Ottorino Bruni’s Mobile Blog

Nokia Email service automatically delivers email from your current email address to your Nokia device. It enables to do the following on Nokia device:

• View, respond, forward, compose and delete emails
• Manage your email inbox, outbox, drafts, and sent folders

Current supported devices include:  Nokia E51, E61, E61i, E65, E66, E71, E90, N73, N80, N81 8GB and N95.

There is no charge for using Nokia Email service during the beta trial. Corporate email and MSN Hotmail are not currently supported, but come back to check out future beta releases.

Python for S60 1.4.4 released.

Changes 1.4.4 from 1.4.3:

• globalui module added for displaying notes and queries from  background applications.
• Added functionality to mark SMS’s in the inbox as read or unread.
• Added support for S60 SDK 3.1 with a separate SDK ZIP. Resolves bug 1760277.
• Added the twipsize attribute to graphics objects as part of resolving bugs 1784027 and 1758727.
• The S60 3.1 SDK ZIP package also supports the S60 3.2 SDK, with the  following limitations:
  (a) Missing feature: The sensor module is not supported on 3.2.
  (b) Known defect: The statement “print ”” crashes the script shell.

Corrected defects:

• 1954740: PC Suite synchronized contact field types broken
• 1948500: e32.start_service() crashes pys60 1.4.2
• 1940086: unread(sms_id) returns 32
• 1934309: calendar can’t see appointments on last day of a month
• 1929285: Audio.say won’t say äö
• 1862129: print in _internalsocketobject
• 1784027: PyS60 1.4.0 text drawing fails on Image with tuple
• 1769294: select_access_point() and access_points() bug
• 1758727: custom font drawing dont work with Image
• 1760277: error import socket because e32socket error

Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and NTT DOCOMO announced their intent to unite Symbian OS™, S60, UIQ and MOAP(S) to create one open mobile software platform. Together with AT&T, LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments and Vodafone they plan to establish the Symbian Foundation to extend the appeal of this unified software platform.

To enable the Foundation, Nokia announced plans to acquire the remaining shares of Symbian Limited that Nokia does not already own and then contribute the Symbian and S60 software to the Foundation. A full platform will be available for all Foundation members under a royalty-free license.

So goodbye UIQ, Series 90 and Series80…

Learn about Python, the open source programming language optimized for rapid application prototyping.

It is an object-oriented scripting language that is easy to learn and use and supported on many platforms.

This module gives students an idea of where and how the language can be used, and show how to write Python programs that run on the S60 platform.

The module assumes some familiarity with object-oriented programming languages.

You can view online documentation or download it.

This paper discusses MIDP game development on Symbian smartphones.
It describes a number of commonly used techniques for getting the most out of the MIDP libraries and the devices that they run on.

This paper dissects a game called Third Degree that was developed to provide example code for Chapter 9 of the Symbian Press book called Games on Symbian OS, which was published in February 2008. By focusing on a particular example, this paper will examine a number of design decisions made and discuss game frameworks, physics, AI and, in particular, the game’s life cycle events. A detailed explanation of the game’s code base follows, before the paper concludes by
covering a number of features that could be added to the game to raise it to a commercial level.

Download the source code

Sony Ericsson announced its new Project Capuchin technology which is a Java ME API that defines a bridge between the Java ME and Adobe Flash Lite programming environments. This API makes it possible to use Flash Lite as the front end and Java ME as the back end of applications, meaning that Flash tools can be used for UI design while still having access to all the phone services available to Java ME.

Project Capuchin can be used in different ways to create innovative content and here are some examples:

• Pure Flash Lite Content (Full Flash UI and services, no Java ME access):
  The simplest form of using this technology is to take pure Flash Lite content (e.g. already existing games and apps developed in Flash) and encapsulate it in MIDlet suites (*.jar) using Sony Ericsson’s soon-to-be-available packaging tools. The benefit of this approach is that this Flash Lite content will be treated in the same manner as Java content, thus will use the same distribution infrastructure and system capabilities as Java ME content.
• Java MIDlet using Project Capuchin as UI presentation layer (full Flash UI, Java Services):
  More advanced use of Project Capuchin is to let Flash Lite handle the entire presentation layer and use Java as a service provider which feeds the presentation layer with necessary data.
• Java MIDlet using Project Capuchin for some UI components (Java UI and Flash UI, Java Services):
  In some cases such as 3D games, it is not feasible to use Flash Lite as a full presentation layer yet this should be handled using suitable Java technology (e.g. Mascot API, JSR 184 or JSR 239). In these cases, Project Capuchin could be used for presentation of some UI components, for example menus in 3D games.

Python for S60 1.4.3 released.

Changes 1.4.3 from 1.4.2:

• Added functionality to set the recipient name in messaging.sms_send().
• Added to the positioning module the last_position() function which fetches the last
  obtained position without powering up the GPS device.
• Increased the maximum length of the message that can be sent using messaging.sms_send()
  to 39015 characters.

Corrected defects:

• 1891830: positioning.stop_position() does not shutdown GPS.
• 1833627: sms content is truncated to the first 256 characters.

mShell is a complete, unlimited m implementation with comprehensive function library. m scripts and own modules can be run, developed, and communicated. In addition, it contains the applications mSupervisor (m script autostart, SMS control of mShell) and mViewer (m file type recognition).

Changelog v2.02:

* 2.02-1: Added net.iaps.
* 2.02-2: Fixed msg.open on UIQ3, adding file index.
* 2.02-3: Replaced infowing by airbit.
* 2.02-4: Replaced activation by registration.
* 2.02-5: Editor remembers last position for each file.
* 2.02-6: Pagewise scrolling in editor with left shift.
* 2.02-7: Improved handling of noneditable part of console text.
* 2.02-8: Added files.parse.
* 2.02-9: Added net.local, net.remote.
* 2.02-10: Created 3rd edition version with UID 0xe7e0cab7 for open signing.
* 2.02-11: Added inbox2m.m.
* 2.02-12: Increased number of literals per module to 64K.
* 2.02-13: Added value constructors to NMI.
* 2.02-14: Bug fixes

mShell can be downloaded for free.

UIQ Technology announced the availability of UIQ 3.3, bringing mobile phone manufacturers even more opportunities to innovate and to diversify their product portfolios.

New for this release:

• Full web experience: Opera Mobile 9, with its fast page rendering and its Pan & Zoom functionalities, offers the web experience of a full-scale browser in a mobile environment.
• UIQ Dashboard: UIQ 3.3 is prepared for mobile widgets and features a dashboard, accessible system wide by pushing the widget button.
• Opera Widgets: Opera widgets run on UIQ 3.3, offering the user direct access to content and opening up for new mobile services.
• Unified Messaging Platform: integrated communication experience.
• Java JSR 248 MSA Fullset: Developers can create and deploy a wide range of applications using the Mobile Services Architecture (MSA).

UIQ 3.3 Beta SDK has successfully tested on Windows XP and Windows 2000.

The UIQ 3.3 beta SDK doesn’t officially support Windows Vista, but it has been successfully tested on this operating system. The SDK can be used with Carbide.c++ v1.3, CodeWarrior 3.1. It can also be used with Visual Studio .NET 2003 and 2005.

Oracle announced new mobile interoperability with Nokia devices and technology, as a result of the ongoing cooperation and co-development between the two companies. Oracle has validated the Nokia Intellisync Device Management solution working with Oracle’s Siebel CRM platform, Oracle(r) Database Lite is now available on Symbian Version 9/S60 Version 3 enabling enterprises to mobilize their applications using Nokia devices and Siebel Wireless is now available on the Nokia E90 Communicator, an Eseries device designed for enterprise users.

• Validation of Nokia Intellisync Device Management with the Siebel CRM.
• Oracle Database Lite now supports Symbian 9 (S60 v3).
• Oracle Siebel Wireless on Nokia E90 Communicator.