Mystery Nokia slider shows off proto-Symbian^3 one last time, commits cellular suicide (video)
By Sean Hollister 
posted July 3rd 2010 11:56PM
posted July 3rd 2010 11:56PM
[Thanks, Larry N.]
posted July 3rd 2010 11:56PM
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Betcha within 20 years, someone tries this with people.
@CRA1G
Why do companies even have the ability to do that again? I know this is a prototype, but there is nothing stopping them from implementing this in their retail phones...WHY?
@kapanak
Isn't this like the same thing consumers can do with remote wipe apps?
@CRA1G
ownt
@CRA1G
gosh it just went black without any warning. I thought it would display a cool warning or something like in the movies.
@kapanak
lol, implying that they aren't using the technology right now on retail units. I'm pretty sure Apple and Google have a way to remotely shut down any phone with their OS(and connecting online of course).
Wow, Nokia finally used capacitive display. Some big shuffle must have happened on their board of directors.
@AlfaCat
You've must of been under a rock for the past two years. Captive Nokias have been around that long
@Plazmic Flame
afil
(hope you understand)
pwnt.
@DefPoet
their flagman devices weren't. N97 wasn't, n900 wasn't. Cheapos don't count.
@DefPoet
BTW where did you take those "captive" nokias prisoner?
@AlfaCat
Note to self: don't use the camera on a Nokia...
@AlfaCat, there is a very good reason why the N900 uses resistive screen - it can run directly ported, unmodified desktop Linux apps, and that often means UI not adjusted for finger manipulation at all, so you need as precise touchscreen as possible. And resistive kicks ass out of a capacitive, and then pisses and laughs diabolically at it, when it comes to precision. Plus, the N900 has one of the best resistive screens on the planet - it registers even feather touch - I've been using it for more than half a year (heck, I'm typing this on it) and I haven't had any troubles using it with fingers, nails, stylus, gloves... I wouldn't trade its screen for any other - apart from Stantum's one, of course. And in the end, N900 is everything but a flagship device, although Nokia will never call some of their devices a 'flagship' anyway - that flagship concept is usually reserved for the USofA manufacturers, Nokia prefer to tailor devices for a specific use case never claiming that one is better than the other for any particular activity...
As for the N97, given that it was meant for a wider customer base (never mind that it trully was a fiasco), they could've went with a cap. screen, you are forgetting that their Asian target user base is huge, and precise handwriting and stylus support is a must, and in that area res. screen just shines. Also, plenty of people use Nokias in cold regions and being able to use your phone with gloves is a huge advantage.
However, they've announced that their next Maemo (now MeeGo) device (most likely called N9) will sport a cap. screen so there will be some love for you cap. screen affectionados after all. I will skip that device for precisely the same reason (and the possibility of it not having a QWERTY kb.) To each his own...
@angelusp
Seems like its running a real old build of Symbian^3 coz the version I saw has a animation of the screen turning when you go from portrait to landscape using the accelerometer whereas this has the screen going blank and coming back up again.
@angelusp no he bought from the guy how found it in the bar for $5,001.00
@incognito /dozes off
@CRA1G
it's the camera button! DON'T press the CAMERA BUTTON
@kapanak Why do companies even have the ability to do that again? I know this is a prototype, but there is nothing stopping them from implementing this in their retail phones...WHY?
Money is whats stopping them.. If company X shut down peoples phones for fun two things would happen.. A. People wouldn't buy from company X and B. Law Firm Z would sue company X...
@ssguy I think the phone just crashed. I've never heard of Nokia remotely-wiping anything, and the phone in the video had evident hardware- or driver-related problems before it stopped working (see the mess in the browser before it crashed). I think it just crashed when the software tried to start the camera, leaving the phone in a somehow bricked state.
@CRA1G
What do you think is happening to the gozmodo guy who 'stole' the iPhone4?
@kapanak
yes why?
@kapanak
If you loose your phone you'd probably want to remote erase it if you have stuff on it that you don't want to get out there.
@CRA1G
Reminds me of the Dollhouse show. Actually, its exactly what they started doing. Remote personality wipes.
@incognito
interesting info
thanks
@Celz It's so they can disable stolen phones, guess what this prototype was?
@incognito
Cypress TruTouch and others offer capacitive screens with accurate stylus control up to 1mm accuracy.
Decent enough for me (an old WM resistive stylus user) and plenty good to be used with gloves on with a styles in cold weather.
I'm betting you'll be seeing more of those in the future and resistive screens being downgraded to low-spec industrial use.
@incognito I'm with you there bro! Got a Samsung SCH-i760, resistive screen and physical keyboard! Cap's are alright, but I'm used to the precision of my resistive screen and physical keyboard!
@incognito I would have to disagree entirely regarding resitive 'kicking the crap' out of capacitive in the accuracy department. I used tons of resistive tech for years and years, and was plenty happy with it. When I touch my first iPhone screen, it was way way better in every possible way. I find I 'tap' the right thing much more often, with fewer misses than on resistive screens.
I mean, I still think there is something to be said for resistive. Most people seem to assume capacitive screens depend on pressing HARD on the screen, or pressing below etc. But once you realize how it works, it's great.
I'd say the one drawback is especially just the ability to use a stylus whenever you want. It'd be nice to use now and then if I felt like it. Maybe to get my fingers outta the way of my screen.
*Disclaimer* I am in no way an Apple fanboy. I never owned an Apple product before an iPhone, and it still is the only thing I own of theirs.
@Kosikutioner
Actually, the guy is spot on in the accuracy department. That doenst relate to the responsiveness of the buttons you press, but the smaller button that is usable. For example, a scaled version Open Office on a mobile screen is impossible to manipulate using fingers on a resistive screen. Fingers are too big in that situation. A stylus & resistive gives you more accuracy.
@CRA1G
I dunno why, but the second time I watched this vid I lol'd soooo hard XD
for what it's worth, even though it's the same design as the N8, it looks cooler IMO.
That hurt. Even from my 'remote' location. Get it?!
@HowardtheDuck
Well, I guess no one ever learns to TAKE OUT THE SIM!
@HowardtheDuck
The key lesson learned is that, every company knows exactly where every, single, one of there devices are..... even if it ends up on the other side of the word.
@HowardtheDuck - Just don't touch the dedicated camera button! It's actually a self-destruct button!
@Plazmic Flame Calm down Glen Beck. Just because they shut it down remotely doesn't mean they know where it is, hence "remotely." It's not like they were like "Holy crap, he's in Memphis! Sending 2 ground units and an aerial probe." If you don't have location on it's likely illegal for them to turn it on.
@kapanak
The sim was taken out, or at least the phone was in "offline" mode
@kapanak
Hell, ¿what if the phone actually needs to be connected to a GSM network to keep it from locking down itself? maybe the phone is already programmed to kill itself unless it receives an "abort" command every x minutes, and what happened here is that Nokia figured out they lost the phone and stopped sending the code. In that case, removing the SIM would be completely pointless, as the phone would wipe itself anyway.
And if me, an average joe without any sort of know-how, can think of that, i'm pretty sure Nokia engineers could too. So bottomline, i don't think removing the SIM would have prevented the phone from being wiped.
Did anyone else just skip to the 5:45 mark?
@engadgetcomexcludeengadget
Yes, I watched the first several seconds, then skipped ahead.
I was actually hoping for something cooler to happen. Even a 'Remote Wipe In Progress' or 'Mess with the best, die like the rest - Zero Cool' message would have been much more climactic!
What if the hardware just failed completely? Is there any proof that it was indeed wiped by Nokia?
@engadgetcomexcludeengadget explosion dammit! no other way i'd have liked to see it go.
@HrVanker
And it happend as he was clicking a key, trying to do something with the phone.
Sure Nokia could probably remotly kill all their prototypes... but I would not assume that is what happend here
@brrip, unfortunately, Nokia uses batteries that have a lot of inner circuitry to stop it from overcharging even if the power management on the phone itself fails. Otherwise they could just mess up the charging control and pop up a notification: "This phone will self-destruct in 30 seconds. Have a nice day." :D
@engadgetcomexcludeengadget if you did, you missed the puppies.
Good riddance. I always thought this phone (with the odd-looking tapered top and bottom sides) was one of the ugliest phones in recent memory.
lol! he just pressed the death switch!
@2her0ck Seems that was not camera button.... oops...
Aweh. That sucks.
"Looks like we're not having the camera behaving as I'd like..." *45 seconds of awkward, silent fiddling* *video ends*
Okay.
Took him a while to realize the phone killed itself...