Archive for Flash
March 22, 2009 at 12:58 pm · Filed under Devices, Flash, Mobile, User Experience
10. It feels great in my hand(s). I especially like holding it with two hands in landscape view and texting with the (software) qwerty keyboard. I can now text just as fast and furiously as Blackberry, Trio, or Blackjack-addicted friends.
9. Big bright beautiful screen. Everything is so crisp and easy to read. With a whopping 360×640 display size you can see a lot more in one go too!
8. Light weight and compact shape. There’s a direct correlation between travel enjoyment and the weight of my bag. With the 5800 I never think twice about throwing it in my hand bag. (It fits easily in the “cell phone pocket” too!)
7. It’s got a Carl Zeiss lens and zoom controls so I can compose my pictures. (All major advantages over the iPhone) I’m glad this device has retained some of the chunky N73 body as this makes it easy to hold like an old instamatic – adding to further stability and sharpness in my photos.
6. It’s got terrific speakers and is an enjoyable music player.
5. The stylus. Although this may seem unnecessary – it’s nice to have in portrait mode when using the mini-qwerty. I much prefer qwerty text entry over multi-tap. So having multiple qwerty formats as well as a choice of input methods, is nice.
4. Price. This is an inexpensive touch screen device. You can get one for free when signing a long-term contract with some carriers.
3. Flash player 3. This is the latest version of the Adobe player which is optimized for mobile devices. This also means we can develop Flash applications for the device! Woo hoo!
2. Symbian S60 5th edition. Nokia has just published new services, developer libraries, and even code snippets that help make use of core device features. This means Flash mobile developers can now access key features like Accelerometer, BlueTooth, Location, PIM data and more!
1. Ovi.com. What’s better than having a great device? Having a great device AND supported services. More than just syncing my data with the cloud, or sharing my mobile photos, ovi.com is the new app store for Forum Nokia developers and end users. This new distribution channel is what I am most excited about as a Flash mobile developer.
In sum, the N5800 is a compact and fun touch screen device. Nokia have really thought through the hardware interactions and come up with a light weight, cost effective, and compelling product. Stay tuned, as I post sample applications and further demonstrate how to implement the new services using Flash. 
February 15, 2009 at 12:55 pm · Filed under Air, BBC, Flash, Flex
In sharp contrast to coming weeks full of high tech and future forward events like: MWC, FITC, Flex Jumpstart, iPhone development for Flash Coders, etc. I’ve just finished this wonderful documentary about the Victorian farm. The series chronicles the lives of 3 historians who live on Acton Scott Farm in Schropshire, England for an entire year. As the seasons change, the challenges and techniques of cooking, cleaning, raising livestock, and sowing crops are revealed.
As I was watching the series, I marveled at how the technical know-how and inventions of the day changed our lives. At the same time, I wonder at how far Flash, Flex, and AIR have advanced – making it possible to download individual television programs like this and watch them from my desktop. This is an extremely “freeing” experience because it allows one to time-shift and watch anytime they like. For those with a somewhat antiquated internet connection such as mine, this also replaces video streaming and the frustration of a slow connection speed.
To get the iPlayer and this fabulous series, visit BBC iPlayer Labs, sign up for the beta player, and download the iPlayer to your desktop. This iPlayer is a standalone AIR application that plays the programs you’ve downloaded from the BBC website(s). If you want to see this particular series, you better hurry though. Individual programs like this rotate on the site and are only available for download within a limited time period.
Enjoy
December 17, 2008 at 5:50 am · Filed under AS3.0, Air, Design, Devices, User Experience Design
Don’t say I didn’t warn you! The new Adobe Air Flip Game may be hazardous to your free time this holiday season. Both a puzzle and a race against time, the object is to flip tiles (or CS4 mnemonics) so as to line up 3 or more of a kind.
I’m a sucker for puzzles but what really drew me in is the more you play, the better you get. I started building skill and even broke 100,000 points (ok, so it was only once – but I’m still chasing that high).
But here’s the real clincher – there’s an online score board for the top 100. Now I can’t stop playing until I break 200,000 – as I figure that will get me on the board. Trouble is, other players keep getting better too. Yesterday the highest score was above 300,000. Today someone pushed ahead, breaking 400,000 and verifying that there are others even more addicted than I.
If pure competition and the will to win are not enough for you, there’s an added incentive of winning CS4 bundles in one of the six name draws from the score board. This appears to be a random draw – so even if not the top scorer, I still have a chance to win a new copy of CS4. Now back to AIR FLIP – look out 200,000 club – here I come!
PS: Good job Adobe AIR Team! The game is fun, the UX/UI are GREAT. Love the sounds and animations and overall speed/performance of the game. It’s very well done. Only one question: what does “Stalemate” mean? I get that somewhat frequently.
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