Every time I read about another tablet being the answer to the iPad, I just shake my head. Actually, I also get nauseous.

Once in a while, I also almost scream, “What the heck is wrong with people?”

Insanity Everywhere

Somebody slaps Android on tablet hardware and markets it as “the answer to the iPad”. Ludicrous. How is that particular tablet different from the legion of Android tablets out there, all of whom put together have not made a dent on the iPad’s dominance?

What makes Android successful is partly that it is different from iOS – and that’s a good thing.

Still, while Android is outselling iOS on the smartphone playing field, iOS rules in the tablet playing field. Perhaps Android just doesn’t make for a great tablet experience in its current shape. Perhaps it is something else.

But for crying out loud, all these iPad wannabes need to go get a life. If I want an iPad, I will go buy one, thank you.

Or at least, if you are going to claim to be the answer to the iPad, do really present us a unique user experience that is different from what is currently on the legion of also-ran iPad wannabes.

By the way, good morning, fellow mobilists!

MeeGo was a Linux-based collaboration between Nokia and Intel in the mobile OS space. No-one really knows what happened with that project, as no single MeeGo device is out in the market till date.

No; the Nokia N9 is not MeeGo. It is just branded MeeGo.

Anyway, Nokia pulled out, Samsung jumped in with intel and a couple of others – and the platform got the new name Tizen. I don’t know about the name though. It sounds…. sigh.

Anyway, before that time, Samsung had been working on Bada as a mobile OS for low and medium end devices. Baba has done fairly well with a number of devices numbering over a million in the market till date.

However, from this year, Bada is to be merged into Tizen by Samsung. Samsung has promised that the current Bada applications and the SDK will be backward compatible with the new OS.

Tizen’s development environment will be largely based on HTML5 which is rapidly becoming the preferred development environment for mobile apps and services.

Apparently, Samsung intends to continue their multi-platform strategy, supporting Android, Windows Phone and Tizen platforms in their different range of mobile products.

A number of Tizen smartphones are expected from Samsung this year. Now, that’s fast. Why was MeeGo development so slow? Why did it take nokia so long to produce a MeeGo phone – and then it turns out that it is not actually MeeGo, but Maemo/Harmattan?

Will we ever have answers? But then, does it really matter anymore? Life goes on.

In the beginning, Nokia had Symbian and S40 mobile operating systems. Nokia added Maemo/meeGo, then dropped it. last year, Nokia adopted Windows Phone as its primary smartphone platform.

Recently, Nokia’s new version of Symbian has been re-branded as Belle.

Now, news has it that Nokia has acquired SmarterPhone, a small Norwegian company that has an operating system designed for more basic cell phones.

From the press release of the acquisition:

Smarterphone is based in Oslo, Norway and delivers an operating system for the feature phone segment of mobile handsets. The software makes it possible to deliver a user experience similar to smart phones on affordable hardware, and allows unique flexibility for tailoring handset software to different markets.

The sale/acquisition was completed in November 2011.

No-one seems to be sure how things will play out from here. There has been no official statement from Nokia either.

So, is this another game-changer, or another doubtful venture? comments!

Source

I had a long discussion with someone on Twitter today, and along the line, he made the following statement:

Symbian is the most power efficient mobile OS there is. Which really isn’t saying much because it doesn’t do much

I may be wrong, but the above statement seems to stem from ignorance or just plain fanboyism. I used two Symbian devices (Nokia N8 and Nokia E7) this year, and there was NOTHING that I got done on Android, iOS, WindowsPhone or Blackberry that I didn’t get done on those devices.

Yes; each OS does specific things in different ways, and some have strength in one area and weakness in that other area. But for crying out loud, statements like the above just….. stink. Let’s call rubbish what it is – RUBBISH.

No; I don’t use Symbian any longer. As a matter of fact, I am moved on. But facts are facts, and lies are lies.

Can anyone tell me in clear terms what AndroidOS does that Symbian does not do? No bullshitting. Just say it straight: “You can browse the internet on Android, but cannot do that on Symbian“.

For the avoidance of doubt, I am not asking for things that Android does better than Symbian. I am asking for things that Android does that Symbian is not capable of.

Any bullshitting comments will be deleted. I’m not going to waste my time responding to bullshit and going round in circles.

It is December and a good time to take stock of the year ending. Looking back at 2011, I have owned 14 mobile devices this year.

As a long-time Symbian fan, I find it intriguing that of those 14 mobiles that I acquired this year, only 1 was Symbian – and I didn’t buy it. One. Go figure.

Of those 14 devices, 5 ran Android OS, 2 ran BlackBerry OS, 2 Windows Phone, 1 MeeGo, 1 WebOS, 1 Symbian, and 2 iOS.

I have come to terms with the fact that I am moving away from Symbian as my primary platform. It still meets my needs as a platform, but there are simply no new devices exciting enough to keep an adventurous person like me hooked on it.

And what’s Mister Mobility without mobile adventure and excitement?

I love something in every one of the existing platforms, but each of them also has one or two things that don’t go down well with me.

Put mass storage in Windows Phone, and I would signup right now. Same for iOS. BlackBerry ticks all the specs, but that platform lacks great cameras (one of my critical needs), as well as the fact that there isn’t much excitement there either.

Android is exciting, but at a killing level. You buy an Android smartphone today and it is almost a grandpa in another one month. That kind of excitement means that I will be cycling through Android phones at an alarming rate.

MeeGo is dead. WebOS is in a coma. Bada? I don’t know. Bada is a poor copy of Android. if I want Android, I go buy Android.

Here I am evaluating all my available options. Whatever I decide, I promise you months and years of exciting reviews and stories ahead. Of course, regardless of what platform I adopt, I will still continue to purchase devices from other platforms for review purposes, so no-one feels left out.

One thing is for sure, without exciting devices, I have lost the passion for Symbian. I used to be “Symbian Inside”. Now, I am “Symbian Over And Out“.

Here’s a simple poll for our readers to participate in. The question:

If you got the chance to replace your current primary smartphone i.e. the one you use on a day-to-day basis, What mobile platform would you pick your new smartphone from?

This poll will run till 9pm Friday 25th of November when the poll will be taken down and the results published.

Poll results: Results have been published here.

In my opinion, Nokia has done a smashing job bringing Symbian up to Belle. Belle is a smashing OS version and brings the UI aspect of Symbian up to date.

However, it is looking like there is life after Belle.

According to supposedly leaked documents, Symbian may be getting two more updates after Belle, as follows:

Symbian Carla

• 8.0 Browser
• Dolby soundround
• NFC
• Best Widgets

Symbian Donna

• Exclusive Dual core Equipment

Dual core CPUs on Symbian? I guess with all the fancy UI implementations, Symbian finally needs to go that route.

Anyway, whether this is true or not, Nokia’s legendary history of supporting their products long after competitors have stopped supporting their own products of the same age is commendable.

If Symbian will still be getting more update love after Belle, it is even more commendable. Like I keep saying, no OS ever went out with a bang like Symbian.

This info hasn’t been confirmed via any official channel, but it sure makes for interesting discussion; doesn’t it?

If you want the full details, do head over to MyNokiaBlog for the juicy bits.

Gartner has released figures of global phone and smartphone sales for Q3 (July/Aug/Sep) 0f 2011.

A few nuggets from Gartner’s report

Worldwide sales of mobile devices totaled 440.5 million units in the third quarter of 2011, up 5.6 percent from the same period last year.

Despite a drop in market share, Nokia continued to be the worldwide leader in mobile device sales as it accounted for 23.9 percent of global sales.

Non-smartphone devices performed well, driven by demand in emerging markets for low-cost devices from white-box manufacturers, and for dual-subscriber identity module (SIM) devices.

Smartphone sales to end users reached 115 million units in the third quarter of 2011, up 42 percent from the third quarter of 2010.

Android OS Rose to Account for 52.5 Percent of Smartphone Sales.

Heavy marketing from both Nokia and Microsoft to push the new Lumia devices should bring more improvement in the fourth quarter of 2011. However, a true turnaround won’t take place until the second half of 2012.

Samsung became the No. 1 smartphone manufacturer worldwide.

Smartphone OS Marketshare

Here’s a table showing where each smartphone OS stood at the end of that period (and figures for 2010 too, for comparison purposes).

Source

This Infographic has been flying around the internet for some time now. It’s about mobile malware, it’s sources and how to protect your devices from being infected by them. I thought it’s worth sharing.

Source: BullGuard

RIM has unveiled BlackBerry BBX, its next generation mobile platform that takes the best of the BlackBerry® platform and the best of the QNX® platform to connect people, devices, content and services.

BlackBerry BBX is the next generation platform for BlackBerry smartphones and tablets. In other words, there will be only one OS for both Blackberry smartphones and tablets going forward.

BBX will support:
- BlackBerry cloud services
- development environments for both HTML5 and native developers
- Native SDK,
- Adobe AIR/Flash
- WebWorks/HTML5
- BlackBerry Runtime for Android Apps

You can read the full press release on the RIM website: RIM Unveils BlackBerry BBX – Combines the Best of BlackBerry and QNX to Provide a Next Generation Platform for BlackBerry Smartphones and Tablets

I have been playing with the HTC HD 7 running Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) for about a week now. I am not ready to write any conclusions, but for those of you who are salivating, here are some of my impressions of Mango.

Improved Live Tiles
The Live Tiles on the homescreen have been improved. They present more information, e.g. how many new mails you have waiting and your upcoming appointments.

Multi-tasking
Multi-tasking on WindowsPhone Mango is a mixed bag for now. The way multi-tasking works on Mango is that when you move away from an app, that app is paused in the background. No problem. But when you return to it (prress and hold the back button for a list of running apps), the apps seem to take time waking up from sleep.

This is especially noticeable with apps that require an internet connection .e.g IM apps. You see a white screen displaying “Resuming…” for a few seconds (depending on the strength of your internet connection) before its ready for you to use.

Personally, I find that annooying. Call me spoilt, but having experienced multi-tasking on Symbian, Maemo and Android devices, this is so old school.

Social networking Integration
This is really cool. From the same thread, you can switch between text, Facebook chat and Windows Live Messenger.

You can also post updates to Twitter, Facebook, live and LinkedIn at the same time, and read your timelines from all of them on one screen. You can also choose to post to only one, or two – any number of them that you so choose.

Social networking is also integrated into your Contacts menu, such that you can view a particular person’s latest activities with one or two horizontal swipes.

Email Conversations
Conversations has now arrived on Mango. You are presented with a thread of your exchanges with each contact, making it easy to keep track of discussions and negotiations. Just like in Gmail.

Web Browser
Internet Explorer 9 Mobile has been improved in terms of speed pperformance and HTML 5 support. IE9 Mobile now scores 141 and 5 Bonus Points on the W3C HTML5 Test. The previous score from WP7 was 15 and no Bonus Points.

By comparison, the Android 2.3 browser scores 177 +1.

In real life, the browser has been a joy to use, with no major issues. As for Flash support, if you need that, please move on; its not here.

General
There are lots more tiny improvements in Windows Phone Mango. Most of them are not so obvious, but they make it an enjoyable OS. The user interface remains the most elegant that I have seen till date (that may change tomorrow when I get to play with the N9).

Mango floats my boat, but the multitasking niggle mentioned above grates on my nerves and leaves me wanting something better.

If you have any specifics that you want me to try out and comment on, please ask using the comments box below.

How many of you here remember Symbian UIQ, Symbian S60, and Symbian S80? These were the three branches of the Symbian OS some years back. While all Symbian at the core, they were different in capabilities and user interface. Oh, and Symbian S60 alone had some further fragments – S60 3rd Edition (feature pack 1, feature pack 2, feature pack 3) and S60 5th Edition. Crazy; right?

Symbian was severely criticised a few years back for this sort of fragmentation.

Amazingly, that level of fragmentation is what we now find with Android OS. As at last count, we have Android 1.6, Android 2.1, Android 2.2, Android 2.3 (and its variants). Now to make matters worse, we have Baidu’s Yi (customised from Android) and Amazon’s custom Android OS, producing two outright branches or forks away from plain Android.

I was one of those who said that this sort of fragmentation was going to happen on Android, though I took heavy flak for it.

How will the developer community respond to this? Will consumers find this fragmentation confusing? What happens when apps that run on standard Android do not run on Yi or Amazon’s custom job? Already, there are apps that run on Android 2.2 devices but not their 2.1 counterparts.

What do you think Have your say!