Re: Article to read, about E90 and Hildon.
 

Holy Crap thanks for the article I was almost about to hit the BUY button on the N95 after reading how Nokia works... I've just about emptied the shopping cart damit back to the drawing board I need something to replace my old Treo 650 which has kind of served me well minus the duplicate records and duplicat fields in contact info... ugh... why can't ONE COMPANY JUST GET IT RIGHT???

Apple for god sakes bring that freaking iPhone to Canada atleast I know it'll work with my Mac

Re: Article to read, about E90 and Hildon.
 

I'd have thought being able to *receive* faxes on a Communicator would be more valuable than sending. Sending of electronic documents from a Communicator via fax doesn't make any sense these days - email has that pretty much covered. However I've been in many a situation where I've had real, hard copy paper documents that I've needed to send somewhere for approval/authorisation and it's been much easier for me to fax the docs than it has been to track down a scanner attached to someone elses workstation and have them scanned and forwarded via email. While I'm sure departmental scanners are becoming more prevalent (indeed our faxes are very slowly being replaced by networked photocopier machines) they're still a common sight in many UK offices and no doubt elsewhere in the world too.

For an exec on the move, the ability to *receive* faxes could still be a big advantage. No doubt a third-party app will fill this void, but why force the user to go the third party route when Nokia already had it covered in the past? :)

Re: Article to read, about E90 and Hildon.
 

What I find ironic is when someone makes unsafe assumptions about others in an effort to take them to task over making assumptions. ;)

It's highly possible to be both savvy geek and successful businessman. California is full of them. Heck, so is Texas.

Re: Article to read, about E90 and Hildon.
 

Yes, people like that usually fail to understand that most of us "tech" geeks here are the ones SUPPORTING the "businessmen" and having to listen to their mad demands for all types of functionality.
To quote a good friend of mine who works in the DoD in the D.C. area: "Hi, I'm an information technology specialist. We run sh1t now."
(It's a line from some movie as well I think)

Maybe "businessmen" in the UK and Europe need handheld fax capability, but everywhere else I've been on the planet (Middle East, Africa, Asia, and the US) they want email and have ditched their fax machines for digital senders, namely HP's line of digital senders. I think I've setup a few hundred of those over the years.
Face it, the ONLY reason folks want fax capability like that is to scan in a document and have it on their device. That's why digital senders are going to pretty much replace fax machines in ten years time. They eventually pay for themselves over time what with getting rid of a dedicated phone line and being able to scan in and eventually mass store paper documents.

The BIGGEST complaints I've heard about portable devices have been in regards to digital signatures/signing/encryption support. Particularly the lack of "options" when it comes to hardware PKI tokens (read: smart cards) since right now the Blackberry has that one sewn up with the CAC sleds (both bluetooth and attached sleds). Nokia can hit it HUGE in the business world if they would just develop and market to the U.S. Government a bluetooth or attached smartcard reader sled for their E-series phones. Well, that and get their phones through the NSA testing process for supported encryption techniques. Because once you get the U.S. Gov, you get all those contracting companies as well....Northrupp Grumman, Boeing, DynaCorp, Halliburton, etc.

As long as a device supports PKI functionality in addition to email, contacts, and calendar then the "businessmen" I work with are pretty frickin' ecstatic.
And now I'm starting to get questions "about this VoIP thing on cell phones" since we're running VoIP at work now. (read: management looking to save a few extra bucks that better be going to my damned EOY bonus!)
I got so many requests/questions about the iPhone that I basically wrote up a little internal memo and sent it around to everyone about how they will HATE an iPhone and what it DOESN'T offer them compared to their current phones.
That pretty much killed their lust for it instantly.

Re: Article to read, about E90 and Hildon.
 

@Millhouse,

As I mentioned a few pages back, digital scanner are coming on like gang busters. They provide the "faxing" capability that people still claim to need. At State, you see more DS (digital scanners) than fax machines. When I mentioned 3rd party apps filling the void, I was talking from the position that you will find better and more robust offerings than what Nokia would supply. You know that Nokia will only supply the cursory app with limited functionality. As I also mentioned, with the E90, you can now do everything on the outside of the phone that you could do on the inside. I wonder if S80 users are moaning about this handy feature.

@iball maybe you have me on ignore or something, but you repeated pretty much what I said about sending docs, minus the PKI info. I have tried to import my dig cert into my N95 but it will not allow it. If Nokia could add this handy feature, we would be set. The govt, is using dig certs left and right now. Even their web sites are issuing tokens for verification. All web mail users have the little RSA (or some other brand) tokens to provide use authentication access.

The developers of the E90 made a smart move in my opinion of dumping an app that for the most part is no longer needed and replacing them with wider device functionality.

Re: Article to read, about E90 and Hildon.
 

I've imported many a gov't website digital cert as well as some public email certs ot only myself but a few others. The problem right now is that my PRIVATE signing certificate is on my smartcard with no way to copy it off and place it on the N95. Slapping a cert on the phone is easy, I just BT it over and it installs itself.
I found somewhere on the net a whole crapload of info on it, Google around.

Re: Article to read, about E90 and Hildon.
 

I couldn't agree with you more, SD69.

I personally think that moving from S80 to S60 was an *easy* decision, really, and certainly the right decision. The communicator line and S80 was stagnated into its own position. Differences between S80 and S60 weren't certainly trivial.

Now, looking at E60, E61, E65, E90 all running essentially the same software platform, and running S60, makes it so much easier for software developers to make the decision to support it, instead of having to choose between S60 and S80. I don't see Nokia/ES management being "out of touch" with this issue at all. Talking on a general level, making features that a device with relatively limited popularity enjoy showstoppers - i.e. if the E90 wouldn't be able to come to the market without having those features - would really be a silly idea.

S80 really enjoyed a very limited set of 3rd party software support - compared to S60 - at the end of the day. It's a long term move, but you should already easily see and understand the advantages of that move.

Re: Article to read, about E90 and Hildon.
 

I still think the transition could have been managed better.

Re: Article to read, about E90 and Hildon.
 

No matter how it was managed, people were going to complain. This is evident in the article posted. The only thing the article pointed out was the negative, and moaned on and on how users were now disadvantaged. No where did it point out that S60 is transparent throughout the entire device, or that there is a plethora of software. As someone put it, this was just a simple Nokia bash session. Sales figures will ultimately determine who was right.

Re: Article to read, about E90 and Hildon.
 

Hey iball. I tried your method. My N95 will not import the .cer file. Says file type unsupported. Hmmmm..... Any suggestions? Thanks.

Re: Article to read, about E90 and Hildon.
 

Nokia wasn't the only one bashed. Apparently, enthusiasts who have seen a lot of mobile devices and largely given the E90 good reviews did so because they like things "new and shiny" for their "infantile" unboxings. I myself usually prioritize functionality over aesthetics or the cool factor, but the article unfairly made it sound like the only positive attribute of the E90 was the cool factor.

When the S60 Communicator was announced, I understood it as a business decision but was concerned that there would be all kinds of bugs with menus not formatting correctly, etc. But the transition from S80 and S60 was apparently performed rather well so you have to give the E90 a nod. And as it evolves (and I'm guessing gets a bit cheaper) is going to be a significant competitor in the handheld computer segment.

Re: Article to read, about E90 and Hildon.
 

I agree with you 10000000000%. I just got my E90 and I love it. All my software works as it did on my N95.

I do wish that Nokia had sent me a personal, hand engraved invitation letting me know that they were migrating from S80 to S60 though.

Re: Article to read, about E90 and Hildon.
 

For some stupid reason, Nokia decided to go with the .DER format instead of the industry-standard .CER format in S60 devices.
Whoever the jackhole is at Nokia HQs who suggested that one should be publicly hanged and the video uploaded to YouTube.
Talk about a pain-in-the-*** exporting from OS X's keychan to a bunch of .DER files and then BT transferring them over. Now I keep all those certs in a cert folder on my micro-SD card & on my computer in case I ever need to install them again.
And I won't even go into the issues getting Nokia phones to connect to a Cisco 3000 VPN concentrator as those are pretty well documented now.

Re: Article to read, about E90 and Hildon.
 

Uhhhhh..... How did you convert from .cer to .der? Keychain does not seem to provide a converter.

Re: Article to read, about E90 and Hildon.
 

... And just for those who thought it was only The Register bashing Nokia for fun, here's a snippet from the All About Symbian website, by someone -- Ewan -- who can hardly be called a Nokiaclast:

http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/featu...ringe_pt_2.php

It seems not even the fanbois like the E90.

<snif> <snif> -- NOT!

Re: Article to read, about E90 and Hildon.
 

Sorry about that. Export as a .PEM and then the extension to .DER.
At least I think that's how I did it. It was so long ago...

Re: Article to read, about E90 and Hildon.
 

Actually, IMHO quite different from the venomous "Nokia abandoned and spit on their loyal customers" approach of the Register. Pefectly fair to comment critically about keyboard design and layout, etc., and pondering where it fits in the current range of high end mobile devices.

Re: Article to read, about E90 and Hildon.
 

That's enough rationality out of you. :p

Re: Article to read, about E90 and Hildon.
 

Re: Article to read, about E90 and Hildon.
 

After all my rants, I have one (a kind gift from my wife).
It is not so bad.
After one full day of confusion (everything was in the *wrong* place for somebody used to the previous communicators) I am figuring out how to make it do what I need. The accompanying software needs robust adaptations, though, particularly the browser. But, alas, it *is* a communicator.
With my n800 makes a nice couple. I'd like them to marry and have a child - a clamshell, linux-based, gps, stylus and keyboard enabled, new communicator... maybe the G900 (G for geeks, like N for entertainment and E for business).

Re: Article to read, about E90 and Hildon.
 

Ahhh... You want a faster Psion Series 5mx with the N800's colour screen, GSM and WiFi?

Well... SO DO I!!!!!!!

Dammit.

:o

(minor correction: For what I use my N800 mostly for -- movies, music and books -- a 5mx-like clamshell would actually suck more. But that 5mx keyboard is just so yummy...)

Re: Article to read, about E90 and Hildon.
 

Yes, yes, Karel, don't we all, just cool down now :-)
Indeed, so how about my favourite/original/patent-pending idea^Wpet peeve : the keyboard part of a 5mx, turned into an autonomous BT keyboard, with a hollow clamshell cover that will act as a stand for a tablet ?... Best of both worlds, an' all that.

Re: Article to read, about E90 and Hildon.
 

It would be one of the lesser-sucky keyboard addon ideas. Still, allthough I liked my 5mx almost as much as my Newton (and in some aspects, such as the very clever screen zoom implementation[*] and the printer drivers, even more), I'm adamant in that Newton-like HWR for the N-IT would be much more useful and productive.

You see, if I have to lug around an extra piece of kit anyway, I'd prefer it to be a keyboard as near to fullsize as possible, and even the 5mx's keyboard was just that little tad too small to be completely comfortable.
____
[*] For those who never experienced Psion, all Psion clamshell handhelds had a zoom function. "Yes, oh Stupid One," I can hear you mock, "So do the Nokia Internet Tablets. Duh!"

Ah, but you see, Psion's zoom had a fit-to-screen option that was implemented in every application on the handheld. Also, the Psions would use different fonts for different zoomlevels, not "Times" and "Helvetica", but fonts with slightly different metrics, adapted to the bigger size, for your viewing pleasure. It made a difference, trust me.

No? Well, I guess you had to be there...

Re: Article to read, about E90 and Hildon.
 

Yes, yes we do :-/

The Asus Eee PC looks comparable to a Netbook/Series 7, but we're still nowhere near the level of coolness of a colour, high-resolution, high-powered, Linux-running, wifi, BT 5mx :-(

Re: Article to read, about E90 and Hildon.
 

And, just to rub the salt in some more : with the terrible (but well integrated, UI-wise) embbeded BASIC dialect replaced by a similarly integrated Python package, as on the tablets...

Re: Article to read, about E90 and Hildon.
 

I am alittle off the topic but can someone tell me if there's a difference between the dark e90 and the red other than the color? The reason i ask is because i seen on some site's the price for the red is less than the dark one?

Re: Article to read, about E90 and Hildon.
 

Linux isn't all that difficult to get running on the 5mx; its screen res is 640x240, so that's not half bad either; colour is out, obviously, and the screen quality of the 5mx is abysmal (you need really good light to see anything at all); there's no WiFi, but Bluetooth might be possible (http://www.roalan.com/Bluetooth%20Wi...0Converter.htm) cludgy, but possible; and as to high power, well the 5mx runs for weeks on 2 AAs and its native programs are optimized enough to let you forget it has only a 33 MHz engine trundling along.

Still, I don't think it can do even a fraction of what the N800 can, multimedia-wise and the 5mx's internet experience would probably be colonoscopically painful.

I'm so definitely buying an Eee when it comes out! It's cute...

Re: Article to read, about E90 and Hildon.
 

Are you referring to OPL?

Re: Article to read, about E90 and Hildon.
 

The dark one reflects your PDA future; the red one is red because it is from Satan!!!!!

http://www.hot-stuff-costumes.com/ha...s/evillaff.wav

Re: Article to read, about E90 and Hildon.
 

Indeed, I used to demo it at the Linux SIG at one of my previous employers; unfortunately there isn't a good GUI solution.

I think it'd also be the worst of all worlds, the things the N800 can do well:

* Access the Internet, including IM and web browsing (let's not mention email & RSS here ;-))
* Play video and multimedia
* Quick, colourful games

The things an EPOC-running 5mx can do well:

* PIM (specifically Contacts, Agenda and Jotter)
* Data entry
* Office applications (although compatibility is a bit tricky even nConvert)
* Java (reasonably well, anyway)

The things a Linux-running 5mx can do well:

* bash
* vi

Bring on the Eeeeeee :-)

Re: Article to read, about E90 and Hildon.
 

Yup, my only bad memory from the 5mx days... it was awesome to be able to actually code apps for the Psion ON the Psion, on-and-off, in trains, meetings etc. Not even the NITs come close (keyboard, heh).

But it was such a pain to be forced to do it in a new, special language, especially a tormented and tormenting dialect like OPL. And talk about code reuse... when the Psion went, so went the man-days-or-months of sweat 'n tears spent on the code.

Since then when I do still code I only ever touch Python. Apps I made years ago for the Zaurus now run on my tablet, on my Windows PC, on my home server... and I still understand the code, unlike OPL32 :-)

Yes, there was a port of Python for the 5mx at the time ; but like Linux there was no UI integration, so mostly useless.