Symbian in Motion

Newsflash! User-generated video sharing is VERY hot right now and has been for quite some time. If you don’t believe me, just ask Google. Of course this isn’t news to most people but just in case some of you have been living under a rock for the past few years, video sharing is where it’s at. Admittedly, I still haven’t gotten into the video sharing trend as much as most but there’s still plenty of time for me to come around.

 

A relatively new app that will surely help me explore the world of video sharing is Picostation Video - the next generation of Picoblogger. As S60 3rd users continue to beg and plead for a fully functional mobile YouTube solution, Picostation Video might just tide some of them over - or even provide users with a very cool alternative that can be equally as addictive. Picostation Video is currently in closed beta but after playing with it for a while, I’m confident that a release version isn’t far off.

 

The main interface displays thumbnails of videos that you may browse. You can sort by Latest, Popular, Top Rated, etc. You can also toggle the time frame between week, month and all.

 

 

Browsing through the thousands of videos housed on the Picostation servers is quite a daunting task so of course this app gives you the option to search. Searching is very simple and can be done with keywords or you can search by user and browse their contributions. To search videos from the main screen, simply press [6] or click Options and choose “Search for Videos…” Then enter your search term(s) and click Go.

 

 

Picostation Video isn’t just for searching and downloading videos. It also installs with its own video player that opens automatically and allows you to play downloaded videos and even stream videos right to your device. Don’t try this with GPRS/EDGE though - you’ll want WLAN or at least 3G to stream with this app.

 

To download/watch or stream a video to your device, simply browse to the thumbnail of the file you want and click on it. This will bring you to the video page where you will see the file information and quick links to play, download or email the video. Click on Options to perform functions such as leaving a comment and view the author’s profile.

 

 

Once you’ve found a video that you want to check out, click on the Download quick link to add the video to your download queue or click on Play to automatically launch the Picostation Player and begin streaming the clip.

 

 

A cool little side note by the way - if you pause on a thumbnail as you browse, a small window will pop up containing information about the video such as title, author and rating.

 

 

Uploading and sharing your videos is just as simple as downloading. You can quickly and easily browse your video library and upload files to your account. All of Picostation’s videos are available not only to S60 3rd users, by the way. Just visit Picostation’s website on your PC or Mac and you have access to your account along with the thousands of videos in their library. Play is quick and easy with a YouTube-style interface and FLV-formatted videos.

 

After playing with Picostation Video for a while now I can definitely see this app filling a very desirable gap in the S60 3rd community. What will happen once a decent YouTube solution is finally released? As many of us have seen, once something finally is ready it will likely be a YouTube mobile site accessible through your browser - at least initially. I don’t see it looking or performing anywhere near as solidly as the Picostation Video app.

 

My only complaint so far is that this app can really lag at times, but this is due much more to the low available RAM on my N80IE than the app itself. Perhaps the release version will be a bit more optimized but all in all this is a great app that will most definitely see a good amount of use on my device. I highly recommend that you add this app to your “watch” list but I will of course post an update once a release version is available. If you think you have a good reason to joint the beta program, definitely tell Picostation about it and you might be using Picostation Video on your device sooner than you think!

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I’m not a MySpace user but I came across this little java app by VCEL that lets you access your MySpace messages on your S60 3rd device (and most other J2ME devices). Since MySpace is one of the most popular online communities in the world, the odds are good that many readers will enjoy this app. It’s currently in beta but tested and working on several S60 3rd devices.

“Vcel:mail (beta) lets you access your myspace mail messages from your cellphone. The app is a mail browser connected to www.myspace.com. Check out VCEL`s other messaging apps on getjar by searching for “myspace” or “vcel”. You can also go to www.vcellspace.com on your mobile internet browser for the simplest way to access your MySpace messages, bulletins etc on yout phone. All of these apps are made by VCEL, Inc a company committed to enabling superior browsing/user experiences for using social networking online communities on your phone.”

Download vcel:mail

Don’t forget that if the screen size is not right for your resolution, you can always change it quickly and easily with this guide. It should be fine with most screen sizes though.

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TalkinSilent for S60 3rd is an app that I’ve seen mentioned briefly in passing on a blog or two, but I haven’t seen a tremendous amount of coverage in our little blogosphere. Why not; it has been around for a while? Perhaps bloggers have been hesitant to embrace this app because of its “outside the box” functionality, and limited usefulness at first glance. In my opinion however, TalkinSilent embodies the essence of an S60 3rd smartphone. It is hugely creative, very well made, and quite useful if you can adjust your thinking a bit and be open to its functionality.

 

Essentially, TalkinSilent allows an S60 3rd user to carry on a conversation with a caller - without ever saying a word! Let me elaborate. The core functionality of this app uses preinstalled messages, user recorded messages, and a text-to-speech engine to play audio content for incoming callers. This audio content is controlled by the TalkinSilent user who listens to the caller speaking on the other end of the phone, but uses TalkinSilent to respond instead of speaking.

 

What’s the point? Plain and simple - in my eyes this product is most useful for business users who will be able to carry on interactive conversations while in meetings, seminars, conferences, etc. Unlike SMS, the caller on the other end can be on any phone rather than just a mobile. Of course this app is not limited to business users in its value. TalkinSilent can also be quite useful in movies, quiet public places such as a library or museum, or even in classes or lectures (don’t tell your professor I said that!). So let’s have a look, shall we?

 

Immediately after installation, TalkinSilent walks the user through the initial setup and gives an overview of the call handling functions within the app. At this point you are also able to choose a male or female voice for the included audio content. When TalkinSilent is active and you receive an incoming call, a menu is instantly displayed on your screen with three options:

 

 

1. Smart Reject - The user selects this option along with a smart reject message. The call is answered, the audio message is played for the caller (Ex: “Sorry, I am unavailable right now but I will return your call as soon as possible.”), and the call is automatically ended. I tend to stay away from this function as I prefer to have the caller leave a voicemail or record a message in my call manager. I must say though, that this function would prevent any unwanted tones from being played while in a meeting as a result of a missed call or voicemail when using Remind Me!

 

2. Text Chat - When this option is selected, the call is answered and a predetermined message is played (Ex: “I am not available to talk right now. Please wait and I will send you an SMS message shortly.”). Then the call is automatically ended and TalkinSilent immediately starts the integrated “Text Chat” app and opens a new SMS chat session with the appropriate contact/mobile number. SMS messages back and forth are then displayed within the Text Chat app with a “threaded” look (like an IM/chat app).

 

As you can see, this in itself is a cool feature and it can also be used outside of TalkinSilent as a stand-alone app to have threaded SMS chats.

 

3. Silent Call - The user selects this option and a silent call is initiated. The initial predetermined audio message is played (Ex: “Hi, I am unable to talk right now but we can still have a conversation. What can I help you with?”). The user then listens to the incoming caller and scrolls through the various message screens and selects each one to be played.

 

 

It is recommended that the user listens with a headset (wired or Bluetooth) so that they can operate TalkinSilent as they listen to the caller and responses can be selected more quickly.

 

Beyond the multitude of audio messages that are included with the app, the user can of course record any number of messages using their own voice.

 

 

Also, if the optional text-to-speech engine is downloaded, the user can type messages on the fly while in a silent call and they will instantly be translated to speech and played for the caller.

 

When active, TalkinSilent always runs in the background and occupies very little system resources (and therefore very little battery life). If the user wishes to deactivate the app, it can be done very easily from within the settings.

 

 

A trial version of TalkinSilent is available for download on the Silent Communication website and I highly recommend you check this app out. Even if you’re skeptical of its usefulness (as I was), it really is refreshing to see how versatile the S60 3rd platform is and how creative some developers can be. After having played with the app, I do like it and think that it will be quite useful for me. Just last night I used it to tell my friend that I was in a movie. I used TalkinSilent to ask him if the call was important and when he said no, I told him that I would call him back as soon as the movie was out. I look forward to using this app more and more - in meetings, museums, at my office when I’m in a common area and I receive a call but I don’t want to disturb people, etc.

 

Important Note: After much searching I have been unable to find a way to purchase the S60 3rd version of TalkinSilent. From the looks of it, the reason is that Silent Communication provides this app directly to service providers rather than end users. My trial ends today so perhaps that will shed some light on the end user purchase procedure, if there is one. I’m also awaiting a response from the developer and I’ll post an update as soon as I have one. It would be a shame if Silent Communication limited the reach of this app by only offering it through service providers…

_________________

 

UPDATE: Word came back from Silent Communication and I can now confirm that this is indeed an operator-only offering at this point. This means that only users lucky enough to have a service provider that offers TalkinSilent for S60 3rd can use a full version. If you’re not so lucky (like me) then you’ll need to exercise some patience and hopefully TalkinSilent will find its way to a local service provider some time soon.

A quick additional note to users - with TalkinSilent active you can press the pen (edit) key twice quickly from any screen to open the main TalkinSilent screen. Pretty cool shortcut!

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This week’s Carnival is up on the Mobile Marketing & Spam blog with many links to some very informative posts. There are some great links this week and Mobile Marketing & Spam has definitely introduced me to several new blogs for my reader list!

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I sat down to make a few themes tonight as I was just too tired to do anything else and as I put this theme together I realized that the color scheme looked a bit familiar. Black and green… Black and green… Where have I seen that before?

So as a thank you to all of my awesome readers, I give you the Official Nokia S60 3rd Edition Applications Review Blog Theme! Wow, that sure is a mouth full! Maybe I should consider renaming the blog. What do you think? Right now the theme is optimized only for 352×416 portrait displays (N80, N80IE, E70, E60). Yes of course S60 3rd themes are screen aware but because of the way I build certain themes it will not translate well to other screen sizes. I promise that I’ll work on versions for other screen sizes soon - possibly even tomorrow morning. Also this is an early version and there are some things that I’d like to change so expect some updates in the near future. By the way, the only branding in the theme can be seen in the second screenshot below.

Terms of Use: This theme is provided 100% free with no strings attached. You may download it for your own personal use and you may distribute it as you wish, provided you DO NOT SELL it. I repeat, this theme is for NON-COMMERCIAL use and distribution ONLY! I only ask that if you do make this theme available to anyone in any way, that you link back to my blog. Also if you post this theme on another site, feel free to post any screenshots you like but please use the download link provided rather than hosting it on another site.

Click here to download the 352×416 EchoZulu Theme (version 0.4)

UPDATE: Just finished the 240×320 (QVGA) version and it is now available for download. Hope you enjoy it! (thanks to adonisdemon for the screenshots from his Nokia N95)

Click here to download the 240×320 EchoZulu Theme (version 0.1)

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