This is something I don’t quite understand, and not for the lack of trying either. Lets use three great applications to highlight this argument. WordPress for Symbian (Qt), SPB Shell 3.5, and Gravity from Mobileways.de.

Here is a list of all required files needed to use WordPress for Symbian. WordPress for Symbian is programmed in Qt, so as expected, all these files are required to be installed onto your Nokia N97 Phone memory.

A clean N97 having been reset for the umpteenth time, and Mass memory formatted, leaves you with just under 60MB of free phone memory.

I’m currently testing the latest version of WordPress for Symbian, and decided to document everything here for other Symbian device owns to use as a reference point.

Back to those files needed for this Qt version of WordPress.

Open C LIBSSL Common – Version 1.06(0)
Open C LIBSSL Patch – Version 1.06(0)
PIPS Installer – Version 1.06(0)
Qt Installer – Version 4.06(3)
Qt – Version 4.06(3)
QtWebkit – Version 4.06(3)
Signal Server – Version 1.06(0)
sqlite – Version 0.50(0)
Standard C++ Library Common – Version 1.06(0)
Standard C++ Library Patch – Version 1.06(0)
Symbian OS Pipes Upgrade – Version 1.03(0)
Symbian OS PIPS Upgrade – Version 1.06(0)
Upgrade for OpenC LIBZ Support files – Version 1.06(0)
WordPress Client – Version 0.06(95)

Now one would argue that this is a large number of installation files for just one application no? Well, at the end of the day, its 2010, and we should have capable devices that would allow the installation of such important infrastructure as Qt, which more, and more applications are being created with, offering a much more stable, and pleasing to the eye User Interface.

Sadly the N97, Nokia’s latest flagship device, a year on, of course, still falls flat on its face when it comes to installing a number of files to phone memory, Nokia Beta Labs files included.

Now, while we are talking about Nokia Beta Labs, they themselves insist that the installation of their Beta applications are required to be installed to phone memory for the main reason of paging, and performance, however, having recently won a fully licensed copy of SPB Shell 3.5 for my N97, it transforms the device, bringing a much more familiar UI to the device as we first seen in the many N97 promotional videos running up to the N97 release. See video below..

Sadly, once again, when the N97 reached the market place, and where did all those fancy UI elements we watched, and drooled over in the promotional videos? They were simply left out because the N97 was under-powered, but then why does SPB Shell work flawlessly, and why is it possible to install SPB Shell to mass memory, and still enjoy the pleasing UI, and smoothness of scrolling, bettering Nokia’s own UI.? Go figure. See Symbian Guru Ricky Cadden’s Video demo below showing SPB on his N97.

Luckily, we may soon see similar SPB Shell UI elements being introduced to Nokia devices as SPB recently joined the Symbian Foundation. Lets hope they can get that right.

As a result of a years worth of hard resets, and mass memory formats of my lovely form-factor N97, I have come to the end of the line with it, and decided to get myself an iPhone 4. I won’t be leaving Nokia altogether hell no, Im a passionate Nokia enthusiast, and always will be, but its high-time I started experiencing different devices, and platforms.

Its no surprise, I recently Switched to OSX with my new MacBook Pro after being a Windows Environment user of a couple of decades, and most of which were painful years of waiting, running into conflicts, and more waiting, slowness of programs, I’d had enough, and the 17″ MacBook Pro ticked all the boxes for the work requirements I needed from a machine. The Out-Of-the-Box functionality was my first eyebrow raising moment with the MBP.

Now if the iPhone4 can offer me a similar User Experience that my MacBook has given me, and then I will be happy, and content. From what I have see so far of the iPhone 4, I am really liking the pleasing to the eye UI, and the smoothness of the menu navigation infrastructure. Checkout the video below to see what I mean.

The one application on the N97 that to me, has been one of the main reasons for keeping my N97 for so long is Gravity, the all in one, regularly updated, and improved application from Jan Ole Suhr of Mobileways.de. Checkout one of his early videos of testing Gravity below.

The sole creator, developer, and brain behind this great app, Gravity proves that Nokiausers too can get a pleasing to the eye, smooth User Interface just like SPB Shell does on the N97.

Oh, and guess what, Gravity can be installed to Mass Memory too, and boasts so much functionality, including Twitter, Facebook, FourSquare, Google Reader, Geo Tweets, Image uploads, supporting several Imaging services, including Flickr, its simply an incredible application to come from a very knowledgeable Symbian Developer. Checkout Gravity below, and see how its looking now. Its still not the latest, @janole now has over 4000 twitter followers.

I’m positive that i am not alone in saying this, but if it were not for Gravity on the latest flagship Nokia device the N97, the device would of received even more bad press than it already has, not to mention many N97 owners may of sold their N97 way way ago if it weren’t for Gravity.

So what are your thoughts on the Phone Memory vs Mass Memory argument? My thoughts are that with 32GB of Mass memory on the N97 its a crying shame this cannot be taken advantage of when it comes to some installations. At least give us, the endusers, and owners of these devices the option on where to install these applications please Nokia!

Related posts:

1. The Official Symbian WordPress Application Smart Installer – Update – Not possible to Install qt Libraries to Mass memory
2. N97 screensot, improvements to RAM & Phone Memory after format, and reset, then reinstalling everything to mass memory
3. Ovi Maps 3.0 Final Beta – Installation Trials & Tribulations
4. Look at the phone memory free. That is MB’s

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 12th, 2010 at 13:21 and is filed under EDITORIAL. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.