Flash Lite 3.0 Beta Demo Application
FlashLite blog have just put a flv demo online for one of the new FL applications they have been working on.
It is in effect a mobile “channel” for a company called Stream that provide On Demand video via set-top boxes & a broadband connection in your home.
The mobile client allows you to log in and view Stream’s content on the move.
It is a completely dynamic menu system, updated via the server, which allows new content to be added on the fly.
The video is handled via Flash media server, and streamed directly to the handset.
The Demo application is connected to the internet by a o2 3G connection in this video.
view the demo here, (apologies for lack of sound)
Update on Widsets and Ovi
Pseudofinn on Nokia Users has looked at the update to Widsets which he says will bring a big change to the My Profile widget increasing the feature set in sharing your favorite widsets (amongst other info) with others. He also includes a run down of other more minor updates.
Meanwhile, Vaibhav Sharma on The Symbian Blog brings news of support for the PicLens plug-in for Share on Ovi - a very nifty solution for full screen browsing. Alongside this, Vaibhav brings word of a new ‘extra large’ image size plus his own ideas for what updates should be implemented in the future.
Remap the Keypad
Not sure why you would want to do that but I’m sure if it can be done, then someone will do it. That’s the case for MagicKey, an application can help you remapping the key usage on your N95, or any S60 phone. Get it from here.
Make the GPS Lock Faster
One thing about the GPS on the smartphone such as the N95 is that it take minutes to lock the satellites and starts the GPS functions. It annoy when you really want to actually use it (lost and in hurry). Here are some tips from All about Symbian could help you relievable the pain:
- First and foremost, make sure that your device has the latest firmware. In many cases, new firmware means support for Assisted GPS, a way of vastly speeding up GPS acquisition time - see my piece on this on AAS.
- Make 100% sure that ‘Settings | General | Positioning | Positioning server’ has the right access point - it should be set to your main 3G data provider, e.g. ‘Vodafone live’ or ‘Orange Internet’. If this is wrong, then GPS locks will be several minutes at least on many S60 phones.
- Make sure you’re in an area of data coverage - being stuck in the wilds or in a valley will mean no data, which in turn means no Assisted GPS.
- Don’t try and get a GPS lock while moving, unless there’s absolutely no alternative. It’s hard enough as it is for your phone to lock onto half a dozen satellites whizzing overhead at thousands of miles per hour - adding in extra complications by moving the device itself just slows down lock times considerably.
- Be realistic if you are moving or if there are tall buildings around, or if you’re in a vehicle with an incomplete view of the sky - locks may take several minutes. The reason why dedicated sat-navs can acquire GPS locks more quickly in these challenging circumstances is that they have higher power, more sensitive receivers on board - the GPS inside most smartphones tends to be of lower power, to save battery life.
- Don’t cover up the GPS antenna. On the N95, this is at the bottom of the keypad, so extend the slide. Find out where the GPS antenna is on your device and don’t cover it with your hand during use - human flesh is reasonably good at blocking radio waves.
Wish this helps.
The Hidden N95 Game Keys
It’s reported that the coming new N96 has dedicate game key for the coming N-Gage games. It turned out N95 has had it already. Check out this video:
By the way, try http://www.n96pro.com so you know we are here for a long run.
Nokia N95-3 Firmware Upgrade Review
Sergio Aguayo from The Nokia Blog has a wonderful review on the latest N95-3 firmware upgrade, which is 20.2.011. According to Aguayo:
Demand Paging
This update at last implements on-demand paging on this device. The effect is quite noticeable: with the old firmware I had 70MB RAM free, while I now have 83MB. Note that this includes the antivirus. Besides the obvious free RAM, I also feel the phone more responsive and with a better startup time. Another performance improvement I have noticed is in the camera startup and processing time. Now it is really usable.
Flash
Also in this update if Flash Lite 3, the long awaited Flash update for this model. Functionality is now up to the experience described for the N95 8GB. I could watch some videos from within the web browser.
Browser
However there are some bad points in this update. The web browser is somewhat unstable, crashing sometime when I enter to Settings. Also I have a bug with WLANs which makes the phone not recognize a WLAN I have defined and asks the access details again. This creates another access point in the Access Point configuration in the form of “MyWLAN (1)”. This wasn’t there in any previous version (11.x, 10.x).
Menu
I liked the way the menus were in previous versions. They didn’t change from 10.x to 11.x. However in this version they have gone, in my opinion, a somewhat big redesign. While they are better organized, it adds extra clicks to get where you want. Anyway, you could tweak your menu to make it appear similar to previous versions.
Developers
If you’re a developer you’ll have problems with on-device debug. I recommend installing AppTRK version 2.8.9 (which comes with Carbide.C++ 1.3.1), as previous versions will not work.
Nice work!
Google Map 2.1 for S60 is Out
Reported by All About symbian, the Google Map 2.1 for S60 is out, and yes, it means the N95 too. To get it, go to http://m.google.com on your N95 and follow the “Google Maps (Download)” link.
So far the noticed changes are:
- Zooming in and out is slicker/clearer
- Several speed improvements
- Favourites sharing with Nokia Maps, Route 66, and others
- Tweaked menu structure
- Route junctions are shown with a diamond icon
- Extra languages are supported
Regardless, the most applauded feature is still the location showing without GPS. It’ll be nice that feature can be utilized and accessed by other applications or application developers.
Finally Free Windows Live Messenger on N95
If use Windows Live Messenger on PC like I do, you must felt the pain that you can’t do that on your N95 unless you pay for certain software. Well, pain no more. Here at Nokia you can have it for free now. Apparently it just made available to the US and other countries. Can’t understand why it’s not there at the first place. Sometime Nokia acts very odd. Something like they have this wonderful motion sensor on N95 but they don’t use it until now (only from lab software) and allow iPhone stole all the thunders.
