Following several posts on Sudoku the guys at ZingMagic were so nice to give me a trial version of their Zingles (=Sudoku) application. Making inquiry why they do not make a trial version available to a broader audience (as you can only buy their applications), gave me more insight in the harsh world of Symbian software development.

All 3rd edition applications need to be Symbian Signed if they use the phones IMEI for any kind of dynamic registration. Any Symbian signature goes at a cost of some EUR200 per application. Each trial version over a different distribution channel (read website) implies a new signature. Thus if you develop several Symbian applications like these guys which you like to distribute to multiple sites let’s say 20 different ones, then you can imagine the cost that comes with making trials available. Clearly something the guys at Symbian can improve to speed up the rate% of new applications being made available. Because, and as I guess, many users like me want to try certain applications before making the dollars$ available for it.

Ok, back to the application itself. Let me first highlight what I personally think is important in a Sudoku application:

• user interface – application should be intuitive and should make best use of resources being available
• data input / handling the application – as there is quite some interaction required the data entry should be intuitive and fast (not too many steps)
• choice in levels – obviously Sudoku for different users requires different levels – as I consider myself as an ace, hard should be really hard

When opening the application you will first have to select if you want to play a new game or continue with an old one. Actually this is quite a good feature as you are enabled to store multiple games at the same time. In fact, even if you are playing you do not have to worry about saving the game as each move is automatically stored when made. The way I use this feature is that if I am not able to quickly solve the Sudoku I save it up for later.

 

When entering a game of Sudoku the views can be changed. By toggling the *.key you can change numbers into letters if that has your preference, and by toggling the #.key you can change the view of the grid itself. Here for me also comes the biggest disadvantage of Zingles playing it. First of all in my subjective opinion all the views are outright ugly, would prefer some simple black and white views. 2^nd I cannot understand why there is no full screen view. Basically you always have the operator and menu bar visible. Besides the fact that it does not look good, for sure the full display of the phone is not optimally used and especially if you start penciling-in it is simply too small even on a Nokia e61 QVGA display.

Zingles has one great feature though embedded in its views, eg when you toggle you will notice that you can also show the possible allowed numbers which can be quite helpful.

 

Different levels: When starting a new game you have the choice between three different levels from easy to hard. After selecting the level you really get the greatest surprise (and treat) of the game that is … you can select if the diagonals should be unique or not. Wow, that is just a SudokuX in disguise, nowhere even mentioned not even on ZingMagic’s own website. Great and bravo. Would be even greater if you would be able to select more constraints, eg Sudoku 13x where 13x squares are unique instead of 9x. The first time playing Zingles hard was not hard, eg the first two SudokuX puzzles were resolved within 5 minutes. Disappointing, however, when I progressed using Zingles the puzzles somehow became more difficult. Actually now it is quite ok, although ZingMagic might consider adding another level on top of hard.

 

Playing the game and using the user-interface is like driving a German car. Fast and logical. Moving around is by using with the stick. On the Nokia e61 you do not have to worry about the blue key when keying in numbers as you can simply use the number keys as-is. By toggling the 0-key you can toggle between penciling in and / or keying-in in the actual number. Zingles offers further options like cross hatching and solving the board. Hints are not provided although you can check the board on validity. Missed opportunity is the background highlighting, eg the diagonals when playing SudokuX could be highlighted as a sign that these are constrained.

 

In summary, Zingles is worth the money and a good way to kill some time.

Pros: application in terms of key in and using is highly intuitive, although hided Zingles has SudokuX on board, pencil-in capability(although small), (multiple) Sudoku games can be simultaneously played and are stored, in the view possible numbers can be displayed, optimized for data key-in with a Nokia e61 and Nokia e62

Cons: user interface (black and white can be nice), no highlighting of squares when playing SudokuX, sometimes hard is not hard, no FULL screen capability