- Re: E90

- The death of OPL (E90)

- Nokia E90 & Motorola Z8

- RE: E90

- Psion Journal

- EPOC Link

Date: 15 Feb 2007 20:16:24 +0100
From: Chris Handley
Subject: Re: E90

Ian Chapple wrote:
> Here are a couple of articles about the new Nokia E90 communicator > (warning: some of you may not like the second one):

>http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/features/item/Enough_About_Psion-Symbian_Doesnt_Need_A_History_Lesson.php

I think Ewan Spencer (who wrote the article) must have very different demands to many (ex) Psion owners, because there is no way that an E90 is going to suite some of them, whatever he says:

* A vastly simplified Calendar, compared to Agenda (or even the S80 Calendar of my Nokia 9500), due to S60 heritage.  This will likely rule the E90 out for me, although I wait for them to finish it (and for more info). * Contacts searching is very limited (e.g. no number search), presumably due to S60 heritage.  Again, likely to rule the E90 out for me.
* Dumbed-down web browser input (e.g. no text highlighting), due to S60 heritage.
* Probably Word/Spreadsheet input limitations, due to S60 heritage.
* Probably more things, if I was able to try an E90 out.

Sure there are LOTS of pluses, like an excellent MP3 player, great video playback, access to all S60v3 software, and so on.  But if the key PIM functionality is severly limited, I'd much rather stick with my Nokia 9500 - which is VERY close to Psion/Epoc in functionality.

End of rant :-)

I only hope that they can/will import more S80 functionality into the S60 version used by the E90, since it is still in development (and presumably released for feedback).

---
Chris Handley

Date: 15 Feb 2007 21:17:30 +0100
From: Chris Handley
Subject: The death of OPL (E90)

Simon Jeffree wrote:
>> (e) no OPL or other self-hosted programming language for it (yet).

> This is also my big bug-bear about it. [the E90]

> Its first death-blow was dealt when Nokia decided not to include it > built-into the ROM of the first communicator & all subsequent ones.

> More recently, support was dropped in S60 2nd & 3rd edition.  Now the > existing S80 communicator seems to be the end of the road for OPL.
> I'd love Nokia to prove me wrong & ideally, bring OPL back in-house or at > least provide the necessary code changes to allow it to run on S60 3rd edition.

While I do agree with what you say, I also think that perhaps it is a good thing that we've been forced to let go of OPL:

OPL has gone through so many 'upgrades' to work on different OSes (16-bit SIBO, then 32-bit Psion/Epoc R1/3/5, then Symbian S80), while retaining partial compatibility, that it is a real mess.  e.g. You still have remnants of 16-bit event handling in the latest S80 build, read & writing pixels is handled differently (palette numbers vs RGB values), and so on.

But I would still rather have OPL than nothing at all !

> I do hope something happens eventually, so I don't have to be held
> hostage by what the software developers 'think' my requirements are & I can
> write my own software again.

For several years I've been working on implementing my own compiler/translator for my favourite programming language, AmigaE (which was was sadly abandoned over 10 years ago).

The idea is that it will convert my AmigaE code into whatever programming language I have available, whether it be OPL, C++ or whatever - so that I'm no-longer tied the whims of one particular platform or OS :-) .  It sounds like you might understand that motivation!

The AmigaE language (also known as just "E") would be best described as working like C++, but with much of the simplicity of Java, and the friendly syntax & module system of Pascal.  Basically the ideal language in my books.

The compiler/translator is pretty close to being able to compile itself, which means that it would be able to run on any platform that it supported.  But it will probably be a while longer before it generates OPL code (and runs on Psion/Symbian machines), because I need to add support for non-zero-terminated strings.

Regards,
Chris Handley

Date: 15 Feb 2007 23:03:40 +0100
From: Itamar Engelsman <address truncated>
Subject: Nokia E90 & Motorola Z8

I suppose where in the end any comparison with the Psion's and the Nokia's will stop is the fact that the Psion's never were a phone as well. I read the articles mentioned in the last two digests. Some opinions seem to think that the E90 finally replaces the Psion's, others seem to think we should stop comparing as the Psion's weren't all that great after all and really only a "niche machine".

Personally I will not go for the E90, and not because I just switched to the Qtek half a year ago. In the end the keyboard is not a keyboard and the screen is not a touch screen. Although the screen is bigger than the UIQ or Qtek type machines, it is still too small to view a proper spreadsheet or an image file (photos). I can't see myself working for a longer period of time on such a small screen on WORD or excel, neither on the E90 nor on the Qtek. This means I realised some time ago already that my phone will not be a Psion replacement, full stop.

Today I did not feel well and went home from work. During the afternoon I quickly checked my emails on my netBook, fast and easy, large screen, good keyboard. With the wifi card I can use it anywhere in the house (this time in bed). I can do this on my Qtek as well if needed (when traveling for example) but it is rather small to read and reply. My phone is a phone, used also for diary, games, storage of data, listening to music, viewing films (short flights), and occasional typing of information. I can use a foldable keyboard with it but hardly ever use that.

In short, I went for the dual machine option, actually triple. I use a laptop for work when away from the office (remote access for full functionality as if sitting in the office), sometimes complimented by the netBook which is used in meetings due to it's small size and instant switch on/off and a phone as phone.

Best regards,
Itamar Engelsman
London, UK

Date: 15 Feb 2007 23:51:15 +0100
From: David Steer \(Plus\) <address truncated>
Subject: RE: E90

To Ian,

I agree. the second article isn't to everyone's taste, however, I think Ewan
has a point.  However, his point about Nokia out selling is, I think
miss-placed.  It is chalk and cheese and can't be compared - perhaps a
little like saying Ford out sells Cessna planes!  Psion sold pocket
computers and Nokia sells communication devices.

If Psion had marketed more effectively in the states, the story might have
been different.  Just something to note, my PC is 3 years old, my Psion is 5
years old and my mobile is 5 days old!  My PC cost me £500, my Psion cost me
£600 and my mobile cost me nothing (oh, 1 years contract - now I remember)!

I once (and still do) owned a Commodore 64 - it, along with the ZX Spectrum
started a revolution, so did Psion.  Admittedly, they did get some things
wrong and there were problems, however, they did get two things very right,
the keyboard and the software suite (not PsiWin though).  Psion has had
there day, but don't knock those of us who still support these devices.
Ewan once wrote a review of a game I published and criticised a number of
things, he was right in all but one point.  I think he is still right but he
shouldn't string people up for comparing the new with the old.

Us Psion users are looking for a laptop replacement and that means we need
to be able to type on it and really type.  The idea of carrying around a
powerful Phone and a separate good keyboard kind of kills the device
convergence game for me.

Still, one day, our Psions will die and we will all be using 7inch HTCs or
Windows Vista UMPCs!  Because, lets face it - size does matter!  And as we
get older and our eyesight does down hill, a crisp clear sun proof screen on
2 inches just doesn't cut it!  However, the though of putting a phone the
size of my netBook to my ear does make me smile.

From what I have read, the Nokia E90 won't stop us talking about Psions!  It
will make us all look though!

Regards

David Steer

Date: 16 Feb 2007 03:51:43 +0100
From: Keith Giles <address truncated>
Subject: Psion Journal

Will Green sent an e-mail last September about Issue 3 being available as a pdf file and to send him an e-mail if one wanted to get this rather than the printed copy. I've sent him an e-mail - never heard from him. I just sent him another e-mail and got a mail delivery reject. Anyone know what's going on?

Happy Cycling,
Keith
Sunnyvale, CA

http://ohsix827.home.comcast.net

Thought For The Day: The first 99% of the job takes 100% of the available time and the other 1% takes the other 100%.

Date: 16 Feb 2007 15:55:11 +0100
From: Jean Guillonneau <address truncated>
Subject: EPOC Link

Hi all !

Just a short question. I would like to manipulate the distant link with OPL : IRda, cable or none. Who knows in which OPX I can find the necessary command ?
Thanks.

Jean