Text Messaging still No.1

In a recent survey by Access Systems, 73% users indicated text messaging to be the most important feature in a phone, 61% for Internet access and 63% for emailing. This totally trumpets the music features with only 34% preference and video capability at 34%.

Well its really comes as no surprise obviously, even though some people do get blind sighted by flashes of glitzy gizmos. But a phone is all about communication first and foremost. Adding an mp3 player to it is secondary, or didnt you already know? And while Apple has in fact managed to come away with just the right mix with iPhone, right look and right interface for its device... it does however, let you down in the main function: communication. Primarily text or email, basically anywhere you need to have more keystrokes than just dialing a number, you'll have a bit of a struggle with the iPhone, unless you have fingers that look like knitting needles. Or you text like this guy does on his ancient phone, using a pencil!

Though it may be hard for some users to admit it because their iPhone so cool and er... they've already spent a real good sum of money on it. The novelty does wear off for some, specially those who actually do need a serious phone, particularly smartphone users.
Bottom line: a phone HAS to be good for "communication"
I've never had any problems communicating with people, and I think its cuz my phone does the job for me quite well:

Bilal
http://elanist.com/bilal/

-

iPhone 3G Complaints Start Early

Apple claims more than a million units got sold within three days of its launch. But this time it seems that iPhone has some serious quality issues, literally end-to-end.

Much lower battery life (roughly 3 hours less than its predecessor), mostly attributed to being 3G and its push mail feature. Some users suggest turning it off. Some sources have tried to brush aside this problem, claiming that its battery life is still better than other mobile phones. But its quite interesting to note that they compare it only with Windows Mobile phones. Ok why is that a surprise? Secondly, I don't believe its accurate to call iPhone a "smartphone". Its a mobile infotainment device, and yes has the capability of becoming a smartphone, once it has the right software available. But its not a smartphone *yet*, and would not be fair to compare its efficiency and battery life with other smartphones, even Windows Mobile phones.

Problems with its Safari browser freezing up or frequently taking back to home screen.
Even the beautiful display didn't escape quality issues. Many users have been complaining their 480 x 320 has a dead pixel or two.
Many of the expensive third party iPhone accessories cant be used with the new iPhone 3G.
Even MobileMe (iPhone equivalent of Exchange) has had its own issues.
So much so that Apple has decided to drop the word "push" from MobileMe's description.

Worse of all, even reports of iPhones being bricked! so be very careful when doing any firmware updates on it.

I am sure Apple will sort these issues out over time, and these problems would not deter most users. But then again, what sort of users are we talking about? Face it, majority of the users are not getting the iPhone because of its capabilities. Those who do get caught up in the hype and buy it for its capabilities as a "smartphone" end up selling it off pretty quickly. I've seen such examples among my friends.

One of my really cute friends, Valerie (i'll post her shots another time), once asked me "is iPhone a good phone?" I promptly replied "its a cool phone". That just about sums it up. Sure I love the beautiful sleek design, the nifty user-interface. All very nice, I love it. But when I wanna communicate or do something useful where you need an actual "smartphone", I would quickly put it aside on the desk and pick up my trusty old E61 in a heartbeat or would get the newer N71. When I need a feature rich smartphone with massive multimedia capabilities, I don't have to think twice before getting the powerhouse N96 or even N95 8GB. No comparison.


Bilal
http://elanist.com/bilal/

Android prototypes

well guys, the first Android prototypes are finally out. no more speculation about their looks.
actually they look pretty plain like most other smartphones, so no surprises there.

The devices are based on the ARM9 processor, which is actually used on lower-end phones and already it is being touted as a leaner, efficient OS than Windows Mobile (ok thats really no surprise at all, which OS isn't?), but... its framework allows for much easier implementation with a lot less work for developers and manufacturers.
there's a quite a few things to write about now, so watch this space today and tomorrow!

bilal
http://elanist.com/bilal

Who chooses Windows Mobile?

I know i'm going to ruffle a few feathers with this one, but what the heck, I actually HOPE I ruffle more than a few! Windows Mobile is now in its 6th version and what is it biggest draw back? its still "Windows".

OS being one of the most important factors when getting a smartphone, there are still a number of OS options in the market for smartphones. However, Symbian is the most prolific and mature OS for these devices by far. So for the most users this choice is made easier compared to other factors when looking for a smartphone. Though there is a small faction of users, who still feel Windows Mobile might be the right choice when getting their first (and possibly second) smartphone. A little puzzling as it might be, lets consider what type of users might fall under this category:

a. American users:
Obviously not the smartest of the smartphone users on the planet. Many of the American mobile phone users are still learning to SMS. No wonder its the only place on earth where Symbian users are still a minority. The cave dwelling Taliban are rumoured to be more mobile savvy than the average american citizen.


b. First time smartphone users:
Many smartphone users are still first timers and coming from a PC background so they feel a Windows Mobile based phone might be easier to use than a Symbian one. An unfortunate assumption which often leads such users to a lengthy cycle of frustration from one WM phone to another till they finally make the jump to a better OS (google on it a bit).

c. Mislead by the name "Windows" Mobile:
Some new users are under the impression that having Windows Mobile means the smartphone would have better support for MS Office files, and sync better with their PC windows. This might be an unfortunate assumption and they cant be blamed for it. One would expect a Microsoft OS to work better Microsoft's own products. New users somehow believe that a Windows Mobile phone would give better usage of MS Office files or online services from MSN, and better synchronization with their Windows based PC. But then again... what a silly assumption. How can someone not be aware of the unreliability and sluggishness that is synonymous with Windows name. Ironically Windows Mobile is probably the worst OS in this regard (arguably right? so go on and argue).

d. Little hand-held PC:
There are still people who think having a smartphone is like having a hand held PC that can make phone calls. Such users might feel that "rebooting" the phone now and then, just like the PC, is normal. That it is normal for their smartphone to keep getting sluggish if not rebooted now and then (google on it, will ya?), it is normal for the OS to suck the life (battery life) out of the phone. They have just learned to live with the frustration and take it as the norm. So with such low expectations, they can kinda cope with the frustrations of Windows Mobile.

You're not getting the picture yet? let me share one of the postings on Gizmodo. This message was posted as a response to an article about frustrations with Windows Mobile 6 on the Moto Q9m:

"Maybe using a touchscreen Pocket PC makes me immune to these frustrations. I dont see how a non-touchscreen Q should be compared to a touchscreen Iphone for usability".

Fortunately, users tend to change our phone (even smartphones) far quicker than they change their PC or any of their other electronic devices for that matter. So its still not a big loss if their first smartphone is not the right one.

And by the way... if any of you got any issues with this post, let me give you some idea what kind of mobile phones I use:



Bilal
http://elanist.com/bilal

smartphones hot in Japan!

its official: 30 million smartphones sold in Japan based on Symbian OS in 2007.
Thats a ridiculously high number, considering those are 30 million smartphones not just regular mainstream mobile phones.

This goes totally against some speculations last year that Symbian market share in Japan may start to reduce because NTT DoCoMo had started to show some interest in other mobile phone OSs as well. But looks like NTT DoCoMo is way too comfortable with Symbian to show any real interest in any other smartphone OS, due to "The robustness, security and ease of customisation of Symbian OS...".

Certainly cant be good news for other smartphone OSs like Windows Mobile that are still trying to catch up(far from being a real competitor judging from the market share graph below), not because Japan is such a big market for smartphones, but it is has long been the most advanced market for mobile phones by far. Whats interesting to see is Linux has had a much bigger market share than Windows Mobile.

Nov 2007
• Symbian • Windows Mobile • Linux

Bilal

http://elanist.com/bilal/

MS Office on smartphones

Folks you might wanna pay a bit closer attention to this one and why I say Windows Mobile is bit of a warning lable if you expect to make good use of your smartphone. Thats right! I said it: its a warning label!

When buying a smartphone, users often presume that getting a Windows Mobile based phone means they would get better usage and support for their MS Office files. Its probably one of the worst myths in the world of smartphones. You cant entirely blame them for this faulse assumption. One would expect "Windows" based smartphone to give better functionality for Word documents, Excel sheets and Power Point presentations. Unfortunately, it doesnt work that way. If only people could google a bit more before investing in a smartphone or better still... read my blog!

Most people would find it strange or might even be reluctant to believe that the first generation of ESeries smartphones came with Nokias own application, Documents, for accessing MS Office files, was so good that not only it was better than any 3rd party software, it was actually better than Microsoft's own devices! Its not just Mobile Review who declared Nokia's MS Office capabilities to be superior to Microsoft's proposition, others have been expressing their frusration with even with just document viewing on Windows Mobile. funny huh? well if you use Microsoft Windows (and most likely you do), its not that hard to believe.

But come on! how hard is it to have a quick browse on the net to find out the most suitable software or using MS files on any smart phone? to figure that Quick Office is probably currently the most popular solution. Until recently, Office 2007 files were not supported by any smartphones, and yes not even for Windows Mobile. But now finally this has been fixed and solutions are availble for most devices. QuickOffice has also just released Premier 5.0 now supports Office 2007 on Symbian smartphones.

Better than that! the ESeries phones like E61 and E62 both come with excellent and comprehensive a built- in full Office suite which allows you to view, edit and create Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. For both these devices, contacts, calendar, tasks and notes, all of them easily sync to Microsoft Outlook using the included PC Suite. And if you're a power user, you probably already own or at least eyeing the E90.

E61 Screens

The lesson learned? Windows Mobile does not mean it gives better support for MS Office, in fact you might even wanna treat "Windows Mobile" as a warning lable (indulge me a little), specially if you wanna use your Windows Mobile device with Vista.


Bilal
http://elanist.com/bilal

Controlling your PC with your phone

thats right! if you didnt know this before now you do. You can not only use your mobile phone as a TV remote (since ages ago), you can use your regular mobile phone to control sotware applications on your PC (or Mac). Specially if your phone is based on Symbian S60, and even better if you have an E-series phone. In fact the new Salling Clicker software is actually native for E-series phones like the E61. And it uses WiFi or Blue Tooth for connecting to your PC, and does all the detection for you. PRETTY cool!

thats all there's to it. you can control software and send and recieve data and sort of be able to see whats happening on the PC as well.

there's are a lot of possibilities here folks! all depends on how far can your evil mind think. Look at what people were doing with a simple infrared control 10 years ago! consider this: when Palm Pilot was still the rage, car thieves actually used Pilot's infrared port to pick up frequencies of car locks from a distance. then used their Palm Pilot to unlock and steal the cars. this became quite a problem in the UK if I remember correctly.

and I'm not even going to mention what people did with the zero lux infrared capability of the olddd Soney handycams (my blog is PG13 remember?). Point is, we give you the stuff, your devilish mind should do the rest, and there's a LOT of devilish stuff you can do with a kickass smartphone like the E61 and its siblings.

Bilal
http://buzzzword.blogspot.com/

BOOHOO For You!

found this interesting little jap cartoon at Engadget Mobile. its actually about the japanese smartphone makers making fun of western (american in particular) about how backward their phones are. it comes with this "[Warning: Psychedelic video could induce epilepsy]":



so did you get epilepsitic? epileptic? elliptical? episeptic?

boohooforyou.com



Bilal
http://elanist.com/bilal

Symbian is ripe for developers

all of a sudden things seem to have started falling in place for developers to pay attention to Symbian. So many little things that add up to a lot, and hard to cover in one posting. But the end results will certainly be exciting.

First off, the smartphones are actually selling much faster. Faster in fact, than laptops! According to In-Stat, "sales of smartphones will grow at more than a 30% compound annual growth rate for the next five years." and smartphone operating systems will grow at double digits each year until at least 2012. The devices will very much become the work and infotainment companions in the next few years. In May this year, Gartner predicts, nearly half a billion phone subscribers for mobile TV alone, by 2010. Still more staggering is the figure is that of WiFi phone sales whichi s expected to top $145 billion in 2010.


The numbers alone represent how big a market this is about to become for developers. But the platforms themselves have now become more sophisticated and ripe for developers with tools and supporting framework.

Symbian already has the largest smartphone OS market share by far. So developers would definitely be hungry for more options, tools and framework for writing software for Symbian.
Like the recently announced Symbian60 Touch UI, Sensor Framework and UI Accelerator Toolkit. You can find plenty of detail on this framework on this artcile by Rafe Blandford.


Red Five Labs has just released Net60 (beta 1) for immediate download. Net60 enables managed Windows Mobile applications to run unchanged on S60 devices. So developers can now use C# and Visual Basic .NET in Visual Studio, and use the .NET Compact Framework environment to build applications for Symbian devices.

PHP and mySQL are going to be available for S60 devices in early 2008, with full LAMP stack.

Even Linux developers will now have their greatest opportunity on Symbian OS.

and to top it all, Symbian has just bought over Beijing Genesis Interactive Technology Co. Ltd. (‘MoGenesis’), lock stock and barrel! It does show some serious development ambitions on part of Symbiam. I have not been able to find yet what this company specificially develop, but its certainly one of the leading developer of smart OS mobile applications for the fastest growing smartphone market. Interestingly, before founding this company, it's CEO Dennis Kung held two senior management positions at Microsoft Corporation where he worked for eleven years.

The time is ripe for developers to take this platform seriously, because Symbian is sure to become one of the most lucrative OS's to develop for in the coming years.


Bilal Zaheer
http://elanist.com/bilal

the Android is finally here

Less than a month ago I had posted about the upcoming, so called "iPod killer", from Google. Which infact is a software and not a device. Well its just had its debut! Yep, Google has finally launched its open source mobile phone OS and Google's CEO Eric Schmidt is really making some big claims about it. Thats great news for smartphone users (and I hope some day for PC users!) and certainly not good news for properietry OSs... well... Windows Mobile. The SDK will be out later this month and phones supporting Android wont be out till late next year. Google had actually bought over Android over two years ago, the interesting thing is, the founder of Android, had also started a company which made its own smartphone device with full email, browsing and messenger capabilities. Hiptop has its quite a few limitations of its own of course.
Did you know that Starhub had its own Hiptop device? its not a suprise they discontinued it though. The version pictured below is the T-mobile's Sidekick II.


So you think Google might still come out with its own "iPhone" or Windows Mobile killer device just yet? The smartphone scene is getting more and more interesting.

Bilal Zaheer
http://elanist.com/bilal

N95 Vs iPhone (seriously!)

few days back I had posted a video clip from CNet giving a comparison betweenNokia N95 and the iPhone. It looked like a pretty close call. But there is this guy named Steve Litchfield who is considered some sort of an online legend when it comes to testing mobile phones. And I gotta say, his recent comparison of the two smartphones is quite detailed with some really interesting preceding discussion on the comparison as well. In Steve's own words "Nokia N95 8GB is simply awesome as a piece of technology, winning by a landslide (over the iPod) on data connectivity, camera, video camera, GPS and application openness".

In a nuttshell, in his comparison it does seem like that the iPhone sure is a pretty cool device... but not really for a smartphone user. Its not as useful or even convenient compared to a serious smartphone like the N95 in terms of functionality and interface. I am sure once the SDK is launched in february there could be a lot of cool software available for the iPhone, but that still may not help alot because that is something already quite elementry and should have been available from the start and yet would not around for another 2 quarters. Secondly, without the tactile feedback (or "hetptics" as they are being called), the iPod is really not as user friendly for any serious smartphone user. Cant waite to see what sort of phones Nokia would come out with the new heptic Symbian 60 phones! Windows Mobile phones are not even on the scene yet. Imagine comparing an upgrade to the N95 with touch screen and heptics with the iPhone or any other smartphone. Now THAT would be totally kick ass!

Bilal Zaheer
http://elanist.com/bilal

Buying a smartphone - battery life

one of the things that can be a pretty important factor in choosing the right smartphone could be the battery life. Specially for someone who is not a light user or travels a lot. I had heard before that windows mobile phones do have some battery life issues, which is not a surprise considering they can be quite resource hungry even on standby. But I did wonder how symbian phones would generally fare in a test of battery consumption. I am sure other people must have tried testing too, but I came across this comparison which seems kinda popular amongst the msg board junkies. The guy had compared battery stand by time for K-Jam (Windows Mobile 5) and Nokia 9500 (Symbian OS 9), with all comms distabled for both phones (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth)

Nokia 9500

K-Jam

	K-JAM (Windows Mobile 5)	Nokia 9500 (Symbian OS 8)
After 12 hours	94%	7 bars (out of 7)
After 24 hours	78%	7 bars
After 36 hours	72%	7 bars
After 48 hours (2 days)	62%	7 bars
After 72 hours (3 days)	50%	7 bars
After 96 hours (4 days)	40%	7 bars
After 120 hours (5 days)	15%	6 bars (phew, a change at last!)

I think the difference is really marked! But I wonder how significant is the difference in battery life in recent models. Anyone wanna share their experience with their device?

Bilal Zaheer
http://elanist.com/bilal

Smartphones for "smart" users?

yeeeaah... not really, they are just users, smart or not. like before the web made internet ubiquitous (thats a smart word for "being everywhere"), like 10-12 years ago, computer users were expected to be smart people. Now computers are as commonly used by everyone as the TV (a.k.a the Idiot Box). Get the picture?

At the moment, what matters is, what would you use your smart phone for. Until now users choose smartphones for their "needs". But it will very rapidly become a "want". Remember a time when nobody thought they really need a mobile phone? Well by year 2010, analysts are expecting 250 million smartphones to be in the market. I think the number would be higher, probably much higher. Analysts often underestimate the irrationality of the mindset of general consumers when it comes to such gadgets.

So there is no doubt smartphones are quickly going to become mainstream. The real interesting thing for me would be, what sort of smartphones would become ubiquitous? The OS would be the key differential here. Eventually it comes down to the market penetration of the OS, the ease of use, the features, as I had been saying in my previous postings. Already Symbian has such high penetration that the common user doesnt know and doesnt care what OS their phone is running on. Why should they? they never have to install it, they never have to reformat their phone because it "crashed" again, they dont have to constantly keep it upgraded with patches, they dont have to keep worrying that their current version of Windows is so outdated or that their new Windows is still so buggy and unstable. They replace their phones long before they have to worry about its OS or utilities get outdated. And even if they dont replace it, it still works just fine for years even! Thats how comfortable the general Symbian users have been all this while, such that they didnt need to bother what OS they are on.

Actually its kinda funny that a good friend of mine (Alec Ee) has been using Treo for a couple of years (for the "non-smart" users, Treo uses Palm OS), simply because he had so many problems with their phones they always had to replace it for him within the warranty period, so he kept going with it. Until finally he had so many problems with Treo he recently bought himself an O². Today he just told me that he is so frustrated with the O², he has been checking out mobile phone shops to trade it in!

Bilal Zaheer
http://elanist.com/bilal

Feedback Touch Screens ...and Nokia N95 Vs. Apple iPhone

Hey anyone tried a feedback touchscreen before? like anyone wanna share their experience of the iPhone interface yet? Looks like Symbian is "touch sensitive" too now. Nokia is has already come up with their own touchscreen interface, but they've taken a step further: Tactile Feedback. What the #&*$ is that? well thats the reason why touch screen never really caught up in 25 years! On touch screens, you cant feel what you're touching, which is what even iPhone is sort of "suffering" from. But the touch screen on Nokia not only gives feedback, but each "button" or touch could feel different! so your hand knows what its doing with the phone! haha. Certainly looking forward to check it out!

There is an interesting comparison from CNet between the Nokia N95 and the Apple iPhone. I would say its a pretty close call. I guess its more about how a person wants to use their smartphone.



Anyone heard of any plans for Windows phones coming up with feedback touchscreen?

Bilal Zaheer
http://elanist.com/bilal/

Apple taking notes from industry leaders?

Looks like even Steve Jobs has to take ques from industry leaders now and then. Like he is doing now citing Nokia and Palm? (Apple loosens grip on iPhone software)

Smart of him to open up iPhone to third-party developers, but perhaps they should have done it in the first place. Now its going to take them till February to come out with an SDK! but I suppose at least this delay is justifiable to make their phones more safe from viruses:

"... While this makes such a phone less than 'totally open,' we believe it is a step in the right direction," Jobs wrote of Nokia's stance. " - CNN, 17 October 2007.

Bilal Zaheer
http://elanist.com/bilal

Metasploit: Cracking the iPhone (part 2.1)

for iPhone cracks and other useful stuff for it you might wanna check out this:

Metasploit: Cracking the iPhone (part 2.1)


bilal
http://elanist.com/bilal

Mobile Wars!

Well actually its mobile OS wars.
Anyone heard the news about Google mobile OS? apparantly its supposed to tackle Windows Mobile and not Apple because its a software project not a mobile phone. http://www.electronista.com/articles/07/10/08/google.phone.os.vs.win.mob/

I think its still too early say, firstly cuz the software is not out yet. Secondly, yes Apple has had a great start with iPhone but its still a start (keep in mind, iPhone sales were expected to be three times higher than they actually were in the first 30 hours). Sure its a great product, but its not quite anything revolutionary enough to start a new genere of mobile/portable devices. Apple's Newton was supposed to be just that, long ago, but failed miserably, instead Palm succeeded in its place and now it has more or less disappeared into the crowd.

It sure is very interesting news. But is there room for more mobile OSs in the long run? in the mid-eighties (I'm not old! i just got into computers way too early!) there used to be a whole forest of great home and personal computers, all with different OSs and own breed of software. You dont know any of them? yeah, thats how comprehensively they were wiped out! Mobile OS's case may be a bit different, because content/software is much more platform independant now, but like I said in my previous post (go read it!) for smartphones, its all about market share and ease of use. Ok Symbian has the largest market share by far and its the oldest and most mature mobile phone OS too, so Symbian is not going anywhere. The interesting thing would be to see how the rest of the mobile OS's battle it out!

--
Bilal Zaheer
http://elanist.com/bilal

Symbian or Windows Mobile?

So iPhone is a run-away success. Now who didn't see this coming? And what is to be learned from it? It’s been in the making for like 4 years. This could be a long discussion by itself. But one thing that is sure about any smart pocket devices, most of all smartphones, is that the only way to lead in them is through innovation and ease of use.

How Microsoft has been successful in the PC world, by hook or by crook, is a different matter altogether. I often wonder, if Gary Kildall had accepted IBM’s offer to write DOS for PC, the world definitely would be a very different place today, at least the cyber world.

Thankfully, at least the mobile world already is a different place... Let’s face it, Microsoft has never come up with one original idea for software. Every piece of software written by their developers is a hastily put together pile of code copied from someone else’s products. Is anyone keeping count of how many times they’ve been sued for this? Well here lies the good news for the smartphone users: Microsoft did not copy Symbian! Their smartphone OS is loosely based on their own sluggish and bug infested Windows. So not only Windows Mobile has no unfair advantage in the smartphone world, its inherent design will never let it surpass its competition.

A fellow software engineer friend of mine, who was then working at Microsoft, sent me the source code for Windows XP (most geeks out there have already seen this code I am sure). Windows Mobile cannot be much different from its parent. Allow me to share its source code, though I cannot share the entire source, here is main code:

/* Windows Mobile */


#include "win95.h"
#include "win98.h"
#include "winXP.h"
#include "somethingMobile.h"
#include "longErrorList.h"
#include "oldStuff.h"
#include "finguresCrossed.h"
#define INSTALL_HARD

char make_prog_look_big 1600000 ;
void main()
{
while(!CRASHED)
{
display_copyright_message();
display_start_button();
do_nothing_loop();


if (first_time_installation)
{
make_50_megabyte_swapfile();
do_nothing_loop();
random(hang_system);
}

/* printf("Welcome to Windows 95"); */
/* printf("Welcome to Windows 98"); */
/* printf("Welcome to Windows XP");*/
printf("Welcome to Windows Mobile");
if (system_ok())
random(hang_system);
else
system_memory = open("a:\swp0001.swp", O_CREATE);
while(something)
{
sleep(5);
get_user_input();
sleep(5);
act_on_user_input();
sleep(5);
}
create_general_protection_fault();
}


In the long run, the clunky, resource hungry Windows Mobile has an uphill task ahead of it in the long run compared to its purpose built mobile OS's like Symbian.In the last couple of years, Symbian has out-sold both Microsoft and Palm put. Even in Japan Symbian having a virtual monopoly with its ties to NTT DoCoMo, the leading player in the world's most advanced mobile market. Symbian already has a market share 72% in smartphones. The question is really not of who’s winning the competition, right now its more like, is there really any competition?

--
Bilal Zaheer
http://elanist.com/bilal