Ron Liechty's Forum Nokia Blog

Launching S60 5th Edition mobile platform for smart phones

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 23:42:11 +0300

Today we reached a milestone at Nokia and Forum Nokia by launching S60 5th Edition mobile platform for smart phones and the Forum Nokia online communities is joining in on the fun!!

There is a contest in the Wiki for contributions on articles for developing applications, utilities, using and any other thing you can think of about the S60 5th Edition. Our Discussion board will soon have a forum dedicated to the new UI features and all the news will be covered fully in blogs and announcements.

S60 5th Edition is the next generation of the S60 platform. A new touch screen capability with tactile feedback, sensor framework, and support for QHD screens brings an unprecedented level of expression and usability to S60 devices. These new features enable application developers to build more features into their UIs using the extra screen real estate, and leverage touch, tactile feedback, and sensors to provide users with innovative ways of interacting with applications. Web and Flash Lite developers are now able to fully participate in the creation of mobile-aware applications and services, since S60 5th Edition gives them access to device data and information such as location. For content developers, QHD screen support opens the way for richer, more engaging content.

The S60 platform has already spawned many innovative applications. S60 5th Edition offers new opportunities for developers to innovate further with a range of new APIs:

C++ developers get new UI controls and touch feedback APIs; a sensor framework to support accelerometers, magnetometers, and tap sensors; and improved features for Web services and XML processing.
Standard C/C++ developers get access to Open C++ (STL, IOStreams, and Boost libraries) as standard platform features.
Java developers get an updated version of the Advanced Multimedia Supplements (JSR-234).
WRT and Flash Lite developers gain access to S60 Platform Services, allowing them to access the application manager; S60 application data (Calendar, Contacts, Logs, Messaging [SMS and MMS]); device location and landmarks; system information; and sensors.
Media developers gain support for Windows Media (WM) DRM 10, WM Audio 9, and WM Video 9 (in selected devices).

Find all the 5th Edition info, SDK and other resources you need for your developers on Forum.Nokia.com: http://www.forum.nokia.com/main/resources/technologies/technology_in_the_spotlight.html

Recorded webcast and general press releases of today's announcement: Http://www.nokia.com/A41196476

Jorge Santiago and Ron

Forum Nokia Provided Code Snippets

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 22:34:29 +0200

Forum Nokia has started production of Code Snippets in the Knowledge Base in the FN Wiki. Code snippets are well-written code blocks that demonstrate how to use APIs and methods to perform a certain task or use case, providing easy-to-use code for faster application development.

Forum Nokia developed snippets use interfaces from the public SDKs and have been tested on real devices. A code snippet also typically contains a simple application that uses the code, or information on how to apply the code in an application. Code snippets are provided for various technology areas and specifically address current themes of interest. For example, the first published code snippets concentrate on use cases related to the Symbian Signed test criteria.

Forum Nokia provided code snippets complement the existing offering of hundreds of code examples created by the developer community at FN Wiki. Besides being a separate category in the Knowledge Base, the code snippets are also listed in the Code examples section among other examples.

The Forum Nokia published code snippets can be easily distinguished by a specific banner and the CS prefix in the title. Check them out at: http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.php/Portal:KB_Code_Snippets

If you have any specific topics that should be addressed, send your suggestions to forum.feedback@nokia.com

Ron

Ask the Experts: Carbide.c++

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 12:05:32 +0200

This weeks ask the experts is on Carbide.c++ Nokia’s tool for Symbian C++ developers. Our experts this week are Matt Salmo (msalmo) and Matt Pinsonneault (Mpinsonneault) from the Carbide support team. If you have questions for them please ask in this thread.

Please keep the questions related to Carbide.c++

Ron

S60 Programming Competition

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 05:32:11 +0200

Forum Nokia has launched a new competition for S60 developers. There will be a new programming challenge on a monthly basis and the best solutions will be awarded.

For discussion visit Forum Nokia's newest discussion board.

Problem for January:S60 supports multiple different runtimes and programming languages. The aim in this months competion is to come up with the glue that combines different runtimes. We're asking you to design and implement a framework that unifies the S60 runtimes. The goal is intercommunication of runtimes (f.ex. Symbian C++, Java, Flash, Python, Web Runtimes, you name it…). With this kind of runtime interaction it is possible to access totally new features and re-use existing solutions in a manner that is unheard of. Please provide us with your framework implementation and also atleast one working example of runtimes interworking. If you don't have time to implement all the needed parts let us know your ideas and planned design to score more points in the contest.

The January's competion is open until 15th of February (15.2.2008) and we hope to have the best solutions published by the end of February.

See the contest web site for Contest Rules and Informtion

Ron

Ask the Expert about Symbian Platform Security, manufacturing grantable capabilities and Java verified.

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 22:27:00 +0200

Forum Nokia devotes one week to answering questions on a specific topic on our discussion boards. The Nokia expert that will answer the questions daily that are within their expertise as long as it is a reasonable question or comment.

We are fortunate this week to have an expert on application signing, one of the hottest topics on the discussion boards. I am sure there are lots of questions about Symbian Platform Security, manufacturer grantable capabilities and Java signing.

So if you have any questions about Symbian Platform Security, manufacturer grantable capabilities and Java signing please ask them. However, Symbian Signed questions are to be asked at the web site set up for Sybmian Signed questions and not in Forum Nokia.

Ron

S60 3rd Ed. FP 2 , SDK Beta Includes Web Runtime Engine

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 22:59:52 +0300

Today the S60 3rd Edition, Feature Pack 2 for C++ SDK Beta went live on Forum Nokia and with that a WRT testing environment. Note, this is a beta version, but the included WRT engine is close to final and developers are encouraged to use it. See the Tools and SDK’s: Nokia Tools web page

Additionally, a number of docs went up including
- Introducing Web Run-Time
- Getting Started with Nokia web Widget development
- Web Run-Time API Reference
- Porting Apple Dashboard widgets to S60

The getting started and the Porting guides include example widgets.
See http://www.forum.nokia.com/main/resources/documentation/index.html

Power saved is Product Sold

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 23:56:38 +0300

Increasingly I see complaints on the discussion board about poor battery life. Of course there are bad batteries out there but for the most part batteries live longer now than ever before. One of my mobile devices would go for days on end without needing a charge but if I used it for an alarm clock it would need charging daily. If I had not observed that it was this one application that caused the battery problem I would have been extremely upset with Nokia. Knowing what caused the poor battery life made me quite upset with the application and I only used it when absolutely necessary.

If you are planning on selling your product and want to have loyal customers you need to consider the power consumption of your application or utility. Forum Nokia has created a web site that will help you achieve this with information and tools. Please visit this page as it is not only important to Nokia to have long battery life but also for you or the company you work for to have the ultimate power management. Right now they may blame Nokia but do not under-estimate the word of mouth that would spread if your product was listed as an energy waster. A good programmer always tries to write the most elegant code and this will help you achieve that.

Ron

When to Start Fresh with New Equipment

Wed, 08 Aug 2007 21:29:10 +0300

I live in an old house and there is constant upkeep on the house as age and gravity take affect. This last weekend I had to do some plumbing, removing the old sewer pipe and replacing it with space age materials (also known as plastic). Because I was very careful and also have lots of deodorizers the job went fairly well and the house was inhabitable in a few hours after the job was completed. I could have just kept using the plunger every few months and lived with the occasional back up and I could have even just cut out and replaced the elbow that was giving me such problems. But those are just stop gap measures and at some time you need to fix it properly.

Nokia has recently replaced CodeWarrior with Carbide.c++ being one of the original CodeWarrior people from the 1990’s I had a lot of reservation about this change. However, there were just so many patches one can do to something and then it is time to start new, it made sense and even if there was a hardship of learning a new tool or there were some flaws it was time to start fresh. A new patch was recently made available that while it seems insignificant in numbering, it is a major update to the Carbide.c++ tool fixing over 130 bugs.

How to Upgrade:

Check your current version (Click Help → About Carbide.c++)

For Carbide 1.2 or v1.2.1 users, you will be loading a PATCH file

Open Carbide v1.2 or v1.2.1
Click Help → Download Updates in the Carbide tool.
Select Find and Install…
Select “Search for updates of the currently install features”
Wait (then wait some more)
Install features

For Carbide v1.1 users:

You will need to install v1.2 from Forum Nokia, get a new license file, then follow the steps above
Details on upgrading from v1.1 to v1.2 may be found at Forum Nokia Carbide.c++ licensing.

Ron

Remote Device Access - Testing on the Latest Devices

Fri, 30 Mar 2007 19:45:02 +0300

Forum Nokia's new Remote Device Access (RDA) technology allows application testing on actual target devices over the Internet .

The system consists of a device pool connected to a server, and users connecting to the server in order to remotely use the devices. Once a user has connected to a device, the screen of the device is transferred to the user's desktop in real time.

You can install applications on the device, transfer files, and analyze log files in real time. This enables developers to test your mobile applications and services on various Symbian based Nokia devices. RDA is an Internet-based solution, and the requirements for using the service are only a standard Web browser and the Java™ Web Start that typically comes with Java Runtime Environment (JRE).

This is simple and free and is available to anyone registered with Forum Nokia.

Ron

Pogo's Paradox and other quotes

Fri, 20 Oct 2006 00:56:39 +0300

Walt Kelly an American cartoonist is most noted for what is now known as Pogo’s paradox, "We have met the enemy and he is us". However, another Pogo quote that I enjoy is "We are confronted with insurmountable opportunities." Finally John F. Kennedy said "Change is the law of life. And those that look only to the past or present are sure to miss the future." These quotes seem disjointed and totally lacking any common thread, but when you read them backwards they tell a great deal about who succeeds and who fails.

If you don’t look to the future but only try to fix the current problems or past problems you are left out of the future. When you face opportunities and see them as insurmountable or too large for you to attempt you are destined to fail in the future. When you analyze why your business is not growing or your projects are not selling or your career is stagnant, it is because you, your self doubts and your fear of changing is the enemy. You have met your enemy and he is you. I see this now in the mobile device applications being sold. They are a rehash of the same things that were developed for laptops or PDA’s It is time to look to the future of mobile devices and start developing applications for smartphones not dumb PDAs.

Bart Latamore’s article in ComputerWorld points out four things that companies need to do for the future of mobility in the workspace.

Organize for success by picking the right hardware, tools and policies
Get control of the hardware by standardizing on one operating system or at least a standard means of working with multiple operating systems
Segment the user base, one solution does not fit all; pick the right mobile device for the user based on need.
Standardize on security. Securing sensitive information in a mobile device is one of the greatest needs and one of the fastest growing areas of information technology.

If the information technologies can see the need to provide for a mobile workforce then it is time for us developers to ensure that the applications to make a mobile office are ready when the market is. Neils Bohr said, "Prediction is very difficult, especially of the future". I agree but you don’t need to be psychic to see a man walk out of his home, board a plane and run an office meeting with nothing more than a smartphone, all you need to do is watch a Mobile Windows ad.

Ron