New S60 Calculator

Always wanted to write about it, but never took time, until now...

With all the stories and hopes about a better S60 Calculator,
here are my ideas for the new Calculator UI:

0. Please take a look at the Music Player and it's efficient use of D-pad buttons.
With a single button press you can fully control the current playback experience.



Now think of how many up/down/left/right clicks you need to do any serious math with S60 Calc!



It would make great sense to repeat the Music Player usage pattern in Calculator.

1. The Centre Button goes to "="
2. Left Button goes to "-" (Mental connotation is "Less")
3. Right Button goes to "+"
4. Up is "*" (Multiply)
5. Down for "/" (Divide)
6. "*/+" keypad button on the keypad for decimal dot.
7. "#/^" keypad button would work as SHIFT for the four D-pad buttons, cycling through the other math operations, in fours.
The Shift keypad usage is familiar from the Text Input, so users will quickly adapt it for shifting to more advanced math functions.



Does this make sense to you? Please chime in.

Update: Calcium screenshot added
(only 4 basic ops, but usability-wise leaves S60 Nokia Calc in the dust)

6 steps to better PC software from Nokia

Hello Nokians,
this is just some free advice, a private opinion from an engineer, software architect, AND a prosumer.
Take it or leave it.
What would I do if I had a chance to change Nokia Way?

1. N-series PC Suite and Communicator Marriage.
(get back Lifeblog moniker)
I would certainly evolve the N-series PC Suite, which currently holds the palm of Usability. The most obvious step would be to add messaging features that the suite currently lacks.

2. Ditch the Video Manager, Music Manager in favor of WMP integration.
Well, the time has come to confess - VM and MM are pure crap.
If I'd wanted so much to keep them I would put in into a niche of S40 Suite or something.

3. Nokia Music Client ("Euphoria") as a WMP Skin/Plugin.
While the current buggy beta is "beta than nuthin", and has the potential to keep the high UI standards of N-Series, I do not want a separate Music Database just to use my music with my phone. Either use the WMP DB, or "become the WMP", i.e. re-engineer it as a WMP Skin or Plug-in.
Knowing the strategy is cross-platform, I would then say - integrate with iTunes Music Folder/DB on Mac, integrate with WMP "My Music" and DB on a PC, and with some popular Linux player, too.
Administrative effort needed to use large music libraries with two players concurrently is not worth using Nokia Music Client, IMHO.

4. LifeBlog becomes the N-Series PC Suite.
With all the search for a "golden formula" of the PC Suite, why not consider ditching the PC Suite for good? I mean, you have LifeBlog, the pieces missing are Sync with Outlook, One-Touch Access, and Messaging.
Everything else is for geeks, geeks can get tools wherever.

I mean, why not nicely tuck all those under LifeBlog's wing and you'd have the iSuite for Nokia Phones!

Just make it ONE Window, ONE UI. Call it OVI/PC, if you please.

Let's think of consumers/prosumers, not mainly geeks. Severe some features in favour of majority. Knowing where to cut is important, remember Occam's.
Otherwise this is starting to look clumsy like Oxygen's Products.

5. Nokia Communicator rehash.
Well, it's just a beta. You have to pedal around it for the view to stay up-to-date.
Please make it sync everything without users having to click around.

6. Well. And. Of course, Fix all the bugs filed for PC Suite :)

Lifeblog vs. Nokia Photos

It had been circulating in the back of my mind for quite some time - the thought of "who's the winner?" kind - between the Nokia Photos and the Nokia Lifeblog, to both which I gave my kudos in a previous post.
But time passed, and newer versions of both products appeared, each striving (quite independently, it seemed so) to "grow wings" and become PC-man's definitive iPhoto replacement...
So... in the blue corner (and on your Nokia phone!)... the Nokia LifeBlog!



Blue ribbon, silver scroller... toolbox buttons in the upper part.
It can sync to your device, get all the juice out on to a PC, and then you have the full digital life cycle - Backup, Restore, Upload to Web (blog), display, use geo-tags etc. On a side note - the uploader stopped working with this blog.

In the red corner - the Nokia Photos!



Grey ribbon, blue scroller... toolbox buttons in the lower part.
It can ... sync to your device (using the same on-device lifeblog support), get all your content (SMS, MMS, Text Notes - but strangely enough - not from the "Notes" phone application, photos, videos, audio clips - again, not yet from the Recorder phone app, web posts) and then again - you have all the same "Rip/Burn/Mix/Upload" features found in the Lifeblog.

So what's different?
Well, apparently those two programs keep their data separate. I mean it.
Unless you're not careful enough, you may end up with two separate incomplete sets of your phone-produced media-content. Did I say "phone-produced"? Not quite so. You do not have to have a Nokia phone to use those programs. Each one of them allows you to import media from PC and use all the niceties for free! Try it, if you haven't.

Also of some interest are the filtering capabilities in both programs:

I looked pretty hard last time to find it, but I finally managed - inconveniently hidden inside the Tag Manager button are the filters:



With nPhoto (as somebody quite properly dubbed it) - life is easier and the filters are found in a pull-down menu in the right upper end of window:




As you can see from my filters, my usage pattern tend to be more text-biased for LifeBlog and nPhoto for photos. Simply because nPhoto has the button for slideshow, in LifeBlog I have to dig inside menus.

Unfortunately, you cannot control which type of media goes to which program.
From my findings, LifeBlog seems more tolerant and resilient to sync failures. Once I had a notebook battery go down when syncing with lifeblog. And after that the nPhoto began to report failures on some "stuck items" during each sync.
One sync with lifeblog - and the "missing" items came through, and voila - no more errors in nPhoto.

Finally, as much as I would love the LifeBlog moniker, Nokia decided otherwise.
And the winner is.... Nokia Photos.

They seem to have silently given LifeBlog a boot.

Now, if you go to www.nokia.com/lifeblog you will be redirected to the nPhoto site.
(probably, some links from my old post won't work right, but what can I do)

What issues do I see with such decision?
Just one. The brand awareness.

Yes, I can readily believe that nPhoto will have all the LifeBlog features and a nice UI to boast, but what about LifeBlog brand, dear Nokia Product Management???




The LifeBlog name is imprinted in devices and printed manuals, Nokia device owners will surely be looking to get it working.



It is so convenient to use Lifeblog in the phone because you simply see EVERYTHING - all you text/graphic/video/mms media is there on the timeline!

This is a unique offering in the mobile world, even iPhone cannot do that - mix everything in a simple cleanly-navigated time-based line.

Why this offering is so badly under-presented to potential customers is beyond me!
It's usability is also overwhelmingly undervalued.

A simple excersize for Nokia to do:

1) assign LifeBlog to the right soft key by default on the N-series
2) see LifeBlog usage grow and grow, along with a mindshare for good UI from Nokia

The word "Lifeblog" more accurately describes the multi-media capabilities of this media jukebox.

"Photos" just don't go well with what the program does.
It's not a Photoshop.
And what about "Videos", "Messages" and "Weblogs"?

"Photos" just sounds bland.

A wiser solution would be to announce "Lifeblog 3.0", and say it's based on "the best of the two programs" and have it based, in fact, on nPhoto, if you chose so...

Please remember, some [printed, firmware] names just can't be changed.

Please set the customer free of the confusion.

It also would have been a great achievement if Notes and Sound Recordings could have finally been flawlessly synced to a PC.

Classic PC Suite has issues with Notes sync; fumbling with Device Browser for Sound Recordings is so indignifying...

iTunes Music store payment

While listening to an old-time song, that I really liked (Paul McCartney's), I caught myself smiling and I thought:
"Whoa? ONE dollar for this song? I would gladly pay TEN for this treasure!"
And here's the business idea - and what would I do if I was Steve Jobs and the record companies came knocking on my door to ask for uneven payment per song for the greatest hits:

"We're gonna introduce donation-style payments for selected songs, which would enable buyers to PAY MORE than $1 per song, SHOULD THEY CHOOSE SO."
"Pretty cool, huh?!?" :)



Some form of this "offset" already exist, though - people may buy the iTunes Plus version for $1.29, but IMO it just offsets the non-DRM risk...

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.

Google's Paranoid Android

1. The essence
As you've probably heard, Google has announced a partnership (Open Handset Alliance) with mobile and chipset manufacturer companies, to design and implement a new mobile plaform, Android.
While most general public hoped for a Google-branded handset announcement, the Android platform instead had been announced.

2. Why another platform?
Some might say - why try one more time?
Is there a place in the [rather small] smart mobile market preoccupied by Symbian, Windows Mobile, and multiple custom-built OS?
First of all, most current smartphone platforms have their own 'wrongs'.


Symbian is hard to develop for.



WinMobile is not reliable and hard on CPU.

Many others are too small to comment on.

3. Possible impact
The plaftorm will gain a significant (40-60%) share of the smartphone market, which is estimated to grow to 1 Billion devices by year 2010.
More manufacturers may join the alliance, and there might be some in-fight.

Remember the PowerPC alliance?





MS-OS/2, anyone?





4. Things to do
Watch Google closely, develop outstanding products independently.

Join the OHA when the timing is right.

5. Things to not do

Ignore Android.

Delude yourself it's not going to be a viable competitor to your current smartphone software.

6. Current reaction
There seems to be a common disappointment due to devices (mobile handsets) not currently available.
People got used to observe hardware and oversee the overall usability of a product.
They are left to oversee the beauty and convenience of Android Development tools instead.
Not every smartphone user wants that.
Google seems to be clearly focused on getting the best developers in its camp first.


Ten Million dollars says they may succeed.
Google tries to cater well to developers, giving them easy, simple and free development environment.
This will help create multitude of good applications, fast, when the time comes and the shipments start.

7. An Epilogue. Or is it just a Prologue?
What I want to offer you is my private view on the future of Android.

If all goes well for Google, it will swipe all other smartphone platforms into oblivion within 5-10 years.
Only Apple will stand out (probably in a niche market, like their Mac computers).
By that time Nokia will probably have the same smartphone market share as Apple.

I believe Google hopes to become to mobile industry what Microsoft had become to PC industry.
Google does all the same steps - refuse to tie their own resources in hardware development, while focusing purely on the software architecture and applications.
The handset companies would create a unified and compatible smartphone software market, allowing a single binary be run on all smartphones, thus creating a well-leveled field for software developers, as well as consistent experience for the end users.
The effects of such conditions are well known from the history of the PC.

The smart mobile usage will boom. No, I mean

This will be good for both the cell service providers and the Open Handset Alliance.

Three kings will rule the mobile software world - usability, compatibility and rich features.

What Google may currently lack is the whole ecosystem for smart mobile usage - something like Media Store, Social Networking, or the Nokia Ovi portal.

But with Google's web competence it shall not be hard to do, given they sign up the content producing companies.

On a side note, I especially like the way they focus on the builders of all that goodness.
10M bucks offered to a developer, not a manager! :)
How many companies we know that try to stimulate their engineers (not top managers!) in a similar way?