Project Management in S60 Devices? Dealing With the “Multi” in Multimedia
If you are at all like me (and since you are a bunch of cell phone geeks as well, you probably are), you spend a bunch of time working on different things on your mobile. And while it’s great to have a device that has so much capability to it, how do we go about tying together those capabilities into cohesive projects? How do I manage all the different media that might be involved with just one thing I’m working on, when it ends up in various applications and places all over my phone? Sure, I can do video, photos, music, note taking, messaging, etc… but how do all of those work together?
Let me give you an example. Lets say I have a multimedia project I
want to work on. This project involves video, photos, and an mp3
soundtrack. So in the course of working on this project, I shoot 5
videos, take 15 photos, and have plans for 4 different mp3’s to act as
my soundtrack. How do I keep everything unified? When I go to dump
that information onto my laptop, say to edit it in iMovie (as Mark has
been evangelizing so much lately), I will have to sift through the 20
videos on my phone (all cryptically named 09100701 or something
similar), not to mention find the specific photos I wanted to use out
of the possibly hundreds that I might have on my device. In addition,
if I took some text notes down in the Notepad app (say, ideas that I wanted to incorporate), and then recorded
some voice reminders for myself (specific cues on videos, photos to include, etc), I have to find those specific files as
well. At this point, before I even get into editing and working on my
project in iMovie, I’ve spent 30 minutes just getting everything I need
together. Not efficient!!!!!
Now, imagine the same scenario, but with a ‘project workflow’ app. How
I imagine this working is as follows: I take a video on my phone and
when the video is done recording (and is being saved to the gallery), I
have a menu option that says "tag for project". I click that option,
and I’m presented with a list of the tags I’ve predefined, as well as
the option for adding a new one. This menu option is available in
Video mode, Camera mode, my Notes app, the Voicerecorder, even in
Messaging (if I want to keep something someone sent me or I sent them
as a part of the project). Anytime I’m working on something, and I
know that it’s going to be a part of a later, more comprehensive
project, I can simply tag it with something unique.
The second part would be a simple centralized management application.
This would allow me to search my media by tag, and when my phone is
plugged in via USB, allow me to specifically send only those things
that are in that tag group to a folder on my computer.
Now when I go to work on iMovie or whatever software I’m working on, I
have a folder called "Matt’s Video Project for Symbian-Guru" (as an
example), and it contains all the relevant video clips, images, voice
direction for myself, notes I’ve taken, messages that people have sent
me regarding the project, even IM logs theoretically.
Welcome to simplified project management!
I already do this myself on my laptop at a basic level (and there are more sophisticated
programs for every Desktop OS that will do this as well). For example,
when I’m working on something that involves a lot of different mediums
I’ll create a ‘project folder’, and I’ll put everything in it while I’m
still in progress. When the project is done I might file those things
in other places, but during the working stages they are all
centralized. At work for example, I have client folders often times
where I might keep links to correspondence, copies of documents that
have gone out or come in, proposals, quotes, invoices, etc. My CRM software at work has a lot of this functionality in it as well.
Nokia is selling their S60 devices as "Multimedia Computers", and I
think for the most part they live up to that. But if you break down
the word "Multimedia", it’s implied that you have "multiple" forms of
"media" … so a good content management system becomes vital as
projects get more sophisticated. I’m simply amazed at the level of media sophistication that can be achieved on a modern smartphone… but that sophistication can’t be hampered by poor management of media, or it will always remain a novelty. So this is a call to developers and Nokia themselves: centralized content management on device would be the mark that separates you from the competition!
Matt C.
I totally agree, the N95 with multiple integrated features doesn’t really function as a whole. Rather several independent funtions.
I manage a website development / software development project for a US Federal agency, and I use my E90 extensively as a business tool. I sync my meetings on it, take notes with it, use the Teams extensively, etc. In the past, I’ve tried numerous times to use a PDA for a lot of PMP functions, but until I hate the E90, it just wasn’t working.
I agree that more needs to be done by Nokia and the Development community at large, but I think that if you truly are looking for a device to give you the basics of business functionality that you can take with you anywhere, only a handful of Nokia’s even fit that bill. I’m not sure I’d place the N95 there, but I’d definitely place the E90 in that category.
Interesting . . . very interesting . . . Nice idea Ricky, I think this kind of app is going to increasingly more useful as phones progress. Mark is quite right, the iPhoto/iMovie combo will take care of much of this, but obviously there would still be some sifting to do first.
Lol, thanks, James, but unfortunately, that post was all Olly. He’s going to be writing more on S-G in the future, perhaps we should figure out a way to better note which posts are his.
@Scott: my post was more aimed at the multimedia sides of the phone, but you are quite right that from a business management side of things, Nokia’s could benefit from this — frankly, I’ve tried every mobile OS out there and not a single one is capable of replacing the functionality needed by the average business user, which is now handled on a laptop. The E90 goes a long way, but really in the end I’m skeptical that for the complete end to end business user a mobile device (at least mobile in the sense that a smartphone is mobile) can get it done.
But from a multimedia standpoint, your phone is your creative device in many ways… so software that ties all of that together becomes a much easier proposition.
@James: thanks for the props (even if they were aimed at Ricky lol)… I really think there needs to be something that happens prior to hitting the ‘editing room’ that is iPhoto and iMovie… tagging on phone would accomplish much of that.
Matt C. (aka olly)
@Matt: Opps! Sorry about that. (^_^)
Haha, no worries @ James
Matt C.
I have bemoaned the lack of integration myself, from a slightly different perspective tho’. I am a mature student doing a joint Bio/Geog degree and field trips are an integral part of both the course and the areas I hope to gain employment in. A coordinated photo/video/note/voice/GPS app on my phone would be the ultimate replacement for tatty, rain-soaked note books and a digicam stuffed with a mix of social and work related content from trips out. Having worked in IT for years previously, I know I can easily knock up a database app to collect project elements together in the relatively static environment of the office workplace. I would dearly like to see an app for my phone that ties all the media together and allows me to make proper sense of the information I have collected out in the field.