Nothing to say this time, except happy New Year! Try not to explode yourself with all the fire-crackers...

Here is what Google Analytics tells me about you - the readers of this blog: (click the image)

Happy to see such a diverse audience :-)

ps. I stole the idea for this blog post from my cublicle-neighbour Janne Jalkanen.

Nice article from SymbianOne: "The Symbian Ecosystem 2005 Year In Review (Part 1)".

This one has been available for some time already, but I thought it was worth a mention:

Some Nokia devices come with Nokia Catalogs preinstalled, but if your device doesn't, you can download it for free from http://www.nokia.com/catalogs

With Catalogs Client, you can try and buy applications and content from operator and 3rd party portals, such as Jamba and Handango. I think the concept is really nice and it could greatly increase ordinary people's awareness about the S60 extendability opportunities. I have to admit, however, that as a hard-core S60 user I still prefer browsing the applications from the web (or with my RSS reader). But I can really see the potential of this application...

Ladies and gentlemen,

The feature film Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning is now available for you to download - for free and optimized for your Nokia S60 device!

Direct links to downloads:
- 76MB version, optimized for S60 devices
- 106MB version, optimized for S60 devices
- 460MB version, optimized for iPod

Samuli Torssonen, the main man behind Star Wreck, said that he would put at least the 106MB version to the official Star Wreck site.

It is surprisingly nice to watch the movie with newer S60 based Nokia devices, such as Nokia 6680. But if you have a really old model, don't bother. It is much more fun with a stereo headset and full-screen mode.

Way cool. Thank you Samuli and whole Star Wreck crew!!

The most popular Finnish movie of all time

Wikipedia says:

Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning is a 2005 direct-to-DVD motion picture produced by five friends in a two-room flat with a very small budget and the support of a few hundred fans and dozens of acquaintances. Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning is the seventh production in the Star Wreck movie series, the first of professional quality and feature length. It is a dark science fiction comedy about domination of the world and the universe, and a parody of the Star Trek and Babylon 5 universes. The film is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs-NonCommercial 1.0 Finland license.

and:

Within two months of the movie's Internet release, it was estimated that more than 2.9 million copies of the movie had been downloaded from the official site alone, surpassing the viewership of the most popular Finnish movie ever, Edvin Laine's The Unknown Soldier (1955). Team's service provider, Magenta sites, reported over 2 petabytes of data transfers and estimated that actual amount of downloads, including all mirrors, would be in the range of 3.5 to 4 millon.

In addition, the film has received very good feedback from Finnish media and from the Internet Movie Database, where its current user rating is 7.6/10.

Wow. How did it become available to my Nokia S60 device?

A month ago, I posted a rant about "Offline video content to your S60 device?" This raised some enthusiastic discussion in our afternoon coffee table. Mika (my boss's boss) threw an idea into air: wouldn't it be cool to make an S60 optimized version of Star Wreck movie? I liked the idea. So I sent an email to Samuli Torssonen. And as it happens, Samuli liked the idea too.

After some debate, we agreed the most suitable format for S60 devices:
- zoomed version
- bigger subtitles
- .3gp format
- Optimized resolution, frame rate, and audio quality, so that file size gets roughly to 100Mbytes

And here we are. Feel free to send feedback, and please tell us if you would like to see the movie in some other format!

Merry Christmas for everybody :-)

First (p)reviews of Nokia N71 have started to pop up:
My-Symbian.com (Michal Jerz) Nokia N71 review
Mobile-review.com Nokia N71 review
GSMArena.com Nokia N71 user opinions and reviews

Thanks for your reviews. We'll look forward your detailed feedback about the built-in applications, as soon you get the final unit reviewed!

Note to our Cover UI development team: the reviewers found the external screen a a little too grainy. Otherwise, they seemed to like it.

ps. Mobile-review.com has posted also a screenshot-rich review about S60 3rd edition. Go check it out.

Thanks Marco for spotting this:

Macromedia has just released Flash Lite Player 2 for selected Nokia S60 devices, and you can buy it from Adobe/Macromedia online store for $10 USD.

Adobe's Bill Perry said:

I wanted to let everyone know that we are releasing the Flash Lite Player 2 “early” to enable developers and enthusiasts to begin playing with Flash Lite 2 over the holidays.

However, we mortals have to wait:

Just so you know, you won't be able to publish any Flash Lite 2 content until we release the rest of the Flash Lite 2 developer bits in January but you can view any of the existing Flash Lite 1.1 content available in the Adobe Flash Lite Exchange or create your own Flash Lite 1.1 content.

For more info, check out my previous entry "Flash Lite apps for your S60"

We are so going to be spoiled by the next-gen mobile browsers.

Go and check out:
- Thunderhawk (download from here, Allaboutsymbian's comments)
- Opera 8.5 (download from here, MobileMag comments, Darla Mack comments, Mobile-Review.com's review of Opera 8.0)
- Opera Mini (download from here, Allaboutsymbian's review)
- Nokia's new open source browser for S60 3rd edition (not publicly available yet, more info from here and here, osnews.com overview)
- Netfront 3.2 (this one has been around for a year, but I thought it was worth a mention. download from here)

I have played around with the browsers more intensively for a couple of days, and I have to say that mobile browsing has been taken to the next level. But this time I won't go into details - you really must try the apps yourself.

Don't you just love the competition?
---
Related reading:
- Opera Platform enabling AJAX applications + Russell Beattie's enthustiastic comments
- Janne Jalkanen's frustration with "mobile optimized" websites
- Wikipedia entry about the desktop browser wars Netscape vs. IE vs. Firefox

SymbianOne's Richard Bloor has just posted a good review of the latest version of ShoZu. ShoZu is an application/service which allows you to save photos and videos from your phone directly to photo sharing sites Flickr, Textamerica, and Webshots. To try ShoZu yourself, just go to www.shozu.com. Using the beta version is free, except of course the data transfer costs.

I just took a photo of my Viivi&Wagner coffee mug and posted it to Flickr. Nice!

When it comes to photo communities such as Flickr, I am a total moron. In fact, this was the first time I tried Flickr myself. So I am probably the last person in the world to have the credibility to recommend this app. Anyway, based on my initial hands-on experiences, I think the combination S60+ShoZu+Flickr is great.

Darla Mack posted also her thoughts about ShoZu in October. Seems like she loved it too:

I definately think this is a cool app, not to mention free, for all you Flickr addicts out there!!

Thoughts?
---
Update 20 December: I received a couple of emails, pointing that you don't really need ShoZu, since most most photo blogs (including Flickr) allow submissions by email. You only need to 'send via email' an image from Gallery. And it is really easy, if you put your photo blogging email address into Contacts. However, ShoZu does have a few benefits: check out the comments in Darla Mack's entry.

Thanks Steve and Niels!

Ewan Spence from Allaboutsymbian published yesterday his Nokia N90 review. There was one comment that I particularly liked, since I've been involved a little with our Data Transfer project:

Finally, one quick note about the Data Transfer application that copies Contacts, Calendar and Gallery data between two Series 60 phones via Bluetooth. Providing this makes upgrading between devices incredibly easy for the end user, and ends the absolute reliance on PC Suite that previous upgrades would have needed.

Personal question for Ewan: how did you like the Speaker Independent Name Dialing (SIND) functionality? My coworkers would be very interested of your feedback...

ps. those interested in Nokia N90, check out Nokia's official N90 Blogger Relations Blog site and Allaboutsymbian's comments about the site. AAS has also compiled a good list of independent online product reviews of N90.

Björn blogged a couple of weeks ago about Flash Lite coming soon to S60 devices:

"...there is a strong expectation that many, if not most, S60 3rd Edition devices will include Flash Lite player by default."

If you are not willing to wait (and you have $10 burning in your pocket), you can buy the Flash Lite player from Macromedia's website, list of supported devices here. For a couple of days in October, Macromedia offered (accidentially?) the Flash Lite player on their website for free. But sorry folks - this time you are late.

Where to find Flash Lite apps for my S60 device?

In my opinion, the best place to start looking for Flash Lite apps is Macromedia's own Flash Lite Exchange.

In addition, there are lots of Flash Lite apps scattered around the Internet. I guess you just have to google around.

And the winners are...

During 2005, there have been many contests for Flash Lite apps:

In February 2005, Macromedia announced the winners of their Mobile Flash Content Contest. The Grand Prize Winner was NYC Traffic, a dynamic map showing live pictures of New York traffic cameras. The application is really cool, and the developer Justin Everett-Church said it took only about 20-30 hours to develop it (source: Russell Beattie).

In June 2005, Forum Nokia announced the winners of "Star Application Awards" of Mobile Application Summit in Hong Kong. The "Best 3G Application" award went to Flash SpotWeather by Foreca Ltd of Finland. This S60 app provides graphical weather forecasts around the world. Unfortunately, Foreca does not currently offer the application publicly. It's a shame, since the app is really great.

Yesterday, Macromedia's Mobile User Group of Boston announced the winners of their first Flash Lite 1.1 Application Contest. Unfortunately, "the developers will decide how to share their applications", and the apps don't seem to be publicly available for download yet.

Forum Nokia has currently "Forum Nokia S60 3rd Edition Challenge" ongoing, and one of the four categories is dedicated for applications using Macromedia Flash.

Registration for the Forum Nokia S60 3rd Edition Challenge closes December 15th 2005. Contestants need to submit their final applications by March 31st 2006. Finalists will be announced April 28th 2006 and they will be invited to the Series 60 World end of May 2006, where we will announce the winners and reward the prizes.

Why isn't Flash here yet?

Tero Lehto wondered in his blog why Flash hasn't succeeded yet in mobile devices (in Finnish). Good points and good comments. I believe we are getting there finally - and that we will see a tsunami of Flash Lite apps/content in 2006.

Why to create Flash applications/content?

It is very easy, fast, and cheap. And you have the tools to create quite cool stuff.

Why not to create Flash applications/content?

If you don't know what you are doing, you can be pretty annoying. Personally, I can't tell you how much I hate websites that use Flash in annoying ways (including nokia.com and nokia.com/nseries). And in the mobile world, where the bandwidth is limited and users pay for the data traffic, it is easy to make the end-users hate you. Big time.

Janne Jalkanen wrote last month:

An American engineer told me last week that there are two rules in introducing new technology into the USA:
1. Don't inconvenience me.
2. Don't bore me.
Wise words. Made me think

So if you are going to make Flash stuff, please don't inconvenience me, bore me, and make me pay for it.

Prototyping mobile apps with Flash Lite

Blackbeltjones wrote in June a good post "Prototyping mobile applications with Flash Lite". I don't have much more to add.

What did I miss?

As always, please continue the list of cool Flash Lite apps and sites where to find them!

Rafe Bladford posted yesterday a detailed Nokia N80 preview.

I was prepared to post my response about the built-in N80 apps, but no need. The praise makes us in Nokia blush. Guess we are on the right track...

Steve Litchfield commented in our small online poll:

I'd like to see more recognition of S60 and S80 devices as music players. So many people these days assume that music playing on the move=iPod or similar. I know Nokia are gradually getting this message but it still needs ramming home further to every corner of the Symbian community - you only need to take the one device out with you.

Couldn't agree more.

So here comes my two cents about S60 devices as music players.

Goodbye 2005, the year of music. Long live 2006, the year of music!

Throughout this year, everybody in the mobile industry - including official Nokia spokespersons - have boldly described the year 2005 as the year of music. Indeed, we have witnessed many interesting things during 2005, such as:

- Plethora of music focused devices such as Nokia N91, Nokia 3250, Nokia 6630 Music edition, SonyEricsson Walkman phones, Moto ROKR, Sendo X2 (history by now), and lots of others

- Strange bedfellows such as Nokia and Microsoft, Apple and Moto, ...
- Operators' full-track music download services

Wired Magazine wrote in November an excellent article "Battle for the Soul of the MP3 Phone". Go and read it now. You will realize that bringing music experience to your phone is a darn difficult task. But the gravity is on our side - we are getting better and fast.

Disruption - what, where?

If you have read Clayton Christensen's writings (Innovator's Dilemma, Innovator's Solution, Seeing What's Next), you can't avoid seeing the forces of disruptive innovation in play, when you watch the mobile industry evolving towards music. If you don't have time to read the books, see Wikipedia's entry about Disruptive Technology.

So I'll state the obvious: Nokia's S60 based devices (and other similar devices) are posing a disruption for dedicated mobile music player market.

I find it almost as a perfect text book example. I compare here specifically the market leaders, iPod and S60 devices, but the same applies to other similar devices.
- iPod is absolutely great as a stand-alone music player. It offers higher memory capacity and excellent music UI. But the latest S60 devices are becoming "good enough" for many people, and iPod's advantages are becoming increasingly irrelevant.
- S60 devices offer added convenience (you need to carry only 1 device, over-the-air music buying)
- S60 devices offer increased flexibility (open platform, many add-on music apps)
- Transforming your S60 device into a music player costs less than a separate iPod (you only need to buy a large enough memory card).
- Memory is getting dirt cheap. (Moore's Law. In 2003, you had to pay almost €100 for 128MB memory card. Now you can get a 512MB memory card for €50. And soon you can get gigabytes for a reasonable price)

What makes the game interesting, is that everybody knows what I stated above. And everybody also knows that the stakes are extremely high. For example, iPod accounts already a third of Apple's net sales (source: Apple's 10-K)

But let's stop here. I don't want to end up in headlines by saying something stupid like "screw the nano" ;-)

End-to-end music solution on its way

In my opinion, Nokia has lacked a little behind in end-to-end music solutions, compared to dedicated music players. But also in this front we are getting better fast. I believe that the recent partnerships between Nokia and Loudeye, and between Nokia and Microsoft will make a big difference.

Stop talking and tell me how to convert my S60 device into "an iPod"!!

1. Make sure you have a "good enough" device
- What is "good enough", depends on your preferences. Devices from Nokia 6630 onwards are good enough for me. But whatever you do, make sure your device has at least stereo output.

2. Buy a large enough memory card.
- If you respect yourself, get 512MB or more.

3. Get a good music player app.
- If you have an old S60 device with the built-in S60 music player app, install a better one. I strongly recommend the freeware / open source OggPlay application (check out also Steve Litchfield's related article). There are also plenty of others (e.g. My-Symbian search for "mp3"). Or you can try to hunt Nokia's new Music Player app from the blogosphere, as Nokia doesn't seem to offer it officially.

4. Transfer the music to your memory card.
- I simply use an USB memory card reader to transfer the music files to my 512MB memory card. It is still the easiest way I know. It will get easier in the future: Nokia N91 already syncs with Windows Media Player. If you prefer iTunes, read Rafe Blandford's article "How To: Use MSS for easier music transfer from iTunes".

5. Enjoy!

6. Go find cool add-on music apps. And send your comments about them to this blog entry :-)

Rock on.

My-Symbian says:

Now you can get Zi Predictive Text Suite (eZiText and eZiTap pack of applications considerably increasing text entry speed) plus all the dictionaries (Swedish, Spanish, French and German) absolutely free! Simply use the AAE45F3 rebate code in the My-Symbian.com Online Shop to get a 100% discount.

I installed the app to my Nokia 6680 this morning. After playing around with it for a couple of hours, I can say that it is really great. I think you want to have this app - go get it! According to Allaboutsymbian, the offer is valid only for 2 weeks.

There is support for English, Swedish, Spanish, French and German. Too bad Finnish isn't supported...

Just testing. My apologies if you're reading this!

- Phil & Tommi