I desperately want to trial an N95 8GB!

When the N95 was first announced, I was still blogging over on Vox and I expressed myself a couple of times about it, with my main opinion being: I'm not that enthusiastic. My main 3 reasons were that it was a slider and I'm a candybar lover, it has GPS and 3G 2 features I would definetely not need in Lebanon, because, well, they are unavailable. Meaning I would be plunking down 700$-800$ for a lot of things I wouldn't use. I further rested assured with the multiple reports about the lacking battery, the RAM issues, the violet cam pics,... many bugs that made me feel less stupid about refusing to join the cult of those swearing by the N95 as the best phone ever built.

When the N95 8GB was announced, I was glad Nokia listened to customers and fixed the reported issues, but I was still confortable in my denial position. But day after day, review after review, I found my decision softening, and well now, you read the title of this post: I DESPERATELY WANT TO TRIAL AN N95 8GB!

I can't help it, I have been counting the reasons that made me change my mind and they are too many: black color, N-Gage, new multimedia menu, the newly discovered Accelerometer (with the amazing forthcoming Nokmote), more juice, enough RAM to run an old PC, availability of Nokia Conversation for FP1 devices,... What's not to like? Moreover, every review I read stated that the N95 is the closest phone to perfection, ever built. In fact the only thing it lacks, in my opinion is the forthcoming touch UI. Think about it, the most hardened and stubborn anti-N95 enthusiast falling head over toes in love with the 8GB version. That's too much, 'ight?

So today my friend, who has a little fuse problem with her N73, asked me to come with her to the mobile shop. I went and, as always, popped a couple of questions about pricing and availability, held a couple of devices in my hand, and here I found:
- New N95-1 : around 500$ (I still am not falling for it)
- Used N95-1 : 430$
- New N81 : around 550$ (extremely sexy phone, but too shiny on the material and fingerprint magnet)
- New unlocked iPhone 8GB : 640$. I actually held it in my hand, but the battery was dead so I couldn't experience the iPhone mania. Well, from the looks of it, it's dead sexy, but a symbian addict won't go iPhoning over nothing but looks and a couple of animated transitions.
- New N95 8GB : around 700$... there wasn't one, so I'm still aching to hold one in my hands, yeah I'm THAT addicted now. 700$ !!! And yet, I'm this close to selling all my geeky gear (iPod 30GB video + Qtek 9100 + Nokia 3250) to get this baby! How crazy is that? Yet, there's that voice of reason that reminds me that I'm saving a couple of bucks because I'm applying to go to France next fall, for a Masters and a PhD [I'm a pharmacist to remind you]. Studies come first, and I have to compromise.

What I'm getting to is that if someone reading this blog knows, is in contact, wants, cares,... to get me to trial an N95 8GB for a couple of weeks, I would be the HAPPIEST girl on earth. Anyone? Please???

S60's Touch UI - A Smile to the Future

Unless you're living on Planet Mars, you must've caught someplace that S60 has announced today, at the Symbian Smartphone Show it's S60 Touch UI. For more info, you can read the Press Release reported by Darla here, or hear the Voice of S60 Podcast with Minna Karvonen here or even better, since showing is better than telling, you can watch the video taken by AAS during the showcase:

I've been watching this vid over and over and here are some comments:
1 - I sooooooo wanna be the girl holding this phone, does she know what treasure she has?
2 - The phone showcased seems hardware-wise like the illegal child of a one-night-stand between the N81 and the iPhone, or am I just imagining things?
3 - I love the eye bling at the end (and so does the person who took this video) but I hate the music throughout the video.
4 - The interface seems neat and easily used, especially with such a huge screen.
5 - I was afraid S60's Touch would be an iPhone's UI rip-off, I see that it's not the case: we still have our beloved landmarks: active standby, softkeys, menu,... so I like it even more than I thought I would.
6 - I just LOVE the idea of the flip to silence the alarm/ringing. So innovative! It's almost like "oh I don't want to answer" and you flip and bang! Simply genius.
7 - Why did they show the current Nokia phones (S60 3rd) on the screen at the end? Aren't these supposed to be the phones that won't have the Touch UI?
8 - What the 'eck did roll down when the girl pressed the operator/date on the standby, right after the "Direct access to all key functions" text and before the "with physical feedbak". Could that be the profile switcher we normally have when pressing the power button, or a connection (BT, IR, WiFi, 3G)? I can't tell from the low-res video but I hope it's a mix of both.
9 - I hate that S60 hasn't learned yet that they need to implement a static consistent menu bar. Look at all the screenshots, in every one the top menu bar seems of a different color and size, sometimes it's not even there! Why oh why?! S60 pleaaaase, learn from your mistakes: consistency is more eye-candy.

I'm Outraged - part 2

I began this as a comment on the I'm Outraged topic, bit it ended up too long for a comment and worth being a post, so here goes:

After writing the first post, I went over and checked Skyscape's website again. As Thomas said in the comments, I had the pre-conviction that it SHOULD work on symbian.
With that in mind, I looked at the links, the official press release, etc... And here are the notes I took:

1 - There is no sign of the address the user must type in order to access Skyscape's services, which are called "My Skyscape". I don't know if it's the ordinary www.skyscape.com that is converted to mobile version if u access it from the iPhone or if it's another address dedicated for the platform itself. I'm more into the 2nd since Skyscape's website should still be available for users, as a view and buy site, while the books/utilities/programs should run somewhere else, when you purchase them.

2 - There are no screenshots (or well, the ones available are a few and not clear enough). Seriously, who would buy a product based on "belief". Like thomas, we want to "see"(no relation with Thomas who commented, and correct me if my bible knowledge is wrong). I am not questioning the existence of the service for iPhone, it's just that users usually want to have the feeling of the product without putting down a whooping 40$ or so for any product.

3 - There are no trials for the iPhone, meaning you are presented the choice to buy the product for the iPhone, but not to "try it for free". Free trials are still for the desktop PC, Windows Mobile and Palm OS. Meaning you will have to put down those $ without even knowing how it will work.

4 - There is no indication as to whether it is a constant have-on database or an internet service, only available when WiFi or EDGE is on. That should be a main letdown, because everytime you need to stream an information, you'd have to connect, and even if you're looking for the same information for the 20th time, you'd have to re-access it again, making it a total PITA, plus time and data transfer consuming.

5 - And why would you have to buy the product all over again, if you already have it for another platform? Seriously? Let's say I have a Blackberry and I have 3 apps from Skyscape that I usually use on it. I decide to buy an iPhone and I expect I would use these apps on it, they told me I can. Oh no, wait, I'll have to buy them all over again. That's why I totally respect Mobipocket, they've got the most amazing solution. One reader to rule-them all. And when you buy a book, it doesn't matter what phone you'll get and what platform, you're pretty sure you back is covered by a reader version already released or to be released. That's the most user-friendly solution for switching devices and keeping your purchased data, it's almost too hard to believe publishers accepted it and adopted it. It's basically less profitable for them :s

Anyhow, these are my findings. I'm even more disappointed than before. The fact that Skyscape managed to pull an iPhone availability in less than 3 months, while it neglected the Symbian platform which has been here for years says sooooooooo much about how things have been and are running and how they will run in the mobile industry, unless someone decides to do something about it.

I know this is medical related and you probably don't care, but look around, every single professionnal or non-professionnal service, website, utility, application, ... is being ported to the iPhone, while, well, on the other hand, we, symbian fans, suffer.

I'm Outraged!

If you are any reader of Dotsisx, you would've memorized by now that I am a pharmacy student, that I'm frustrated at the idea of the unavailabilty of medical apps for Symbian, and that I got a windows mobile device just for that.

That being said, I was just browsing Skyscape's website, checking if they got any new utilities _ for what it's worth, Skyscape is the most complete medical provider, and their reader application is the most responsive and efficient I've used.

Anyway, go now to the main page of the site and see if anything strikes you... Yes, their platform is available for the iPhone. Seriously? The iPhone hasn't been available for more than 3 months now (correct me if I'm wrong) and Skyscape rushs and develops a web-based service for it, with its most popular products available for the iPhone. On the other hand, the Symbian Platform has been here for ages, and well, Skyscape doesn't bother. I mean, I have been pissed at not having medical-dedicated apps for the Symbian platform, but knowing that they were only available for Palm OS and Windows Mobiles, made some sense, for these were "professionnal" platforms. But having Skyscape on the iPhone now? Seriously, this is just the icing on the cake!

And this is just an example. Apple have managed to integrate it's iPhone into the general culture. While on the other hand, Nokia and Symbian remain in the shadows. I'm outraged!

Note to myself: I wonder if there's anyway to work around this and make it usable on the N95 since it runs on the basis of the same browser... Just wondering...

iPhone for sale, unlocked by end october?

I stopped by the Apple Shop (or is it Apple Store *thinkin*) in ABC Mall yesterday, which happens to be one shop away from the new Nokia FCC-Middle East shop. I asked the guys one question: when will the iPhone arrive? The salesman told me "end october". I know for one that I've already asked them quite a few times about iPod accessories or iPod new models arrival dates and they were never wrong, or at most it took a week more than they said. But they always were right. So I asked him if the iPhone will be unlocked to be used with any provider, which is the case in Lebanon (there are no provider-specific devices at all), and he answered "of course, you can use it with your MTC or Alfa SIM card" (MTC and Alfa being the 2 services providers in Lebanon)...

Now that leaves me puzzled, if what he said is true, than the iPhone will be finally available unlocked by end october. Of course it will cost 20% more than in the USA, that's a mere fact with Apple products in Lebanon, but that doesn't annul the truth that it WILL be unlocked. What astonishes me is that, if you browsed the whole internet, you wouldn't *i think* find a rumor about Apple releasing unlocked iPhones, let alone this soon, especially that if a certain device is to be released in Lebanon, it usually is a couple of weeks/months after other countries.

Of course I won't be buying an iPhone, I think its idea is amazing but it's definitely not for me. Maybe the 3rd or 4th generation iPhone would make it to my standards, but right now, it's a no-go. But it's still nice to see that it's coming to Lebanon.

I don't take any responsabilities for the salesman's word, i'm just reporting my conversation with him. And if this post makes it to the Apple fanboys, if you're looking for Lebanon on a near-by atlas, it's in Asia, in the Middle East, the little dot above Israel ;)

SPlus iTheme = iPhone interface on your phone for 9.99$

First of all, I would love to start by saying what an amazing job these guys from SPlus are doing! Plain amazing!

After bringing the Best XP Theme to the symbian phones (read about it here) that makes your phone look like it's running windows XP and allows you an easy and configurable access to all apps on your phone, they surprise us once more by bringing iTheme.

Looks anything familiar? Well, if you know just a 'lil bit about phones, you must have seen something like this all over the blogosphere and the internet for months now. Yes, it looks like the iPhone's interface! *applauses*

With the iPhone's launch getting closer (Steve Jobs even specified the exact hour), the iTheme seems like the nice plus that would make you less eager and less jealous of your wealthy and geeky iPhone fan friends.

The iTheme is less of a theme and more of a total standby system for your phone, that allows easy access to many apps on your phone. Basically, it makes your s60 stand out of the crowd. And since it's by SPlus, expect updates and new features really quickly.

Features of the iTheme include

- View and launch all programs in your phone.

- Wallpaper change able

- Use as default phone Standby

- Analog/digital clock,Battery,Signal level,Date&time

- View&Launch with History list of programs usage&Call log

- Automatic generate programs list

- Easy to define & launch with programs categories

- User name&Picture id

- KeyLock function

- Call Function

- Quick Dial Function

- Theme Manager function.

Edit: I tried the iTheme and it really looks nice, and visible on my 3250. Post tomorrow.

[Get iTheme from Handango]