Nokia PC Suite Beta

I almost forgot to mention that I have got into Top10 of Nokia PC Suite beta testers during the 6.85 run.
Here are some screenshots of the stuff I have got as a thank-you note from Nokia Finland, by mail.


Thank you Joni L. ! I am sure to enjoy the cup and the flash drive!
Now there's a new run for the 6.86 version which has continued to improve in the UI style and bugfixes.


Full list as well as registration is at http://europe.nokia.com/A4325521
Pitifully I found my most serious issues unfixed in this beta.
(PIM Notes are being transferred and stamped with the current time during Sync, not the original time)


Let's hope for the fix in the next version.
It's a little discouraging; though my main reason for slacking during this run is trivial lack of time.

Mobile Tags

Have you used 2D mobile tags? I have, and I tried to use them around me - at work.
The things that happened made me think of how to increase their usefulness.
It seems that not only me was worried about the future of Mobile Tags.

Tommi Vilkammo of Nokia writes in his blog:

"I tried to push the concept inside Nokia, publicly manisested by the the pompous blog posts 2D barcodes will rule the earth and 2D Barcode Manifesto. Taking a honest look at the current state, hovever, I realize that things have not proceeded as quickly as I assumed...[]...I still very much want to give 2D barcodes a fighting chance."

Now, if you pardon my pedant style :) I would raise some points about how this noble goal would be brought closer to achievement:
1. For such application to fly, the usability must be highest.
"Opening a lens cover on my N95, navigating thru a deep-buried S60 menus, launching another app, finding a proper Command inside its menu" is a no-go!
By all usability gods, the mobile tag scanning option should be within 1-click from the Camera application.
In Japan, they say, it's within 0-click in the Camera, maybe we should go that far, too.

2. Why there's no Mobile Tag generator in the smartphone?
The smartphones have the printing ability, so why it still takes an extra PC, an internet access, and a URL, unknown to a humble N95 user, to generate the tag?
Wouldn't it be great to generate a tag on-the-go, say, from your own vCard, and print it via nearest Bluetooth-enabled printer?
This would facilitate business card transfer, and essentially eliminate the need for error-prone text recognition software (aka Businees Card Scanner) built into SonyEricsson's UIQ3 platform?
I can even foresee a new item in the Send As menu of a Contact - "Print Mobile Tag"!

3. Maybe Nokia should add those tags (alone with the printed URL to mobilecodes.nokia.com ) to all business cards of all Nokia employees?
That would create a cause for a digital usage of this tech, and encourage people to visit the site and download the Reader and the Mobile Tag Printer.
And of course, this would visually establish Nokia's technological leadership!
(This last step should be done after all creating and scanning usability issues been sorted out, IMHO.)

I hope my ideas could be of help, let me know what you guys think.