Diaries of a Nokia Fan Boy

Ok, so I’ve been a little lacking in the posting department lately, but I’m going to blame my job and life situation on that one…

For the update: AT&T is now comparing their speed with Verizon’s based on downloads, and is calling Verizon a sluggish, headless wanna-be. Not sure what to make of that, would be interesting to see real comparisons: same/similar devices, same time of day at thousands of locations, done by an impartial third party, and results including not only download rates but latency too. Maybe even show the average speeds across different classes of devices, not just super-fast smartphones.

-Nokia FanBoy

Ok, so it was going to happen sooner or later, and in fact there were indications of this previously, but that’s all besides the point now.

Telus, rather quickly after launching their HSDPA+ network, sued Rogers over their claims as being “Canada’s most reliable network.” Of course this all makes sense. First off, I should probably be referring to this as the Bell/Telus network, but that’s besides the point. So in my personal, and totally non-law-based, opinion I strongly believe that Telus has a case. I mean their network covers most of Canada – not sure how that compares with Rogers, should see sometime soon – their network is also just as fast as Rogers, that being 21 MBps.

Bottom line is that the judge sided with Telus on the matter, saying “the present network technology is at least equivalent between Rogers and Telus.”

But really the most entertaining part is going to be the commercials. It will be really entertaining if the gloves come off and we get the same thing going as AT&T and Verizon are doing in the states. Guess I should look into how the two networks compare, eh?

-Nokia FanBoy

via: Engadget Mobile (read)

I know, this has nothing to do with Nokia, or Symbian, or even the mobile industry, but it might.

The folks over at Cambridge University managed to create a 3D scanner using just a single webcam, without lasers or any other tech that might assist with that. The idea is fairly simple – turn the object, snap a pic, turn it again and take another pic, etc. But its the execution that is complex because the algorithm has to identify the object, track some key points, and then put it all together, and correctly identify the distance between all the points. And that’s not to mention triangulation, creating a surface mesh, and applying the skin to the object.

The reason I say this may become part of the mobile industry is the applications that it has. For instance, we could create 3D games, or animations, right on the phone. Just add some information, such as bending point, amount of stretch, etc. and you have a character. You could put the camera at the front of the car and map a racing course.

In the current version it appears that the camera needs to remain still in order for the 3D mapping to be effective, however with the use of accelerometers, GPS, and a compass we could start moving around large objects. This could then work great for artistic/engineering applications, where starting with a basic model would then allow the artist/engineer to modify it to their heart’s content.

Anyway, this is an amazingly powerful tool in my opinion, but take a look at the video and decide for yourself.

-Nokia FanBoy

Cambridge University – Qi Pan – ProFORMA

And it comes at last! Google’s game-changing Maps Navigation software, that was only available for Eclair (Android 2.0) before, is now officially available on Donut (Android 1.6). Great news for those who’s devices don’t have stable Eclair code yet, like the HTC Magic!

-Nokia FanBoy

Official Google Mobile Blog

And finally!
AT&T is at last beginning to play the game, instead of crying about it (which failed miserably by the way). AT&T recently released a couple ads describing why they are better than the opposition without actually pointing at anyone! A little nicer than Verizon since I believe this kind of behavior to further advancement as opposed to breaking down into a schoolyard fight using lawyers as ammunition and shielding.

-Nokia FanBoy

via: Engadget (read)

Ok, this is more of a rant than anything, but I just have to get this out.

I’m really upset at Nokia at the moment. Here I am deciding on which cell phone to buy next, obviously thinking the N900 will be priced out of my budget and that I should get something like the N97 or N97 Mini instead. Well out comes Nokia, pricing the N900 at $650 USD MSRP. And I think, “OK, its still more than the N97, although if it had North America 3G I’d start considering it.” Then Amazon pop’s up and prices it at $510 USD. Now I’m thinking that this is a really good deal, its even cheaper than the N97/Mini that I’m considering, but it still doesn’t have North America 3G and I’d rather pay extra for that, even if I’m really curious about Maemo 5. But no, that’s not good enough, Amazon just had to go and price it even lower, at $480 USD! Well this just feels wrong! I mean here is a phone, a very powerful phone, with a sexy OS, and pretty much all the features I would like, and yet! It still doesn’t have North America 3G!

Please, Nokia, PLEASE! RELEASE THE N900 WITH NORTH AMERICA 3G!!!!!!!!

This rant has been presented to you by the Diaries of a Nokia FanBoy.

-Nokia FanBoy

N900 on Amazon

Wow, it’s only been a couple hours but it seems Nokia’s reply to replacing Symbian with Maemo on their N-Series devices is already out!

If you ask me, this non-confirmation-non-denial of the leaked information means that at the very least they’re thinking about it, and at the most have already decided but still need to market it correctly. Nokia is saying that they’re strongly committed to Symbian, but that really means squat if you ask me. That’s the short and sweet of it, but decide for yourself. Here’s and excerpt from Nokia’s reply:

While it is our policy not to disclose details of our product roadmap, we’d like to explicitly communicate that we remain firmly committed to Symbian as our smartphone platform of choice. Any speculation on what our 2012 roadmap, including operating systems and product branding, are completely premature.

Along with a comment from Nokia on expanding their mobile OS portfolio from a couple months back:

As we have stated earlier, Nokia has multiple platforms to serve different purposes and address different markets. Symbian is more successful than ever in bringing smartphones to the masses. Maemo is our software of choice for devices based on technology that you’d typically find inside a desktop computer. It delivers a different user experience and enables us to widen the market we can address.

Ok, but desktop computer technology can be found in just about any Nokia high-end phone, so that doesn’t tell us much either.

I guess this update doesn’t really tell us anything we didn’t already know. But the update itself, the wording within in it, and context around it can tell us quite a bit.

-Nokia FanBoy

via: Symbian Freak (read)

I’ve been wondering for a while about what Nokia is going to do with their OS portfolio, and just where they’re going to take it. Symbian is obviously much more stable than most other operating systems out there, and does wonders for the Enterprise-class devices, however it has little “sexiness” to show for the phones that are supposed to be, well, sexy. There are many apps the Ovi Store, but their extent just doesn’t reach that of say Android’s Marketplace. The home screen on Symbian, too, is better suited for the Enterprise.

Of course out comes Maemo 5, bringing lots of sex-appeal to a Nokia operating system, and immediately raising hype in the industry. Much to my disappointment, however, the only phone available with this new, sleek OS doesn’t have the 3G frequency of the cell phone providers in my area. ****! (sorry, a little bitter on this one)

So for a while now I’ve been waiting to see a Nokia cell phone with an operating system other than Symbian, and was kind of hoping it would be Android. For the most part because Windows Mobile didn’t really appeal to me and iPhone OS / WebOS / BlackBerry OS aren’t exactly an option.

Well back to the topic at hand: some information has been leaked and it appears that Nokia will be adopting their Maemo family, starting with Maemo 5 for their N-Series devices. The idea (or rumor at any rate) is to have all N-Series devices run on Maemo by 2012, that is unless the world tears itself apart… I’m actually fairly excited about the switch-over, however I’m not sure which one is better suited for the job: Android or Maemo. And of course, it still stands to see just how stable Maemo 5 turns out to be.

What does this mean for Symbian? Really, nothing. I expect Nokia to continue putting out Symbian S40 basic phones, and S60 on their E-Series. Its the X-Series and the yet-unannounced C-Series that I’m still not sure about, however I’m getting the feeling that X-Series will see Maemo adaptation as well.

Personally, I would like to see Nokia do something similar to HTC and allow users to upgrade their OS as they see fit via ROM files. And in an ideal world a single phone wouldn’t be constrained to a single OS either, but would have the ability to work with Symbian, Maemo, Android, etc. with little effort. (maybe we could even get dual/triple boots going with a shared memory!) But I’m afraid at this point its just wishful thinking, even if there is nothing technological stopping this from happening.

-Nokia FanBoy

via: Engadget (read)
and: my twisted imagination

Well those of you in the South have probably been watching this a little more closely than myself, given that it doesn’t really affect me all that much. But none-the-less, this little battle is quite humorous.

A little while back Verizon started their ad campaign nicknamed “There’s a map for that”, obviously in order to counter AT&T’s iPhone “There’s an app for that” set of commercials. Combined with Verizon’s “DROID vs. iDon’t” commercials is putting quite a bit of pressure on AT&T, and finally AT&T couldn’t handle it anymore and threw a legal fit.

The idea behind the “There’s a map for that” commercials is to show just how spotty AT&T’s coverage really is. AT&T decided to sue Verizon, claiming that the map is giving an unfair representation of AT&T’s coverage because its not showing the extent of their EDGE network (on a 3G map!). The irony is that Verizon lifted the coverage map straight off of AT&T’s website.

Well the most humorous part is Verizon’s response to the lawsuit. I give you their introduction:

AT&T did not file this lawsuit because Verizon’s “There’s A Map For That” advertisements are untrue; AT&T sued because Verizon’s ads are true and the truth hurts.

Hang on a second, I thought lawsuits and lawyers were supposed to be civil!?! This just looks like a the-gloves-are-off marketing *****slap! (Pardon my French)

Of course this tells me one thing: Verizon planned the whole thing all along. And their timing could not be better – the holidays are right around the corner, they’re releasing their flagship phone, and both sets of ads are targeted directly at their biggest competitor: AT&T! I mean it looks like they released their “iDon’t” commercials just to annoy AT&T, maybe even point and laugh a little, but knowing full well that without them, AT&T may not have sued! And the response to the lawsuit just screams marketing department.

Anyway, you guys decide for yourself what you think of the whole debacle but one thing’s for sure: this is going to be a fun one.

-Nokia FanBoy

Verizon’s response (pdf)
via: Engadget (read)

Nokia The Way We Live Next 3.0

Nokia astounded us before with their idea of “The way we live next,” including the Morph Concept. And really it makes sense, every company has their idea of the way the future is going to look, and they shape their strategic visions around those beliefs.

Well Nokia believes that in 2015 we will all be connected to the cloud, and clearly for Nokia that cloud will be, at least in part, based on the OVI set of services. Clearly in the next 5 years we will all have high speed connections able to transmit audio/video feeds at low cost. The ideas are really interesting, and I especially liked the TV teleconference with your friends in other parts of the world.

I can’t help but think that the technology is progressing too fast in order for culture and lifestyle to catch up. I’m a little worried that soon enough we will be interacting only through electronic devices, and have long distance relationships, in virtual worlds, with people we rarely see in person. Of course various aspects of our beliefs will come into view and go under scrutiny, and I just hope that the end will be a happy society, and not a sci-fi thriller of technology destroying humanity as we know it.

The video is, sadly, just a home video camera recording of the presentation, but if I see the real video I’ll replace it here.

-Nokia FanBoy

press release
via: Engadget (read)