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6/30/2009

Nokia phones and the S60 platform problems

I really like my new Nokia E71. It's solid hardware and works generally really well.

But when I first got it, it took me a few days to figure it out. Using the S60 interface that is. Applications, settings and icons are all over the place! Unity and focus is sorely lacking! It takes an effort to learn to use the phone. And I need Google to check where to find certain settings. Argh.

Then there are the Nokia applications and services. Why on earth is every service and application limited to some weird set of specific phone models? Well other than apparently every single Nokia phone seems to have a different set of hardware and operating system features.

Compared to the iPod Touch (no phone), that I've used for over 6 months now, it seems Apple is 2-4 years ahead of the curve. And Nokia is standing still with S60.

Here's what I want to see Nokia phones do:

Make one S60_3rd platform

If the phone is a S60_3rd, then EVERY service and application will have to work with it. None of this "this is just for E75." crap.
Tag the phone with the platform logo (make a nice logo for it)

HTML email

I couldn't belive Nokia phones can't handle this yet.
There is the email.nokia.com service, but it's: 1) a service you give your passwords to, and 2) you will have to pay for it! (I mean come on! For email? Really?)

A good browser

Using Safari on an iPod Touch is a fabulous experience. It is a really really good browser.

Better user interface

The interface needs some radical change to make it easier to use. The elements are there, but it's currently a mess.
The separate applications are ok, but settings for the phone, SMS, and other core phone stuff needs more focus

Better standby screen

There is so much wasted space all around
Give developers access and provide good modules out-of-the-box.

Much better media management

The current way to manage music, photos and video is embarressing
I mean the media gallery app displays application icons... hello!

Much better network automation

Juggling WLAN and Access Point settings is a chore. And so unnecessary. Why does an application have to care what connection it has to use.
For several apps I need to change their settings to use them at home and at work.
And what's with the four mobile connection settings? Sonera Internet, Sonera MMS, Sonera Streaming, Sonera WAP? I still don't know when I'm supposed to use them.

Easier application installation

Why do I need to confirm so many dialog boxes etc.?
Just install it without all the fuss. Again, have a look at the iPhone.
Ovi Store isn't too inviting and installing apps through it takes way too many clicks and login entries.

I doubt I'll buy another Nokia phone, unless the platform gets much more attention. It looks like it hasn't been updated in several years! My ancient Nokia 6600 is 6 years old and feels pretty much the same.

I hope the E71 will stay in the game for a few years, but based on past Nokia performance, my shiny E71 will be ancient technology next year with irrelevant updates and unsupported services... (I hope not, I hope not... but I fear it will...)

...

A few positive notes:

SportsTracker is really neat
At least some podcast support. (The media player doesn't do bookmarks, which is sort of crucial for podcasts.)
Quickoffice is nice (but I got lucky and the full version was in the E71... only a few models have it)
Notepad sync is great (but iPod Touch just got that too)
Gmail app works pretty well (only text)
The device itself is solid, looks and feels good. Fun to use.

12/3/2008

Spaces päivitetty ja blogia

Tämä spaces-palvelu on päivittynyt viimeisen puolen vuoden aikana aika rajusti, ja pitänee ottaa hieman uusia toimintoja käyttöön. Mm. valokuvia voisin laittaa tänne, kun Skydrive tarjoaa 25G tilaa, ja Flickr!-tila täyttyi juuri osaltani 200 kuvaan. Tämä sivusto tuntuu noin muutenkin toimivan paljon paremmin kuin ennen.

Koitan laittaa tämän vuoden kuvia tänne piakkoin.

3:42 PM | Add a comment | Permalink | Blog it | Tietokoneet ja Internet

9/18/2008

PuhujainKulma podcast

Törmäsinpäs hyvään suomalaiseen podcastiin: PuhujainKulma.

Muistuttaa hieman TWiT-podcastia, mutta siis suomeksi. Aiheina Internet, media, tekniikka ja sen semmoinen.

Löytyy myös iTunesista hakemalla.

Mahtavaa.

8:49 PM | Add a comment | Permalink | Blog it | Tietokoneet ja Internet

4/30/2008

Twitter

Took me long enough to create a Twitter account. I think it fits me better than "real" blog posts. We'll see.

1:27 PM | Add a comment | Permalink | Blog it | Tietokoneet ja Internet

4/18/2008

Discovery Channel: I Love the World

Wow

YouTube - Discovery Channel: I Love the World

8:13 PM | Add a comment | Permalink | Blog it | Tietokoneet ja Internet

10/29/2007

Facebook

Pitihän sitä sitten itsekin luoda oma Facebook profiili. Muutaman päivän kokeilujen jälkeen se on yllättävän monipuolinen palvelu. Konsepti on aika fiksusti rakennettu ja kaveripiirin tapahtumattiedot välittyvät näppärästi.

7:50 AM | Add a comment | Permalink | Blog it | Tietokoneet ja Internet

10/12/2007

Tapaamisten arpomista Doodlella

Mainio nettipalvelu, jossa voi tehdä yksinkertaisia äänestyksiä sopivista tapaamisajoista: Doodle. Sopii myös asioista äänestämiseen.

Toinen vastaava palvelu on laatuaika.net, mutta Doodle vaikuttaa hieman selkeämmältä.

11:40 AM | Add a comment | Permalink | Blog it | Tietokoneet ja Internet

9/11/2007

iTunes problems with Vista ReadyBoost

Turns out that (in my case at least) using Vista Ready Boost causes problems in iTunes. I had problems downloading some podcasts and some converted mp4 videos failed to be added to iTunes too. The podcast (or vodcast) problem was that after iTunes fully downloaded a podcast it just discarded it not adding it to the library. Like it never downloaded anything.

Removing my 2GB Ready Boost USB memory fixed my iTunes problems.

The advantages of ReadyBoost were not really apparent anyway... and as it turns out, it wasn't robust enough. Bye bye ReadyBoost.

9:46 AM | Add a comment | Permalink | Blog it | Tietokoneet ja Internet

8/7/2007

XBox360, Vista Media Player 11, MP4 video streaming

Update 2009-01-11:

Also have a look at A Red Herrings Space post: Stream H.264-MP4/M4V/M4A from Windows Media Player 11 to Playstation 3 & Xbox 360. It covers this topic and has almost the same solution. But it has more/different tips in case of problems and also covers more formats. The blog also has related tips, like encoding video files.

Getting MP4 video file streaming to work to the xbox in Windows Vista with Media Player 11 is quite a challenge.

Some Codec Packs will enable this, but I want to know exactly how to get it working and I don't like using packs. Also they don't do everything right. The Vista Codec Pack for example allows streaming of mp4 to the Xbox360, but does not enable playback in WMP11.

Anyway, here's how I got MP4 files working in Vista WMP11 and the Xbox 360:

0. Make a restore point so you can revert all the changes. If you make a lot of registry changes, take a registry backup of the relevant nodes.

1. Install FFDShow. I used the latest version 20070805. Allow use for all apps to enable explorer thumbnails.
2. Configure FFDShow: I like to disable the trayicons.
3. Install Haali Media Splitter (latest as of 20070807)
4. Configure Haali: Autoload VSFilter=yes, Show tray icon=no, Enable thumbnails Extraction=yes
5. Run custom registry file to:

- enable WMP to identify mp4 and m4v files as video files

- enable WMP to stream mp4 and m4v files

(be careful when changing the registry!)

-------------MP4_to_WMP.reg-------------------------
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

; Parts are set, but type already exists
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.mp4]
@="mp4_auto_file"
;"QuickTime.bak"="VLC.mp4"
;"Content Type"="video/mp4"
"PerceivedType"="video"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.mp4\ShellEx]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.mp4\ShellEx\{BB2E617C-0920-11D1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1}]
@="{c5a40261-cd64-4ccf-84cb-c394da41d590}"

; WMPlayer extension
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Multimedia\WMPlayer\Extensions\.mp4]
"PerceivedType"="video"
"Permissions"=dword:0000000f
"Runtime"=dword:00000007
"UserApprovedOwning"="yes"

; WMP MLS Extension

; This is very important for WMP to identify mp4 files as video files
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\MLS]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\MLS\Extensions]
"mp4"="video"

; M4V --------------
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.m4v]
@="mp4_auto_file"
"PerceivedType"="video"
;"Content Type"="video/x-m4v"
"Content Type"="video/mp4"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.m4v\ShellEx]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.m4v\ShellEx\{BB2E617C-0920-11D1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1}]
@="{c5a40261-cd64-4ccf-84cb-c394da41d590}"

; WMPlayer extension
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Multimedia\WMPlayer\Extensions\.m4v]
"PerceivedType"="video"
"Permissions"=dword:0000000f
"Runtime"=dword:00000007
"UserApprovedOwning"="yes"

; WMP MLS Extension

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\MLS\Extensions]
"m4v"="video"

-----------------------------------------------------------

The end result for all this:

I can view and play mp4 files in Windows Media Player. With thumbnails.
I can stream mp4 files to XBox360
Explorer shows mp4 thumbnails

Notes:

It would appear the mp4 (m4v) files have to be defined as video/mp4 in the HKCR/.xxx setting to make streaming to xbox360 work
m4v works too by changing the mime-type from video/x-m4v to video/mp4 in HKCR/.m4v
Installing VLC will reset some settings (thumbnails may break, streaming of m4v may break). You will likely have to reinstall Haali and check the mime-types to fix the situation.
I transcode my video files to be iTunes/iPod compatible with Videora iPod Converter. They will thus work in iTunes, iPod, WMP11 and Xbox360
Some converted mp4 files will be rejected by iTunes due to faulty mp4-tags. The files can be fixed with Tagger. Just open the mp4 file with tagger and save it. (Update: This was a problem with ReadyBoost. Since I disabled ReadyBoost I have had no problems with importing mp4 files.)
Xbox360 will only display the mp4 video files through the dashboard (Video playback). The Xbox Media Center Extender will not play them (they will show up though).