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Update is a bit late, but this is worth noting. Previously I slated any technology that didn’t autoupdate its clock due for DST. I got to experience an ‘aha’ moment the next day or so, coming across all sorts of articles about people having been confused either by:

i.  Technology that did not update itself for DST.
ii. Technology that did update itself.

With point ii, some users were not expecting their device to update itself and thus did a manual adjustment of their clocks on top of the automatic one. Cue lots of confusion.

So perhaps T-mobile/Nokia/whoever was responsible for my mobile phone not updating itself was making an optimised decision for a larger number of users.

Context is everything.

Of course, if all the client devices in question displayed a prompt informing the user that the clock had been automatically adjusted, point ii would never have been a problem. But expecting all mobile client devices to work in a sane way is just too much to hope for really.

So yesterday clocks in the UK went back 1 hour, due to Daylight Saving Time. Seeing as I own far too many pointless a few useful, life enhancing electronic devices which all have clock functionality this raised the annoying question: which of these devices is going to exhibhit the correct behaviour and just update itself?

I would expect all devices with a net connection to do the Right Thing. And there were successes: the Macs Just Worked(tm). I’m sure if I booted up a Windows box it would do the Right Thing. An old, unused Windows CE PDA cheerfully informed me that it had updated the time for DST. My latest shiny toy, the iPod Touch did the right thing. So far, so good.

So what let the side down? Why my trusty Nokia 6300 of course. The device I actually use as my alarm clock. I specifically ensured that I had activated the setting to automatically update the time. Did it update the time? Of course not, that would be far too simple. I’m curious who is to blame for this failure. Nokia? I find it hard to believe that the device doesn’t work correctly. Virgin/T-Mobile (network operator). This would seem more likely. Either way, whoever is to blame in the device/infrastructure chain needs to wake up. It’s 2007 - my goddamned mobile phone should be able to automagically adjust the time for DST.

As an aside, I’d also wonder whether my Nokia N800 is able to correctly adjust the time automatically for DST. But seeing as Nokia have had it for about 2 months now for repair, with no update as to what is going on with it, I’m kind of past caring. I suppose I should phone them up yet again tomorrow, but this time just ask for my money back. Did I mention, the iPod Touch correctly updated the time? Someone needs to raise their game.

I recently purchased a Nokia 6300 mobile phone recently, purely on a whim. After about a week’s worth of usage, here are my thoughts on it:

• Nice screen. Clear and reasonably large considering the size of the device.
• Thin. Unlike the N series smartphones, this device is nice and slim.
• Good enough camera. I dont need a fantastic camera on my phone, and for my uses the one included does the job. Your mileage may vary.
• UI - this is the important thing for me, and the Series 40 UI works very nicely indeed. There are certainly some areas where it could be improved, but mostly it works well.

I’ve also been using 2 Java applications on the device which I think really highlight the potential for applications designed for a phone, compared to say a mobile browser based solution:

GMail Mobile App

GMail is blocked at the current client site, so a mobile solution is the only option available to me. I have been very pleasantly surprised by the GMail mobile app. Freed from the constraints of a browser based implementation, the GMail app provides a user experience that is perfectly tailored for a phone.

Orcs and Elves

This is a game written by id Software, the guys behind such hits as Doom and Quake. John Carmack, their uber-programmer has blogged about writing games software for mobile devices before and his approach to work around the inherent limitations of the devices.

As expected the game design works nicely on the phone. The graphics and animation is smooth and slick, and the UI works well. A nice game to play on the tube when I’m too zombified to read anything.

It’s worth noting the Nokia 6300 isn’t a smartphone. It doesn’t run Symbian OS but does provide some great functionality using Java applications and online services.

In fact it has made me question the need for a much more expensive smartphone. It certainly will make the iPhone a pretty tough sell when it finally is released in the UK - wifi access is far from ubiquitous here, and I imagine it will be a very expensive device.

There has been a lot of criticism of Apple over their decision to not release a ‘proper’ (ie low level) SDK for the iPhone. A lot of developers with only a background in PC and/or web development have been bitching the lack of the SDK. I have a background in smartphone development, having been involved in development for the Symbian platform (’110 million Symbian smartphones shipped’ as their website crows). So here’s a perspective based on some experience in that market.

I think Apple’s decision not to release a full blown SDK is an understandable one. When Apple cites security concerns for this decision they are not whistling dixie. Controlling access to, protecting the state of, and profitting from the mobile network is something that network operators take very seriously. They certainly don’t like the idea of any old code being run on client devices.

Symbian used to be an open development platform - anyone could write applications for it given the time and inclination, and then distribute the applications to other users. A couple of years ago this changed with the advent of the Symbian Signed initiative. Developers have to get their applications certified through an expensive (ie. more than free) programme before they can distribute their applications.

If Apple ever do decide to do an open SDK, they will probably have to have their own certification programme for applications.

I also think people have got carried away with the hype over how powerful the iPhone is. Sure it might run some kind of cut down version of OSX, but the fact is it’s still a smartphone and not a full blown computer. Device programming imposes all sorts of constraints and requires a level of developer discipline that developing for desktop machines just does not demand.

Power consumption is an issue. Users expect their phones to work reliably all the time. Memory is limited, and applications can end up running for a long time - meaning memory leaks can be disastrous for system stability. If you’ve ever been annoyed by some Java application that has crashed your phone, you will know what I mean.

It’s certainly tempting to think Apple have come up with a silver bullet and made all the constraints of device development disappear, but they haven’t. And protecting the user experience consumers have with the iPhone is a priority for Apple. If the iPhone ran 3rd party apps, there would be no way to provide the kind of consistent user experience that a closed platform can provide.

Apple has promised a Web based SDK for the iPhone. It reportedly will allow access to some features of the iPhone. This could be more than good enough for a wide category of applications. I predict that Dashcode will form the heart of any SDK for the iPhone.

Not happy with this? Really want to develop applications for smartphones that have a large market? Try using Symbian or Java. There are a lot more devices out there running these platforms and development is (relatively) open. And yes, you’ll have to cater for a wide variety of devices and form factors and face all the challenges that brings. When the iPhone Nanos/Shuffles/Gizmos get released at some future point in time, these exact same problems would face any iPhone developers with access to a iPhone SDK.

After watching a Steve Job’s reality distorting presentation, it’s tempting to think the iPhone has the power and capabilities of a desktop computer, and that developing for it would be a pretty simillar experience. Unfortunately, the reality will be quite different.

“The UMPC is essentially a failure because it’s still a generic PC with only the most superficial software added to make it work, barely,” Frog’s Rolston said. “With a form factor like this, what people need is a purpose-specific feature set and user interface.”

Wired.com: Ultra Mobile PCs Still Struggle With Performance, Relevance

Years after the Psion 5mx, why is the computer industry still getting mobile computing wrong?

Why are so few people making use of the features of all those Nokia smartphones that are flooding the market?

Yesterday I ordered the Nokia N800, a WiFi Internet Tablet device with an open source development platform. It’s not a phone, but it should give me a platform to try out some concepts I’ve been sitting on for a while.

Ideally I also need a modern Symbian smartphone (my old Nokia 3650 won’t even run some of the newer Symbian apps, such as Python), but I think I’ll wait a while before buying one. And of course, there is the iPhone to consider, but despite the hype, it is still an unknown quantity.