Hac Wizard

How do I protect my Privacy on Mobile?

2010-03-05T19:59:00.000-08:00

I have been looking for a cool application to protect my privacy for my Nokia N97 since quite a few days now. I tried couple of applications, in fact bought some from the application stores - to try it out. I would be sharing my experience in this post today.

My basic requirement was basically to hide SMS messages from specific contacts and make them viewable privately. Well, this simple requirement was very difficult in most of the applications available in the Ovi Store.

The first application I bought was a cheap one and that is what lured me to buy it - Mr. SMS - 3 Euros. This application claims to block, schedule and protect SMS. Well, it didn't do any of these well - My phone always rang when I got a SMS which was blocked or protected. Other important thing is it didn't filter sent SMS, which is what I wanted. Also, it does not clear the SMS entries from the Logs. Seems I wasted my 3 Euros.

Time to buy another application - searching- found one more cheap one - Advanced Communication Manager - 3 Euros. Hell! - I didn't read the application description carefully before buying. "Advanced Communications Manager is a comprehensive manager for all the incoming communication on your phone – voice and text messages." As, it states it only handles incoming SMS, well they said voice but the application in real does't handle calls. Seems its a bad day for me. Wasted 6 Euros without much luck :-(

Moral - never get lured by very cheap apps on Ovi store, they are useless.

Now, I wanted to be very careful before buying - and carefully chose - Best PrivateConversation - This application has a very COMPLEX user interface, I should say. Though it handles SMS well - as they don't ring when incoming. The bad thing is Logs are not cleared and it can't be considered complete privacy. The application does not handle outgoing SMS, instead the SMS needs to be sent from the application, which is bad - when I want to forward SMS or write a long SMS - the application crashed!

Moral - read reviews before buying application - I found many people shouting about such problems when I used google. Seems I am not the only one looking for Privacy :D

I found another application that clearly mentioned the specifications in the application description - It also said, that Logs would be cleared for private SMS and calls! I bought the application - MobiPrivacy. This application just seemed to be made for me - straight forward user interface, Filters incoming and outgoing SMS, Filters private Logs for messages and calls, too (what more, I can view this private log in the application). Seems finally, I found the right application.

Just to explain the simplicity and versatility of the application, here is a screenshot of its User Interface.

Well, if you are looking for protecting your privacy on your phone, I would recommend you to try this app - MobiPrivacy. My guarantee, you won't be disappointed!

Symbian takes the heart rather than the mind

2009-04-04T22:18:00.000-07:00

Last week Symbian Foundation - announced the heart symbol (above) as their logo.

Well, why the heart and not the mind? After-all mind is where all the innovations take birth.

I think they took to an indian way of thinking and support the thought that all good things are perishable unless they come from the heart. So how many Indians do you have in your team SF? I bet this was suggested by an Indian fella.

E71X.... So that was the reason?

2009-03-31T02:03:00.000-07:00

In my very first post, Why was E71 flight to US delayed? I asked for a reason. Quite obviously the reasons for delaying the launch of Nokia E71 in the states.
Seems they answered my question today.

The much rumored and even more hotly anticipated AT&T version of
the Nokia E71 on Symbian OS, the E71x, has now been officially announced. The E71x features an
elegant black design and comes with an equally attractive price tag of
$99.99, with a two-year contract and after discounts and rebates.

So they have an E71X model that would cause excitment. Well, lets see how it goes.

Here are some specifications for the E71X model.

Nokia E71x, the thinnest smartphone, helps you combine your personal and
business life. With a seamless user interface, mobile email, and personal
information management features, the powerful Nokia E71x lets you effortlessly
organize your life. Built-in aGPS with AT&T Navigator,2 instant messaging,
Video Share, Wi-Fi,3 and Internet access keep you connected to the things that
are important so you can do more while on the go. Combine your pocket devices
into one thanks to the music player, 3.2 MP camera, video, notes, calendar, and
office tools.

Nokia Photo Browser is in Beta labs!

2009-03-30T21:53:00.000-07:00

Just saw the Nokia Photo browser is in the Beta lasbs now.

The Nokia Photo Browser is photo browsing application as name suggest. It’s
designed to be easy to use application, when ever you want quickly browse
through your images. User interface is designed to give fast access to all you
images. Photo browsing should be fun! That is why Photo Browser introduces new
ways to do photo viewing like; “Face browsing” which uses face detection
technology to find people faces from pictures and just by finger flick you can
browse people faces in image. Other cool feature is “MagGlass” magnifier, which
makes image zooming to feel and look more real and analog.

The application behaves well enough on my Nokia N97 proto, however I feel the time - imaging time can be reduced to obtain far better level of usability. Imagine this application's functionality with the multiple core processors that are being proposed for the future mobile models.

Although the application is still in beta and available for only 5th edition devices, I see a lot of potential from this Nokia's step further. "Design" is the keyword that Nokia should be focussing on in the forthcoming months, if I guess correct.

Nokia is currently working on the 3rd edition version of this application - yes, they do focus more on 5th edition these days - 3rd edition devices should be down marketted after a year (same fate as 2nd edition devices) when newly proposed 5th edition devices make their place.
Oh and here is a video demo for you to enjoy,

Using Google Analytics!

2009-03-30T21:44:00.000-07:00

I enter the blogosphere recently since I started that I needed to pour out my thought somewhere (irrespective where someone can read it or not). Writing a diary is what came to my mind before starting blogging. But then I thought - one day the civilization is bounded to perish - giving the next one to live upon the researches. I bet if the next civilization can get internet in undestructed format - they wouldn't have to do as much research as Indians did for Harappa civilization.

Well, then I started blogging. Once I started blogging I came across the word statistics for blogs. Working with mobile phone giants in the past years, I have been well familiar with the word - statistics and the corresponding word that often goes with it - Google analytics - and most of you (if anyone reads this) might be aware of the word.

I just registered for the service needing to know who else, from which part of the world read my posts and who follows me. The bad thing about blogging is that one can follow others annonymously - I guess blogger does not support spell checks. It would be interesting to see who watches me - still unknowing my name but only thoughts.

S60 Twitter is here now!

2009-03-30T21:29:00.000-07:00

Last time we talked about twitter and this post is about twitter as well. No I am not going to start tweeting - I would remain confined to what I have said - I would never use twitter. Life is too busy to use twitter.

But for those of you who use twitter, a nokia S60 phone and even tweet what you dream and feel, here is some news for you. Twitter S60 client is here now.

Gravity v1.00 by Mobileways is now released, the first fully-featured and native Twitter client for the S60 platform (3rd Edition and 5th Edition). It supports multiple accounts, Twitter Search, Laconica, TwitPic and wraps everything into a gorgeous looking interface. Screens and more info below, while Ewan will be having a more detailed look at the app later this week.

The feature list for the application goes as follows - just incase you want to quit twitter-deck

Compatible with Twitter and Laconica
All functions available on your S60 phone: tweet, reply, DM, follow & unfollow, create favourites, search, auto-update and many more …
Tabbed view of your Timeline, Replies, Messages, Friends, etc.
Setup and use as many accounts as you want at the same time
Twitter-Search section with multiple search tabs and Twitter Trends
Post pictures via TwitPic
Open URLs from any Tweet
Kinetic scrolling on S60v5 ( Nokia 5800 and Nokia N97 )
Theme support on S60v3 ( fixed dark and bright theme )

Well, just to mention - many members of the open community - you know which - are tweeting as a part of thier job I guess - to indicate openness and the client comes in to fulfill their requirements.

Symbian foundation- Movement is the correct word!

2009-03-29T18:50:00.000-07:00

They are taking things to seriously - like thinking about vocabulary using. I am impressed.
I am quoting few lines here -

To address these worries, let me briefly tell a tale of four different
words: community, ecosystem, economy, and movement.
“Community” is the word with the oldest heritage to describe the partners, developers and end-users who develop and use Symbian software. “Community” means people with something in common - such as a shared geographical location, a shared environment, or (as astutely described by Etienne Wenger) a shared set of practices. Symbian Software’s second CEO, David Levin, observed ahead of one of the annual Symbian gatherings that the words “community” and “ecosystem” were both used to describe the gathering. He asked the Symbian Leadership Team if one was more appropriate than the other: “Community” seemed to imply a feeling of being in a club - we are all in this together, and we will all look after each other; there are no real losers and no real winners; “Ecosystem” reflected a business reality that there are winners and losers; members of the ecosystem frequently compete with each other (and even sometimes eat each other) as well as often collaborating with each other. So the biological term won favour - we spoke more and more about “the Symbian ecosystem” and less and less about “the Symbian community”. (Moreover, there was a nice “pun”: Symbian consisted of Symbian OS plus Symbian ES - that is, operating system plus ecosystem.)

Over the years, I often wondered whether “economy” might have been a better choice. Symbian’s rival PalmSource had been talking about a “Palm Economy” since at least February 2001. Arguably, the difference between an ecosystem and an economy is that the former is entirely self-managed, whereas the latter can in principle benefit from a measure of intelligent central steering. With the formation of the Symbian Foundation and the adoption of open source, it is time to rethink vocabulary. Just because such-and-such terminology has been used in the past, is no reason for using that same terminology in the future. This brings us to the word “movement”. Movement seems to me to add some concepts that are missing from each of the words “community”, “ecosystem”, and “economy”: A clear sense of direction and purpose An expression of passion. Of course, there will be Symbian developers who take part in shared community activities, without having a sense of shared direction and purpose. That’s fine. But I envisage that, over time, more and more participants will want to: Not just use the software, but collaborate in creating and developing the software; Not just use the devices and applications, but seek to tell other people how good these devices and applications are; Develop software, not just because their boss pays them to do so, but because of the excitement and pleasure they derive from this software system; See the bigger picture of what can be accomplished as the platform and the associated services improve - and start to root for these improvements. That’s why I like the term “movement”, to describe what the Symbian Foundation is creating.

Apple should start selling Apples!

2009-03-29T00:55:00.000-07:00

In case of notebooks, Microsoft has been looking on Apple's vurnerable spot - the cost factor - since quite a while now. And finally, I came across an advertisement that says it all!

Watch it for yourself.

The advertisement may wake up Nokia as well. Sony Erricson has got better features in a phone with less price than a Nokia phone with similar features.

Talking about Twitter

2009-03-29T00:45:00.000-07:00

I wonder if Twitter is gonna be the next generation school for the kids. Culturally, people - even smart ones - believe that twitter does good to their status and shows that they are quite active on the internet? How much reality lies in such thoughts?

Is twitter really worth using? Can people find time for their happenings to be tweeted while giving 100% effort to thier tasks? Why would I tweet my personal life and tell people about my mistakes? Why would I not simply follow people like few smart people do with their opponent leaders. Some people tweet when they go for a coffee, when they wake up, etc. What good does it do to them? Is it motivation in a way? Few questions, unanswered.

PS: I would never use twitter. Infact, I started with blogging recently and feel its a way to just freak out my thoughts without caring who reads them or who follows my blogs. I wonder if anyone but me reads them.

Where is the motivation?

2009-03-29T00:39:00.000-07:00

Is the success of big Giants motivation for developers?

The recently announced OVI store is a motivation (or a strategy in disguise)? What do you think? Is the open source forthcoming a motivation for developers - or simply a smart move by the Giant - so that they can hire less people and get more out from the community (i.e. Buy what the want after they see - BWTWATS) ? Who would care to look into the code - except few companies - What is in for individual developers? Nothing - please be sure to comment of you feel that there is anything in for the individual developers?

Developers want motivation - jobs, money, fame - which should be given to them selflessly with the giants! Nothing yet, I feel has been achived by the giant in terms of tru motivation from the Giant - holding competetions has become a trend which never redefines motivation and ultimately thats not selfless motivation when considered.

So the bottom line - "Where is the motivation?"

There’s lots more in the Pipeline quotes the Catalyst!

2009-03-29T00:28:00.000-07:00

Recently, the SDN - which has merely 20 to 30 days life now - announced the new EUserHL Core Idioms library. How useful are these?

The library delivers the following, as quoted

* LString, a string class that handles its own buffer management and cleanup
* LCleanedupX and LManagedX, a set of cleanup management helper templates
* CONSTRUCTORS_MAY_LEAVE, a helper macro that enables single-phase construction
* OR_LEAVE, a helper macro to cleanly convert error-returning code into leaving code

The use of templates in L Class makes it - more code than it was before! Is it a good start? Does this enable more options for the developers? If yes who are those developers?

As the title says - there is lots more to in the pipeline! Lets wait and watch - wondering how many days more....

Big blow for Nokia again?

2009-03-29T00:27:00.001-07:00

Before 2 weeks Nokia fired 1,700 of its employees globally. 7,00 of them being from Finland.

Here is another big blow for businesses who are getting big bucks by partnering with Nokia. Nokia has reportedly decided that it would not use any more outside contract manufacturers for the fabrication process of its phones. According to the company, due to weak global demand on the phone market, it would stop outsourcing its production to Electronics Manufacturing Service (EMS) providers or to Original Design Manufacturers (ODMs).

Nokia 6710 Navigator - find something new today!

2009-03-29T00:21:00.000-07:00

Finally, a new middle end phone with cool features is out!

The Nokia 6710 Navigator is EGPRS and WCDMA device supporting also HSDPA/HSUPA (3.5G) and WLAN. Enjoy videos, music, and graphics on the 2.6” QVGA TFT display. Take photos with a 5-megapixel camera with a dual LED flash and Carl Zeiss optics. Additional features include GPS and Nokia Maps 3.0, Compass, UPnP, Bluetooth 2.0 +EDR, and USB 2.0 High-Speed.

Here is a video demonstrationg atleast the navigation features!

House hold appliances with Symbian OS!

2009-03-28T02:58:00.000-07:00

The Symbian Foundation would apparently release the millon dollar code for nuts, on Day 1.

One might argue - who is eligible officially to use this code and burn it somewhere else?

Can I use the code for my in house product - my own cellphone - I made for experimental purposes? Could other mobile giants like Motorolla, LG, etc burn the OS to their devices? If the answer is yes, officially - wouldn't it be harmful to Nokia - since Nokia claims to have acknoledged Symbian last year?

What is more - imagine the OS finding its way to various other hand-handled devices - Videocon may want to use it for their refrigerators and ovens - ofcourse after tweaking the code to their needs. So what is the big picture? Why is Symbian (and indirectly Nokia) doing this?

Let's see if some visionary from the esteemed Giant care to read and answer to this.

Top Nokia secrets...

2009-03-23T03:28:00.000-07:00

I came across a blog before few minutes - where I learnt many things that I honestly didn't know about NOKIA. So I called them secrets ;-)

It would be worth going through the following list and I am sure - you would not know many either.

1. The ringtone “Nokia tune” is actually based on a 19th century guitar work named “Gran Vals” by Spanish musician Francisco Tárrega. source

2. The Nokia Tune (ringtone )was originally named “Grande Valse” on Nokia phones but was changed to “Nokia Tune” around 1998 when it became so well known that people referred to it as the “Nokia Tune.” source

3. The world’s first commercial GSM call was made in 1991 in Helsinki over a Nokia-supplied network, by Prime Minister of Finland Harri Holkeri, using a Nokia phone. source

4. In 2006 Nokia was the world’s largest digital camera manufacturer, as the sales of its camera-equipped mobile phones exceeded those of any conventional camera manufacturer. source

5. The “Special” tone available to users of Nokia phones when receiving SMS (text messages) is actually Morse code for “SMS”. source Similarly,

6. The “Ascending” Nokia SMS tone is Morse code for “Connecting People,” Nokia’s slogan. source

7. The “Standard” Nokia SMS tone is Morse code for “M” (Message). source

8. The Nokia mobile phone User’s Guides mostly use the Agfa Rotis Sans font. source

9. In Asia, the digit 4 never appears in any Nokia handset model number, because 4 is considered unlucky in many parts of Southeast/East Asia. source

10. Nokia was listed as the 20th most admirable company worldwide in Fortune’s list of 2006 (1st in network communications, 4th non-US company). source

11. Unlike other modern day handsets, Nokia phones do not automatically start the call timer when the call is connected, but start it when the call is initiated. (Except for Series 60 based handsets like the Nokia 6600). source

12. The name of the town of Nokia originated from the river which flowed through Finnish town. source

13. Nokia’s first iconic product, the Nokia 2100 series that was introduced in 1994, sold nearly 20 million units in its time. source

14. The world’s best-selling phone, the Nokia 3310 / 3330 sold 126 million units from its launch in 2000 until its “retirement” earlier in 2005. source

15. The combined total of all Nokia phones sold between 1991 and 1998 is 100 million. source

16. Nokia sold their one billionth mobile phone - a Nokia 1100 sold in Nigeria. Reported on 21-09-05. source

17. If all the Nokia 3310/3330 phones sold were laid end-to-end, the line would stretch from Helsinki, Finland to Santiago, Chile - over 13,500 kilometers. source

18. In 1991 Nokia sold 800 000 phones. In 2004, it manufactured 207.7 million phones, which equals 6.5 phones per second. source

19. Nokia consumes 100 billion components on annual level. On average, one phone includes up to 400 components. source

20. The first Nokia mobile phone ever made is the Mobira Senator released in 1982. source

21. Besides Mobile phones, Nokia also manufactures Digital Televisions, ADSL Modems, Wireless LAN interfaces, Telephone switches, GPS devices, Terrestrial trunked radios, and Security Solutions. source

22. “By the first quarter of next year 4 billion people will be using a mobile phone. One billion of these will be Nokia phones” - Olli-Pekka Kallavuo source

23. “Nokia has the largest consumer base for any consumable product in the World” - Olli-Pekka Kallavuo source

24. “The top selling game for Nokia N-Gage is Creatures of the Deep – a fishing sim” - Lenn Pryor, Vice President of Product Marketing – Services and Software, Nokia source

25. The 2009 Mobile World Congress Nokia received two awards, an award for Best Mobile Internet Service thanks to Nokia Sports Tracker and Outstanding Environmental Contribution award (with a charger that features alerts that inform users to unplug their chargers after the battery of a device is full). source

Discussing the $1 business model!

2009-03-22T21:48:00.000-07:00

Today morning, I read an interesting blog by Gabor Torok on Forum Nokia Blogs, talking about the so called $1 business model.

If it was a decsion for me - to sell my application for a meagre price of $1 or less, I simple wouldn't. I believe that there are strategies you need to make and follow if you really want to sell your application. (Because in a country like China and India - non of the common people would buy software. As said - Indians and Chinese would never buy your software, however they would use it to the full (The cracking of applications has dominated the market - no one wants to buy an application/software/game - even if you give it for $0.5 - but free software is always welcome - even if it might contain trojans)

The facts that interests me are the following,
"The typical revenue models for developers are as follows:
* Release free application first with limited features and make it paid when it really gets traction (thousands, tens of thousand downloads per month). The application is available either for free or as paid-for (exclusive OR). Question: won't people turn away from your application once they have to pay for it? · Write an always paid program, which means that your application must be really cool and advertised so well that despite the price (i.e. that it costs money) people buy it. Question: can you compete with free programs with similar features? · * Make a Lite and Pro version of your program, Lite being free and Pro paid. The free version supports a subset of Pro's features making it compelling enough to purchase the paid version. It is a very typical approach among developers. Notes: increased maintenance efforts + separation of free and paid-for features must be well thought-out. ·

* Free program with ads. Notes: Not all people like ads You need to find a good ad provider It is challenging to implement a good advertising solution on mobile devices, and there is no good framework available. ·

* Change model dynamically on an experimental basis: see if you can make it with paid version, if not then make it free, then make it paid again when it becomes popular (this is the path iStrip followed, actually). Question: when will people get bored with this behavior?"

I disagree with the concept of having a light version with limited features, as mentioned in the first 2 points. Once you have such a model - no one would buy your application - all would use the lighter version. Trial versions are better relatively (mind - relatively), imo.

Advertising - this is the upcoming industry even in the period of financial crisis. However, in regard to mobile devices, the factor of openness comes into the picture. You make an application - buy ads - implement the code (like in google adsense) and its done! That should be a role model. I haven't seen such flexible models yet - enlighten me, if you know any. I think the manufactures and operators should invest more on this (applies more to the latter).

So would you sell your applications for $1 (out of which you might end up with 50%, distribution channel takes the 50%)

LCG's ProfiMail gets an update...

2009-03-22T14:33:00.000-07:00

ProfiMail , a LCG product, has recently released an updated version 3.10 (Mar 19 2009). The new version has improved work with touch-screen phones, system font options and better font size settings.

About ProfiMail
ProfiMail is an application for your everyday life. It is a communication solution for your mobile device. Wherever you go, you have your e-mail with you. With the program's user interface, you can see a great part of the message on the screen at a time, and easily navigate during reading.

You can use ProfiMail for your professional work - reading documents sent in messages, comfortably answer to sender, or send documents from the device.

Sony Erricson falls shipments

2009-03-22T13:55:00.000-07:00

A quote from the Wall Street Journal (Friday 20th March),

"Handset maker Sony Ericsson said it expects to ship about 42% fewer phones in the first quarter than it sold in the previous quarter, heightening concern about the slumping cellphone market. The company, a joint venture of Sweden's LM Ericsson Telephone Co. and Japan's Sony Corp., said it plans to ship around 14 million phones, down from 24.2 million phones in the fourth quarter."

Last week, Nokia fired 1700 of its employees due to financial conditions. The well-known EMCC Software Mobile Software Development,, is rumoured to be shutting down as well.

What do these happenings indicate? Is recession taking over the mobile industry strongly now?

So when is this recession going to end? These days it seems like a job-cutting festival. It’s quite upsetting that industries around the world suddenly started realizing that they are having millions or billions in losses and they should lay-off employees.

Why was E71 flight to US delayed?

2009-03-22T13:31:00.000-07:00

As reports suggests, AT&T (NYSE: T) is nearly ready to begin offering the Nokia (NYSE: NOK) E71 smartphone. But hey, Isn't that a late move?

Nokai E71, the handsome device that you see in the picture, has been in sale for around six months. After being crowned the best phone of the year for 2008, Nokia did work on its lines and came up with 2 similar business models viz. E55 and E75 out of which the E75 will be available this month globally. The two new devices announced have better features than Nokia E71 (I am not going into technical specs). How would the market react to E71 launch when other better options are coming soon?

No doubt, Nokia E71 (which was inspired from its successors, Nokia E61, E61i and E62) is a fantastic smartphone (David Wood - Catalyst and Futurist, Leadership Team at Symbian foundation, uses an E71 too) but it should have been financially better for Nokia to announce it earlier - perhaps before the Christmas shopping period last year. Why was the Nokia E71 flight to the US delayed?

Anyways, US folk - Handset strategy aside, if you're in the shop for a cheap(er) Nokia S60 smartphone, the E71 is a powerful device that is worth your attention. Looks like it should be available in the forthcoming week!