Epocdigest V1 # 306

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Epoc Digest Sun, 27 Jul 2003 Volume 01 : Number 306

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Sent to: 795 subscribers

In today's Epoc Digest 14 messages:

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- Psion Sale

- The future of Symbian OS

- Re: Series 3mx and Microsoft Intellectual Property

- Data as RDBMS

- Adressing directly various documents within yr 5mx (or Netbook)

- Orange SPV

- Repair Services for MC218 (USA)

- IconPatcher updated

- Re: Replacing Batteries on a Mako

- Re: CF Card Database : Nature ofSymbian

- Re: [new topic] Little rant aboutPsion going WinCE

- Questions about PSION replacements

- Canadian Mako Upgrade

- Life after Psion

*++++++++++&

Date: 24 Jul 2003 23:09:55 -0500

From: Simon Wolf

Subject: Psion Sale

I've decided to have a complete clear out of my Psion bits and pieces and having rooted around here's what I have for sale. I would prefer things to go to a good home so I thought that I would offer them for sale here first before they get eBayed. Please note that prices are in British Pounds and postage and packing is not included (it will depend on where you are and how you want things sent). I'd prefer payment by PayPal but cheques drawn from a UK bank are also okay.

Anyway, items listed below and if you have any questions or want to make me an offer please send me an email (all offers will be dealt with on a first come, first served basis) ...

Simon Wolf

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Psion netBook - £300

- Upgraded to 64 Meg

- Serial Cable

- Mains Adaptor

- Some minor damage to the front of the casing but nothing to affect the operation of the machine

- New screen fitted last autumn

- 2 x Spare Styli

- Latest OS on 16mb CF Card

- Copy of the original netBook CD (I have no idea where my original one is) - PsiWin 2.3.3 on CD

Boxed Psion 5mx - £100

- Immaculate condition with a new screen and screen cable fitted last autumn. Not used since.

- Box slightly the worse for wear.

- Serial Cable

- 5mx/PsiWin CD

- PsiWin 2.3.3 on CD

- Includes 2xAA batteries and a backup battery (all fitted)

Boxed Psion Revo Plus - £70

- Mains Adaptor

- All Documentation, manuals, etc.

- Docking Cradle

- Box slightly the worse for wear.

- Revo Plus/PsiWin CD

- PsiWin 2.3.3 on CD

Unboxed Psion Revo - £30

- Mains Adaptor

- Docking Cradle

- Manual, Accessories Catalogue, etc.

- Copy of Revo CD (original lost)

- PsiWin 2.3.3 on CD

- The Case Place Leather Case

56k+Fax 10/100 Ethernet Gold Card (netBook compatible CombineIT card) - £40 - Includes network and phone adaptors

- Includes Installation Guide and CD (for Windows)

Miscellaneous

- netBook Car Recharger (POS model) - £5

- netBook mains adaptor (POS model) - £5

- Brown Mulberry Case For Psion 5mx - £25

- Black Proportia Hard Case For Psion 5mx - £20

- Portfolio Manager - £5

- Boxed 56k Infrared Travel Modem - £15

- Presentation Maker (disks and manual … no box) - £10

- 2 x Spare Revo/Revo Plus Stylus Pack (3 styli) - £3 each

- 2 x Spare Psion 5mx/netBook/Psion 7 Stylus Pack (3 styli) - £3 each

- Official Vehicle Power Adaptor for Psion 5mx/Revo or Travel Modem - £10

- Revo/Revo Plus Travel Docking Cradle - £5

- Psion 5/Revo/Revo Plus Main Adaptor - £10

- Crucial CF USB Adaptor - £5

- Dell TrueMobile 1150 WiFi Card (netBook compatible but shipped with Windows manual, CD, etc.) - £40

- 2x 256 SimpleTech CF Card - £40 each

- SimpleTech CF-PCMCIA Adaptor - £5

- 56k+Fax Gold Card (including cable and socket plug) - £15

- Psion Sienna (needs claning due to battery leak) - £5

- Official netBook/Psion 7 Briefcase - £30

- FoxPop PowerBase Tutorial CD - £1

*++++++++++&

Date: 25 Jul 2003 00:34:21 -0500

From: Rolf Brunsting

Subject: The future of Symbian OS

Dear Friends,

I see that Arent Kits van Heijningen has, once more, written about the dismal future of Symbian OS. I've lifted the below quotes out of his raggedly formatted messages and added my comments to them.

<< the phone manufacturers are going for a completely embedded version of Symbian OS with *.CE or PalmOS 5 and /or Java providing the user/application layers ,the higher-level networking stacks and the filesystem Compare it to Wine or VMWare on the (IBM/Intel-compatible ) PC >>

It doesn't make much sense to do this at this point in time. When you'd like to tap into the PalmOS third-party software catalogue you got to PalmSource, license the PalmOS operating system and build a 100% PalmOS smartphone. Just like Kyocera, Samsung, Handspring and Palm itself did. For Windows CE you take a license for Pocket PC Smartphone Edition and build a smartphone with it as HTC has done.

It's also not as simple as it sounds. The PalmOS user interface was written for PalmOS' lower operating system layers, not for those of Symbian OS. Creating a Symbian/Palm hybrid is therefore a tough job. Such hybrids aren't known for high levels of efficiency and compatibility. Meaning that (a) some PalmOS applications will run straight on a Symbian/Palm hybrid while others will need to be modified to suit and (b) that they will run at a reduced speed. And the development of PalmOS doesn't stand still, of course. You therefore need to keep pace with PalmOS so that new and expanded functionality also becomes part of the Symbian/Palm hybrid. Otherwise software that makes use of this functionality won't run on the hybrid. When your development efforts will mainly be dictated by Microsoft and PalmSource you can save yourself a lot of hassle by going for a 100% Windows CE or PalmOS based smartphone.

<< There is a major change going on in the mobile phone business now that MicroSoft has joined forces with the incumbents (i.e the likes of BT , KPN ,Deutsche Telekom (=T-Mobile ) France Telecom (=Orange ) Phone/device manufacturers/vendors have to follow ,otherwise they will lose market share >>

Microsoft is going directly to the mobile network operators because it has failed to get Windows CE accepted as a viable/reliable smartphone platform by the majority of manufacturers of mobile phones. It hasn't been that successful as there are four networks that carry own-brand Windows CE based smartphones - Orange and O2 in Europe plus T-Mobile and Sprint PCS in the USA. Orange sells the Pocket PC Smartphone Edition based SPV that's manufactured by HTC. O2 and T-Mobile are selling the Pocket PC Phone Edition based XDA, also manufactured by HTC. While Sprint PCS is selling the Pocket PC Phone Edition based Samsung SPH-i700 and Hitachi G1000 with the Sprint logo on them.

Note that:

a) T-Mobile has either abandoned or postponed the release of a smartphone based on Pocket PC Smartphone Edition (news sources aren't clear on this).

b) T-mobile is showing commercials on Dutch television for its T-Zones service showing people using T-Zones on a ... wait for it ... Symbian OS based Nokia 3650. The same applies to KPN Mobile's commercials for its i-Mode photo and video clip services. The people in the KPN commercials use a ... Symbian OS based Nokia 3650.

c) That Sprint PCS has been selling PalmOS based smartphones by Kyocera, Handspring and Samsung.

<< Parallell to this , operators are partnering directly with the actual hardware manufacturers , bypassing the phone/device vendors completely >>

Well ... aren't such mobile phone vendors as Nokia, SonyEricsson and Siemens not hardware manufacturers? Haven't such mobile network operators as Orange and KPN Mobile been selling phones by such hardware manufacturers as Alcatel, Ericsson, Siemens, Panasonic, Nokia and Motorola using their own brand (Orange nk702 = Nokia 6130 and KPN Pocketline Pro = Alcatel One Touch Pro)? There's nothing new to a mobile network operator putting it's brand name and model number on a smartphone and selling it as it's own.

One of the reasons that it's presented as being something new, something groundbreaking, in some circles is because these people are much more familiar with the PC world than they are with the world of telephony. What you're not familiar with is automatically new to you. Another reason is that it mainly comes out of the US where the mobile phone market is fragmented because there are four competing digital mobile network technologies (CDMA, GSM, TDMA and IDEN). Where you live in the US determines which mobile network operators you can choose. Their network technology determines which phones you can choose. The most restrictive being Nextel which is the only mobile operator to have an IDEN network with Motorola as sole supplier of network infrastructure equipment as well as mobile phones. While we Europeans are used to walking into a mobile phone store, picking the phone that suits us best and then to see which of the mobile network operators offers that phone at the most attractive contract price. And when we're not pleased with the mobile network operator we can move to a competitor without having to change phone. The result of Europe standardising on GSM network technology.

It's debatable whether network branded smartphones will work. A phone like the Orange SPV will make some people move to Orange while others prefer not to change network despite the SPV. And as Orange currently has exclusive rights to the SPV you can only get it in countries where Orange is active. You could say that network branded phones are a double edged sword.

<< it is just a rerun of the old history ,MicroSoft has managed to get the ECMA , the ISO and the ITU on its side >>

I'm sorry, but this is silly because ECMA, ISO and ITU are fully independent standards authorities. They're independent of government, of the various regulatory bodies as well as independent of industry. What's more, they define so-called 'open standards' that don't contain any proprietary technology nor rely on proprietary technology. ECMA, ISO and ITU will therefore not be on the side of Microsoft, nor on the side of Symbian or PalmSource.

<< You are correct here , but it will cost them dearly in lost marketshares from 2005 onwards as the incumbents introduce features that are only accessible from M$-based smartphones The battlelines are already drawn , it will be between PalmOS and *.CE -based phones rather than between open Symbian and MicroSoft >>

Now ... why does Arent mention PalmOS when he says that mobile network features will only be accessible using *Microsoft* based smartphones? Aren't Windows CE and PalmOS two different operating systems from two different companies? And why should non-Microsoft PalmOS benefit from this development but not non-Microsoft Symbian OS? Doesn't make much sense, doesn't it?

Note that Arent talks about features only accessible using a Microsoft based smartphone without saying anything about what these features are. I don't think I will surprise many people by offering the suggestion that these features will mainly consist of tying the Microsoft based smartphone into other Microsoft supplied products. That's to be expected. It would be too silly for words when a Microsoft based smartphone would be incapable of (say) synchronising with Microsoft Outlook via a mobile wireless connection.

Which leaves the question whether it's wise for a mobile network operator to introduce services its customers can only make use of when they have a Microsoft based smartphone. Below some market share statistics from market research company IDC based on smartphone units shipped world-wide in the first quarter of 2003:

- Nokia : 57.3%

- SonyEricsson : 11.1%

- Motorola : 7.4%

- Samsung : 5.1%

- Handspring : 4.1%

- All others : 14.9%.

Market research company Canalys has recently given the following European statistics for the second quarter of 2003:

- Nokia : 838.650 units = 78%

- SonyEricsson : 164.750 units = 15%

- Orange : 58,070 units = 5%

- All others : 6,960 units = 1%

As Nokia and SonyEricsson use Symbian OS for their smartphones this gives a Symbian OS 68.4% market share according IDC. Which matches Symbian's own assessment of a slightly less than 70% market share. While Canalys gives Symbian OS (Nokia + SonyEricsson) an even bigger 93% market share in Europe. Samsung and Handspring are the major contributors to PalmOS' market share in the IDC figures, a combined 9.2%, because Samsung's Windows CE phone wasn't released in Q1. The figure will be higher because the PalmOS smartphones by Kyocera and Palm are in IDC's All Others section. The market share of Windows CE is also hidden in IDC's 14.9% for All Others. For Europe it's the 5% of the Orange SPV plus a slice of the 1% for All Others in which the O2 XDA is hidden.

The trouble with these statistics is that market research companies don't always use the same definition for PDA or smartphone. It's therefore possible that some smartphone models (and their operating systems) aren't accounted for. Still, what the numbers indicate is that Microsoft's Windows CE is outnumbered by PalmOS and vastly outnumbered by Symbian OS when it comes to smartphones. That's not a good basis for an operator to launch mobile services only accessible using a Microsoft based smartphone.

OK, I accept that Arent is talking about 2005 and beyond. There's scope for Windows CE to gain market share at the expense of Symbian OS and PalmOS. Thing is, that Nokia, SonyEricsson and other smartphone manufacturers won't stand still and wait to see what Microsoft comes up with. Nokia's CEO, Jorma Olilla, mentioned in a recent address that the company expects 10 million Symbian OS based smartphones to be shipped in 2003. This will create a Symbian OS smartphone user base the network operators simply can't ignore.

<< Ericsson decided for a very low-profile introduction of its M$-based phones (perhaps they are ashamed that they caved in to market pressures ? ) in a hotel in New-Zealand followed by a gradual rollout worldwide starting from there and moving to European and North-American markets in Fall 2004 >>

The first question to ask is which "market pressures" Arent is talking about when SonyEricsson is clearly doing better than the Windows CE competition. And given that Ericsson is one of the most influential suppliers of mobile network equipment you'd expect Microsoft to shout to the world that it has Ericsson in the bag. Specially when Ericsson is one of the cofounders of arch-rival Symbian. And why a quiet hush-hush launch in a hotel room in New Zealand (of all places) when you're launching a smartphone that will be released world-wide? Wouldn't you pick one of the major trade shows for a champagne and dancing girls type launch? And why does Arent know about this secretive launch but not the journalists of the mobile phone magazines I buy as well as those of the specialist on-line news services I follow? Many of them would risk their good relations with Microsoft and SonyEricsson to write about such a major development.

Note that it's not only Ericsson Arent is talking about. In an earlier message he mentions:

<< "Both Ericsson and Nokia will bring-together with the incumbent telcos- MicroSoft/Intel-based smartphones starting early next year in Asia-Pacific and gradually roll out in other markets as the year progresses >>

The same applies here. Microsoft bagging Ericsson is one thing. Microsoft bagging the world's no. 1 mobile phone supplier, Nokia, is of a different order. Such a news story isn't only for the specialist trade journals but also a headline item for the business sections of the daily newspapers. Well ... I haven't read about it in the newspapers nor in the trade journals nor on the on-line news services. And why should Nokia start to build Microsoft based OEM phones for the network operators to sell when it has built up such a name that network operators need to have Nokia phones in their sales catalogue?

Still, it seems to be very important to Arent as he mentions in another message:

<< Hopes that Symbian/Epoc survives as a standalone environment have been dealt a fatal blow with the decision by the ILECS to move to *.CE-based phones and .NET/Java as the application environment >>

I trust the question that will pop-up in people's minds will be : What is an ILEC or ILECS? Well ... ILEC stands for Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier - a telephone company that was providing local service when the (US) Telecommunications Act of 1996 was passed. New, post 1996, companies are called CLECS (Competing Local ... etc.) as they compete with the established companies. In other words, the ILECS are such US telephone companies as BellSouth, Qwest and Verizon. Next questions is whether US telephone companies have moved to Windows CE based phones and the answer is a 'No' as I've written above.

Another thing that's interesting to note is that Arent is talking about a "standalone environment". I trust most of us are thinking about a standalone PC when they read this - a PC that's not connected to other computers or computer systems. While the aim of a smartphone is not to be a standalone device but to be connected via the mobile network to other systems for message exchange (SMS, MMS, e-mail and Instant Messaging) web browsing and accessing corporate systems via a Virtual Private Network. Symbian OS based smartphones offer these functions - either as standard or by means of third-party add-on applications.

Don't know why the ILECS and standalone environments are so important, but they're sufficient for Arent to say:

<< The Epoc-based smartphone is now at a point just before Psion decided to can further development of its Epoc 32 line , it is likely that the Siemens SX1 , Nokia 6600 and Ericsson P810 will be the end of the line >>

... which is far removed from the truth. Symbian OS currently has a just under 70% share on the world-wide smartphone market. Psion was a major player in the PDA market but never achieved such a market share.

The point at which Psion decided to bow out was when (a) it had a model line-up that was starting to age, (b) Motorola withdrew from the ODIN joint-development that would have led to the 'next Psion' and (c) when the PDA market was starting to become saturated. Symbian isn't facing a similar situation. There are a number of competitive Symbian OS based smartphones on the market and new models are being launched. What's more, the market for smartphones is growing at a rapid pace and is expected to balloon in the coming years.

Fine, it's debatable whether Symbian will be able to hold on to a 70% market share. Still, it can't be denied that Symbian OS is currently well ahead of the pack. I therefore don't see any reason for Siemens, Nokia and SonyEricsson not to continue with their Symbian OS developments. Note that these three mobile phone manufacturers aren't 'mere' licensees but have a financial stake in Symbian together with Psion, Motorola and Matsushita. They're not only supporting Symbian by releasing Symbian OS based smartphones, they're backing the whole Symbian venture.

What Arent has to say on the other Symbian partners as well as Samsung is this:

<< Samsung ,Panasonic ,Motorola have already followed this route [Moving to Windows CE and Java : RB ] and Ericsson and Siemens will follow in 2004 ... >>

Samsung's first smartphone was PalmOS based though it had also licensed Windows CE from Microsoft. Which raised some doubts whether Samsung would really launch a Windows CE smartphone. Even though Samsung repeatedly mentioned that its Windows CE license wasn't strategic and that it was committed to releasing a Windows CE phone. It has been a looooong wait for Windows CE devotees but the company has now released one in the form of the SPH-i700 for CDMA networks. Samsung has also signed licensing agreements with Symbian and Nokia, allowing it to make Symbian OS smartphones using Nokia's Series 60 platform. That such a smartphone hasn't been launched yet doesn't indicate that Samsung has abandoned Symbian OS. We may have to be as patient as those who were waiting for the SPH-i700.

As for Motorola, it will supply the Symbian OS based A920 to Hutchison for its 3rd generation W-CDMA network called '3'. OK, the rumours about a Windows CE based Motorola smartphone are getting stronger while the company has already launched the Linux based A760 smartphone. Motorola is thus going for a multi-OS strategy that's similar to Samsung's.

Which leaves Panasonic (= Matsushita) as the only Symbian partner and mobile phone maker who has yet to launch a Symbian OS smartphone. As Matsushita has also licensed Series 60 from Nokia the launch may not be that far away. Another smartphone that's not that far from launch is the Symbian OS / Series 60 based phone from Sendo - Microsoft's former smartphone spearhead partner. Then there's the Nokia N-Gage, a Symbian OS based mobile wireless games machine. And Fujitsu has recently launched a Symbian OS based smartphone for NTT DoCoMo's FOMA network in Japan.

To conclude a lengthy message - Symbian isn't in such a dire position as Arent describes it. The company's position is actually quite a healthy one. We'll have to see what happens in the coming years, of course, but things are looking good for Symbian OS.

But there's another aspect to Arent's messages. That Arent apparently thinks Symbian OS won't succeed - that it's Windows CE that will be the dominant player - is fine in itself. Trouble is, that when Arent posts on the Digest the contents of his messages is almost always 'Symbian OS is no good - Windows CE will rule' in one form or another. And that on the EPOC Digest, a discussion and mutual support forum for a range of products that compete with Windows CE based products. Which gives me the impression that Arent is only posting on the Digest in order to undermine our interests and sympathies and to lead us deluded EPOC users on the right path towards Windows CE. I don't think that's the right form of behaviour on the EPOC Digest. Or any other product related discussion forum for that matter.

Kind Regards,

Rolf Brunsting - Darp - Netherlands

*++++++++++&

Date: 25 Jul 2003 00:40:35 -0500

From: Rolf Brunsting

Subject: Re: Series 3mx and Microsoft Intellectual Property

Arent,

<< The S3MX Clamshell is again in production as is the Workabout version am very sceptical about new production runs for the s5mx , because of complicated intellectual property issues ( in fact the s3mx was developed as a hedge in the case Psion had to drop EPOC 32 as a non-embedded environment ) in the GUI as well in the API department ( MicroSoft ) >>

It has already been pointed out to you that Series 3mx was the result of the NEC V30H processor (as used in previous SIBO models) being discontinued. Psion adopted the faster MX version of the V30H that was still in production, which resulted in the Series 3mx and WorkAbout MX. [Besides, the Series 3mx was taken out of production in the same year that the Series 5mx, Series 7 and the Revo came on the market (1999). As these three are all EPOC based it's clear that the Series 3mx wasn't launched as precaution. If that were true, the 3mx would have been kept in production right up to the moment Psion decided to withdraw from the market].

It has also been pointed out to you that the only Microsoft item within EPOC is the web browser - WEB version 1.x and 2.x. Psion licensed WEB from STNC Ltd. - a software development company that was bought by Microsoft in 1998. The rights to WEB now belong to Microsoft as a result of this acquisition. It's the reason why WEB wasn't developed further and that Psion started to supply the Opera web browser with its products.

It has also been pointed out that the use of Microsoft Visual C++ for EPOC software development doesn't imply that there's Microsoft intellectual property within EPOC. Visual C++ supplies the host development environment. The function libraries, the compiler and the other items you need to create EPOC software are 100% EPOC.

It has also been pointed out that the only thing that's valid in your description of EPOC as a "non-embedded environment" is the 'non' of nonsense. The software industry classifies the software that's inside the (FLASH) ROMs of PDAs, handheld computers, MP3 players, mobile phones, smartphones and a vast range of other products as embedded software. And that's irrespective of the architecture of the software.

Now, people do make mistakes and can come to the wrong conclusion. What you write can therefore be interpreted as an honest mistake. However, that you're repeating your statements, despite being corrected more than once, strongly indicates that we're not dealing with mistakes. Given the general interests of the EPOC Digest as a discussion and mutual support forum for EPOC and Symbian related products think that the below proverb applies.

Once is happenstance, twice is circumstance, three times is enemy action.

In other words, that what you wrote above was written in order to mislead people.

Rolf Brunsting - Darp - Netherlands

*++++++++++&

Date: 25 Jul 2003 07:46:22 -0500

From: Rick Gillyon

Subject: Data as RDBMS

> From: martin

> Subject: Nature of Symbian

> All the functionality that we are used

> to from the Psions are still in the very latest version of

> Symbian OS, version 7.0s. This includes Symbian Word, Symbian

> Sheet, the built in RDBMS/Data

Are you saying that in Symbian 7 Data has evolved?

Because I can't see any way that Data in Epoc R5 could be considered a RDBMS! It has no relational features that I can see.

Rgds,

Rick

http://www.gillyon.com/

*++++++++++&

Date: 25 Jul 2003 09:27:32 -0500

From: Stephane Sage

Subject: Adressing directly various documents within yr 5mx (or Netbook)

To Ulrich and Astrid

Menus5 from Henri Spagnolo at

http://mypage.bluewin.ch/YetAnotherHomePage/indexgb.html has up to now been the only way I found allowing me to open, in a relatively simple fashion, any Data, Jotter or Word (...) document (providing it has aleady been directed at from Menus5) without having to remap any silk key.

Best regards.

Stephane Sage (Grenoble, France)

*++++++++++&

Date: 25 Jul 2003 09:33:13 -0500

From: Martin Pope

Subject: Orange SPV

I have an Orange SPV on trial. Has anyone any experience of this phone? I am interested to know how to set up the infrared comms and modem facility to communicate with my netBook. I have been unsuccessful so far.

I use GroupWise as my PC e-mail and Diary software - but as the SPV is Windows based, it is designed to synchronize it's diary and contacts with Outlook. Does anyone out there know how to export files from GroupWise (on a regular basis) which I can then import to Outlook, and thereby copy this info with the SPV? I would happily not look for synchronization (ie the reverse path of SPV data back to Outlook and so to GroupWise.)

Thanks in advance,

Martin, near Aberdeen

*++++++++++&

Date: 25 Jul 2003 18:52:17 -0500

From: Widmer, Elizabeth

Subject: Repair Services for MC218 (USA)

help- I need to get my MC218 repaired. Ericsson USA is NO help- they just keep apologizing. My MC218 won't power up. I need any and all competent contacts where I might send it. POS specifically list the MC218 as one they do not repair.

B Widm

This electronic message may contain confidential or privileged information and is intended for the individual or entity named above. If you are

not the intended recipient, be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of the contents of this information is prohibited.

If you have received this electronic transmission in error, please notify the sender immediately by using the e-mail address or by telephone (704-633-8250).

*++++++++++&

Date: 25 Jul 2003 21:24:29 -0500

From: Martin Guthrie

Subject: IconPatcher updated

Hi All,

Just a quick note to say that IconPatcher has been updated from v0.90ß to v1.00. Updates include:-

o IconPatcher can now handle a list of single-image bitmaps (e.g. as exported by Sketch) as well as multi-image bitmaps and existing .aif files.

o Now fully compatible with the 5mx, MC218, and revo (in greyscale of course).

More details and download from my Pscience5 website. Freeware of course.

Best regards,

Martin Guthrie

—————————

www.pscience5.net

www.freepoc.org

*++++++++++&

Date: 25 Jul 2003 23:03:10 -0500

From: Christopher Gharibo

Subject: Re: [EPOC DIGEST V1 # 305 (32)]

I opened up my Mako and wish to replace the battery. Where do I get

appropriate replacement batteries for the Mako?

Thanks you,

Chris

*++++++++++&

Date: 25 Jul 2003 23:54:23 -0500

From: Arent Kits van Heijningen

Subject: Re: EPOC DIGEST V1 # 305 (369) : CF Card Database : Nature ofSymbian

EPOC DIGEST V1 # 305 (369) : CF Card Database : Nature of Symbian

Date: 2003/07/24 20:40:25

On 22 Jul 2003 08:43:24 -0500

Martin Guthrie wrote about :

CF Card Database

>>So can I ask people to send me emails please (off Digest) with answers to the above 4 points on any/all the cards you've used or are using (unless you've previously sent me the details that is)?

As this may be of interest to others here are my experiences so far :

64 MByte/MOctet SanDisk Standard : Works , but is slow

128 MByte/MOctet Lexarmedia 12x :Works too , fast , but Mail is still unspeakably slow

The Big Ones

Last Thursday , I called Ingo Kraft of Kraftcom.net , he sells the FIC AquaPad ( tablet-style USF running WindowsCE ) about his opinion on big cards ( 256,512,1024 MByte/MOctet ) and he put me through to his techie

Their experience is : no issues with these sizes , but SanDisk is the slowest and Toshiba the fastest ,with Ascend holding the middle ground , they could however boot and run Windows NT 5.0 SP3 and Suse Linux from the 1 gigs of all the tested brands ( Ascend , SanDisk and Toshiba ) without any incident so far This is interesting as the sweet spot in pricing is now rapidly moving

towards the larger sizes

Both Lexarmedia and SanDisk plan to offer their 2,3, and 4 gigs at similar price points per MByte/MOctet as the smaller ones

On 22 Jul 2003 09:46:44 -0500

martin wrote about

Nature of Symbian

>>1. This appears not to be entirely correct. I must assume that you are not talking about smartphones at all. There are no indications that there is any reduction in commitment to Symbian. On the contrary the trend is completely the opposite. Samsung used to be on CE and Palm OS, and is about to release their first Symbian phone. Nokia is moving Symbian further down the price scale. Motorola, Siemens and Panasonic are coming out with their first

Symbian phones within a few months time. Fujitsu has already released two Symbian phones. In addition several other mobile phone manufacturers such as Sendo, Sagem, BenQ, Quanta have recently joined as licencees and have Symbian phones underway. <<

I had based my message on the developments now going on with Intel , MicroSoft and the ILECS cosying up to each other and going to strike direct deals with the actual device manufacturers , bypassing the handset vendors in the process

Nokia is moving Symbian down the scale , but only selected high-end models will have an exposed native API/UI , all the rest will be Java/proprietary only

Both Ericsson and Motorola will offer *.CE-based phones in paralell with

their Symbian offerings or some time to come staring resp first and second quarter of 2004 resp

That symbian-based phones are such huge sellers says nothing about future developments as most of these sales are heavily subsidized by the carriers When the ILEC's start to offer *.CE-based phones and associated services in earnest and start to drop support for the symbian models , then sales of the latter will drop precipitously

I expect however , that Symbian phones are good for at least another 12-18 months of sale and that -unlike Psion- they will even remain available long after Microsoft has established a dominance in the sector ( think Acorn Archimedes and Apple Macintosh computers wich although niche products are still going strong , just because they can run on the coattails of major players - Intel and MicroSoft in the case of the Acorn Archimedes-compatibles and IBM and Motorola in the case of Apple Macintosh )

>>2. Not sure on what basis you claim that .CE and Java should be a winning combination. Usually those two are rather discordant, with Microsoft wishing to steer the development community into proprietary versions of Java

defeating the purpose of having it in the first place.<<

Combining Java and CE.NET in one handset is attractive because they can offer the same models to the ILEC's and the business markets as well as the CLEC's and the consumer/entertainment markets

Combined , these two environments will render native UI's/API's superfluous

>>3. No functionality has been or will probably be "stripped away" from Symbian OS. All the functionality that we are used to from the Psions are still in the very latest version of Symbian OS, version 7.0s. This includes Symbian Word, Symbian Sheet, the built in RDBMS/Data, the Email/Messaging application, the Jotter, Contacts, and Agenda engines. But it is up to the device manufacturer to make use of them or not. Only OPL has been moved out

as a separate, now Open Source, application.<<

It is exactly that , to bring down complexity and cost for the device manufacturers , many new Symbian phones only use the kernel and the wireless stack , running a JVM and or *.CE/PalmOS resp. the proprietary software on

top of that

Both Palm and *.CE is now approaching or even surpassing non-embedded Symbian in terms of functionality and recent Java implementations have performace comparable to native applications while at the same time being completely compatible with both the Sun and Microsoft implementations

>>4. Regarding the embedded market at large, one can always have different views, and CE.net seems to have a good run at the moment. But at the same

time Microsoft is under serious threat from several angles, even the desktop. Some of the largest enterprise computing vendors are assiduously anti Microsoft, including Oracle, Computer Associates and IBM <<

Anti-Microsoft , but not anti-Crap Edition

The basic paradigm behind *.CE is to offer a subset of'doze or *nix in a footprint small enough to fit in a handheld device

EPOC is developed from the ground up as a DOS-like OS , but complete with a menu-driven or graphical user interface for small resource-constrained

devices

Following the mailing lists , the *.CE versions based on Linux and NetBSD

have similar stability and usability issues as the MicroSoft offering

URL's on Moto's move :

Paa norsk :

http://www.itavisen.no/art/1301609.html (Trygve kan Du oeversaette dette paa engelsk )

In English :

http://news.com.com/2100-1039_3-5053475.html?tag=cd_mh

*++++++++++&

Date: 26 Jul 2003 08:09:57 -0500

From: Arent Kits van Heijningen

Subject: Re: EPOC DIGEST V1 # 305 (369) :[new topic] Little rant aboutPsion going WinCE

Little rant about Psion going WinCE

http://www.computing.co.uk/Computingopinion/1142188

Here's a little excerpt from the story ...:

Psion prepares the way for the one true OS

By Chris Partridge [09-07-2003]

Psion, the flagship of British mobile computing, has struck its

colours and surrendered to the Evil Empire. It is abandoning Epoc

and turning to Windows CE.

Bugler, blow the last post. Plucky little Epoc. No chance against

the big guns...end of a dream...brave fight against overwhelming

odds...sniff...

Rubbish. Come on, snap out of it. This is an operating system,

fergawdsake, not a baby. We really have got to grow out of the

religious fundamentalism that warps people's judgement when it

comes to personal computers. .........

<snip>

*++++++++++&

Date: 26 Jul 2003 15:46:09 -0500

From: guillaume.favre

Subject: Questions about PSION replacements

I know! Again and again... Sorry...

Is there someone of you that is using one of these Linux based Sharp Zaurus C700 (i'm not sure apbout the reference). Their specifications can be seen at www.pulster.de They look great, expecially when you don't consider the running time of only 3.5 hours and the apparently poor softwares compared to these of the Psion Kingdom...

I would be pleased to read a review of a psionist about it.

Otherwise, how did the Psion-to-Palm users managed to use their Psion-Data files? I haven't find a decent CSV file viewer for Palm. And is that true that the Tomeraider file need to be smaller than the RAM of the Palm to be readed?

Many thanks for answers,

Guillaume, Switzerland

*++++++++++&

Date: 27 Jul 2003 01:03:59 -0500

From: Jim Watson-Gove

Subject: Canadian Mako Upgrade

I sent in my two Mako's for battery upgrade and battery software upgrade.

The machines came back, and looked like they were "cured." With normal care (almost full discharge, etc.) after about six months they are back to acting up like before.

Count me in the group of nonbelievers.

As convenient as the Mako form is (slips in a shirt pocket - great screen as long as you don't need backlight), I've relegated them with our classic to the role of backup when one of the 5mx's need to go back for repair.

jim - port townsend

*++++++++++&

Date: 27 Jul 2003 01:04:05 -0500

From: Jim Watson-Gove

Subject: Life after Psion

I bought a Dana a while back to explore the Palm OS, and then bought a Treo 90 to check out the thumb board (it was discounted down to about $125 US after mail-in rebate).

As a non power user, I find that if I had to, I could move over to the Palm OS.

The Treo has a great readable (except in bright sunlight) color screen - the Dana has an excellent keyboard. The Treo is great as a book reader. It's agenda is excellent, and the address book likewise. SnapperMail on the Treo (and Dana) is surprisingly good despite no spell check (its primary

weakness).

I find myself using the 5mx for EMail, Sheet (QuickSheet on the Dana and the Treo is pathetic compared to EPOC sheet), and to hold onto the vast amount of data I have accumulated over the years. I carry the Treo around for pIm functions and for reading electronic books. I use the Dana for heavy duty text entry jobs (editing a small press magazine, working on the latest poem or the latest attempt at a novel).

Could I get along without the Palm toys, using only the 5mx? Absolutely.

Could I get along with only the Palm machines? Hmmmm - yes but not happily.

Now is Psion would just stick around, same for EPOC. Will hang onto my Psions and keep them working as long as possible.

Do I hear right that Psion is not providing EPOC on their latest NetBook? (been away from the list for a bit). A WinCe (or whatever they call it now) machine? Bodes ill for sure.