July 5th, 2009

Will we see a Nokia Aseries (Android series) or Android Tablet device in September?

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 11:14 pm

Categories: Gadgets, Nokia, Open Handset Alliance, Rumors, Symbian

Tags: Google Android, Nokia Corp., Guardian, Mobile Operating Systems, Tablets, Smart Phones, Notebooks, Hardware, Notebooks & Tablets, Consumer Electronics

I admit to being a fan of Nokia devices, but think there are several areas of the S60 Symbian-based operating system that need improvement. I am also quite a fan of Google Android, especially running on my T-Mobile G1. The Guardian is reporting the Nokia will be announcing an Android smartphone at Nokia World in September. The Guardian does not list any source for this rumor, other than industry insiders, so I am not taking this possibility as fact yet. However, I do think it would be interesting to see a Nokia ASeries (Android series) or Nokia Android Tablet class of devices with Nokia’s outstanding hardware and Android’s powerful and user friendly operating system.

If this rumor turns out to be true, I highly doubt that Nokia would completely flip to Android and believe we will still see S60 running on Nseries, Eseries, and other series of devices. In all likelihood, this Android OS device will be some kind of new Nokia Internet Tablet where Android would be a much better OS than the rather slow Maemo Linux-based OS currently running on the N800 and N810. The Nokia Internet Tablets have a rather small following, but I think putting the Android OS on it may spur interest.

April 17th, 2009

MobileTechRoundup show #169, Nokia E75, Viliv S5, HP dv2, and S60 Twitter clients

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 6:12 pm

Categories: MoTR podcast, Mobile software, Nokia, S60, Smartphone, Symbian, UMPC, Ultra portable PC, mobile services

Tags:

Listen here (MP3, 31.2 MB, 34:00 minutes)

Subscribe to the show with this link (RSS)

Sprint had a huge launch buildup for the Samsung Instinct and in MobileTechRoundup show #169 we question where all the marketing is for the upcoming Palm Pre. I had a chance to chat a bit about the fantastic Nokia E75 I am testing out. James just received the Vilev S5 UMPC after we recorded the show, but was pretty excited about checking out the device when we recorded this morning. Kevin also has a new laptop, the HP dv2, and it sounds like a nice device between a netbook and a full blown desktop replacement laptop. I was also happy to report that there are now two high-powered Twitter clients for the S60 platform that I also put up against each other on my Nokia Experts site.

Please let me know if you have anything you would like us to cover and discuss on the show and I’ll try to work it into a future podcast.

September 9th, 2008

Sync your calendar, contacts, tasks, and notes with Sync on Ovi and your Nokia device

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 12:06 pm

Categories: Mobile software, Nokia, On the road, S60, Smartphone, Symbian, mobile services

Tags: Device, Nokia Corp., Ovi, E-mail, Advertising & Promotion, Desktops, Web Browsers, Online Communications, Marketing, Hardware

Apple’s MobileMe has not been as reliable as hoped for and is specific to the Apple iPhone. Nokia is getting into the game of consumer-focused backup/synchronization by offering services through their Ovi initiative. The latest module to be added to Ovi is Sync that syncs your calendar, contacts, to-do list/tasks, and notes between the Nokia server and your compatible mobile device. At this time, there is no cost for this service while it is in free public beta mode and it isn’t clear if there will be a fee in the future.

Setup for Sync on Ovi was drop dead simple and all I did was select my device, the E71, and then enter my mobile phone number as I walked through the wizard. A configuration file was sent via text message and then the settings were saved in the Sync conduit area on the device. I then simply selected sync and everything was backed up on the Nokia server. You can acccess and manager your data via a web browser on a Mac or PC (or other device with a browser). My contact photos were not synced over from my device.

If you already use Mail for Exchange or another sync solution you will want to turn it off and be careful or you may end up with lost data or duplicates. The great thing about this solution is that you can easily get your data back on a device if it is lost or you switch devices.

IMHO, the major bummer about this new Sync on Ovi service is that you can’t sync to Outlook, Google Calendar, etc. and must use the Nokia services. Data is also only synced when you take action and is not pushed. James posted some more great thoughts on what he would like to see in Ovi.

Sync on Ovi is designed for PIM synchronization while the new beta Nokia Email service syncs your email. Nokia also has Files on Ovi (based on Avvenu technology) that allows you to backup and access files from your web browser or your device and this is a subscription service with a monthly or annual fee.

Share on Ovi lets you manage photos and video content too so with Ovi you can get a complete, yet still a bit disjointed (Nokia Email is a separate client, Files is a fee-based service, the icons along to top of Ovi sites show different modules and should all be the same to easily move through each module), experience for ensuring your most important information is backed up and always accessible.

The new Nokia Ovi Suite for PC application (Outlook-like application) looks like a great way to manage your device and content with a PC based application. The Nokia site states that a Mac client is comine soon, which is excellent news considering there never was a Nokia PC Suite for the Mac before.

If I was only using my Nokia E71 or N95 then I would probably stick with just these Nokia solutions. However, I also use Windows Mobile, iPhone, and Palm devices and think my hosted Exchange solution is still the best for me right now. Since most people are not like me with all of these devices, I think these Ovi services are excellent solutions for consumers and based on some of my initial trials, the services are working quite well.

September 8th, 2008

RIM continues to gain in smartphone sales, 2nd quarter 08 report

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 9:40 am

Categories: Apple, BlackBerry, HTC, Nokia, S60, Symbian, Windows Mobile, iPhone

Tags: High Tech Computer Corp., Research In Motion Ltd., Smart Phone, Sales Strategy, Smart Phones, Sales Force Management, Handhelds, Sales, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology

Regular reports on smartphone and mobile device sales are issued and are interesting to view. However, they are often missing information that makes the data a bit less informative. In the most recent Gartner report we finally see analysts including the largest Windows Mobile manufacturer, HTC, in their tables. Sales of smartphones have increased at a lower rate than in 2007, but were still quite strong considering that consumer spending has slowed in the U.S.

Nokia, of course, remains in the lead with a 47.5% worldwide market share in the second quarter of 2008, followed by RIM at 17.4%, HTC and Sharp at 4.1%. HTC usually ends up in the Others category and actually many of their devices are still in that category because the only HTC devices that are filed under HTC are those they self brand. All of the other devices they make for carriers end up in the Others category. It would be interesting to see where HTC really ends up when all of their devices are accounted for and I am sure they would be in at least 3rd by themselves and maybe even in 2nd. It is interesting to see that Apple doesn’t appear in the top 5 worldwide as their sales dropped to 2.8%. They will most likely rise again when 3rd quarter sales are reported, due to the iPhone 3G availability.

When you take a look at the operating system, you see that Symbian (S60 and UIQ) was tops at 57.1 percent, followed by BlackBerry at 17.5%, and Windows Mobile at 12%.

RIM looks to have had the largest growth percentages in both devices and OS tables (the iPhone had the greatest increase in OS alone) and I think RIM will continue to grow as they expand further into the consumer market with the Bold and other new devices on the horizon. I am using my BlackBerry Curve more and more and know several friends who recently picked up Curves as well.

August 31st, 2008

Some tips for the mobile phone buyer traveling abroad

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 1:06 pm

Categories: On the road, Smartphone, Symbian, Windows Mobile

Tags: SIM Card, Phone, Device, Mobile, Credit Card, Retail Company, Cell Phone, Electronics, Singapore, Samsung OMNIA

I just returned from a short business trip to Singapore and knew before I went out there that it might be trouble for my credit card because Singapore is known for their electronics stores and malls dedicated to electronics. After a couple days of work, it turned out my trip was shortened so I tried to find the first flight out. All flights were full until Sunday so I had a couple of days to see some sights. I also discovered that the COMEX 2008 event was being held this weekend and it was free to attend. In addition to the shopping I did (and devices I bought) I learned quite a bit about shopping for mobile phones and wanted to share some experiences and tips in case you end up traveling to Singapore.

If you have listened to any of our latest MobileTechRoundup podcasts you may have heard me talking about how my two oldest daughters are saving up their money for some kind of laptop/netbook device. My initial plan was to look for these at discounted prices in Singapore. I also was chatting with my Mobius buddy Shane from PPCSG.com (who ended up taking me to an excellent Singaporan dinner) and found out that the Samsung OMNIA (aka SGH-i900) was actually released first in Singapore about a month ago. Thus, I had a couple of things to keep a look out for in Singapore.

The first shopping trip out took place in the area of Ngee Ann City and I found a device that I enjoyed discovering at MWC 08 earlier this year. I was at the Sony Store and found that they had the black and red SE G900 UIQ-powered device. The G900 is a candy bar form factor phone with a 5 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, WiFi, and touch screen display. You would never guess the device has a touch screen and it is pretty impressive. It does have 3G, but only for Europe and not for the U.S. I figured that was OK since the phone was available for just under US$400 in a SIM-unlocked configuration. After a few more questions and trying out the device Read the rest of this entry »

August 27th, 2008

Nokia N79 and N85 announced for October 08 release

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 3:00 pm

Categories: Nokia, Nseries, S60, Smartphone, Symbian

Tags: Device, Nokia Corp., Nokia N79, Engineering, Wireless, Matthew Miller

My trip to Singapore threw me off of my schedule a bit and I missed the official announcements for the new Nokia N79 and Nokia N85 that were made yesterday, along with the announcement that the N96 would be coming to the U.S. to support our 3G networks (actually AT&T only at the moment) in the 4th quarter of 2008. The N79 looks like the successor to the N73 or even N78 while the N85 updates the N82 and blurs the lines with the very successful N95. Both new devices run S60 Feature Pack 2.

The Nokia N79 has a 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and dual LED flash along with Xpress-on smart covers in five colors (Light Sea Blue, Espresso Brown, Olive Green, White and Coral Red) that change the screen theme to match the back cover. Three colors come in the box with each N79. A 4GB microSD card is also included in the box (nice touch here Nokia). The device has all the other wireless features you expect on high end devices today, including HSDPA, WiFi, Bluetooth, FM transmitter and GPS. Retail price is EUR350 with an October 2008 release.

The Nokia N85 also has a 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and all the wireless features of a high end device. The major new feature of the N85 is the OLED display that should give you a bright display with battery savings. It has a dual slider form factor like the N95. Gaming is a focus of this device with at least 10 N-Gage title loaded on the device to try out and a voucher for one full game license. An 8GB microSD card is included in the box too. Like the N78 and new N79, the N85 has an integrated FM transmitter so you can play your music through a home or car stereo. Retail price is EUR450 and an October 2008 release is also planned.

I also recommend checking out some of the links and information on the Nokia Conversations site regarding these two new devices.

August 7th, 2008

Nokia Email service drastically improves the email experience on S60 devices

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 11:55 am

Categories: Eseries, Mobile software, Nokia, Nseries, On the road, S60, Symbian, mobile services

Tags: device, nokia corp., mobile, client, service, nokia email service, e-mail, online communications, matthew miller

The Nokia S60 Nseries and Eseries devices are incredible mobile devices, but the email client is very basic and has a rather plain look and feel to it (aka BlackBerry look). The default Messaging client does a poor job with hyperlinks, doesn’t display my messages forwarded from other services, and IMHO is just barely acceptable for usage. Nokia has been beta testing a new service, Nokia Email, and I had the opportunity to check it out on the N95 and E71 for a few weeks. It was in a limited beta before, but starting tomorrow anyone who wants to try it will be able download the client from the Nokia Beta Labs site and signup for the service at the Nokia Email service site. During this beta period, the service is free so give it a try and provide feedback to make it better. You may remember that Nokia purchased Intellisync a couple of years ago and this new Nokia Email service is powered by Intellisync and brings another new service to Nokia.

The Nokia Email service is significantly different than the default S60 Messaging client and brings your email back into the 21st century. Right from the initial sign-up process you will find how easy it is to setup Nokia Email on your S60 device. You simply select your mobile phone from the supported list (E51, E61, E61i, E65, E66, E71, E90, N73, N80, N81 8GB, and N95) then enter your email address and password from the internet service provider/email service provider that you want to use with the service. Nokia doesn’t specifically list all of the IMAP and POP service providers they currently support, but I have been using the service with Gmail and it works very well for the most part, as I will discuss below, so if you have Gmail you can rest assured it is a supported service. You then enter a few more details to ensure security of your email along with a phone number. A SMS is sent to your phone with the download link and you simply open it in your mobile browser to install the S60 client.

After installing the client on your mobile device you will see the status appear with “Setup in progress” as the client is configured on your device. You will then see Read the rest of this entry »

July 31st, 2008

Google adds transit directions to S60 and Windows Mobile clients

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 11:29 am

Categories: BlackBerry, Mobile software, Nokia, Nseries, On the road, S60, Symbian, Windows Mobile, mobile services

Tags: Google Inc., Microsoft Windows Mobile, Mobile, Microsoft Windows, Advertising & Promotion, Marketing, Matthew Miller

There are full navigation and routing programs available for S60 and Windows Mobile that I use for major trips, but for quick positioning and some trips I just fire up the Google Maps for Mobile application on these devices. Google just released an update that adds transit directions to these mobile operating systems. They previously launched support for BlackBerry and Java-based devices so this expands their mobile offerings, with just the iPhone and Palm OS left to upgrade.

The new transit directions functionality gives you routing for public transportation systems in select markets. I haven’t yet tried it out in the Seattle area, but we have a fairly new bus and rail system so I am not confident there will be much for our area and imagine support will be there for areas like Washington, D.C., L.A, New York, and other large metropolitan areas. Simply go to google.com/gmm in your mobile browser to download the latest Google Maps for Mobile client. Thanks to Nokia Conversations for the heads-up on this release.

UPDATE: I installed this on my Nokia E71-2 and it does support local bus routing here in downtown Seattle. The program even tells you (and shows you with an icon) that you need to walk to a specific bus stop to catch the bus, with departure and arrival times. It didn’t calculate a transit trip from Seattle to Tacoma though so I need to keep exploring how much is supported. There are Sounder trains and Sound Transit buses from Seattle to Tacoma and hopefully these will be added in the future. Still it is a nice feature to have downtown and pretty amazing that they integrated it all into a free client application.

Have you tried it yet on your device and if so, what are your experiences?

July 24th, 2008

Samsung INNOV8 S60 mobile device with 8 megapixel camera revealed

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 12:30 pm

Categories: Nokia, S60, Smartphone, Symbian

Tags: Mobile, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Mobile Device, Camera, 3G, Cellular Phones, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Matthew Miller

The Nokia N96 was revealed back in January and should be hitting the streets in the next couple of months. I guess I haven’t been following the S60 rumors closely enough lately and was a bit caught off guard by the post that Ricky made regarding the Samsung i8510INNOV8 S60 device. He was at a local New York event last night and had the chance to see this upcoming device that has a groundbreaking 8 megapixel camera with QVGA video recording capability of up to 120 frames per second/VGA at 30 frames per second. The version shown at the event does not support US 3G bands, but maybe we’ll see it with that support some time in the future.

The camera also includes smile, face and blink detection, image stabilization, and panoramic photo support. The specs also include WiFi, integrated GPS reciever, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP support, 3.5mm audio jack, 16GB of internal storage, and microSD card slot. The pricing and availability has not yet been announced. Check out Ricky’s post for the full specs and more about the device. He has also posted hands-on photos over at MobileBurn.com.

July 11th, 2008

Nokia kicks off aggressive recycling program, Nokia Chat, and E71 further usage thoughts

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 1:00 pm

Categories: Nokia, On the road, S60, Symbian

Tags: Nokia Corp., Nokia Chat, Keyboards, Advertising & Promotion, Telecom & Utilities, Hardware, Peripherals, Marketing, Matthew Miller

Nokia must have peeked in my desk drawer recently as they recently issued a press release stating that only 3% of the people recycle their mobile phones and have lots lying around at home they no longer use. I keep some for comparison photos and others for nostalgia because they are part of my mobile history while I give others to family and friends. As a part of this new Nokia program, the Nseries Blogger Relations program asked that we send any phones back that are no longer being used for evaluation for passing out to other bloggers or recycling so I sent back a couple of the devices to clear out my drawer a bit. I think it is great that Nokia is focusing attention to and dedicating efforts to their we:recycle program.

The survey that Nokia discusses in the press release stated that one of the main reasons people do not recycle old phones is that they don’t know that they can do so. Nokia stated that up to 80% of any Nokia device is recyclable and precious materials can be reused to make kitchen kettles, park benches, dental fillings and more. I wonder if I have an old Nokia phone in my mouth now :) Interestingly, the plastics that can’t be recycled are burned to provide energy for the recycling process. Nokia does a great job of keeping materials out of the landfill and I plan to recycle all of my old Nokia devices.

Check out the we:recycle site to see if you have a local recycle station and if you are in the U.S. you can use this Nokia site to get a pre-paid shipping label to return your phone for recycling at no cost to you.

In other Nokia news, my buddy Jonathan let me know about a cool new application that is available for Read the rest of this entry »