symbian

IPv6 on Mobile
[03:40:59] matt [wronka.org]/Psi.generay T-Mobile supports native IPv6; I played around with it a bit on my N900 during their open beta phase. It's now mainstream, and rolled into their standard APN which anybody who's signed-up for an account in the last six years or so would probably be on (apparently some of my phones are still on the old Voicestream APNs which have at least recently still worked). According to them, only certain Android phones still work (half of them are Nexus brands). All recent Nokia phones (S40, Symbian) dating about at least five years should work fine too, the S40 phone I had has an option for it but I seem to recall it didn't work during the beta phase, and Nokia didn't want to support it.

Nokia Belle (S60) on the other hand was as easy as selecting "Advanced Options" from the network definition (when not connected) and changing the type from "IPv4" to "IPv6"; everything works from that point on. Well, except the native SIP client which wouldn't connect anymore (to my IPv4 server) and my J2ME Jabber client which wouldn't connect to (or resolve, I'm not sure which) the server. All synchronization, Opera Mobile, and in-built eMail worked fine; but the SIP client is a deal breaker.

Adhesion
[22:21:24] matt [wronka.org]/Trip I've been playing with a Symbian Anna phone lately, only in so much as I've been failing to upgrade it to Belle.

If you start it in offline mode, you can do offline things, and even switch it on. However, if it starts with a SIM installed, you get faced with a Nokia Ovi setup screen which quickly, in small print says that Ovi will use data services (way at the bottom of your screen in a small font which changes quickly) and then not give you a clear way of not accepting Nokia's terms.

You can press one of the short-cut buttons (e.g. home) to get a prompt asking if you'd like to make an emergency call. This is a way to get to the active standby screen and start using your phone normally. However, the next time you start your phone you again get the dialog, this time with an option to skip registration. However, the dialog to skip the registration *also* requires you to agree to the terms.

What sealed Nokia's fate? YAA from The Reg.
[21:05:19] matt [wronka.org]/Psi.dementia http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/02/16/nokia_had_choices_but_couldnt_take_them/

Symbian smartphones became increasingly complex and buggy. They brimmed over with features, but users had to pay a premium to add a data plan to use them fully. The features were hard to find, too. So smartphones remained a niche for technology enthusiasts. (Symbian was turning a tidy profit by 2006).

Then Apple entered the market with a device that was a merely-OK phone, but offered something radically new: a new user interface that made much of the functionality manufacturers like Nokia had built into their devices quite usable. And Apple had a bundled data plan, so trying it all out was risk-free.

At last, here was an integrated mobile device that didn't suck. Pure-play PDAs had disappeared, but their replacements left a nasty taste. Both reading and writing about these were no fun.