Python on Nokia w/ SCREENSHOTS

# | Thu 12 Feb 2004 | by Rael Dornfest |
In mid December I expressed a wish for a scriptable mobile device as part of Wired's "The Fantasy and Reality of 2004" survey of what technologists wanted and expected in the forthcoming year.

As if in answer, mid January was chock full of whisperings of Python or Perl on Nokia smartphones. But were these simply the result of a game of telephone or something we could indeed expect on our handsets in the near future?

Yesterday's keynote by Nokia CTO Pertti Korhonen at the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference confirmed that we would be seeing Python rolling on Series 60 handsets (specifically the 6600 and family) via Forum Nokia.

The proof being in the pudding, here are a few snapshots of the Python interpreter and scripts running on a 6600 to get your programming juices flowing...


The classic currency converter, a "favourite" of every Web services wonk. It fetches updated Dollar-to-Euro rates over the air, caches them locally, and performs as you'd expect it to, converting one to the other. As you can see, you do have access to the usual GUI bits on the handset: text input boxes, soft menus, et al.


A list of scripts available on the handset. The filebrowser.py is just what you'd expect it to be, browsing the filesystem, "drive" by "drive": C, D, and E. FIWeather.py downloads a weather map image from some online weather source and displays it on your handset's screen. A threads.py (not shown) exercises the Python's multi-threading. And so forth.


Getting a little loopy in an interactive session. T9 and Python just don't mix, I tell you ;-).
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| category: /programming/python
| type: whack | device: Nokia 6600

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Here's what others have had to say about this story...

Trevor wrote:
Freaking awesome
That's cool as hell. If only it were Ruby. ;) Still.. Hm.. Almost enough to make me want to switch my alegiance to Python just so that I could get a phone I can write code on. 8)

Douwe Osinga wrote:
very cool
Now I want it.

Randy wrote:
Juicy, but why not Java
Great news to see another language being supported. That's never a bad thing. But I must ask, what's the big deal? Why not Java? Is there really that big a following for Python? Those screenshots make it appear to me that Python on Symbian is no better than Java on Symbian, where graphics are concerned. Or integration with the device. Now, if they rewrote the entire OS in Python, that'd be something to crow about. But from where I sit it seems to me like this is not such a big deal.

MickBlog wrote:
Nokia's running python
Well, it's official, Nokia's series 60 handsets (6600 and co) will support python scripts as a way to write applications...

pensaletes wrote:
python no celular
novos telefones da nokia estão rodando python. o primeiro modelo que rodar perl com API aberta é meu! [via boing...

Rael Dornfest wrote:
T9'ing Python v. Perl
You have no idea what a pleasure (for some definition of pleasure, mind) it is to T9 tap out Python versus Perl. No $ % ; Just single-tap whitespace, glorious whitespace ;-)

Java Blows wrote:
Not Java
Java is a pig with rigor mortis. It'll never make it onto a small device.

Pensieri di un lunatico minore wrote:
Python on Nokia
From MobileWhack, comes a report that Nokia will be rolling out Python on their new Series 60 handsets. Very spiffy,...

Luddite Tendencies wrote:
This might convince me to buy another Nokia
How cool does this sound: Python scripting for your phone? If, like me, the answer is "very", check out MobileWhack.

Jim Hughes wrote:
Java's already there
If you're still wishing for Java you've probably got an elderly "dumbphone". Java (in its J2ME guise) is in all the Symbian phones, and plenty of other less capable phones like the T610 too. Symbian however is currently top of the developers tree; C++, Java, OPL, VB, Simkin, Python and soon Perl, spoilt for choice :-)

devnulled wrote:
Python on Nokia Mobile Phones?
Jake pointed me towards a blog post about Python coming to Nokia Phones as I've been "riding the snake" for a few months now. Yesterday's keynote by Nokia CTO Pertti Korhonen at the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference confirmed that we...

Scott Johnson wrote:
don't do python yet, but ...
I guess it's time to learn. I was really hoping they'd go with perl, but I suppose python will do. Any scripting language which I can run on my phone is fine by me. :)

lysdexia wrote:
.
Any links to the kit yet?

tin_the_fatty weblog wrote:
Python on Nokia 6600
Whoa! Despite its problem, maybe it's time afterall to get one....

wrote:

Uhhh Java is on these devices, it's called J2ME

Scripting the Web with Python wrote:
Mobilewhack: Python on Nokia 6600's
I think I found my next phone .

Krisjohn wrote:
Keyboard
Anyone released a little Bluetooth [key,thumb]board for the S60 range yet?

Craig wrote:
Why Python? It's terse
Why would anyone want to compose Java code on a phone when they could do the same in 10% of the code using Python.

wrote:

Matteo wrote:
What about 3650?
I'm an almost-happy owner of a Nokia 3650, bought some months before the 6600 comes out. I guess there should be chances the Python interpreter would work on my phone too! Anyone knows if that's true?

Sean McGrath wrote:

Great news!

Justin Rea wrote:
gotta getit
>>> for invite in abook.group("friends"): ... text(invite, "meet u in pub 21:30") appointment (02:00, taxi, text(taxico, "home james"))

Baczek wrote:

I want to marry that phone. Java: compare import System public class HelloWorld { public static int main(void) { System.out.println("Hello"); } } (or similar, my Java experience is near-null) and print 'Hello' and THEN whine.

Justin Rea wrote:
gotta getit
>>> for invite in abook.group("friends"): ... text(invite, "meet u in pub 21:30") appointment (02:00, taxi, text(taxico, "home james"))

bacademy wrote:
Chief Geek
The beef is really what kind of programming env on the PC side there will be available for this...

Bengt Frost wrote:
developer(c and python)
It's time to get a Nokia now when agile Python is implemented on the phone. It's time for "scripting" language to be taken serious now and perhaps in a near(?) future also on systemlevel. Nice initiative Nokia! No Ericsson for me ( I am from Sweden):

Overfloater wrote:
MobileWhack
MobileWhack...

Mark Eichin wrote:
keyboard
I don't know if the 6600 does bluetooth keyboards (sadly, according to frogpad.com, cellphones tend not to have support for the keyboard profile) but it does work fine [with a third party driver] with the Stowaway infrared - and enough of the punctuation is typable that it should be fine for python hacking :-)

Cadence wrote:
Java's wake up call!!!
I am wetting myself in excitement at this news. Python is an ubelievable language with limitless potential (with C/C++ extensions). I personally love nokia's phones and am an avid python fan, I look forward to working with the API. Where is it? In a recent article i read, Eric Raymond recommended Sun release Java's source code or rist fading into the past. Sun responded with: . "I don't think Python is going to take over Java. Java is the language to learn. There's an infrastructure set up where people get trained in Java. People do, because they know they'll get jobs that will pay them well." Well maybe not anytime soon, but with excited developers like myself, and the agility of this snake I for one will be a avid advocater and will endeavor to make Python become as recognised and loved as it should be. I gotta go get a towell !!!

neomonkey's blog wrote:
I wish I had a dollar for how happy I feel. -- Mel Brooks
There's a very strong possibility that I might upgrade my Nokia phone from a 3650 to 6600 just because of this fact alone. *drool* Was pointed out to Eugene Teo's blog. Seems like he blogged abit on our misadventures last...

Steven wrote:
wishing for Ruby too
If Ruby is also ported, that would be heaven...

90% Crud wrote:
Linkdump: 2004-02-12
Aphrodisiac pizzaNothing like snorting pizza off of a stripper's ass ann arbor is overrated: Graphic Content Multi vibrator demonstrationPretty SFW NYT interviews BitTorrent's creator Bram CohenUsing BitTorrent for illegal trading, he added, is "patently stupid because it's not anonymous"...

wrote:

CSM wrote:
Amazing.
I can't believe. Kudo's to Nokia on this decision. I need a 6600.

wrote:

...something completely different wrote:
Me
Python seems a natural for actually programming using the phone, though I'm not sure how practical that is. But if you've got to tap code out on a phone, syntax wise it's ahrd to imagine a better chopice than py. Terribly curious, though, how _much_ of the language they will be able to include. If they get the best/most of it, then I'm going to be buying a new phone. Note to Nokia, watch that the little letters/numbers don't wear off the 6600 too fast.

Premshree wrote:

Awesome!

7650 for sale? wrote:
What will become of this?
This is cool as heck, and I'd love to use Python instead of Java to write apps for my phone. A few questions that I would like to see answered though: (1) Will we be able to run this on older S60 devices, e.g. the 7650? IUIC, Java MIDP v2 will come on *new* S60 devices but old ones will not be upgradeable. (2) Will more of the phone be exposed to Python than it is in todays MIDP 1? For example, Bluetooth? (3) What is the memory and performance profile of this?

Techbook wrote:
Lack of entries
Sorry about the lack of entries. You see that system over there to the left? Well, it's not with me anymore - at least for the time being. And that's where I had my whole Firefox+NewsMonster setup to bring me...

Pim van der Eijk wrote:

Will this work on UIQ (P800) too? It would be a shame if this were Nokia-specific, rather than Symbian generic.

Fullness wrote:
Python on Nokia
As you can see, I haven't posted here since last year, but I just ran across this Python on Nokia with Screenshots which very much appeals to my geek nature. Of course, like a true geek, I must post it

Christian Tismer wrote:
Stackless Python on Nokia
I appreciate very much that Nokia is going to adopt Python. But then, why not going a bit further and port Stackless Python to a Nokia device? This would add light-weight threads for free, together with pickling of running programs, for instance. I'd be very happy to help with the Nokia port and writing the Stackless driver.

Fernando Reig Matthies wrote:
Is there any preview on this?
Does somebody know if there's somewhere where you can get or register for a preview for Python on Series 60? And what about the Flash Player for Series 60 which was once showcased? Two alternatives to J2ME development, that is, if they get out of beta or preview ...

bren wrote:
why?
What a pointless concept, just use Java for goodness sake. Python maybe _easier_ for some, but thats because its a pathetic scripting language that limps along.

wrote:

yeah! python rocks!

wrote:

reycode wrote:

anybody knows about the speed of the whole thing? if i remember correctly python was about 7 times slower than eg c++ on the pc...

Mark wrote:
Python
This port will only be any good if it exposes all the phone functions / contacts / calendar / file system / bluetooth / ir / gprs etc. and have tcpip, other than that it's just a toy

Gokhan wrote:

Do you have any idea that, how fast this thing consumes the battery. You will suffer (I say you will, coz i did) to charge your phone every second day and miss your old Nokia like Hell, Helllll...

dave k wrote:
Emulation
would it be possible to emulate a NES on a nokia 3200???

Rafael Ugolini (psyc) wrote:
its a dream
When i start programming with python, many ppl say to me "You can make money with python ? Go to Java !". hahaha, im happy with python :D I WANT THIS PHONE !

Zing wrote:
The irony.
Why would anyone want to compose Python code on a phone when they could do the same in 80% of the code using Ruby.

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José Ramalho Júnior (fielcomunista) wrote:
Python on Nokia
Wow!! I read this message and I don't believe in my eyes, but now I want change my nokia phone by one with python. When it will arrive in Brazil?

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