Mobile gadgets running Blackberry & Android OS'
Posts tagged UIQ
Switching is happening all over again.
2577 days
In February 2009 I left the Symbian UIQ 3.0 O.S for BlackBerry. Of course, some of my friends knowing me and using more or less the same Symbian platform ( UIQ 3.0 and/or S40, S60 Nokia) were skeptical: “BlackBerry is a professional platform, a closed and rigid environment, no way you can thrive under that rock” they said. What they didn’t know is that at the time R.I.M already decided to go forward with the plan to conquer a new kind of customer with the multimedia phones: the much-debated Storm 1, the Bold 9000, eventualy the Javelin and the Tour later on. Platforms are becoming more and more multimedia and social cause that’s where the money is today.
And that was exactly what made me go first BlackBerry and now, Android: while the UIQ 3.0 was great and rich in applications (O.K, maybe not so rich by today’ standards or by iPhone/Android markets standards), it lacked the new applications for the social media. The only reason I kept it until February 2009 is the hacking community. They “developed” the O.S much more than Symbian itself did and a lot more than the developers did. While BlackBerry had all these applications, it lacked the diversity one enjoys on Android and iPhone. In BlackBerry’s case, the developers deserted the booming wonderful community formed around R.I.M’s products. Or maybe I am wrong; I know there aren’t many developers pushing-out BlackBerry applications. The applications themselves are rare and expensive. The price is the main issue: while an average app for Blackberry is 2.99$ (price imposed by BlackBerry App World) , the others go as low as 0.99$. This happens EXACTLY because there aren’t many developers (anymore) and the remaining ones they profit on the fact that the demand surged. But even with this situation, the BlackBerry users aren’t benefiting much. For almost 2 years I look for a working Call Filter aplication. Because I was paying for it, I asked for a few features (existing already on Symbian S40 and UIQ 3.0 for years!) like:
- accept all calls
- reject all calls
- accept phone-book only
- drop unwanted calls and/or mute the ringer
- reject Black List numbers and accept White List numbers
- automatic profile switch based on time schedule
And that was about it. All of the above were supported by other applications, most of them free or charging very little money. And I’ve tried half of those while using the Sony-Ericsson P1i and afterwards, even on BlackBerry. On BlackBerry, I couldn’t find a satisfactory application. Most of them are very basic and extremely expensive – 19,95$ I had to pay for mCall Manager Light (sic!), the only one working as it should but without the scheduling. After I updated from 4.7 version OS to 5.0 OS, the app stopped working and when they did update it (3 months later) it wasn’t working properly anymore. This experience sums-up all my experiences with BlackBerry applications.
And then there is the support issue: being so fragmentary as it is, the BlackBerry application market is divided between some developers interested in keeping the customer happy and the rest. The rest don’t give a shit about the customer. It’s enough if you buy it once and never comeback ever again, 10$ from each customer is more than enough for a single application. I bet there are a lot of “developers” hitting the market only once with one single (bad) product and then move on to another platforms; from what I’ve been told developing for BlackBerry is neither cool or money-rewarding.
And now it’s time for a new challenge: the Android O.S. I’ve been playing for a few months with a T-Mobile Pulse but in order to enjoy the full-power of the new O.S, I had to go full way. And I chose the HTC Desire
. While it lacks stamina ( my usage will kill the battery in just a bit over 5 hours!), I have faith in the platform and its ability to deliver a better product later on with rooting, custom ROMs and Froyo later on.
[en] UIQ/Sony-Ericsson P1i experiences [GSM/UIQ/tech-head]
01158 days
by Bograma
in Everything Else Tech
As I said before, sometimes the P1i makes me crazy. My first intention is to smash it in pieces, but then again, I can’t change it now – I’m only too used to UIQ 3.0 interface to switch to something else. Such is the power of UI’s – not only that they have a learning curve you have to take, but then the UI is”enslaving” you to the point in which you need to have the same UI every time you want be comfortable with your gadgets. And, of course, if you need to be efficient. In both professional and social life. That’s the reason most of us have these gadgets, right?Once you get the bug, it’s a long time before shaking it – usually just a LOT better UI will make someone to switch platforms especially when one has his/her data deep inside all kinds of programs: calendar, agenda, locked files, card data, etc. Using another platform would mean porting these datas from point A to point B and sometimes that’s almost impossible.
So I stick to this one. Unfortunately, UIQ is not going to be developed further more, as UIQ is dead. But until then, developers who were working to programs before the closure announcement came aren’t done yet. So programs are still popping up and for the time being I got a new battery (32 Euros), the old one is holding just over 12 hours of juice. Not dead yet, but 1 year and 7 months later it is done. And that’s exactly why I put up with (after more than 2.5 years of UIQ 3.0 – Sony Ericsson M600, P990i&P1i):
- irregular restarts “in
order to improve performance” - different sets of bugs
after every software update, even when you re-flash with the same version
just to get rid of the corrupt versions of applications like Calendar,
Messaging or Contacts. - disappearance of the
in-call clock after a month or two from re-flash - irregular kernel-exec error
which lead to Opera Mobile crash (explained partially by the normal size
of some HTML sites that Opera Mobile can’t handle) - irregular restarts leading
to a bug that won’t turn off the back light completely-dim screen will
always consume energy - themes aren’t always
coherent-you can always find a nice Black theme but the text is also black
which renders it useless. - connection-priorities (and
sometimes changing to its own accord) are inconsistent and I guess it’s
due to its complexity - service menu ( for checking
phone properties like phone screen usability) is not available in the menu
(why not?!!) unless you know the code - Push-email never worked
- Streaming Media never worked
- the impossibility of
recording calls even according to law
All in all, most of the things above were reported by hundreds of peoples every year and still, nothing has been done. And it won’t be done from now on. Even if it’s a 2 years old model, the P1i still packs great features compared to its more recent counter-parts. Its finish quality, the outstanding materials and great variety of software coupled with a 200 Euros price still makes it a good choice in getting a new mobile with operating system.
[en] Mobileways Remote Professional 2.96 [UIQ/tech-head/gsm]
01176 days
by Bograma
in Everything Else Tech
How many times I thought I need an application that would transform my phone into one nice demo tool? Too many times! Of course,UIQ was kind enough to provide developers with software support for them to create programs like Docs2Go, QuickOffice and Pdf+. But there was something missing: a program to allow one to use the phone loaded with a presentation coupled with a laptop and a projector. This way one can have the documents with him all the time,even if he doesn’t have his laptop. Efficiency all the way to create or demo documents.
Mobileways Remote is one of those programs. Launched february, 25th, 2008, this program was an instant hit. Several updates later, the program is able to brilliantly control the phone via pc keyboard and mouse,connect multiple phones at the same time, automatically search and download updates and do things like send an sms, open a webpage, search for items thru the file manager, etc.
Up until now I didn’t need this tool but the latest version got me thinking, I’ve downloaded it and it works! Like a dream! One can control his phone over USB or Bluetooth connection doing absolutely all one does with the phone. All the programs are available thru emulator means. The program has a lot of options like having keys mappings (shortcuts) for your menus and programs, taking screenshots (this can also be done from pc or from the phone itself) and the most important, the ability to take videoclips with the phone activity. It supports a lot of formats like AVI, H261,H 263 and FLV.
[en] The unfolding adventure of a phone mod [Sony-Ericsson/UIQ/tech-head]
01203 days
by Bograma
in Everything Else Tech
09.30: Checking to see the new mod available. Found a operator logo changer which I’ve never tried. I was never fond of this kind of mod because it really does nothing-instead of Vodafone, it can say "your name", or the date / time (which you have by default anyway in the lower part of the screen) or some other little thing. Bute because I’m one curios sonovab.. I thought I’d give it a try.
09.40: Installing went fine, chose to have the Main Menu instead of Operator Logo and reboot. Of course, I got an error in which the Main Menu crashes (ooop, that’s really not good, as this is the backbone of the system!) and the boot sequence is stuck at SE logo. It won’t bot up 100% although other services work: Rss feeds, e-mails, network register, etc – I just can’t see them
10.08: Unistalled the mod, reinstalled the mod hoping the phone would boot, so I can see what’s wrong but no luck. In case of failure again, I have only one option: update FW but I have to reinstall all app-there aren”t many, just around 80
10.11: Because I still had access to various apps due to hardware buttons on the side (camera, internet button),I managed to get into the menu and I’ll try to open the mod and choose a different action – like changing the Operator Logo into Time or Date. This shouldn’t crash the Main Menu.
To be updated later! Good luck to myself!
PS: This instead of working hard!
Update 0n Oct 22nd: Had to Master Reset and if I did that, I debranded my P1i (it was on Vodafone Germany). I’ll write about the process later, some kind of walkthru.
[en] SE P1i camera mod update [Sony Ericsson/modding/UIQ]
01214 days
by Bograma
in Everything Else Tech
Camera mod is getting on my nerves. I don’t really need the video part but entering this mod-business made me took the opportunity of testing extensively all the mods available. All of them are safe: you don’t like it, just delete the modded files and the system will use the back-ups when you restart. Safe.
So, a lot of people started modding the camera files and the results appeared instantly. I mean, pictures are so much better with a minor downside: they are maybe 15% bigger in size, but with my 2 GB card I don’t worry a bit. I usually download pics&videos from my phone every 2 weeks, or even weekly. On the video part, there is A LOT of work to be done. Even after lots of mods, the video still appears choppy and laggy. This happens to me. Others have bigger issues: delayed sound of about 2 seconds or corrupt (often and it happened to me, too!) video/picture after you finish taking them! And this is really bad because you can’t recapture those moments. Or for most of the people, works great. I know that.
I tend to relay on my P1i camera very much, as it’s the best camera I have whenever I need it. What good is to have at home a 12 MP one with big optical zoom? Underneath, I put two clips taken with 2 different mods. After this second try, I pretty sure I’ll comeback to the original settings and wait until something better comes along. Too bad for the video image quality which is top notch (for this phone), almost 100% better than before, but choppiness is not acceptable.
A little bit about the video clips underneath: 1st example has decreased FPS(frames per second) from 51 to 45 in order to reduce the lag. It seemed to be working (only 3 choppy frames at the begining and then very smooth), but after trying it again today, was worse than ever before. And this leads me to example number 2: after emptying the folder to which the record will gonna land to in order to have a smoother operation,I tried again but the result is terible. Don’t know why. Just it doesn’t work at all, the result is choppy and laggy.
I have to thank Mode and Chombos 1, both members of the Esato Forum for their kindness and help regarding this particular issue. In the end, by coverting back to original files doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate the unpaid effort made by people modding these apps, but that for the moment the result is not expected so maybe some encouragement and patience is in order.
