Fixing old posts

Ever since I migrated my blog to something self-hosted, way back when, I’ve hopped across a few hosts and domain registrars. In the middle of all that, at some point, I lost some content. I though it was at the old https://anphase.wordpress.com site where I tried to mirror all the posts but unfortunately most of those where only links back to this blog!

BUT! Thanks to the awesome folks at the internet archive I can restore a lot of the old content. I’ll be doing that over the next little while and replacing the placeholders with the proper articles.

Archive.org snapshot
A colourful past!

On that, note, where are my robots at? Oh wait, looks like I asked that question 8 years too soon, they’re on their way now.

Funny it never occurred to me that I could recreate/replace my posts using the internet archive until at all until today.

Support for Samsung i8910 Omnia HD to continue till end of 2010

Upadate: Update: I’ve moved to a new website

From what I’ve observed with the Samsung i8510 Innov8, it is apparent that Samsung will continue to produce updates for the i8910 up to at least the end of 2010. That’s really promising considering that many people thought the i8910 had reached the end of its life cycle and it had been left out in the cold.

Samsung i8910
Samsung i8910: It's not over yet!

So, the question is, what are they going to be doing in this time? Fixing bugs only? From my meeting, it appears as if the features are generally permanent and they may consider implementing only a few of the proposed suggestions from the report. Adding kinetic scrolling was quite a leap, it was never described as a feature on the phone but they decided to add it to enhance the devices functionality. What else is in store for the next couple of months?

Samsung has failed to deliver

Before we go into the updates, it is now apparent that Samsung has failed to deliver the official update on time. They said in their press release that:

“The firmware update will be available from January 2010 in the UK and gradually rolled out to other European markets, Southeast Asia, the Middle East Asia, Africa and rest of the world.”

According to information that I got from i8910 owners around the world, the update has not been released anywhere. Continue reading Support for Samsung i8910 Omnia HD to continue till end of 2010

What to expect in the upcoming update and a bit more(video)

Update: I’ve moved to a new website

I’ve prepared a video to give you a preview of the upcoming update. The firmware is not final, it still has a few issues to be ironed out but it does give you an idea of what’s to be expected. I’ve also included a few apps from Samsung Mobile Innovator and Imagination Technologies PowerVR SDK. All these are freely available for download. So far, these demos are as close as we can get to the full power of the i8910, and that’s a lot of power. I’ve also added an extra video with a preview of Symbian^4 running on the i8910 courtesy of AAS from The Symbian Exchange and Exposition SEE 2009.

Short demo of upcoming update and a bit more

Links

(Updated) You can download qt demos from qt demo website. To get Qt to run on the i8910 you need to install the following files:

Qt_selfsigned

Qt_installer

Fluidlauncher

After that you’ll have a suit with several Qt demos. You can then install the Weather, Budget apps etc that are on the Qt website above.

Qt Apps
A bunch of Qt apps on the i8910

SMI Demo pack from Samsung Moblie Innovator (You need to have a free account with Samsung Mobile Innovator to download)

(Updated)Opera moblie browser from Opera Mobile. Watch a video comparison of Opera Mobile vs. Skyfire (with links)

Fring for VoIP from the Fring website

You can get more free apps from AAS(All About Symbian) over here on their top 20 list of applications for the i8910 compiled by Steven Litchfield.

Some of these apps take a while to install because they consist of several applications. You will need to accept a bunch of things many times when installing…maybe 20 prompts, I lost count 🙂

Check out some Symbian^4 action on the i8910. As this runs right on top of Symbian, since Qt is a UI framework, we may see it coming later on. The demonstration starts around 40 seconds into the video. Courtesy of AAS.

I have no links though, it was strictly a demo for SEE 2009. Continue reading What to expect in the upcoming update and a bit more(video)

Update for i8910 Omnia HD to come 2010… Resolves some issues, neglects most

So, Samsung has announced that they are releasing an update for the i8910. That’s shortly after I released the final report to them and a month after the petition started. The press release says this:

SEOUL, Korea – December 23, 2009 – Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., a leading mobile phone provider, today announced a firmware update to the Samsung I8910 HD (OMNIAHD, GT-I8910) to further improve the speed of multimedia performance and add new functionality to the device.

The I8910 HD is Samsung’s ultimate multimedia powerhouse with high definition, giving users full-touch control of their multimedia lives. The new firmware improves the user experience by delivering faster Web browsing, an improved graphics engine and enhanced full-touch screen experience:

-Webkit update: A faster user-interface when online, for swift navigation of your favourite websites
-Graphic engine: An improved graphic engine, increasing the speed to access the multimedia content
-Kinetic scrolling: The addition of a kinetic scrolling system provides a superior full-touch experience

The firmware update will be available from January 2010 in the UK and gradually rolled out to other European markets, Southeast Asia, the Middle East Asia, Africa and rest of the world.

To a greater extent, this is a good thing. This may be the start of more updates to come and most importantly it shows Samsung is listening. The disappointing thing here is that they didn’t mention anything about the camera which is one of the greatest problem areas. A substantial part of the report covers the camera very extensively and they didn’t bother to look into that. On the other hand, maybe they didn’t feel inclined to mention every detail of what they cover in the upcoming update.

Another big point that was left out is support for the device. Support in the sense of people developing apps tailored for the i8910 and its capabilities. This issue is pretty much out of Samsungs hands. It’s up to developers and companies in the industry to get on board. The only way they can get on board is if there’s a real incentive. With support for Symbian dwindling coupled with the problems the i8910 has, there is no incentive. The i8910 just isn’t exciting or popular enough. At the end of the day, it comes full circle right back to Samsung. From media response though, people are still interested in the i8910 so there’s hope for something better. Follow the links for the official release from Samsung and the articles from the press.

Samsung Official Press Release

GSM Arena Article

Engadget Article

Samsung Omnia HD Blog Article

Samsung Omnia HD Users Article

Why the iPhone changed the game

Now the iPhone has been around for a while and it is apparent that it’s changed the game. It’s changed what people expect from a mobile phone. The key behind its success being that it’s more than just a mobile phone; it’s a mobile platform, a platform that has evolved over time.

Figure 1 iPhone 3GS The latest iteration of the iPhone platform.

Looking at the iPhone’s hardware specs, there’s really nothing that we haven’t seen on other devices. It has the usual features that are found in other smart-phones, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, large display, plenty of memory, a plethora of sensors and more recently GPS, 3G, compass and many other goodies. So what sets the iPhone apart? Others may argue that it is the App Store that sets the iPhone apart but it is not. The App Store is merely peripheral; it is the result of that which sets the iPhone apart. Continue reading Why the iPhone changed the game

Version 3 of the report on the Samsung i8910 is ready, a great conclusion…

Report on the i8910 v3 Yes the report is up, better than ever before! It took hours so feel free to dive in and enjoy!!! 7421 words, 38 images and countless hours of work! Coinciding with 2000 signatures signed! Here’s a screen cap of a few pages:

Screen cap of report in progress
A screen cap of my report in the works

A few corrections have been made, some people picked up a few typos and stuff. This is the last report. The journey ends here.. I’ve worked really hard to deliver on this report but now I have to move on to other things. Three weeks in the making and countless hours of work. I really hope this pays off, I put my heart and soul into it. At the end of the day, the situation is out of my hands, its up to Samsung. I will continue to update on the progress the report has made but unless something really big happens, this report is final. Thanks to everyone for the support, it has been a great journey and learning experience for me.

So here’s the press coverage so far for the petition and report:

  1. Engadget Mobile: Wronged i8910 buyer prepares doctral-quality thesis on issues
  2. Samsung Omnia HD Blog: Samsung i8910 owner preps 25-page quality control report
  3. GSM Arena: Report on the i8910 Omnia HD points out its flaws
  4. All About Symbian: Samsung i8910 HD: Miscellaneous Musings
  5. 8910.cz: 20 years after a general strike against Samsung
  6. Omnia HD Users: Petition for Samsung to improve i8910 Omnia HD Firmware

Yup, the petition and reports are all over the place too, like Twitter, Digg, Facebook etc and the stories from the above have been recycled by several blogs. So for now, that’s what I’ve done with the first 3 weeks of my summer amongst other things.. Gotta keep it moving!

Hiccup: White Screen Of Death on the i8910

In an unfortunate twist of events, my i8910 is dead! Yup, it showed the white screen of death (wsod). I’ve Googled it, searched several forums and stuff but I’ve found nothing – nothing that even closely resembles it. I’m assuming I bought a faulty device but it has worked flawlessly for the past 2 months or so; so sad after my petition and reportL. But never the less I will continue my efforts and return the phone for repairs or whatever tomorrow.

I was in the middle of a phone conversation when the screen just went all white; a stained sort of white. As I touched the screen I could hear the sounds and feel the vibrations, meaning that everything else was and is working. I’ve tried everything, switching the phone off then on, checking for updates, syncing, hard reset, soft reset, taking out the battery, leaving in on, leaving it off and nothing stillL. Leaving it on the charger it starts to heat up like crazy and I don’t want to leave it there for too long to find out what happens. Here are some screen shots:

Really sad for me… I’ve switched back to my trusty innov8, I used it to capture these horrific images and it did a decent job really. Hopefully my i8910 will be back by Christmas, but knowing the retailer, that’s not likely…

Update1: I took it back to the retailer and I’m waiting for repairs to finish. I’m still not sure what the problem was/is I’ll have to wait for an update from them. Hopefully I’ll get it shortly after Christmas.

Update2: According to the retailer its the result of physical damage! I quote:

Change LCD as screen was damaged due to Impact.

Worse still, it’s not covered under warranty and I have to pay $150 to fix it! Ouch. That’s a quarter of the price of this phone! Double ouch.