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Top Story: Discovering the Pros and Cons of Touch. Is this the Future?
After resisting the persistent trend of touch screen smartphones, David Gilson reports on his experience of living with some S60 5th Edition touch screen phones, namely the Nokia 5230 and N97. Could it be that, like me, he finds the biggest strength of touch screens isn't that they respond to touch?
Top Story: Sony Ericsson Vivaz - design choices, comparison with Pro, video demo
Continuing from our previous Sony Ericsson Vivaz videos we look at some of the key design charcteristics of the Vivaz and Vivaz Pro (human curvature, light reflection effects and material choices), compare the Vivaz and Vivaz Pro on video, take a brief look at some of the different colours that will be available and get a demo of the handset shooting video and uploading to YouTube. Taken together these videos help you get a clearer picture of Sony Ericsson's new Symbian^1 handsets.
Top Story: Satio update enhances camera and core functionality, but still buggy
As work has continued on Sony Ericsson's take on S60 5th Edition with the Vivaz, it's not surprising that the Satio has reaped the benefit, inheriting benefits and fixes. Widely panned on release six months ago, the Satio finally delivers on a bit more of its promise with this update, 'R2AK', a 108MB download, which has been dribbling out for some product codes but is right now available using the Sony Ericsson Update Service in Western Europe. Comments, changes, links and more below - though I have to warn you that some of the core bugs and issues remain unresolved.
Top Story: Ovi Maps now down to 'admin charges' levels for older phones
As noted in Rafe's Maps interview thread, Nokia isn't keen to put resources behind creating a version of Ovi Maps 3.3 with free voice navigation for older S60 3rd Edition FP2 and FP1 (and vanilla 3rd Edition) phones. A good question is why Nokia doesn't then just make existing navigation licenses free, thus having much the same effect. It seems that they've gone much of the way to 'free' for older devices, with even a full 'Drive Europe' license now only costing 10 Euros for a year - this presumably to help cover admin and server costs. Photo proof and more below.
Review: Cube Touch: Match
Over on our Ovi Gaming site, Ewan goes hunting through the Ovi Store to find a free little game to while away part of his long trans-Atlantic flight - and finds the Bejewelled clone 'Cube Touch: Match' - which fits the bill perfectly. Describing the game as more "Zen" than challenge, this is an interesting title that's worth keeping in a (purple) corner of your mass memory or memory card, it seems.
The All About Symbian Challenge: Ewan around America, 2010
Some say he has a pet polar bear. Some say his beard glows gently on the darkest night. All we know is, he's called Ewan Spence. Part 1 of a series of short videos from Ewan is embedded below, along with some of his 'diary' commentary, as part of his gaming and blogging spring trip to San Francisco (GDC) and Austin (SXSW). Rafe set him a series of challenges, Top Gear style. There's even a cameo by The Stig.
Nokia's Christof Hellmis on Ovi Maps and location strategy
In this interview, recorded in Barcelona at MWC 2010, we talk to Christof Hellmis, Director Navigation & Routing Solutions at Nokia, about Ovi Maps and Nokia's location strategy. It is clear that location has an enormously important role to play as a key enabler in the future of mobile - and this piece will give you an insight to Nokia's viewpoints and attitudes. We cover the story behind the recent release of the Ovi Maps 3.3 with free navigation, potential future improvements to Ovi Maps, the Ovi Developer SDK, future directions and much more.
BigBen strikes for S60
Always good to see a company from the now defunct UIQ world make waves in the S60 5th Edition world - CellPhoneSoft's latest is a port of their BigBen utility, a "combined clock screensaver, key lock, and reminder utility for S60 smartphones." Some screens and links below.
AAS Insight #108 - Symbian vs the rest, Nokia Nuron
In Insight 108, (with Rafe away) Steve, Ewan and guest Tim Salmon chew over the week's news, including Qik Premium, Nokia Nuron, Ovi Mail 2.0, Skype and Terminal mode. Plus, we get Tim's views on where Nokia, Symbian and others need to improve in order to compete with the likes of iPhone and Android competition.
Emoze Pro now free
Thanks to CJ for the heads-up that Emoze, the third party push email aggregator that preceded Nokia Messaging, has just opened up its 'Pro' version for free. You can read more about it below and on the Emoze Blog but essentially you get rich HTML, multiple accounts, Gmail, Hotmail and Facebook support, plus a lot more.
AAA-powered as well?
Widely reported round the tech world yesterday and fascinating, despite not being Symbian-related, is the announcement of the Olive FrvrOn, a phone with both Li-Ion and emergency AAA power(!) With the Symbian world springing out of Psion palmtops (1994-2000), most of which were powered by AA cells, I can't help thinking what a great 'best of both worlds' idea this is. Let's hope something similar comes to the Symbian (and Western) world sometime soon...
2010 Metal Monsters: Nokia N97 mini and Motorola Milestone
While I've previously pitched the Google Nexus One head to head with the Nokia N97, concentrating on screen size and general capacity, there's another timely and interesting comparison to be made in the smartphone world, centred on metal construction and all-round communications and multimedia ability. Here, I take the industrial designed Motorola Milestone and the Nokia N97 mini - which will stand up to my intensive testing best?
The E55 gets the treatment
Just a little weekend link of interest: a writer with the marvellous name of Hagop Kavafian for the NokiaLB site has produced a detailed and fairly insightful review of the Nokia E55. Do take his opinion of the E55's camera with a pinch of salt though - I don't think he really understood the idea behind EDoF (Extended Depth of Field) and I'm tempted to suggest that there might have been dirt on his E55's camera glass....
Does Symbian need a Mobile Browser Ballot?
This month saw the start of the Microsoft Browser Ballot in EU countries. As part of the deal with the Competition watchdogs in Europe, Windows users are being presented with a randomised “ballot” screen of alternative browsers, including Firefox, Opera, Safari and Chrome, as well as the company’s Internet Explorer product. Is there any implication to the mobile market in this decision? Maybe...
Hotel Reservation Service (HRS) starting to be added to Ovi Maps
According to the official Ovi Blog, the enormous HRS system is beginning to appear in the homescreen of Ovi Maps 3.3 (and beyond), offering hotel searching by proximity to your current location, with navigation to a hotel handled within the application. There's also integration with other phone functi ons, to allow real time availability checking and booking. Initially HRS is appearing in just Germany and Finland, but other countries should see this rolled out quite soon too. Some quotes and screens below.
How to: print photos via Wi-Fi from your Nseries phone
Armed with the new HP iPrint Photo utility, Steve Litchfield walks you through the process of printing photos directly from your Nseries phone - no wires, no fuss. What could go wrong? See also the PS for those without a Wi-Fi-enabled printer.
Gig Finder beta updated through user feedback
Nokia’s Beta Labs have updated the Gig Finder application, with the feedback received from the users. This current build fixes a number of bugs and increases the size of the database used to find music gigs depending on your location and music preferences.
Perpetually Dissatisfied
Yep, that's our very own Matt Radford (late of All About iPhone) writing as a guest over at The Really Mobile Project and talking about a topic close to all our hearts - the cycle of lust-buy-disappointment (and hopefully) enlightenment-productivity that we all go through as part of obtaining our next smartphone. It's a Link of Interest and a good read for your afternoon cup of coffee.
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MWC 2010 Video Content
View a list of all our MWC related video including interviews with key mobile executives from Symbian, Sony Ericsson and Nokia, hands-on with handsets, developer profiles, stand tours and much more.
Symbian Software
TIP: Check out our feature article on recommended software for some of the best commercial software available for your phone.
BigBen S60
A combined clock screensaver and key lock application, that also offers reminders for missed calls and incoming messages.Marble Maze 2
Second version of the famous Marble Maze game is finally here! Here''s the Marble Maze 2.Local Guide
LocalGuide application helps you navigate to your favorite destination.Gold Premium 2.0 Theme
This Gold Premium theme is design for Symbian S60 3rd and 5th edition devices. You will never get tired of this amazing theme.ABBYY FotoTranslate English version
ABBYY FotoTranslate English version translates words with a single button push,you don't need to type unknown foreign words by hand.ABBYY FotoTranslate German version
ABBYY FotoTranslate German version translates words with a single button push, you don't need to type unknown foreign words by hand.ABBYY FotoTranslate Russian version
ABBYY FotoTranslate Russian version translates words with a single button push,you don’'t need to type unknown foreign words by hand.
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