WAP Access

[libop]

Hi everyone,

As I briefly explained in a post in the "Enhanced Web Admin" thread, I'm developping a Wap Access allowing users to schedule a recording from their Wap enabled mobile phones.

It today starts to work the way I want it to. I will be able to provide you a BETA version in the next few weeks.

But I before have some advice to collect from you, GBPVR users.
For now, it allows to schedule a recording by giving the channel and the start and end times.

For people who are Wap users, they should know that screen sizes don't allow so much extras... The problem concerns the channel selection way. Here are the options with pros and cons...

1st option: the dropdown list.
Principe:
A list displays all the available channels. A pain in the ... if channel list contains 30+ channels.
Pros:
Allows to have the available channels list.
Don't have to know all the channels numbers.
Cons:
Unsuitable if 30+ channels configured in GBPVR because of the small sized screens and phone slowness...
Possible high amount of data exchanged.

2nd option : the text field
Principe:
The user type the channel number in the text field.
Pros:
No long list to download and display.
Fast channel choice.
Cons:
Must know/remember the channel number (becomes hard if 50+ channels).

3rd option : the search channel field
Principe:
The user type the channel name in a text field. If none or more than one channel match the search, a list with searchs results allows to select the good channel.
Pros:
No long list to download and display.
Cons:
Needs two or more page changes to validate the schedule.


Here are the options I've thought about. If someone is interested in telling me what's his/her opinion or other ideas, I would be glad to read him/her.

Thank you !

[Word]

Maybe a search show field would be better because if you're desperate enough to use your phone for a recording you're bound to know the name of the show over the channel number / name.

[djdafreund]

Would only showing favorite channels help out at all in this process? I doubt users will be using WAP guide to program stuff on channels they normally don't watch. (I'm aware that if your hearing about a channel from a friend/family member/girlfriend's house, and a cool program is coming on a channel you don't normally watch, that could pose 1 problem to my set suggestion.)

Most people should REALLY download (for free) the new Opera browser. There's no site i can't visit now compared to the crappy one built in. Mine only supports MIDP1.0, which is fine. My friends phone (which my about to be new phone also supports) uses MIDP2.0 web, and he can already currently conenct to the GBPVR server AS-IS and program channels. It truncates all the info, so basically it shows line by line, channel 2-99(etc.) and approx. 1 1/2 hours worth in time wise, and once selected the program, it then shows the page to record now,choose (checkbox's and all) Daily/weekly/series, etc. all the same just like on the PC. And works. He did 4 programs to test, and they all were recorded fine when we got back.

Hopefully that might give SOME idea's to this project. I'll help out what i can , as i've been waiting for this kind of support since day one. My current phone (MIDP1.0) stops at the Login screen (i have to use that since i have a secret link on certain sites to easily connect, well, now that i have thje /gbpvr/index.aspx thing memorize, i don't need to now i guess, but still like the protection.)

But like i said about the new Opera (supporting 2.0 and 1.0) it blows the built in browser with functionality and quality and compatibility with websites in general. And is COMPLETELY free. I don't work for Opera, just very impressed with the browser already. And it JUST started with functions even.

[Word]

You're talking about a mobile opera browser? I remember hearing whispers about it but didn't look into it..I wonder if my phone supports it. o.O

[djdafreund]

I'm sure it does. It supports quite a high number. The only true question is if it's MIDP1.0 or MIDP2.0 phone. MIDP seems to work perfectly with the default webserve AS-IS, but MIDP1.0 (slightly older phones. Mine is vm4500 which is about 2-2 1/2 years old now, MIDP1.0)
Let alone if the WAP Webserver was optimized even more yet. But the Opera free browser is pretty tuned and advanced in it's already current state. I'm looking forward to see even more features added, as i can currently visit most any webpage now, and that's about 80% more then th4e built in browser. (NetFront v3.0 1996-2003)

[djtaylor]

Most people should REALLY download (for free) the new Opera browser.

That defeats the object of a WAP interface.

How am I going to run a GUI browser on a Nokia 6310 which is a mono text only interface?

I think the 3rd option works for me but then again, I also like the first option.

David.

[djdafreund]

That defeats the object of a WAP interface.

How am I going to run a GUI browser on a Nokia 6310 which is a mono text only interface?

I think the 3rd option works for me but then again, I also like the first option.

David.

It's time to update the phone then . The majority have color screens now. I'm just meaning, if someone had a pentium 2 166mhz system and wanted GBPVR to be fully compatible as well as capture support, the 1st response is "Sorry, you need to update your system.' instead of "We will try to work to make this happen", as you can only give so much universal compatibility, being within fairness as well. That's obviously just my opinion, but if someone was going to do the work to make this happen, i wouldn't be asking to be that in depth to include text/(b/w)phone's. Much more unneeded work just to add old phones. Color phones are mostly free now just to put technology into perspective.

Much less work is needed to convert the webserver for WAP compatibility. As phone's of those nature are much limited to what can be done on them, and so a programmer has to do much more work to still make things work, using the limited resources to make things still work.

I was already planning on trying to do this before it was mentioned, and i will only be including phone's within older-recent phones compatibility. Since a lot of phone's (3-5 years old and newer) support MIDP1 or MIDP2 and can be done with a lot less effort. Plus most phones are now all color, supporting these 2 formats, and i wouldn't even think of making this happen and limit the overall appearance and look just to keep B+W text compatible. Of course the user finishing this 1st can do it how they end up choosing. But my version will for sure not include support beyond more updated phones.
I MEAN THIS AS NO INSULT AT ALL to your phone btw. :-)

Just wanted to elaborate more on why i had said use the Opera browser. And what i was/am planning on doing myself.

[weisguy]

I'm not new here but don't dive into the Developer area unless I'm really bored. As a user (not a developer in this forum, although I have programming experience), first off let me just inject a GIANT amount of enthusiasm for the possibility of a WAP interface to GB-PVR! If people who use multiple exclamation points after sentences didn't piss me off so much, there would be more in this paragraph. : )

Regarding option 3, I really think it's the best one pragmatically. Whenever I am performing some sort of WAP activity on my phone, I already accept I will need to reatreat from society for a few minutes and there will be 20-30 seconds between each refresh/response. I also expect a more vertical navigation scheme due to the small amount of real-estate on the screen. As things stand, if I am lost and absolutely need to mapquest something I am grateful that I *can* do this from my phone and don't begrudge the fact that it takes three minutes instead of three seconds. Not much anyway... clearly WAP is not the ultimate answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything.

If you are in need of a beta tester or moral support, sign me up. (You may PM me here.)

[stu8080]

I think option one is the safest. Option three would be the choice but i thought about getting the chanel names right, eg is my bbc1 known as 'BBC ONE', 'BBC1' or 'BBC 1' ? it could be frustrating if its wrong!

I think the WAP option would be used sparingly given its slow speed, but would be invaluable those times you cant get to a computer.

[stu8080]

By the way, just tried mini opera on a samsung D500 and it very impressive!

go to url: http://mini.opera.com/ and download the app. EDIT: do this from your WAP browser!

Everything works, but the TV guide is hard to understand but manage recordings is fine and stats (the most useful page) is fine.

Perhaps the format could be tweaked somehow to utilise this mobile browser rather than a putting all the work into a complete new app?