Jaiku beta 0.2 available
September 19th, 2006
When we resumed work on the S60 mobile application two weeks ago, we first picked out the things we could release quickly to improve the current beta. We don’t have an office space yet, so we’ve been coding at Mika’s student fraternity while on the lookout for a space.
Today we’re releasing a version that includes these quick improvements. It’s a rather minor update - the version number is 0.2 beta. It’s still for Nokia S60 Second Edition phones only at this point. Download it now for free. For a personalized version, Sign up to get a free Jaiku account, or sign in if you’re already a member.
The main improvements are:
- Manual connection management and data counter help you to observe and control data costs.
- Jaiku has now been separated from S60 Contacts into a standalone application. The main benefit is that you can use Jaiku occasionally if you still prefer the standard phonebook for daily use.
- Your own rich presence is automatically activated when Jaiku starts for the first time, and stays at the top of the contact list.
- The phonebook now has a cleaner UI.
- Easier uninstall. It’s no longer necessary to first manually close Jaiku.
Smaller UI improvements and bug fixes:
- Simpler menus
- Location naming fixes
- Better battery life
- Better focus handling in phonebook
- Bluetooth neighborhood is now available directly from the Options menu
- More informative contacts list
- Shorter country names
- Jaiku Settings no longer flashes on the screen during startup
- New application icons
- And a bunch of other little things.
The main known issue at this point is the relatively short battery life (about 1 day) running Jaiku continuously in 3G mode. If you keep Jaiku on all the time and want longer battery life, we recommend switching from 3G (Dual Mode) to GSM. You can now also easily disconnect and reconnect Jaiku to save on both data traffic and battery.
Also, on the 3G network, you need to disconnect Jaiku and reconnect again to update your location. In GSM mode, Jaiku updates the location automatically. We’re working to fix both issues.
There are some very cool completely new features in the works. They require a more major revamp of the back-end, which is going to take us a while (we’ve decided to hire a back-end developer - there’s now an open position on the team). Stay tuned for more updates!
Gustaf Says:
Is Jaiku running over TCP/IP or HTTP? Does that difference affect battery llife?
September 19th, 2006 at 8:24 pm
Imrahil Says:
Yeah! That’s what we are waiting for!
Cheers!
September 20th, 2006 at 12:29 am
Samuli Says:
Can’t wait the S60 3rd edition version to come out. This is going to be a really great software when its done! Keep up the good work!
September 20th, 2006 at 9:38 am
Teemu Says:
Gustaf: Jaiku communicates over TCP/IP. Honestly, we don’t know if building communication on top of HTTP would help anything, but I would guess that it doesn’t help.
Neither Nokia nor Symbian has documented good practices for energy-aware computation. It would be great if they or third party would measure and collect data and release this kind of documentation.
September 20th, 2006 at 9:41 am
Sauli Says:
Nice thing that you keep on developing this kind of presence system. I am using the “old” ContextContacts version. I tested Jaiku, but what I don’t like is you can’t see much details from the Jaiku list easily. And why can’t I see presence details from the web interface? This said, keep up the good work!
September 21st, 2006 at 10:38 am
Harri Lehmuskallio Says:
Nice work! Finally this software came out-from-the-academic closet :). I think that you are currently working hard on the basic functions to make the software easily accessible. We’ve been doing user tests with somewhat similar application and there was two things the users liked but aren’t featured in the Jaiku (yet anyway)
1) Photos. Ok. There’s the nicely working Merkitys engine, but according to our studies there should be also downloading possibilities for the same photos that are published in the Flickr. Like MMS but cheaper and community based :)
2) Maps of user’s own and buddie’s locations. Of course this demands GPS or cell based coordinates…. and the use of web 2.0’s map services.
Any way keep it going!
September 21st, 2006 at 6:02 pm
Samuli Says:
I don’t really know yet that if Jaiku has an sort of IM client, but it would really be nice to integrate some sort of IM software to there.
September 21st, 2006 at 8:55 pm
sam Says:
I was too excited about this app that i overlooked that it only works on s60 2nd edition - not 3rd.. I have a nokia e61 and cant wait to try this.. can you give us an idea maybe on when it may be ready??
we wont hold you to it..but just to know :)
October 9th, 2006 at 8:12 pm
Apaar Says:
Hi guys, eagerly waiting for the s60 3rd edition release…
October 15th, 2006 at 10:11 pm
Lee Drake Says:
Any idea when you’ll be developing the client for other smartphones and/or windows PocketPC based phones?
Thanks - great idea but until more phones are supported you’re going to have pretty shallow market penetration….
October 26th, 2006 at 11:20 pm
Paul Tatro Says:
When will you support other phones, particularly the black berry and treo family of phones?
November 3rd, 2006 at 12:42 am