Smartphone Thoughts - Daily News, Views, Rants and Raves

"Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today unveiled Adobe® Flash® Player 10.1 software for smartphones, smartbooks, netbooks, PCs and other Internet-connected devices, allowing content created using the Adobe Flash Platform to reach users wherever they are. A public developer beta of the browser-based runtime is expected to be available for Windows® Mobile, Palm® webOS and desktop operating systems including Windows, Macintosh and Linux later this year... Flash Player 10.1 is the first consistent runtime release of the Open Screen Project that enables uncompromised Web browsing of expressive applications, content and high definition (HD) videos across devices. Using the productive Web programming model of the Flash Platform, the browser-based runtime enables millions of designers and developers to reuse code and assets and reduce the cost of creating, testing and deploying content across different operating systems and browsers. Flash Player 10.1 is easily updateable across all supported platforms to ensure rapid adoption of new innovations that move the Web forward."

The usability and performance of past Flash Player releases for Windows Mobile have been laughable at best. But this time around, Adobe is promising that 10.1 will deliver a new and improved experience. Don't get too excited yet, though. Such claims are best taken with a grain of salt until the release of the beta later this year.

"Adobe’s Flash Player is on 98 percent of all desktop computers, but it is still struggling to make the jump to mobile phones. If you want Flash on a mobile device, right now you have to settle for a compromised version: Flash Lite. But Adobe is committed to bring the full Flash Player experience to mobile phones, as evidenced by its Open Screen Project. On Monday, at its Adobe MAX developer conference, it will demonstrate Flash Player 10 running on a Windows Mobile phone. (However, Flash won’t actually ship on Windows Mobile until late next year)."

Adobe MAX has come and gone and during that time Adobe has announced that would release Flash technology to the Windows Mobile platform and even demonstrated versions of Flash running on Windows Mobile and Google Android. It is really interesting to see Flash running on Google's Android platform as these handsets are virtually brand spanking new. It is amazing to see how quickly big name companies such as Adobe are jumping on consumer smartphone bandwagon since the release of the Apple iPhone and Google Android platforms. Sometimes I wish Microsoft could inspire that kind of innovation and excitement in the mobile industry. It is an incredibly exciting time to be a smartphone user, no matter which device or operating system is in your pocket. However I am still annoyed that it has taking this long for Adobe to get around to bringing Flash to our handsets.

"Adobe® Photoshop.com Mobile is the easiest way to upload, view, and share your photos online from your phone. All you need is a supported Windows Mobile phone and your Photoshop.com account ID. Photoshop.com Mobile beta will be available as a free download in September."

Adobe claims that Photoshop.com Mobile will only support the MOTO Q, Blackjack, and Treo 700/750 series, although we're willing to bet most other Windows Mobile devices will handle it just fine as long as Flash is installed. At any rate, we'll let you know the moment it's available.

"Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the Open Screen Project, supported by a group of industry leaders, including ARM, Chunghwa Telecom, Cisco, Intel, LG Electronics Inc., Marvell, Motorola, Nokia, NTT DoCoMo, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics Co., Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and Verizon Wireless. The project is dedicated to driving rich Internet experiences across televisions, personal computers, mobile devices, and consumer electronics. Also supporting the Open Screen Project are leading content providers, including BBC, MTV Networks, and NBC Universal, who want to reliably deliver rich Web and video experiences live and on-demand across a variety of devices. The Open Screen Project is working to enable a consistent runtime environment -- taking advantage of Adobe® Flash® Player and, in the future, Adobe AIR™ -- that will remove barriers for developers and designers as they publish content and applications across desktops and devices, including phones, mobile Internet devices (MIDs), and set top boxes. The Open Screen Project will address potential technology fragmentation by enabling the runtime technology to be updated seamlessly over the air on mobile devices. The consistent runtime environment is intended to provide optimal performance across a variety of operating systems and devices, and ultimately provide the best experience to consumers."



Adobe, in a typical long-winded manner, recently announced the opening up of Flash in an attempt to enable consistency in content delivery across a wide range of devices, including set top boxes and mobile phones. In what is most likely a response to Silverlight and HTML 5, the industry initiative sees the removal of restrictions on the use of SWF and FLV/F4V, the removal of licensing fees, and the publishing of multiple APIs and protocols. Definitely a step forward. Any developers and designers care to weigh in with their thoughts?

"Barely a day goes by on Aximsite or Mobilitysite or anyothersite for that matter without someone asking about playing flash videos on their pda/smartphone.. and up until now the answer has been 'err... umm... well the thing is ... well if you er.. um sort of convert...er'. Well those threads are nearly over now due to adobes big announcement at 3GSM. 'Support for video will be integrated in the next generation of Adobe� Flash Lite� software, Adobe�s award-winning Flash� Player runtime specifically designed for mobile phones. Flash Lite 3, expected to be available in the first half of 2007, will bring the Adobe Flash Player video format from the desktop to mobile phones and devices, enabling operators, handset manufacturers and developers alike to deliver more compelling and engaging experiences to mobile users.'"

I think I'm the only person on the planet who dislikes Flash as well as Flash video as much as I do. Personally I think Flash is the most overrated piece of Internet technology on the face of the planet, especially when it comes to video. I think my main complaint with Flash video is that a majority of it looks like crud, while better technologies (at least in my opinion) like Divx Web Player go completely unnoticed. I blame this new fad of subpar quality videos on YouTube.com and the Blindfolded Pianist. :evil:

"Fresh out of beta is Adobe's Flash Lite 2.1 (best described as a lightweight version of Flash for mobile devices). A standalone player and development kit for Windows Mobile 5.0 are freely available, but in typical Adobe fashion, downloading the two requires logging in, which means it's time to wipe the dust off your idle Adobe accounts."

Adobe's Flash Lite for Windows Mobile Smartphone? I'm speechless, in the "that-totally-rocks" kind of way! ;)

"Macromedia is to acquire Mobile Innovation, a privately-held design and integration house in the UK with around 50 staff, for an undisclosed sum. What makes this deal noteworthy is that Mobile Innovation designs phones as well as user interfaces. It's an integrator, and Tier One handset manufacturers devolve a lot of design decisions to MI. ...it's well known amongst industry insiders that Mobile Innovation was responsible for the Nokia 9300 Communicator design and other high-end Symbian smartphones, Nokia's Series 90 user interface, and Hildon, the GUI for Nokia's Linux tablet. Both of the founders, CEO Jonathan Sulenski and CTO Matt Millar came from Symbian with Millar's roots reaching back to Psion and the Series 5 PDA."

This is very interesting news. It's no big surprise that there is demand for Macromedia Flash on other platforms, including mobile devices. However, I don't really see why they would require a company known for designing user interfaces on mobile devices. It's not like go and run Flash content as it's all embedded in other applications and web sites. Do any of you have some thoughts on what Adobe might be up to?

Almost every computer user has Adobe Acrobat Reader installed, but with each version it's getting slower and slower to load. This free software helps with that:

"Adobe Reader SpeedUp is a simple application that was created to help make the loading time of Adobe's Acrobat/Reader software bearable for everyday use. AR SpeedUp only needs to be used once (a process taking only a few seconds) and then your 'Reader will be transformed forever. There are also some tweaking options available. "w00t!", as the young kids say."

The difference is truly dramatic - it went from taking eight seconds to load on my computer to only taking two seconds.