Posted on 04 February 2012 by Mister Mobility
If this scoop by The Register is to be believed, Symbian is finally dead.
In brief, Nokia won’t push out 150 million Symbian devices again as previously announced, and are cancelling all future Symbian devices except one – an N8 successor.
If the N8 successor is a compelling upgrade, I’m game. And then, the curtain closes on Symbian. The register calls it pouring oil on burning Symbian. I call it The end.
Posted on 01 February 2012 by Jesse Oguntimehin
The debate about what smartphone OS is the best has been an ongoing and heated one. Is there a general best smartphone OS?
I don’t know if I am alone on this, but picking a single mobile device that suits my needs and meet my budget can be a very challenging task. I have moved from one mobile phone to the other in search of the smartphone that will meet my need just because I do not want to carry more than a single device.
Before I get into the meat of this article, permit me share a vital point with you.
I have however noticed how some people push for a particular device (or operating system) recommending it to others without first finding out what the unique needs of those people are. I think this is shortsightedness.
To make it clear, you may want to read this piece by Rita. She wrote about her unique needs as someone who resides in Lebanon.
She had once stayed in Paris where she enjoyed high-speed internet, both on wi-fi and on mobile internet (unlimited data). On moving back to Lebanon, she had to stay within a 150mb to 200mb internet data window per month.
200mb per month!? I don’t know how I can use 200mb in a month on my former Samsung Galaxy S2. Yes, former. You see, I have traded my Samsung Galaxy S2 for a Nokia N8. All these adventures of mine have given me a broad perspective about my needs and how different mobile phones can meet them.
Before you blindly go ahead and pick an Android, iPhone or a Windows Phone, please hear me out. You need to weigh your needs and pick your device based on accurate information available.
These are MY OWN reasons. Note: I am not trying to say that the Nokia N8 is the best phone for everyone. I am sharing from the perspective of MY needs. Those who share my views and have similar needs with me can then hop on a similar device.
1. The N8′s power lasts longer than my Samsung Galaxy S2, even if I use them for the same period. I have used the Nokia N8 for more than two months previously. This is my second time of buying it.
2. The internet data management on the N8 is minor. It is not as data hungry like the Android powered Galaxy S2.
I found out that I use between 2GB to 4GB on my mobile monthly. I download and try different applications, Youtube videos, pictures and sometimes tether my internet with other people’s devices and my PC.
I found out that the Samsung Galaxy’s power and data management was digging too deep into my pocket, as I do not have access to Wifi. All my internet needs are supplied by mobile internet data subscriptions. I would have kept the Samsung Galaxy S 2, got an extra battery (since the battery is replaceable) assuming I have access to free wireless internet.
3. The N8 is not as pricey as iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S, which were also on my list of options. I tried the iPhone 4 running iOS 4 for 24 hours and was impressed with the battery performance. I will eventually get an iPhone, but for now I do not have a budget for an iPhone. You know we do not get iPhones on contract packages here in Nigeria. We have to buy them cash down.
4. The Camera is superb. Not just because it has a 12 megapixel camera. The N8 simply shoots amazing pictures.
5. I can use one of my most preferred applications that is available only on Symbian – Gravity.
1. I will miss the swift and very fast UI of my Samsung Galaxy S2 (But I will save money and use less internet data now)
2. The productivity apps that I have grown fond of — Springpad, Evernote, Anydo, Bufferapp, Facebook for Android, Dolphin browser, plus the ability to download and read PDFs easily without stress.
I hope to keep this Nokia N8 for a very long time. Even when I pick my next phone, which would most likely be an iPhone, the Nokia N8 will still remain with me.
There will always be a battle between fans of different OSes till the Lord’s kingdom comes. However, when we engage in those debates, let us keep things in perspective. We must consider specific factors in specific scenarios.
Posted on 31 January 2012 by Mister Mobility
Just over a week ago, we published information that our app for Symbian, MeeGo and Java phones has been downloaded over 6,000 times.
As at that times, it still carried the old “Mobility Nigeria” branding – logo and name. We have since modified it to bring it up-to-date in terms of branding.
The app is now called the “Mobility blog” app and carries the current logo and look.
You can easily find it by searching for “Mobility blog” in the Nokia Store or using any of the direct links in the sidebar of this blog.
The Mobility blog app is available for Java, Symbian and MeeGo devices. Android users can expect an app for their platform very soon 
Of course, for everyone regardless of the OS you use, Mobility blog loads a mobile-friendly version when you visit it on any mobile.
Posted on 20 January 2012 by Mister Mobility
Just a bit of news about our own mobile app for Java, Symbian and MeeGo devices, “MobiNigeria’. This app has been downloaded 6614 times in 80 countries across the world as at today.
Top 5 Countries
Top five countries for downloads are as follows:
We are currently editing the app to reflect our new brand “Mobility blog”, as against “Mobility Nigeria” when it was published.
Perhaps it is time for us to explore an app for other platforms too, especially Android.
I am not a big fan of dedicated blog apps, but the demand is there, so who am I to say no?
Any proficient Android, Windows Phone and iOS developers in the house who can build those for us without us requiring a subsidy from Abuja?
The download links are on every page of this blog under the “Quick Links” section. Still, here they are again:
Java | Symbian (WRT) | MeeGo
Posted on 04 January 2012 by Mister Mobility
StatCounter is a global web monitoring service which tracks the browsers and OS used to access those websites on which its codes/scripts are embedded.
The statistics from StatCounter show that Symbian is still top dog in mobile web browsing, with a comfortable lead over others.
Yes; this is only StatCounter statistics. Still, note that StatCounter are not small players in this field. As at 1 June 2010, StatCounter tracking code was installed on more than 3 million sites globally.
It is interesting to see that inspite of the claims by many that the Symbian browser is “crappy” and that Symbian is either “dead” or “dying”, this old dog still holds its own.
Of course, partly responsible for this is Symbian’s huge installed base.
In response to this news, someone said, “Symbian is a beast. It just will not die!” Perhaps. Perhaps not. But the message is clear: this dude is no pushover.
Pronounced burning by its own CEO. Maligned on all sides by bloggers. Ignored by carriers/network operators. Outsourced to foster parents.
Still, Symbian has refused to die. The plucky devil’s still got some spunk!
At the moment, we have a Nokia Belle smartphone in the house here for review at Mobility Towers. So far, I have been impressed. I actually prefer a number of things about it to my N9.
Perhaps, just perhaps, Belle may still have a future if Nokia so chooses to reverse its position on this “burning platform”.
Posted on 31 December 2011 by Mister Mobility
We put the matter to test in the public, and you have responded with over 70 comments and 39 votes on that article. The fight was a neck-to-neck battle between the venerable Symbian flagship, Nokia N8 (released in October 2010), and Samsung’s more recent Android flagship, the Galaxy S 2 (released February 2011). Eventually, the Galaxy S 2 edged the N8 back by just four (4) votes to clinch the title.
A summary of the votes cast:
Ladies and gentlemen, I present you Mobility blog’s phone of the year 2011, the Samsung Galaxy S II:
Posted on 29 December 2011 by Mister Mobility
Our own regular here, Lord Banks, has put up a rejoinder to Ibukun Olaoya’s recent article, Why I Have Refused To Jump Off Symbian. The rejoinder, titled Symbian Will Die – Long Live The User Experience, is a well written piece that addresses issues I also had with a number of EyeBeeKay’s reasons.
Here are the key points:
I pointed out some of these issues in response to EyeBeeKay earlier. For example, the need to customise the user experience in order for it to be acceptable has been taken care of in Nokia Belle. Belle is a complete transformation into a modern user experience.
If you have used a Symbian device in the last three years, I recommend that you pick up and use a Nokia Belle device for a few weeks to see how good it really is. If you haven’t used Belle, any comments that you make about the Symbian user experience are likely to be 99.9% outdated and no more valid.
This is part of why it is my position that Nokia needs to stop putting outdated Symbian software in new devices. If users keep running into older, less-supported software (S60 3rd Edition & S60 5th Edition) on their smartphones, it is counter-productive to the experience of the different beast that Belle is.
Like I said to Ibukun, he needs to throw away that S60 5th Edition Nokia 5800 and get himself one of the new Belle devices.
However, I am not sure that much can be done about the Apps Incentive Deficiency Syndrome at this point. Belle seems to be coming after many developers had decided that it wasn’t worth the trouble anymore.
New apps are showing up for Belle on a regular basis, but not at a fantastic rate or anything comparable to what obtains on iOS and Android. If Nokia are able to somehow turn the tides on developer churn, then there is a fighting chance for Belle.
In the meantime, you will want to read Lord Bank’s complete article: Symbian Will Die – Long Live The User Experience
Posted on 21 December 2011 by Ibukun Olaoya
The primary reason why users are jumping off the ‘burning platform’ – i.e. Symbian-powered devices – is the unintuitive interface.
Compared to the other modern Operating Systems (OS), the Symbian User Experience (UX) is not as exciting and productive. Symbian lacks very little apart from this. Symbian is resource efficient, does multitasking well, and generally gets the job done.
Note that this un-intuitiveness obtains mainly on pre-Belle Symbian versions – Editor
I have often contended that no matter how wonderful an OS Interface is, or how much capable it is out-of-the-box, there will always be some lapses. This is where third-party applications fill the gap.
Hauling a smartphone around without making full use of the power of third-party applications is like permanently driving a V8-powered special Utility Vehicle (SUV) at a maximum of 40Km/hour on macadamized expressway. Hardly what it is built to handle!
Occasionally, I have been tempted to purchase a device powered by iOS/Android (Fruit & Robot). After all, variety is the spice of life. But that temptation is usually momentary. I end up asking myself, What UX can Fruit & Robot furnish that my Symbian-powered touchscreen device can not?
I am still struggling to discover this. Conversely, are there certain functionality available on Symbian that the Fruit & Robot lack? I know of a few.
I employ mercenaries (third party apps) to supercharge my aged Symbian-powered (s60 version 5th) Nokia 5800. Using these, I have not been able to justify being unfaithful to Symbian.
There are activities that we performance frequently on our devices. These activities should be accessible from ANY application. I attempt to highlight a few elegant applications that I employ on my Nokia 5800 to enhance my user experience, and mimic the Fruit & Robot OSes. This is not exhaustive.
With ‘DzSoft SettingBar’ installed, I can drag down from the top of the display. A screen pops up, allowing the following activities:
- Tweak profile settings
-
- Turn
- Directly adjust screen brightness,
- Engage WLAN,
- juggle the music controls
- show the current time and battery status.
Settings Bar
More interestingly, I am able to specify a maximum of five (5) applications/functions which can be invoked at any time – from any screen.
On my device, I have set those 5 slots to :
- ‘Home Screen’,
- ‘Settings’,
- ‘Messages’,
- ‘Contacts’
- ‘PhoneRotate’ (allows changing the phone screen orientation – at any point – without turning on the orientation sensor, which wastes battery power)
FIVE IS NOT ENOUGH
Of course, you are probably thinking: Just five application slots? That is not adequate! Enter ‘SmartPhoneWare Instant Menu’.
Instant Menu
The applications I have assigned to ‘InstantMenu’ are the following: MsDict Viewer – (multi_dictionary application from MobiSystems Inc).
Kylom Project (outline application).
EpocWare ‘Handy Calendar’ (Appointments, reminders, etc).
Sticky Notes – ubiquitous electronics stick-it notes.
To further embellish instantaneous accessibility to my phone applications, I make use of JBak TaskMan.
Jbak Taskmanager
The last software that I utilize is Usanov-Kornilov Nikolay’s QuickLaunch. This application allows you to specify five (5) application icons that popup on your touchscreen – in the usually anytime, anywhere fashion.
The apps I have assigned to QuickLaunch are:
- UC Mobile Browser (surprised?)
- LonelyCatGames X-plorer
- Opera Mini – better known than ‘money’!
- Quick Office – a versatile office application
LOCKING MADE EASY
We often need to (un)lock our device several times during the day. I have avoided using any of the physical keys on my Nokia 5800 – they will eventually fail. I prefer instead to use software solutions.
The camera, powerOff, (Un)Lock, Call (Green), Terminate (Red) and Menu (white) buttons have been permanently on holidays on my device. I do not use them (does that remind you of the buttonless Nokia N9?).
The ‘dzSoft DzLock’ application provides a variety of methods to (un)lock my phone. Swipe, double tap proximity sensor, cover the sensor for 3 seconds – are examples. You can (un)lock anytime, from
anywhere.
I urge people who spend good money on smartphones to get good Return On their Investment (ROI) by making use of software that brings out the power of their device.
Are you really making use of that smartphone?
So, you know why Symbian has me by the Jugular, and I am not complaining !
If you think I am ‘missing something’, please elaborate!
Posted on 20 December 2011 by Mister Mobility
The Nokia E5 runs S60 3rd Edition
By outdated software, I mean Symbian S60 3rd Edition and 5th Edition. Is it that those versions of Symbian are non-functional? No; they are.
But they are outdated in the sense that something much better is already out there – SymbianNext (that’s my generic term for Symbian^3, Anna and Belle).
When most people complain of Symbian, they are mostly doing that from the standpoint of Symbian S60. Take a look at this recent complaint springing from my review of the Facinate app for Facebook on Symbian phones:
This is what i hate about nokia, so my E5 can not get this… Oh yes i paid 43,000 and i cant get a single decent facebook app, anytime i hear them better the new symbian while leaving the other ones outside makes me doubt if i would ever get a nokia device again. When did this phone come out that its nw dead, make no mistake it has a 600mhz process and 256 mb ram so am pretty sure it can run better apss…..
As a nokia fan i tell you that they abandon their phones like too early, remember that symbian carla will nt come to n8, e7,e6… E6 when did that come out that its called nt eligible.
Nokia is highly confused…… And this should def be my last with them i have had it. Ps i bought E5 january this year and by march it was already outdated……… Talk of trash
Note that a valid complaint has been made. But note how that valid complaint has been easilly mixed with invalid thoughts.
It is not true that Nokia abandons their phones early. Till today, Nokia is still supporting S60 3rd Edition and 5th Edition with upgrades.
Also, note that the app he is complaining of was not made by Nokia. An independent developer was responsible for that app – and chose to ignore 3rd Edition (and we can’t blame him for that; who wants to keep supporting old software when the new is here and much better?).
But here is the point – Nokia is responsible for this mess. So valid or invalid, Nokia continues to generate complaints from users. Read: public relations issues.
I said earlier when Symbian^3 was launched that Nokia should simply stop rolling out phones with older versions of Symbian. That way, the issues of apps incompatibility and fragmentation can be put aside in the shortest possible time.
Also, everyone who went to the market for a Nokia would be getting the newest version of their Symbian OS. The benefits are all too clear. Whatever other business considerations informed continuing to push out older software, the demerits are grievous and costly in the open market.
But, No. We have a mishmash of 3rd Edition, 5th Edition and SymbianNext devices. Unfortunately, the average user cannot tell the difference. He buys a phone running 3-year old software, gets burnt using it and simply screams blue murder! Rightly so, too.
All the best apps are on the most up-to-date versions of Symbian. Devices running older firmware will get ignored one way or the other by developers. As long as Nokia keeps pushing those older firmware, users will keep screaming, whether or not all of the noise is valid.
Your comments and thoughts!
Posted on 18 December 2011 by Mister Mobility
The app home
I downloaded and installed it on my Nokia E7 this morning, and it instantly wowed me. It has got everything built in, and best of all, the developers say that it is free for life.
The UI is sweet and fluid, and you can scroll vertically or swipe horizontally. Yes; you heard me right. Swipe has come to Symbian via Qt! Now, you can now try out some of those fancy N9 moves that I make on your Symbian smartphone.
The first thing I did was look for the settings, because that’s where I was likely to get a clear picture of how functional the app was. In the settings, you can:
The settings menu
The main menu
PUSH notifications are delivered via both a homescreen pop-up and audio alert (depending on your settings). Tap on a notification and the appropriate menu is launched in the app.
Notifications menu
Here's how the pop-up notification on the phone desktop looks like
Probably the best news here is that Facinate supports both S60 5th Edition devices and SymbianNext devices.
Posted on 22 November 2011 by Mister Mobility
Opera Mobile for Symbian has received an update to version 11.5.1 with the following features:
- Added predictive text input and language choice in search field
- Improved stability in out of memory situations
- Fixed issues with browser freezing
- Fixed issues with browser when Opera Link is enabled
- Fixed issues with text selection and cut/copy/paste
- Fixed issues with reappearing search engines after deletion
- Fixed issues with selecting text using Up/Down navigation keys
- Fixed issues with third-party input keyboards (QQ, Baidu, Sougou)
This update is available today for download from m.opera.com, and will shortly be available in the Nokia Store.
Posted on 17 November 2011 by Mister Mobility
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:
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.
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