5 posts from 2007

I opened discussions at a few forums regarding this post to get ideas on what other S60 users want from new N-Series devices in 2008. While it was great to see my wishlist almost universally mirrored, it was even better to see where others lists differed. Since there were a number of things that emerged as common threads, I thought a follow-up piece would be worthwhile.

 

To bring you up to speed on whats already been said here's my first post. If you haven't yet had your say, and you feel like contributing to the forum discussions you'll find them at Symbian-Freak, N95users, and Howardforums.

Heres the extended list, categorized into Hardware, Software/OS and Gear, with a little commentary:

 

HARDWARE

• Better batteries - this was no surprise, I'll just add here that people appeared implicitly to be talking about higher capacities within the same size, rather than sacrificing form-factor to accommode larger capacity batteries
• Larger internal memories - exactly how much more was being called for varied from user to user from 1GB- to 8GB-inbuilt, the main thing was that this was wanted in addition to a card slot
• USB Charging
• Some kind of expansion slot - for example for users to increase RAM, or along the lines of PCMCIA slots
• A larger imaging sensor for cameras
• Also on the imaging front - built in tripod mounts
• and the most common hardware wish for users? Hybrid-Hexband handsets

 

SOFTWARE/OS

• Better browser - many different things people wanted improved, but primarily the inclusion of tabbed browsing and better flash implementation
• While high-definition recording is unlikely to be available on handsets in 2008, an improvement to video recording at 720x576 @ 30fps doesn't seem like an unreasonable goal
• Full support for Office documents - this would be huge for me personally, and makes sense given the increasingly productivity-minded outlook for N-Series users
• Support for WMV format was on high on the list for many
• Mac versions of the PC-Suite and Software Updater
• Threaded messages
• Better implementation of a connections hierarchy - for example where the phone always uses the home network for data when in range, rather than the current prompts requesting the user choose the access point
• Better volume controls - for example volume controls that work in java applications too!
• Bluetooth Mouse enabled
• Stopwatch and Countdown timers 
• and last but by no means least - FULL SYSTEM ACCESS!

 GEAR

• External Stereo Microphone
• A2DP headset styled like the BH-604's but with a wired connection option 

 

OK, that last one was all mine, but as for the rest? I like 'em. If Nokia does my list first, and then attends to these others I can expect to be in mobiles-heaven by this time next year...

 

 

This news just to hand - a black N82 has been confirmed by Mobile City Online! Providing there is some sort of official endorsement of this confirmation it looks like my next mobile purchase will be sooner than I thought!

 

Here are some photoshops from Stefan at Intomobile to give you an idea how it might look:

 

 

Heres a little Christmas present from me to all the frustrated N95 (N82/E90 etc) owners here in godzone who purchased their shiny new GPS-enabled handset, only to discover that Nokia Maps for New Zealand are utter rubbish; a little guide to getting the most from this aspect of your otherwise much-loved phone! I know that NZ isn't the only country affected in this way, so hopefully there'll be a little something here for users hailing from other countries too. If it isn't already obvious, I'm a little bit on the verbose side, so to keep this to nice edible, bite-sized chunks I'll break it up into 3 parts and post them up over the coming week or so. I'm really hoping that if you've been disappointed with this feature of your N95 till now you can usher in the new year feeling much better about it.

 

Straight off the bat its important to talk firmware, because for reasons that'll become clear in a moment this makes quite a difference in terms of the GPS experience. There are several firmware iterations available for the N95 - V10, V11, V12, and V20 - you'll need to find out which firmware version your phone is by typing *#0000# into the phone before going any further. If your N95 was purchased from Vodafone, chances are you're sporting the V12 firmware, which has Assisted-GPS (A-GPS) enabled. A-GPS lets you lock faster by augmenting the inbuilt GPS receiver with information from the Vodafone network regarding the signal towers nearest you. This of course does mean that you'll incur some data charges, but fortunately A-GPS only uses 6-12kb for each lock, so its well worth it. Vodafone issues their own custom firmware so V12 is currently the highest firmware available to you if your N95 is branded, if your handset is parallel imported then Nokia Software Updater (NSU) will probably show you that an upgrade to V20 is available. A word of warning if V12 is the highest firmware upgrade available to you;  the V12 firmware has a very annoying bug - it fails to detect some keypresses. If that doesn't sound like a big deal to you, try to imagine texting someone while it randomly drops a keypress here and there - you'll have to back up and edit your message, possibly several times for every message you send. If GPS isn't that important to you, or you're a mad texting fiend, then you'll have to weigh up whether you really want the V12 firmware. Luckily there is a way around this for brave souls willing to void their warranty. . .debrand your handset.

 

Debranding your handset sounds a little drastic, but its something I've done several times without incident, and certainly without regret. Its a little beyond the scope of this piece to walk you through the entire process - I'll just leave you a couple of links to places where help is at hand - here and here. If you haven't checked out either of those sites before I highly recommend joining both. So rather than producing a guide, I'll just talk about briefly about the considerable benefits of the latest V20 firmware. Basically the V20 firmware finally fulfills the promise that the N95 had from the beginning. Its not perfect by any means, but there are no bugs on the magnitude of the V12 keypress-bug, so on balance the positives far, far outweigh the negatives. The addition of demand paging and some other application-handling routines has increased RAM to ~30MB after a fresh boot, and even better true multi-tasking is now on offer.This also has knock-on effects to battery life, which is extended by around 20% on V20 (if you're struggling with your battery life then make sure you check this list of optimisations while you're at it). If that weren't enough startup time is improved, and the startup speed of the camera application is now  significantly accelerated (on a par with the N95 8GB). These major changes are accompanied by a variety of smaller, but nevertheless very welcome, improvements.

Hopefully I've convinced you to go ahead and get the V20 firmware, but if not you may at least have worked out which firmware you're on and begun to weigh up the pros and cons of updating. From here on in I'll be discussing the N95 from the standpoint of an A-GPS enabled handset, so I'm hoping that you're on at least the V12 firmware so that we're comparing apples with apples in the subsequent posts. In the next installment I'm going to look over Nokia's native maps application, and then cover some of the other software solutions out there, before giving an in-depth run down on the best GPS solution currently available for the Symbian OS in New Zealand.  

If you don't already know what this software is I'll whet your appetite - it has: a polished UI, free New Zealand maps replete with excellent street level detail and thousands of points of interest, full voice-guided navigation, and heres the kicker - no data charges...

 

I see a few others around the net have been posting up their wishlists for Nokia in 2008, so I thought I would follow suit with my own list for what I'd like to see happen to N-Series devices. Anyways, enough with the preamble, here they are in no particular order:

 

Optical zoom on flagship N-Series devices. There are a few solutions out there that could facilitate the inclusion of optical zoom without blowing out device size - click here for a discussion of one such solution.

Xenon flash and lens protection standard on all high-end handsets.

Snappier UI in general, but with particular emphasis on the camera application.

Larger, higher resolution screens - N-Series iterations sporting the touch interface should meet this need.

 

A flagship level N-Series QWERTY please! For my money the Helio-Ocean styled QWERTY 'landscape slide' is the best option as it doesn't destroy the aesthetics of the form-factor. Just make sure the top row keys are nicely accessible, its a simple thing, but a design error that crops up with stupifying regularity from a myriad of device manufacturers nevertheless. 

Improved TV-Out implementation - would be really nice to have the ability for users to select the TV-Out resolution for applications. I use my N95-1 quite a lot for the productivity side of things, I'd really love to be able to view/edit word/excel/powerpoint/PDF documents and browse the web at a decent resolution.

More RAM. Now don't get me wrong here, the increased RAM that Nokia began using in response to criticisms leveled at the N95-1 is great and now multi-tasking is a breeze. . . but. . . you still can't watch a full length movie at 640x480 via TV-Out without problems. I'd really like my N-Series device to be both my homes multimedia hub, and my portable movie player, but as things stand this isn't a reality.

 

Please release the NGage platform in 2008. Please?

While on the topic of NGage - please ensure the release of some games that utilise the 3D acceleration of the higher-end NGage handsets! I understand the need for initial releases to capture the largest potential user-base, hence the inclusion of the N73 and so forth, but I want eye-candy! In all seriousness though, capturing the hardcore end of the gaming spectrum, and winning some credibility for the platform and mobile gaming in general requires this.

The corollary to that last point is that a commitment should be made to include 3D acceleration in the hardware of all future N-Series releases. 

 

Keep improving the S60 UI, there are plenty of small optimisations still needed to really hone the end-user 'out-of-the-box' experience. Little details like the new text message alert actually displaying the name of the sender, or using the same method to exit from every application really make a difference for users - particularly the less tech savvy.

Improve the backup process. I'm certainly not the only person to have mentioned this recently, but having to reinstall all your software after a firmware upgrade is a real hassle, to mention nothing of the problems faced if a user tries to restore their phone settings across a firmware upgrade.

 

Improve the build quality. Based on my experience with the N82 at Nokiaworld, I'd say the Nokia has taken a step in the right direction in this area, but there is still a ways to go. While the N82 doesn't creak and feels nice and solid, it still feels like a 'plasticky-toy' in your hands, which is not what users are looking for in a device of that cost. Perhaps the S60 Project Managers could take a look at what the S40 people are doing? The S40 handsets shown at Nokiaworld were rock-solid; I can't say how much I'd love my next N-Series phone if it felt that like in my hand. Let me put it this way: Darth Vader wants an N-Series with metal construction - fail him at your peril. 

 

Here's a particularly 'kiwi-centric' wish: Maps updates please! The NewZealand maps are terrible, which is a huge turn-off for new N95 owners here, many of whom purchased their N95 largely on the basis of its GPS functionality. I spoke with the person manning the maps display at Nokiaworld, and he basically just pointed out that Nokia contracts a third party to produce the maps, so he couldn't give me any timeframe around updates. His advice was "just keep checking". This is unacceptable! While responsibility for the actual production of maps may rest with a third party, the overall responsibility for the end-user experience must reside with Nokia. If you talk with users from affected countries, even ones who understand where the maps originate, you won't hear them cursing a third party - its Nokia whose image is tarnished by this. Take note Nokia. For good measure I might mention to this Chad Darth Vader. . .

 

Well, thats it. I don't think theres anything too demanding amongst that list, and with luck Ovi and the S60 touch UI will bring about the fulfilment of many of my wishes.

Obviously I welcome comments, so tell me, what does your N-Series wishlist look like for 2008?