Now that UIQ is now part of the Symbian Foundation and no longer under the control of both Sony Ericsson and Motorola, the question everyone mentioned long ago still remains - when will we see Flash Lite on the UIQ platform?

In the manner current events are unfolding in front of us, the question might as well be rephrased as "Will we ever see Flash Lite on the UIQ platform?"

Considering all aspects the way things have developed, it seems unlikely that Sony Ericsson will continue to invest in the UIQ platform. This is strengthened by the confirmation that both Sony Ericsson's P1 successor the "Paris" P5 and the other multimedia giant codenamed "BeiBei" were killed off shortly before the Symbian Foundation tookover UIQ, and the laying off of 200 workers from the the UIQ section in Sweden. And now with the Xperia X1 being the only likely P-series successor (and incidentally it runs Windows Mobile), it's likely that Sony Ericsson will divert it's resources to creating business phones running the Windows Mobile platform in the future.

Which means only one thing - the eventual slashing of support for the smartphones running the UIQ platform. So it's very likely Sony Ericsson will not develop Flash Lite for the UIQ platform.

But there's still hope. Perhaps Digia's new web browser @Web will spring us a nice little surprise in the final release:

There are some known problems in the first beta release of Digia @Web. During the beta phase will will fix these and possible other problems as much as possible:

Missing Flash support

Only time will tell...

Good news! Now you can turn those barcodes containing swaths of (previously) unreadable dots and dashes in to readable data on your Sony Ericsson P1 smartphone. Simply go to http://www.i-nigma.mobi on your smartphone to download the free software; afterwards, why not decipher the following barcode below?

This is straight from Opera's mouth:

It's almost time to release Opera Mobile 9.5 for Windows Mobile to the world. We thank you for your patience and support as we make what we (and many others) believe is the best browser for mobile phones. A release testing phase is underway now and the target date for the first beta is July 15th. You will be able to download it from opera.com just like you would any other versions of Opera.

Alright chums, where is the Symbian version? Opera can pretend to be ignore all of us Symbian users, but we by far number several times more than the WinMo users.

And this leads to the start of another disturbing question: Opera Mobile 9.5 was available on some selected HTC Windows Mobile smart phones when they were released a month or so earlier (i.e. HTC Touch Diamond). Why didn't the G900 or the G700 come with Opera Mobile 9.5? We've seen all the public demos of the browser on the P1 earlier in the year, so there HAS to be a UIQ version.

Unless it was chopped just like Beibei and the "Paris" P5...

Comments anyone?

Some folks over at Engadget got a chance to look and fondle the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 (the defacto SE P1 successor), albeit a slightly defective unit. They've managed to get a couple of photos of the menus and everything (which seems similar to just another Windows Mobile 6 phone), but if you're interested in snapping this one up when it comes out, do go and take a look.

Personally I still think this device can't replace the Sony Ericsson P1 (in my mind, but we all know it's definitely much better spec-wise than the P1).

Yes, I may be a day or two late in posting this press release from Sony Ericsson on Nokia acquiring Symbian and forming the Symbian Foundation to create one "open mobile software platform", but there is much to mull about in this big announcement.

What does this mean for the UIQ platform?
Now that Symbian and all of it's different 'flavours' or 'variations' are under the Symbian Foundation, we're going to see more of a common core between all Symbian platforms. As stated in the press conference:

From these contributions, the Foundation will provide a unified platform with common UI framework. A full platform will be available for all Foundation members under a royalty-free license, from the Foundation’s first day of operations.

So yes, there would be a lot more in common between the Symbian S60 platform (which Nokia is known for) and the UIQ platform in the future. Perhaps in the long term we may see applications and programs that can be easily ported from UIQ to S60, and vice versa?

How does this relate to the dropping of Beibei and the 'Paris' P5 from SE?
Good question. Under the Symbian Foundation's guidance, UIQ is definitely a winner in this case, as the press statement claims:

Contributions from Foundation members through open collaboration will be integrated to further enhance the platform.

The UIQ platform could be so much more with open collaboration with other Symbian flavours, such as S60 or the Japanese MOAP platform. By taking the strengths and shunting out the weaknesses, there is just so much potential for future Symbian phones and the UIQ platform in particular.

However, with SE deciding to dump both of it's upcoming flagships and focus on the Xperia X1, this may mean that it's ready to jump ship to embrace Windows Mobile for its business devices and give up UIQ entirely. The SE P5 was destined to be the successor of the current P1 business flagship - but now it seems that the big man at the top has intervened to change the successor to the Xperia X1. So it seems like along with the Xperia's release, the P-series will be slowly and quietly pushed to the fringes of the SE family.

This Engadget article states that both Motorola and Sony Ericsson have signed up to contribute UIQ assets to the Foundation, but how long do you think SE will commit to it's promise? 10 quid that SE will have 'nothing left to contribute' by the end of 2008.

Note: For those querying about how @Web compares with Opera Mini, I'll do a further review soon. If you've got further requests, please don't hesitate to post it in the comments (i.e. reviewing an aspect that I left out); I will try and include it in the further review.

As promised, here's the review of the Digia @Web Browser (Beta) which I started instantly when I got my account:

Installation:
Very straightforward after getting your account. As soon as you enter your confirmation email, just enter your desired password, and you're off.

I downloaded the above file, then dragged and dropped it on to the memory stick, and the installation was completed without any issues.

First Impressions:


The browser loads very quickly, and it gives a general feeling that it's a very lightweight browser. A very simple interface is presented - there's none of those "Option" menus or anything, just a URL bar at the top and buttons at the bottom of the browser - perhaps that's why you'll have to go through the Read Me file, or you won't have any idea how to zoom in or out of webpages, nor how to start using the browser.

So after learning the basics, I did some browsing tests on the @Web browser. All the tests were conducted under a WLAN connection (router connected to a 6M dedicated line), just for your reference.

1. Browsing to this blog (Sony Ericsson P1i Blog):
   
   
   
   The above shows how it's rendered by @Web, while the image below shows how it's rendered by Opera 8.65...
   
   
   
   It's quite evident that there's a huge difference in the way the rendering engine on both browsers operate. Digia @Web renders the page in a way similar to most desktop browsers, while Opera v8.65 doesn't seem quite up to scratch. @Web is definitely the winner for this round.
   
   Both browsers managed to load the blog in roughly 26 seconds, so speedwise there isn't much difference between the 2 browsers.
   
   
2. Browsing to the BBC Homepage:
   I chose to do another test on the BBC homepage because it's notorious for loading slowly on smartphone browsers and it renders poorly on browsers other than the Big 4 (IE, Firefox, Safari, Opera), so this should be able to show whether @Web can really browse the web and provide a "Desktop-like" experience for the user.
   
   
   
   And again, the above is the page rendered under @Web, and below is the page loaded using Opera v8.65...
   
   
   It's quite evident that the built in Opera browser doesn't seem quite up to par compared to the @Web browser. One thing however was the loading time - Opera finished loading the (incomplete) page in just under a minute; but @Web took a whooping 1 minute and 30 seconds to load everything. 30 extra seconds is quite a long time, particularly when you're stuck in traffic and you just want to see something - although I do take in mind that @Web is still in its beta stages, and in the final version there probably would be improvement in loading times.
   

Annoying little things / Problems:

• While conducting the above said tests, one thing was apparent: the damned browser kept crashing on me. Yes, I know @Web is in it's beta stages, and it can't ever be perfect during Beta testing but this is just ridiculous. After 5 minutes browsing in landscape mode, @Web beta would crash on me, citing a system error. None of this ever happens on Portrait mode, so its better to stick with that when surfing the net, or just playing around with the browser.
  
  
• Lag; the lag is really bad for a beta browser. It's apparent whenever you're zooming in or out, or even just trying to scroll up or down the page. Everything takes at least a second or 2 to register - and I'm not exaggerating.
  
  
• Zooming in and out - nice concept, but poorly executed. I'm not sure whether it's the browser or the touch screen that has a problem; when I try to zoom in, I can repeat the same hand gesture 4 or 5 times and nothing happens. The same applies for zooming out; in fact sometimes the browser loads the linked page instead of zooming out. Even after you manage to get the gesture registered, it takes an extra few seconds to execute the actual zooming in/out.
  
  
• Scrolling is a pain; after you scroll up or down with your finger, the browser jumps back to where you were before you did the scrolling gesture - which is extremely frustrating.
  
  
• Knowing whether the page has finished loading or not - maybe it's a personal thing, but I want to know whether the entire page has loaded or not. Sometimes it's just not very apparent when its done yet or not.
  
  
• Tabbed browsing please - Opera has it, so there is no excuse why you don't have it. Or maybe it's just that I'm too demanding.
  
  
• Little things such as changing the homepage (now that I've mastered the main points in the read me file), or opting to turn images off when surfing to save up on data, or even choosing to avoid storing cookies or saving form data aren't present as options in the browser. This has to be changed or I'm not gonna be on the users of the final product.
  

Conclusion:
Impressive browser with plenty of potential, even though it's in its beta stages. However, the poorly programmed features (some of it, lets not be too critical) and lack of fundamental features found in the default browser tips the scale somewhat towards the Opera side. I presume once all these minor (and not so minor) things are sorted out, this should be the browser of choice for most users. For the time being though, I'd like to stick with the default Opera browser and wait for version 2 of the beta before committing myself to the new browser.

Maybe it's old news for some, but this is clearly a picture of Google's Android OS running on the SE P990. According to the article, this debuted at the 3GSM conference in Barcelona last February, so I do apologise to all readers for providing 'old' news.

Back to the article though - if Android can be installed on the P990, then it must be possible to get it running on the P1. I know I'll be first in line to get Android on my P1; no offense to the Symbian UIQ platform, but I think a change would be nice. Dual booting UIQ and the Android on the P1 would be even better. Who else wants to see Android running on their P1?

Yep, it's official. Both the rumoured Sony Ericsson UIQ smartphones codenamed "BeiBei" (G702) and "Paris" (P5) has been killed off. It spells a sense of uncertainty for the Symbian UIQ platform in the Sony Ericsson camp, as both phones have stoked up huge media and fan interest since they were leaked during the start of the year (and possibly even earlier).

I'm going to focus on the Sony Ericsson Paris P5 smartphone. Originally speculated as the successor of the Sony Ericsson P1, it was going to sport HSDPA, a sliding QWERTY keypad, a 5 megapixel camera and AGPS. In short, everything that the P1 should have gotten (in order to beat other high end smart phones). However, the P5 specs were a bit too common, a bit too late (the Nokia N95 has everything I mentioned above with the exception of the QWERTY keypad and a touch screen, and it was out a long time ago) - perhaps that was why the project was killed off? Or was the P5 viewed as competition to the newly released G900 UIQ smartphone, which incidentally can be considered as a minor upgrade from the P1?

Anyhow, both phones were going to sport the new UIQ 3.2 3.3 platform, which promised HSDPA and WiFi b/g support. Now that both phones have been killed off, the future of UIQ seems to be quite uncertain - there are no new phones announced that will run on the UIQ platform, and a P-series upgrade that is worthy to compete with other WM mobiles seems to be long overdue. I'm still waiting for that perfect P-series phone with a 5 Megapixel camera, Integrated GPS, HSDPA support, WiFi b/g, and more or less everything that the N95 has. Rival competitors have smart phones which are extremely tempting - take the HTC Diamond for example; not only is it stylish (seems to be taking lessons for SE themselves), but it also offers the specs that I want. It's about time to get a grip SE, otherwise you'll lose a lot of marketshare to HTC and the Apple iPhone 3G (which has slightly improved since the days iPhone v1 has been released).

Or alternatively, focus your resources on providing firmware and software upgrades for the P1. It has plenty of potential as well as a wide audience supporting it; I've lost count of the number of P1's I see lying in the hands of business people in Hong Kong or hanging on the necks of many phone lovers like me. I'm looking forward to an Opera Mobile 9.5 update, or support for Widgets or even Flash media. It's got the potential to be so much more - please don't make the same mistake as you did with the P990.

What's your take on the cancellation of the Paris P5? Share your opinions with everyone else here on the SE P1i Blog.

Remember a few posts back I mentioned the Digia Web Browser as a fresh, new browser worth trying out on your Sony Ericsson P1 smartphone? Well, it's finally out - and Asri over at UIQ Evangelist seems to have some nice first hand screenshots of browsing on the Digia Browser.

It's only available for registered users, so if you wish to give this beta web browser a shot, you can sign up via this link. I'll be writing a proper review of the beta software as soon as I am able to download it and try it out myself, so keep checking out this blog over the next few days!

The Digia @Web Beta Browser review is up! Click here to read it.

For all those readers who are looking forward to Sony Ericsson's release of the Xperia X1, here's 2 articles that you should read - both from BoyGeniusReport - the first are pictures of the upcoming Xperia X1, and the second the review of the prototype Xperia X1.

I wonder, how many of our readers will ditch the P1 to get the new Xperia X1 when it's released?

My thanks to reader Mikko who pointed this out to me - a new web browser has been in the works for UIQ phones; namely, for all touch screen UIQ phones (so Moto's UIQ phones are out of running). It's based on an open-source webkit ported by Digia, so that should be something interesting for all to see.





Seems like there's plenty of potential for this browser to shine, particularly against a rather weak Opera 8.65 that is bundled with the Sony Ericsson P1.

Here are some of the listed features on Digia's website:

• Full finger touch UI
• Page control with finger
• Four zoom levels
• Intelligent Bookmark functionality
• URL auto-complete (from history)
• Automatic full screen browsing via auto-hiding Address bar and Navigation bar
• Page rotation for portrait and landscape browsing

And the following are some of the features that are supported by this browser:

• HTML 4.01
• True web page rendering
• JavaScript(tm) 1.5
• HTTP 1.1 with support to secure and non-secure browsing
• HTTP cache
• HTTP cookies
• AJAX support

No word on pricing yet but a public beta is to be released this week. More on that when I get to have a go on it!

The Sony Ericsson G900 smart phone debuts today in Hong Kong for a price of HK$3780 (US$484, GBP 244, 311 Euros) with a 2GB M2 memory stick bundled with the package. Since it runs on the UIQ 3.0 platform and basically offers everything the P1 offers except for the Semi-QWERTY keyboard, I'll be seeing if I can snag up one of these with some dealers to do a comparison alongside my P1.

To be honest, the price is quite attractive for such a powerful business device, as it's more or less on par with the price of the more expensive Blackberries and it's also cheaper than when the P1 debuted worldwide.

The Sony Ericsson P1 currently retails at HK$3280 (US$420, GBP 212, 270 Euros).

More photos soon!

My exams are over, and I'm happy to announce that I'll be working on this blog full time over the duration of my summer holidays.

First up, some news that some of you may have missed last week as I haven't been updating:

• Sony Ericsson's released a new version of the PC Suite for Windows users. No new features that I could find though. Some sources speculate it's to provide support for the upcoming G900 and G700 business phones.
  
  
• Escarpod 1.0 has FINALLY been released. For those who don't know what this is, take a look at my previous reviews - it's really magnificent for a free, open-source application. Kudos to the developer teknolog.
  
  
• Opera has released a SDK for developers who are interested in writing Widgets to run under Opera Mobile 9.5. The hype's building for the Opera release; let's hope SE won't ruin it by making it exclusively available for the Xperia X1 and the new business phones...
  

And that seems to be all the significant news from last week. If I missed anything, as usual, feel free to post it up in the comments!

Nope, you're not looking at my review today; this is Anton Spiridonov from SMAPE taking a look at the new UIQ 3.0 interface that's in the upcoming Sony Ericsson G700 and G900. I'll do some comparisons with the current P1 interface soon.

Good news too: I'll be dedicating this summer to maintaining this blog, so you can start expecting near daily updates and fast responses after the end of my exams.

My-Symbian has some exclusively leaked pictures on the upcoming P5i -and judging by the photos, in my opinion I think most of the P-series community would be inclined to stick with their P990 or the P1i.

The thread further states that the main added features are "GPS and the 5 Megapixel Camera". Although it's all rumours, with photos of the prototype already leaked on the web, chances are that the specs are also quite reliable. Expecting a revolutionary device? Don't be too optimistic about this smart phone...

Right chaps, I'm not having a laugh here. Take a look this Sony Ericsson Press Release on Project Capuchin:

...The new technology and tools, referred to as Project Capuchin, make it possible to combine the richness of Flash Lite and Java ME technologies allowing developers to utilize the best attributes of both software stacks to create content-rich mobile applications...

"Adobe is pleased to support Sony Ericsson’s Project Capuchin. Using Adobe Flash technology as one part of this new bridging technology will ensure further innovation for mobile users when Flash developers gain access to the Java applications’ functionality and intelligence allowing them to create applications with the ultimate user experience..."

Project Capuchin will allow pure Flash Lite content to be encapsulated in Java ME applications with the help of Sony Ericsson Developer World tools, making content created by Adobe Flash technology appear as Java ME applications.

More advanced capabilities will allow Flash Lite technology to handle an entire presentation layer and make it possible to create Java ME applications where some or all UI components are defined in Flash.

Now that the problems with Flash on UIQ 3.0 and the P1 has been solved: SE, when are we going to get that software update for Flash Lite support?

It's been a while since the Mobile World Congress 2008 in Barcelona, but I kept forgetting to post this up. Basically it's a hands on first look at Opera Mobile 9.5...running on the P1i(!!)

I'm guessing that it's further evidence that Opera Mobile 9.5 will be offered to us P1i users - either for a fee or through an SE update. Hopefully we won't need to resort to hacks and all that to get it.

Yep, it's finally been cracked. Kudos to swmail for posting it up on the IPMart forums; now with Walkman 3.0, it comes with visualisations and Senseme music-mood choosing abilities, so basically the P1i = W960i + expandable memory.

Just a note on the Walkman 3.0 hack - it's solely exclusive for the P1i, and doesn't work with the W950, M600 or the P990. And as always, there can be potential problems with installing hacked applications like these on the root memory, so please backup your C:\ and all of your files before you attempt installation.

The UIQBlog has an news regarding a Walkman app hack that allows the Walkman app to be installed on to the UIQ 3.0 platform.

So basically it means that instead of doing some risky flashing to get a Sony Ericsson Walkman Player on to your P1i, all you need to do is install this Walkman application, and you're all set!

All this was available thanks to a hack earlier on which allowed the extraction of private data and applications from the older SE W950i Walkman UIQ phone. Please be aware that this Walkman application is the one from the SE W950 - which means it is Walkman v2.0 (without Senseme or the animated main menu).

Here's the instructions on how to install the Walkman app from the great man Moherowy who managed to hack the Walkman Player to other UIQ phones...(Yes, it's more than a couple of steps, but if you really want it, it's worth it):

-Unlock (hack) access to system folders (look for AppTRK or Capsswitch)

-Copy the contents of this archive to C drive on your mobile

-Restart your mobile

-Enjoy your walkman

You can obtain the Walkman app from the IPMart forum, where moherowy posted it. As for unlocking access to system folders, please take a look at this guide by ares from UIQBlog.

Never heard of it? Don't worry, I haven't until I saw the software myself. Primetech's Jot is a handwriting recognition application, a offers more than the standard handwriting recognition built in to the Sony Ericsson P1.

The defining feature of this app is the fact that it allows you (the user) to train the system to recognise and adapt to your specific handwriting. I think most of you would understand the frustration of jotting letters down furiously and the built-in original system just keeps choosing the wrong letter. Jot offers a solution to this problem and is definitely worth a further look.

Click here to get it now!