I am trying to catch up on these reports as fast as I can, so here it is: the 5th report of N95 8GB Lebanon Ambassador covering day 9, 10 and 11 or in better words the use of the N95 8GB as a TV & Radio controller, uploading pictures to Flickr as well as GPS with Nokia Maps. Previous reports found here: Day 1 & 2, Day 3 & 4, Day 5, Day 6, 7 & 8.
Day 9 – Remote Controlling TV & Stereo
Having had a Nokia 3250 with no infrared port, I was never able to test Psiloc’s irRemote. I had always wanted to see how it functions, the range of the IR port as well as the usability of the feature.
I was really impressed by how easy to use the software was. In a matter of seconds, after a really long installation process, I was able to shift channels on my 14″ Aiwa (from back in the days) TV. I also tested it on the living room TV, our neighbor’s TV, my stereo and some other equipment that I came across. It was nice being able to let go of the TV remote, while still having control over the channels. It was also nice being able to annoy my parents by sticking around while they were watching some News channel with every disaster, problem, dilemma and conflict reported and switch the channel to a comedy show or an Egyptian movie. It was also nice being able to do a little trick using the remote controller and when people start wondering who did that and how it happened, put the N95 8GB in front of them and say “this is my remote”.
The major letdowns for me and everyone who tried this were the IR port place (being on the side, it doesn’t make it easy to slide out the keypad and type a channel number) as well as the IR range. It went from 0.7 meters to 1.2 meters maximum and I think that doesn’t make it a serious contender to an all-in-one remote controller.
I just remembered while typing this that there was a huge phenomenon some 5-10 years ago in Lebanon, amongst teens, concerning wrist watches with built-in remote controllers. I remember my cousin got one and the range was pretty good. I would like Nokia to improve the IR range on its devices and make it a standard. Many people consider IR as a retarded mobile communication especially with the speed and ease of use of Bluetooth. Well Psiloc proved that IR still has a use, so since it’s a very cheap hardware, why not put it in every device? I also would like to see Nokia release a special edition of a mid-range S60 3rd device, something in the taste of the 5500, improve the IR range, place it on top of the device and put a licensed version of Psiloc irRemote on it. I want to see them do a campaign about it and start demonstrating to people the huge amount of electronics an S60 can replace.
Day 10 – Uploading pictures to Flickr
I don’t have a Flickr account yet, but I am considering opening one. It’s the whole Yahoo id that has prevented me from having one, I seriously don’t need any more accounts. For now, I use Flickr to upload pictures to this blog, but I thought I’d give it a go through WiFi. I only selected the picture, entered the account details and selected upload. Took 2 minutes. Surprised by how easy it was, I decided to demonstrate it to my friends. Being able to instantly put a picture on a site made a good impression. But one question I got was: “Can I upload it to my Facebook?” well, I did everything I could, fiddling with the settings, trying the Share Online software and didn’t find a way to add a service beside Flickr, Vox and ikbis. I was sure it should be somewhere, but I couldn’t find it. If we can add another service, my apologies to Nokia and S60, but if we can’t I am seriously pissed, because that was something I was expecting.
I don’t have a Facebook account, but I know that 90% of the people around me do. I also know that 0% have a Flickr account. It is a matter of local service popularity. I am sure that Flickr is popular in some communities, as well as I am sure that it is totally unpopular in others. My point is that the Share Online software should allow a user to add his own service, or if not, it should support more, many more services out of the box: i am talking about image sharing, video sharing and blogging services. Not only Facebook, but also Blogger, Google Picasa, YouTube, DailyMotion, Bliptv and more. I am not an expert on those, but I am sure there are lots more.
Day 11 – GPS with Nokia Maps
This day went from frustration to frustration. I started by opening Nokia Maps, thinking it would be the best way to get into the action, was greeted with the globe image then a blue square around Lebanon. Good start I thought, just to discover that zooming in would get me nothing but green and green and green, not the nice green but the ugly green color I should add. Little problem. Opened my laptop, downloaded Nokia Maps uploader and tried to install. Said it required v3.5 of the NET framework, that’s one half hour of nothing but sitting in front of the laptop and enjoying some music. Started installing the framework, got an “Error” message. Crap! I try re-installing the framework, can’t do so, I have to re-download it. This is when frustration starts kicking in. Another half hour of staring at the emptiness in my life, and we’re back on track. It starts installing then “Error” right back at me. That’s enough to kill the optimism inside anyone… but me.
Well, I thought let’s try to do it over the device itself. Open Nokia Maps, the little blue square is over Europe now, “great” I think, then I remember I had zoomed out during the last session and tried zooming in on Europe. So far so good, Nokia Maps doesn’t start by where I am but by where I last left it. You would think it would start up by where you are. So how do I get to my current position? No option there. “Oh hell no!” comes ringing in my head, if any of you watched the comedy show called Girlfriends, you would know what I am talking about.
Solution? I remember there was something called GPS somewhere around the menu. GPS found, I launch it. Good enough it asks me to stay in direct sunlight and asks me to pick an access point. I was able to get a GPS satellite position lock in around 1 minute, using WiFi and standing under the bright sunlight. First smile of the day. Thank you. Now I am thinking what the ‘eck would I need these numbers for, I want a map position. I try to find a “show me” option, no luck, try saving the current position and that’s where I see an option to show it on a map. What?! I can’t see a location on a map, unless I save it? Seriously?! With another “oh hell no” ringing in my head, I click on it. Takes me to Nokia Maps but this time it shows the blue square around Lebanon. Finally! Now it mentions loading, with a couple of yellow dots moving around but no sense of how much has to be loaded and how much has already been loaded. I remember that the map files are too huge and I think that I’d better exit.
An attempt at Google Maps left me with the same sick result: Lebanon is made out of one road on Google Maps. Funny. The closest I got to seeing where I was on the device was with Google Maps turned on Satellite view and the My Location service. Result: pretty close, parallel street.
This is just a story of my encounters with the GPS and Nokia Maps software. As I had a pretty disastrous experience myself, I decided not to demonstrate this feature, and went ahead and did some FlipSilent magic on Day 11: it’s always nice to see some wide-open eyes. What I expect Nokia to do is:
- To have an over-the-air map downloader with a progress bar, and even better, I don’t want it to download the whole country, just the region where I am at, like Google Maps.
- Provide me with a Satellite view option. Many countries are still not supported so Satellite view does improve the experience for those.
- Open Nokia Maps with my current location and don’t remind me that I had been dreaming about the Seychelles during my last session.
- Remove the silly GPS application and integrate its functionality with Nokia Maps. Goodness, when are you going to learn that no average user has the patience to wander around in his menu for hours to find what he is looking for, and that the average user wants to have the functionality in one place, not distributed all over.
- If you plan on keeping the GPS application, please let me view my location, before I decide to save it.
- Don’t use PC software that require the latest and newest hardware and software to run. Please. Many users are still stuck with NET v2.0, make your software work on it.
Maybe I am missing on something, after all a mistake is human. If I am, please tell me what I need to do in order to get things to work. I tried everything I thought of. Suggestions and advices welcome.
