Roland’s actions here point out a problem with making apps for mobile phones. On the one hand, the most recent version of Lifeblog mobile does not work on Roland’s (not even a year old) phone because the Lifeblog team decided to leave the 7610 behind, since updating every version of the mobile app is insane (there are now at least 3 Lifeblog versions for different groups of phones, sheesh!). Also, following this trend, the next version will likely leave behind current phones (really!). Sigh.
ShoZu has the same problem, but it’s a simpler app (relatively speaking), so they can settle around features that work on most Series 60 (or S60) phones. But, so many cool apps have been dying on my N70 until an update is made (oh, when will Series 60 be a platform?!).
Yes, Roland, ShoZu is cool and is really what you need. Have fun! I liked it too, but didn’t switch to it because I still (barely) and using Lifeblog for easy backup of my phone stuff (barely).
Link: Roland Tanglao’s Weblog: Hello ShoZu, Goodbye Lifeblog.
If you want to upload lots of flickr photos from your Series 60 phone, I highly recommend ShoZu. I have stopped using Lifeblog and will now upload my pictures using Shozu? Why? ShoZu doesn’t have a s*lly "4 photo at a time" upload limit like Lifeblog. ShoZu uploads automagically in the background, detects loss of GPRS and re-connects unlike Lifeblog. In short ShoZu was designed from the ground up for flickr and wasn’t designed with a "mobile phone and Windows PC are the center of my photo universe" mentality which applies maybe to 1 or 2 people 🙂 but not to me!
shozu realized that to include most S60 phones (even the widely sold 6600) is the best you can do to have your app used. way to go nokia 🙁
I tried using Shozu too as I have a flickr account, but to get the app to work requires me to call my network here in the UK to get the APN or something(!), I’m not techy and to do this will only discourage the masses from using what looks like a great mobile app.
thanks for the link!
I think this also points to the fact that mobile phones like computers, will have to be truly upgradeable NOT at the mercy of the handset manufacturers (who today don’t truly support upgrades) and the carriers. This will happen; in fact it has to happen for phones to be platforms for apps.
Millions of J2ME and Series 60 phones all slightly different does not a platform make
I love my Nokia 7610 but it’s not a platform. There are far too many differences in the J2ME and Symbian OS implementations on all the phones out here to make a real platform that developers can develop on top…
The APN issue mentioned by mspoke is still a problem for lots of mobile subscribers. Even though ShoZu automatically adds the correct APN settings for UK networks, the Operator still needs to provision the SIM card for Internet access. New SIM cards are generally set up correctly, but getting an old SIM provisioned can be hard. Many call centre agents still don’t understand the difference between WAP and general Internet access, and insist everything is working fine if you can connect to their WAP portal. This is pretty frustrating for subscribers and for app developers – we’d like it to be easier for mspoke to get ShoZu working.
Thanks for the comment Andy, you right with the staff at the networks, unless I want to add extra options they’re not really that interested. If you have a Pay-as-you-Go relationship with Orange, for instance, they will charge you 60p per minute to sort out the APN issue via their ‘customer service’ line, which is quite a bit considering it will take at least 10 minutes to sort out.
But, I do think Shozu is a great idea and saves some of the hassle of email on a tiny mobile keypad.