S60 Open to new features

More music coolness for today! Alltunes is a user interface for AllofMP3.com's music catalogue, and now they have a version for S60 too (download here). AAS has a review up already, I'm heading there :)

I have been writing lots about video lately, so here is some cool music stuff as well.

My colleague Oren found this really good-looking Internet radio app: Spodradio. Their site is only in German, but the download button is easy enough to find on the left side of main page. It's free, but of course you pay for the data transfer so unlimited data plan is good to have (if you have the option). They have a wide selection of stations, so you should be able to find tunes suited for you. There is lots of eye-candy too. While playing the stations there is cover art and other pictures shown, depending on the station. In this sense it's quite similar to Nokia's Visual Radio. My German is a bit rusty, but if I got it right they are planning to have podcast support in the application as well.

Other old favorite is Virtual Radio by NINJ. It's not as fancy as Spodradio, but there are lots of stations. It costs $9.80 which isn't bad, but I would like to see a trial version also.

If you just want to listen Virgin Radio UK, they have an application to do that. You can grab it here for free.

Teaser:
S60 doesn't have built-in Internet radio capability, but we will soon release something related to this. Stay tuned..

Wouldn't it be nice if all those great YouTube, IFILM and you-name-it videos could be watched straight on your mobile? Today there are some technical barriers but the day will come eventually, no doubt.

We did some studies about how well S60's current applications cope with popular Internet streaming video sites. The results have been steadily improving, but are by no means satisfactory yet. Here are some issues we have identified so far, and some thoughts on how service providers could help out mobile users already today.

1) Pay attention to your HTML/JavaScript/Flash
Mobile browsers are getting better all the time with complex HTML pages, but they have limits. S60 Browser can choke on very large amounts of data or too complex JavaScript. Excess use of Flash content makes numerous sites non-usable for mobile browsers. In our results, Javascript by itself caused 36 percent of problems. Flash made up another 14 percent, bringing the total to 50 percent.

2) Use a mobile-friendly video format
Many of the most popular sites use Flash Video (like YouTube or Google Video), it's not compatible with mobiles. S60 supports MPEG-4 and RealVideo for streaming, both are widely supported by PC players also. MPEG-4 AVC is rapidly gaining popularity, not least because iPod/iTunes have embraced it for downloadable content. In our study non-supported video format caused 23 percent of problems.

3) If using embedded media player, provide alternative link
Many sites use embedded video player, which won't work in a mobile browser. The easiest way to help mobile users is to provide a direct link to the stream. A total of 11 percent of sites failed because of this "oversight".

4) The rest
The rest of failures were caused by such more obscure problems as TCP-only transport, SMIL markup and auto-forwarding.

Ok, here are the problems, what about solutions? Here are some of the things S60 is doing to improve the situation:
1) Embrace AVC video codec. Many of the S60 3rd Edition devices support AVC, and we are adding it is a standard codec during 2006.
2) Improve the browser. The new S60 browser is already included in most S60 3rd Edition devices, and it will be the only browser in the next release, Feature Pack 1. This browser shares the same rendering engine with Apple's Safari browser, we are quite confident about it.
3) Support embedded video. This will be included along with the new browser in 3rd Edition, Feature Pack 1.

What do you think about our results, have you had similar experiences? What about our actions, are we doing enough, and the right things?

It would be nice to demo actual 'screenshot' of S60 screen on a PC, and then project it to wall. I have heard good things about Remote S60, that seems to do just that but it's limited to only one phone (by IMEI code). Dear readers, any other ideas or applications? Thanks in advance :)

That's what they claim, over at PeerBox Mobile. With the app you get access to open P2P networks, and they also license music from labels. No info yet on which P2P networks you get access to, or how many labels have signed up. My quick test gave promising, yet confusing results. I was able to find and download Madonna's hit single, but it turned out to be some other song by Madonna. Also I was able to find music by Finnish group PMMP, but downloading stuck at 0%. Well, as always with cool new services, it's still in beta.

This app also promises to identify any song that's playing, through the phone's microphone. How cool is that as a concept? Just push record when you hear a nice song playing on a bar, Peerbox will identify it and offer it for a download (free or legal).

This one is definitely one to watch, but I hope they make a version for 3rd Edition devices soon. I am a happy user of Nokia 3250, and they proudly display it already in their site as supported :)

Another P2P client for mobile:
Symella

There is a huge amount of tuning, pimping and customization you can do these days for a smartphone. And here I don't mean painting the covers or hanging things from the phone, but the software part. Almost all of the built-in applications can be replaced, often with superior features compared to the originals. The user interface can be changed as well, to fit your individual taste. I've seen some really amazing themes made for S60, it's hard to even recognise the familiar screens anymore.

Do people really realize the potential, starting from recognizing it's S60? And when they do, who has the time and patience to find out the best possible applications and add-ons from all the choices?

If I were buying a new smartphone, I would certainly value a service where I could talk to some knowledgeable guy or gal about what I would like to do with my new phone, and what I would like it to look and sound. He or she would then offer me a customized package of applications, and naturally install them on the spot. Same goes for graphics and sounds, and why not the painted covers :) The service would also include any accessories, like a bigger memory card if watching high-quality videos is my thing. I would walk away from the shop with a smartphone that meets my individual needs, and looks good too. The retailer gets to sell a higher margin product, and possibly gets some €s more from the application developer or content producer.

Am I dreaming here, or is there such a place already? Of course, all of this service could be done online. When buying the phone, I could select applications to be installed before shipping. But I would still prefer the personal service in this case. As nice as they are, smartphones can seem a bit intimidating at first. This kind of friendly service could increase the sales of S60 phones in general. My limited experience from actual shops is that S60 phones are sold with the same argumentation than any other phone. That is, by listing endless amounts of features that are mostly related to hardware. How about selling with "In addition to shooting photos, you can share them instantly online. Get a new S60 phone from us, and we will set it up for you!"

Like I wrote a while ago, RealPlayer is finally included in the S60 SDK starting with 3rd Edition. Since it's there, why not to include it in earlier versions for those of you who are developing for 2nd Edition devices? What do you think, is this something we should do? It takes some effort to do it afterwards, but if there is demand we can do it. Have your say now! And I'm not counting silence as a 'yes' :)

While on the subject send any other comments too you might have about the SDK, I will make sure they reach the team.

Today's hot links:
MIDP Java SDK for S60 3rd Edition is out
Free Eclipse-based IDE for Symbian OS development: Carbide.c++ Express

Just an update on latest developments. SmartMovie (see also Tommi's post) has recently started using a codec that will play 24 frames-per-second full-screen video on S60 devices. I tried it, and it seems to do what it promises. SmartMovie also supports the higher resolution screen found on Nokia N90 and other latest Nseries devices. PC converter (ie. ripping) tool is really simple to use.

Another offering is Crystal2Mobile Player, which is available for free but in beta still. I have seen CrystalPlayer earlier, but latest version adds support for standard formats like AVI, MPEG4, DivX, MP3 and OggVorbis. Noteworthy feature is "automatic codec downloader", which updates codecs on-the-fly, like Windows Media Player. Crystal2Mobile didn't pass my "official Star Wreck test", since it wasn't able to download DivX 5.0 codec (only 3.11 is supported). Crystal doesn't support high-res screens, so videos will play in "compatability mode" and look a bit blurry.

Still one option is DVDPlayer, which supports AVI, DivX (also 5.0) and XviD. Unlike the earlier two, DVDPlayer doesn't have PC converter included but provides information on DVD ripping. This one is also missing the support for high-res screens.

All of these players will show your ripped or downloaded videos nicely, but SmartMovie is the best choice if you have Nokia N90 and want to take full advantage of the higher resolution display. On my wishlist for all players are:
- support MP4 file format and MPEG-4 video, to show also camcorder videos
- support for AAC audio, since that's anyway standard on recent devices

If you are living in UK, why not try out ROK TV. They have a dozen of channels already available, and it works on most S60 phones including Samsung D730 and Nokia N70. ROK TV works without 3G subscription, and is network independent.

ROK watchers, how do you like it?

Great tips in Folgelhom's blog about videoblogging and vlogs (or whatever you choose to call it..).

It would be cool if people's videoblogs would work also in my S60 phone. Here are some tips on how to do that.

Video format
Use MP4 (that is MPEG-4 SP video, AAC audio and MP4 file format). This is the format all recent S60 phones (like the Nokia Nseries) use when capturing video, and it will look good on the phone and quite tolerable on a PC also. You will drop out older phones that only support 3GP video but it's OK since it won't most likely play out on a PC, and looks bad anyway. If your video is not originated on a phone, there are some parameters you need to check so that phones can handle it:

Bitrate: max. 512 kbps
Resolution: max. CIF (352x288), QVGA (320x240) is fine also
Frame rate: max. 15 FPS (higher might work, but no guarantees)

By keeping the resolution at QVGA, you will also add Sony PSP to your potential audience. Video iPod will also be able to play out your video. If the file size of your video seems to be too much for mobile users, choose lower bitrate and/or drop the resolution to QCIF (176x144).

Linking
You can embed the video on the page, but S60 browsers won't be able to show the video playing inside the page. There will be an empty box saying 'Downloadable object' or similar. Since clicking on the box might not be the obvious solution to the user, it is best to include also a text link to a downloadable file. Considering the limitations in bandwidth and storage space of mobile users, it is polite to write the size of the file next to the link. Like here.

Now, where I can find more "mobile enabled" video blogs?