webOS have the wave launcher short cut that no other phone have. Now Nokia have come with a new application called BUBBLES on the main screen.
Bubbles is a fun and efficient way to take a shortcut to timely or useful things on your phone. Bubbles appears when you press the "Apps" key while your device is in sleep mode (instead of the black screen with clock and unlock button). Simply grab a bubble and drag it to one of the available drop points to initiate the corresponding action.
Currently there are bubbles available for the following actions. See More Info for details.
- Unlock the phone
- View new messages
- View/Respond to missed calls
- Control the music player
- Control the FM radio
- Change profile (profile timing also supported)
- Call/Message your three best friends
- Activate the backlight to use as a flashlight
- Show your current location using Ovi Maps
- Change the background of the Bubbles screen
- Display when battery needs charging
- Display statistics about bubble speed and distance (just for fun)
Bubbles can also be used to pass the time by "throwing" bubbles and watching them bounce back and forth around the screen.
- Core bubbles
- Key bubble
- New Message bubble
- Missed Call bubble
- Music Player bubble
- Radio bubble
- Profile bubble
- Background bubble
- Friends bubble
- Known Issues
Key bubble
With the Key bubble you can open the device lock without any additional actions. If the security code request is set in your device the code is requested after dragging the bubble into the drop point.
New Message bubble
When you have an (new) unread message(s) in the device the new message bubble is available. The two latest messages will have their own drop points which are opening the appropriate conversation view. If there are more than two unread messages the third drop point provided leads you into the message list ie. opens the Inbox directly.
Missed Call bubble
When you have a missed call(s) the missed call bubble is available. The two latest missed calls have their own drop points and in addition the third drop point provided leads you to the list of missed calls (Call log). (Note: The call log drop point is always available which differs from the logic used with messages).
Music Player bubble
If you have the music player active in background you can control the playback with the Music Player bubble. The drop points provided are: play/pause (toggle), next song and previous song. So if you want to pause the music just for a second you do not have to open the device but just drag the music player bubble into “pause” drop point (which then changes into “play” mode).
Radio bubble
Similar with the Music Player bubble but works with the radio. It provides drop points to turn the radio on or off and change the next/previous predefined station in the station list.
Profile bubble
The profile bubble enables profile change without opening the screen lock; just grab the bubble and drop it into one out of three profile drop points; general, silent or meeting. The profile can be timed by using the bubbles: just keep the bubble on top of the profile drop point about 2 seconds after which the timing drop points appear. Select the timing option you want to use and drag the bubble into it and you have timed the profile. The current timing options are 1, 2 and 3 hours.
“Background” bubble
This bubble is a bit hidden in a sense that it is not related to any event or application. You’ll see it if you press the screen somewhere where there is no bubbles. The drop points provided by the bubble are:
Background image change: if the drop point shows the “cycle” graphics you will have cycling background image for the bubbles. If the drop point shows the “still” graphics you’ll have the still background for the bubbles ie. the one youcurrently have won’t change. The change interval for the background images is currently 20 seconds.
- Background image selection. By selecting this drop point the selection “screen” is opened and you can select the images you want to use as a background image. No limits how many images you want to use. The image selection shown consists of images stored into multiple locations; the paths used are\\Data\\Images\\Backgrounds and \\Images\\Backgrounds and the drives scanned are C, E and Z. So in case you want to use your own images as a background please place the image into C or E drive into the abovementioned folders. To end the selection process just tap outside of the selection view (grid).
Friends bubble
Name your three best friends you are calling & sending messages most often…and attach them to the Friends bubble and you can reach them faster than ever. The Friends bubble can hold up to three contacts and by dropping the bubble into one of the drop points the call is initiated to associated person. If you want to send a message instead of calling to your friend just keep the bubble on top of the person’s drop point (about 2 secs) and you’ll have a new drop point revealed which leads you directly to message editor with address field already filled out. If you want to remove (or change) the person in the bubble just keep the bubble on top of the drop point and after the timeout you’ll see the “remove this contact” drop point which lets you release the current association.
Additional Bubbles
Abovementioned bubbles are so called “Core” bubbles which will be delivered in a single package and are always installed. However there are some additional bubbles developed for various purposes. If you want to try out these additional bubbles you can install them one by one. Here is the description of available “additional” bubbles developed so far.
Flashlight bubble
Nokia phones can also be used as a flashlight. Some phone models has this functionality tight to some hardware key; E72 has it in spacebar key ie. by pressing the spacebar for awhile the flashlight is activated. N8 do not have this functionality build in as a default but touch phones can be used as a flashlight. With the Flashlight bubble you can active the flashlight mode and use your phone as one. To deactivate the mode just press the screen and the device returns to normal mode.
Map bubble
The Map bubble provides two drop points;
- “where am I?” functionality: selecting this drop point opens up a (Ovi) map with the current location marked with the red point. You can zoom in/out and pan the map. Convenient if you just want to take a quick glance where you are and some surrounding areas.
- Shortcut to Maps application: this drop point opens up the Maps application.
Speedometer bubble
This bubble is just for fun: when killing time by throwing bubbles around you can see some statistics (from top to down): current speed, top speed of the bubbles (counted all up) and distance (added all up). Usage tip: just for fun and beating the friends :D
Battery bubble
If the battery is running low the battery bubble appears indicating the low power situation. If the device is connected to charger while the Bubbles application starts the battery bubble indicates this situation also. There is no actions accociated to this bubble ie. it is only informative for now on.
Known Issues
When selecting background images to be used please be patient and let the application load all the images before closing the selection view. Closing the view too early might cause device to jam. We have been investigating this issue but seems there might be some issues in QML side and we’ll investigate it further.
Friends bubble is selecting the number in the "Telephone" field in your contacts when you add a friend into the bubble. Unfortunately we cannot change the bubble to use "Mobile" field by using the Qt Mobility API.
Missed call bubble do not support VoIP calls yet.
C7 has some issues related to orientation switch with the current (phone) production software with bubbles. These issues are already being solved in coming (phone) software update releases.
Bubbles is available for the Symbian 3-based N8, C6-01 and C7. phones users on the Nokia Beta Labs site here: Nokia
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