Nov 13

Samsung Omnia II (i8000) Review

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I attended a Samsung Innovator event (2/11/09) that was promoting their application store and the new Omnia II. The idea was that those developers who attended would receive an Omnia II on condition that said developers supplied a Windows Mobile app on the app store by 10th December. I am representing a US company called ViaFo who have a WinMob app that they can put on the Omnia so I dutifully went along to pick up the handset for them. Samsung are only supporting a few handsets, mainly Symbian and WinMob devices, with their on device client for the store so it is very early days for them. Obviously the champagne reception at Samsung’s box at Chelsea had no bearing on my decision to attend!

In the past I have been a Nokia man (S60) and am now an avid iPhone owner (although I do carry at least 4 phones around in my bag, at any particular time, of varying flavours). I am not a WinMob user although I do have a HTC Diamond II for demo purposes. As far as I can tell WinMob 6.1 is a dog but have been pleasantly surprised by the 6.5 update. The Omnia is running 6.5, I have checked.

I like this phone. The OLED screen is great, it makes the iPhone screen look grainy. The colours and blacks are just awesome. Samsungs TouchWiz UI is so integrated to the phone that I have not come across a native WinMob screen in the week that I have been using it – this is a good thing. TouchWiz widget structure is good, you can see this down the side of the panes using a drawer mechanism. You can drag the widgets you want from the draw and let it live on the pane etc.

Main Pane with Widget Drawer

Main Pane with Widget Drawer

There are some nice touches like the Bluetooth/WiFi configuration apps. This is in the form of a radar like display with the handset in the middle, devices are shown at distances away via a number of concentric circles on the screen. If you want to connect you drag the device onto the phone icon in the middle (see the video). This is a nice way of doing things but does not add anything other than a graphical representation of doing things (I like it anyway).

Bluetooth Configuration

Bluetooth Configuration

Unfortunately the screen is resistive touch. Samsung has done a very good job of adding inertia to lists in a very iPhone like manner and it works pretty well. It is one of the best resistive touchscreens I have used. However it still has its challenges. When the screen has softkeys showing at the bottom of the screen they are very hard to make contact with, a hard push with a nail is required. The unlock function when the screen goes to sleep is another awkward touchscreen operation. It seems that the closer you get to the edge of the screen the more effort you need to actually make contact.

UI – This implementation of TouchWiz is great, I like the concepts, I like the way that Samsung has tried to get away from the norm with some of the more mundane operations. BUT why have TouchWiz with panes, app view with panes and the ‘Cube’. I could handle two of these types of UI together but why mix the three? The ‘Cube’ in my opinion is the weakest and looks like someone trying to add the wow factor and failing.

I challenge anyone that likes a resistive screen to use an iPhone for a month and then go back to resistive. Its like watching DVD’s and then going back to VHS. How many of you are using resistive trackpads on your laptops? None, there is a reason for that….

The video capabilities are very good in playback mode. I have not really had a chance to play with the camera or the video recording capabilities of the device but at first glance all the functions that you would expect are there from a 5 megapixel camera.

Conclusion

The Omnia II is a good phone (I did not ever think I would say that about a WinMob handset). I have not looked at this handset from its specification perspective but from its ease of use and usability. WinMob 6.5 is a step forward and TouchWiz on top gives this handset a fighting chance. The experience is better than any Nokia touch device I have used so far.

Love: OLED screen, TouchWiz, video playback, widgets

Hate: Resistive touchscreen, the ‘Cube’, too many UI styles

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Nov 08

MoMo London – Location Based Services

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Held at CBI offices in London 12th October 2009.

This event was VERY well attended, people were standing in the aisles which was, I hope, a good sign that a) mobile is getting a lot of attention and b) people may be starting to think about spending money again!

There was a great presentation from Kim Imbach of Skyhook Wireless (which was the highlight of the event for me). Guys at Skyhook are doing some great stuff with location using different sources like WiFi (access points), cell ID, and GPS (they are on the iPhone and provide location in Google maps). They have released an API for developers to integrate Skyhook into their apps.

The Vodafone 360 guys were there, did a demo one the location features in 360, as was Flook and Shazam to name a few.

LBS is one of those technologies that we all know (feel?) that it is going to be big but no one is sure quite how? I think it is going to be one of those things that creeps into our lives and one day we will wonder how we ever did without it!

As with a lot of mobile events that I attend the conversation turned towards business models and monetisation. Guess what? Mobile advertising is key (yawn – yeah right). This led to some heated conversations about whether the Minority Report type of location advertising would ever exist or ever be accepted by the public. I get the impression that those that know advertising and location get that this is not the way forward but are not quite sure what is. Only time will tell…..but there are some interesting ‘takes’ on location, look at Flook for an example and the new Tweetie app with its ‘nearby’ feature.

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Nov 08

Mashup – Investment Opportunities in Digital (29/09/09)

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This event was held at the BCS offices in London. Overall it was a well attended, positive meeting. There is money out there but you need to get your ducks in a row to be able to get it! Trend in this climate has been to later stage investments in the lifecycle of the startup.

Some of this is obvious but it does not hurt to remind yourself. These people have real world experience so its worth taking note if you are hitting the same obstacles or can empathise.

Usual routes to money are family and friends, Angels and VC’s. Interesting one that I had not heard of before was approaching potential customers for funding. If they are interested in the product/service then they may give you money to develop more towards their needs or take a slice of the action. Governments support businesses with cash in the form of grants when the business relates to particular areas of interest like research. Most companies are over optimistic when giving sales forecasts. Forecast needs to be challenging but realistic. Know your numbers! The best time to raise money is when you do not need it.

VC’s like customers, profitability, user base, something tangible that they can see, demo’s are important when the product is not fully developed. The (VC’s) also need help to determine what the new areas of investment are.

Its all about the network. Are you talking to the right people in the right area. Don’t take on a market that you don’t understand or someone in the company does not understand because you will fail!

A member of the audience asked what they thought VC’s were investing in and key areas going forward, these included:

    • Travel – like TripIt, and mobile
    • Social networking for under 16’s
    • Social healthcare
    • eCommerce in emerging markets
    • mCommerce
    • Broadband and set top boxes (future services associated with them)

The view from the panel was that this really is the year that mobile is growing up and becoming a major opportunity (but they acknowledged that people have been saying that since 2001!). See lots of applications that do ‘stuff’ but can these scale to a user base in the millions? (<- isn’t this one of the reasons why a startup would ask for money?)

Web companies perceive that the return from mobile is low but that view is changing. What developers need to consider is that mobile and mobile applications are used away from your home computer and should not be instead of. Replication of the PC experience does not transcend the leap to mobile (yet or ever?). Mobile needs to be considered as another distribution channel.

Overall I enjoyed this event and I learnt something (I think). Will definitely consider going to another Mashup event.

You can find the full writeup from Mashup Investment Opportunities in Digital.

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