iphone

2010 Mobile Tech Predictions

Posted Sun, 2010-01-03 17:30 by Roland

Hard to believe that I didn't make any predictions in 2009 (my 2008 predictions)!

Herewith again some randomly ordered Mobile predictions which are worth what you paid for them!

Mobile

  1. Google will introduce a "comes with data" mobile phone featuring an easy environment to write HTML5 & JS apps
  2. A Canadian mobile phone carrier will actually sell mobiles other than the iPhone that have current software & aren't 6-12 months old :-) The current "sell old phones with old firmware with bogus customizations" model of Rogers, Bell and Telus will be over in 2011.
  3. Apple's tablet will be introduced, it wil be big seller and a great creator and consumer of multi-media and it will be closed and have the iPhone App Store model rather than the Mac app model.
  4. Nokia will deliver Maemo 6 and an N900 successor but it won't be good enough for the mainstream but will be awesome for me & other mobile devs because mobile Firefox will offer superior HTML5 and JS experience (yes working for Mozilla I am biased :-) !)
  5. The next iPhone will boast a 5 mega pixel camera and other still and video imaging improvements which will be more than good enough for old cameraphone snobs like me and accelerate Nokia's decline among mobile multimedia creators.
  6. Mozilla Messaging (my employer!) will introduce a version of Raindrop that doesn't require you to do geeky things like install things like CouchDB yourself and it will rock on Android, Maemo and any other modern open mobile web  environment (sorry Blackberry, iPhone and Symbian but you lose since you are all neither open or modern or both :-) !) Just kidding, it will rock on any modern mobile web browser open or closed methinks :-) !

 

My ideal mobile mad scientist language

Posted Tue, 2009-11-24 22:35 by Roland

After some digging and research around the web, my ideal mobile mad scientist programming language would:

  • have the 2D and 3D graphic manipulation power of Processing, Nodebox and Shoes
  • be cross platform mac, windows, linux, maemo on mobile, iPhone, android
  • be 'web native' i.e. REST, JSON, XML and all the other web API stuff built in and not bolted on like it is Processing, trying to use the flickr api from Processing is shall we say kludge-o-rama (awesome code from bryan chung but indicative of the unnecessary struggle one is forced to engage with in Processing and other non web native languages)
  • not use a Java-like syntax, death to curly braces and wasted semi-colons
  • be dynamic, death to the Java/C++ cargo cult of typing for no reason 
  • be easily adaptable to new APIs and new sensors through the ability to create a domain specific language and/or easy to use and beautiful foreign function interface
  • be open source, sorry but for my mobile art,  i can't use programming environments and languages that are not open source
  • support the REAL loop, I don't want to spawn threads for the sake of questionable 'concurrency' like I am forced to with OSGI and the Bug Labs Bug

IF I were an idealist that pretty much rules out everything :-)

Fortunately I am a pragamatist. So I will continue my experiments in:

  • Nodebox & Python on the Mac
  • Cocoa Touch and Objective C on the iPhone

What about Processing? Sorry can't handle the Java syntax and the pain of doing XML and JSON and REST programming and the kludge-o-matic way to access Java libraries. processing.js? too early and too much impedance mismatch to use all the lovely JS libraries out there. And Shoes is promising especially if it were improved so you could easily use normal Ruby gems but given its current "hibernation" "post-Why" not sure it will continue to be improved.

What should I use on Maemo if/when I get an N900? Ruby plus SWIG or some such foreign function kludge er interface :-) to access the sensor APIs which I assume are only available in C and C++ ?

What should I use on Android if/when I get an Android device?

What should I use on Windows? Not that I really care :-) But it would be lovely to have Windows people join in my fun without having to do anyting. Eines Tages!

Somehow I think the "mainstream" world is moving towards my ideal solution and the mainstream solution for what I want will look more like processing.js and ruby-processing or smalltalk i.e. scratch then it will look like Processing, Nodebox or CocoaTouch

The N97 ain't my N999 concept but it's closer

Posted Wed, 2009-07-01 22:15 by Roland

On the night before I receive my N97 from Nokia WOM World for a brief trial, just for fun I looked back at my N999 concept/vision from December 1, 2008. And what the heck here's the N999 concept updated for July 2009 (notable updates are in bold):

  1. screen with as many pixels as the 5800 Tube or iPhone (sorry but QVGA doesn't cut it in 2009!)
  2. S60 simplified and fixed as Rui describes
  3. 5 megapixel camera with cover and Xenon flash with 3x optical zoom and 640x480 30fps video (basically re-use the awesome N82 camera hardware and software and combine with the N93 optical zoom)
  4. Quad band GSM and 3G (i.e. works on Rogers and AT&T in North America AND European 3G out of the box just like the N85, no funky North American model)
  5. Built in ShoZu (with 10MB limit removed for 3G and WiFi, make the limit 50-200MB for 3G and WiFi) - killer app for photographers and videobloggers - Qik is built  into the N97 why not ShoZu? (I can't stand Share Online's limit of 6 photos at a time since I take over 50 a day; hope it's removed on the N97)
  6. Bult-in Qik (killer app for videobloggers!) - Qik is built  into the N97 can't wait to try it!
  7. Awesome web browser (Nokia's Web Kit browser was great in 2006, it is now far behind Apple's)
  8. Lots of available RAM (as much as the N95 8GB please!), 8GB storage on built-in card - Reviews are mixed on the N97, sounds like it has a lot of RAM (more than the N95 8GB)  but with widgets it takes up a lot more. - I doubt I will use widgets!
  9. Built in Nokia viNes to take advantage of Nokia's great GPS hardware (killer GPS app!) - viNes apears to be dead. Nokia Sports Tracker appears to be alive, so I'd rather have that built-in
  10. Built in Twitter App i.e. built in Gravity

Now I know the above list is not possible given today's processors and batteries but in that case I can live without optical zoom! Everything else is doable as far as I can tell.

I still don't need:

  1. QWERTY keyboard - I'd rather have an awesome camera and flash than a touch or QWERTY keyboard. And for me touch keyboards are just as good as QWERTY.
  2. Email (Email is dead to me (ok email isn't dead but my resolution is to take any email thread  that I need to keep that has more than 2 replies to a wiki or blog); I continue to use it  for work and to communicate with "normal" folks!) - If the browser is as good as the iPhone's, then webmail clients work just fine.
  3. Touch (would be nice, but not convinced Nokia has the software chops for this; I am not interested in S60 transmogrified with touch, I would prefer touch to be part of a totally revamped user interface that's NOT S60.) - Unfortunately it appears that Nokia's current touch interface s*cks. I hope I am proven wrong by my N97 trial.
  4. Micro SD card slot
  5. Calendar (would be nice but that's what my laptop is for :-) !) - Again with a good enough browser a web client would be good enough)
  6. IM (Twitter is IM enough for me and I am fine with using it in the browser)
  7. VOIP is dead to me except for Skype
  8. MMS - I am not convinced I need it, I can always use ShoZu email photos :-) but I was wrong about SMS (so maybe I am wrong about MMS) - I am pretty sure I am wrong about MMS and I am pretty sure (unfortunately) I will be MMSing my relatives with pictures since they all finally seem to have MMS plans and devices and none of my luddite :-) relatives still use flickr or any of the other public or private photosharing sites!


 

Gravity S60 Twitter client is the exception that proves the rule

Posted Mon, 2009-04-06 01:57 by Roland

Gravity s60 twitter client Screenshot0069

Gravity, the fantastic S60 Twitter client proves that German S60 developers continue to rule the moribund S60 apps ecosystem (unfortunately the S60 app industry is a cottage industry compared to the iPhone app industry). First, profimail ruled the world (back in 2004 when I bought my first S60 phone and thought the mobile email was relevant, just say no to mobile email, just say yes to short form customized mobile two way communication like Twitter) and now gravity rules. And if you don't believe me that the iPhone app industry is clearly dominant over the S60 app industry than that's your prerogative and I'd have to wish you the best of luck making money with your S60 apps!

Behold the awesomeness of Gravity in my Gravity Screenshot set on flickr!

7 things you should know about mobile - Presentation to UBC LFS

Posted Wed, 2009-01-14 19:28 by Roland
See the accompanying UBC mobile brief wiki for notes to this presentation which I gave to the UBC Faculty of Land and Food Sciences on January 13, 2009 (note that this presentation was prepared using the 280 Slides web app which i highly recommend!)
7 things you should know about mobile
View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: 280slides)

Newspaper 2.0 - embracing the the socialness of "readers"

Posted Sun, 2008-10-05 14:10 by Roland

This is very interesting, now if it would tie into the New York Times iPhone app in a 2 way style, that would be great. Globe and Mail: please do something like this (or at least show that you are thinking about things like this!

QUOTE [From AVC:The Power of Profiles]

Talk about the feedization of the web user interface, we've got one now running at the New York Times. I think it's great to see the Times embracing social software concepts like profiles and feeds. I hope they take it a step further and connect all of this to the social web, beyond Facebook, to blogs, comments, tweets, and so on and so forth.

END QUOTE

The Future of Mobility is Linux (and iPhone) RussellBeattie.com from September 2005

Posted Thu, 2008-10-02 15:13 by Roland

Change 2008 to say 2009 or 10 and change Linux to Android (which is on top of Linux) and Russell was basically correct. Go Russ go! Looking forward to more mobile predictions now that you have joined Nokia (and I love how you continue to be honest!)

QUOTE [From The Future of Mobility is Linux - RussellBeattie.com]

There could be some spoilers out there. You never know what's going to happen tomorrow - Apple could pull out some amazing iPhone and change the market over night. But right now being in the industry this is how I see things progressing. As it is now, I use a Symbian phone and plan on recommending that platform to others looking for a good smart phone. But as the next 12 months goes by, I full expect that a Linux based phone will enter my world, and within the next few years become a standard.

See you in 2008.

END QUOTE

It's all about the usability, not the features - Nokia unveils S60 5th Edition and DRMed Comes with Music

Posted Thu, 2008-10-02 13:17 by Roland
S60 5th edition and touch *sounds* good but if it's not in an easier to use form than the current S60, it's useless. And I am sorry but DRM'ed Windows only music doesn't work for me (I don't buy DRMed music from anybody including Apple)! Anyways Apple badly needs competition in the usability department so my fingers are crossed that this represents some sort of competitive threat to them. Go Nokia go! Viva la compétition!

QUOTE from Nokia unveils iPhone competitor — Alec Saunders SquawkBox

Comes with Music (press release, backgrounder) is Nokia’s new digital entertainment service. When you buy a supported Nokia device, including the NSeries, any of the XPressMusic phones and some other mass market phones, Nokia gives you access to the Nokia Music store at no additional charge for an entire year. Download (and keep) as many tracks as you like. This is not a subscription. You get to download and keep as many tracks as your heart desires. Tracks are delivered in Windows Media format, with DRM.

S60 5th Edition (press release) was also introduced. This latest operating system release includes support for new displays, the touch UI, a widescreen mode, a variety of new sensor support, and updated applications and browser support. Wonderfully cool things are possible with the new sensor support, like being able to stop the ringer by picking the phone up and putting it back down face down.

A touch screen phone and operating system were not unexpected. After all, Nokia had to respond to Apple’s phenomenal success with iPhone. However, the gutsy decision to give away the music goes straight after Apple’s cash cow, iTunes.

Scorched earth is a powerful offensive posture. One wonders what kind of deal with the devil RIAA Nokia had to agree to in order to gain the rights to distribute all those tracks for no money… and what the impact will be on their bottom line.

Look for 5800 XpressMusic devices with North American standard radios to land here Q1 2009. Exciting times are ahead.

[From Nokia unveils iPhone competitor — Alec Saunders SquawkBox]

END QUOTE

Nokia Open Lab 2008 - Video Wrapup

Posted Tue, 2008-09-30 22:18 by Roland

My video reflections on Nokia Open Lab 2008 (wiki)

Show Notes (selected)

It's been 3 weeks since Nokia Open Lab 2008 (wiki) in Helsinki and my mind is still reeling! If you don't want to watch my video (apologies for the audio quality) above, check out the show notes (which summarize maybe half of the video!):

  1. Fantastic people, fantastic event, in particular the women I had a chance to really speak with were great: Micki, Jen and Anne - glad I had a chance to have in-depth conversations with you all. I suggest that the event needs  to be longer next time and include more non native English speakers in a more inclusive manner
  2. The environment is everything. We need to get beyond an economy based on "gadget obsolescence". It's the end of  business as usual as Umair says. Thanks for leading me to further insight about the environment, Micki!
  3. Nokia gratuitous advice time :-) Team 1 milks the cash cow of S60 by refining it. Team 2 starts with a clean sheet and comes up with a mobile to make the early adopters once again fall in love with Nokia (hint: it's got to be open, it's got to be an holistic experience, perhaps it's green, perhaps it's a lifetime hardware subscription, a lifetime phone!)
  4. How about a"DeviceCamp" where people like the Nokia Open Lab Participants come together with Nokia Software and  Hardware people (under NDA if need be!) to produce a real device over a long weekend? It could be designed in a Wiki or in a visual riffing service like ConceptShare beforehand! Let's do it in Vancouver!
  5. Nokia you know where to find me if you need further input and feedback! Love to help!
  6. To everybody at Nokia Open Lab 2008: Come to Vancouver and I'll help you get a rental bicycle and I'll show you my city!

Mobile Camp Vancouver 2 is this Saturday at WorkSpace

Posted Thu, 2008-09-04 09:20 by Roland

Ooops forgot to blog about Mobile Camp Vancouver 2 unconference (topics and sessions decided the day of, all welcome from users to hard core devs to artists and sales and marketing folks!)

Here are my session ideas

    • session on SIFT Mobile Muse social media aggregator for SMS, video, photos, etc
    • Bug Labs - my Bug arrives in late September, app brainstorming session
    • BIKUX - linux stamp/beagle board/crazy apps on a portable connected solar powered Linux computere brainstorm session (e.g. games and geo apps)
    • Reinventing Nokia mobile  - Brainstorming session on cool things Nokia could/should do in light of the iPhone, Android, etc - I am going to Finland on September 8th for a Nokia Conference and might be able to give this feedback to them directly
As well i'd like to work with John Biehler, Parveen Kaler and others on some iPhone sessions:

1) state of jail break
2) tethering
3) app development commiseration (that NDA s*xors)
4) what's on your iPhone i.e. fav apps

See you all on Saturday September 6th at WorkSpace in Gastown!

 

Syndicate content