Okay, no more Australian posts for a while I swear.
Armed with a Nokia N82 we set off on our epic adventure. You can enable geotagging on any Series 60v3 Nokia phone or Microsoft Pocket PC with a GPS antenna by simply flicking a switch in the ShoZu Settings menu. Once you've enabled it, every photo and video you take is stamped with your geographical coordinates as you take them when you've got satellite signal:
It was then time to cruise across the Golden Gate bridge, east to Sausalito, then west through the Marin Headlands where we sustained multiple rock injuries to the face from more gale force winds:
Yes, we've been listening!
ShoZu has been asked ever since we launched version 1.7 back in November 2005 to allow the user to have more control over how ShoZu operates on the phone, especially from more advanced users who install multiple applications on their phones that have similar resource intensive requirements. Symbian signing has also put pressure on 3rd party application developers to allow users to control this side of their application.
But why does ShoZu need to run in the background anyway?
Even in the earliest versions some of what we consider to be ShoZu’s best features require ShoZu to run in the background, for example:
• Background uploading of photos and videos
• Background downloading of feeds
• One-click "Send to" popup within camera
• Polling for feed changes
• GPS media stamping
• Feed alerts
These features are just not possible without ShoZu running in the background. If you compare ShoZu on Symbian or Windows Mobile to our Java offering some of these features are completely absent because most Java phones do not allow applications to run in the background.
Resistance is Futile!
Obviously some users quite rightly may (and have) said they are not interested in these features, "please let us just turn them off!" ShoZu has many reasons for its reluctance to bow to these requests for so long, for example, we have always tried to adopt the policy of 'the less options the better', as increasing the user configurable options can clutter up the user interface and confuse the majority of people who won't ever use these features. It also makes the QA process far more complex as each option has to be tested thoroughly creating a knock-on effect which may slow down our release cycle (and putting more and more pressure on our poor test team who really do work their butts off to bring you every release on time!).
As Symbian signing has now defined expected behaviours with regards to applications that run in the background, ShoZu has now added user configurable options to allow you greater control over how ShoZu operates.
Introducing new Advanced settings
ShoZu 4.0 introduces two new advanced options: Run in background and Start automatically.
To locate these, select Options > Go to > Settings > Advanced
Run in Background
This is set to "Yes" by default. With this option set to "Yes" ShoZu will not unload out of memory when you exit, it will silently slip into the background just like it did in earlier versions. However, you can turn off this setting by changing it to "No" and ShoZu will warn you that the features listed above will be disabled when exiting. Also when you try to exit and ShoZu is busy transferring (either uploading media or downloading feeds) ShoZu will warn you that exiting will stop all transfers.
Start Automatically
This option is set to "No" by default and ShoZu will not autostart whenever you restart your phone, you will have to manually open ShoZu from the applications menu. You will be prompted with a message encouraging you to turn this setting on when you first activate ShoZu so you can take advantage of all of the above features. We highly recommend switching this option to "Yes" so you can experience how much simpler and smoother ShoZu is to use when you have this option enabled.
One thing to remember
If you are used to older versions, you’ll remember that when you click the ShoZu icon ShoZu instantly appears and is ready to go. In version 4.0 with either of these options set to "No" you will notice the ShoZu splash screen appears for a few seconds while ShoZu loads itself each time you start it.
We hope you enjoy the new advanced features!
Neil Pepper
Client Architect, ShoZu
This partnership allows ShoZu to use AOL's Open Mobile tools and source code to create innovative new solutions for our users and distribute ShoZu across all major mobile device platforms including BREW, Java, Linux, RIM, Symbian, and Windows Mobile. What this means is that we'll be able to support even more of the popular phones that most consumers own today, with even more features.
Expect to see some really cool stuff from ShoZu in the future like new versions which utilize AIM Instant Messenger in addition to the AOL Open Mobile Platform.
You can find more info on AOL's new Open Mobile Platform right here.
As a wise couple called Timbuk3 once said: the future's so bright, I gotta wear shades!
You can learn more by checking out our BlackBerry press release over here.
