alsiladka
Noobie Pro
Let's have a look what's in there. In the press release we emphasize development aspects. But let's start from the UI.
*blogs.s60.com/mrktngman/WindowsLiveWriter/S603rdEditionFeaturePack2_E1D7/Multitasking_thumb1.pngUsability has several improvements in applications and in general. Multitasking is essential feature of smartphone but the truth is that all S60 users don't know about it. Long press of menu key is not that intuitive way to find it. In FP2 onward multitasking works like before, but in addition to that it can be found always under options menu (right left softkey). See the new line "Active applications". This will lead to same multitasker menu as long press of menu key.
*blogs.s60.com/mrktngman/WindowsLiveWriter/S603rdEditionFeaturePack2_E1D7/ActiveIdle_thumb3.pngAnother very visible change in all the applications and menus is having labeled softkey in the middle. The softkey has different functions in different apps and situations and labeling it makes UI easier to use. Less clicks, more intuitive UI.
Active Idle has gone through renewal as well. Original Active Idle with horizontal customizable toolbar has now vertical toolbar option, which makes possible to show more application specific information on idle screen. There is RSS/Atom feed support so selected news feed can scroll on the bottom of the idle screen. Everyone is familiar with thumbnail picture feature when phone is ringing and there is picture saved to phonebook. This feature is now enhanced so that better quality pictures can be used and picture takes whole screen, it's not just thumbnail anymore. Looks cool.
Own pictures can be used much more widely to personalize UI. There is a slideshow screensaver. It allows you freely select pictures from the gallery to be used as screensaver. Also wallpaper has similar type slideshow functionality. Again any pictures from the Gallery can be used.
*blogs.s60.com/mrktngman/WindowsLiveWriter/S603rdEditionFeaturePack2_E1D7/Sendmessage_thumb2.png Messaging application doesn't have separate mechanism to write SMS and MMS anymore. You just select create a message and bearer is selected automatically. If the final message has only text, it's SMS. If there are other media components included to message, such as pictures or video, message type is MMS. Small, but important change. Messaging toolbar improves usability further.
Phonebook has been able to show contacts data from phone memory and SIM card. However there has been one big limitation. You either have phone or SIM card in the same view. In FP2 this is history. Phonebook supports combined phone+SIM view.
*blogs.s60.com/mrktngman/WindowsLiveWriter/S603rdEditionFeaturePack2_E1D7/Timedprofile_thumb2.jpg Users of S60 are very aware of profiles and personalization of those. There is nice improvement in FP2, you can set timer for profile. So you can set the phone for silent for one hour and then it goes back to general profile automatically. 24h is maximum time if timer is activated.
Browser is the most used data application in S60. Browsing is popular and people like to download media files. Currently if you download music or video file, you have to wait until file is completely downloaded and then you can open an play it. FP2 supports progressive downloading from browser which makes possible instant playback during downloading. Feeling is more like streaming type of. This will definitely increase usability and usage of media file downloading. Downloading function has also other improvements. When for example mp3 is downloaded, phone will as "Save as" option so it's easy to set it as ringing tone. After picture download you can set it as wallpaper in similar way.
As mentioned in the beginning, there are many changes in developer platform which will make life of developers easier. I will dig into non UI features in coming days. Product overview of 3rd Edition can be found from here. It includes now also FP2 features.
Source : S60.com
*blogs.s60.com/mrktngman/WindowsLiveWriter/S603rdEditionFeaturePack2_E1D7/Multitasking_thumb1.pngUsability has several improvements in applications and in general. Multitasking is essential feature of smartphone but the truth is that all S60 users don't know about it. Long press of menu key is not that intuitive way to find it. In FP2 onward multitasking works like before, but in addition to that it can be found always under options menu (right left softkey). See the new line "Active applications". This will lead to same multitasker menu as long press of menu key.
*blogs.s60.com/mrktngman/WindowsLiveWriter/S603rdEditionFeaturePack2_E1D7/ActiveIdle_thumb3.pngAnother very visible change in all the applications and menus is having labeled softkey in the middle. The softkey has different functions in different apps and situations and labeling it makes UI easier to use. Less clicks, more intuitive UI.
Active Idle has gone through renewal as well. Original Active Idle with horizontal customizable toolbar has now vertical toolbar option, which makes possible to show more application specific information on idle screen. There is RSS/Atom feed support so selected news feed can scroll on the bottom of the idle screen. Everyone is familiar with thumbnail picture feature when phone is ringing and there is picture saved to phonebook. This feature is now enhanced so that better quality pictures can be used and picture takes whole screen, it's not just thumbnail anymore. Looks cool.
Own pictures can be used much more widely to personalize UI. There is a slideshow screensaver. It allows you freely select pictures from the gallery to be used as screensaver. Also wallpaper has similar type slideshow functionality. Again any pictures from the Gallery can be used.
*blogs.s60.com/mrktngman/WindowsLiveWriter/S603rdEditionFeaturePack2_E1D7/Sendmessage_thumb2.png Messaging application doesn't have separate mechanism to write SMS and MMS anymore. You just select create a message and bearer is selected automatically. If the final message has only text, it's SMS. If there are other media components included to message, such as pictures or video, message type is MMS. Small, but important change. Messaging toolbar improves usability further.
Phonebook has been able to show contacts data from phone memory and SIM card. However there has been one big limitation. You either have phone or SIM card in the same view. In FP2 this is history. Phonebook supports combined phone+SIM view.
*blogs.s60.com/mrktngman/WindowsLiveWriter/S603rdEditionFeaturePack2_E1D7/Timedprofile_thumb2.jpg Users of S60 are very aware of profiles and personalization of those. There is nice improvement in FP2, you can set timer for profile. So you can set the phone for silent for one hour and then it goes back to general profile automatically. 24h is maximum time if timer is activated.
Browser is the most used data application in S60. Browsing is popular and people like to download media files. Currently if you download music or video file, you have to wait until file is completely downloaded and then you can open an play it. FP2 supports progressive downloading from browser which makes possible instant playback during downloading. Feeling is more like streaming type of. This will definitely increase usability and usage of media file downloading. Downloading function has also other improvements. When for example mp3 is downloaded, phone will as "Save as" option so it's easy to set it as ringing tone. After picture download you can set it as wallpaper in similar way.
As mentioned in the beginning, there are many changes in developer platform which will make life of developers easier. I will dig into non UI features in coming days. Product overview of 3rd Edition can be found from here. It includes now also FP2 features.
Source : S60.com
