Mobile History (P2): Nokia E51
While Nokia had always been a popular brand, there was always that “little something” that kept me away from their products. The D500 had done well to protect me from myself, but this was only accomplished by restricting everything I did.
There use to be some really wierd restrictions that the D500 imposed upon me. If I remember correctly, I attempted to use the D500’s file storage as a USB flash drive to transfer files from one PC to the other… however, I soon realised that the D500 firmware was preventing me from storing executable files (*.exe) on its file storage. Furthermore, I’m sure that the phone actively checked to ensure that uploaded image files were in fact valid.
While the D500 effectively followed the golden rule of “Never trust user-supplied data”, I must admit that I wasn’t expecting it. At least, not from Samsung.
These wierd restrictions as well as the missing MIDP libraries made me realise that I needed a phone that ran an operating system which understood the word “extendible”. Hating Windows Mobile with a passion, I was left with the (then closed-source) symbian range of phones.
(and just then, she walked into my life)
Finally, a phone that had complete MIDP libraries!
The E51 was a mix of business and pleasure… all rolled up into a single neat little package. In addition to all the functionality I had on my D500, I now had wifi!
Truth be told, I always wanted wifi on my phone so that I wouldn’t have to pull out my laptop in order to break into wireless networks. My dream came true while at a client who informed me that they have “absolutely no wireless infrastructure”. I whipped out my E51 and did a quick scan. Unfortunately for the client, their wireless printer provided me with instant access to their internal network. #FAIL!
Symbian gave me much joy not only in terms of application development, but also as a solid platform to perform application assessments on phone applications. Like the D500, this little treasure served me for roughly three years. My primary breaking point was reached when @singe asked me if I could SSH into my phone, just like he could with his new iPhone.
While I was unsure if there existed a SSH server for symbian, I already knew that a shell on a symbian phone would be utterly pointless for the most part… simply because it isn’t unix!
This lightbulb moment helped me realise what I needed in life… besides sleep of course!