Posted by Jayesh Salvi
August 25th, 2008
Yesterday I decided to upgrade my n810’s OS. In June Nokia released the 4.1 version (codenamed ‘Diablo’) of the tablet OS and it has been on my todo list since then. My curiosity was mainly because of the GPS related improvements that I heard were part of Diablo. Unfortunately those changes still don’t work for […]
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Posted by Jayesh Salvi
August 18th, 2008
After looking at the GUI improvements in recent OpenMoko distros, I decided to dedicate this post to a review of GUI components in the Mobile software stack.
There are three important layers in this part of the stack - Windowing system, Window Manager, Desktop Environment (toolkit libraries).
On most open mobile platforms X is the default Windowing […]
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Posted by Jayesh Salvi
August 11th, 2008
I had not tried a lot of things with OpenMoko Freerunner, after I bought it a month ago. I had only tested the factory installed apps and had tried only a few basic things. Today I decided to try three major distributions currently being developed for OpenMoko phone. In the process I collected screenshots of […]
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Posted by Jayesh Salvi
August 4th, 2008
The vision for any new idea is only limited by your imagination; but its implementation is bounded by the size and quality of your toolbox. The wider set of tools you have, more fitting ones you will find for your new project. The deeper you know these tools, quicker you will be able to implement […]
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Posted by Jayesh Salvi
July 28th, 2008
It was back in mid-2005 that Google quietly bought a Palo Alto based startup founded by Andy Rubin. Very little was known about its workings then, except for some connection with mobile software development.
In Nov’07 among the speculations of so-called gPhone, Google announced a mobile platform named Android and the Open Handset Alliance. The media […]
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Posted by Jayesh Salvi
July 21st, 2008
I love 3D eye-candy on my desktop. I am a long time user of XGL/Beryl/Compiz. 3D is the future of UI.
Needless to say the next generation handheld UIs will also have the three dimensions. Mobile phones with 3D hardware have been around for some time now - Nokia N95, iPhone. It looks like we will […]
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Posted by Jayesh Salvi
July 14th, 2008
The advantages of open source are evident when it is applied to the operating system and various libraries running on the mobile devices. Embracing open source for these lower layers of the mobile stack is in the best interest of big established players (e.g. handset developers). However the choice of open sourcing your software becomes […]
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Posted by Jayesh Salvi
July 7th, 2008
As mobile phones are becoming a gateway to internet, the importance of mobile browsers needs to be underlined.
This week, let’s check out two leading open source candidates in this race - Mozilla and Webkit.
Desktop success of Mozilla is now world wide with Firefox 3. Mozilla is also making headway in the mobile market in past […]
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Posted by Jayesh Salvi
June 30th, 2008
Past week was full of breaking news.
Unless you were on the far side of the moon, you must have noticed Nokia’s announcement to acquire Symbian and open it. Media is full of stories covering various details - Nokia’s buying of Symbian shares from other partners, Creation of Symbian Foundation and open sourcing the platform under […]
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Posted by Jayesh Salvi
June 22nd, 2008
It was in May of 2005 that Nokia announced their plans for a “pocket-sized web browser” called Nokia 770. In November they started shipping it. No! I didn’t immediately jump on it. It wasn’t until Summer of 2007, when my friend sent me a deal for cheap Nokia 770, that I came to know about […]
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