S60 and mobile technology | OBSIDIAL

Stumbled across a job posting on Nokia’s site for a “S60 Systems Specialist” that will be dealing with CDMA S60 Systems.  The position also entails acting as a sort of liason with Qualcomm and other 3rd. Party vendors as needed.

For further details, or if you want to actually apply, hit THIS LINK. 

All in all, it would be interesting for Nokia fans if more and more devices would come out on the US Carriers.  Being that 80 million people on Verizon alone are CDMA, not to mention the CDMA users at Sprint, US Cellular and the other smaller carriers in the US…I would think this makes sense if Nokia is really commited to making some progress in the USA market.

(NOTE: the CDMA Development Group lists current North American CDMA users at 148 Million..not a paltry sum) 

Personally, I think Nokia can’t afford to wait for LTE in the states to unify the carriers on a common technology. CDMA will be around for quite some time…regular folks are just too slow to adopt the next big thing, they may as well try to bolster their non-existant S60 presence in the US by trying to bring some great N-Series devices to Verizon and Sprint.

OK, I don’t know what it is about the Nokia E71, maybe it’s the build quality, maybe it’s the slim size…it keeps calling me back.  It all started back when I contacted Nokia WOMWorld and requested a device to review.  They graced me with a North American version of the E71, my first reaction when I opened the box was “Ohh…I’m switching to this thing.”  Alas, I sent it back after my review and stuck with my N95.  I think it was a couple of things that made me do this…one was photos, the other was music, still another was the big money I just dropped on the N95.

My second E71 experience came when S60.com’s Ambassador program ran a campaign for Nokia Maps.  I submitted a story about how my brother-in-law was amazed by my N95’s integration with the car and navigation after I picked him up from the airport.  I was chosen as a report of the week and ended up with a two month trial of the E71.  I should have just given in then, but I stuck with the N95 AGAIN after the trial ended.

So…then I hear that AT&T is going to release the E71 as the E71x and add FP2 to it, and make it a shiny black metal version at that.  I was intrigued, but figured that I would wait for something else perhaps, a GSM Palm Pre, the N97 or maybe even (gasp!) an iPhone! , I thought my E71 ship had sailed, but something inside me just kept looking back to the E71 and eventually, I just HAD to give in.  I went online (sidenote: after some COMPLETE screwups by AT&T on my Premier account, BTW) and ordered up a E71x.  I did this for a few reasons: I recently asked a friend of mine to consider adding some iPhone content to this site (app reviews, news, etc) and realistically, I’m sorry…I’m just a big Nokia fanboy, I just couldn’t just ’switch teams’ that quickly even if I had some real issues with some things Nokia was doing (umm…still no new firmware for N95-4’s, a pretty EXPENSIVE device that us bonehead fanboys went gaga over).  It would be like a life long Cubs fan dropping everything and rooting for the White Sox…IT JUST DOESN’T HAPPEN, not matter how much the Cubs suck    I just couldn’t make this an all-iPhone, all-the-time site, realistically, Nokia has been good to me so I thought I would return the favor.

So here I sit, proud owner of the E71x.  Yes, it is a bit crippled compared to the unbranded E71-2…yes, it has gobs of AT&T software on it that I cannot delete, but still, it’s an E71…a device that truly has to be felt to be appreciated.  Perhaps I’m gushing a bit, but few phones today seem to be made like this thing, it ‘had me” as soon as I took it out of the box.  The price point at AT&T was a recession-friendly $99 on contract and if you’ve ever picked up one, you’d think it was worth four times as much.  There’s just a part of me that appreciates attention to detail, and the E71 epitomizes this. 

I’d also like to call attention to an article that pushed me over the edge as well.  Mobile Industry Review’s article titled “AT&T’s $99 Nokia E71x – Renaissance or Last Gasp?”     Ewan related the story of Jeb Brilliant who when offered one by Nokia, said “No, no — I am going to buy one. I am going to show my support in the best way possible. I’m going to show AT&T that they’ve made a good decision.” 

Jeb…I did the same.

From Engadget

Looks like iPhone users get “Sling-blocked” from using 3G to access their ‘rich media” (read: Family Guy reruns).  My read on this is that there are a disproportionate number of iPhone 3G users on AT&T’s network when compared to other Sling-able smartphones and AT&T is cracking down.  Too bad, but this is the downside of AT&T and Apple having complete control over the device, how you get apps, how you use it, etc.

On the other hand…I was recently IN LINE with a Slingbox in my hands when my wife asked me “Hey, I know this thing is cool and all, but do we really need to watch THAT MUCH TV?” I thought about that for a moment, and put the Slingbox back on the shelf…she was right.

Go outside.

Had I not walked down to the Chicago Nokia flagship store yesterday to peruse the new devices, I would likely have never heard the fact that Nokia is working with Amazon to get their Unbox video download service working on some of the newer S60 FP2 devices.  I was actually talking to the sales rep about the 5800 Xpress Music, asking when it would go back on sale and the pricing, he mentioned that the 5800 would be selling for $399 (I knew that) and that it would also include a coupon for $50 in credit for downloadable videos at the Amazon Unbox Video on Demand store (had no idea about that).  Until this point, I really had no idea that Amazon Unbox was still a viable service.  I had heard about it some time back, but it just seemed that Apple had totally eclipsed any PR that Amazon had for the service.  Presently, I make extensive use of Amazon’s MP3 download service, it’s my preferred way to purchased music online, as it’s in nice high quality 256Kbps Mp3 format and conveniently non-DRM’d so I can use it on both my N95 8GB and my wife’s iPod, the tracks album art even works just as well on the Nokia as the iPod.

It turns out, that the N96 that I have in my possession at the moment (thanks WOMWorld) is a Unbox compatible device (along with the N79, N85 and some Creative, Archos and Sandisk players), so I downloaded the software and gave it a try. I decided to buy something inexpensive and short, like a TV show, just in case the service somehow didn’t work with the N96..

The actual video quaility was OK, but occasionally there were some strange compression artifacts where the screen actually would turn green and pixilated but you could still hear the audio.  (I’m prety sure it was  porblem with the file, as it would do this at EXACTLY the same spot in he episode, even after a reboot).  In general though, the image looked fine on the N96 screen and comparable to the similar files I’ve downloaded from iTunes and played from by wife’s iPod when either was plugged into a standard definition TV with their respective A/V cables.

Getting the files onto the N96 was actually very easy.  You first install the application, login to your Amazon account (or create one) and select the movie or TV show you want.  After purchase, you can add the file to your download queue.  The service is mainly intended to be used with and watched on your PC, as it defaults to downloading a fairly large file (950 MB for a 43 minute Battlestar Galactica episode) but you have the option to also include a ‘portable’ sized file…in this case, the episode was 179 MB for the N96.  I had some initial trouble getting the file to transfer until I selected “Media Transfer” as my USB connection mode when I plugged in the N96.

Transfers are quick to the internal storage on the N96, but then again, most transfers are…at least compared to the sluggish transfer speed of the N95 8GB.  Video files show up in the Gallery application along side your pictures and music files just where you’d expect them to be.  You can also access them via the ‘Video Centre” application.

All in all, I was pleasantly surprised at the process, however I find if strange that I have seen very little mention of it.  Hopefully Nokia and Amazon hire a few marketing people and actually get the word out on this one…it should be even better on the 5800 XM.

Thanks to Nokia WOMWorld, I’ve been given the opportunity to review the Nokia E66, a business-oriented slider S60 smartphone.

E66 in hand

First Impressions

The build quality of this device is nothing short of magnificent, it is frankly one of the most solid feeling phones I’ve ever felt.  It reminds me in a lot of ways of the Nokia 8800 series fashion phones.  In fact I think the E66 is pretty much what you would get if you asked Frank Nouvo to make a high-end S60 device.  The slider snaps back and forth with a nice authority and spring loaded feel, and the device seems to be completely solid, as if it were one piece of steel, instead of mix of hundreds of parts and circuits.  The design is VERY reminiscent of the E71, as it should be…they are close cousins, the E66 just being non-QWERTY.
The  screen is a bright 2.4’’ display that though smaller than my N95 8GB screen, was very readable in all lighting conditions and made for a quite pleasant experience.  This is typical for the E-Series, as all the other models I have had before this (E50, E71) have had brighter, higher contrast screens than your typical N-Series.  The only real downside to the screen is that it is the typical QVGA 240×320 pixels, though on that 2.4” display, a higher resolution would have probably been very hard to read  (if anyone remembers the 2.2 inch display on the E50, sometimes even 240×320 seems too high of resolution.)
The front of the device is finished off with a very nice looking chrome bezel and a d-pad in the middle of the send/end and soft keys.  The d-pad also emits a nice soft pulsating light that is also used for missed call, SMS and email notifications..something I miss on a lot of devices.  Notification lights if not overdone, or overly bright aren’t put on phones anymore and I love the E66’s implementation of it.

Usability

The device that I received was unfortunately a non-USA 3G device and so I was not able to test the device on UMTS/HSDPA.  Ironically, right before I received this device, AT&T (finally) turned up 3G in my immediate area, so going back to EDGE was a bit of a let-down while testing this device, but all calling and data functions worked well.  Reception and general call quality were probably 80-90 percent of what I was accustomed to on my N95 8GB,  with the E66 getting on average 1-2 bar less than the N95 in a given spot, a phenomena that I largely attribute to the metal construction of the E66 vs. the plastic of the N95.  Earpiece volume was average, nothing bad, nothing outstanding.  Speakerphone volume  was generally on par with the E71, which to me is a bit below average because of the single smallish speaker however it may be loud enough for your usage.  SMS, MMS and Internet access points were automatically setup on the device as they have with all other S60 devices I have had, they seem to be able to detect and configure themselves from the SIM, so no custom programming was needed.  Wifi also worked very well, connecting to all access points I came across, from open AP’s to those with WPA2 security enabled.  Missed call and voicemail notifications on the E66 benefit from the superior E-Series way of showing these in ‘popups’ at the bottom of the screen.

Battery life is a little more interesting.  Because the device was a E66-1 and lacked the US 3G frequencies, my thought was that the battery would last longer that it actually did.  I would use the phone for a couple of calls, let it check Exchange mail on schedule and soon I’d be down a few bars on the battery.  Not even my N95 depletes the battery that fast.  I am not sure if this is because I left it’s network settings on the default which is “dual mode” GSM/UMTS (and it kept checking for non-existent 3G?..just a theory), but I definately could not use the GPS and stream music on my commutes without making sure I had my car charger handy.  Note: one thing I did NOT do was update the firmware, which was on the original, so perhaps if I did this, battery life would be much better.

Nokia E66

The E66 also sports an accelerometer which seemed to work very well, rotating the screen quickly.  This feature comes in pretty handy when looking at images or video, but as I’ll get to later, multimedia isn’t really the E66’s strong suit.  My only issue with the accelerometer is that sometimes JUST as I was sliding the device shut and (for instance) putting it my pocket, it would rotate because of the motion and then as the slider would shut, the device would be locked into landscape orientation, however this was just a mere annoyance, not a real problem.

Multimedia

Camera

Nokia does not design the E-Series phones to be multimedia powerhouses like the N-Series and the E66 fits this mold.  Even though it does sport a 3.2 MP camera, it’s images are just average and like so many camera phones, images can be quite noisy unless a lot of light is available.

As you can see above, though the image is fairly sharp in the highlights, there is considerable banding and noise in the shadows.

And in this image, items aren’t completely sharp either.  (To be fair, I should have changed the white balance to compensate for the snow’s brightness.)

Music

The E66 sports the standard S60 music player, which sports decent music management funtions and controls, however like other E-Series devices, the E66 lacks a standard 3.5mm headphone jack, instead it a 2.5mm jack meaning that you have to use either the supplied headphones, or purchase and adapter.  On the plus side however, the E66 does have A2DP wireless Bluetooh and it connected to my car’s stereo nicely in my tests, with no dropouts or static.  The wonderful Nokia Internet Radio applications and the Nokia Podcasting were included on my device: in my opinion, if you’re you have a S60 device and you don’t use either of these applications, you are simply not using your phone.

Office and Enterprise functionality

This is the area where the E-Series shines generally and the E66 doesn’t disappoint here.  The device supports POP3 and IMAP mail, and also runs Nokia’s MailForExchange for complete Micrsoft ActiveSync synchonization with an Exchange 2003 or 2007 server.  I input my credentials and had my mail, contacts and calendar on my device in minutes from my company’s Exchange server.  If you do not use Exchange, you can choose to bring your information in via the standard Nokia PC Suite.  Additional mail accounts are also supported, and on E-Series devices you receive a nice notification on the home screen of your mailbox, emails, etc.

The downside to mail on S60 devices and a long time gripe of mine is that HTML mail is STILL not supported.  You will have to suffer thru scrolling around the message looking for the islands of usable text in the ocean of HTML code in each mail.

The E-Series also have support for corporate VPNs and encryption of both the internal memory and any MicroSD card that you insert.  There is also built-in wizards for setting up VOIP telephone services.  I tested the device using the Gizmo5 service, which I downloaded via the Download! app.  Calls made over Gizmo and WiFi seemed loud and clear and similar to the same calls made on my N95-4.

One additional function of the E-Series addtions to the S60 interface is the mutiple home screen function.  This lets you setup two different home screens and I suppose use one for work hours and one for after work.  This was a feature that I never quite used on either this device or the E71, as I pretty much have to keep track of work email 24/7 and though I tried it, this feature never quite worked well with my habits..your mileage may vary.

So…who should buy this phone?

Anyone looking for a SOLID well made device and does not need a great camera or other mutimedia features will love this device.  However, despite all it’s business funtionality, it also may not be the best device for business as it lacks qwerty…so who is this phone targeting?  At first I thought this device was a bit strange…not quite a full on business phone, and not quite a entertainment device either, but it began to grow on me because of it’s styling and size. I definately put the E66 in the ‘recommend’ category, as long as you understand the limitations of the device.

I just got an email this morning from Gizmo5 that they’ve added Skype calling to their services, but more importantly to me, they’ve made it quite integrated with their current (pretty nice) setup.  It works just like you’d (actually me…this is the way I’d prefer) want it to: you add an Internet Telephone number with the new “skypeusername@opensky.gizmo5.com” and make the call over Wifi as an Internet call as you always would.  Yes, I know Fring does Skype, but I’ve never liked Fring’s interface, call quality or having to go out to another app to make a call, and have thus used Gizmo, forsaking Fring, but this is EXACTLY how I wanted it…nice and integrated.  VERY COOL GIZMO5 !!! Two Thumbs up !!

Gizmo OpenSky

Update: now on second glance, I’m guessing this isn’t what everyone out there was looking for, Fring provides presence capabilities for Skype and IM and that is much more useful, but this update works for me, in my workflow if you will, and will not be good for everyone.  I’m more interested in just being able to technologically make a Skype call via Gizmo, not the presense and don’t care if or when that feature is added…but if it works for you too…this is great.  Thanks.

I’m starting to think that Microsoft should just concentrate on making a small, stable kernel for Windows Mobile and just give up on it’s UI design.  I’ve been looking at the announcements out of Mobile World Congress 2009 and I’m just SO impressed by the work that HTC seems to have put into their TouchPro2 and Touch Diamond2.  Take a look HERE.

For starters…HTC seems to be very interested in not only skinning the home screen, they are now starting to cover over the programs menu, settings and have a fantastic new interface for starting and running a conference call.  Check out their product tour for a quick rundown on these new features.  They’ve even made it so that in a conference call, you can tap on one person if you want to mute the others and just discuss something with them for a second, then un-mute everyone else.  Frankly, the work they’ve put into this seems very Apple-like, and a great way that they’ve taken a complex task, and made it simple.  Even just flipping the phone over during a call switches it to full duplex speakerphone mode, with what seems to be a very large speaker and a nice simple little mute button.  Clearly…this device is made for business.

Anyway…I just looked at Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 6.5 announcements and at least in my opinion, HTC’s interface work seems much more intuitive and intelligent. They’ve borrowed enough of the iPhone/GPhone touch interface items, twisted them, cooked them and made them work on Windows Mobile and it just plain looks good.   Just look thru their base applications: mail, weather, phonebook…they’re SO much better than anything Microsoft has cooked up.

I’d bet that if HTC could skin away the Start menu…they would.

Just happened across a blog post about an amazing app for the iPhone that will allow you to make it into a mobile web server…oh, how amazing!!!

Except…Nokia has had this out since 2007 but I’m sure the iPhone will get more press for this. Just had to mention this….had to be a jerk…just something I can’t help…it’s a character flaw. Sorry.

I’ve been using PC’s, Macs and all sorts of electonic devices for a long time, and its very rare that I come across a device that a year or two later, I’m still learing things about…or extending it’s capabilities.  Today, I stumbled across a one year old video of Home Media sharing that I was just amazed at.

Now, I had seen this option in my device for a while, I knew it existed…but I thought of DLNA as one of those strange euro-centric standards that never quite seem to get into any of our devices here in the U.S.   I remember watching a video of a Nokia N80 with UPnP streaming out to a UPnP TV and thinking “This is great…but we’ll never see it”.  Now it seems that with the advent new devices and services from Sony and Microsoft, we’re actually starting to see the world catch up to the N95 and all the little things it contains.  Which brings me to…

Wireless printing…

Just for the Hell of it, I also decided to try right from the N95 via my home WiFi network to my HP Photosmart.  To my amazement, it does actually work…I was able to select an image out of the gallery, select ‘Print” watched it search for (and find) my printer, went downstairs and few minutes later grabbed my image.

Now..you’ll read this post and say “Yeah idiot…of course all this stuff works…where have you been?”  and frankly…I’m not sure I’m not sure where I’ve been either, but there is actually a decent reason why I haven’t messed with this stuff..UPnP.  UPnP stands for Universal Plug and Play and has been a feature of Windows for a few years now, but in the early days was seen as a pretty big security risk, and me being an I.T. guy, I locked my systems and home network down like a drum, so for me at least…it’s been a UPnP-less world.  I guess the refusal to use UPnP was an out-moded concept I’ve held on to for too long, so now I’m doing some serious monkeying around with it, so hopefully…more reports to come.

This stuff does still amaze me however…I drive home every night and have my N95 paired to my car’s Bluetooth handsfree system, but at the same time, it’s also attached to a A2DP receiver that’s wired into my car’s stereo…and still at the same time, I can use the GPS and Nokia maps to navigate myself to well..wherever…AND THIS IS JUST IN MY CAR!  Not to mention that the N95 is also simultaneously keeping my Exchange email, contacts and calendar up to date, and sometimes even making phone calls   I can then come home, pop any image from the N95 up on the TV screen and then print any of those items off wirelessly too.  Couple all this with the tons of apps I can also run..from Mobile Web Server, Geotagging, Joikuspot, Qik, SportTracker…need I continue???!!!!  Maybe this is stupid…but sometimes, all this just floors me when I stop and think about it.