Symbian in Motion

It’s theme time people, and I’ve got some gems for you today. Taieb makes a strong showing today as usual, and there’s a great theme from Jendell that has been requested in many emails and comments. I have have a great theme from a newcomer to SiMo’s themes posts that I think you’ll really like. All themes are SVG and I’ve changed the linking system so downloads will now work directly to your S60 device if you happen to be reading this post on your handset. Enjoy!

White by Taieb

Silver by Taieb

Lighting Effect by Taieb (I love this one)

Orange Crush by Jendell

Gradient by Bongoman

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This could very well be the biggest gap ever in terms of the amount of time between part 1 and part 2 of a series. Part 1 was essentialy my conclusion as I stated, and to be honest not much has changed since I wrote that post over 2 months ago. I’ve been switching back and forth between the iPhone and the N95 and I must admit, the iPhone has definitely been getting more face time. For a while I carried both; the N95 was essentially for GSM voice and HSDPA connectivity for the iPhone thanks to JoikuSpot. That didn’t last very long though - I’m a one-handset-at-a-time kind of guy…

In this quick entry, I wanted to simply illustrate how the devices differ in terms of web. Both the S60 browser and Safari mobile are WebKit ports, and they really are similar from a very broad point of view. In terms of usability however, in my eyes they’re night and day.

First, what we’re all used to:

On the N95 when visiting a full website in the S60 Browser, you’re greeted by the top left corner of the page. Hmmm. The other problem here is that full webpags are not designed for tiny screens, so navigating is a bit of a pain. Moving around, the S60 browser usually does a fair job of sizing text columns for the screen - of course you constantly need to be moving around because very few words actually fit on the screen.

One thing I can’t stand about the S60 Browser is the fact that it doesn’t truly cache historical pages. Safari does. If I’m browsing a site and I want to go back a page, I tap back and I’m there. On the N95 I hit back, choose the page I want to go back to from the mini-page list, and then wait while the browser reloads all of the content.

Now, the iPhone:

The difference is remarkable. You’re greeted by a nice overview of the web page and you can easily navigate and zoom to the exact spot you want. The 3.5″ display can fit far more content of course, and the crisp screen displays everything quite clearly. Opening new tabs / pages is easy and accessing / adding bookmarks is easy. Everything is easy.

Browsing the web is also one of the few examples of usage where I FAR prefer a touchscreen. It’s so fast and simple to move around and see exactly what you want to see. Of course the double tap implementation and zooming are fantastic as well. Double-tap anything and Safari instantly zooms to the exact proper place. Double-tap again and you’re back to the overview.

It will be quite interesting to see how S60 Touch addresses browsing. Details on the upcoming new OS revision have been somewhat disappointing thus far so I hope the browser isn’t more of the same. To be honest, I can’t even recall the last time I held a UIQ device and I don’t remember the browser at all. If you have a UIQ device and wouldn’t mind, please do post your impressions on how the browser utilizes touch in the comments below.

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One Stop China is claiming to sell a product which would unlock your handset instantly and hassle free allowing you to use your current handset with other operators without having to pay a unlocking fee. The trick doesn’t actually unlock your handset, rather sends a signal using the original SIM card allowing you to use any other SIM card in there. The website claims the product works with the following models: Nokia 2630, 5300, 5700, 6120c, 6110 netvigator, 6500c, 6500s, N76, N95, N95 8GB, N61 8GB, E65, N73, N80, 6120c, N75, 6300… NO KEY Nokia DCT4, DCT4+, BB5 NO KEY Nokia DCT4, DCT4+, all BB5 Unlock X-SIM.

Although this does sound like a great idea and promises to unlock your handset it does however have a few things to watch out for: The product does not guarantee to unlock your device, the product does not actually unlock your handset; it only tricks the handset into thinking it is the original SIM card. The most important caution is that there is no refund accepted whatsoever, not very promising.

If you have some spare cash and are willing to take the plunge for the good of the mobile community, why not give it a go? Let us know if it works or not, or if even the product actually arrives.

For more information and brave souls visit the product page here.

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A couple of weeks ago I posted on BGR about Handango’s revised CDA. Long story short, Handango sent a warm cheery email to all developer partners about what a great year 2007 was for the mobile software industry and for Handango. At the end of the email was a link to the revised Handango Content Distribution Agreement (CDA) that takes affect on March 15 of this year.

The most notable change to the agreement was the revised royalty schedule. As of March 15 developers will only receive 50% of gross revenue up to $250,000. This is down from 60% as defined in the current CDA. I doubt that there are more than three or four developers who do more than $250K in sales through Handango alone, but those who do will enjoy 60% of gross sales between $250K - $1M, and 70% over $1M. Ridiculous.

Handango also doesn’t do enough for their customers. As with most industry leading companies, Handango takes their customers for granted. Some examples? How about charging an extra $5 per title for “download protection”? If you want to be able to re-download an application that you purchased for up to one year it will cost you. As if it costs money for Handango to store a 1MB file on their servers. And have you tried to order apps for your device according to “popularity”? Let’s have a look at today’s top 5 for the N95:

• Quickoffice Premier 5.0 ($69.95) ——– 1,483 downloads
• Handy Tools Pack for S60 ($99.95) ——– 18,515 downloads
• WorldMate Professional for Series 60 ($69.95) ——– 64,872 downloads
• ProfiMail (Symbian) ($27.99) ——– 76,446 downloads
• Handy Safe for S60 ($39.95) ——– 25,676 downloads

Interesting. The first thing to note is that all of these titles are very expensive as far as mobile software goes. Casting that tidbit aside, let’s look at the download numbers. Title one, Quickoffice Premier 5.0, has been downloaded a total of 1,483 times. Because there is no trial available, is stands to reason that that number is relatively close to total sales (not taking re-downloads into account). Now the fourth title on the list, ProfiMail, has been downloaded 76,446 times. There is a trial, but if LCG converted just 2% of those trials into sales then they will have outsold Quickoffice Premier 5.0. Believe me, LCG has converted WELL OVER 2% of their Handango trials. So is popularity calculated monthly? Even if it is, I can guarantee that Quickoffice Premier 5.0 is not the best-selling software title for the N95 this month. Yet it is still at or near the top of the list each and every month. Hmmm…

I haven’t discussed this in any SiMo posts, but I do in fact sell via Handango. Why haven’t I mentioned that here? Using this blog as a sales tool for themes is simply not something that interests me - I wouldn’t want to sully my reputation. Anyway, I have created a handful of commercial themes that have been selling on Handango for about a year. Really they were only intended to cover some costs associated with SiMo; a handset here and there, apps that I wanted to review that weren’t generously gifted to me by the developer, etc.

Over the past year, I’ve actually sold several thousands of dollars worth of themes. As of March 15 however, I’m done. Every last one of my themes will be pulled from Handango and I will deactivate my developer account shortly after. Would the extra 10% Handango is taking really have killed me? Absolutely not. It’s simply the straw that broke the camel’s back. I might not sell anywhere near as much as a top seller on Handango, but if others will follow my lead we might just get our point across…

Developers: I understand that Handango is your number 1 source for sales. That WILL change over the next one to two years, I guarantee it. There are so many better options out there already in terms of getting your titles to the public and more are coming. My recommendation is that even if you don’t pull your apps from Handango completely, put some real time and effort into researching alternatives and get your apps up on other sites. There are shops out there with fantastic reach and numbers, and you keep up to 80% of sales from $1 up! Think about it - you can sell over a third less and still make the same money!

Bloggers: Do you have a shop tied to your site? If you do and it’s powered by Handango, I STRONGLY URGE you to find an alternative. There are plenty of other options that have just as many *useful* titles available for sale. I said useful - when Handango issues catalog figures, they include the thousands of terrible themes / video ringtones / flash screensavers / etc that sell three times and then disappear into the chaos. Handango also has a VERY LOW referral payout. Do some research.

Consumers: Plain and simple - DON’T BUY FROM HANDANGO. If you’re interested in an app that for some reason you found on Handango, get it directly from the developer. Maybe the developer’s site doesn’t have a shop, but you can always email them and they’ll likely sell to you direct. Impatient? Google the app name. I’m sure you’ll find it for sale in at least five other shops.

This might seem like a drastic post and maybe it is. The fact of the matter however, is that the mobile market is booming and it will continue to boom. Handango is doing nothing but slowing market growth. They promote the top developers (who can afford to pay ridiculous fees for their marketing) and the rest are left to fend for themselves amongst the madness. Blogs like SiMo, the few in our blogroll and thousands of other mobile tech blogs are great sources in terms of learning about apps. 99 out of 100 times, a blog will link to the developer’s site so you can purchase the app directly if you like it after the trial period.

If you’re a blogger I strongly urge you to do some research and post about this. Link me or don’t link me - I could really care less. Just get the word out. Developers enhance the mobile experience immeasurably and by stunting their growth (as Handango does) the mobile industry as a whole is being stunted…

UPDATE: I thought I’d link some more articles on the matter…

• A post from msmobiles.com
• A post from Electronista
• A post from BerryReview.com
• A post from BlackBerry Developer SideShow
• A post from tilt site

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Stefan over at IntoMobile seems to REALLY dislike the new Google search app for a variety of reasons. They seem to stem from Google’s perhaps misleading video depicting a standard Google search in the S60 browser and a new search using Google’s app. The new app by the way, can be downloaded by hitting mobile.google.com from your S60 browser. It adds a “widget” to your Active Standby screen and gives you instant access to a Google search box.

Personally, I like the app a lot. I’m a marcom guy so I could care less about alleged marketing video tomfoolery and whatnot. The bottom line is this app adds a nifty shortcut that makes it easy to perform a Google search quickly and efficiently. I made sure to add the word “efficiently” because Stefan’s post does offer an alternative procedure that is reportedly quicker, but it involves changing your homepage to Google and defining a default AP. That might work well for some people but personally, I don’t want Google as my homepage and I don’t want a default AP in my browser. It’s really just a matter of preference and habit. If you do go for this method though, might I suggest a slightly alternative method:

• With your Google bookmark highlighted in S60 Browser bookmarks, go to Options -> Bookmark Manager -> Edit.
• Set the Default AP for your Google bookmark here, that way the rest of your bookmarks are unaffected.

• Now simply use SkyeQuiKey to launch the bookmark whenever you want. (Clear your SkyeQuiKey history before launching the Google bookmark. With future launches, all you’ll need to do is press “4″ then “Ok”.)

Yes, this assumes you have SkyeQuiKey - but why wouldn’t you? If for some reason you don’t (I can’t imagine) there are plenty of other apps that give quick access to bookmarks.

Anyway, I still like the new Google Search app and recommend it above either alternative. It’s simple, out of the way and efficient. There is a problem however: What about devices without a pencil key? You still want the same fast access to the search, and you definitely don’t want that ugly Google icon on your Active Standby screen, so what do you do? Unfortunately the solution is not as simple as I’d like it to be, but this method will actually solve a bunch of problems you might be facing with other apps as well. It will give you a pencil key!

Wha wha what? Developer Yurij Bakunin (aka JBAK) has created two apps that can be used in tandem to give you pencil key functionality. Check it…

• Download this archive. It contains two apps (KeyCode by JBAK and ThePencil by JBAK) and one file (ThePencil.ini).
• KeyCode is self-signed but ThePencil is unsigned. Sign it.
• Install and launch KeyCode. When running, this app will give you code data as you press each key. Press the key that you would like to replace as the pencil key and note the ScanCode.

• Now open ThePencil.ini in Notepad on your PC. Simply change xxx to the scan code that you determined with KeyCode, then save and close.
• Install your signed copy of ThePencil.
• Place your edited copy of ThePencil.ini in the following directory on your handset: C:\System\Data (overwrite the existing file). Note that you’ll need to copy it to an accessible directory on your handset’s C: or E: drive, then copy it over with a file manager.
• Reboot

Now the key you chose will always be replaced by a pencil key in terms of functionality. You can also powerboot ThePencil if it doesn’t already autostart. Note that if you want the old functionality of the key back, kill ThePencil with any decent task manager (I use the process section of ActiveFile). To stop it permanently, uninstall ThePencil. I’m thinking that this post will become a lot more relevant to people in a few months once the E71 comes around… Maybe I should have waited.

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