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S60 Google Maps on N95 Rocks
I my recent post “N95 GPS Revisited”, I mentioned that I’d be trying and reporting on the new native Symbian S60 version of Google Maps as an alternative to the pre-loaded Nokia mapping application.
Well, in short, the Google app blows the Nokia one away, IMHO. It finally makes the GPS function of the N95 useful and totally changes this phone for me.
Quick Overview
The Google application integrates with the N95 GPS hardware and it shows your current location as a blue dot on the map. You can jump to your current location at any point using the 0 (zero) key. The 1 key zooms out and the 3 key zooms in.
The search function has been amazingly impressive in finding the right location with a small amount of text entry (even with misspellings). It must use the GPS position to make a lot of assumptions about what one is looking for, prioritizing local places, and so on.
Click ‘Directions’ and you get a ‘Route overview’ screen showing the step-by-step turns. Click ‘Show’ and the route is shown on the map. You can move from step to step with the 4 (Prev) and 6 (Next) keys.
Hit 0 and you go to your current location (with the route still overlaid on the map) and then press 6 to go back to the ‘route’ again. Even when in ‘route’ mode, your current location is shown live, moving on the map, at the same time as the ‘route’ overlay. This feature alone is a tremendous improvement in usability over the pre-loaded Nokia Maps app.
You can do other stuff like show traffic (for selected areas) and show a satellite view if you prefer (although it’s more data, so it can slow things down). As a native S60 app, it doesn’t use as much RAM as something like the Java-based Yahoo Go 2.0 app. It also integrates with Contacts and Web in nifty ways.
The speed of the app is pretty much dependent on your Internet connection speed. Also, all the maps all come in over the data connection, which may impact your bill if you don’t have an unlimited data plan.
In summary, this is the best mobile phone GPS app for practical use in driving that I’ve seen yet and really improves the value of the N95.
Symbian Signed Followup
Bruce Carney from Symbian was nice enough to comment on my earlier “Why Symbian Signed must die” post.
There is no intent to prevent long term access. The Symbian Signed infrastructure hit a step change in demand. In periods of overload we have a policy to prioritize the service to ensure professional users can continue their work.
– The problem is shown in this link (i.e. a massive spike)
http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/symbiansigned.com
– The underlying reason was posted in our developers forums here https://developer.symbian.com/forum/ann.jspa?annID=36
– Free Developer Certificates *already* downloaded over the past years are valid for 3 years, There are millions and millions of developers who *are* not being impacted by this outage.
– We have been trying to contact the developer of RotateMe to get the app signed (for free) and awaiting response?If anything, this underscores
(1) How Symbian OS is around an order of magnitude more popular than iPhone or any other mobile OS.
(2) As the smartphone OS market leader, Symbian OS is solving real world mobile developer problems every day, not preaching to the faithful on podiums with powerpoint.We just ask our developer community to be a little patient
Bruce Carney
Director, Developer Programs & Services
Symbian
Thanks for posting, Bruce.
I’m sorry I missed your call and I hope you are able to call back.
It’s great news that Symbian intends to restore the ability of people to get devcerts. And I understand and have read all the reasons and reported causes for the Open Signed outages.
I also agree that the volume of certs does suggest the popularity of the platform.
However, all that misses the point. The Symbian Signed server being down is just a symptom, as is the load on that server caused by the volume of developer cert requests. People are requesting so many certs because the signing restrictions are broken. The problem isn’t that the Symbian Signed site is down - the problem is that people have to use it in the first place. The problem is that apps need to be signed to be installed and the mechansm for freeware developers, or even small-time corporate or in-house developers, to get certs and manage getting apps signed (and tested and “approved” by Symbian) is defective. It’s untenable.
This is how we end up in the situation where developers release the apps “unsigned” and have the users themselves sign them (and thus, the high volume of “developer” certs). The arguments in favor of the signing requirement are about making phones “safe” and ensuring users can “trust” the apps. However that trust model is antiquated 20th century thinking. Look what they have to go through now to try to get freeware installed (getting a “devcert” and signing the freeware apps themselves). If they are willing to sign it themselves, it suggests that they “trust” the app, even though it has not been “blessed” by Nokia or Symbian. Why? The reason people trust these apps is not because some authority in the sky, like Symbian Signed, gives it a “thumbs up” but because the community provides a powerful degree of trust. Applications that jack around with people would be immediately discredited by the Symbian freeware community - everyone would know about it, and people would avoid the app like the plague. This works with things like Linux and Firefox and it would also work with Symbian freeware.
The current Symbian Signed process creates the opposite effect of its stated objectives. I’d suggest that Symbian Signed apps are actually less trustworthy, in the true sense of the term - it’s more likely for “official” apps that have been “approved and tested” to have bugs than the freeware ones because it takes months to get an app tested and approved (and it cost $$$) so bugs never get fixed; whereas problems with freeware get reported all over the place and they tend to get fixed quickly.
The solution is to release a version of S60 3rd edition that lets those users that are willing to take the risks install unsignd apps and grant the features, privledges, capabilities they wish to the apps, even if this is a “unsupported” “hacker” version of Symbian with “forfeit all rights to support” restrictions or some such - that would still be vastly better than the situation those people have today, where the only officially supported options are to not install the apps at all, ever or switch platforms/phones - and the “unofficial” solution is to overload the Symbian Signed site with “developer” cert requests.
So save yourself some money on upgrading the Symbian Signed server crypto hardware and instead release a simple version of S60 3rd edition. You’ll be happy, I’ll be happy, and users will be happy. And your phone manufacturer customers like Nokia will be happy too, happy that they don’t lose their customers to Windows Mobile, the iPhone, or other alternative platforms.
T-mobile offers Vonage-like service
Last year, T-mobile introduced a Wi-Fi calling UMA service called @Home, a mobile handset-based service. The idea was that you would use your mobile handset exclusively as a replacement for a standard home phone. The selling proposition of this service was basically (1) no in-home GSM coverage problems (because calls use wi-fi/broadband in the home), and (2) “unlimited” (domestic) calls from at home or at wi-fi hotspots.
T-mobile is now introducing a variant of that @Home play called Talk Forever Home Phone. It is an add-on service for T-mobile wireless customers that essentially provides a Vonage-style replacement home phone service. You get an ATA/router with a standard RJ-11 phone jack output to connect to a standard touchtone home phone.
The Talk Forever service is available as an add-on to an existing T-mobile plan and cannot be purchased separately. It is priced at $10 per month. This should put significant downward pressure on Vonage and AT&T CallVantage. But before you get too excited, note that this comes with the usual cell phone fine print and red tape - specifically there is a two-year agreement required and a $200 early cancellation fee! It also has unspecified taxes and fees.
With the advertised $10/month price point, one has to wonder if it might also impact Cable VOIP which has seen strong growth at a $40/month price point.
At the moment the service is only available in Seattle and Dallas. One thing not talked about with this service is international calling rates - if they are the same as normal T-mobile mobile prices, then this service will not be a competitive threat to other VOIP services in that regard.
Standard touch tone home phone
I think this move by T-Mobile of offering a “home phone”-based service shows that T-mobile has discovered through their experience with the handset-only first generation of the @Home service that there is a customer segment out there that is more comfortable using a ‘home phone” in the home, rather than their mobile handset. Here are some possible reasons why:
- missed calls because the cell phone was on silent or vibrate somewhere.
- cell phone is turned off to conserve battery power
- accidentally leave cell phone at work and find yourself without a home phone for a night
T-mobile has no wireline assets in the US, so clearly this is a way to attack Verizon and AT&T for the household user experience. It will be interesting to see if any other pure-play wireless carriers make similar moves.
iPhone SDK promised date approaching
As many may recall, Steve Jobs had announced in October that Apple would be releasing its much-anticipated iPhone SDK (Software Developers Kit) before the end of February - I’m certainly not going to let them forget it.
Rumors are flying as the final days wind down. Some say it will happen next week - others say it will be delayed. One has to hope that Apple doesn’t follow in Nokia’s Symbian Signed disastrous ways. if they do, I guess we all have to become Windows Mobile developers or wait for Android.
Why Symbian Signed must die
With the latest S60 “3rd Edition” phones (such as the N95, N81 etc), Nokia in their infinite wisdom, has decided for us that we users don’t want to install “freeware” apps any more. These phones now require all apps to be “signed” - they don’t give the option to the user to install an unsigned app.
Nokia says this is supposed to protect users from “bad” apps. So what is the result? Freeware developers now release “unsigned” versions of their apps and provide step-by-step instructions for users on how to get their own “developer” cert and sign the app themselves.
See the irony yet? Nokia told us that users wanted to be “protected” from “bad” apps, yet what we really see is users going to the trouble of acting like “developers” so they can sign these “bad” apps and get them installed on their phone. They clearly want freeware, whether it’s officially “approved” by Nokia’s “Symbian Signed” or not.
And with all these pseudo-developers requesting certs so they can install these “bad” apps, guess what? Nokia’s certificate creation site “Symbian Signed” can’t handle the load. It has been mostly down for weeks. Here’s what it says today:
Not to mention all the support costs for Nokia and the overall costs to the entire ecosystem (where about 90% of S60 3rd edition discussion seems to be about signing and certs). Hopefully Nokia will wake up and put an end to this ridiculous nightmare soon. Here’s a few reasons why the time has come for enabling users to install unsigned apps on their 3rd edition phones, just like they can on 1st and 2nd edition phones:
- The overhead of depending on Symbian Signed for signing promotes bug-ridden software that is never updated.
- It is destroying the Symbian third-party ecosystem (which is where all the best Symbian software has always come from)
- It leaves the door open for competitors like Apple, Microsoft, RIM, etc. and dilutes Nokia’s significant lead in third-party developer support.
- If plain users, through step-by-step guides, are signing apps, there is really no argument for the “all apps must be signed” restriction
The signing debacle is nothing new, but the prolonged downtime of Symbian Signed is.
Nokia, please. It’s time to close the door on the the Symbian Signed experiment and let us install the apps we want on our phones again.
UPDATE: Monday February 18, 2008:
Today the site says:
Note their words “huge demand for developer certificates”. Nokia doesn’t that tell you something? And by the way, it is Monday February 18, folks, and the ability to get certs is still down.
UPDATE: Weds Feb 20 the saga continues:
So now it looks like end-users and hobby developers cannot get certificates at all, meaning they cannot write code or experiment with freeware on their Symbian S60 3rd edition phones anymore. I cannot tell from the above message whether this the new permanent policy or just more “damage control”.
PhoneGnome for iPhone and stats released
PhoneGnome launched iPhoneGnome, for using PhoneGnome on your Apple iPhone. The dialer leverages technology from friend Marcelo Rodriguez’s RingFree project, another very cool free service that also lets you use PhoneGnome on your iPhone.
PhoneGnome also put out some interesting stats on real-world usage by PhoneGnome users, showing a steady increase in on-net (pure IP to IP) calls. While two-thirds of minutes are still destined for a PSTN user, only a quarter of those are using the traditional carrier (the rest being delivered via VOIP services). Almost one-third of minutes are terminating to an IP end-point. Whether that means a 33% decrease in revenue for the telephony industry or whether it means people are just calling more, is not clear.
Reviewing the Nokia N81 - a teenager’s perspective
[Editors note: When I was asked to look at the N81, I decided, since Nokia is targeting youth with this new phone, who better to review it than my 16-year-old son. Thus, what follows is his opinion of the N81 8GB]
When I first got the Nokia N81, I was pleased at its sleek look and relatively nice size. Its weight is a little on the heavy side but that does give it that overall Nokia “tank of phones” feel which I like, as opposed to the awkward skinny light phones whose purpose of being small and light is totally countered by the fact that you are so scared of dropping the tiny piece of plastic, that you have to go out and buy a massive cover that defeats the purpose of having a small and light phone anyway. The Nokia N81’s interface is the classic Nokia [Symbian Series 60] interface which I am a big fan of and I enjoy that Nokia keeps a constant user interface rather that scrapping it every time so you have to learn how to work a whole new type of system with every new phone.
The battery life on the N81 is rather impressive, going for roughly three days without needing a charge.
The phone has a N-gage application, which from playing the demos, looks solid but I cannot picture anyone who would really buy the actual games and not just play the demos to death. The fact that Nokia is now trying to incorporate one of the most failed gaming systems in the history of man back into their phones makes me chuckle at how horribly N-gage failed in the past and how imminent its future failure is.
The music player is quality and simple, operating very similarly to an ipod. Nokia does not yet offer the downloadable software for the N81 that allows it to sync with itunes, so I had to place music on the phone by plugging it in like a flash drive and dragging and dropping songs into it. This method is tedious but works fine and I have full confidence that the N81 software will work just fine when it is released. The likable things about the music player are that for a phone, 8gb is pretty large and definitely enough to have a good selection of music. My favorite feature of the music player is that it takes a basic headphone jack. Most phones require that you buy an adapter or use the strange uncomfortable ear buds that come with the phone but being able to plug any old headphones you want into the jack makes it seem o-so-much better. Oddly enough, the music player also has one of the least thought through features I have ever seen, which makes operating the phone insanely frustrating. The aforementioned problem is the combination of small buttons and the fact that the play button works no matter what else the phone is doing. The play-stop-pause-rewind-etc. buttons encompass the up-down-left-right buttons. So when navigating around the phone, it is easy and almost unavoidable to hit both up and play at the same time because both buttons are so small and so close together. Now normally, no harm no foul, you’re not in the music player so nothing should happen - but since Nokia always has to have one massive flaw that was probably thrown in thoughtlessly towards the end of production, no matter what you are doing, the play button still plays music and since the speakers are rather loud and startling when you did not plan or even think that random music could suddenly stream from your phone, it is often an embarrassing moment when you are trying to text whilst walking down the street and Hardcore gangster rap blasts out of your phone unexpectedly. This is something I have yet to learn how to fix. This dilemma continually frustrates me to no end and is the only thing that would make me consider not using this phone.
I’ve discovered several things with the N81 that I consider bugs that could use fixing. The first is that the phone has trouble finding service and once service is lost, you have to turn the phone off and back on for it to start searching for service again. This bug is surprisingly not as inconvenient as one would think, although the phone would be greatly improved if this was fixed. The only other bug that is worth mentioning is that text messages sometime take five to ten minutes to send or be received causing you to seem rude for taking too long to respond [editor: that may be T-mobile]. Other than that, it has no actual effect being that eventually the texts get sent or received.
The N81 is a good combination of the classic, simple “Nokia sturdy brick” and the advanced little flashy features like music or gaming that make a phone sell these days. Overall the Nokia N81 is a quality phone that has potential for excellence, with the right subtle tweaks.
Hands-on with iPhone - Look but don’t touch
As many reading here know, I’ve been using an N95 for some time now. After one day with the iPhone, here are some first impressions.
First, of course the two phones appeal to different kinds of users. There may be overlap, but for the most part, the N95 is for the self-proclaimed ultra-geek while the typical iPhone buyer is more likely to be less tech-inclined, perhaps one might even say “the average phone buyer” (with a little bit of extra cash). So to a large degree any comparison is somewhat lame. There will not be a lot of common ground between the two camps.
That said, here’s my quick take. Some things are easier and more comfortable on the iPhone. At the same time, the closed nature of the phone surfaces frequently and in ways that effect more than just geeks. The N95 is open to the extreme. Somebody that paid $750 for it will probably find all these deep and powerful features (why else would they pay that much). But if you just gave the phone to someone as a replacement for a common phone, that kind of person is probably not going to know how to use the majority of the features. These people might buy the iPhone. They will just accept that it is AT&T only (that’s all they know anyway). But even they will eventually wonder why it’s so restricted.
For example, take something as simple as ringtones. The iPhone can play MP3 files. Yet Apple wants to force customers to buy ringtones for $2. Yes, there are hacks to overcome that, but the point is with the N95, no hacks are needed. Any media can be loaded as a ringtone. Apple had to code specifically to block this capability (i.e. it’s more work to prevent it than allow it).
The two phones are at the EXTREME ends of the spectrum in terms of openness. The N95 is incredibly powerful but requires a serious geek to operate. The iPhone is easy (mostly), but closed and annoyingly so.
So for me, the first impression is I kind of wish I could use the iPhone as my phone, but Apple’s decisions to make it closed, keeps it just out of my reach, like it’s behind a window. I can look, but I can’t touch.
First experience with iPhone is totally lame
So I broke down and decided to get an iPhone to do some development (hopefully) with it. People have told me there were month-to-month options for AT&T service, but this is NOT TRUE. You have to commit to a 2 year plan. The best deal we could find was to add the iPhone to an existing account. We had to bump the service (increase of $20) and add the iPhone data service (another $20). That’s a $40 increase to our bill for a few more minutes and the data plan. Okay. A $960 commitment, but I can live with that (I guess). Then of course I wanted the $299 4GB phone (that they still advertise prominently in the store) but it’s not available anymore - so I have buy the $399 8GB version. Okay, so now we’re talking $1,400 but fine.
So the guy at the AT&T store sets all this up and takes our money. Supposedly pre-approving all the AT&T service changes. All I have to do is go to iTunes and it will all be great.
Except I open iTunes and NONE of the options that we already supposedly setup at the AT&T store while we waited were there in the iTunes activation. Instead it’s $40 more per month than we were quoted (adding another $960 to the total commitment/cost, bringing me to $2,400 or so now). Oh, this iPhone thing is a great experience so far.
My wife kept a cool head and found online (not readily available in the official AT&T or Apple materials) an 800# we could call for “manual iPhone provisioning” - this was obviously an offshore call center - but after explaining the situation, the rep. supposedly made the adjustments to the account so that we will get the plan we ordered at the AT&T store. I guess we’ll find out when the first bill comes.
Not the kind of thing I expect from an Apple product.
Apple’s iPhone hacker dilema
Everyone has heard about Apple’s threats regarding unlocked iPhones. On Monday, Apple issued this statement “unauthorized iPhone unlocking programs available on the Internet cause irreparable damage to the iPhone’s software which will likely result in the modified iPhone becoming permanently inoperable when a future Apple-supplied iPhone software update is installed.”
I’m sure this will scare off some people that had considered unlocking their phone. In my case, I have to admit that I was thinking about getting an iPhone now that they can be unlocked, but I’ve put that on hold for now.
It will be very interesting to see if Apple really even continues to pursue this tactic. On the one hand, they must have At&T/Cingular breathing down their neck about it, buton the other hand, just as Microsoft benefited tremendously from all the illegal copies of Windows flying about, one part of Apple must want to encourage the hacking.
It’s not a matter of what can Apple do, contractually, or legally. It’s a matter of what will the costs be if they burn too many people, or the wrong people, and really do cause iPhones to become “permanently inoperable” and refuse to fix them. Apple depends on their standing and reputation. Once they stop being “cool” they will have a hard time getting new customers on product features alone.
