The future of mobile User Interfaces and the post iPhone era?

Apple’s iPhone is one of most popular gadgets on the Net right now and recently the company announced they’ve sold one million iPhones in 74 days. Apple did no sell so good because of a really good high-tech device, but because of good marketing and a new, fresh and cool user interface. Today I’m going to discuss user interfaces, why the iPhone has been so successful and what we all can learn studying their marketing strategies.

The iPhone

The iPhone has never been a groundbreaking device looking at the hardware. Apple’s intention was never to create a high-end device, but to take the iPod one step further giving it phone functionality. Apple wanted something extra when introducing the iPhone, and this extra little thing came to be a intuitive user interface. Apple has used this tactics before and it helps them immediately break in to the Apple has sold over 100 million iPod devices the last 6 years, and has today 68% overall market share of all digital music players.

Apple intends to do even better with the iPhone, or as Mr. Jobs once said, Apple is aiming to sell about 10 million iPhones through the end of 2008.

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US optimized Nokia N95 now official, soon available in North America

Symbian today announced the official release of the US optimized Nokia N95! Some of the changes are American 3G frequencies allowing faster data transfers, more free RAM and a better battery. The new and improved yankee N95 will be available this month! Yay!

I’ve written it before, and I’m writing it again. Nokia will not tolerate the iPhone taking over huge chunks of the American market. I would bet Nokia will make a real effort to take control over some of the US market (yes their earlier attempts have been pretty lame so far don’t you think?). Now, the big question just might be - where’s BlackBerry in all of this?

Read more for the full pressrelease:

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How to: Install and play Quake on your Symbian Phone!

This post has been updated and rewritten 2007-12-21!

It’s amazing what the Nokia N-series devices are capable of. Did you know it’s possible to play the original Quake (yes the exact same game, not a simplified modified lame version) with hardware accelerated graphics and all on your phone. Just check this video out:

This is all thanks to a Finnish guy called Hinkka. He’s ported the original Quake to Symbian S60 phones with Feature Pack 1 (FP1) and a ARM V6 processor using P.I.P.S.

This is what you’ll need to do to install Quake on your phone:

1. Download and install the Symbian P.I.P.S. C-runtime library

   You’ll find the file here. Download it to your PC and transfer it to your phone using the USB cable. 

    

2. Copy files from the original Quake game to your phone

   To do this you’ll need one of the following: 

    

   • The original full game

     You can buy the full game at idSoftware for $20. If you happen to have the original game stored in your bookshelf you can of course also it.
      

     1. Create a ‘QUAKE1′ folder in the root of your memorycard (NOT in your phones memory).
     2. Copy the ‘ID1′ folder on your original Quake CD to the ‘QUAKE1′ folder you just created. 

   OR

   • The free to download shareware Quake demo (which I’m running in the video above).
      
     1. Download the demo here.
     2. Install the game on your PC. It’ll probably be placed in your C:\QUAKE1 folder.
     3. Create a ‘QUAKE1′ folder in the root of your memorycard (NOT in your phones memory).
     4. Create a ‘ID1′ folder in your ‘QUAKE1′ folder which you just created.
     5. Copy the .pak file from your PC to your memory cards ‘ID1′ folder (you’ll probably find the .pak file in your C:\QUAKE1\ID1\ folder, copy it to your memory cards ‘..\QUAKE1\ID1\’ folder) 
3. You can also add gamemusic (this part is not required if you don’t want music)
    
   1. Create a ‘CDAUDIO’ folder in the ‘QUAKE1′ folder on your memory card.
   2. Put what ever music (as long as it’s MP3’s) you want in the ‘CDAUDIO’ folder you just created on your memory card.
   3. Rename the music files ranging from 1.mp3 to 10.mp3.

   I’m not sure what bitrates works best but I tried 256kbs and it only reduces performance with 0.1 fps.

    

4. Download and install the Symbian Quake file

   You’ll have to choose the appropriate file for your device. You’ll find the files here. 

   Here’s an explanation on when to use each file:

   • Use these if you used the Quake demo .pak file
     quake_v103_armv6_fpu.sisx - Your phones has a floating point unit (ie. N95, E90, etc).
     quake_v103_armv6_nofpu.sisx - Your phones does not have a floating point unit (ie. 6290). 

   • Use these if you used the original full Quake files and want network play
     quakeworld_v103_armv6_fpu.sisx - Your phones has a floating point unit (ie. N95, E90, etc).
     quakeworld_v103_armv6_nofpu.sisx - Your phones does not have a floating point unit (ie. 6290).

You’re now ready to rock and roll!

Game keys:

Currently the keys are mapped as follows when ingame:

In the console you should be able to type by multitapping. And yes, a bluetooth keyboard really makes life easier!

Please consider to donate hinkka (just click on the paypal icon) for all his efforts with this fantastic game!

Sony Ericsson W960, awsome music phone!

The W960 Walkman phone is Sony Ericsson’s new heavy weight Walkman device, offering 8GB of storage data for all your music files and a cool touchscreen - all in a slim format. Combined with UMTS and the high performance media player, which is the trademark of Walkman, Sony Ericsson hopes for a chunk of the high end user market. It can pack up to 8,000 songs* and includes a Walkman player for finger-touch navigation (as well as a stylus) around play lists on the large screen.

The 2.6" display serves as an excellent viewfinder for a 3.2 mega pixel camera and as a widescreen for watching video in TV quality. The W960 succeeds in delivering all the features of a high performance media player in a standard phone size:

• Store more: Up to 700* albums and PC-to-phone transfer of 1GB in less than 3 minutes
• Touch and play: Navigate the latest Walkman® player with touch of a finger or stylus
• Explore more: Surf the Web via Wi-Fi™ or at 3G speed and watch videos in TV quality

The W960 drops in the fourth quarter of the year; you’ll be able to have any color you want, as long as it’s black.

Read more for specifications, images and a video.

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Grand Opening Sale! New Symbian applications store!

The new application store is now up and running! To celebrate the new store I’m giving all customers 20% discount on everything! All you need to do is to enter the discount code "SS20" in the shopping cart.

The store is loaded with applications and games such as CorePlayer Mobile, a multimedia player that supports a lot of different file formats and codecs.

CorePlayer Mobile:

Below is a YouTube Video demonstrating Core Player running on a Nokia N80.

• Universal skins allows you to create a unique custom user interface exactly how you want it!
• Best in Class audio and video decoders like CoreAVC our High Definition H.264 video decoder
• CoreTheque media library allows for easy management of your playlists, bookmarks, and databases
• CorePlayer Mobile allows you to enjoy your music with these supported audio formats:
  MP3, AAC, MKA, WMA, WAV, OGG, Speex, WAVPACK, FLAC, MPC, AMR, ADPCM, ALaw, MuLaw, Midi
• Coreplayer Mobile support these video formats and containers;
  Video: H.264 (AVC), MKV, MPEG-1, MPEG-4 part 2 (ASP), DivX, XviD, WMV*, MJPEG
  Containers: Matroska, TS, PS, 3GPP, MOV, AVI, MPEG-4, NSV
• Coreplayer is available for S60 2nd Edition, S60 3rd Edition, UIQ 2 and UIQ 3 devices.

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