THIS TRIAL IS NOW CLOSED
Read more: Nokia Messaging for Social Networks Beta trial closed (August 20, 2010)
Frequently asked questions
Why would I replace the direct access Facebook application with the social networking application?
Nokia Messaging for social networks provide consumers with a better user experience in comparison to the direct access Facebook application (Stand alone App):
- One client, multiple communities: Access all your social communities from one single client. We are supporting Facebook and Twitter as part of this release, more social networks will be available in the upcoming releases.
- Quick access to your latest Facebook updates: Users can link directly to a specific post straight from the home screen widget. The Facebook application in comparison is a launching point for the application and requires more clicks to get to a specific post.
- Better integration with your device:
- Location awareness: leveraging device GPS capabilities, users can post comments and simply click on “add location” to show their GPS location. We also now support “points of interest”, closest bars, restaurants, hotels near you.; making you social networks location rich
- Click-to-actions: You can click-to-call, click-to-SMS, click-to-email, all without leaving the client.
- Integration with device calendar: Never miss out on your social gatherings. When getting new invites just click on the invite icon to add it to your phone calendar.
What are the main advantages for the consumer?
- One fixed price for all messaging services – email, chat, social networking – when commercially available.
- Designed for mobile social networking – easy, quick, efficient access to your favorite social networking communities and optimized for your mobile device
- One convenient place to navigate across multiple communities – no need to switch applications, nor to have multiple applications
What are some feature highlights unique to this?
- Tight integration with the device, for example: Calendar integration – you can add your community calendar events to your device calendar
- Photo uploads – select and upload one or multiple photos to your social communities from device photo gallery or captured from device high resolution camera.
- Video uploads
- Search enabled
- View photo gallery
- Click-to-action: Call / SMS / Email
- Post location with point of interest
What does the beta offer?
The beta offers an easy way to discover, sign-in and connect with Facebook and Twitter communities. With this release you will get access to key social network features such as status updates and alerts pushed directly to your mobile phone’s home screen as well as the ability to post your photos and videos.
What specifically is available with the beta?
- Contextual home screen widget – jump directly into posts to comment
- Post your thoughts and photos from the camera or gallery
- Share your current location in a post or in a message using Ovi Maps; view friends’ locations
You mentioned that you can share your location, is this same as the recently announced lifecasting capability?
Yes and no. The location updates in the beta release are not based on the Ovi lifecasting widget however they are based on the same technology as the lifecasting widget. The beta client will be able to read and write location posts where the lifecasting widget just has the ability to write location based status updates.
What’s the difference between Nokia Messaging for Social Networks and the Ovi lifecasting widget?
The difference between Nokia Messaging for Social Networks client and Ovi Lifecasting is in the scope of the service: Ovi Lifecasting is a widget that allows consumers to broadcast their location, messages, and media on the go to their Facebook network, while Nokia Messaging for social networks client allows consumers not only to broadcast but to also view and comment on their Facebook and Twitter content with full access to their social networks. In the future Nokia Messaging for Social Networks client will be available on more devices and will support more Social Networks.
When will the commercial release be available?
We have not yet announced the commercial release date. We look forward to receiving feedback from the beta testers to be able to offer a superior service at the time of commercial release.
What are some elements to be expected in the commercial release (but not available in the current beta)?
We are working on many elements including having multiple communities accessible from the same application. We also plan on integrating beta feedback into improving the commercial release when we launch.
Can I integrate with my phonebook?
This is something we are looking into but is not part of the current beta.
What devices will ship with the commercial release of social networking application?
We have not yet announced which devices will be compatible.
What other social networks can I access?
We are introducing the beta with Facebook and Twitter access and we plan to introduce additional social networking communities over time.
Why isn't there a HomeScreen Widget on my 5800 or similar touchscreen device?
The 5800 and a number of other devices run a different variant of Symbian^1 that has widget functionality limited to only a few select built-in applications. The only devices that currently support the HomeScreen Widget are the N97 and N97 Mini.
Where are my notifications?
We are currently working on the implementation of that feature.
Why do I keep getting asked to select access point?
There is an issue with how the current version works with the connection manager on some devices. The workaround is to set a default connection by performing the following while the client is not running:
- Hit the menu key and navigate to Settings -> Connectivity -> Destinations.
- Hit LSK Options -> Default connection
- Select "Ask once".
- Start up the client.
Why do I get the error "Unable to connect to gateway. Please try again."?
Although this occurs if the gateway is down, it is often due to the client only attempting to connect to the default connection. For example, if your default connection is your home wifi but you are not at home and are using GPRS, it will fail. Similarly, if your default connection is GPRS but you are in an area where you have no reception and are relying on a wifi connection, it will also fail. This issue should be resolved in the next release, but a temporary workaround is the following:
- Hit the menu key and navigate to Settings -> Connectivity -> Destinations -> Internet.
- Select the currently working internet connection.
- Hit LSK Options -> Organize -> Change priority.
- Hit the top spot of the list currently occupied by the non-working internet connection.
- Attempt to log in to the client.