onS60

Flash Lite 3 Developer Edition Now Available

Flash developers can now start testing the next generation of Flash Lite content on a range of S60 3rd Edition devices.

Adobe has made available a download of Flash Lite 3. It can be loaded onto most S60 3rd Edition devices, however it can only be used to play stand alone Flash content, there is no browser integration and it cannot be used for Flash Lite screensavers.

The availability of Flash Lite 3 in the next generation of S60 devices (based on S60 3rd Edition, Feature Pack 2) will have the potentially to accelerate the use of the Web from S60 devices. With the ability to render most existing Flash 8 Web content the annoyance of being unable to browse a Web site on the Web Browser for S60, because it is Flash based, should largely disappear. Not to mention support for Flash Video, which effectively means YouTube.

For Flash Lite developers the player will offer opportunities to create richer content and games. Flash Lite 3 should be pre-loaded in devices shipping in early 2008.

Check out the feature and download the player from Adobe Labs.

Web Run-Time Widgets Are Hot!

A recent visit to Forum Nokia's Remote Device Access servicereveals a significant interest in Web Run-Time widgets.

There are three Nokia N95s available in RDA with a special build to run Web Run-Time (WRT) widgets. If you are not familiar with these widgets, they are lightweight web technology (HTML, JavaScript etc.) applications you will be able to install on forthcoming S60 3rd Edition, Feature Pack 2 devices. (Maybe even the Nokia N95 if this special build is any indication of future public firmware updated for the N95.)

Anyway, these three WRT build Nokia N95s are booked solid - day and night - for several days ahead. Given that most of the remaining devices are more or less available for immediate booking, with no future reservations too speak of, the main interest can be only in the WRT widget abilities. (Incidentally the only other device with any significant interest appeared to be the Nokia E90, which is something of a curiosity.)

Of course WRT widgets can be tested on the current S60 3rd Edition, Feature Pack 2 emulator, but clearly some developers are already taking their widget development beyond early emulator testing.

WRT widgets are a significant development for the S60 platform, opening the platform up to yet another group of developers - in this case Web developers. The use of the WRT build Nokia N95s on RGA seems to provide proof. While at first sight the benefits of moving functionality a user could access with the Web Browser for S60 into a widget may not seem obvious, however being able to offer that functionality as an on-device application hugely simplifies access.

Given the availability of devices that can run widgets is uncertain (no Feature Pack 2 devices having been announced) the developer demand for the WRT build devices bodes well for a good supply of widgets when devices do become available. In the meanwhile I will be keeping an eye on postings with the "widget" tag on MOSH to see if anything interesting turns up - currently it has a few Widset (Java) widgets.

Your S60 Web server gets a boost

Jukka on the S60 Blogs is reporting that PHP and mySQL are going to be available for S60 devices in early 2008.

Jukka reports that Johan Wikman (father of the original Apache port for S60) writes:

I can now reveal that we at the CCNC conference in Las Vegas in January, 2008 will demonstrate and release what we call the PAMP stack.

PAMP stands for Personal Apache, MySQL, PHP, so yes, the full LAMP stack will be made available for S60 smartphones. In addition, there will be PHP extension modules that provide access to the core functionality of the phone. And on top of PAMP you can basically install any LAMP based content management system. For instance, Drupal can be installed off the shelf.

Yes, a fair amount of memory is needed and it's still pretty experimental stuff, but it runs quite nicely on E90.

At first sight this may seem like an example of porting just to prove it can be done. It does, however, have the potential to create a whole new way of looking at Web application. For example, I've recently been evaluating a number of GTD applications. Several of these use PHP and MySQL and it will be interesting to see if they work on PAMP.

As such PAMP could add yet another option for developers to create S60 applications and create a new paradigm for the "off-line" Web. Hopefully by January I'll have an S60 device with the memory to run this baby.

Source: Hot news: PHP and MySQL coming to S60!

MOSH Mobile Client Comes To Beta Labs

Nokia Beta Labs has announced the availability of a S60 client enabling access to MOSH. While it is little more than a browser front end Nokia is hinting at it becoming a rich client over time.

MOSH has been designed by Nokia to be a device agnostic, user-driven distribution channel for mobile applications and other mobile content. While it can be used from a desktop Web browser, it is really intended to be used on mobile devices. Currently users have accessed MOSH via their devices browser and that does not change much with the MOSH client.

While the MOSH client allows you to upload and share various types of content (applications, games, audio, images, and video) it still does it through the Web Browser for S60. The client simply provides an entry point to various key MOSH pages, upload, search, browse, and your statistics.

One nice feature is that the installation provides is the option to add MOSH to the idle screens application shortcuts. This is a trick not yet employed by many developers (but likely to be more common from now on perhaps?)

The fact that the client simply drives out to the Web Browser for S60 creates the application's biggest current shortcoming. If you select a feature then navigate away from the first page returning to the MOSH client is a little awkward. If you stay on or return to the first page you can return to the client by selecting Close, navigate away from this page and you need to select Exit. It's not a big issue but while it fits with browser style functionality it is counter intuitive if you think of the MOSH client purely as an application.

The whole point of Nokia's Beta Lab is to get application "out there" and involve the users in guiding the next generation of the application. However, while the MOSH client may be of interest to MOSH fans, it is perhaps a little too beta at this stage offering not much more than the pure Web version.

I'll await version 2 with interest.

The MOSH client can be downloaded from www.nokia.com/betalabs/mosh and MOSH accessed at either mosh.nokia.com or mosh.nokia.mobi and don't forget to check out the SymbianOne MOSH account.

S60 Eseries Plug-in Released By Forum Nokia

For all those developers who have been waiting to optimize their applications for the Nokia E90 the wait is over. Forum Nokia has now made the Nokia Eseries SDK Plug-Ins for S60 C++ SDKs public.

The Nokia Eseries SDK Plug-Ins for S60 C++ SDKs includes all the information developers need to take advantage of the preview pop-up that allows applications to show in "split-window" mode on the Nokia E90 Communicator's main screen. Other features now available to all developers include:

For S60 3rd Edition devices (such as the Nokia E60, Nokia E61, Nokia E61i, Nokia E62, Nokia E65, and Nokia E70):

• External view framework - allowing an external projector to be used by application, in a way similar to the option for Series 80 devices.
• Printing framework - which enables printing.
• E-mail LED API - which allows the email LED to be monitored and controlled.

For S60 3rd Edition, Feature Pack 1 devices (such as the Nokia E90 and Nokia E51):

• Printing framework - as above.
• E-mail LED API - as above.
• Nokia Eseries Device Identification API - so applications can detect at installation or run time that they are on an Eseries device.
• Preview pop-up - enables "split-window" applications on the Nokia E90.
• List stretching - enables double-style lists to be shown as single-style lists.

For more information and to download the plug-in check out www.forum.nokia.com.

S60 Development In Your Pocket

S60 Essentials: Developers' Guide from Symbian Press is now available for download. Launched at the Smartphone Show, along with two new books, this booklet describes the development options for S60 devices.

The booklet provides developers with a concise introduction to the various development options for S60. Symbian C++, Open C, Java, Python, Flash Lite, SVGT, Browser, and Web Run-time are all covered. This is very much "everything you wanted to ask about S60 development options, but were too afraid to ask" in a compact booklet.

Mind you I would say that. Compiling this booklet provided an interesting insight into the what can best be described as the uniform diversity of S60. Multiple development option, each with its own champions, people passionate about bringing the best development tools to developers, every one of them equally passionate about S60. While it is unlikely that there will ever be the same range of development options for smartphones in general or S60 in particular, there can now be very few developers who do not have a skill that can be used to create something for S60, be it a C++ application or Nokia Web Widget.

But don't just take my word for it - check out "S60 Essentials: Developers' Guide" for yourself - or look out for the printed version at the next trade show, Symbian, or Nokia event. At the same time why not take a look at some of the other free booklets from Symbian Press.

The big news from Symbian Press at the Smartphone Show was, however, two new "full sized" publication: Mobile Python, written by Jürgen Scheible and Developing Software for Symbian OS, Second Edition, written by Steve Babin.

Mobile Python – Rapid Prototyping of Applications on the Mobile Platform is a practical hands-on book that introduces the popular open source programming language Python to the mobile space. It effectively teaches how to program your own powerful – and fun – applications easily based on the Symbian OS and S60 platforms.

Developing Software for Symbian OS, Second Edition – helps software developers new to Symbian OS to create smartphone applications. The original book has been updated for Symbian OS v9 and now includes a new chapter on application signing and platform security with updates throughout for Symbian OS v9 and changes to the development environment.

Mobile Music Goes Social

Social.FM announced a Symbian client for its music discovery service at the Smartphone Show. I spoke to Srivats Sampath, CEO of Social.FM about the service and its move to Symbian devices.

Richard: What is Social.FM?

Srivats: Social.FM is a user-contributed music discovery service which operates a lot like a conventional radio broadcaster. When we first started the company the idea was to create something in the music discovery space that allowed users to participate, but is completely legal.

Richard: How have you made it legal?

Srivats: Before we developed anything we looked into the legal requirements for safeguarding performers' rights. As a result we set the company up as a webcaster operating under the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act). So, from the day we launched, we have been paying royalties to ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers), BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.) and SESAC (Society of European Songwriters, Artists, and Composers) as well as SoundExchange. We have a similar arrangement in Canada and are negotiating with other rights authorities to extend our coverage.

Richard: Does this limit use to the US and Canada?

Srivats: No. The software has all the requirements of copyright law and the licensing authorities built in, it is also able to determine which country a listener is in. If a user is in a territory for which we don't yet have specific licensing agreements, that user's listening is tagged to our US broadcast and we pay royalties in the US. The reciprocal arrangements between the various rights collectives then ensure that the artists are remunerated. So wherever our users are listening, we strive to pay the royalties.

Richard: How do individual users contribute to Social.FM?

Srivats: When a user joins Social.FM they download a client for their PC. Using this client their music collection is streamed over the Internet and broadcast to other Social.FM users. Users can simply let their collection stream at random or specifically program up to five channels of music. So we now have a million DJs actively contributing and programming content, making us one of the largest music CDNs.

Richard: What made you decide to take the service mobile?

Srivats: Very soon after we launched the Web version we realized that there could be a demand for Social.FM on mobile devices. So at the start of this year we released a very basic alpha application for Windows Mobile. It had a very simple UI and users could only listen to other users content, but the response was very positive so we decided to take the mobile version further.

Richard: What did you consider when determining the features of the mobile version?

Srivats: We first looked at what someone might want to listen to while mobile. Clearly they would want to listen to their own music. They might also want to listen to the music of their friends and families, and they would probably want to listen to their favorite artists or styles of music to discover new music.

To provide users with music discovery we created around a thousand preprogrammed genre stations. So, if a user is a Jethro Tull or Al Stewart fan they can find a genre station of British folk rock. Alternatively, if they want to listen to a particular artist, they can search for an artist name and Social.FM will line up a radio station of that artist's music, along with music from related artists.

Social.FM provides around a thousand preprogram genre channels.

Then, if the user has the desktop software running on their PC, they can browse and listen to their music, and listen to the music from up to five friends and family members.

Richard: What guided the design of the UI?

Srivats: I've looked at many music players and music applications over the years, but I always find myself coming back to the iPod because it is brilliant in its simplicity. So we modeled the interface to Social.FM so it looked and behaved as much like an iPod as possible. As a result we have very simple screens and all the features are navigated through the phone's 'nav' buttons. My design criteria were that I should be able to select and play any music using just my thumb, and I believe we have achieved this level of simplicity and usability.

Richard: In going mobile was the amount of data required to stream high quality music an issue? If so, have you been able to address this issue?

Srivats: It certainly is an issue. While many mobile operators offer unlimited data plans they don't really want their customers to make use of them all the time; most networks would not be able to cope with that level of traffic. So we needed to make our service as operator friendly as possible.

We use the Ogg Vorbis player in the desktop and mobile clients. Then we use a concept called "super encoding". This means we can deliver what is effectively a 192kbps listening experience with just a 56kbps stream. So an hour of music will download using about 24Mb. This compression also means we are able to operate quite happily on an EDGE network.

We have found that our typical mobile user listens for around 56 minutes a day.

Over time we see the cost of wireless data coming down. In addition, there will be more ways in which users can connect wirelessly. Already, where a user has a WiFi capable device, they can use WiFi when in a hotspot. In fact, I generally use Social.FM over WiFi on my Nokia N80 when in the office.

Also, for a user's own music collection, the next version of the mobile software will synchronize a user's library with their device. So, as they listen to their own music it is stored on their phone's memory card and played from there when they listen to the track again.

Richard: What was the motivation behind bringing Social.FM Mobile to Symbian OS?

Srivats: Essentially we wanted to get the application into the hands of as many mobile users as possible. When we looked at the devices that could deliver the experience we wanted, those using the Symbian OS clearly offered the technical capabilities we needed. In addition, they have a massive ecosystem of users. So we have built clients for S60 and UIQ, while also updating our Windows Smartphone and Pocket PC versions.

Richard: How did you go about developing the Symbian version?

Srivats: We took a hybrid approach. The software for encoding and decoding music, compression and streaming is our own code and common to all the platforms, The S60 and UIQ implementations, including the UI, were built by a game development firm based in Finland. These are brilliant guys and the UI they have built on top of our framework is elegantly simple and has a small code footprint ideal for mobile.

Richard: Do you see any advantages to Symbian OS beyond the large user base?

Srivats: We found that Symbian Ltd. was very supportive both from a technical and business perspective. They helped a lot, building the awareness of Social.FM within the Symbian ecosystem. We got good support from Nokia too, and it is distributing the application to its 60,000 employees.

We also see Symbian OS as very rich platform which provides features that are not available elsewhere. We also found it easier to build our sophisticated UI on Symbian OS much easier than with other platforms. Overall, Symbian OS shows real maturity, which is quite understandable with it running on over 145 million handsets.

Richard: How has Social.FM Mobile been accepted by Symbian users?

Srivats: We have certainly had a flood of traffic since we made the announcement, and so far the uptake looks good. In fact it was so good that we had some performance issues in the first few days after the launch caused by the demand. We have resolved them now, but we learnt some valuable lessons in the process.

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Social.FM Mobile for S60 3rd Edition and UIQ 3 devices can be downloaded from www.social.fm/mobile. Until 30 November 2007, Social.FM is offered as a free preview for Symbian smartphone users. After the free preview period, Social.FM will be available at an introductory price of USD 19.95 for a one-year subscription.

The silent triumph of the N81

While the N81 has started shipping to a mix reception – see Stefan’s blast – one significant fact about the device seems to have been overlooked.

When Nokia announced the 7650 back in November 2001 it took 8 months for the phone to start making an appearance on retailer’s shelves. Even the N95 took about 6 months to go from launch to shipping.

By contrast the N81 was announced at the end of August and shipped before the end of October, less than 2 months.

While the lead time on S60 devices has varied, this is the clearest indication yet that the platform approach is reaping Nokia benefits and offering it the ability to turn out devices on a short timeframe. This ability will probably be key as the competition in the smartphone space heats up into 2008.

EQO Opening Beta Testing for S60 devices

EQO (pronounced “echo”) is essentially a Skype like service, except that their service is exclusively for mobile devices. Most devices are served by a Java client, however EQO is shortly going to release a client written in native Symbian C++. This will provide the ability to send inexpensive international text messages and provide free access to popular instant messaging services, including MSN, AIM, Yahoo!, Google Talk, ICQ and Jabber, as well as make VoIP calls. EQO claims the native client will be "a faster and more responsive mobile VoIP experience".

The client will be designed to run on S60 3rd Edition devices (EQO provides an explicit list including: N71, N73, N75, N76, N77, N80, N81, N91, N92, N93, N93i, N95, E50, E61, E65, E62, E60, E70, E90, 3250, 5500, 5700, 6110 Navigator, 6120, 6121, 6290.)

If you would like to be part of the beta trial, EQO is inviting "all Symbian enthusiasts" to join in. To sign up for the beta trial visit www.EQO.com/symbian.

A MOSH at Pop!Tech

While most of the Symbian world has been focusing on the Smartphone Show, in Camden, Maine, Nokia is taking S60 and MOSH to an entirely different audience. Richard Bloor spoke to Eric John, Director of Marketing at Forum Nokia about the event.

How can technology make our lives better? This is the question which preoccupies Pop!Tech, an annual conference "about science, technology and the future of ideas". It brings together a diverse range of people, from the developed and developing worlds, from science and the arts, and this year it is focusing on the human impact of technology.

The mobile phone is one of the most widely used of modern technologies. With an estimated 3 billion users worldwide, for many in emerging economies a mobile phone is their first experience of the hi-tech that the developed world takes for granted. Almost one in three of these mobile phones carry the Nokia brand.

"Pop!Tech is not your typical technical Forum Nokia sponsored event audience," says Eric. "These people are thinkers and doer from a realm that Nokia does not often connect with so directly. The delegates are visionaries looking at the impact of technology on social behavior and more particularly how technology can help in the emerging economies. We want to put our technology in the hands of these people. We want feedback on how our technology can integrate with their work and the visions they have for the future social landscape."

To achieve this Forum Nokia is employing the Nokia N95 and MOSH. A number of Nokia N95s will be made available to speakers and delegates at the event. Eric hopes that these Nokia N95s will then be used to capture the sights and sounds of the event as seen through the eyes of the delegates. The raw "memories" will then be stored in MOSH and used to create regular snapshots of the event that will be posted onto the public MOSH Pop!Tech portal.

"Pop!Tech is very much focused on the impact of technology in the developing world," says Eric. "Nokia believes that connecting people in emerging markets in economically, ecologically, and technologically sensitive ways will deliver results unlike anything seen in mature markets, as the next billion come on-line via their mobile devices."

While this may seem a laudable objective, given Forum Nokia has always focused on developers and MOSH, superficially looks like another community based content sharing site the connections do not seem obvious.

"We see the current version of MOSH as a promotional tool for developers," says Eric. "As the volume of mobile content and applications grow it is increasingly difficult for developers, particularly small developers, to get visibility for their products. MOSH is an opportunity to explore whether a community approach provides an effective promotion and distribution method."

However, while MOSH offers a promotional mechanism it does not contain an ecommerce engine. At the moment, if developers want to sell their applications, they will need to lead the customer to an external shop, either on their own site or one of the established channels such as Handango. "We are looking at other ways in which developers can generate revenue," says Eric. "One of the possibility is to host advertising on MOSH and allow developers to incorporate an advertising stream into their applications." While there is already much debate around the acceptance of mobile advertising, this approach may hold some promise for developers by removing the concern about product licensing and piracy.

However, the future direction for MOSH is very much in the hands of its users. "MOSH is all about the beta culture, what might more formally be called Agile development" says Eric. "We are serving a global market place, so understanding the requirements of users in countries as diverse as India, Russia, Indonesia, and America is not trivial. Sometimes it is better to maximize speed to market, then enter a phase of continuous learning and optimization. And this is the approach we have taken with MOSH."

Although MOSH has only been in open beta for a few months it has already seen 3.5 million unique users upload 4.5 million pieces of content. Eric notes that the MOSH learning experience is not just about the delivery mechanism or functionality offered to the community, it is as much about learning what content will be of interest to mobile users. "We are already seeing some very interesting content being created," says Eric. "Take Dr Dan for example, he is a cardiologist by trade and using MOSH to distribute videos on first aid. So we are already seeing some surprising and innovative approaches to content."

In this context the relevance of Pop!Tech is much clearer. As mobility becomes pervasive, the smartphone will increasingly be the tool that people use to connect to their chosen communities, whether those communities are local or global. As Nokia transforms its self from a handset vendor into a company embracing the whole connected experience the learnings from MOSH will undoubtedly shape part of our online future.

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Check out MOSH at mosh.nokia.com or at mosh.nokia.mobi on your Symbian S60 smartphone. You can also find PDF copies of some recent SymbianOne features here on MOSH.