Mobile Hippo

How to use Google Wave with your mobile

2010-09-01T10:26:00.000-07:00

Since it's launch and even after having heard about the becoming decease of Google Wave, I've been trying to get it to work on my N97. The browser version of Wave offered by Google is really heavy and there's no mobile version available.

Luckily there is a third party browser client to use Google Wave with mobile phones. Yes, there is Waveboard for iPhone users, but for everyone else out there is Microwave - or μwave. You simply go to http://micro-wave.appspot.com with your mobile browser and log in with your Google account. That's it.

Microwave let's you to browse your wave inbox and add a reply at any point in a wave. It doesn't support real-time-typing but honestly I don't think anyone would expect it to.

With Symbian^1 devices you have to use Microwave with Opera Mobile browser since the native browser doesn't work with microwave.

So, if there's any of you Wave-users left out there, head on to micro-wave.appspot.com and give it a go!

Google dropping Wave, Introducing Google Me

2010-08-05T00:34:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading this TechCrunch post about Google putting an end to all future development for Google Wave only months after it got out of beta. If you read my post about Google Wave earlier, you can figure for me this is sad news. I've been using Wave almost daily ever since I got the beta invite. I don't think it's perfect but it's definitely one of the better and most flexible communication tools out there.

Still, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Reading further to the comments, it turns out that Google is planning to integrate the features developed for Wave and Buzz on it's upcoming 'Facebook-killer' social media service Google Me. After reading a post or two it seems that Google Me is real and coming soon.

I somehow doubt it's really going to be a Facebook-killer but we sure could use a good and versatile communication tool after Wave.

MeeGo looks promising, Symbian is dying

2010-08-04T05:06:00.000-07:00

Two Symbian-themed blogs that have the word Symbian in their names have recently given up with Symbian more or less. The first of the two, namely Symbian-Guru a.k.a. Ricky Cadden finally wrote down his frustration with Nokia and the Symbian OS as the last entry on the Symbian-Guru blog. Anyone using Symbian and having second thoughts should definitely read it. Makes you think. Something Nokia should've thought a long, long time ago.

Another blog giving up on a Symbian-named blog is TheSymbianBlog. Vaibhav Sharma who's writing the blog hasn't given up on Symbian though. He has merely combined TheSymbianBlog with his Meego-related TheMeeGoBlog. What we have now is TheHandheldBlog writing about both Symbian and MeeGo and even Android.

Like these two guys I've had my eyes on Android and iPhone 4 for a long time now. While the upcoming N8 does seem promising, it definitely isn't anything something top end Android devices or the new iPhone can't deliver. As I see it Symbian has already lost the battle. It no longer belongs to the top notch. Future of Symbian seems to be tied to the middle class mobile phones.

On the other hand Nokia's new Maemo-offspring MeeGo has surprised folks with it's nice layout and what seems to be really smooth and slick usability. Will the future hardware bring justice to this promising OS. That's something we'll have to wait and see.

Would've linked the latest MeeGo video here but seems that Nokia has removed it from YouTube.

Kinetic, something different from Nokia

2010-07-19T06:34:00.000-07:00

My Google Reader and Twitter is buzzing about a new concept from Nokia that carries the name Kinetic. While it has nothing to do with the similarly named, new Xbox Kinect, it is related to movement as you might have guessed. What we know about Kinect for now, is a concept of a device standing up to notify the user of a new sms, a missed call or whatever.

You might think of a thousand reasons why this would be incredibly inconvenient. I too have my doubts on Kinect. But what is definitely refreshing is the fact that Nokia has finally come up with something new and different. And something that's not completely and utterly boring!

We'll still have to see how Nokia Kinect turns out and if it's even going to see the light of the day. The pics do look good, so I'd say that we're on the right track on some parts here.

What do you think about the idea or the design?

Voddler Beta, First Impressions

2010-05-13T11:55:00.000-07:00

Out of the blue, I received a Voddler invite today. I applied for an invite something like a half a year ago but had more or less forgotten it already. Anyways, Voddler Beta is real and it's here.

First of all, to clear things up, Voddler is a Spotify-like web based movie streaming service. Just like Spotify in the early days, you need an invite to be able to create an account. So far it seems that you can only get an invite from Voddler since you don't get any invites to share at first. We'll have to see if that changes in time.

So, after I got my Voddler invite via email, I went to Voddler.com and created my account. Pretty basic stuff; names, birthdate, country, username, password and that's about it. After that you need to install the Voddler player to be able to watch the movies. It was a quick one, so you can pretty quickly start watching movies.

Voddler is browsed via internet browser. On Mac Safari and Firefox are supported (Google Chrome doesn't work). You can search for a specific movie or just choose one from the most popular/newly added lists. Most of the movies are free but some of the newest and/or most popular ones cost from 1€ to 3€. Voddler seems to have a pretty decent coverage of movies, much like any actual movie rental shop would have.

When you select a movie, it opens up in the Voddler player in full screen. I was really surprised how good it looked, even though the playback was instant with no lagging. I have a 5 MB broadband connection and had my MacBook connected over a WiFi connection. This is a huge game breaker for Voddler since the only way I can imagine people using (and even paying for) it, is if it's instant and looks good.

You have to watch a couple of commercials or teasers at the beginning of the film - much like on DVD rentals - but after that you have your selected movie streamed with high quality. Another major surprise to me was that you could choose Finnish (Swedish, Norwegian or Danish) subtitles. This is another win for Voddler and is definite plus for most users.

I haven't really watched a full movie with Voddler so I don't have any real experience to back any of this up. I'll have to get back to you as I get more into it.

Did you got a Voddler invite? How do you like it?

Nokia reveals N8

2010-04-28T01:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Nokia revealed it's first device to run on the upcoming Symbian^3 OS. Taking it from where the N97 left off and (hopefully) fixing the flaws it had, the new N8 promises to bring you the ultimate Nokia N-Series experience.

Just like we're used to with the Nokia N-Series, the N8 has impressive tech specs. But this time around Nokia want's to point out it's not about the hardware but you're able to do with it. This is where all previous Symbian powered devices have gone wrong. I think we all hope for a major improvement here.

At first glance the new Symbian^3 OS doesn't seem that different from the S60 5th or Symbian^1 as they call it now. You have your personal home screen with some widgets - only this time it's multiple home screens. That's something Symbian^1 should've had.

You have the social networking with what seem to be Nokia Messaging for Social Networks. So, Facebook and Twitter will be working out of the box on the N8. As we've heard Symbian^3 will be running Gravity so there's at least one reason to stick with symbian.

In the music player Nokia seems to finally do things like Apple and implemented their own cover flow view. One thing left to be hoped for is that the music player will perform as well as Apple's.

Probably the most promising thing about the N8 is the 12 MP camera with Carl Zeiss optics and the ability to shoot HD quality video with it. 12 MP does seem like more than enough so all we have to hope is that the usability is there so you could use the N8 as your pocket camera/camcoder.

As always Nokia gives us an impressive tech sheet but does the N8 live up to expectatoins? At least the hype isn't nearly as big as with iPhone 4G. What do you think?

Here's a couple of nice videos about the N8 if you haven't seen them yet. What's up with that Android robot thing there?

Nokia to challenge the iPad

2010-04-06T12:45:00.000-07:00

With the iPad released just days ago rumors already say that Nokia is developing it's own tablet to challenge Apple's latest gadget. Well, it would be wrong to say that Nokia is copy-catting Apple with it's upcoming tablet since, like Mashable wrote, Nokia has had a few tablets along the years.

Ironically enough their latest device on the tablet line was the N900 which is said to be the first decent competitor for the iPhone. The moment Nokia decides to take their tablets into a more of a smart-phone direction Apple comes out with it's iPad.

There's still something good about this. Just like Apple has fine-tuned the iPhone OS and the whole iTunes service with the iPhone, Nokia has had good time testing it's Linux-based Maemo with the N900. While it's still said to be far from finished and polished, there is still hope that Nokia might be able to bring us considerable challenger for the iPad or other tablets.

According to TheStreet Nokia's tablet is planned to be released in fall.

What do you think, is Nokia making it's moves early enough this time around?

Apple iPad, Should I get it?

2010-04-04T12:18:00.000-07:00

So, Apple has finally released it's long awaited iPad. The most eager ones have already got their hands on it but I'm still waiting to see how it turns out.

I can't deny it, though. It does seem intriguing. As I've been going through a few reviews, the iPad seems to be preforming quite nicely. It does most of the things you'd imagine - and like Apple likes to think: if it doesn't have it, you don't need it.

Still, a few major issues keep in doubt. The one thing you've probably heard about is the lack of USB. I guess what they've thought here is why would you want to use USB cables on a truly wireless device.

The other thing is the pricing. You can have an iPad for $499 but that's the 16 GB version without 3G. So to get the most out of your iPad - and have the true wireless freedom experience with it - you'd probably want the 3G version. At least, I do. So, you have to pay extra for that. Not to forget the carrier costs for an extra 3G connection. You'll end up paying a lot more than $499.

But... It still looks like an awesome device. And I still might have to get one eventually.

How about you? Did you get yours already?

PS. Here's a pretty decent review covering the iPad quite well.

Update to Spotify for Symbian

2010-02-11T23:24:00.000-08:00

Spotify brings us yet another update to it's Symbian release of the Spotify Mobile. They announce on their blog that the new version supports a few new devices and fixes some minor bugs.

The biggest improvement, though, is that Spotify Mobile now supports physical qwerty-keyboards on touch devices. That means if you happen to have the N97 Classic or Mini, you should definitely head over to m.spotify.com and install the latest version of Spotify Mobile.

Dropbox goes mobile

2010-02-04T01:37:00.000-08:00

If someone asked me, I'd say Dropbox is one of the best things around. With it you can easily share and sync files between different computers and your friends. You can think of it as a virtual USB memory. Basically you download the Dropbox app to your computer and it will create a Dropbox folder. Everything inside that folder will automatically sync to every other machine you have Dropbox on. If you've shared folders with your buddies, theirs will be synced too.

One of the main things is that you can access your files via internet browser anywhere on dropbox.com. Now Dropbox offers us a mobile page at m.dropbox.com. While this is nothing outstanding, it's still good to know you have your files available where ever you go.

If you happen to have an iPhone, you can download the Dropbox app. But since I don't have one, I can't really tell anything to you about it. Blackberry and Android are on their way. Interestingly - but not surprisingly - enough I haven't heard a single word about an S60 release.

I think Nokia should be concerned that this is the usual way thing tend to go. First we get an iPhone app. A little later Android and maybe Blackberry. But we have to wait months for an S60 version, if we ever get one. After all no one wants to buy a smart phone if there aren't any decent and useful apps on it.

Ovi Store hits us with some fresh free games

2010-01-24T11:08:00.000-08:00

Ovi Store had some good news for S60v5 users last week. A nice set of some free quality games have appeared on Ovi Store.

Polarbit has brought us four free games with 3D graphics. We got an FPS, a flight simulator and two different racing games. And the best part here is, they're all completely free!

Though the games do look good in the screen shots, can the in game experience vary quite a bit. Most of the time they are pretty decent, but at times the pixelated textures can get you too confused to really enjoy the game.

As of the controls, all of the driving and flying games use motion controls. And they actually feel really good and responsive as you get used to them. As for ToonWarz, the FPS, controls are quite horrible. You can't use the physical buttons if you happen to have them. Instead you have to use the touch screen to move and shoot. But since Nokias don't support multitouch playing can be a pain.

Follow up for more intensive looks into each of the games. And in the meantime download them to your divice for free! If you haven't already.

Spotify for Nokia

2009-11-23T14:48:00.000-08:00

Today was a big day. Spotify announced Spotify Mobile for selected Nokia S60 devices. Luckily N97 was among the compatible ones so I downloaded and fired it up right away.

When you launch the app for the first time you're asked to enter your username and password. After that you get to chose weather you want to use Spotify Mobile offline or online. If you choose online, you can choose between your WiFi and 3G connections.

Like on iPhone or Android, you can sync your playlists using Wifi or 3G and then listen to them offline. This is especially useful if you don't want to use a lot of data transfer. The app does warn you very clearly that using Spotify while roaming can cost you a lot depending on your data transfer fees.

When you've got Spotify Mobile running, the first thing you'll notice is the beautiful design and the smooth user interface. Everything is located intuitively and the app responses well when touched - if your using a S60v5 device, that is.

The only really big lack about Spotify Mobile on my N97 was that it was missing the landscape mode completely. When I tried to rotate the screen, it would just stay in portrait mode no matter what. Also the app wasn't responding to the N97 qwerty at all. So all the writing was to be done with the built in touch numpad. It's a lot better to use than default one, though. So no major damage there. I guess they're fixing this at some point.

Spotify Mobile for S60 finds your playlists just like with iPhone or Android. The music search is done very well. And it's really intuitive to use. You get search results categorized under tracks, albums or artists. Under a specific artist you'll see their albums, singles and "appears-on"s.

The best thing about Nokia and Spotify Mobile for S60 is that you can run it in the background while using the phone otherwise. Just like with any other app, you could use a couple of other apps while listening to Spotify. My N97 managed to run Spotify, Facebook and Gravity quite nicely.

Spotify Mobile is a must for every Spotify premium user out there. And if you happen to have a compatible device and like Spotify, you should definitely upgrade to premium just for this - right now!

Image:
spotify.com/blog/

Where is N97 v20 FOTA?

2009-11-19T06:01:00.000-08:00

The new v20 firmware for Nokia's N97 has been out there for a while now, but one thing that's lacking is the FOTA (Firmware Over The Air) update. For users that don't have access to a PC or just can't get Nokia Software Updater to update (like me) FOTA is crucial.

I already had problems last time updating to v12 with Nokia Software Updater. It kept getting stuck when it was 15% ready. Last time I was lucky to have my firmware updated over the air a few days later. Now I'm having the same problems with v20 update and there seems to be no sight of the FOTA update.

Nokia, where is the v20 FOTA?

Album art for N97 music player via Mobbler

2009-11-09T12:15:00.000-08:00

As you probably know the N97 music player is capable to show album art for the album your currently listening. It's a shame though there isn't really a nice way to download and sync album art for the music on your device.

One way is to search and download the album art manually from the internet and attach it to the mp3 metadata with for example Winamp. I've heard you can use Media Monkey to do the same thing automatically.

What if you have already an enormous amount of music on your N97? If you don't want to go through the hassle of transferring it all again, you can use Mobbler to download album art directly to your device. Actually you don't have to do a thing - well, maybe one, you'll have to listen to the album when Mobbler is running. It will automatically save the downloaded album art on your device. Afterwards when you go to the music player and choose "album art" and "change", you should be able to see the downloaded album art and select it.

Unfortunately you have to do this manually for every single album on your phone. That can be painful and time consuming.

Has anyone found a more convenient way to do this?

Image:
mobbler

Nokia exchanges faulty chargers

2009-11-09T11:03:00.000-08:00

Nokia has announced that some of it's recent charger models are faulty and may be dangerous when used. They are willing to exchange faulty chargers for free in order to keep any harm from happening.

The faulty models are manufactured by BYD. The models are:

AC-3U
AC-3E
AC-4U

If you have one of the above, check your charger's safety on Nokia's charger exchange site.

Image:
nokia.com

Expanding the s60 comic experience

2009-10-29T16:38:00.000-07:00

As I wrote earlier, you can now download comics for S60v5 devices from Ovi Store. Unfortunately there are only a few different comics available. After reading all of them and yearning for more, I've found a couple of ways to expand the comic experience.

My first touch with comics on my N97 was the Daily Dilbert app. It's basically a widget that reads the RSS feed from Dilbert.com and shows the images inside the application. Simple and brilliant! The widget shows you seven days worth of Dilbert. The user interface is fluent, you simply just scroll down (kinetically) to see the previous strip.

Another way to enjoy comics is with the S60 web browser. Sites like www.onemanga.com have dozens of manga comics online. I was surprised how nice it is to read comics from onemanga with the N97 web browser. The images are just the right size so it's easy to read. Kinetic scrolling makes the whole reading experience quite fluent. You have to have a fast connection with this one though.

Have you found any other ways to expand your comic experience?

Image:
moubail.com

Hard resetting and re-installing N97

2009-10-25T04:34:00.000-07:00

Like many of the N97 users I too made the mistake of installing applications on the C drive when I first got the phone. This led to a serious lack of space on the phone memory and eventually to some serious problems. The device froze very often and was really sticky to use. Some apps crashed and some wouldn't open at all.

The solution was to hard reset my phone memory. Before you want to do a hard reset on your device, you probably want to back up your phone and maybe even the mass memory. Even though hard resetting the phone memory won't effect the mass memory you can never be too careful. There are also good instructions on N97 Fanatics how to hard reset your N97 and restore contacts etc.

So the first time I did the hard reset I restored all my settings which caused most of the problems to be restored as well. So I ended up doing another hard reset backing up my contacts on Ovi contacts and restoring my calendar from my Google calendar with Googasync. That way I didn't have to restore anything from the back up.

After I got my ring tones and other setups done it was time to re-install the apps that had disappeared from the device. Strangely even though most of my apps were installed on mass memory, my N97 had lost Gravity, Googasync, JoikuSpot Premium and two games I'd bought from Ovi Store.

First off I re-installed Gravity. It was really smooth. Even when the app itself was wiped out, after the re-install it remembered all my settings and subscription so there was no licensing issues there. After that I contacted Googasync customer support via email. I was informed that the product is licensed to one device at a time, so I could just download it again using the same link I received when I first purchased it. I got JoikuSpot Premium downloaded from their site. After that I just entered the license code and I was good to go.

One of the original reasons I decided to do a hard reset on the N97 was Google Maps not working. It wouldn't even open. As it turned out it didn't work even after the hard reset. So I had to install an earlier version of it that worked.

Then there were the two games I'd bought from Ovi Store. I was told I had to contact Ovi Store customer support and tell them what apps I wanted to re-install along with my Ovi Store user name. Well, they did answer me by email after a day or two saying they had some technical issues with the re-download links. I am supposed to contact them again in a week or so. I guess I'll just have to do that then.

Image:
dailymobile.se

Mobbler now scrobbles N97 and 5800XM

2009-10-20T10:56:00.000-07:00

Mobbler released a new version for beta testers a couple days ago and today they announced that there is a new version (0.7) open to everyone. The main fix for this version is that it now scrobbles s60 5th devices. As an N97-owner I am very pleased with that. As before you can also listen to Last.fm radio stations and they also scrobble as usual. Another nice addition is the new menu icon.

If you haven't already downloaded the latest version, you can get it from Mobbler's Google Code page.

Image:

mobbler

Digital Comics on Ovi Store

2009-10-17T06:12:00.000-07:00

Ovi Store has recently been updated with some new comic apps. The apps themselves are each a single volume of a certain series. They're completely free and won't take but a couple of MB's of your storage space.

While this is really cool there are some down points too. For now you are only limited to a few different comic series from Carnival Comics. They do look good I have to admit that but it's still no Spiderman or Death Note. Well, a matter of taste, but it wouldn't hurt to have something more familiar in the future.

The second thing is that when you download, let's say, five volumes of a comic you have to download and install five different apps. So you'll end up with five application icons in your menu as well. Of course you can create a folder where to put all of them, but again you have to do it every time you download a new comic. Another thing is you have to constantly keep an eye for the latest updates if you want to keep up with the story. It would be so much more convenient to have one single client application and be able to subscribe to a certain series so that the app would automatically keep you updated. They could even combine your Ovi Store account so if you wanted to subscribe to a comic that's not free, they could just charge your credit card without any hassle.

This is definitely a good direction though. Comics are something I've been waiting to have on my N97 for some time now. I hope they come up with a more convenient solution for downloading them. A larger variety of comics wouldn't also hurt.

Image:
store.ovi.com

N97 theme effect issues

2009-10-16T14:43:00.000-07:00

I'd had theme effects turned on on my N97 for some time and had some serious issues with the touch screen and the phone crashing all the time. I didn't want to believe that it was all because of the theme effects. Once I did like so many of the N97 users say, turned them off, everything was nice and smooth again.

This is really a shame. While functionality goes definitely first, it wouldn't hurt to have even some eye-candy on the Nokias. I do hope they fix these issues in v20 (which by the way should be released just about now). I still don't know if I want to take the risk again since it has been almost impossible to use the device lately.

So if you must take one advice, it's this. Do not use theme effects on N97!

Google Wave: First impressions

2009-10-13T09:30:00.000-07:00

Ever since I first heard of Google Wave I've been eager to try it out. I normally like to use Facebook messages more than e-mail because e-mail threads with many recipients can be a real mess. So a Wave having only one message everyone can edit and comment is the perfect solution. Unfortunately Google Wave isn't yet open to the public. You have to request an invite from wave.google.com to gain access.

@macoute on Twitter was kind enough to give me an invite so I could see what's Google Wave like. First of all I have to say two things. One, Google Wave isn't really finished yet and new features are being included every day. And two, I don't have any contacts besides @macoute so I can't really tell you how Waving works as a daily communication tool.

So what is a Wave then? Wave is a collateral message that everyone can contribute to. Any recipient can edit and comment the wave. So in many ways it's a lot more convenient than e-mails or even Facebook messaging. The best thing on Google Wave is, though, that everything happens on real time. So if one of your friends is editing a Wave you just sent, you can se him/her typing as it happens. And that is obviously very cool!

If you want to know more about Google Wave and haven't seen this one. You should check this video.

Google Wave works inside a browser window so you don't have to download or install anything. You only need a Google account (and an invite for now). Once you've logged in you have you Google contacts listed, your Wave inbox and the Wave preview window. You can create folders and add tags to keep your Waves organized.

The thing about Waves is that you can add any amount of contacts to a Wave at any point. So if you forget to send someone the Wave you just sent to a dozen people, you don't have create another message or add the person into a reply list (which can be really confusing with email). You can just add him to the Wave with a simple drag and drop.

As you can probably tell I'm really impressed and exited about Google Wave. I strongly believe that Waves (or whatever it developes into) will eventually replace e-mail. And that is only a good thing.

These were the first insights on Google Wave. I'll get back into it as I get more contacts and have some more experience on Waving.

Image:
wave.google.com

Instant messaging with Nimbuzz

2009-10-09T06:32:00.000-07:00

There is an instant messaging app for S60 that isn't nearly as popular as it should be. The app is Numbuzz and you can download it from nimbuzz.com.

The main reason I use Nibuzz is to chat on MSN and Facebook. You can do a lot more with it if you choose to. It is possible to add a dozen of different accounts to different services - MySpace, Twitter, Yahoo etc. Supposedly you can even make Skype calls with Nimbuzz. As I've only used MSN and Facebook on it I don't know how it works though.

The best part about Nibuzz is how you can see all your contacts on different accounts in the same view. You can have multiple conversations open at the same time and easily switch between them. You can even hide Nibuzz to the background and it will alert you if you receive a new message.

Nimbuzz is a great messaging app with a lot of potential. If you haven't tried it yet, give it a shot!

Image:
nimbuzz.com

N97 firmware rollout schedule

2009-10-05T13:34:00.000-07:00

I just ran into an approximate rollout schedule of the N97 firmware version 20 on the Daily Mobile Forum. It looks like this:

N97 Approximate Rollout Schedule:
1. 10th of October : Rollout to unbranded ASIA productcodes
2. 11th of October : Rollout to unbranded EURO productcodes
3. 12th of October : Rollout to unbranded AMERICAS productcodes
4. 13th of October : Rollout to unbranded REMAINING productcodes
5. 14 till 19th of October : Rollout to all branded productcodes
6. 20th of October : Rollout globally completed.

While we have no guarantee that this is anything accurate, it's definitely good news if it's even close. That would mean we'd have v20 in our pockets in just a couple of weeks from now.

The biggest and most anticipated update will be kinetic scrolling throughout the user interface. Another thing that I'm really looking forward to is the general stability improvements, since my N97 crashes way too often with the v12 firmware. We've been promised some new widgets and an improved Facebook app as well.

I hope they will have the update available over the air like they had the version 12. Last time I tried to update via USB with the PC Suite, I ran into some serious issues. When I tried it later over the air, everything went fluently. No data loss. No problems. Just like it should be.

Are you looking forward to the N97 firmware update?

Image:

mobiiliblogi.com

Trying out Blogger for N97

2009-10-01T02:11:00.001-07:00

I downloaded an app named Blogger from Ovi Store. Just like the name indicates it's an app for writing and reading blogger blogs.

The download and install were fairly smooth and I got the app up and running in no time. First thing that caught my eye was the somewhat odd design. Besides that the app is simple. You can write, edit and read blog posts. Once you've logged in to your Blogger account you can see your blogs and choose which blog to write to.

When you get to writing a blog post you'll notice that there is absolutely no way to edit the layout of your post. You can't attach images. You can't add links. You can't even bold text. This is a real downer. You'd think you'd want a separate app for just that alone.

That's about it. You can submit plain text for your blog with this app. I have to say I'm a bit dissapointed.

Has anyone else tried the Blogger app for S60 5th?

Why I prefer Google Maps

2009-09-27T11:37:00.000-07:00

All right it's time to update this blog a bit. I haven't been writing anything because I really don't see the point in copying the same thing that every mobile-related blog writes about. I hope you feel the same way.

Anyway I have a couple words about Google Maps on S60 5th devices. Well, first of all it rocks! It's one of the best S60 5th apps out there. And way better than Ovi Maps (even beta) for my taste.

So why do I prefer Google Maps on a Nokia phone? It works. It's just as simple as that. I know the new Ovi Maps beta is a real improvement for the 2.0 that came with the N97, but I still don't like it that much. It takes ages to find my position - if it ever does. Google Maps finds me instantly.

Apart from just running fluently Google Maps is more convenient. It's simple and fast. Finding routes is easy and gives me the right directions every time - even here in Finland. You can even search for places other people have saved into Google Maps. Let's say I have to find a gas station. I just search for a gas station and it gives me the nearest gas stations. Simple and easy.

Even if I decide to use Ovi Maps for some reason, my favorite places can be found on both apps. It's good I don't really have to choose which one to use, but I can switch between the two whenever I want to.

Last but not least. Google Maps has Latitude, the service that shows your friends (that use Latitude) on Google Maps. You can choose to share your position so that you see where your friends are and they see where you are. That's something Ovi Maps is missing completely.

Which one do you prefer? Ovi or Google Maps?

Image:
mobiiliblogi.com

The future of mobile reading

2009-09-14T11:35:00.000-07:00

I was reading a blog post about the future of e-book readers in Finland and began thinking about the whole scheme. Here in Finland e-book readers are really a rare sight. I don't know if it's because of the lack of e-books or the lack of content - or probably both. Anyway, you don't really see those things around here.

So why not? Well, why would anyone want such a thing? If you want to carry around a device the size of a book for only to read books with it, why not just carry the book then? I guess that's what people are thinking. Or maybe they don't even care to think about it.

But if you want something to view readable mobile content on the go with, you probably already have a smart phone like the N97 or iPhone. And furthermore if you don't have such a thing, would you rather buy a device that's over two times larger and does only one thing or a device that fits your pocket and does everything?

It's true we haven't really seen any e-book apps or such on smart phones. I wonder why. We already have the news, social media, YouTube etc. I like to read most of my news with my N97. So, I can't think of a reason why I wouldn't read a book with it. At least if it has to be an e-book.

What do you think? Would you rather go with the e-book readers or an all-in-one solution?

Image:

wikipedia.org

How I'd want my Facebook app

2009-09-07T11:00:00.000-07:00

Nokia recently announced an upcoming major firmware update on the N97. Among other thing the new firmware v20, or 2.0 as they like to call it, has a new improved Facebook app on it. While I've not seen or heard much about it, I hope it to overcome with some major difficulties the present app has.

While waiting for the new app, I've been thinking about the things the Facebook app we have right now is missing or need fixing. So, here's some of the things I'd like to see on the upcoming app.

Improved overall feel. As I've mentioned earlier, I really hate it when the Facebook app keeps constantly freezing. Weather it looses connection, can't get my news feed or just freezes altogether, it need some major improving. This seems to be the deal with most S60 apps (you can count out Gravity and Mobbler). The first thing to be done is to get a nice and fluent overall feel.

Messaging. I like to use Facebook messages instead of SMS's or emails. It is really convenient to have new Facebook messages shown on my home screen. The only thing is when I try to read a thread that is over twenty posts long. As you might have guessed it, the app freezes. Again. Luckily it does recover with time but with longer threads it can take way too long. To avoid this it could just show the latest messages on default.

Notifications. I can't believe that notifications are missing from the S60 Facebook app. They are definitely a key feature and even the mobile webpage Facebook has them. So how could they possibly leave them out? Well, whatever the reason, I certainly hope they're in the new improved Facebook app.

Better news feed. I really like the way status updates are presented in Gravity. It is possible to see them in a similar way with the current Facebook app. It's not too intuitive though. You have to search them under friends. It would be nice if you could customize the filters used on the news feed though. Right now it's quite limited and inconvenient.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see what the newly improved Facebook app brings along. How would You want your mobile Facebook app?

Image:
facebook.com

The strange and annoying things with N97

2009-09-06T06:37:00.000-07:00

As an addition to the things I mentioned earlier, here are a couple things that are just strange. These are bugs on the N97 firmware that shouldn't just happen. Basic stuff that you'd expect to be fixed if they ever appeared in the first place.

Theme effects keep disappearing. I turn them on and they work for a few days. Then without any warning they're turned off. Or actually when I look at the settings they're tuned on but won't work. Usually a reboot helps. But I really don't want to reboot my device every now and then only because the theme effects aren't working properly.

Another strange thing is this. I've set an mp3 as my ring tone. Still sometimes when someone is calling me I hear Nokia tune as my ring tone. I'm not sure if this is related to some specific applications. It usually happens with Mobbler. I still don't see how that has anything to do with it.

I do hope that all these issues are fixed in the next firmware. For me and for Nokia.

The small but annoying things with N97

2009-09-03T14:24:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my earlier post covering my Nokia N97, I'm quite happy with it. Of course like everyone else I too like to complain about the small but annoying things that don't work just as well as they could.

Here are some of them.

Not having kinetic scrolling everywhere. I know this is going to be fixed in the upcoming firmware v2.0. Doesn't really help me right now. It's a real pain trying to scroll long lists.

Nokia Messaging is a good improvement considering using email on Nokia phones. It still has some things that need improving. One that would make me very happy is some spam filters and a spam box. Messaging has kinetic scrolling but it's not nearly as good as in Gravity for example. I hope this too will be better in future firmwares.

Freezing of the device. It is probably the most annoying thing on the N97. I hoped to get some stability with the latest firmware update. But apparently my N97 still keeps freezing almost on a daily basis.

Freezing of the Facebook app. The Facebook app does need a lot of improvement as a whole but the biggest issue to me is the buggy scrolling. It has kinetic scrolling which is nice. But it keeps freezing when reading messages. The app it self is working and the buttons are responding but scrolling doesn't work. Really frustrating.

Errors when calling. Too often when I'm trying to make a call, the N97 gives me an error message. It says that there is a problem with the connection but when I try to call again it works.

I know most of these issues are going to be fixed in the next firmware update. I still can't help to wonder how they didn't already fix these before they even released the first one.

Anyway now that this is out of my chest, I can go back to enjoying my N97.

What kind of improvements would you like on the N97?

Image:

mobiiliblogi.com

Sync your Google calendar with GoogaSync

2009-09-01T14:40:00.000-07:00

I use Google calendar to schedule my daily life. I find the use interface to be very handy. You can easily create, delete and move your appointments.

Unfortunately Google calendar does not have so good mobile support. There is a mobile version of it but it's really not much to brag about. Then again Nokia's S60 devices, including my N97 and N95, have a nice built in calendar. I really like it how you can see your today's schedule on the home screen. It can be a pain to use the built in calendar for managing events on a larger scale though.

So if I like to manage my calendar mainly with the Google calendar but still want to have it with me all the time, why not combine those two? It's possible to sync your S60 calendar with your Google calendar. You can even do it using several different apps or services.

I've tried some of them, like GooSync which uses the phone's built in syncing property. It worked out OK but I couldn't really change my appointments once I've made them. Syncing manually was another downer for me.

I had used an app named GcalSync, which was in beta at the time, that worked out quite well. There were some minor issues with updating calendar events but it was good enough for me. Eventually they even got the issues fixed and renamed the app GoogaSync. At this point they also put a 15,65€ price tag on it.

Well, that's a lot of money for an S60 app. Especially when most apps are free or cost between 5€ and 10€. But over 15€? I had to think about it.

After trying to find another solution I came to the conclusion that I was ready to pay the price for what GoogaSync had to offer. That is full two-way sync, manually or automatically scheduled. That means you can create, delete and edit you calendar events both from you S60 device or Google calendar and they're always up to date. Automatically!

I even had some questions about setting it up and they replied to my email in 24 hours.

So if you own an S60 device and use Google calendar, I can definitely recommend GoogaSync. If you hesitate to pay over 15€ for it, you can try it free for a week's time. Download it at googasync.com.

Image:

googasync.com

First post: Yes, I have the N97

2009-08-31T10:35:00.000-07:00

As you can probably guess from the banner I have the Nokia N97. Usually when people find out that I've got one they tend to ask if I've been satisfied with it. Well, like so many others, I'd say yes and no.

For the most part the N97 has been everything I expected it to be. Maybe it's not so flashy as in the promotional videos but as we've already seen you can have some pretty nice visual effects if you know what you're doing. As for the functionality N97 has pretty much fulfilled my expectations.

The best thing about the N97 is the ability to customize it. Home screen widgets are one of the main reasons I got it in the first place. I can have all the info and all apps I need to my home screen.

My N97 works as my main communication device. It's also the only portable media player I have. So can one phone manage to do all this? Well, it does - and comes out quite good. The Facebook widget shows me if I've got any new messages. With Nokia Messaging I can send email. I especially like the music player widget that allows me to control the music player.

Let's not forget about Gravity! The best S60 app there is. Gravity is definitely the best way to use Twitter. It really brings the best out of the N97.

Another app that is not to be missed by anyone owning the N97 is Mobbler. You can listen to Last.fm radio channels and scrobble the tracks to your Last.fm account with it. Unfortunately music player scrobbling is not yet possible with the N97. There's supposed to be an API update which will make it possible later.

This brings us to the things I'm not completely happy with. Not to be able to scrobble the music player is one. Second one in that area is the lack of a Spotify app. That's obviously not Nokia's fault. But there must be something wrong when Android and iPhone both have their apps already finished.

Unstability was a really big issue with the older firmware but the v12 is doing a much better job with it. Rebooting is also another issue. Loading the home screen widgets can take way too long. This was especially annoying with the older firmware when I had to constantly reboot my device.

After seeing the new iPhone Facebook app, I'd really like some improvements on the S60 5th version. I can't believe the one we have now is missing notifications. How could they possibly leave them out?

All in all the N97 is not perfect but does a pretty good job. If you're looking for a smart phone that is customizable and works as an all-around communication and media device, you might just like the N97. I have to say though if I knew the N900 was coming, I might have waited for it.

Images:

mobiiliblogi.com

mobbler