Yes, you've got it right. The first ever HTTP web server for mobiles and it does all you can expect, in fact it does more then what you expect. Nokia Beta Labs has come up with a Web Server for Mobile phones. The first working prototype was deployed in October, 2007 and I've been chasing the project for every bit of it so far. Currently you have the version 1.2 Beta released on their web-site. Basically, it's an Apache port to Symbian platform and the web-server is deployed as a Symbian application which comes as a SIS file package.

I will blog about this as a series of posts, with this being the Part I itself. In this post, I will have you installed your first working mobile web server and provide you with features and functions. Later parts will include the architecture, how it works, the application areas and will try to elaborate more useful information and details on the web-server. So, here we go..

Getting Started:

To start with it, you must register and you can do so by filling up the form at this location. You must choose a valid and available Sub-Domain name for making your cell-phone uniquely reachable on the internet. Like mine is ruchit.mymobilesite.net and you can hit to the web-server running on my cell-phone by typing this URL in any web-browser, anywhere in the world. So, please choose a good name as well. The web-server can host CGI applications on py60 (Python for S60), static HTML web-pages and it comes with pre-bundled application with basic services which you can access at your URL, which in my case is http://ruchit.mymobilesite.net , as I said earlier. Once you've reserved a unique location on the web for your Cell-Phone + Web-Server, you can download the web-server and install it on your cell-phone. You can download the server from here. You can use Nokia PC suite to install the server application. After installation, your application menu should display with the icon of the server like this..

Now, start the application by clicking on the icon and you should see the main application menu. Now, our objective is to let the server know is identity by binding it to the respective URL, in my case as you know it'd be http://ruchit.mymobilesite.net. When you run it for the first time, it will detect it as fresh installation and will prompt you to punch in the most basic details to let itself bind it to a unique Internet location. You can download the User Manual from the web-site in order to complete the installation and play around with it in more details. Once you've started the server successfully you should see this screen on your mobile.

And yes, Symbian S60 2nd and 3rd edition phones have multitasking capabilities, so you can let this server be running in background continue working as normal. Phone like N95 and higher E series phones, have floating point units, which makes it a breeze.

Features and Functions:

You/Anybody can access your Web-Server by typing the associated unique URL, you gained as part of your registration process. You can have administrator logging into your cell-phone or you can entertain guest users as well. They will have following features accessible.

Camera: The person logged in can access your camera. The person can take pictures by clicking a single button and he can watch it straight on the browser and he can save that picture on local desktop. He can't have the video streaming as this way beyond the scope of possibilities, demanding good amount of resources. Yes, you can think of real good ideas to tap on this feature. Like, you can so immediate sharing or remote cam kind of solution.

Web Chat: You can chat with the cell-phone owner in real time with his approval. It supports some smileys  too.

Messaging: You can send a single message to the cell-phone owner like a quick-drop message for owner's information or for any other important stuff.

Calendar: You can access person's calendar entries right in the browser. You can manipulate them if you've enough rights or you can add one. How about adding your birth-day in your friends mobile without his knowledge and check back his expressions, thinking when reminded, "Hey, I never did it!"

Phone Log: You can access owner's Dialed Calls' Logs, Received Calls' Logs and Missed Calls' Logs in real time.

Presence: You can view cell-phone's status and availability information, on which the web-server is running. You can learn, if an active call is ongoing or what's battery level of the server phone or even the data bearer of the web-server, either EDGE, 3G or WLAN.

Send SMS: You can send an SMS to any-other cell-phone number from the web. This will be charged into owner's telco. account.

GuestBook: You can fill up the guest book of the owner, if you like.

Contacts: You can access owner's phone book on the web and manipulate, If you've got enough rights. How about checking a number you need without bothering your friend by asking, "Hey, do you have this guy's number?".

Gallery: You will have access to owner's pictures album both on phone memory and external memory facilities.

Well, there are more other exciting features like blogging, contact me and etc. You can check out and download the latest version at http://www.mymobilesite.net. Feel free to comment or write to me on my email ruchit@ruchitsurati.net. Please mark the subject as 'Mobile Web Server'. More information on Mobile Web Server will follow this post in later posts. Till then Cheers!

Get Ready for the next generation of connected applications. It's not that shallow as it seems. There's lot more to it.
 

- Ruchit S.