Beta character

I’m not sure when I first began using the term “beta” with my Nokias, but I think it was Opera for S60 Symbian on my Nokia 3650. However, I really ramped things up on the beta-front when I bought my E61. Back then (2006), I was excited for the E61′s connectivity, namely WiFi. Not for the most-used app’s like web-browser and email, but for VoIP calling which I had been using for years via PC. The E61 was one of Nokia’s first handsets to get WiFi and it was rumored that VoIP calling was possible on it, so I bit.

Not so fast. What it took a bio-chem engineer with little IT knowledge to get a VoIP account set up on that E61, months before a fix via firmware update helped everybody else, was countless hours of frustration and just as many handset hard-resets. Most importantly though, my quest to find a workaround led me to a whole new world. I began to see that there were lots of new developers with budding applications and tools which were designed to unlock the potential of my handset, be it VoIP or something else; A file browser which gave me access to previously hidden folders/drives, or a GPS logger, a scientific calculator or translating dictionary. No I didn’t need an “app store”, Google was fine.

Early 2006 there were hundreds, if not thousands, of tiny apps for Symbian and Java. Many of which used the term “beta”. I soon discovered that many devs never intended to finish their “betas” due to copyright and/or compensation ambiguities/workarounds. These were the “eternally beta” selections; Basically, these are mostly stable apps with flexible developers. And a SMART developer could apply user feedback to instantly help his fan base, or his “donation” pot, grow a bit larger.

Enter Nokia Beta Labs. With a small handful of apps to begin with, including Nokia Sports Tracker and Gizmo for S60, Nokia seemed to have a brand new playground for me. Just don’t look up “beta” in any dictionary for its useful definition. No, Nokia Beta Labs is a beta project in and of itself and every application on their site comes with its own rules and stories which, too, are constantly changing. Some apps have devs extra curious to their user’s wants and needs, while other dev teams might be surprised to find out that their app is a part of Nokia Beta Labs in the first place. Regardless, I can’t figure why a dev team wouldn’t want to be all over their user feedback. Granted, as a Contributor of the Month recipient at Nokia Beta Labs myself, I have seen a heaping ton of worthless feedback. Yet amongst the noise you’ll find some fantastic ideas and realistic user participation/expectations… full of excitement.

So the term beta, as it historically applies to software applications remains as vaguely defined as ever: Use at your own risk, Use may be revoked at any time, May cause damage, May not be used in a production environment, May be eternally in beta, May not be used in your region. Beta may be a marketing tool; Spread the word, get’um hooked. Nevertheless, if it means unlocking my handset’s potential, with a chance to help mold an app or simply glimpse at what’s around the corner… If it looks like it will add functionality… Back up my phone and load it on.

If today’s beta projects ever had a shining example of what to do and how to do it, then it might be Gravity for S60 Twitter client. Near perfect execution by just one developer, Jan Ole Suhr of Mobileways.de. Conversely, perhaps the worst example of a beta-phase execution is in my beloved Nokia Sports Tracker; In 2007, it had no competitive counterpart. Now, its two developers, Ykä Huhtala and Jussi Kaasinen, besides an occassional note about server changes/status and the rare app update are going to find it difficult to stand out after their separation with Nokia. Their style of, as quoted on the Nokia Beta Labs website, “Quietly listening” to feedback will have to change.

No matter what, “beta” should imply and encourage momentum, if not velocity, in ever-growing application markets. It should be the budding developer’s calling card and handshake.