Nokia 9500 Communicator Preview

Ewan wrote:Ewan's been up to visit Nokia and have a look at the latest version of the Nokia 9500 Commuicator. What does the new SuperSmartphone hold for it's Q4 launch? There's a lot of people waiting for this phone, hoping it can be everything it promises. Read our preview of the 9500 to find out what Ewan thinks of the replacement for the 9210.

😮 I really can't wait for this to come out! The 9210 was and still is an outstanding phone and PDA and to see this 9500 come along with adequate RAM and GPRS and tonnes of other stuff is great! My old 9210 Communicator sits on my desk, humble but reliable and the only real device man enough to replace it will be the 9500. It looks cool (size isn't everything) and it sounds like it plays cool as well.

I'm hoping that by pulling back on my spending now, and waiting for the first few bug fixes in the 9500, I'll be able to buy one! This really is all that the original Nokia Communicator (which is again my phone of choice now that I've become unshackled from the Microsoft chain). My boss has just bought a PocketPC, but this little baby, when it comes out, will hopefully show him what it's really all about 😉

Roll on 9500!

PS. One question, will it run 9210 applications? I love Ximplify MyList and would hate to lose it.

The 9500 is binary compatible with the 9210, 9210i and 9290, so all existing sopftware will run. And just for you, I'll make sure MyListPro is one of the apps I test when we get our review model in a few weeks 😉

Ewan wrote:The 9500 is binary compatible with the 9210, 9210i and 9290, so all existing sopftware will run. And just for you, I'll make sure MyListPro is one of the apps I test when we get our review model in a few weeks 😉

I have had some problems getting OPL runtime to run though. I can't really pinpoint where the problem is. It just hangs. I tried a real 9500 last week in Sweden, and then the WINS this week. Same problem.

cheers
Martin

Ewan,

Just some nitpicking. 😊 You say that the outer display has 256 colours, but the official specs suggests 65,536 colours. And from what I've heard it's not possible to install and run MIDlets from the phone side.
Also, apparently it does not have T9 predictive text input, can you confirm/deny this?

the outer 128x128 I think is the 256 colour. ertainly the internal screen is 65K. As to other software facets on MIDP, I didn;t look in depth at all that, that'll be in the review unit test.

Ewan wrote:the outer 128x128 I think is the 256 colour. ertainly the internal screen is 65K. As to other software facets on MIDP, I didn;t look in depth at all that, that'll be in the review unit test.

Hmm, it says here that both screens are capable of displaying 65K colours. It seems strange to me that they would've changed the outer screen to only display 256 colours, since it is the outer screen that is used as a viewfinder for the camera.

I really hope i can use the keyboard for touch-typing,that is the biggest reason for me to buy the new Commi.

Yeah, the lack of touch screen makes the keyboard absolutely vital! If they haven't got that 100% right then it completely cripples the whole device. I tell you, if it had a touchscreen and that hinge allowed you fold the screen the whole way around then I'd already be saving up for one. However, as a 1m93 tall neaderthal with dyspraxia, I just don't see that keyboard being useable for entering data on the fly.

I guess the interesting question here is whether this will be the first Series 40 Symbian OS implementation or whether they will be running two OSs on the device with all of the fun therein.....

Aren't Nokia also supposed to be doing an MS-based sub-laptop larger communicator? Has anyone heard anything on this?

Geoff. It's Series 40 AND Series 80 on the same device. Given the Nokia 9210 ran Symbian OS and Crystal on the clamshell, and "Nokia Operating System (a Series 20 variant) I doubt it'll cause a big problem.

And the MS sub laptop machine sounds like the Psion Netbook Pro - Psin have now left Symbian.

Geoff Jones wrote:whether they will be running two OSs on the device with all of the fun therein.....

Aren't Nokia also supposed to be doing an MS-based sub-laptop larger communicator? Has anyone heard anything on this?

I think you must be confusing this with Psion's drunken walk into MS land.

However, some Nokia dignitaries have inofficially - and probably unintentionally - created rumours that Nokia is planning to release a Symbian-based sub-laptop. These rumours have circulated for some time, but there is zero tangible evidence that something is actually materialising, apart from various scattered statements issued when the Nokia 7700 was withdrawn.

In early autumn 2003, Nokia underwent a major restructuring exercise, which put specific focus on the needs of enterprises and mobile professionals. In late 2003, I personally exchanged views with certain senior Nokia people on a very private basis when I was engaged in the netBook Pro Symbian 'movement'. My conclusion, supported by the more recent statements, is that a new "netBook"-type device based on a Series 90-type UI is clearly in the cards, but on the other hand, I wouldn't bet on it.

martinharnevie wrote:Well, yes and no. Yes, Series 40 and Series 80 are used on the 9500 at the same time. But, on the other hand, Series 40 is a legacy Nokia UI running on a very small embedded "OS". Putting Series 40 on Symbian doesn't make sense. Series 60 is already offering the same features.

Maybe it doesn't make any sense but i believe that is exactly what they did.The phone side and the PDA side on the 9500 are not separated like on previous Commi's.They both have access to all the data on the device and they both run on Symbian OS.

Perhaps it isn't really running the whole Series 40 Nokia OS, but just an application made to look like it for the phone side display and keypad?

N/A wrote:Perhaps it isn't really running the whole Series 40 Nokia OS, but just an application made to look like it for the phone side display and keypad?

One software piece I would like to know if is possible, or if someone could write it.

Remote Desktop type utility...in Win Mobile 2003 it is called Terminal Services Client. It allows you to log on to a remote server using the IP, and your user name and password.

Anyone think they can handle this? Or is it included already on the 9xxx series Nokia?

thanks

Sam

http://sourceforge.net/projects/s2putty/ is one app like that; useful with, e.g., UNIX or Linux devices, and it will also work with Windows servers (if you install SSH or at least enable Telnet), but won't give you a graphical Windows desktop remote user interface.

Microsoft is not likely to create a Terminal Services Client for any Symbian based device, but you could request one from Citrix (http://www.citrix.com/); perhaps the market of over 20 million Symbian based devices is beginning to be large enough for them to write a client?