Which is especially good since I’ve been working hard on something new (I know, I know: what’s new in that, right?).  But bear with me!

In a lot of ways I was all over the place in 2011 and want to fix that for 2012.  So for the most part my highly personal writing will occasionally show up at texrat.net.  There will be a few more articles showing up here, mostly Nokia and Qt oriented, but going forward there will be a new home for the technical stuff.  So at some point Tabula Crypticum will no longer be updated.

This isn’t an easy decision, nor is it easy to implement.  I’ve had a lot of fun writing here, and reading the comments, but results were too erratic.  There were either amazing days of 3000+ views or frustrating days of a few accidental visitors.  I had trouble establishing something close to steady readership.

A lot of that of course is being some random, non-famous individual who talks too much.  Where’s the allure in that?    But the fact that a few articles received extraordinary attention leads me to believe (in possible delusional fashion) that sometimes I get lucky and post something useful.

One way to increase the odds of that for a blog is to add more authors.  Along with authors you need editors.  Next thing you know you have a publishing empire.

Well, my new plans are not so grandiose.  Rather, I want to build a new blog in and around communities.  Particularly Maemo and MeeGo.  Not the products, but the people… many of whom are now scattered across the Internet striving valiantly to keep the free fires burning.  They’re involved in cool projects we are excited to share!

It’s not quite ready to officially launch yet, but I am announcing the creation of post404.  It’s starting off with a handful of senior editors and hopefully we can pull in a community of contributors.

Sound fun?  Follow @post404_Mag on twitter (and me still at @texrat of course) to get engaged!

Those of us starting this are passionate and hopeful.  Going forward, expect to see a lot less “I” and a lot more ‘we”.  Thanks for your interest!

original source: http://www.pop.com.br/

Apologies to QML fans but I’m going to to extend the interruption of that series by at least one more article.  Blame a cynical friend’s recent conversion to the Dark Side of mobile Microsoft. 

As regular readers know I’ve been a dual Microsoft/Linux power user for many years.  While some friends see that as a bad case of cognitive dissonance, I prefer to call it technical agnosticism.  I was never interested though to include Windows Mobile in that scope, mainly due to an observance that it was just Windows scaled (badly) down to a handheld device rather than something specifically designed for the form factor.

Microsoft finally realized that, bit the bullet, and created Windows Phone from scratch.  But the product still carried Windows branding baggage and has been panned by some mobilists and tech pundits– many of whom did so with ten-foot virtual poles.

This has been especially true of Nokia fans (self included), particularly those who saw great things in the Linux-based operating systems Maemo and then MeeGo and had high hopes for the sexy N9.  Nokia’s CEO had brought about the Elopocalypse in accepting Steve Ballmer’s engagement offer, and no one from the Linux side of the family wanted to be part of the post-wedding reception.  Some later snickered at the Spanish meaning for “Lumia” (as tempting as it is to riff on that further, I’ll demur).

So far the MicroNokia nuptials have resulted in two acknowledged offspring: the fraternal Nokia Lumia twins, 710 and 800.  There’s nothing apparently spectacular about the 710, hardware- or appearance-wise.  Its low price is the most attractive feature.  As for the 800, photos don’t quite do it justice.  You have to use this device to realize its true beauty.

The same can be said for Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 OS.  Yes, videos seem compelling, but jaded smartphone users aren’t easily impressed by moving pictures.  Experience it first-hand, however, and the skepticism melts.  I admit to encountering that at Nokia World when I first got to play with the Lumias.

This sort of mindset conversion is never more dramatic than when a diehard open source devotee is swayed.  Such was the case when my aforementioned friend Johan Paul surprisingly tweeted the following:

I’m highly interested in what he’ll have to say further, the more he uses his Lumia 800.

Now, I can’t quite profess unconditional love for these babies.  Some of the beauty is only skin-deep and there are genetic defects only a mother could overlook.  My personal OS peeves are no tethering, no Bluetooth file transfers and no USB mass storage mode.  HUGE step backwards in my opinion and a MUST fix.  As for the Lumia 800, lack of TV output combined with omission of a front-facing camera have my teeth gritted.  I also have to wonder why support for quickly-trending NFC was left out.

Beyond feature failures, Microsoft and Nokia face distinct but obviously related challenges here.  The former needs to get Windows Phone in general out of the market share basement.  The latter needs to re-establish their specific phones as must-have products.  I have yet to see a clear signal on how evangelical overlap is going to be handled by the two, particularly where software development is concerned.  I also still wonder if the marriage between them will ultimately put off other WP participants (not that I actually care).

Nevertheless, if outreach efforts can get examples into the hands of prospective buyers everywhere, even doubtful ones like my friend Johan, Microsoft and Nokia do indeed have a potentially winning combo.  The 25,000 device-seeding effort won’t hurt!  In addition to my QML explorations, I plan to develop for Windows Phone and can’t wait to start showing off my own Lumia 800.

I just need to get that pretty baby in my hands…

Disclosure: author is a former Nokia employee and current Nokia Developer Champion learning Qt

After a little over two years of scant free time, I’m finally working normal hours.  So that liberates me for more community engagement, aka the stuff I really love.  It also frees me up to think.  But looking back on the past 5 years of support for open source projects with great promise but ultimate abandonment, I’m left to wonder what to target. 

I asked that question out loud not long ago and concluded that adding Windows Phone to my repertoire makes sense.  I already have the skills and connections.  But so does including Qt, and so I’ve been plunging into QML recently as I await the delivery of a Nokia WP phone for development.  I find that, in both cases, developer/enthusiast communities for both platforms are small and quiet in my area.  So I feel obligated to help build them up as I did for Maemo and MeeGo.

That last thought just makes me nostalgic for a time when inspiring those communities could be as simple as posting “Just wait until you see what’s next!” on a discussion forum or IRC chat.  The passion of Maemo and MeeGo advocates was undeniable.  Even their complaints betrayed high interest; most people who don’t really care about a product or project won’t give you much feedback.  They just leave.

I notice that the original Maemo community refuses to “just leave”.  At the very least, we lament on twitter the lost chances to see each other in person once or twice a year.  We hit each other up with connection requests on social media channels, as a friend did to me this morning, inspiring this post.

I’ve realized most of my true friends are nowhere close to my neighborhood.  They’re in Moscow and Tampere and Mexico City and New Delhi and Vancouver and Berlin and Beijing.  Sadly, one I’ll not see again.

Some in my former circles will do more than cling to contact via virtual means.  Many are already in Qt and I hope to encourage more to try the waters.  A few will venture into Windows Phone, especially Nokia Developer Champions transitioning from Symbian.  Others have or will find homes in other related ventures like KDE, Ubuntu, Mozilla, et al.  So odds are I’ll bump into some of them here or there.

What I’d really like to do, though, is form a consortium of sorts from all of these passionate, talented people.  Find or create some projects, like Maemo, that fire us up again and keep us strongly connected.  The opportunities are there; Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon haven’t solved every problem yet.

More than ever, creative solutions these days demand diversity of skills.  The landscape moves too fast, the darlings of industry overturned too often for people to successfully coagulate into homogenous, bureaucratic masses.  Those deeply embedded in the eroding status quo haven’t realized that yet.  But my old Maemo and MeeGo friends do.  They’re out there now, plowing new furrows in stale fields and causing wonderful disruption.  They’re fast refactoring MeeGo communities into new groups, some with new but related purpose.

Even with the so-called failures of Maemo and MeeGo, I’m proud of what the members accomplished.  I’m pleased to have been a part of those grand experiments.  And instead of bemoaning the outcomes, let’s refocus.  Retarget.  Identify and support initiatives that take from and extend the best parts of both.  Include rather than exclude.

Anyway, I’m not going anywhere.  I’m finding new focus.  I’ll see you all at Qt Project, in the Mer IRC channel, a local Windows Phone meetup or maybe some big conference somewhere.  Let’s stay in touch.  That’s what communities do.

I said at the end of the first article that I would progress to the next phase in this one.  But the request for a screenshot of the app at this point got me to thinking that it would be worth more to fledgling QML developers if I backed up and broke down the code.  So let’s do it.  There’s a lot to cover, so I’ll spread it across two or three articles.

First, the promised screenshot:

MotoRing, phase 1

There’s more going on here than my final app would really need, but I was working for two things here: one, to expand the original code example’s functionality for anyone following me, and also to provide visual feedback of functionality for my own drive trials.  Ultimately, the home screen will be very simple and the app will rely on a separate configuration screen (or menu) along with notification audio and dialogs screens.  For safety’s sake, and especially given that this app is to reduce driver interruptions, emphasis will be on audio.

As you can see, I placed units selection at the top of the screen.  That made it easy to toggle back and forth between miles-per-hour and kilometers-per-hour during testing.  Speed certainly doesn’t need the level of precision shown; I should just truncate at the decimal point.  The screen above shows that typical US measurements are selected (feet, miles) and the speed shown is in miles per hour.  I could also add more context (i.e., “MPH” or “KPH” after the speed readout) but that’s not necessary for this app.

Now, let’s dig into the code, starting with main.qml, which is automatically created for Qt Quick projects.

There’s the usual basic requirements of course.  In main.qml, the “home” code, we load the necessary libraries for QT Quick and MeeGo Harmattan:

import QtQuick 1.1
import com.nokia.meego 1.0

The actual declarative code describes the home page itself:

PageStackWindow {
    id: appWindow
    initialPage: mainPage
    showStatusBar: true

    MainPage {
        id: mainPage
    }
    ToolBarLayout {
        id: commonTools
        visible: true
        parent: appWindow.pageStack.currentPage

        Item {
            id: switchRow
            width: 300
            height: 32
            anchors.verticalCenter: parent.verticalCenter

            // Switch for power saving: toggle gps on/off
            Switch {
                id: gpsSwitch
                anchors.verticalCenter: parent.verticalCenter
                checked: false
                anchors.right: parent.right
                anchors.rightMargin: 50
            }
            Text {
                id:switchText
                font.pointSize: 24
                text: gpsSwitch.checked ? "GPS ON" : "GPS OFF"
                horizontalAlignment: Text.AlignRight
                anchors.verticalCenter: parent.verticalCenter
                anchors.right: gpsSwitch.left
                anchors.rightMargin: 25
                font.family: "Nokia Pure"
            }

        }
// menu not yet implemented
        ToolIcon {
            platformIconId: "toolbar-view-menu";
        }
    }
}

I’m still struggling to fully understand how to use the PageStackWindow element (and welcome all explanations and examples) but the functionality is clear: it identifies the content page(s) to load for main.qml.  In this case, we have MainPage.qml (which is also created by default) which contains our actual program and is selected via initialPage: mainPage.  (note: I still haven’t figured out how to manage multiple pages with this, and could use some help!)

I have customized the default main.qml content by removing some of the auto-generated stuff and replacing it with what my app needs.  In this case, an on/off switch (gpsSwitch) on the Toolbar (commonTools) at the bottom of the page.  The switch works in conjunction with a text box (switchText), so both elements are grouped into an Item called switchRow. The Item element, as explained here, makes such grouping (and therefore managing) of common and/or related items easy.  As a side note, I’m sure I don’t have to explain what the id property is doing for all elements… do I? 

To toggle the GPS status, we use text: gpsSwitch.checked ? “GPS ON” : “GPS OFF”. Think of this as a simple IF/THEN. When the switch is on, the text value is set to “GPS ON”.  (I’m thinking I can get rid of my two chunks of in-line JavaScript in MainPage.qml by doing something similar.)

If I understand right, showStatusBar: true makes the Toolbar visible.  You’ll also see a menu item referenced in the last code chunk.  I haven’t got to that yet, but I’m hoping I can use the popup menu for settings.

There really isn’t much to main.qml on this or most other projects I’ve looked at.  It’s my understanding that keeping the page loader simple and using individual pages for specific app features is the best practice.  Someone correct me if that’s wrong!

On a related note, while checking tour dates of musical groups I enjoy, I realized there wasn’t an event planner app for MeeGo Harmattan that would suit my purposes.  So I’ll make that another documented project, one that might actually be easier than this one.

One recurring, general gripe: I’m really perturbed by some common Qt Quick elements being documented, separately, as both Symbian and MeeGo types.  PageStackWindow is one example (note that I deliberately linked to MeeGo Harmattan documentation).  Why is this?

Next: I’ll parse out MainPage.qml…

First a disclaimer: I’ve been programming for over 25 years.  That has included COBOL, Forth, Logo, DOS/VAX/Unix batch commands, Basic, LISP, Pascal, C, JavaScript and Visual Basic (both COM and .NET).  While I could work minor wonders with scripting and compiled linear languages, I found that I have been most productive in event-driven VB.Net.  Readers should know that I am not targeting an audience that’s totally new to programming, but rather, programmers who like me are experienced with other languages and platforms but new to Qt.

I really wasn’t very apprehensive about Qt, especially the mature 4.7.  Friends kept telling me how easy it was, and the Qt Creator environment did not look difficult at all at first glance. 

What got me motivated to finally dive in?  I was presented recently with a coding challenge and after some thought decided I would create an app for the Nokia N9 and N950 that would intercept calls and texts for responsible drivers.  I hashed the idea over with Andrew Flegg and Thomas Perl in London last month and they offered some really useful ideas.  Then I discovered not long ago that apps of this sort already exist for other platforms so there certainly appeared to be a need.

I elected to go the Qt Quick route and see if I could do this completely using QML and JavaScript .  What better test of QML’s depth and breadth?  I also have some experience with JavaScript and none with C++ so that was a deciding factor as well.

With any project, it’s always good to tackle requirements first.  So other than a clever name (in this case, MotoRing) what were mine?

• Constantly retrieve current device speed (in user-preferred units)
• Intercept calls and texts when device is moving above a preset threshold
• Send automatic text to callers/texters informing them that driver is not taking calls.  They should be instructed to immediately call back if there is an emergency
• Allow calls through from previously intercepted number if placed within specified time frame (i.e., emergencies)
• Automatically exit app after device has been moving below speed threshold for a given amount of time

That’s pretty much it.  Of course we can add more bells and whistles, but it’s usually best, especially for us beginners, to focus on core functionality first.  On that note, as I began this I wasn’t even sure if QML and JavaScript could handle this idea.  So the first order of business was to check that out, starting with the GPS need.

As I noted in the previous article, I found example code right away.  After some small bugs were exorcized, the example ran perfectly.  I just needed to add Speed capture.

No need to rehash my struggles with Qt Creator’s behavior.  I’m learning to work around its occasional flakiness anyway (and will report bugs once I get a good grip on what’s been happening).  My main problems outside of bugs and IDE quirks had to do with QML element layout.  Minor changes kept flinging things around my workspace.  Then I came to understand that Qt Creator allows UI elements to be positioned relative to each other… and that’s how my selected sample code was oriented.  This is an elegant solution to the need for fluidity on mobile devices, especially in handling portrait and landscape flipping.  On a related note, I had also been mystified as to why the layout Grid in the sample code extended beyond my portrait mode boundary, until I realized that this was done to accommodate landscape mode.

Ah HA!

With this new-found grasp of QML layout features I was able to make changes to elements positioning without fearing their fall into some IDE black hole.  That included adding a new Speed indicator for testing purposes (I really don’t need all the other GPS properties).

Getting the speed indicator to work was easy.  I found what I needed on a Qt API documentation page and It Just Worked.  But in my excitement I neglected to note how speed was returned.  My youngest son and I took the app out for a test drive and were mystified at the results.  Speed in MotoRing seemed to be about a fourth of actual.

I felt pretty stupid when I discovered the next day that speed is shown by default in meters per second.  That is, 3.6 kilometers per hour.

Of course in the US we measure miles per hour.  I wanted my app to be able to handle either, so I needed a function.  I whipped the following up in JavaScript (precision is truncated):

function speedConvert(speedState) {
if (speedState == buttonMetric)
return 1.00;
else
return 0.62;
}

I also added a ButtonRow element to the top of the page to toggle miles-per-hour and kilometers-per-hour.  The text box for speed passes the state of this element through the JavaScript function above to determine which is being used.  There is probably an even easier way to do this but my method works well.  Not counting a brief hair-pulling period where I forgot that JavaScript has no “THEN” in “If/Else” statements.  Oops!

After I got this part working well, I updated the code at wiki.meego.com/QML/Get_GPS_data.  If you have ideas on how to improve it further, feel free!

Some things to note:

• It would be nice to have the app automatically set units of measure based on localization settings, but I’m not even sure QML can support that.  Readers?
• I would have rather used a RadioButton rather than ButtonRow element– but despite what’s shown in the Harmattan API documentation, it does not appear to be available for that platform.  Question: why would this be a Symbian-specific element?  Radio buttons are very common UI features
• Speed accuracy seems to be +/- about 3 miles per hour, so consider that when you set thresholds

Next: I need to add the threshold setting, and look into SMS interception…

On a broader note: if you’re interested in this series, and/or articles that strive to make technology more accessible, make sure to subscribe to this blog as that will be more of the focus going forward.  And feel free to share articles!

The latter have been a huge help.  I’ve encountered some weird and frustrating situations from which many friends have rescued me.  The former, however, have been severely lacking.  But let me share the pain with you progressively.

I decided to create an application for the Nokia N9.  The app will make use of GPS and cellular services mainly, and shouldn’t be very complicated.  I chose Qt Quick because I wanted to see how mature QML really is at this point.  Plus I’m allergic to C++. 

Installing the latest Qt SDK was no problem.  It was  a slow process, but everything just worked.  I then began searching for sample code because starting projects that way has always been my best mode of learning outside of formal training.  Note to others who do the same: always credit those who have selflessly shared code that gets you started.  One day you’ll want others to do the same for you.

I elected to start with GPS since that was the crucial, and I wasn’t sure if there was even QML support for it.  I was pleased to see many results come up for GPS +QML +sample, especially a MeeGo wiki entry by a friend.  However, at first the code generated too many errors, most related to specifying invalid anchor properties.  I passed that along, the code was updated, and I progressed from showstopping errors to a blank screen.  Well, that was something!  Another friend made a few more changes and success!  I now had GPS data.  What a feeling!

Then the weird stuff.  I added another QML file and changed the id of the grid object on MainPage.qml, and after the next build my app was all black.  There were no new errors or warnings so I was mystified.  But no problem: surely unwinding the last code changes and reverting back to the last good state would restore the app to its previously successful condition… right?

Wrong.

Even after a new build the app stayed black.  I exited Qt Creator and restarted the project twice; no improvement.  No one online could provide an answer, either.  Out of exasperation I killed the project and recreated it from scratch using the same code that had just failed.  It now worked again.  Go figure.

The next day I made some more changes, and each test build was successful.  I really felt I was getting the hang of QML now!  Until I renamed the id of a button on main.qml.  Zap!  Black Screen of Death again.

So at least now I had a culprit: mucking with element id values.  But still no understanding of why.  I was told in the #Qt irc channel on freenode.net that the project was not getting fully repackaged even after reverting the code.  I would assume that the Clean function would resolve such issues… but in these two instances it did not.  However, this second time exiting Qt Creator and reloading had the desired effect: the project compiled and ran properly again… mysteriously, even after I did the id rename a second time!  In other words, the change that seemingly broke the build the first time sailed right through a second.

I now have a reputation on twitter as the guy who scares off wannabee QML coders.

But of course that’s not my goal.  I really want to master this, and maybe ultimately help others as a Nokia Developer Champion.  In the course of the past two days’ madness, however, I have discovered a few things:

• The Qt community is awesome.  I cannot overstate that.  Even as I flooded twitter and IRC with inane questions, rants and cries of despair, patient experts kept stepping forth.  Nokia is truly blessed to have them involved.
• QML code examples are fairly easy to find and usually useful.  I have been brute-force hacking my way through Qt Quick, and mostly successful at finding relevant code snips to plug into my project.  And when they don’t work, again, the community does.
• Qt documentation is severely lacking.  Don’t get me wrong: it’s easily available and there’s a LOT of ground covered– but it falls short in details.  I ran into too many situations where the text would say “To do this you first need to do that” with no pointer whatsoever to how you did that.  Come on… at least give us a link!  And some examples that demonstrate entire solutions, not just pieces (note: according to the latest Qt Blog article, they are getting this now).

To be fair, documentation that comes up short is certainly not unique to Qt.  The sort of omission I cited above has been a huge issue with Microsoft developer docs for decades.  To the Qt team’s credit, they embedded bug reporting right into the dev environment.  I dutifully reported my first bug and I’m sure it won’t be my last.

My suggestion to the Qt Project is to start floating docs past beginning users, especially those with a coding background in other platforms but new to Qt.

I learned in humbling fashion very early in my developer days how useful this can be.  I had written a DOS QuickBasic utility that converted data from one format to another.  There was a single screen of user inputs and I was very confident I had coded it strong enough to foil the worst of evil users.  But to be sure, I sat a very disagreeable co-worker down at my PC and challenged him to find bugs.

Some time later, he smugly presented me with three pages worth.

It turns out I had neglected to test for invalid inputs in several cases.  My trouble-making tester had tried every character combination he could imagine and broke my app more ways than I had thought possible.  But he did me a huge favor: not only did that app turn out to be extremely robust after bug-fixing, but I learned a valuable lesson.  That is, test your apps (and documentation, sample code, etc) on people who come at them with fresh eyes and even a high desire to find fault.  Your product will ultimately emerge the better for it.

Now, back to QML coding… you’ve been warned!

source: conversations.nokia.com

I didn’t expect to be able to say anything first-hand about the Nokia N9.  I really thought my semi-facetious post a while back would be pretty much it unless I came up with some other abstract commentary to inflict on you all.  And I really haven’t used this meandering blog for device reviews, unless you count one admittedly unusual attempt for the slightly-less-cool N8.

So I was genuinely surprised to receive a sleek black N9 in London last month the day before Nokia World 2011, at a special Champions Day event.  And I’ve used it enough to share some juicy details.

First, however, a disclaimer:

The following review is from a drooling, starry-eyed device nut who is contemplating super-gluing an N9 to his hand.  Don’t expect much objectivity.

So let’s do this. 

Design

There’s been enough mentioned on this aspect, but I have to say it myself nonetheless: this is the Ferrari of phones.  In fact I even suggested on Twitter that Nokia co-brand a red one with the Italian king of cars.  I cannot overstate the sexy elegance.  Yes I have overused that word “sexy”.  Yes the N9 deserves it.  No other cell phone has been designed better.  Most don’t even come close.

Your gaze is immediately hooked by that seductive ebony screen.  The one bordered by an almost non-existent bezel.  The only one that gently arches above the front surface of a cell phone.  Double-tap that gloss black Gorilla glass beauty and be dazzled by the display’s brilliance.

This device is such a work of art that I find myself treating it with much more reverence than its predecessors.  I am using the included slip case religiously, and finally contemplating placing a screen cover on a cell phone… for the first time.  Just hope I find one that does it justice.

The single-body case is almost stunning enough to make me forgive Nokia for the sealed battery.  Almost… but given my discouraging experiences with Nokia batteries, I’m really concerned about the possibility that this one could go bad.  So there’s a risk.

I’m also disgusted with myself for somehow letting the chrome camera trim get a little scuffed.  Probably from riding in my pocket.  Note to self: buy a damned hip case.

Oh, and I really like the robust SIM slot and usb cover mechanisms.  Nokia finally got those right!

UI/UX

I came to this conclusion with the N950, but the N9 just cemented it: MeeGo Harmattan provides the ultimate mobile device experience.  Period.  Yes, I have a fondness for the various Maemo iterations (and a tolerance for Symbian Anna) but this user experience is state of the art.  Swiping is so intuitive, so expected, that I now find myself futilely flicking my finger across the screens of lesser devices.  Other than some oddities with settings drilldowns, I’m completely satisfied.

Notifications and messaging integrations go a long way toward making this a must-have product.  I’m a forgetful sort who gave up on watches when I started using cell phones, and the N9 does a great job of alerting me to what I’ve scheduled and what is going on in my virtual world.  The sleep screen shows the time and icons for alert types– very handy.

Power/Performance

At first the N9 irked me with its sluggishness on waking from sleep.  No such thing as a coffee app, unfortunately, so I had to wait for the recent PR 1.1 update to see an improvement.  Sure enough, it now wakes up and goes straight to work.  Nicely done, Nokia!  Especially getting the update out so quickly.

Battery life is… tolerable.  I’m a demanding user of mobile internet so I know to keep expectations low… but I would not have complained if a larger capacity battery had added some size and weight.  My ultimate dream device will go at least a day of heavy use without needing a recharge.  The N9 isn’t there, but it tends to last long enough between recharge opportunities.  I occasionally have issues charging from usb (“not enough power…”) but without some troubleshooting I don’t know if it’s the phone, my power sources or both.

Apps

You know me: I’m not really an app guy.  Allergic to Apple-sized content stores, I’m usually content with what the manufacturer includes.  Nokia has done a great job here, preloading the N9 with the usual useful utilities like Maps, Music, Facebook & Twitter clients, a nice integrated Accuweather app and much more.  That even includes Nokia Drive, contrary to some misleading press.

So what have I installed?

• Solitaire
• PhoneTorch
• Recorder
• File Manager (beta)
• Radio FM4

…and a really pretty fish wallpaper.  All recommended.

Etcetera

I love the tiny usb-style wall charger.  It’s about time Nokia got on board with that.

Kudos also to Nokia for its environmentally-responsible quest to reduce packaging.  The N9′s product box is very close to zero wasted space.  Other manufacturers, take note: you should be ashamed of your excess.

I enabled Developer mode on mine because I’m trying to teach myself Qt.  I haven’t seen it interfere with any other functionality.  Now if only my code would work…

Summary

The most surprising thing about the N9?  The amazing reaction it’s garnered.  Quotes like:

You’ve never seen anything like it, and if you think it’s attractive in pictures, wait until you see it in person — it’s completely and utterly irresistible. -Engadget

The thing with the N9, though, is that, much to my surprise, I really do rather like it. -Gizmodo

After using the Lumia 800 for a day, I am happy to say that it makes my Nokia N9 purchase even more valid and justifiable -ZDNet

The sole complaints from reviewers?  The expected short shelf life of the MeeGo Harmattan OS and the scarcity of apps.

I must now remind the reader: I am really a computer person, not a phone person.  And when I have had to use a cell phone, my past preference has been Nokia sliders and E71-type form factors.  So when I tell you I can’t put this candy bar touchscreen phone down, that’s profound.  The user experience has no equal.

Well done, Nokia!  Now… if your CEO would only change his mind on the platform’s viability…

This is a highly personal post so for those whose eyes roll or minds reel at the thought, click past this one and I promise more juicy tech stuff next.

As regular readers know, I lost a great job with an awesome company in January of 2009.  As of this past Monday I started a challenging new role with what seems like another awesome company so far.  In between, I worked at something that didn’t work out while keeping an eye on Nokia opportunities the whole time.   

Now, maybe I need to qualify that last statement.  It’s not like I’m ever going to “phone in” performance at any employer.  I worked hard at my previous position.  But I could have made much, much more of the role had I been so empowered… and it was extremely difficult going from the can-do culture at Finland’s single largest employer to an organization that could have used a best-practice infusion at the very least.

I’ve related here and there some lessons learned before and after my Nokia job loss and I will repeat them here for the interested readers’ sake.  Not just to bemoan my own mistakes, but perhaps help others from making the same ones.

But first I want to share some things with Nokia.

You really were an awesome employer.  There’s no such thing as absolutely perfect, but you were close enough for me.  You provided me opportunities I never could have previously imagined.  Thanks to you I’ve been to Finland, France, Ireland, The Netherlands, England and Mexico (not to mention states here in the US).  I was already open to cultures other than my own but you cracked my mind wider.

The projects I was given, and others I was able to initiate thanks to your empowerment, had me eagerly racing into work on Mondays when others dreaded the drive.  It’s an almost indescribable feeling.  Like I was being paid to play.

When you closed the Alliance factory I was almost in tears.  Many colleagues did indeed cry.  We were a family.  A tight, talented family that kicked ass if I might say.  I still believe there was value in what we did for the US market.  I still believe we had the skills and strengths to turn around your prospects here.  I just hope you’re truly serious about pulling that off.

You emphasized Connecting People at every level, every entry and exit point.  I wasn’t good at that at first.  You helped.  In three years I went from a stuttering introvert to a much more confident trainer, presenter and business explorer.  You demanded it.  Thank you for pushing me out of my comfort zone.

I didn’t get it as well as I should have.  Sure, I networked globally with 400 to 500 people on a regular basis, but I neglected key parties on my home turf.  So when you (mistakenly) decided my critical role was superfluous, I discovered the hard way that I had not made managers at the fringe of my circle aware of who I really was and what I could do for them.  You were good enough to give me two months to find another internal opportunity, and they did exist, but the hiring managers declined to interview me because of my former failure to fully network.  Ouch. Lesson learned… painfully.

But it wasn’t all me.  In the past three years I’ve noticed you doing some odd, even counterproductive things with regards to hiring.  I’m mystified by why you deleted the “Global/Location Negotiable” job classification out of your Taleo  career system.  Many of your employees can and do operate virtually.  So how do you classify them now?  And why did you remove that for new prospects?  I don’t get it; virtual is the trend!

Then there was the extremely frustrating experience of applying for jobs that were available.  On one I was told I was overqualified and would not be considered.  I replied that the economy here had dropped just about everyone down a job grade so that was not an issue.  Still no go.  The job was closed without being filled, then re-opened weeks later, same exact description.  I applied again, and this time was told I was underqualified.

Really?

There were so many other chances at roles I could fulfill.  But no interviews.  I still don’t know why.

I came so close to rejoining you a month ago, though– I was even told to expect an interview!  But you dashed those hopes by deleting the opening… along with, I now hear, the jobs of more friends and colleagues.  That’s hard news to swallow, and I can only hope your master plan is on track.  Of course I also hope that every released employee finds another good opportunity as soon as possible.

But hey, I’m not writing just to lament lost opportunities.  I’m throwing myself into what I’m doing now.  An even though I failed to rejoin you, I’ve stayed close.  In 2009 after a brief hiatus I shifted my focus in the Maemo community from technical liaison to outreach.  Being elected to the community council is what got me to Amsterdam.  Helping the MeeGo community later got me a trip to Dublin.  More recently, participation in your Nokia Developer Champion program helped land me in England for Nokia World 2011.  Friends and family don’t quite get why you do these things without hiring me back, and I have been trying to explain the perks of volunteerism in response.  Personally I feel well-rewarded!  I strongly urge everyone, especially young people, to volunteer in activities that interest them.  One never knows where that might lead.

I had hoped to eventually leverage that volunteer work into a related role within your walls, but it looks like you’re not ready for that yet– at least, not in my neck of the woods.  Everything these days seems to revolve around Beijing and Sunnyvale.  The Irving office is about to lose more employees and I don’t know for sure your plans for its future.

But I did just have my Champion status renewed for another year, so I’m looking forward to our continued relationship.  I will proudly carry (and show off!) my gorgeous N9 and when my Lumia 800 arrives, I’ll try to give it equal time.  I’m even hoping to develop for both (currently struggling with Qt).  I want you to succeed, for a variety of reasons, and I will continue to do my small part in that… paid, unpaid or what have you.  So ping me when you need me!

I still believe in you.  You truly were an awesome employer.  It’s just a shame I could not put “Nokia” back on my resumé.

But life goes on.

Granted, my entry began by addressing cynicism, some personal but largely general, which had to make it a long-shot.  I walked readers through my Nokia journey for this year, with the aim of providing an objective yet ultimately optimistic view of the company’s prospects.  

I didn’t win that prize, but I do feel like a winner after having joined around 4000 other skeptics and enthusiasts at one of the largest product launch events of the year.  Nokia didn’t disappoint, either: not only was the much-anticipated Lumia 800 formally acknowledged, but a compelling sister product (the 710) and a new feature phone line (Asha) made their debuts as well.  There were no surprises for me with Lumia; the sharp Nokia blogging community had already pegged the critical details.  But Asha was a pleasant revelation– I had been so focused on Nokia’s work on the high end that if there were signs of Asha’s existence prior to the event I completely missed them.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.  The personal high point for me was being invited, along with 34-or-so other Nokia Developer Champions, to arrive a day early for a special mini-event targeted specifically at us and by extension the developer community at large.  As important as the Big Show was, I believe community outreach to be equally critical.  Let’s all be honest: some Nokia moves and statements since late 2010 have cast a pall over its otherwise-stalwart developer armies, especially those in the Qt camp.  While many Nokia developers are certainly interested in adding Windows Phone to their arsenal, some have balked for one reason or another.  Nokia’s challenge is to make sure a sufficient effort is put forward toward developers feeling skittish or disenfranchised, as the company can ill-afford any more negative publicity.  Getting more behind developers and providing them a path to Nokia’s future will be much-needed goodwill.

Super-developers like Simon Botes have been successful at getting their products downloaded, but struggle at monetization.  During our Developer Day, Nokia’s Kenny Mathers and Reggie Hutcherson assured us that this is a key component of their strategy.  Hopefully we’ll hear more on that very soon…the survey we were sent afterward certainly asked all the right questions.

The Nokia Developer Team is to be commended for putting this day (including an evening mixer afterward) together.  Handing out beautiful black N9s was just icing on the cake.  Next: more regional events, please, especially across the US!  It’s all about engagement.

Which brings us back to the main event.  As awed as I was by the glitz and glam of that important opening keynote, what I found really assuring and exciting was a well-received live feed of Lumia product being packaged for shipment at the Salo factory.  This is precisely what Nokia needed to connect with the skeptics.  Not some pointless dog and pony show, but rather, a nuts-and-bolts example of something tangible.

As usual, for me the best part of any event is socializing.  Nokia World was an excellent opportunity for me to share thoughts with friends and meet new people with a fascination for All Things Nokia in common.  Yes, sometimes that fascination follows a cynical twist but even detractors freely admit that Nokia has many strengths.  For one, the sexy designs of the N9 and Lumia 800 were a hot topic of discussion.  And even those searching for flaws in Windows Phone 7.5 had to settle for minor gripes– if there are any showstopping-defects, I didn’t see or hear of them.

I can’t say the experience was 100% positive, however.  Communications (wifi and cellular) were horrible to non-existent throughout most of the show… not a good indication of Nokia Connecting People.  I was told 2010 suffered the same issues, and I sure hope this is resolved by 2012.  It’s embarrassing.  But not as awful as the Monster-made headphones that were revealed.  Ack.  Too glossy, too bulky.  Sorry, I don’t see these coordinating with the sleek Lumia phones.

Still, I’m newly enthused about Nokia’s prospects, even though I’ll admit to some discouragement over the move away from mobile Linux.  But I’m a ten-thousand-foot technologist, and don’t get as religious about platforms as I do platform philosophies.  I think now that Nokia’s thoughts are on a good track.  That’s a good feeling for this fan and stockholder.  ;)

Related articles:

http://thehandheldblog.com/2011/10/26/nokia-lumia-800-unboxing-video/
http://zomgitscj.com/2011/11/03/gallery-nokia-world-2011-day-one/
http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/29/nokia-world-2011-wrap-up/
http://www.slashgear.com/nokia-world-2011-the-us-perspective-28191709/
http://create.msdn.com/en-US/news/nokia-world-2011
http://www.theverge.com/2011/11/1/2529187/nokia-world-2011-interviews

Maemo lopes slowly and reluctantly toward its fatal date with the sunset.  MeeGo blinks in the same sun and finds its full commitment gone.  And like a battle-tested Phoenix, Tizen emerges from the ashes of twice-burned, thrice-shy skepticism.

Such is life in the largely undeveloped desert ecosystems outside the expanding stockade walls of Appleworld, Microsoftia and the remaining fading few. 

I knew something was developing on, under or around MeeGo for the past few months but until I dropped down in SEA-TAC airport last Tuesday evening I had no idea it was so drastic an overhaul.  Of course “drastic” is in the eye of the beholder, and just like Maemo-to-MeeGo before it, the Tizen announcement has polarized those affected into two basic camps: those seeing the change as necessary and evolutionary versus those seeing it as unnecessarily destructive.

As noted in the previous article here, I’m trying not to rush into judgment.  Yes, the move to an HTML5 focus is disruptive but is it necessarily destructive?  Well, many Qt developers thought so at first, but Nomovok’s assurance that they will provide support for Tizen + Qt should encourage most if not all.

Developers are an important part of any software-oriented community, of course, and that was especially true of Maemo.  But community goes far beyond coders.  The enthusiasts need to be sold on Tizen, too, and that isn’t going to be easy.  Will it require another Dublin-scale event to sway the cynics?  It sure couldn’t hurt.

And then there’s governance.  Intel was more hands-on than Nokia was with Maemo, and there were grumblings about MeeGo governance and transparency.  This is noteworthy since only the diehards stuck with the migration from the former to the latter.  Now the move to Tizen threatens to fragment the open source community even further.  Keep in mind that many are still trying to keep Maemo alive in some fashion, and it didn’t take long for the dedicated MeeGo community to float similar proposals.  OpenSUSE was quick to reach out and offer one possibility, and there will surely be more.

That said, I do expect Tizen to attract its own following regardless of skepticism.  Many will undoubtedly be drawn from web-centric developer pools, in all likelihood including the uncertain WebOS community (unless the rumor of Amazon.com acquiring that operating system prevents a mass exodus).  At some point I expect to see further convergence in the mobile Linux realm.  It’s inevitable.

I’m personally on the fence for now.  I invested in Maemo– that went bust.  Put even more effort into MeeGo– poof.  But as with many bloggers who devoted miles of text to both ventures, it’s the rebranding that mostly affects my participation.  After all, I have yet to write a line of code for either (although I am preparing to try my hand at Qt) and have been mainly involved in community building, cultivating and advocating.  Most of the projects I have worked on will translate well to Tizen; indeed, I see starter activities like MeeGo Greeters as necessary for speedy ramp-up.  Same for solving essentially unanswered questions such as “Why MeeGo?”.

But I’m not just going to analyze and criticize.  I have some more suggestions:

• Pick a talking head, and have them talk.  There were times of silence in Meegoland, and that’s just not acceptable.  Even a frequent “we still can’t say much, but here’s what we can say” can do wonders.  And try to limit messages to the owner of the message to ensure accuracy… but by all means make them highly available!
• Forget the “because we say so” answers.  Just excise that habit completely from your response vernacular.  They do damage to your credibility.  Same goes for automatic defense of any decision– you might just be in the wrong.  If strong, knowledgeable members of your community say so, be prepared to hear them out… and if you must counter, do so with facts, not emotion.
• Foster some fun.  At AppUp Elements 2011, Bob Duffy asked our community panel what the AppUp/Tizen communities could do better.  I suggested contests, and I see them as an easy, popular way of injecting fun and excitement into the experience.  Consider this:  you only really need one reward offered in any contest, not one per participant.  And people thrive on fun competitions.  AppUp has already held some cool coding contests, and Meego did so with tee-shirts for conferences.  More, please.  Maybe create a Ministry of Fun?
• Support regional/local outreach.  The Linux Foundation was right to let this activity grow organically from grass roots, but stronger support would have been helpful.  We were working on budgets for this at MeeGo, but I’m guessing the shift to Tizen is what stifled that.  I’m expecting that to be revived now.
• Kill the Genie.  Seriously.  What a creepy mascot.  And how does it associate with Tizen?  Why not design something around the actual concept of Zen?  If you don’t, though, I will.  Maybe a contest? 
  
• Speaking of branding: the logo font has got to go, too.  It makes me think of balloon animals.  Let’s change it.  Significantly.

There are others, but I’m tapped out for now.  More to come as I get to it.

One thing I will say that’s been done right so far is one of those small-but-big details: a .org for the domain.  That speaks volumes.  Now let’s hope the rest of the walk matches the talk.

All thoughts welcomed.

(and in case the joke of the headline doesn’t translate universally, it’s a play on the old “Me Tarzan, you Jane” line related to Tarzan movies)