Roland Tanglao's Weblog

IF you are a multimedia creator and a north american THEN get an N95 8GB NAM or N95-3 NAM

IF you are a multimedia creator and a european or asian (except japan of course) THEN get an N95 8GB or the original N95, the N95-1

ELSE get an iPhone 3G when it comes out

That's my capsule review of the N78 :-) What can I say? I am spoiled by the iPhone's ease of use and wonderful application environment and the N95's wonderful 5 megapixel camera and video! And with the N95 coming down in price, I can't recommend the N78 (which except for the GPS being faster seems like a downgrade!).

DETAILS:

1. Pricey at $US 500 for the N78 NAM (NAM = North American 3G version), especially when the the N95 North American is $469.97
2. Only 3 megapixel camera on the N78 (but it takes great pictures but not greater than the N95!) unlike 5 megapixel camera on N95
3. Camera is slower to focus (even in fixed focus mode) than N95 which means more blurry photos
4. N78 Keypad is awful, number keys are fine but the Green and Red Keys are very difficult to hit consistently
5. S60 3rd Edition FP2, the OS on the N78, has hardly any real improvements. I'd rather have an simplified, easier to use UI than FP2's eye candy. I'd also rather have a phone that doesn't reboot like the N78 did on me (could be due to the Nokia Sports Tracker beta I was running but all the S60 phones I have used since 2004 randomly reboot). Please make S60 more stable!
6. N78 Lanyard/strap clip is cool.
7. N78 GPS seems faster and better at getting a satellite lock.
8. Video is only 15fps unlike the 30fps on the N95 (and the difference is noticeable!)

Interesting. I still think that S60 needs a drastic UI overhaul and simplification to compete with the iPhone long term and that Nokia would be better off with a Linux core for their mobile phones rather than Symbian and S60 but we'll see. Go Open Source S60 go! Does this mean both S60 and S40 will be 100% open source within 2 years? As the cliché goes, the devil is in the details!

From Nokia Acquires Symbian; Takes on Google's Android - ReadWriteWeb:

QUOTE

Nokia isn't finished with its acquisition spree just yet. Tonight the Finnish company announced a plan to acquire the 52 per cent of Symbian it doesn't already own and make the platform open source

END QUOTE

From The Symbian Press Release :

QUOTE

Contributions from Foundation members through open collaboration will be integrated to further enhance the platform. The Foundation will make selected components available as open source at launch. It will then work to establish the most complete mobile software offering available in open source. This will be made available over the next two years and is intended to be released under Eclipse Public License (EPL) 1.0.

END QUOTE

So the questions start:

1. Is there a bandwidth cap?
2. Are 3rd party applications like ShoZu and Qik (if ShoZu and Qik don't port to the iPhone others will) allowed?

IF

ShoZu-like and Qik-like applications appear on the iPhone 3G and they work well and Rogers allows them with a reasonable bandwidth cap (reasonable to my multi-media creation needs is 2GB YMMV :-) !!!),

THEN (it's not a r*poff, hurrah!) AND I'll get a 3G iPhone (since net-net, it's only about $10 a month more to pay than my current $50 per month grandfathered EDGE Fido plan).

The only thing that still gives me pause is the 3 year contract but I can live with it if the apps are there!

So I guess I don't buy one on my birthday but wait to see if the 3rd party apps that I want appear and if Rogers allows them.

From Wirelessnorth.ca » Blog Archive » Rogers iPhone pricing plans revealed: 3years $3440:

QUOTE

$199 + 36months x $90 = $3440 and that’s if you buy the cheap one. Don’t forget the GST/PST.

However, you’ll probably realize you are likely to spend at least that much on cellphone service in the next three years, no matter what your plan.

END QUOTE

Had a blast bicycling and checking out Car Free Vancouver 2008 from Commercial Drive to the West End to Kitsilano and back to Commercial Drive (we skipped Main Street since it didn't start until 4p.m.)

Here's some of the media we created:

1. My Vancouver Car Free Vancouver 2008 Videos (Part 1, 2, 3, 4)
2. Jean's Videos - 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 , 11, 12
3. JMV's Videos - 1, 2
4. JMV's Pictures
5. My Pictures

Nokia Sports Tracker data is missing! (mine didn't turn out i.e. most of my track is missing since I had to reboot the phone thereby losing my GPS Track, aaaaargh! Jean hasn't posted his!)
Things that were Great

1. The weather! Perfect!
2. Jean's McGyvered bicycle mount - although I am investigating using the N95 ProClip Motorcycle Mount, anybody know whether it will work on a bicycle?
3. The event itself. Rockin' great time at all venus. Great food, great happenings (e.g. mojave, Paul Jarvis' band, Japanese food, African Drum circle, etc)
4. Qik was rock solid. It just worked and buffered when we lost connection.

Things that weren't so great

1. Rogers Portable Internet combined with FreeTheNet combined with splash screen = FAIL (or at least it seemed to fail a lot more than during our 2 dry runs during today's bike ride, actually we did stream a lot more video than I thought). Next time I suggest EV-DO card from Bell or a HSDPA card (i.e. something designed for mobile connectivity, Rogers Mobile Internet is designed to be portable NOT mobile) plus a travel router like the $170 Cradlepoint CTR500 EVDO/HSDPA 3G Router . I am a supporter of FreeTheNet but again it's designed for non mobile use.
2. My IOGear Mobile Portable Power loose connection with my N95 caused me to run out out of power at one point - Jean's N82 had no problem so probably an issue with my phone, not the IOGear power.But probably points to the fact that the Nokia power connector wasn't designed to be connected horizontally for charging. I'd prefer a micro USB / mini USB for charging personally
3. Nokia Sports Tracker's 1998isms (I realize it's beta but if they had used Drupal or any modern system they'd get these things for free) - i) Bad URLs that end in .do instead of being clean ii) no search feature iii) no tags iv) no RSS for tags
4. Qik's tags have no RSS feeds

My brain has many, many "fun" ideas some of which could potentially be a money making business, some of which could not. I think BareBonesCafe ("BBC") is one of the latter :-) Feel free to steal the BBC Concept (all I ask for is attribution i.e. "idea inspired by Roland Tanglao")

1. BBC is a cafe with a bar with six seats. No tables. You either stand or sit at the bar. Open 7a.m. to 5p.m. Monday to Friday.
2. No WiFi, no internet no power outlets (I love WiFi Cafes but if you want that go elsewhere!)
   
3. No Music
4. No Advertising (I hate those scrolling LCD screens you see in a lot of businesses)
   
5. No Tea (I love tea but this is a hyperfocused business :-) ! )
6. No Food (I love food but again this is a hyperfocused business so no muffins no biscotti, etc!)
7. Only fresh Coffee from an Espresso Machine and Espresso drinks brewed using the best tasting fair trade, bird friendly, blah blah blah, etc coffee. Nothing else. No Italian soda, pop, etc
8. No Brewed Coffee,no french press, no Clover machine, etc.
9. No takeout, only coffee in "real" cups
10. No coffee cards, no promotions, no free coffee after buying 10
    
11. Cash only, no credit, no credit cards, no debit card
12. No tips asked for or accepted.
13. Two people: Owner (me) and Barista.
14. Barista makes $CAN 50,000 a year plus full benefits
15. Barista only has two responsibilities: make great coffee and conversations with customers
16. Barista can take as much vacation as she/he wants as long as they sub-contract to somebody who makes great coffee and conversations

Wearing my Mobile Muse 3 technical evangelist and Fearless volunteer hats, I'll be riding my bicycle with Amy Walker, publisher of the fabulous Momentum magazine about all things bicycling, as part of Car Free Vancouver 2008 starting from the Fearless Mobile Booth on Commercial Drive at 12 noon Sunday June 15, 2008. We'll ride to all the other Car Free Vancouver venues (Main Street, the West End and Kitsilano) and stream video live from my bike to the internet.

Check us out at:

• Fearless's Mobile site (where we hope, tech willing, to display a stream from my bike and from a car in a sort of "car versus bike" video mashup)
• My Qik Car Free Vancouver archives which currently has our dry run videos and after the event will have the archive of my live stream
• My Nokia Sports Tracker site which shows our Car Free Vancouver dry runs (dry run June 8, dry run June 11 stream 2) on a nice zoomable Google Map

How you can help:

• Come on down and participate! It's free!
• Take photos and videos and blog about it and tag it: cfvd08

Finally for techies, here's a diagram of how the technology works!

The ongoing Fido (and Rogers) r*poff continues. The math: 0.10/0.15 = 66.67%. In a world where every other form of electronic messaging is decreasing in price, Rogers and Fido continue to raise their messaging prices. Needless to say the knock on effect for businesses and innovation and Canada is a net negative. I h*te SMS but it's essential for today's real time business and this is a tax by a member of the Canadian bandwidth oligopoly on businesses and consumers.

From Options you can add:

QUOTE

U.S. TEXT MESSAGING RATE CHANGE

Please note that effective July 15, 2008, the rate for sending a text message from Canada to the United States is changing to $0.25 (from $0.15). This change also applies to Text messaging options and certain Value packs, as text messages sent to the United States will no longer be included in the options. Pricing does not include applicable taxes.

Visit fido.ca/text for text messaging rates and other important information.

...

International text message Options

25 international text messages $4

50 international text messages $7

END QUOTE

In preparation for a "car versus bicycle" streaming video showdown on Car Free Vancouver next Sunday June 15, 2008, Jean (Jean's blog post has the background and lots of useful info, read it!) and I did a dry run early this morning.

Our config was:

1. helmet mounted N95-1 for me and N82 for Jean
2. N95-1 ran the following software
3. 1. Qik - streamed video live over EDGE
   2. Nokia Sports Tracker

Our videos and GPS Tracks:

1. My video - also below
2. My GPS Track and map
3. Jean's GPS Track and map

A question: Anybody know of software to stream in real-time GPS coordinates in RSS, KML or Atom over WiFi or 3G or Edge from a Nokia phone?
Some observations and comments:

1. Helmet mounted video is more stable BUT on the whole not great because everytime we check our blind spots, the camera moves which is more disconcerting than the jitter from a handlebar mounted phone. I think as Jean noted, we'll move to a handle bar mounted solution like a Gorillopod for the real Car Free Vancouver on Sunday June 15, 2008
2. A bluetooth microphone with wind reduction like a the Jawbone would probably result in better sound

My video:

My guess for the iPhone in Canada plan from Rogers: $75 a month plus taxes and b*gus system access fee will include 1 GB of data (2GB would be much better but it's Rogers we are talking about and we can't expect them to be innovative :-( ), unlimited incoming and outgoing text and 300 minutes of voice calls to anywhere in Canada and USA. This plan will not include voice, SMS and data roaming to the USA. Roaming will still be billed at the current Rogers r*poff rates.

What's your guess (I am assuming all will be revealed tomorrow at 10a.m. after Jobs keynote!)????

I'll treat the commenter with the closest guess to a tasty beverage the next time they are in Vancouver!

Marketing maven and startup veteran and co-founder of Strutta, Maura Rodgers, on her Rogers N95 8GB NAM and S60

S60 Positives

1. 1st reaction - "wow" "multimedia machine"
2. Love being able to upload photos directly to flickr (presumably from Camera App) - allows her to upload photos directlyt
3. Loves to connect to internet via laptop via her Rogers N95 8GB NAM
4. Overall 1st impression - great
5. Great for taking videos at Launch Party Vancouver and other events and Strutta videos
6. High quality video
7. It really is a multimedia computer

S60 Not so Positive

1. Usability not great!
2. iPhone user interface in comparison is awesome
3. Too many clicks to get what you want
4. Doesn't like the apps popping up without intervention e.g. Fring pops up when IM comes in
5. Nested menus hard to comprehend
6. Found it difficult to change ringtones coming from a BlackBerry
7. Battery dies quickly
8. Maura again hasn't heard of OVI (to repeat yet again, not suprising since Nokia OVI marketing is zero in Canada)

Here's the video: