Android Tip - A Guide to Droid Devices

Looking for resources to help stay informed of the latest mobile devices, in particular those running on the Android OS? If so, here’s details of a free guide that may be useful to you – These Are The Droids You’re Looking For: An Android Guide. Some details of the resource:
Android is among the most influential operating systems crafted this century. Along with iOS, it has paved the way for mobile devices that offer an unprecedented level of functionality. Currently Android is the most common mobile operating system–and there’s no sign that its popularity will wane anytime soon. If you’re reading this guide, it’s likely because you have an Android device. This 23 page guide will go over Android’s history and the different versions on the market.

See These Are The Droids You’re Looking For: An Android Guide

Nokia Email Service (NES) the Free Beta service, Questions Answered by the Project Team

Today I was offered an invitation to sit in on an informal Q&A with the Nokia Email Service (Beta) Management Team. Via Tangler, we bombarded the team with questions for an hour. the following are some of the items of interest I picked up on during the conversations. This feedback is valuable in helping us to get a vision of what we can expect from this service down the road - thanks Nokia for taking part in this.

Some of the interesting tidbits I picked up on during the Q&A :
At Nokia we believe, even though mobile email has been available for years, the amount of users who use mobile email has been dissapointgly low

- Nokia is shifting into being an internet company, and email is a top priority for Nokia, and at this time our focus is on the S60 platform.
- When a consumer walks into a phone store, and asks to see all the email phones, the clerk pulls out seven qwerty keyboard devices... three blackberries, two nokias, two other phones. today, chances are, the blackberry gets picked quite often... they have a nice email solution with nice phones.
but, most people come into a phone and say "show me your best camera phone"
or your best music phone
or the phone with the longest battery life
or phones for active lifestyle
or phones with GPS navigation
or phones under $100
Chances are for those categories, there's more Nokia's in those categories than any of our competitors.
Nokia will win its generous share of these phones... and once they choose the Nokia, the operator has the opportunity to sell the consumer email on their phone.

Based on feedback, it's clear people want some shorter options for polling and not as many longer ones (for instance, 2 months is an option right now).. we're looking into this.

Through our research, our design is focused on the five mail things: scanning inbox/reading/deleting/reply/composing email. We're spending our resources optimizing those core mobile email functions.

"Through our research, we have found that there are three main obstacles to the adoption of mobile email"

1. discoverability - people don't even know that their phones can get email, even though it's been on the phone for years"
2. those who discover email on the phone have a very difficult time getting it setup and functioning.
3. Unpredictability of cost - users don't have control over how many emails they receive, worry about receiving large bill at the end of the month".

Nokia's strategy is to solve these three problems and to become a leader in the mobile email space. To solve the discoverability problem, our intention is to include email on the phone (preinstalled on the phone, to answer earlier question)., and make it readily apparent on the home screen / initial startup that the phone supports email.

"Our strategy is making email easy to say "yes to" and opposed to the reason someone buys a phone."

See the full Q&A article here

Blackberry Applications

A reminder to Blackberry device users, if you need apps be sure to consult this fine Application Shop from Blackberry (RIM) - see here
For more suggested apps, developer tips, and news for Blackberry users see this archive of useful tidbits!

T-mobile G1 unboxing from tnkgrl mobile

I just stumbled onto a Tweet from tnkgrl (aka Myriam) who I had the pleasure of meeting last month in finland. As luck would have it she was just unboxing the G1... my first sighting of an official G1.. enjoy and thanks!

Mobilize your website or blog in minutes with Mippin

ever needed a nice mobile-friendly place to send your web traffic? There's loads of tools, gadgets and widgets out there but this one is way cool and way simple! Mippin enables you to easily mobilize pretty much any website that has an RSS feed. You can test it out using their online emulator at mippin.com - simply enter a website url. Then you get to see what the mobile version looks like and are also provided with a url of the new, mobile friendly website. Very nice! Below you see this AnyGeo weblog as it appears on the emulator as well as a screen shot of the actual mobile site as it appers on my Nokia N95... nice!

This blog as it appears using the mippin emulator

Mobile friendly blogsite as it appears on the N95
My mippin site as it really appears on the N95 8GB

Once you've finished you can save your test site with a proper mobile url and even customize the look and feel. I saved my new mobile site as http://mippin.com/anygeo
Mippin even offers up a friendly little blogger logo as well - see mine to the top right!

Map Loader for Mac

New from the Beta Labs, Map Loader for Mac enables Apple Mac product users to easily load their Nokia mobile with Maps from the popular Nokia Maps web service. With Nokia MapLoader for Mac, you can side-load maps to your phone directly from your Mac. See more details in this posting

For more on this app see the Nokia Beta Labs Blog

LBS developers encouraged to create apps for Nokia E71 and N95

Nokia wants to encourage developers to create innovative LBS apps to run on the E71 or N95 smartphones. Nokia will provide qualifying contestants with handsets and software tools to enable the development of LBS applications based on multiple platforms including S60 for Symbian OS, Java ME, Python as well as the WHERE platform in the Americas region. Nokia will also provide qualifying contestants with their choice of the Nokia E71 or Nokia N85 handset to develop their location-enabled applications for the competition.
About the devices:
-- The Nokia E71 is the world's thinnest QWERTY handset and supports the latest Ovi services, including maps, music and media sharing. The Nokia E71 is an Official Device in the EMEA and Americas regions.
-- The dual-slider Nokia N85 enables users to discover new places with turn-by-turn voice navigation, pedestrian navigation, city guides and 15 million points of interest. Users can also upload geotagged pictures from the 5 Megapixel camera or videos on the internet directly from the handset. The Nokia N85 is an Official Device in the EMEA region.


Nokia E71 symbian S60 smartphone - see more on the LBS challenge here

location-based services (LBS) news round-up, week of Oct 15, 2008

If LBS is your thing then be sure to check out the latest recap from the LBSzone is the latest edition of the LBSzone Alert. Loads of interesting items this week including a tip about a great mobile industry review, a cool neo-geographer presentation, updates on a mobile GeoPDF solutions, tips for LBS job posting, a feature covering such topics as Time to First Fix, and Nokia's effort to iTarget the iPhone. These and much more in the latest edition!

Get your LBS fix!

Another Mobile industry Review show

Have you see the MobileIndustry Review yet? If not, check out the latest edition filmed in London. Goog ol James Whatley is up to his usual self, hopping around an a coffee and red bull induced frienzy. Enjoy as he runs around asking people to show him their mobile... I love the chick with the dead N78!
Then there's the Nokia 6820 user.. nice, bet you haven't seen one of those for some time now! And a killer scene with the 3 US dudes that aren't carrying their phones with them (you know, roaming charges!) a tip, when in Europe check out one of the carrier shops and grab yourself a pre-paid SIM for cheap cheap, enabling you to actually use your device, if anything else you can use unlimited data while there! And then the lady with the iPhone thats getting slooooooower and sloooooower.. gee, haven't heard that complaint for some time! Enjoy the show and thanks guys!



Mobile Industry Review Show - Week 41 from Mobile Industry Review on Vimeo.

One more cool reason to think about the Nokia E71

The E71 has a dual personality - it's the perfect mobile companion for the business user (think push email, messaging, office functionality etc... but it's also a cool device for the non-business user - 3MP camera, video, messaging, web browsing, MP3 etc... One of the really cool features I enjoyed with the device is listening to messages and email. See the short demo clip below.



See more about the E71 here
See also this E71 image Gallery

More on the Google (Android) G1 via the T-mobile update

The latest T-Mobile customer newsletter is promoting what else??? the G1 naturally! IT's really too bad that most of the service attendants in the wonderful T-mobile shops are pretty much clueless about the device... but they do proudly comment "well... it's has Google search and maps".. ya that's useful!! For kicks I always like to ask them a couple of questions about Android and watch as their face contorts into a confused state... ;0) Regardless, the G1 from HTC is indeed an interesting device. I'm on the fence as to whether I really want to extend my contract for yet another 2 years for a device that is essentially release 1.0.0.0 - I was really close but I think I've decided that I may wait it out a bit!

See more at http://www.t-mobileg1.com/ or jump to our dedicated Google Android section on the LBSzone

Looking Ahead to Nokia World 2008, Barcelona

A reminder, Save the date for this year's Nokia World 2008 event, December 2-3, 2008 in beautiful Barcelona, Spain. With thought-provoking seminars, informed keynote speakers and a wide range of interactive experiences, Nokia World 08 can inspire anyone and everyone with an active interest in the business of mobility. Recall, now that Nokia has NAVTEQ as partof their holdings there is no doubt going to be added focus on the future mobile geo location technologies and services!

Always a "must-attend", Nokia World offers press attendees, developers, business partners, and mobile technology architects a chance to get a detailed look at the road ahead and the state of the industry regarding mobility. Spanning 2 days, the event features a busy couple of days where top Nokia execs, technologists, visionaries, and evangelists are available to answer your questions and show you first-hand the Now and the "What will be" regarding the company's industry solutions, services, and devices.

Nokia World will once again offer attendees a dynamic experience, a space where real stories and original thinking are shared, an environment where collaboration leads to innovation, a place where like-minded people bond, partnerships and even friendships are forged, a destination where people connect and join conversations that help define and drive the future of our industry.

The event spans over 2 days and will feature executive keynotes from Nokia executives. Nokia World is also a hands-on experience where users can take part in the Experience Lounge... after that there is always a great time at the Nokia World party, hosted by Nokia and guaranteed to be a memorable evening.

Topics of discussion this year will center around several themes including:

• join the journey
• join the community
• join the fun
• join and collaborate
• Join the living network

For event details and the full agenda see: http://www.nokia.com/nokiaworld

Register online at http://www.nw2008.com/

Recall Nokia World 2007

Nokia World 2007 took place Dec. 4-5, 2007 in Amsterdam. SymbianOne founder Glenn Letham was in attendance and provides images, videos and features from the event. See this Nokia World 07 Archive for reports from the event.

Images from Nokia World

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Images from Nokia World Beach Party

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Blackberry Storm (Touch) coming to Vodafone

An interesting device from Blackberry incorporating unique functionality enabling carriers to target a different crowd that is associated with the traditional Blackberry devices (ie. the business user). This is what Vodafone says... "BlackBerry Storm retains the full functionality and security features of the BlackBerry platform but is also ideal for avid Facebook, MySpace and YouTube users, while Flickr fans will love the ease and speed of directly uploading their pictures seconds after taking them." Detailed info here

Features:

First ‘clickable’ touch screen smartphone purpose built for Vodafone – revolutionary tactile touch display
Building on BlackBerry platform’s strong wireless heritage, the BlackBerry Storm is ideal for both consumers and business users featuring:
Large, high resolution screen coupled with Vodafone’s ultra high speed network delivering world class Internet browsing
Fast and easy access to customers’ favourite social networking sites
Turn by turn satellite navigation
Great for keeping in touch – all e-mail, SMS and MMS in a single in-box
Multi-media services including outstanding music and video experience:
Download music or transfer it from the PC
Incredible sound quality
Largest screen on a BlackBerry smartphone
http://www.vodafone.com/storm

NEed memory for your smartphone - here's the 16GB MicroSD

The 16GB MicroSD supported by Nokia N95 is here... you can grab it for around 50 Euro... for more on using the latest in memory see this report on the 16GB card. You can purchase online here

DeviceAtlas 2.0 mobile device database

Looking for design specs on pretty much any mobile device? Look no further than the latest iteration of the Device database. Information on DeviceAtlas 2.0 - including the free Web-based version and free, fully licensed version for developers - is available at http://deviceatlas.com/

which Smartphone would you like - Poll Results show Nokia N95

I recently posed a question to our readers... I asked, Which Mobile Device / Smartphone Do You Want Next?

If you could upgrade your mobile device next month which way would you go?? From roughly 100 responses the results are in:

• iphone 8.8%
• Bold 7.7%
• G1 20%
• N95 33.3 %
• dont need 5.5%
• Other 3.3%
• S60 other 20%

I was somewhat surprised to see that 1/3 of the people responding suggested they would opt for the Nokia N95 - nice choice, that's my device of choice at the moment! Very interesting to see that "other" was very small and the "S60 Other", like perhaps a very slick N96, N82, or a nokia E70 got 20% of the vote. iPhone came in way down, no surprise there and the soon to be released G1 from HTC got 20%... excellent! Thanks for the feedback

Which Mobile Device / Smartphone Do You Want Next?

We've seen a number of very cool, powerful, and useful smartphones hit the market recently... most of them very suitable for work and play. If you could upgrade your mobile device next month which way would you go??

Finally, it's official The Google Android G1 device

Today T-mobile made it offical, the company will be distributing the first Google Android mobile device - the G1 (from HTC). Some details... an open-source mobile platform led by Google. T-Mobile G1 is a touch-screen mobile phone that includes a QWERTY keyboard and features applications like Google Maps with StreetView, Gmail and YouTube. The phone will be available in the U.S. beginning Oct. 22 and in the United Kingdom in early November with other international launch dates scheduled throughout 2009. See the official announcement

More info... Based on the Android open source OS, the device sports some amazing functionality including: swipe, touch, embedded google apps (maps, search etc...) fast access to your most heavily-used apps (like YouTube, gmaps), slide-out QWERTY keyboard, drag/drop apps, MP3 player, 3MP camera, WiFi, access to mobile street views with compass mode option (this is way cool!!) amazing apps for carbon footprint detection, bar-code scanning, location services, and much more - this device, available from T-Mobile in the near future (or pre-order online now) will be HUGE! Pricing... $179 + contract (commercial launch Oct 22) - $35 month for unlimited web and messaging. As near as I can tell this device sports most of the functionality that you would want, except for, video capture, Bluetooth, and GPS! I'm still digging up info to determine exactly the full feature specs.

Samsung Tools says no to Nokia PC Suite

As more and more cool, new devices come out (most of them now GPS enabled) I have the need to test and install numerous apps and services. Recently I was trying to install and use Samsung PC Suite when I ran into an obstacle... seems the app is forcing me to get rid of Nokia PC Suite... Frustrating since my main mobiles are Nokia and in order to test the functionality of the way cool GPS-enabled SGHi560 seems I need to make a choice or remove PC Suite do my thing with the Samsung, then grab the 100+MB Nokia PC Suite and re-install...

Coming Down from the Nokia OpenLab08 High

We'll I'm back from a whirl-wind journey to Finland where myself, along with about 3 dozen other bloggers, new media technologists, early adopters of mobile technology and social media technology gurus, where we had a chance to discuss the what, where, when and why of mobile, particularly with respect to our social networks. I have to admit, like many others in attendance, I'm still trying to process fully what transpired! Made up of several "workshops", one of which I facilitated, we shared our tales and thoughts on the likely direction that social networking will take, and in particular, the role that the mobile web will play as things evolve. There were no correct answers, there were no stupid comments, there were no misfits, etc... there was simply a group of cool people sharing their stories and offering up insights from their own special corner of the social web or geo-social web as I like to call it! This might sound a bit abstract and you may wonder, what the hell was Glenn doing there and what is he talking about? Well, that's how Nokia (sponsor of the event, via their WomWorld extension) likes to roll, that's how they like to get a glimpse of future technologies and the role that the company's solutions will play as the mobile web expands it's reach.

Obviously, with me being the "Geo" guy, I was providing insight into my thoughts on the geo-social web and other location-aware solutions that users take advantage of to expand their networks and share their experiences. If anything, the event not only enabled us to brainstorm, but we also had a chance to take part in a very interesting social networking test where a group of 35 people were introduced to each other, provided with a mobile device (Nokia E71 in this case) and told to have at er... setting us free in Helsinki to collaborate, socialize and communicate via whatever means we could. At the end of the day, the group Wiki, Twitter, Jaiku, Flickr, Qik, and Ovi proved invaluable in bringing us closer together and enabled us to have a much different experience had these mobille technologies not existed. If this is all too much for you to think about at the moment (I know it's been a load for me as I try to recoup), I can relate... I'm still absorbing a ton of material and media. I have to say thanks to Peter Batty for planting a seed in my head last week and reminding me how combining future location location focused applications more with current location focused applications is where we are headed... I couldn't stop thinking about this and now couldn't agree more! I also couldn't help to wonder while we were there, how crucial the latest social networking tools were to us all to help us enjoy the event and communicate with each other... indeed if we could build on the geo-social web experience we could have benefited even more - there's opportunity a plenty in that space in my mind!

Thanks to the team in Helsinki (along with WOMWORLD and 100Heads) for getting us together and for sharing some media with us via Ovi Share... Nice Job! And a big thanks to my 3 dozen+ new friends who have greatly expanded my social network and given me much to think about regarding the Geo-Social Network and the possibilities that it brings to our lives.

The OpenLab08 Group (Image Credit NokiaOpenLab08 on Ovi)

Enough of that for now... maybe take a load off and test your Geographical skills in this contest from Nokia called the Mapsters... have fun - you just might win a new Nokia 6110 Navigator! I just got a score of 69,900 on first try, can you beat that... I'm sure you can! Oh, and please, don't forget about thegreenthing! I'm doing my green thing by not watering my lawn every day like my entire neighborhood. Instead, once a week by hand and I have grass just as green as anyone else... go figure that one! More to come soon...

Some additional resources to consider include:

• Ovi Share Channel
• WomWorld on Jaiku or me on Jaiku
• Twitter
• NokiaOpenLab08 Flickr
• my Qik
• OpenLab on qik
• OpenLab Official website
• OpenLab Wiki
• James Whatley video on Join The Community

Blogs, comment, and Vlogs from attendees:

• Goodby Helsinki (Gypsibandito)
• Phil Campbell's closing comments
• Nokia Openlab 08 (Mickipedia)
• OpenLab Part 1 (Steve Lawson)
• NokiaOpenLAb08 in Review - Nick Bouton
  
• OpenLab 2 - Geo-Location workshop (Steve Lawson)
  
• NokiaOpenLab08 qiks