Predictive Text

Predictive Text Attention Deficit Disorders: what a load of shiv

2009-08-18T08:36:00.000-07:00

If anyone hasn't seen the Armstrong & Millar "History of Swearing with predictive text" then watch it (see the bottom of this post)! All the mumbo jumbo that's been discussed this week in the broadsheets (the Telegraph) and tabloids (Daily Mai l) about predictive text making kids dumb, impulsive and brings on Attention Deficit Disorders makes we want to send text messages full of expletives!

But fortunately the IT press got wind of this and thankfully some sensible observations from the Register made me cool down. Also, some of the online Daily Mail readers who posted comments made some really valid points, namley Jeff a school teacher in London who says school kids use multitap and don't use "predictive text" because it does not actually predict (and therefore save keystrokes). He says:

I'm a teacher and I don't believe school kids use predictive text. I've asked classes over the years and kids don't use predictive text because its "rubbish"; kids say it does not predict or help them type less.

Teenagers use "multitap" i.e. to type "c" they type the abc key 3 times. The issue therefore is NOT predictive text but the keyboard type. Kids are constrained by the keyboard's physical size.

So either, tell the phone manufacturers like Nokia, Samsung etc to only provide kids with phones which have qwerty keyboards (not likely to happen) or put in better predictive text.

Most phones use T9 which is old. Personally I use Adaptxt software on my Nokia (downloaded for free from the Adaptxt.com website) which does actually predict in advance and does encourage me to use proper English. Some of the pupils in my class think its rather good and I'm finally cool (not book)!

One final comment on this research: what a waste of time. Their initial assumption was wrong!
- Jeff, London, 11/8/2009 12:25

To delve a little deeper then: existing predictive text solutions (so for the majority of the world that is T9) just try to complete words and even then it doesn't do a very good job of that; T9 doesn't learn from user behaviour so makes the same stupid word suggestion every time. In other words, as user experience goes, "predictive text" sucks.

But as Jeff the teacher from London points out, what are we going to do about it? He rightly says, if the world wants kids to stop using predictive text and compose messages in their full language as opposed to phonetic versions, then handset OEMs need to supply mobile phones to teenagers with qwerty keyboards. Currently, qwerty devices target business users and if you review any telco or OEM device portfolio for teenage devices, very few are qwerty in form factor. So maybe there is no demand. If there was, surely OEMs would cater to this message-friendly user segment? Fjord, now home to Christian Lindholm (of Nokia fame), say qwerty for teenagers will be a growing trend as these young social communicators want efficient input.

I don't think the driver for this change is going to be concerns over Attention Deficit Disorder but 2 things need to be realised:

predictive text as we know it isn't actually predicting. Rename it. "Word completion" isn't catchy but that is all it does. There is no prediction so school kids (and let's face it lots of other people too) won't use predictive text because the experience does not match the expectation. Yet, there are a number of input technologies that aren't being used: Jeff mentions Adaptxt but there is also Cootek, Wordlogic and others that should be considered. Has anybody actually compared these input technoliogies? Perhaps better "predictive text" will increase the number of emails a user sends or the number of times they post to Facebook from their mobile?
the industry needs to educate users that qwerty hard keyboards are the most efficient method of input. 12 key maybe de rigeur in Western Europe and Asia for non-smartphone/text-heavy users but text entry on a qwerty will make for a superior experience.

Decision makers responsible for input technologies at handset manufacturers need to examine input user experience: Fjord rightly point out that Twitter is going mainstream, Facebook updates and wall comments are exploding. So handset manufacturers need to give users devices which allow them to express themselves fully.

New input technolgies can assist the user's messaging experience. Qwerty handsets for young social communicators will encourage mobile blogging, mobile Facebooking and Twitter updates. And does all this not drive demand for mobile internet tarifs at telco operators?

This is a win win for the industry and users. And as Armstrong & Millar's Predictive Text Commission would say, that is not a load of shiv.

I hate app stores. We ISVs need to get smarter than the industry followers of fashion!

2009-07-21T05:40:00.000-07:00

The BBC Technology site ran an article yesterday "Apps to be as big as the internet" which sounds great but underneath the bonnet is a very scary forecast of the future for mobile app developers: basically, we're all like pop bands vying to be Top of the Pops. As Laurs from Getjar and as Sebastien de Halleux of Playfish confirms from experience, ISVs in the mobile space are one hit wonders. How on earth can ISVs run a sustainable business this way with such high but shortlived peaks and troughs which are long in time and deep in cash burn!?

Personally I don't know if I am a fan of the new Symbian brand identity and I also wonder whether their PR machine is needing some oil: an article on the BBC site 4 days earlier announcing Horizon aka Symbian mobile app catalogue is coming and yet in yesterday's newspiece, Lee Williams aparently says the industry doesn't need anymore app stores and the concept is flawed. Nevertheless, despite dodgy branding and slightly misaligned PR from Symbian, I agree 100% with Mr Symbian's sentiment.

Dealing with Dichotomy in the ISV business model
Ok, there is the app store. Not a business model any ISV wants to rely on to grow a sustainable business.
The opposing view for ISVs? In a previous post I referenced Vision Mobile's 100m club i.e. the ISVs who have their wares embedded on over 100m devices. "Embedded" is the important word here folks. Get embedded and you get revenue. How good the revenue is of course depends on how highly valued your software is perceived by the OEM and on your negotiating skills when it comes to Request for Pricing docs and beyond. The problem is it is hard work getting embedded. Putting aside levels of funding and business processes you'd need to have to become a trusted supplier to a global OEM, you also need to get real with your embed price. And OEMs will drive it only one way! So maybe embedding as a business model for ISVs stinks too?

Life enriching apps vs Hedonistic apps
The ISV needs to take a look at its products and decide whether they are just app store fodder or the apps developed will "enrich your life" as Lee Williams says. Hedonistic apps won't be embedded but apps that are either core to driving the user's personal communication network (solutions and technologies enabling messaging, voice, sharing, location, context) or driving media consumption have every chance of being embedded. If apps drive data usage, you're on the right track. Just get some good product marketing to align your offering to the OEMs handset strategy and sales people to get the right meetings at the right OEMs or MNOs.

Embed+Modular Architecture fit into the handset software lifecycle
Embed is the business model every ISV worth their salt needs to follow. But ISVs need to get smart on maximising the value from their product. OEMs are driving down BoM costs so get modular, split your product apart. Get money for embedding even if it is low BUT BUT BUT have hooks into your other modules which are your products or services users can find and will pay for post sale (see Handset Software Lifecycle by Vision Mobile). Share revenue with the OEM and the telco operator. This isn't easy but its better than drowning in an app store among 1000s of other sinking apps where no one knows your name.

Lee Williams says "give the consumer the opportunity to wander down a really relevant aisle of content and applications that they can get access to" so don't rely solely on an app store. Get embedded and take users into your own "store" of highly relevent products and services which plug into your embedded app. If you implement this well, the user doesn't really think "I'm shopping for apps". They are using the functionality anyway and a micorpayment for deeper features that enrich the experience is a no brainer.

Sat Nav is a great example. Nokia maps is useful to a point. The user can find their location and get routes but if you want turn by turn voice directions or city guides, you need to pay a few euros. The Map app has its own little ecosystem of software and services the user can quickly purchase.

Last.fm could be applied to handset in a similar way. Mobbler is a symbian client for Last.fm and stream music to the device and provides links to Amazon for download sales. Why is a handset OEM not partnering with Last.fm? its social, it drives data usage and there is revenue from downloads.

KeyPoint Technologies is reinventing predictive text. Yes, they embed their Adaptxt software but let the users buy additional languages for a few euros not stored in Rom and share revenue with the OEM. This removes the painful inflexibility of language packs for the user and the OEM sees revenue from text entry. Input is central to a users device experience. What other apps and services can be plugged into predictive text?

Users hate searching but love downloading
I don't have any empirical evidence but I believe Apple's app store doesn't prove users love hunting around catalogues. It proves they love downloading direct to their mobile. Get your AddOns or plugins intelligently positioned in front of a user via your embed, and the downloads will follow.

And look, the blog trend analysis tool says the same. Downloading is king. App stores ain't that exciting!

What's wrong with using a virtual keyboard? Something according to Swype

2009-07-01T07:26:00.000-07:00

You may have heard about Swype recently. It’s from the makers of T9 text input. Well, they’re on the PR offensive again.

In case you’re not sure what Swype is, here is some copy from their latest press release entitled “The Quest to Make a Better Virtual Keyboard”:

“The users holds down their finger and drag it from one letter to the next until they’ve spelled out a word. It’s surprisingly forgiving, so if you just barely miss one of the letters, it will probably still recognize it.”

(you’re guess at what’s being Swyped is as good as mine. Swype’s guess will be better apparently)

What’s wrong with using a virtual keyboard the way it is? A full key (or QWERTY) keyboard has the majority of characters you need available to quickly bash out an email or SMS (and if you have predictive text switched on it’s really quick!). A full keyboard is also an item that many people have grown used to, whether it’s a keyboard at work, on their iPhone, windows mobile or Android device. Swypes legacy, T9, was a good product because it changed they way people used their phones for messaging over a decade ago. It’s now an iconic product. (Love it or hate it) It evolved from a need for better text entry on 12 key devices. I’d be reluctant to say there is a need to change the way we use a virtual full keyboard though.

Using Swype requires the user to learn a new way of inputting text. Why? What’s the benefit? Swype guesses what I’ve typed after I’ve moved my finger (or stylus by the looks of the screenshots) around like I’m chasing an ant on the screen. I don’t want my predictive text to tell me what I’ve typed after I’ve “Swyped” it. It’s not predictive text then is it? And if it doesn’t predict what I’m typing, how am I saving keystrokes, or typing faster? It doesn’t seem as if I would be. I’d still have to Swype over every letter. What if it gets it wrong? I’ll still have to manually input the word. Wouldn’t I be better just typing?

Swpye’s objective is to “[be] the default text input on all devices, ranging from phones to tablets, TVs and other surfaces”. I’m not convinced. The user faces a steep learning curve learning how to swipe including a range of gestures that steer away from what you’re possibly used to if, for example, you use a windows mobile device. And it doesn’t appear to add any value to the user.

So, will it make me text quicker and more efficiently or improve my experience?

I doubt it.

Is LG really innovating when it agrees to use T9 and xT9 for text entry on its future mobile phones?

2009-06-26T08:39:00.000-07:00

Well, that's the view of Michael Thompson, senior vice president and general manager, Nuance Mobile. Don't get me wrong: the guys who have been with T9 pre Nuance have done an amazing job. Looking at Vision Mobile's latest release of the 100million club, who wouldn't want to say they were part of that. And hey, the Nuance acquisition of Tegic (and of course Zi earlier this year) firmly positions Nuance as the 800 pound gorilla in the text input market. But, does it mean innovation for OEMs and end users??

I'm not convinced. Nuance have been on an acquisition spree over a number of years, grabbing talent, contracts, channels and customers for their assortment of products and services which make up their mobile division. Seeing that lot integrated is one heck of a job. Seeing them deliver truly innovative solutions over the coming number of years is another. Does Nuance have a culture of innovation? Well, I don't know is the honest answer.

But what I can say is that from the perspective of an OEM, it can't be good news. SMS is still the killer app (see my previous post). If OEMs are using the same old input method across all devices, where is the differentiation? Cootek, Adaptxt, Tengo and other ISVs are in the text input game and have many fans.

LG is playing it safe.

Adaptxt for Nokia S60 Smartphone (Beta v2.4)

2009-06-25T01:36:00.000-07:00

Following the release of Adaptxt version 2.3 in February 2009, I awaited in anticipation for the latest release of Adaptxt and its intelligent predictive text software. I loved version 2.3 but the application did have one or two irritating bugs, that I hoped the future update would erase. To my delight version 2.4 arrived much earlier than first anticipated (April) and didn’t disappoint.

The experience
The download process was very self explanatory with an assortment of pop-up messages to smoothly guide you through the installation process. It took around 3 min’s to download completely. This version seemed to be around 2MB in size, so I installed two additional languages (Spanish & French) and the application ran as smooth as a baby’s bottom.

I noticed that the personal dictionary default size had been increased from 500 words to the new default setting of 2500 and that instantly the suggestions where more accurate. Also, they seem to have increased the size of their already substantial selection of languages. So if you’re multilingual you’ll be sure to find an array of language options to choose from.

New features (v2.4)
This new version introduced PIM & SOCIAL into the functionality of the software, allowing you to extract your social networking profile and other personal content from your phone into your personal dictionary.

PIM
Allows you to choose what Adaptxt should scan, so you have the choice of scanning emails, SMS, domains, contacts and calendar. So basically Adaptxt learns all your files you write and read.

Social
This application allows you to connect to Facebook (the only social networking service at present) where Adaptxt will pull your profile information to learn new contexts for your personal dictionary.

Finally…
On a whole this release was worth the wait. Adaptxt version 2.4 definitely is more intelligent in that it’s more accurate in suggesting word and phrase suggestions in advance, than its predecessor. It’s certainly still my preferred text input software by far.

Qwerty keyboards rule for SMS. Watch out touchscreens!

2009-06-25T01:01:00.000-07:00

I know everyone loves the iphone but as Tomi T Ahonen reminds us in his epic essay (but is well worth the read), iphone is 1% of the global mobile market and its not SMS friendly. Is he right? Well, yes.

I was at the Nokia conference last December in Barcelona when a VP with Finnish name (not surprisingly) announced the N97. During the course of a good launch presentation, he wowed the audience with touchscreen controls, widgets and all Nokia's wonderful new mobile services. BUT what he kept right to the end was the qwerty keyboard. I remember his saying (and I paraphrase here) "you cannot beat a qwerty keyboard for messaging" and tadaaaaaaaaa the giant N97 on the giant screen behind him started to split before our eyes and yes, a simple qwerty keyboard emerged! (some from Slashphone has kindly uploaded images from that presentation)

Tomi Ahonen's article is a historical perspective on the importance of messaging, the role it places on keyboard design and the resulting success of a device i.e. people like phones which are messaging friendly. He points out Nokia are the kings of SMS and Samsung have worked hard to follow suit. Check the link to the leaked Samsung roadmap showing the T559: yes it looks guff and yes its not for me (device target demographic is probably teen or student girls) but its a messaging device....you know for these young "social communicators"!

Thank the lord. Touchscreen's look good but for SMS messaging (the killer app on a mobile) touchscreen's suck. Oh, and using a stylus ain't cool either!

Android Soft Keyboard & Predictive Text

2009-06-23T08:19:00.000-07:00

I waited a long time for the Cupcake update. As well as improving performance, UI tweeks and adding video playback, it introduced a soft keyboard (SKB). No longer would I have to flick open my G1 to email, text or twitter! Word completion and predictive text would make my life easier again!

Did it?

A few weeks on and, to be honest, I’m only just starting to use the SKB more. Like the iPhone, the G1 SKB in portrait takes a bit to get used to and can be tight. The accuracy of keyboard is very good, however it’s the accuracy of my thumbs that’s in doubt. This makes typing slow. The proximity error correction is ok and does help but it doesn’t help enough to stop me from bashing away on the hard keyboard instead.

Auto screen rotation is the Android SKBs saving grace. The keyboard instantly becomes thumb friendly. It takes up just over half the screen but doesn’t look cramped. Even when the predictive text kicks in, there’s still enough room up top to see what you’ve written for a few lines. Additionally, you can switch on haptic feedback. It’s a love it or hate it feature but personally I love it. It’s nice to “feel” a soft key being pressed.

The best thing I like about using the SKB is the predictive text input - my spelling safety net. It’s not the best I’ve seen but for a person who has used predictive text most of their mobile life, it was good to get it back after typing blind for a few months. Suggestions don’t appear till you’ve typed a couple of letters, then a bar pops up on top of the keyboard. Suggestions are generally ok. I guess they’re using the same statistical model that T9 operates with. For longer words it’s easier to type the full word than mess about scrolling right trying to find the word you started typing with it ending in “ed” or “ing”, for example. At best, I think the predictive text is only saving me from typing a few keystrokes here and there.

The SKB hasn’t quite made my life easier. I still flick open the keyboard, particularly if I’m typing a long email or text. Don’t get me wrong, the SKB is great and works well but I think that in wanting a SKB for so long has made me realise, once I had one, that I wouldn’t trade in good old hard keys for anything else.

Evolution Matters

2008-05-01T08:44:00.000-07:00

From brick-size must-have, to multifunctional personal assistant: The mobile phone completes 35 year of commercial existence. But the process of natural selection for this specie doesn't seem to stop here...

The distant 03 April 1973 marked a new step in the history of telecommunications. It was the day when the first official call from a mobile phone was made in public. The demonstration, conducted by the General Manager of Motorola at the time, took place in the streets of New York (for amazement of passer-bys) and used an Australopithecus-brick-like phone weighing about 1 kg that does not resemble the models available now.

Despite the immediate interest for this new technology in the 70’s it still took a whole decade for portable phones to reach the market, with the US launch in 1983 of the first commercial networks in the world, based on analogue technology. In the UK, the service started in 1985 and the first devices (Neanderthal-large-sized and costing around £2,000) quickly became popular among business people interested in the “status” that this technology could bring.

However the break though for the mobile technology happened in the mid 90’s, when analogue networks started to be replaced by the new digital technology. This permitted not only the increase of lines but also the introduction of novel services, such as SMS. Technological developments also set the norm for smaller Homo-Sapiens-devices, with longer battery time. A worldwide expansion of mobile phone operators also happened in this period, contributing for a massive widespread of mobile phones users throughout the globe.

Worldwide Expansion - From that moment on it didn't take much for mobile phones to become the essential accessories of the contemporary times that we are used to.

In 2007 it was estimated that the number of people subscribed to mobile phone services in the world reached 2.7 billion and by 2010 it is estimated that the number will soar to 3.3 billion. Researches show that most of the users today are still concentrated in wealthier countries. In Japan, the US, Scandinavian countries and Britain for example it is believed that around 80% of the populations use mobile phones regularly.

Many developing countries also have been registering a rapid usage expansion. In Brazil official reports currently indicate 108.5 million of users, almost 60% of the country’s population. India and China are considered other important emerging markets.

In Africa usage figures are still low if compared with any other part of the world. It is estimated only 50 million people, or 7% of the whole continent’s population have access to mobile phones; even then the technology is considered essential for the continent’s development as it is giving opportunity to many poor rural communities, to get information from the larger centres, commercializing agricultural products and engaging with governments and other public structures

Social Changes - Through the years mobile phones have been subject of many critical views. Academics for example have linked their use with “promotion of bad manners”, and “loss of sociability”. Many negative associations also have made the headlines, with the technology being linked with several medical problems (such as eye damage; body cells harm; and RSIs); this without mentioning the use of mobiles in new phenomena, such as text bulling and the “happy slapping”.

Regardless all possible concerns, the benefits the technology can bring seems to be higher and people appear to be developing increasingly dependency on their mobile phones. A survey from the Ofcom with UK users found out that many people believe they “could not live without their phone”. The study indicates that overall, people prefer using mobile phones to landlines. It also suggests that 10% of households rely exclusively on mobiles to make calls. Furthermore the mobile phone industry is said to have higher revenues than the traditional telephony.

Constant upgrades - In 35 years of history, the devices also evolved at a very fast pace, standing generations away from the original Australopithecus-like models. New mobile phone are increasingly converging with other Medias, aggregating many new functions, such as high megapixel cameras , music player, internet browser and file storage. Not surprisingly they have been constantly dubbed as “Swiss army knives of consumer electronics”.

The profile of users also changed dramatically. While in the beginning the technology was a privilege of business-people, today it’s universal, regardless gender, age and class. The way people employ their devices also passed through significant transformations. According to a research conducted by the carrier Orange, talking over the networks is becoming a secondary activity, since more than half of subscribers are using their mobiles primarily for other things such as texting, sharing files and listening to music. The success of music tracks downloading for mobile phones, which this year in the UK is expect to generate £30 million illustrates the situation.

There are currently many predictions that eventually our mobile phones will become the single piece of technology we’ll carry, able to do the works originally created for many other devices. The introduction of the Smartphones, with even more advanced capabilities (including intelligent predictive text systems) might confirm such forecast, proving that we are finally reaching the Homo Sapiens-Sapiens era of the mobile telephony.

(In)dispensable Little Things

2008-05-01T07:53:00.000-07:00

It is almost impossible not to come across them. For many people they are often rather clever than useful, but once you get hold of these gadgets and gismos you wonder how you ever lived without them. As a hint of what is available in the market here goes a list of new ingenious inventions from Taiwan manufacturers never seize to amaze us.

Can’t wake up? Try this! This is a flying alarm clock with a propeller. When the alarm goes, propeller flies into the air and you can only switch it off if you can find the propeller and put it back on the clock. It Works with 4 AA batteries and costs £ 21.00

If your problem is boredom at work and you need something to keep you awake, this little device can be a solution! You place it behind your ear and by looking at the speed of head movements, determines whether you are falling asleep or not. Once it detects that you are falling asleep, it wakes you up ‘gently’!

Are you interested in the paranormal? Want to see ghosts or 'shadow people'? Are you bored and have got nothing else to do? Now you can create your own shadows! Fill your house with 'shadow people' based upon your own shadow! Disturb your friends by only hanging the screens up at night! Hang the Shadow Magic glow screen on a wall, place something or someone in front of it, fire the strobe flash, and the shadow cast on the screen will linger for 20-40 seconds. Then use the light pen end to add your own highlights and enhancements. The shadow glow screen can be used again and again. (WARNING! If you are doing it yourself, you might need to set up your camera’s flash!) The screen measures 23"W x 28"H, and it costs US$ 20.

If you use RSS, you might like the “rsstroom” reader. It uses wireless connectivity and prints on the toilet paper news from RSS 2.0 and atom feeds. This device is configurable through a web browser and can be set to print an unlimited number of feeds in random or alternative mode.

If you are concern about the environment but still need to recharge your batteries, you might be temped to try the UVEE UVSC-1s Universal Solar Battery Charger. In direct sunlight, Uvee's solar panels convert solar energy into electricity which is automatically saved to its integral Li-ion battery. The charging process takes 4-7 hours for a full charge. When there's no sunlight available simply charge the Uvee with the supplied AC. Uvee's supplied power adaptors can charge a huge range of portable devices including: Mobile phones, PDA’s, iPod’s, digital cameras, satellite Navigation devices, MP3 Players, PSP’s, DS Lite and many other small electrical appliances. This ecologically correct gadget costs £ 24.99.

No, it’s not a modernized LP. Coway designed this dish cleaning-wand to provide you with an easier way to remove dirt and agrochemicals. This device uses megasonic sound waves which induces microcavitation, shaking impurities loose from surfaces and makes it easier for you to clean fruits, meats, dishware, pots and pans and flatware with little or no detergent. The price is not announced yet.

Mobile instant messaging grows, but users still strive to have a good texting experience

2008-02-05T02:26:00.000-08:00

This beginning of year has been marked by the 15^th anniversary of the first commercial SMS sent in history (over the Vodafone UK network). In such short period of time the mobile text message became one of the world’s most popular forms of communication. Just to have an idea, it is believed that last New Year’s Eve over 43 billion SMS were sent globally by mobile phone users to wish their loved ones a happy new year. And for the course of 2008 it is estimate that 1 trillion text messages will be sent worldwide. In the UK only, new figures show that nearly 5,000 text messages are sent every second.

Motivated by the successful trajectory of the SMS, big players in the mobile market seems to be been increasingly investing in the development and diffusion of new messaging formats and technologies, such as mobile advertising, mobile email and mobile IM (Instant Messaging). The latest is actually been tipped by Mobile Europe as the technology that will have the fasted popularization in the next few years. Similar to PC-based instant messaging services, the Mobile IM is said to be already used by 26.7 million subscribers in Western Europe and in 5 years it is estimated that this figure will increase to 80 million subscribers.

In this entire scenario however, there is a detail that amazes: despite the increasing figures and the establishment of a text culture in society, manufactures and third parts still seem do be doing little to make the user life easier while texting. Typing a message today in any kind of handheld device requires the same effort as it used to a decade and a half ago.

Whoever tried to use the T9 or XT9 system (which comes embedded in many new devices in the market) might strongly agree with that. Instead to simplify the composition of messages, T9 manages to transform the task in something extremely annoying. It never seems to give the word that you want and many of the suggestions it gives are actually not valid words. Because of that, it is not surprising that many users still prefer to disable the predictive text from their phones ant type the letters one by one, like in the early days of the SMS.

A comedy sketch recently added to YouTube, and a discussion in the “SMS text news forum”, exemplify well the problem. They ponder for instance why curse words are not included in the T9 database, while lot of “silly non-words are included such as shiv, pigt, and others”.

There is who believe that such problem might affect not just people’s patience but also their social relations. According to a guide created to teach people how to use text message in romantic situations such making up and for asking out dates one of the primordial rules to be observed while texting is: don’t be a bad speller! (a tip that seems to be hard to follow if you are using T9).

It is good to know that slowly new alternatives for the annoyance of T9 start to appear in the market, such as the Adaptxt predictive text solution, already mentioned a while ago in this blog. The main advantage of this new system is that it seems to be based in artificial intelligence, instead of compression of algorithms, so there’s no “guess work” while typing a word, like in T9.

The problem is that phone makers and as carriers still seem to be reluctant to replace the redundant T9-like systems. If they could listen more to users’ complains in this matter, they probably would start to pay more attention to these new alternative solutions capable to improve the way people text.

A Grey Matter Challenge: Brain Training Applications for Windows Mobile Devices

2008-01-22T08:37:00.000-08:00

After their quick popularizations, thanks to a long series of Nintendo DS titles, the brain training games seems to be gaining space within the Windows Mobile platform. From basic to advance levels there’s an increasingly variety of realises aiming to transform PDAs and Smartphone into workout machines for your grey matter.

Brain School Brain Trainer, by Mastersoft has 20 different puzzles (involving concentration, analytical reasoning, numeracy, etc), each at 5 increasing levels of difficulty. Like on a school, you have to work your way up from year 1 passing exams and collecting A Plus stars as you go. There are 4 years to pass and 100 stars to collect! The navigation is simple and on-screen instructions easy to follow. There are versions for PPC and Smartphones (WM 5.0) both at £10.22. Trial versions are also available for download.

Advanced Brain Trainer - Deluxe Version, by Filao follows the same style as the DS trainers. It offers 9 kinds of exercises, such as Speed count, Drawing over, Memo square and Shape counter. There are 3 game modes (Exam, Practice and Arcade), which can be set to different difficult levels. The questions are introduced by a “brain coach”, who can be chosen by the user. The coaches can also analyze your results, motivate and guide you through your mind's enhancement. It can be downloaded for £10.24 and it is compatible with Windows Mobile 5.0 for Smartphones and Pocket PCs. Demo versions are offered.

Spb Brain Evolution for Smartphone includes 10 development mini-games and provides two independent game modes, one for measuring the user’s brain status, and one for improving the user’s abilities. Some of the mini-games offered are Arithmetic, Quadronica, Memorics, Encyclopaedia and Sudoku. It is compatible with WM 6 / 5 / 2003 and costs around £10.00 (US$19.95).

Resco's BrainGain for Pocket PC (WM 6 and 5) offers a collection of nearly 40 brain training programs divided in memory, numerical and analytical categories. The style also reminds the DS training games, with a character presenting the questions and functions to evaluate the users’ mental capabilities. It also offers a comprehensive guide and it’s optimized for one-hand use. A demo is available and the full version costs £10.24.

If you are into games, one of these application might be a good choice; no matter if you want to “improve power of concentration, memory and reflexes” or just relax, kill some time and have fun.

News on the go: Are PDA and Smartphone versions of newspapers really handheld friendly?

2008-01-15T08:21:00.000-08:00

Reading the daily edition of your favourite newspaper on a small handheld device is certainly a very convenient way to keep up with current events (and escape the hassle of folding and unfolding large sheets of paper while commuting). But despite the increasing popularity, it seems that these mobile news editions still lack in basic design and usability principles that could improve a lot the users’ experience.

Media companies all over the world seem be targeting heavily this market for "news services on the go". Basically all the big well known newspapers and other journalism companies already have made available their PDA/Smartphone editions (or news channels), with especially created mobile content. Some examples are The Times, The Guardian, Le Monde, BBC, CNN, The New York Times and The Washington Post.

There are 2 major companies providing the technology for this: AvantGo (which offers a large selection of free content) and Roundpoint (with a smaller number of publications offered via paid subscription). Both technologies are compatible with Windows Mobile devices and the content can be downloaded, either OTA or via synchronisation (between the handled and a PC connected to the web). The process is not difficult, but sometimes it can be slow.

Up to here, there’s no problem; the setback is that accessing some of these mobile editions isn't such a joy. Based in HTML, the pages incorporate several elements from the web which on small screens do not seem to be well optimized.

A recent academic research evaluated major mobile news services available in the UK and noticed that all of them show some degree of design and usability problems. On the whole, menu items and commands are too close too each other and thus easy mistaken by the stylus; editorial elements that could improve readability are underused (i.e. subheads, summaries, etc), as well are hardware functions, which constrains one-hand navigation with. Another important issue is that texts tend to be too long, requiring extensive and tiresome vertical scrolling (and there are no features such markers or widgets to aid with that).

The ITN news channel (from the ITV group) is an example of poor design: The page elements are cluttered; links and pictures are badly positioned and there is not even a logo or name identifying the publication. The Guardian is another channel not very pleasurable to navigate, especially on a Smartphone. Page items are too close too each and there are still ads and other unnecessary elements.

The BBC News channel is not bad. It seems to be more organised than the others so far, but it has too much information displayed together and no white spaces are used to give a rest to the readers’ eyes. Another annoyance is that there are no shortcuts to move directly from one article to other, so the user is always forced to go back and forward to the main menu.

The PDA version of The Times manages to deliver a slightly better navigation experience. It has still some issues, but it is doing well in some points. The main menu is easy to visualise and the headlines are well spaced. It also uses visual cues, such as bullet lists and subheads in bold, as well as shortcuts. Other that doesn’t seem bad is the mobile version of the news agency Reuters, which uses a clean layout and good colour selection.

Overall it appears that some of the major design problems exist because media companies in general seem to be reutilizing the same material that is published in their newspapers and news websites for the creation of their mobile editions. Therefore, particular design solutions, respecting the physical and contextual characteristics of PDAs and Smartphones, end up being neglected.

It's a little disappointing, but since handhelds are a fast-growing medium it might be just a step away for them to be no longer regarded as secondary mediums for the delivery of news.

How to transform your Windows Mobile device into a personal travel assistant

2008-01-14T06:53:00.000-08:00

If you are one of these people always on the move, why not explore the potentialities of your Pocket PC or Smartphone? Clever applications can help you to convert your WM device into the ideal travel organiser and companion.

The latest version of WorldMate Professional, created by MobiMate is an all-in-one travel application. It offers most of the basic information that people is likely to need while away, especially on a business trip. There are 5 world clocks, a world map (with cities localizer), global 5 days weather forecast, a currency converter, measurements conversion and a table displaying clothing sizes in different countries.

The Pocket PC version also brings a Tip/Tax Calculator and a Travel Itinerary Manager (where you can record details from flights, hotels, car rentals and meetings). All these services are free of charge, but if you want, you can subscribe for the PRO version (US$39.95 for Smartphone and US$74.95 for Pocket PCs), which offers extra services such as Satellite Weather Imagery and Real-time Flight status (covering most of the airlines).

Overall the MobiMate is easy to use. It has lots of comprehensive graphics, works on a multilingual platform (English, French, Italian, German and Spanish) and the user can also select some of the functions to be always displayed on the Home Screen.
The basic version can be downloaded for free at the MobiMate website.

Pocket Earth 3.4 (by Informap Technology Center Inc) is another clever application that can help you to find your way around the globe. It displays an interactive set of 3D maps of the Earth, with VGA resolution (640x480). The user can locate cities by name and measure distances from multi-points. There are also colourful atlas maps in different formats (e.g. physical, political, etc), as well as sun and moon info. In addition the application brings useful information about several cities of the world, population and time. Other advanced features are GPS support and real-time weather forecast. It works with Windows Mobile Pocket PCs (2000 and all later) and can be bought online for around £10 (US$ 19). A trial version is available.

Not as complete, but also informative is the latest version of the Kai's City Info (made by Kaisoft /Pocketkai). It comprises as database with 472 Cities of the world. For each of them it gives information such as time-zone index, phone codes, airport codes, latitude/longitude, summertime, location on the map and GPS position (when available in the device). It also calculates the distance between two cities and time differences. It works with all versions of Windows Mobile for Pocket PC (from 2000 to WM6) and can be downloaded for around £5 (US$ 10).

Even if you are not on the road very often it still worthy to have a look in any of these applications, since you can get a lot of interesting information from them.

Next generation of UI applications adding a cool-looking to Windows Mobile devices

2008-01-11T03:51:00.001-08:00

A while ago the Windows Mobile team announced the creation of “Neo”, an innovative user interface for an upcoming T-Mobile Smartphone (Shadow). This imbedded application converts the homescreen (“Today”) shipped by Microsoft into a cool-looking page, full of plug-ins, which animates when the user navigates up and down.

Now it seems that a new trend has started, as more of these UI applications start to become available, promising to add more interactivity and fresh appearance to the static Windows Mobile interface (that hasn't changed much since the Pocket PC 2nd Edition/2003).

Spb Mobile Shell adds a Vista inspired look to Windows Smartphones and Pocket PC interface. The initial screen can be customized to use for example analogue or digital clocks, display chosen elements and change between different colour themes. The menus are designed for one hand navigation and contain not only programs, but also actions. The Vista style icons and animation make it look really nice too. This application costs around £15 (US$ 30) and can be downloaded at the spb software house website or at the O2 XDA and Dell Axim pages.

“Home”, is a new application from “Pointui” (pronounced point-you-i), which transforms the Today screen of Pocket PCs into an animated interface, very similar to the iPhone. Each of the Today items (clock, date/calendar, tasks, etc.) occupies one full page, and there are also pages for new functions such as wheather forecast and animated launchers for applications. The user can control it via touch or thumb with the directional button. It is easy to use and looks great. The software is a BETA version; compatible with Windows Mobile 6, 5 and 2003 and it can be downloaded for free at the Pointui site.

After checking on any of these cool applications you’ll realise that there’s no more reason to be ashamed with the current appearance your Windows Mobile UI.

XOBNI is INBOX backwards. And it makes MS Outlook look good.

2007-12-14T02:34:00.000-08:00

Who's your number 1 email contact??

Fred Wilson posted back in September about this app and hey, it only taken me 3 months to get a download invite but hey, I got there in the end. XOBNI is cool: its a plugin which adds a new panel of information in your Outlook Window. Information includes:

information on the sender: how many emails sent/received, usage patterns, contact details and ranking
people connected to the sender
your conversations with the sender
files exchanged with the sender

You can have a lot of fun working out your top ten ranking email buddies but the best thing is the "threaded email conversations" panel.
Let me explain: I hate email filing. And I'm not a fan of rules and filters. (I also hate Outlook but work ensures I experience Outlook Monday to Friday 9 to5)
Anyway, the point is everything tends to stay in my inbox which makes it a nightmare; so much information is buried in there like files, conversations and ideas which are time consuming to find again 2 weeks or 12 months later.

Now, here's the good part: Xobni shows the sender information, connections, conversations etc in panels. Click on any conversation (which is grouped by "email subject") and one new panel pops up with the conversation thread. Who said what and when. You can use the + and - slider to show as much or as little of the threads.

Xobni is a really simple, fast way to make your email activity productive activity. Highly recommended. Go to Xobni now!

OVI: has Nokia declared war on the telco operators?

2007-12-11T02:47:00.000-08:00

Last week saw the Nokia World Forum in Amsterdam. Apart from big ppts and beach parties, what really happened? http://www.lbszone.com/content/view/2653/2/ did a very comprehensive report. For me, there is a couple of points worthy of note:

finally we get something to replace the shonky Nokia PC Suite: OVI, a dashboard for your digital life. Basically a webservice for Nokia users to connect, sync and collaborate their media whether its music, maps or videos. Its a social networking service too: sync your contacts and get collaborating and communicating. OK, its not a replacement; it does something different and its a massive step forward!
free content: free music, free maps. Nokia did a deal for free music downloads for a year (along with their partner Universal Music Group) and you get free map data too (just pay for the data connection). This is a good start.
gaming: I don't know for certain but Ovi for games will be great as long as they are not tied to one games publisher. There are lots of good games out there from a variety of companies.

So what does this mean?
"Web NG" or "web next generation" was an expression used at the conference. It means Web 2.0 plus context awareness. Basically, all the "C's" are important: context, collaboration, contacts, content. And OVI is Nokia's platform to deliver it.

Nokia is already the market supremo. And this puts Nokia even further ahead. Admittedly the inital OVI offering might be lacking but over time, they will build upon this platform, excite users and really take the battle to the telcos.
OVI is a webservice that encapsulates user generated media, encourages downloading and sharing and other properties of social networking has been in demand for quite sometime yet no other handset manufacturer has delivered this (at least I don't think they have).
Maybe its because no one is as big as Nokia and let's face it, you need resources, customers and a strong brand to move into telco territory.

Its all about who owns the customer. Who deals directly with the customer. Nokia's wide ranging, feature rich service is a breath of fresh air compared with the walled gardened, money grabbing approach of the telco operators. Despite Vodafone's presence, it was clear there will be battle ahead. Who knows best what the customer wants? Nokia's Smartphone 360 research made interesting observations and I don't think Vodafone agreed with them all!

Who owns the customer? Who deals directly with the customer? Telco operators watch out. Wifi connectivity will come. Now Nokia wants to deliver the content directly.

Predictive text entry coming soon to a mobile near you

2007-12-06T07:39:00.000-08:00

ok, I've been checking out Zach's blog Symbianinmotion.com. One app that has received critical acclaim is Adaptxt language software.

Its cool: it actually maps itself to your individual writing style so when it predicts, it predicts something that is:

relevant
in context
personal to me
generally something useful and not the random nonsense you get from T9

It sounds heavenly. Imagine, predictive text that actually works.! :)
The Nokia S60 version isn't available yet but you can get info here from the developer's website.
Symbianinmotion.com has a review (cos they got hold of the software somehow!) with screenshots and video.

Nice.
Windows Mobile versions are available. I just tied it on my iPaq and it works well...with qwerty and stylus. Here is a screenshot to wet your tastebuds:

Sign up to be told when the symbian beta is released on the KeyPoint site.

Why Android will win

2007-12-06T03:05:00.000-08:00

Matt Lewis from Archart has written a great piece about Android and makes great observations on the fragmented Linux mobile world. Get the article here. Below are some salient points.

On the current Linux mobile platform groups like Mizi, Access, Limo, Lips etc Matt says:

"from the perspectives of hardware integration and application execution, they are largely incompatible with each other"

and

"the handset market share they currently enjoy is tiny – most have no market share at all"

ok, so what's so special about Android then? Its another linux platform right? Yes, OEMs can modify it and not share modifications right? Yes, so won't it be yet another pain in the ass OS? No because Matt points out

a/ the Android source code is under the the Apache licence with a little bit extra: the OEM has to sign a "compatability pledge not to break interoperability"
b/ Android runs java apps. Admittedly developers need to test how rich and efficient Dalvik is, but if successful, Matt predicts developers will jump to this so they only have a single Virtual Machine to test against.

Who'd bet against Google? Matt's observation on what telco operators want (see below) says Google's mobile strategy is bang on the money. They might not topple Nokia's dominance and are behind Windows Mobile for now, but Google's Android can drive the Linux mobile OS forward as a coherent force.

"Operators are demanding that their handset portfolios consolidate around two or three platforms so that rich applications can be proliferated as widely across their subscriber base as possible, and the operators’ OEM suppliers are having to respond. We are aware of some service providers seeing as much as 50% of their data traffic channelled to the MySpace site alone, and as such services evolve off the browser into widgets and dedicated apps, operators cannot afford to maintain a catalogue of application variants to match a disparate handset portfolio."

Android might not be totally open thanks to Google's checks and balances on what OEMs can and can't do, but having this overlord is for the greater good.

Here, a youtube demo of Android.

Keep your moments with you: the Nokia N82

2007-12-05T08:45:00.000-08:00

oh my god. how nice is this phone?
"keep your moments with you" is the sign off from the flash intro on the Nokia website. Check the demo here . With a 5mega pixel camera and Carl Zeiss lense, you know you can dump your digi camera. And in encouraging uploading to flickr, the days of bad quality mobile blogging are numbered.

I gotta have it.

Mp3 player big deal. You'd expect it but I think you get free downloads for a year following the tie up with UMG. Err ok, sounds good.

GPS built in: for a phone, that's still a fairly decent, cool, new feature but what gps chip is it? The N95 gps is a dog. One guy I met who should be in the know claimed it was the position in the device. I don't think so. If it was sirf III, you'd get a reception in das bunker. So, fingers crossed the reception is good. But again, Nokia have gone for free maps. Just pay for the data connection getting them. Vodafone customers watch out: from personal experience this can be costly. Let's see if the operators play fair (yeh right I here you say)

One last comment: iphone? what iphone. The camera is pants. The sms text entry is pants. Googlemaps dont work too well (see the Gadget show iphone review) .....so you know where you can stick your iphone? In the empty N82 box and fling it in your bottom drawer!

Day One

2007-10-26T17:14:00.000-07:00

The blog begins.