RIP Symbian, Hello iPhone 4

The joint announcement from Nokia’s Kai Öistämö and Microsoft’s Andy Lees last month had formally declared the death of Symbian. The new N8’s and E7’s may well be the last emperors of the Symbian dynasty.

In reality, the Symbian applications community has been languishing for a long time, far behind the new comers. Trying to find a decent internet radio software today, the only option I could find was Nokia Internet Radio. I installed in on my N95 and it soon crashed my phone and caused it to reboot. Such problems have been reported back in 2008. Yet, it seems that nothing has been done.

On the other hand there are far more software in the iPhone and Android communities. Take internet radio for example, TuneIn supports just about any mobile OS except Symbian. It has access to over 40,000 stations and runs very smoothly on my new iPhone 4. It’s a far cry from the pathetic Nokia Internet Radio.

I had never owned any Apple product until yesterday – after some nagging I bought a white iPhone 4 for Rose. I always thought Apple products were for women and children for two reasons:

1. they look cool
2. they are easy to use

But after playing with the iPhone 4, I changed my mind – it’s not easy to use at all! It’s just as bad as any other products, if not worse.

First of all, you cannot even start using the iPhone without a MicroSIM card. At least, my trusted N95 could work without SIM card and function normally except for telco services. So the first hurdle for me was to cut my normal SIM card with scissors and make it into a MicroSIM. I was amazed that it actually worked!.

After that, I had to register on AppStore by providing my private information. Even if you want to install a free software, you are still required to put in your credit card detail - what the heck?!

Then I found that the iPhone refused to load any of my music files that were accumulated over the years – not even the polyphonic ring tone that I have been using for years. That was the final straw. I had no option but to jailbreak, after which the whole user experience became much more acceptable. At least the process was much easier and quicker than cracking my N95.

Now the women and children in my household can better enjoy the over hyped iPhone 4 before they get bored with it, just like the old XM5800.

GPS Navigators on Symbian

As soon as Nokia XpressMusic 5800 came out in Australia, my wife conveniently lost her HTC touch smartphone. So I bought the XM 5800 for her from Bangkok (and it turned out to be genuine ). Then on the same day she conveniently found her HTC in her friend's car...

So I was charged to install all the must-have software onto the new phone. Since both XM 5800 and my old N95 support GPS, a GPS navigator became the top of the list. I have tried Garmine Mobile XT, Route 66, TomTom and Nokia Map using my N95. I quickly dismissed Garmin since it refused to start the trial period claiming some error requesting the server over the internet (and I am sure my wifi setting was correct and it did get through the internet to attempt to connect to the Garmin server).

I have been using R66 Mobile 7 and then 8 for a while until I successfully installed TomTom v6.02 on my N95. The R66 maps simply don't look good comparing to TT and Nokia Map.

So now I am using TT and Nokia Ovi Map (v3.01) at the same time.

Comparing to Nokia Map, TT is better at navigation. As soon as you type a letter, it intelligently prompts a list of names. When I typed Dolls Point, it automatically points to the beach which is exactly what I wanted. The lane guidance and camera alert work perfectly.

The disadvantage of TT comparing to Nokia Map is in its map browsing capability - perhaps rightly so, considering the fact that TT is a navigator, not a map system.

Nokia Map shines in its usability - you can easily download and configure maps and voice packs in different languages. Its maps are quite pretty and detailed. Here is a screenshot of Nokia Map showing where I am stranded (due to mechanical failure of Royal Brunei Airline flight).

However, the version that I am using does not seem to include camera alert or lane guidance.

When it comes to the XM 5800, there is not much choice because it is running S60 v5 and not equipped with any keyboard. The only choice on XM 5800 for me is Nokia Map.

How To Add Unicode Fonts to Symbian

[Update 2009-02-17]: Fontrouter project has been open sourced. Some of the download URLs in this post may have been changed. See here for more details.

If you are like me, who got a Nokia N95 with only English but wants to view contents in other languages - e.g. Chinese, Japanese, Korean (CJK), Russian, Hindi, etc. then you will be in a bit of strife.

According to Nokia forum, there is no way that you can install an extra language package on Nokia. You'd have to go to Nokia Care to have them install it for you, for a fee! Well, from my previous encounters with Nokia Care (here in Sydney), they are bunch of slow, bureaucratic, idiotic waste of space. So that option is a no-no for me.

Fortunately, the Symbian guru oasisfeng has created a wonderful software called FontRouter. The latest incarnation of the software is the FontRouter LT. Because the software is in testing stage, there is no full documentation on how to install and use it. There are pieces of information everywhere in the forum and mostly in Chinese. It took me a day to figure out the end-to-end process of getting it to work on my N95. So I feel that I should record it down and share it. I believe it should work for all S60 v3, S80 and S90 Nokia phones.

Step 1 - Downloading the Software

There are many versions on the oasisfeng web site, the version that I used was the FontRouter LT for Symbian 9 Beta (Build 20071109) Open Signed Online测试版.

Also download the TrueType font from the same web site: 【TrueType】方正隶变 GBK字体. This contains all the CJK characters(should contain other european characters too). Note that I tried using other Chinese TrueType fonts and my handset failed to start. So experiment with other .ttf files only after you have successfully installed and tested with this one. I am currently using the 方正准圆(FZY3JW.TTF) which is a Chinese true type font and its English characters are very close to the original font on my Nokia N95.

Notice that all Nokia phones belong to a certain profile (to make it easy for software developers to select and test the target platform/handsets). The N95 is an S60 3rd edition phone and runs on Symbian version 9. You can find this out from the phone: Tools -> Utilities -> About. Also notice that the version of FontRouter that I used was "Open Signed Online". What does this mean? Read on...

Step 2 - Signing the Software

Symbian is pretty rigorous when it comes to security. Software needs to be digitally signed before installing onto the phone. You can try installing the .sis file just as it is and your phone will reject it and complain that the digital certificate/signature is invalid or something of that nature. To sign the file you just downloaded, you will have to go to www.symbiansigned.com. On its front page, there is a URL for Open Signed Online (Beta). Click this URL and fill in the form on the following page. Note:

• The IMEI number uniquely identifies your handset (e.g. if your phone is stolen, you can report it to the carrier and they can bar the IMEI from the network so that the thief cannot use it). You can find it out by 'dialing' *#06#
• Email - make sure you use a valid email address because you will need to retrieve email from Symbian to carry out the next steps.
• The Application is the .sis file you just downloaded from FontRuter.

Upon successful submission of the form, Symbian will send you an email with a URL to confirm the submission. Click it.

Then Symbian will send you another email with a URL to download the signed version of the .sis file. Just click the URL and save the file.

Step 3 - Installation

Now you can install the signed version of the software that you just downloaded from Symbian using PC Suite. Make sure you install it on the Memory Card, NOT on the Phone Memory (otherwise, if it hangs your handset, you will not be able to bring your phone back to life). During installation, it will warn you that your phone is incompatible with the software, just ignore it and continue.

Then copy the fzlb_gbk.ttf file downloaded in Step 1 into the Memory Card's \data\Fonts directory. You will notice that the file FontRouter.ini has also been created in this directory by the software installation process.

Now it is time to modify the FontRouter.ini file. You can use the Windows Nodepad to edit a copy of the file and then copy it onto the handset using PC Suite. Modify the two lines of the .ini file as following:

FixFontMetrics=0
FixCharMetrics=0

changed the values from 0 to 1 like this:

FixFontMetrics=1
FixCharMetrics=1

and leave everything else the same. If you don't make the changes, the fonts will be curtailed either from the top or bottom.

That's it. Phew! Now it's time to test it - bounce the phone (i.e. switch it off then on).

Euphoria!

There are a few must-read guides that I highly recommend:

1. Test Guide
2. Font Location

Related posts: Turn N95 Into Ping-Pong Bat

Skype on N95

I got a 'free' Nokia N95 handset from a few weeks ago. It came with a 3 Skypephone client, which offers free Instant Messaging (IM) and skype-to-skype voice calls. The 3 Skypephone client was developed especially for the mobile operator 3. Therefore, you can only use the 2.5/3G network as the transport layer. The client does not offer any option to choose the access point. So if you are not a 3 subscriber, this skype client is useless.

A better option is to use Fring available from www.fring.com. Fring combines several IM clients into one - Skype, MSN, SIP, Google Talk, etc. It offers free IP calls between Fring and Fring (or native IM clients) and instant messaging. You can even make mobile calls from within the Fring client. It allows you to choose which access point to use - it can be GPRS, 3G, WiFi connections, so you are not tied to a particular operator. A problem with Fring (probably a Skype server problem) is that it sometimes does not load all the contacts from all the IM servers - e.g. some of my Skype contacts are consistently missing in the Fring contact list. Otherwise, Fring is a pleasure to use.

A similar product to Fring is Nimbuzz, which offers pretty much the same user experience as Fring.

Not yet published by Skype, Skype is also working on mobile versions of Skype client. A beta version is available for N95. Installation is easy, simply connect to skype.com/m from N95 and follow the instructions. Like Fring, it allows you to choose the access point, so you can use WiFi if you wish. This client gives you the capability of instant messaging between skype contacts. However, making voice calls is not supported. What makes it worse is that it can charge you skype out rates without you even knowing it. What happens is that at installation and login time, it forces you to enter your mobile phone number. When someone makes a skype-to-skype voice call to you (when you are on mobile skype), it diverts the call to your mobile number and you get charged for the skype-out (yes, the receiving end pays)! Therefore, this client is only good for chats, definitely not for voice calls.

From the partnership with 3 and this new mobile skype client, it is evident that Skype does not want to compete with the Telcos, but rather works with them. This is contrary to the thought that IM vendors are a threat to telco. I think this is partially because VoIP is heavily regulated/restricted by authorities in many countries and VoIP operators usually have to pay a hefty fee to the incumbent telcos. Therefore, Skype seems to be hedging their bet both ways.