Finally, the sales figures for smartphones from Netcom is here and the iPhone has reclaimed the throne.

Here’s the top ten most sold smartphones through NetCom for April 2012

New phones on the list this month is HTC One X, The Sony Xperia S, new brand for me is Huawei Honor and the Xperia Active is back in 10th. Nokia and the Lumia 800 still “defends” a top 5 going from 4 to 5.

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A little over a month ago i decided the only way to get people to listen to me when I try to explain how you should manage small and medium-sized software projects is not by the weight of my experience, but that I actually need to become a project manager :) It is not enough to just have the experience so I decided to get certified as one. Small writing about that here in a post called Fight fire with fire – Becoming a Project Manager.

Phase one is now complete! I’ve completed my PRINCE2 Foundation certification exam and have the required skills/knowledge about the PRINCE2 framework to continue on my path to become an ITPP (IT Project Professional) certified project manager. Next exam is in just about a month or so, so there are lots more to read and learn.

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Well.. I feel stupid :) – I’ve been complaining to one of my developers that there’s a bug in the code for capturing image from the camera in our new Windows Phone app. He’s been searching for where the error was and  could not find any errors… Well… the fault was mine (or ours, ut not code wise)…. Sorry for doubting your code Nabish :)

Image borrowed Jeff Prosie's blog (http://www.wintellect.com/CS/blogs/jprosise/default.aspx)

Usually you connect your Windows Phone to the computer, the Zune software stars and you got connection. Then you run your app with the debugger. Everything works fine…. For some reason that doesn’t work when you want to debug the camera or photo chooser of  Windows Phone. To debug that you need to create USB connection outside of the Zune software through a command line tool called WPConnect.exe.

What was weird/stupid was that I didn’t get any feedback in Visual Studio that i couldn’t debug these features. – What I experienced was that when i called upon the camera or photo chooser, the app would just light up for a second. Code wise what happened was that when you are not using WPConnect the CameraCaptureTask.Completed event get’s fired immediately and returns TaskResult.Cancel as if  you manually canceled the workflow.  Unless you automagically know this its time for google :)

A guide was published on MSDN on March 22. 2012 (a bit late??) but anyhow here is how you do it:

Prerequisites:

• You must have the SDK installed (but you of course already have that since you are looking to debug an app).
• You also must have the Zune software installed, but not running.
• The device you are testing on must be a registered developer device.

Here’s how:

1. Connect your phone to the computer.
2. Verify that Zune has recognized your phone.
3. Quit Zune
4. Open a command prompt and change directory to either “Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows Phone\v7.1\Tools\WPConnect” or “Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows Phone\v7.1\Tools\WPConnect”
5. Choose either the x86 or x64 folder.
6. type WPConnect.exe and hit enter.
7. Your phone will now connect and you’ll get a confirmation in the command windows.
8. Run and debug your project from Visual Studio on your Connected Device

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A while ago I was asked if I wanted to try out, and write a review of the iPad application “Fun Clock. Learn to tell time in Norwegian“. In short, Fun Clock is a training game designed for children from the age of 4 to 10. The goal is to teach children to understand the clock and read the time. Luckily enough i have in my immediate family testers in the target audience, and put Hedda (5) and Sebastian (10) in charge of testing the game. If you want to read my norwegian review you can read that on mobilteknologi.no

First, a short promo video of the game:

From a technical point of view I think the user interface looks nice and works well. The Norwegian voice-over also works well and I think it sounds a bit like it’s Alex Rosén that has the lead voice over role (do not know if that ‘s correct or not). The only odd choice from the publisher in my opinion is that you MUST keep your iPad’en “up side down” for some reason. The game does not rotate as it should when you rotate the iPad.

The game also only use sound/voice as a means of communicating tasks in the game so you are totally dependent on sound. Bring headphones :)

The game itself is divided into 5 “levels” and in each level you can achieve from 1 to 3 stars according to how well you manage the different tasks in each level, this encourage the player to try again to get a better score, in a way that we are familiar with from games like Angry Birds. There is also some tutorial movie clips that will teach you more about the clock and time. There are 3 movies. One for hours, one for minutes and one for learning digital clocks. These movie clips are there to teach basic concepts of time.

Hedda (5) was impatient and wanted to play right away, so to get her to sit and watch the movie clip was a challenge.

Another important prerequisite for using this game is that you can count quite well, and I think it might be too much for some 4 or 5 year olds. For the youngest ones it might be a good idea to try together with an elder sibling or parent. You  as a parent  can play along with your kids and teach them the basics of time at the same time.

The first level task is to place the numbers and pointers on the dial correctly. A task that is quite easy, but require that you know the numbers from 1-12. Hedda ended up with 2 stars on her first try.

The second level is to set the time in whole and half hours. The first 4 tasks using a red and a purple ball. The dial shows “holes” for where to place the balls.These tasks Hedda did with no problem. The red ball is placed where the hour hand should be, and the purple ball is placed where the minute hand should point. Next up there is four tasks where you pick one of three clocks. Choose the correct watch based on what time you are told, here it soon became much more difficult for Hedda because she must be able understand the clock to do it. The movie clip does explain it, but it was hard to get the 5-year-old girl to both watch and learn :) The last four tasks on the level was there Hedda almost gave up because  according to a time you are told you must move both the long and short hand to the given time on the dial, we ended up with 0 stars in this task, so we took a second look at movie clips, but it was still difficult because the counting knowledge is still not at 100%

The third  level, you set the time quarter to and  quarter past and on the fourth level you set the time in 5 minutes intervals. The fifth is where you learn minutes and where you need to be able to count to 60. The levels follow the same template for tasks as for level 2,  but when you get to five minutes, and 1-minute you get more choices, which makes it even more difficult.

When you have completed all levels you are awarded a diploma. The diploma can be stored as an image and/or shared on Facebook. Curious since according to the user guidelines of Facebook none in the target audience for the game is allowed to own a Facebook profile…

Another nice feature is that the game have an option to reset if you wish. Either once or every time you start the game.

All in all I think it’s a good, educational game, but think that the ideal age for most will be around 6-8 years old. I also let my 10-year-old son Sebastian test the game, but both he and I soon discovered that he was too old for this. Hedda is still playing and think its great fun. Sometimes I help her a bit and she learns a bit more about the time every time she plays. She still doesn’t to watch movie clips :)

Mingoville’s game is available in the Apple AppStore for English , Danish , Swedish ,Norwegian , French and italian . There is also the English and Danish app for Android web board / phones in Google Play. More languages ​​are on the way so you can visit the game page for updates. The game also works on iPhone and Android smartphones, but I’ve only tested the iPad edition.

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Here’s a cool concept… What if you didn’t need a laptop or desktop computer?  What if the only think you needed was your smartphone. Christian Cantrell has posted a two-part video on YouTube that demonstrates how you can do it.

Part one here shows an experiment using a Galaxy Nexus as a desktop computer.

Part two, this video provides much more detail on the experience of using an Android device as a desktop replacement. going over all the necessary cables and hardware, show various navigation techniques, does some gaming, and shows how to get the desktop version of sites rather than the mobile version. Demo copy and paste, instant messaging, and cover the movie-watching experience.

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Here’s the top ten most sold smartphones through NetCom for March 2012

We have a new winner! Samsung Galaxy S II and Android OS is now (through NetCom) the king of phones in Norway :) It is also interesting to see that the Galaxy Note is ranked at number 8. It is also cool to see that Nokia Lumia 800 and Windows Phone keeps its place as the fourth most sold phone in Norway. It is also clear that there is only three mobile device OS flavors!

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The iOS device UDID identifier is a 40 digit and letter identifier that uniquely identifies your Apple iOS device. This is an identifier you’ll need if you plan to develop software, or take part in testing of software with your iPhone, iPod or iPad. If you think that long KID account numbers are hard, this will be even harder to type… Luckily you can copy it to your computer clipboard with some finger gymnastics

Here’s how:

1. Plug your iOS device into your computer and launch iTunes.
2. Select your device and go to the summary tab.
3. Next to the image of your device you see its name, capacity, Software version and serial number.
4. click on the serial number number and you cycle through the identifiers stored on the device. The items should be Serial number, Identifier (UDID), Celluar data number, IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) and ICCID (Integrated Circuit Card Identifier)
5. Cycle the numbers until you have the Identifier (UDID).
6. Click the left mouse button on the UDID string.
7. While holding the left mouse button down,  press cmd-C/ctrl-C on your keyboard.

You now have the identifier string in your clipboard and it can be pasted anywhere you need it.

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The accessories eco-system for iOS devices is huge.  That is one of the few things i miss about not having an iPhone. Need to play music somewhere, someone always has a dock to connect your phone. With Android and Windows Phone there is no accessories specifically targeted the device/OS – At best you get a mini-jack plug you can use on a portable speaker. I envy iOS device owners a bit there.

But not any more :)

The ultimate accessory for Windows Phone is finally here! Project Detroit

The Project Detroit

Remote controlling cars has been around for a while but never this stylish before!

Ford Mustang West Coast Custom(ized)

Some features:

• Windows Phone Integration: Although the Mustang’s design makes the car easy to spot, you can keep tabs on the car’s location even when it is out of sight. Locate, unlock, and start the car all from the Viper SmartStart app for Windows Phone.
• Built-in WIFI: To help ensure the Mustang is always online and connected to the cloud, the vehicle has a built-in 4G wireless network that supports multiple devices.
• Digital Instrument Cluster: Swipe the touch-screen instrument cluster and toggle between different dashboard skins including a 1967 Mustang, a 2012 Mustang and a Windows 8 Metro design style version.
• Customizable Rear Windshield: While driving, the rear windshield can serve as a customizable display system that can play video, show images and display custom messages, like “Stop tailgating me please” or something more, umm, colorful.
• Kinect Integration: Front and rear Kinect cameras provide a live video feed of surrounding pedestrians and objects. You can even watch and listen to the live audio and video stream from the Kinects remotely using a Windows Phone and send a message (see below) to the external audio system like “Hey skateboarders: stay away from my car.”
• Heads Up Display: Similar to what’s found in fighter jets, the windshield contains a driver side and passenger side heads-up display (HUD) highlighting telemetry and Bing Maps information directly on the windshield. View nearby restaurants, shopping centers and gas stations all without taking an eye off the road.  A passenger can play Xbox on his/her side of the windshield without distracting the driver.

These are just some of the specs, but it is a whole lot of awesomeness!  Check out the rest over at Channel 9.

Me? I’m starting a savings account for this car!

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As a test to see if I can fill this site with even more content about what is happening around mobile technology I invite everyone that has anything to say, to submit their own articles.

If you’ve tested some software for Android, Windows Phone or IOS you’d like to recommend and/tell the world about, development how-tos or just comments on what is happening in the mobile industry.

You can write your article here.

You won’t be doing this for the fortune, more for the fame :)

By submitting your article you agree that you give Agile Mobility a non-exclusive right to publish your article on http://agilemobility.net and/or as part of smarphone and/or tablet apps that AgileMobility publishes or is published through a partner.

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(File)Size does matter!

More and more people rely on tablets for work and productivity. The new iPad doesn’t just bring new predicaments for the app developers, it also introduce a new conundrums for the professional users too.

Bright shining images

Here at Appaloosa AS we create apps and magazines for both smartphones and tablets. We use our devices in customer meetings hooked up to a projector to show presentations using Keynote or for inspirational use show how things can be done and has been done  by others. As a result my 64GB iPad is now more or less filled with Keynote presentations, Pages documents and Numbers spreadsheets, Mind map meeting notes, iMockup app and web sketches not to forget the other ton of apps and magazines I’ve got installed. It’s also filled with research papers and reports stored in iBooks and/or GoodReader, stuff I like to take with me to read anywhere I go or when i need to look up something.

Up until now everything has been fine and 64GB has been enough space to allow me also to have a small collection of music and space enough to purchase or rent a movie through iTunes for when I’m off traveling. For me it is a real problem that apps like Keynote, Pages and Numbers grow 120%  - 180% in file size, or like iMovie that grows 500%. Even a “small” app like Tweetbot gew from 9MB to 25Mb. If each and every of my 150 installed apps grow between 100% and 300% in size I’ll have to start to prioritize apps and uninstall apps that I need to have on it. The rule of thumb is that the more customized the user interface is of an app, the larger it will grow in proportion to it’s original, pre new iPad size.

What does the new iPad bring? Bling! That’s it – It’s got a faster CPU, and a GB of internal memory. This extra CPU and memory is there to make the new iPad render this “blingy”, shiny new graphics a bit faster than the graphics rendered on the old iPad (iPad 2 that is). In my opinion the old iPad was fast enough, I’d rather have an iPad with more storage space than one with shinier graphics because I won’t be able to see this new cool graphics once my iPad is connected to a projector or presentation screen in a meeting room. Another problematic issue will be to see how good my old keynote presentations will be looking when I just show it off the iPad screen with its low-rez graphics snipped from the web?

I haven’t seen/touched the new iPad yet but sadly I have to buy one as soon as I can to verify how our old magazines and work look on it – Will our magazines, created for the old iPad be as beautiful as when we did them? Will the new iPad expose us and our design flaws with pixellated graphics?

In the future, when everything is stored by default on (i)Cloud and networking is guaranteed 24/7/365 anywhere then we might not need more than 64GB.

Because most external screens that you will be using won’t be able to take advantage of the extra resolution and depth that the retina gives I’d  go for, and recommend the professional user to go for the old iPad.

Since I wrote about the “possible problem” of running out of disk space a week ago I’ve read a lot of follow-up articles that pin point the same problem and i still wonder what Jobs’ view would have been. Go for the bling?

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For many years now, since I discovered lean and agile software management I’ve tried to convince everyone around me, from developers to project- and general managers that lean and agile methods are the best way to go to create software solutions and the first time I really got “in position” to make a change was when I was working with ErgoGroup (now Evry).  I could try it and put it into a larger scale. But no matter how hard I tried it was difficult to  get people to listen. The biggest problem was probably the lack of knowledge on how to become lean and do agile. With a huge (norwegian scale) company with 4000+ employees, it’s hard to change when your business model and culture has proven itself economical by underselling vague projects, taking it all back in a hugely profitable hourly priced change management. All in a jolly “waterfally” way.

Lean onion

One of the most funny/sad stories i have from Ergo was once when i was riding the elevator and stepped into it finding two seniors from the Oracle department discussing agile methods. As I stepped out of the elevator and the one said to the other “… you can say what you want, but SCRUM won’t  work on large-scale Oracle development projects…”, I commented on this a little over two years ago.  Was a bit sad when I left work for home that day.

ErgoGroup proved to be a too big of a page to turn for me so I had to go, and went for a smaller company in the advertising business with smaller projects. I wasn’t hired as an PM, but acted as one in several projects and was shocked when i discovered that there was no management, just project. The PM acted more as an art director or creative lead, that has the last/first saying about the creative outcome of the project, than someone who should manage the project. It was a good lesson in chaos. Project management is not a creative profession. Don’t try to make it so either, it end’s not well.  I am not saying you can’t be both, but you need to choose a primary role.

So, “fight fire with fire – becoming a project manager” feels like the only logical step forward when I review my hands on experience and I see how large (and small) companies manage their projects. I was a developer and solution architect for 10 years, then i was an enterprise architect, team leader and technical project manager. Now I’ll become a ITPP (IT Project Professional) & PRINCE2 certified project manager and plan to show (head on the block ready for chopping) “the world” how it’s done :)

Over the last 17 years I’ve met a lot of project managers and in some small way I hope that I make it in a way that is “noisy” enough for them to remember what I was talking about :) (Just my megalomania talking here.. ;) )

On the other side… One of the really good things while working with Ergo was to be introduced to offshore software development through their development department in Chandigarh, India. Through that  I was put in charge of creating a framework and processes for doing development based on offshore resources. I learned a lot and feel that I have a solid platform as foundation for my dive into project management. I’ll build on that now that I have started my own company. We (Appaloosa AS)  have also found all our development resources in India and I can use my skills from Ergo with them and our customers. Managing remote teams in a SCRUM environment is quite easy when you have created a process and method for it.

I feel that it is so easy that I’ve introduced a “No cure, No pay” guarantee for our customers. If we don’t give you what we agreed to deliver, we’ll make the changes and give you  the whole project for free.

Hopefully I’ll be able to continue to do some development cos I still love it very much. But becoming a good project manager requires as much work as it does to become a good programmer. There’s no slacking about.

Funny thing, after I tweeted that I was starting on my PRINCE2 Foundation class today I’ve just got 5-6 new followers promoting project management tools :)

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Not quite yet! Nokia presented their 808 Pure View smartphone at the WMC and shocker was twofolded … firstly a crazy 41 mega-pixel smartphone camera that will produce photos that you’ve never seen before, and secondly… It’s running Symbian – or as it is called now “Nokia Belle”.

Such a small camera this amazing is just plain mad :)

Why they chose Symbian over one of the two other  available smartphone os’ is weird. My guess is that they really wanted to make this phone, but that Windows Phone was not able to cope with the hardware, and to not piss of Microsoft they chose not to use Android. Instead they created a useless phone and a great camera. As a result they’ve my predictions is that this device won’t sell very much…. firstly that it won’t sell or be successful as a smartphone and  it won’t be a block buster as a camera either. People looking to buy cameras goes to different shops than those looking to buy phones.

I will buy one of these just for the camera and if someone would please create an underwater house for this I’d be very happy :) Would be really fun to be able to take this down with me while scuba diving. Maybe I’ll create a diving computer app for it too? :)

Some specs:

• Size: 123.9 x 60.2 x 13.9 mm (17.95 mm at camera)
• Weight (with battery): 169 g
• Volume: 95.5 cc
• 16 GB internal user memory
• Support for up to 48 GB with an external microSD memory card
• Use as USB mass memory device for storing photos, documents and more.
• Screen size: 4″
• Resolution: 16:9 nHD (640 x 360 pixels) AMOLED
• 16.7 million colours
• ClearBlack display
• Corning® Gorilla® Glass2.5 D curved glass
• Capacitive touch screen
• Orientation sensor (Accelerometer)
• Compass (magnetometer)
• Proximity sensor
• Ambient light detector
• GPRS/EDGE class B, multislot class 33
• HSDPA Cat10, maximum speed up to 14.4 Mbps, HSUPA Cat6 5.76 Mbps
• GSM CS data class 33, GSM EGPRS data class 33, DTM 32
• WLAN IEEE802.11 b/g/n with UPnP supportTCP/IP support
• Capability to serve as data modem
• Support for MS Outlook synchronisation of contacts, calendar and notes.

Gizmondo has written their thoughts on the 808 Pure View here: http://gizmodo.com/5888503/nokia-808-pure-view-phone-has-a-41+megapixel-camera-forty+one-actual-megapixels/gallery/1 and you can read more about features, specifications etc here: http://europe.nokia.com/find-products/devices/nokia-808-pureview 

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Swiss watch manufacturer Tag Heuer that is mostly known for their luxury watches inspired by motor car racing and golfing has created what looks like a monster of a smartphone. Inspired by GT Racing cars it looks like the biggest and heaviest phone ever created….  Here are some more specs.

• Shockproof like a Tag Heuer watch
• Stainless Steel Body is high quality anti- corrosion ( type 361L ).
• The screen glass is kind of very strong Gorilla Glass
• There is a leather crocodile / lizard high quality
• Android OS
• High Speed Processor
• 256 MB internal memory plus microSD
• Gorilla Glass Screen 3.5 inch (800 × 480, 16 million colors)
• Stereo Bluetooth
• WiFi and GPS
• Camera 5 MP
• Battery 1400 mAh

It’s starting price is around $3600/€2800 and will be available from July 2012 if you are mad enough…..

Sign up for more information about the phone here: http://racer.tagheuer.com/

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On 12. March Eniro released an iPad version of their yellow pages application.  I’ve always liked what Eniro/Gule Sider has done on mobile platforms, they was very early out with an app that used augmented reality in a useful way for the iPhone and now they have shown that they master the iPad also with this really well designed and sleek-looking app for the iPad. With a ton of POI’s, Aerial maps, hybrid maps, street view and sea maps you got a really powerful thing going. Check out the promo video (Norwegian commentary)

A bonus feature is that you can also connect with your Facebook account and see where your friends checked in last. Below is some UI screen shots from the App Store

Street view on iPad with Gule Sider

Map and search result

I really like that POI quick search wheel! The whole app just feels good to use.

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I just read an article in Norwegian MacWorld that told me a couple of things that got me a bit “worried”. Both as a developer and a user of iPads… I don’t know if this is in-fact a real world problem yet, but Its something i need to look into. What struck me while reading was: Could adding a high res retina display to the iPad without adding more storage space be the baddest idea ever for the iPad?

I haven’t seen a lot of apps that is ready for Retina iPad 3 yet, but a few clues to the (possible) problem can be found with the existing Apple software that has been updated….

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