, the cell phone carriers may mobilize and weâ€™ll realize just how ridiculous cell phone contracts and AT&T really are. Enjoy your iPhone now. But soon enough, you may be wishing you bought that Treo. Nope. I love my iPhone. I’ve … Continue reading “Gnostics”

Don Reisinger, a freelance technology journalist, writes for MacNN:

Once it hits a critical level, the cell phone carriers may mobilize and weâ€™ll realize just how ridiculous cell phone contracts and AT&T really are.

Enjoy your iPhone now. But soon enough, you may be wishing you bought that Treo.

Nope.

I love my iPhone. I’ve hated every other device and with every passing day, my loathing does nothing but grow.

Everyone who doesn’t have one is jealous. And I share a knowing grin with every one I know who also has one.

This ain’t no cargo cult. This is gnosticism.

iPods in the workplace

Linky goodness “I am in favor of any technology that can be used for entertainment while looking exactly like work to the casual observer,” jokes “Dilbert” cartoonist Scott Adams in an e-mail interview. “And any entertainment you can find during a business meeting is well worth the risk of being detected.” Related posts: Workplaces of … Continue reading “iPods in the workplace”

Linky goodness

“I am in favor of any technology that can be used for entertainment while looking exactly like work to the casual observer,” jokes “Dilbert” cartoonist Scott Adams in an e-mail interview. “And any entertainment you can find during a business meeting is well worth the risk of being detected.”

Another spurious/tedious/vacuous lawsuit about the iPod

InformationWeek keeps us up to date with the knockout important news again – this time with another lawsuit about someone is whining about iPods An antitrust lawsuit filed against Apple on Dec. 31 charges the company with maintaining an illegal monopoly on the digital music market. Okay, as long as we remember that monopolies are … Continue reading “Another spurious/tedious/vacuous lawsuit about the iPod”

InformationWeek keeps us up to date with the knockout important news again – this time with another lawsuit about someone is whining about iPods

An antitrust lawsuit filed against Apple on Dec. 31 charges the company with maintaining an illegal monopoly on the digital music market.

Okay, as long as we remember that monopolies are not illegal in of themselves but abuse of a monopoly in order to gain strength in other markets is what got Microsoft convicted.

the complaint takes issue with Apple’s refusal to support the Windows Media Audio format. “Apple’s iPod is alone among mass-market Digital Music Players in not supporting the WMA format,” it states, noting that America Online, Wal-Mart, Napster, MusicMatch, Best Buy, Yahoo Music, FYE Download Zone, and Virgin Digital all support protected WMA files.

InformationWeek agrees with me that it’s a vacuous claim considering the choice in DRM-free tracks available now. All of which will play on iPod. Why should I (and I mean we, as Apple’s customers, have to pay an extra few dollars on products so they can support Windows Media Audio?).

As an aside, why the hell doesn’t she just buy one of these Mass Market Players and fuck off?

The lawsuit then dips into fantasyland:

charges Apple with deliberately designing its iPod hardware to be incompatible with WMA. One of the third-party components in iPods, the Portal Player System-On-A-Chip, supports WMA, according to the complaint. “Apple, however, deliberately designed the iPod’s software so that it would only play a single protected digital format, Apple’s FairPlay-modified AAC format,” the complaint states. “Deliberately disabling a desirable feature of a computer product is known as ‘crippling’ a product, and software that does this is known as ‘crippleware.’ “

I don’t care about whether they did this – what I’m wondering about is whether it is actually illegal to do this? I don’t think so. If Apple haven’t paid Microsoft for use of their WMA codecs then I’m pretty sure they legally have to disable the WMA decoding?

To tie this into an injury to consumers, they claim:

Apple’s pricing is “monopolistic, excessive, and arbitrary,” citing how a wholesale $5.52 price difference between 1-Gbyte ($4.15) and 4-Gbyte ($9.67) NAND flash memory modules results in a $100 retail price difference between 1-Gbyte iPod Nano and a 4-Gbyte Nano.

Yes, it’s easy to quote flash memory prices today and wonder why there was such a difference in products pricing. If you don’t like, don’t buy it. I don’t think it’s illegal to overcharge anyway?

So what?

I’d like to know why Microsoft hasn’t been taken to task for their PlaysForSure crap which won’t play on iPods, Zunes or Macintosh computers. I suspect the reason is : No one gives a flying fuck.

Like so many iPod related lawsuits it boils down to:

Wahhhhh, I want to buy an iPod but it’s too expensive so I’m going to make up a spurious lawsuit and see if I can get one for free.

if the iPhone won’t come to the Enterprise, then…

iPhone is not available to business accounts in the US and iTunes balks at registering the iPhone to a non-residential address in the UK so it’s certainly not aimed at the Corporate Road Warrior but as I’ve blogged a lot recently, there certainly a lot of buzz about the iPhone and not just from consumers, … Continue reading “if the iPhone won’t come to the Enterprise, then…”

iPhone is not available to business accounts in the US and iTunes balks at registering the iPhone to a non-residential address in the UK so it’s certainly not aimed at the Corporate Road Warrior but as I’ve blogged a lot recently, there certainly a lot of buzz about the iPhone and not just from consumers, but from big business. SAP as previously discussed is bringing their product to the iPhone because their own people want it (and as we now know, the SAP client is being developed using a pre-release iPhone SDK here in Belfast).

Avaya, one of the big names in modern telephony, has also signed up to the iPhone and therefore lent it some serious credibility in the Enterprise.

Avaya one-X Mobile for iPhone will allow users to have access to visual voicemail, corporate directories, and VIP lists, all via an â€œenterprise-secureâ€ environment, and allow the iPhone to be used for both incoming and outgoing calls while maintaining usersâ€™ office identity.

Click for the flash demo (which, of course, you can’t view on an iPhone).

Nortel, (never the visionary) hasn’t leapt onto the bandwagon for either Contivity or their IP phone products. But then they’ve been hot on air and cold on “actually doing anything other than loudly collaborating with Microsoft”.

Good oh!

iPhone is missing one thing for me

Local Storage. I don’t really want to use it to download stuff and keep it, that’s not what I’m looking for. But a way to, for instance, aggressively cache a web pages so I could, for instance, download the text of “The Importance of Being Ernest” and read it while waiting in queues etc. I … Continue reading “iPhone is missing one thing for me”

Local Storage.

I don’t really want to use it to download stuff and keep it, that’s not what I’m looking for. But a way to, for instance, aggressively cache a web pages so I could, for instance, download the text of “The Importance of Being Ernest” and read it while waiting in queues etc. I can’t do this currently and have to rely on a functional EDGE connection or emailing myself the files and reading them from my email.

Add that to my wishlist for later versions of iPhone OSX.

The Third Party Application Market on Phones and PDAs

On my Newton, I downloaded maybe 20 apps. I bought two over the wire. I even bought one in a retail package. On my Palm vX, I bought two apps. A Paris City Guide and a VT100 Terminal app. On my other phones and devices between then and now I’ve downloaded two apps. One was … Continue reading “The Third Party Application Market on Phones and PDAs”

On my Newton, I downloaded maybe 20 apps. I bought two over the wire. I even bought one in a retail package.

On my Palm vX, I bought two apps. A Paris City Guide and a VT100 Terminal app.

On my other phones and devices between then and now I’ve downloaded two apps. One was a Telnet/SSH client for my SonyEricsson K800i which was so bad that I never used it and certainly never bought it.

The other was yesterday when I bought and downloaded Sonic the Hedgehog for my 5G iPod (the one I have donated to the kids, secure in a iFrogz Tadpole wrap).

I’m beginning to think that, based on my experience, the third party application market on Phones and PDAs might be a bit of a sham. I’ve spent hundreds of pounds on software for my Mac so I’m not averse to spending a bit of cash when something catches my eye.

The logic remains. I’ve only bought software for 3 devices. My Newton, my Palm vX and my iPod. Not one purchase for any of my phones in the past.

I think this is what will make the big difference in the PDA market. I think we’ll see an explosion of sales for the iPhone in third party applications even with the premium Apple will demand for signing.

That Tsunami on the Horizon: it’s the iPhone…

RoughlyDrafted visits the news that the iPhone is already beating the stuffing out of competitors in mobile phone operating system usage. With iPhone demonstrating considerably better statistics in terms of market share, it must be absolutely galling to some: The most recent market share numbers are particularly embarrassing for Microsoft, especially after CEO Steve Ballmer … Continue reading “That Tsunami on the Horizon: it’s the iPhone…”

RoughlyDrafted visits the news that the iPhone is already beating the stuffing out of competitors in mobile phone operating system usage.

With iPhone demonstrating considerably better statistics in terms of market share, it must be absolutely galling to some:

The most recent market share numbers are particularly embarrassing for Microsoft, especially after CEO Steve Ballmer announced in January that Apple wouldnâ€™t capture more than two to three percent of the market and described his own Windows Mobile platform as having or soon acquiring 60 to 80% of the smartphone market.

Ever seen Minority Report? In the film, Tom Cruise plays a cop who, through the assistance of precognitive sun-loungers, can solve murders before they happen. The precogs are pale, bald and skinny. What we missed in the film was they had a not-quite-so-good brother called Steve. He was bald, pale and kinda avocado-shaped. His predictions were pretty much 100% wrong so they kept him in a different room where he could play with his own poo.

Windows Mobile isn’t going anywhere soon, up or down in marketshare but it’s another market outside Windows for x86 markets where Microsoft is being beaten senseless with a large rubber anatomical facsimile. They’re losing money hand over fist in the games consoles. By 2005 they’d lost over $4 BILLION. They’re also going to have to pay out another BILLION or so replacing XBox 360 consoles. And they’re congratulating themselves that in Sept 2007 they got better sales figures than the Wii. Yup, 5% better despite the release of HALO 3. Brilliant, lads. You’ve chewed through more than 5 billion dollars and you’ve just edged past the Wii…for one month. I can’t wait to see your next trick.

It should also be an embarrassment for Benjamin Gray of Forrester Research, who just released another report insisting that IT departments shun the iPhone and limit their support to platforms that are dead, dying, or obscure in North America, such as the Palm OS, Linux, and Symbian.

Quite. But I’ve covered the Forrester report previously.

The rest of the article is very well written so go read.

Another gem regards why Apple didn’t run with Symbian.

It turns out that just like the original Mac System, Symbian is hamstrung by the compromises they took on in order to get decent performance on old hardware. Now, as the hardware has matured, the system remains archaic and though Symbian claims a large market share, it’s firmly divided into three separate binary-incompatible camps, a Japanese version, a version from Nokia and a third from Sony-Ericsson. Despite the investment they have, they are only licensees of the software and therefore it’s unlikely there’s going to be an overhaul of the system to bring it up to date.

A Symbian developer explains, â€œNokia is more or less stuck with Symbian since it doesn’t have the competence nor the time to make a new OS from the ground up. Its only alternative, in practice, is to go Linux, which it is of course experimenting with, but it’s still not an easy path to go.

This sort of explains where Nokia are going with the Nokia 770/N800/N810 platform. Sure, it doesn’t include mobile phone features but it’s going to give them a solid developer base when they get round to releasing later hardware especially since they have promised a WiMAX version sometime in 2008. Preparing for the VoIP onslaught – oh you better believe it?

iPhone’s OSX is just starting out, less than 6 months in the public domain and it’s making big waves. There may be some ups and downs in the near future but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was followed by an Apple TV SDK sometime later.

As Guy said earlier:

“Symbian, Palm and Windows Mobile can have third party development, so they are better”

David’s retort was

“iPhone is beating the stuffing out of them without an SDK. What do you reckon will happen in February when it’s available?”

And I went to all that effort too…

I downloaded the cool CTU ringtone for iPhone inspired by “24” and eagerly loaded it onto my iPhone. Of course….no-one rang me all day so I didn’t get to quickly take the call, stand up in the middle of the training course and say “National Emergency, I gotta take this!” What is that all about? … Continue reading “And I went to all that effort too…”

I downloaded the cool CTU ringtone for iPhone inspired by “24” and eagerly loaded it onto my iPhone.

Of course….no-one rang me all day so I didn’t get to quickly take the call, stand up in the middle of the training course and say “National Emergency, I gotta take this!” What is that all about?

Mood: Sad 🙁

Windows Mobile IE To Render Web Pages Accurately

From Electronista: The next version of Microsoft’s mobile OS beyond Windows Mobile 6.1 will be the first to directly tackle advancements brought about by the iPhone, according to statements the company has made at the recent Mobius conference and echoed by Engadget. The unnamed update will effectively port a desktop version of Internet Explorer to … Continue reading “Windows Mobile IE To Render Web Pages Accurately”

From Electronista:

The next version of Microsoft’s mobile OS beyond Windows Mobile 6.1 will be the first to directly tackle advancements brought about by the iPhone, according to statements the company has made at the recent Mobius conference and echoed by Engadget. The unnamed update will effectively port a desktop version of Internet Explorer to the handset environment to render web pages in a largely accurate manner similar to that of Apple’s mobile Safari browser.

Wow, two updates.

they’re going to port desktop IE to Windows Mobile
they’re going to make IE render web pages in a largely accurate manner

Frankly I don’t know which is the bigger surprise.

No schedule, no timing, just a bit of vapourware to keep the FUD machines running.