Clearing out my office this week I found my last Windows Mobile phone the Orange SPV E650.  It reminded me that I have always been looking for something more than just a telephone, I really wanted a smart phone and the lure of the Windows mobile device lead me away from what was the mainstay of my mobile experience, namely the Nokia 6310.

However I found the windows mobile experience disappointing, the SPV E650 was the best it ever got and in it’s day it was THE smart phone to own as this review in 2007 shows getting 10/10 and being described as:

The SPV E650 is the first device I’ve come across that can truly be described as a single solution for data and voice.

What is most surprising is that in January 2007 Apple had announced the first iPhone, which was to be released in June just a couple of months after this review of the SPV E650.  The iPhone as we all know was a game changer and I along with millions of others made the switch.

Apple Fanboy

I have to confess here that I am not an Apple fanboy,  I didn’t queue up outside of an Apple store to be the first to own one, in fact I didn’t get an iPhone until the 3G was released. I did however see the iPhone as a solution to my mobile device needs even making the switch from Orange to O2 to get one, something I regret doing due to O2′s appalling customer service even worse mobile coverage,  did I mention I couldn’t get a mobile signal at home!

The iPhone feature had got me, it was a game changer. Apple had stood by their vision and released a truly disruptive product.

I did make the switch to the iPhone 3GS but not for any specific features it was a way for me to end my contract early with O2 and get back to Orange where I could at least get a signal at home – albeit the iPhone gave significantly worse reception than my wife and friends phones based on Nokia and Sony Ericsson.

I got into the iPhone not because I buy into Apple’s Why (read Simon Sinek’s Start with Why to get some background), but because the iPhone was the only option for me, it had what I wanted, it was the rational choice.

When I upgraded to the iPhone3GS Google had started to compete with it’s Android phones, but to me the Android always seemed to be playing catch up and a bit of me too with the iPhone – so on a purely rational basis I stuck with Apple.  I was expecting a big announcement ‘the iPhone 5′ – something new, game changing, disruptive – but alas it was just more of the same the 4GS.  Then along comes the Nokia Lumia 800

It not just Mango

Microsoft released Windows Phone 7 in 2010 with the first devices launched in Europe in October.  This was no “iPhone me to!”, Microsoft had really taken a brave step forward.  But I wasn’t queuing up to be the first to own one.  I had an interest in it but more from a will Microsoft see this through and will it be able to compete. 

The Mango release of Windows Phone 7 software really got people interested in the product.  A lot of OEM partners created phones, Samsung and HTC doing a good job technically but nothing that yet made me want to leave my iPhone behind,  however when Nokia announced it’s entry into the market with the Nokia Lumia 800 I started to notice.

And a couple of days after launch I got my new phone and relegated my iPhone to just playing music in the kitchen.

I must confess I did pre-register my interest in the Nokia and was on the phone to Orange on the day of launch looking to upgrade.  Now one week in, how does it compare?

Apple v Mango

I can sum up my experience in one sentence

I don’t miss my iPhone!

Yep, as many of my twitter followers will agree I dig the new phone, perhaps a little too much for some of my Apple fanboy (girl) friends -  “@Little_George RT @AndrewWoody: Love the integration in people hub on #wp7 < muting #wp7 tweets *yawn*”

Things I like or prefer

- I didn’t need a computer to start using my phone

- No more iTunes

- Setup of the phone was simple, including all of my online services like twitter, linkedin and facebook

- Linked my Office365 mail account and it goes “oh by the way we’ve setup SharePoint for you”

- Office 365 integration especially SharePoint

- People Hub – bringing all my contacts together from everywhere

- Live tiles – I like the updates and additional information on the main screen, so much better than just saying you have 1 thing

- The Nokia phone feels very well made – comparable to the iPhone, which the Samsung and HTC phones don’t

- Voice dialling and texting just worked,  I’ve not tried Siri but the Voice control on my iPhone was rubbish

- The amount of applications on the Market Place was a surprise, most of what I want seems to be there already

- USB charging – yheh, one charger for every device

- Covers for the inputs,  I was forever getting fluff out of the iPhone connector

- Trying to be less App centric, but need to open up a little or teach the app developers how to integrate

Apps I have added

- Kindle

- Twitter App – you can tweet with the basic phone software but sadly it’s not good for a prolific twitterer.  I first added Birdsong based on recommendations but the lack of features around hash tags, picking people in tweets and integration with Read It Later lead me to MehDoh

- Premier League+  I need my football fix

- Foursquare – again the phone has a check in built in but should allow 3rd party apps to hijack this,  I use foursquare I don’t want to check in somewhere else

- BBC News

- Tube Map

- Adobe Reader

Nearly all of the app’s I have added have looked good, work well and add to the phone experience.

As a phone

A smart phone still needs to do the phone bit and the Nokia wins here for me in the most important area – it picks up a better signal than the iPhone.  This is not a scientific finding but based on real world use examples

Commute

Spending about an hour in the car travelling to/from Telford over the past year or so I often catch up with Ant.  I use a bluetooth headset and have the phone sat in the centre console cup holder.  With the iPhone I would always get a call drop out in two places on my route home.  With the Nokia these black spots are a thing of the past and the phone just keeps working.

Home

I do live in a rural location and the mobile coverage here is limited at best, O2 doesn’t work at all.  Orange, and it’s merger with T-Mobile, do provide reasonable coverage at home however with the iPhone I would find I had to position it on the window sill to get a reliable signal.  Often I would answer a call only for it to drop out and have me leaning on the window or heading to the garden to return the call.

With the Nokia I haven’t had this, the phone seems to work everywhere in the house, I’ve had no drop outs yet and seems to be connected always.

Disappointments

I was concerned the first real day of use as the battery didn’t give me a full days use eventually shutting down when I arrived at SUGUK Manchester at 6.30pm.  I haven’t had the problem since having switched on the save battery when it’s low option.  I did turn off push notifications on the iPhone for similar reasons.  I also (like the iPhone) top up power when the opportunity presents.

I tried the supplied protective case, but that’s gone now.  I never had a case for the iPhones and won’t for the Nokia – it has to deal with it.  I am also taking time to get used to the keyboard layout, after 3.5 years of iPhones my thumbs have a certain amount of muscle memory, the most annoying is the delete/return keys.

Please let developers extend the phone software and integrate their apps.  When I checkin from the Me screen I want it to check in to foursquare, when I reply I want to a tweet I want to use the advanced features of my chosen twitter app – don’t allow the phone to become app centric like the iPhone.

In summary

“Changing with the times, disrupting the status quo – it’s what we’ve always done. And we fully intend to keep doing it.”

Sounds like Apples Why?  In fact this is Nokia’s Why and is what I hope they continue to do.  Nokia became the status quo for phones, perhaps losing sight of the core values.  Apple came along and disrupted things with the iPhone – Nokia are back making great phones.

I know a lot of people are very loyal to Apple, the products feel right and they won’t want to switch, but there are many people who have a good feeling about Nokia, they associated with Nokia’s why and their phones just worked, and they will make the switch.  The coming years will be interesting with the loss of a its leader at Apple and Googles push with Android.

For now though I’m a very happy Nokia and Windows Phone user.

‘this message has not been downloaded from the server’

Having tried numerous things to fix it, different connectivity like WiFi and 3G I could not get the email content to download.   I even deleted the account and re-added it, all the messages got loaded but again all I could see was the summary view.  Eventually after searching various forums I saw a recurring suggestion that turned out to be the solution.  If the Date and Time on the phone is wrong then you get this problems with email.  Most threads talked about POP3, however it was enough to get me to check – and sure enough the date on the phone had reset to the year 2000.

Correcting the date and time however did not immediately solve the problem,  I no longer had the ‘this message has not been downloaded from the server’ message the contents of the email was just blank. 

I had to delete and re-add the account after setting the time.

Not SharePoint related I know but something that I thought worth blogging as its one of those annoying issues that the solutions seems to be totally unrelated.

Also not had any problems yet with the Skype Beta which you can get here.  I’m not sure what to make of the new Skype UI, time will tell.

Running Windows 7 64bit  (Build 7000)
VMWare 6.5.0 build-118166
Guest Windows 2008  32bit (not R2)

Problem 1 – Networking

Using a wireless connection generally forces you to use the NAT service as  bridged connections don’t work.  Under Windows 7 the NAT service crashes almost as soon as the guest OS try’s to hit the network.  If you have a wired connection bridged networks seem to work ok.

Problem 2 – Reinstallation

This is the biggest problem.   I had messed with the networks settings so much and following another tweeters suggestion (and it worked for them @spietrek) I uninstalled VMWare.

VMWare workstation 6.5 installation launcher failed!

Reboot, clean out registry nothing would make the installation work again!

The only way to get it back was a System Restore and then a Repair from Add/Remove programs.    However this is going to be a big issue for VMWare as the only way to upgrade your system is to Uninstall/Reinstall – so VMWare / Microsoft are going to have to resolved this or you will be stuck with the version you installed!  Other people have reported similar problems

Solution?

I don’t have one,  what I would like to see if Microsoft sort out the Client Virtualisation story for Windows 7 – I need 64bit guests (observant will see I used 32bit above) s0 please bring Hyper-V to Windows 7

And VMWare please consider Windows 7 as something that needs support now,  not in 6 months time.

For those that question the value, say you get the info online afterwards anyway and it’s just big jolly,  how wrong could you be.   The social aspects of the conference is so much more of a value add than I could ever have anticpated.  Over the past 18 months my network of friends and associates has expanded beyond anything I could have anticpated,  I can now say I could meet up for a #SharePint (SharePoint by Day, SharePint by Night) in any continent and have someone I could meet!     If you’re going to your first conference (congrats) you need to get involved in the evenings activities,  have a beer and just hang out with like minded people.   If your into SharePoint and going to PDC you have to be at SharePoint by Day SharePint by Night PDC2008 Edition.

Expect some random posts of whats happening during the week,  if the preconference leaks are anything to go by there will be some big big announcements.   Hey we even have a new .Net Logo (from Scott Hanselman)

We have been working hard over the past few weeks to bring our site up to date. It started life as a simple Blogger site and has seen a few minor tweaks and changes over the past 18 months but we had found our needs have moved beyond what a pure blog can offer.

I had the pleasure of working with Sam Dolan (www.pinkpetrol.com) on a recent project and he persuaded me to sort out the web site! Sam is a web designer who has worked with a number of technologies included SharePoint (yes he knows how to skin a SharePoint site) and as you can see from this site he also does a fantastic job of creating a WordPress theme. As I’m often heard to say ‘working software over comprehensive documentation’ – take a look at his site for examples of his work.

I hope to bring you the same posts, if not better and some great content on doing Agile SharePoint Development.

If Yes then you need the latest version of SnagIt by TechSmith.   In it’s version 9 release SnagIt has moved from being just a good screen capture applet to being a fantastic, indispensable application that every good developer, author, tester etc etc should have installed.

It’s only when you start to use the new features without noticing you realise what a great piece of software you are using.   Having installed the V9 release a few weeks ago  I initially liked the OneClick pop-up that made switching capture modes a breeze,  but what I have found most useful is how SnagIt now keeps all my captures for me – no more having to save/or losing that key image. 

The Library view showing this weeks captures.  Whats really cool is any annotations are all stored and can be edited.  No more saving as a PNG and then having to fudge the text using Paint.

Tags

I only found this today, the ability to Tag captures using simple icons and allowing you to get find them quickly.

Whilst we’re on the subject of tools

Writing this blog post it suddenly dawned on me how many tools (all by different creators) I was using to bring this post to you.

SnagIt 

To capture the screen shots.   I have tweaked this slightly and  added another Program to the SnagIt Send to that allows me to send captures directly to Flickr Uploadr.

Flickr Uploadr

Making uploading images to Flickr just that little bit easier.   Why upload to Flickr you may ask,  well I user Windows Live Writer to author my blog posts

Windows Live Writer

This is one of the best bits of software anyone could install if they are serious about blogging.   The ability to link to multiple blogs, be able to recall existing blog posts for editing and correcting (yes it does happen). 

Here you can see me authoring this very blog post. 

But wait wasn’t I telling you why I used Flickr?   Yes,  and if you look closely at the right hand menu you will see some nice Insert options, one of which is Insert Flickr Image.

Flickr for Writer

This neat plug in allows you to insert Flickr images directly from Flickr,  normally this is defaulted to my account but you can also insert others.

There are many more tools that I use day to day,  some more aimed at development some at just getting things done.   Hopefully this Top Tool Tips post will help you become a better blogger

Quote:

Partitioning Your Silverlight Application for Deployment
This lab will demonstrate a technique within Silverlight 2 to enable you to partition your application into different deployment packages. This will enable your application to only use what it needs, when it needs it and provide an experience to the user and improve overall download times for your application. This lab walks through a simple example of separating details view information from the main portion of the Silverlight application.

http://download.microsoft.com/download/7/0/c/70cb966a-1b68-4123-9b48-b0eaa1086104/SL2B2-HOL-AppPartitioning.pdf

This all works really well until you add in some Service References to WCF end points.  You will end up with an error like

Fish Eye for the Blend Guy

Using this as a basis we have been working on migration to Silverlight,  and finally got the time to get this working.

The code is still a bit rough so I can’t publish it,  but it does demonstrate that it can be done.   The main changes we needed to make were due to the lack of a Mouse position meaning we needed to pass this into the methods from our MouseOver event.   We also needed to create StoryBoards on the fly for the animation,  I have some concerns here about memory usage as we’re currently not cleaning everything up – more work needed

Screen shot below,  actual examples to follow soon.

Click the image to see an animated version (400KB).

https://www.microsoft.com/learning/tools/lcds/default.mspx

This is great news as one of the real pain points of the SLK/MLG platform, since the move from Class Server, has been the lack of any decent content editors that can deliver content that conforms to the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) 1.2, which can be hosted in SharePoint document libraries and used by the SharePoint Learning Kit. 

During the installation you will note that this is the Community Edition, I don’t have any information on if there is a plan to release any commercial at this time.

LCDS Author

LCDS works with Courses, modules, lessons and topics with each course being a separate project.  Clicking on New prompts you to enter details for the Course.

Note:  If you are running on Vista you need to Run ad Administrator or you will get a script error after clicking OK.

My First Course

Your course will be created with a module, lesson and four topics providing you with a basic structure, you can add new items and reorder the exiting ones using the Course Structure toolbar.

Selecting the Introduction topic allows you to select the template associated with this topic, we will choose the Read and Introduction.

Each template has a predefined Page designer with areas to enter relevant information.  I plan to cover some of the other Template types in future posts.

We will enter some basic information for My First Course.

Adding a picture seems a little awkward as I click on the browse button and look at my Pictures directory for the picture to upload, on clicking OK I get an error saying ‘You must select a file from the ‘media’ folder. It would be nice if the program would copy this in for me – i’ll do this by clicking Media Folder in the top tool bar and manually copying the file, this raises another design issue – why are my courses not stored in My Documents?  In Vista I need administrator rights to copy files to the Program Files directory…

Adding the picture (don’t worry about it looking squashed it will be ok) a heading, some introductory text and objectives.

At this point I recommend you preview the course using the button on the top toolbar.

(If you get a warning about ActiveX controls right click and allow).

Already things look pretty good   

However, more work needed

What I did find whilst working with the templates like the Sort Game was difficulty in previewing the contents.  The tools look very user friendly but I found in my Vista environment that I could not test all of them.

So Microsoft have made significant progress to providing us with a SCORM editor,  although if you are using Vista you may experience some of the difficulties I have noted above.

I recommend you download the tools and have a play for yourself, the UI is very well laid out and appear easy to use.  I just need to resolve some of the preview issues before i can really test it out fully.

I am very interested in your experiences and would welcome posts to this thread on SUGUK web site so that we can share this knowledge and experiences, if you blog about it please add a link so it’s easy for others to find you post.