My N95 - Applications, uses, and should haves
In my earlier post I explained why a mobile device was better providing a web app integration environment rather than a ‘native’ application. But, because I’m a geek, I currently use the N95 (and it has ‘uses’).
Overall, the device is very nice. It is Nokia’s best phone yet - great feel, (except there is a little play in the slider face), small, great feature set: WiFi, GPS, MicroSD, 5-megapixel camera with good optics and a flash.
The first thing that attracted me to the N95 was the good camera. I really wanted to be able to take decent shots while out and about in my life without having to carry a camera. The N95 is the perfect fit. I can take a shot, know it will look good enough for a candid photo, and have it uploaded to my online photo store immediately. Having it geotagged is a huge added flavor favor.
So getting to the GPS, besides the camera, this was the only other feature that was really a ‘must have’ for me - because of my fascination with location. Here is a list of the GPS-enabled applications that I use on a regular basis. There are some others, but I installed them just to play with them, and these are ones I use nearly daily.
- Nokia Sports Tracker
- great app for recording GPS tracks, can save as GPX or KML and even email. Unfortunately, no APP support (yet)
- ShoZu
- geotags my photos and uploads to flickr, automatically. I can also edit the title, description and add more tags
- MGMaps
- incredibly full featured mapping application, tracker, and local search. Recently got a cease-and-decist for using Google Maps Tiles (gee, wonder why), but fortunately I pointed out OpenStreetMap to the developer several months ago and within days he added it as an option (free maps on your phone!) Also handles displaying KML files and rumor has it, OpenSearch-Geo in the near future.
- Zurfer and Zonetag
- two projects from Yahoo! Research Berkeley that provide for uploading geotagged (and cell-tagged) photos to Flickr, and viewing Flickr photos taken near you
- Twibble
- geolocated twitter posts - also view your friends posts. Rather simplistic currently (your friends posts aren’t geolocated)
- Mapufacture
Missing Apps
While these apps are fun, there are definitely some missing apps or software:
- Plazes (or FireEagle, or some other generic HereIAmWhereAreMyFriends) mobile application - didn’t they use to have one?
- Atom Publishing Protocol support for grabbing nearby locations and uploading new locations and tracks
- Integration of GPS with LifeBlog
And here’s another major hiccup - The N95 has unlimited storage via memory cards - I am a technogeek, yet I still can’t get music or media onto my device. Yeah, there is a Nokia Media Manager for Mac - and my phone shows up in iTunes - but I can’t actually add anything to the device. I try to drag-n-drop and it just snaps back. Not there, no message, no music - unhappy user.
This is something so simple, and so fundamental to Nokia’s primary feature set I’m amazed that it’s so horribly implemented. So while I don’t need to carry another camera with me, and rarely carry my N800 anymore, I still carry my iPod for quick trips.
I mean what I said
As great as the N95 is, for as long as Symbian has been around there should be a lot more great applications out there. Instead, developing a J2ME or C++ application for the N95 (which may not work on the N80, or N6600, or N800, which means redeveloping for every platform) is extremely difficult and time-consuming. And that’s not even addressing the overhead required by a user to find and then choose to install your application - easily a 5-step process, that may even fail and leave unknown bits around you mobile that you later have to reflash to clean up.
Instead, Nokia should really team up with Opera to re-release and finalize the Opera Platform, a kind of iPhone WebKit competitor that allows developers to quickly build rich web-applications with hooks into the phone unit itself. I don’t want to have to worry about file systems, buttons, synchronization, et al. I just want to develop my app, send someone a link - or even better - build something like AppMarks, Leaflets, MockDock, or Gridgets (to name just a few that showed up within weeks of the iPhone release).
My name is 
August 22nd, 2007 at 5:29 am (#)
MGMaps after v1.36
using the custom maps option it is possible to add Google Maps using
Custom Map “GoogleMap”
“Map Type URL” http://mt.google.com/mt
(works & position is displayed correctly)
Though yes it is against the terms of use.
(found via Google Search)
Mapperz
http://mapperz.blogspot.com/
August 22nd, 2007 at 10:19 am (#)
Andrew, actually you can see the geolocated posts of your twitter friends using the twibble API. Here is how:
http://www.das-zentralorgan.de/2007/08/21/embeddable-google-maps-and-twibble/
August 23rd, 2007 at 1:06 pm (#)
I think you should definitely try to install some GNU tools a la Cygwin onto the device. You’ll find that scp will work well enough to transfer files of various dimensions to and fro various strata.
August 24th, 2007 at 12:21 pm (#)
@Mapperz - thanks for the info, this is the path that MaemoMapper uses. Though we should all push for more open-data so this issue doesn’t stay forever.
@thilo - yeah, I saw the twibble API and would like to incorporate into Mapufacture. However, it would be nice if the twibble mobile app included this so I can see when people are twittering (or twibbling) near me.
@emptyset - that’s just my point (and I’m on a mac, so I don’t need Cygwin), but it’s not easy
August 29th, 2007 at 1:11 am (#)
When using Nokia Media Manager in iTunes I could not drag tracks to the phone either, and it drove me up the wall. The reason is that there is no folders on the phone. In iTunes click on the phone in the right hand side and click add folder, you can then drag tracks into this folder. i think you cal also drag a playlist to the phone as well. This also works similarly in iPhoto too.
September 5th, 2007 at 11:13 am (#)
Why don’t you just plug it in using USB and select the Data Transfer mode?!
You’ll be able to transfer any files you’d like to… including the media stuff
September 20th, 2007 at 8:32 am (#)
I’ve just been plugging the memory card into my card reader, that works quite nicely. I also browse my laptop and copy the files over via Wifi, through the router or even an ad-hoc Wifi network. Hope this helps
October 22nd, 2007 at 2:01 am (#)
In iTunes, you cannot drag songs directly into the N95 folder; instead create a playlist inside it (click on the folder, then the “+” button). NOW drag songs into the new playlist, and they will be transferred to your N95 next time you sync.
Once new songs are on the N95, you need to “refresh libary” (or somesuch) within the media player, to update its playlist.
February 24th, 2008 at 7:46 pm (#)
I was going to suggest the same technique above as the last comment, for transferring music to your n95 via itunes. I sync every night, so whenever i add new tunes, they are ready for me tomorrow.