Adapting games to the Nokia E6

One of the unique selling points of the Nokia E6–00 is its high pixel density screen. However, its 2.46" VGA display offers a unique challenge to developers who are used to creating applications for the nHD resolution Symbian phones. This difference greatly affects gaming, where re-factoring the user interface can be far less trivial than it might be in other applications. We take a look at the various approaches of bringing games to the E6.

101 online resources for Symbian smartphones and users

So you’ve picked up your new Symbian smartphone for Christmas, grabbed one in the sales (the New Year tradition seems to start on Boxing Day here in the UK), or been handed one as a gift. Where to go next? Well whether you’re new to the platform or just need a little reminder, there’s a lot of Symbian out there on the web, so over the remains of the turkey and roast potatoes, we’ve gathered together 101 links to help you explore the world of Symbian and smartphones.

Symbian's Five Forgotten Form Factors

Maybe I'm turning into a sentimental old codger, but despite Nokia's efforts with the recent E7 (and N97 before it), the majority of modern smartphones are turning into either large screened tablets or tiny-screened thumb qwerty affairs, with a side branch of low end numeric key-driven devices, effectively for the feature phone market. It occurs to me that five of the very best form factors of the last decade, all of which debuted on Symbian, have been (sadly) forgotten, despite their proven advantages. A quirk of providence? Or negligence on behalf of the manufacturers? Here are the form factors which I'd like to see revived, with modern software and services on-board.

Nokia could go back to the future to solve multiplayer woes

You know what it’s like, when there’s a problem that you’ve already solved, but you can't quite bring yourself to use the solution? I think that’s the situation that Nokia find themselves in now. With a wave of new games arriving, those offering multiplayer over the internet are hitting the same problems. Nokia could solve this with some legacy code, but will they?

The history of Snakes is the history of Nokia

Over on the Nokia Conversations blog, they’ve looked at the history of their “Snake” game. Right from the first bundled version on the Nokia 6110 handset through to Vanixon’s Snake game on the Ovi Store. It’s a nice article that I suspect gets to where the author wanted (i.e. let’s link to a game on the Store) but really does show just how much Nokia’s eye is no longer on the Snake. When you look closer, the winding path of the snake seems to follow Nokia's smartphone strategy.

Top Ten Games to show off your Symbian-powered touchscreen smartphone

It used to be just receiving a call, or picking up an email via a push SMS (good old email-to-text gateways back in the nineties). Now, to impress people with your phone in the pub, you need something a little bit better - and it tends to be a game. So what should your Symbian-powered touchscreen smartphone be ready to show off when called into action? Ewan and I run through the Top Ten contenders...

Top Ten Things Nokia could have done with their London Nokia Store

Ewan Spence looks back with a practised eye on Ten Things that Nokia could have done with their Regent Street flagship store in order to have made it a success... 

What will Nokia learn from the Failure of N-Gage?

N-Gage 2003-2009: An Obituary

Ewan looks back at the life of Nokia's original software and service platform... the N-Gage.

Five reasons why Java has already saved Nokia

It's been in every S60 phone since the first 7650 came out of Espoo... and it's still delivering for Nokia. Has Java really saved Nokia, asks Ewan Spence?

The fastest smartphone in the west? Text input speeds compared

Steve Litchfield directly compares speeds of text entry on a range of PDAs and smartphones and draws some conclusions about design and general form factor. [original article 2006, updated 2007 and June 2009]

The Delights of N-Gage Friday

What happens when you have regular releases, and everyone expects a game on a certain day?  You have a good feeling building around your platform. Will Nokia continue the regularity of the N-Gage game releases in 2009?

Scott Foe - Looking to Reset Gaming The World Over?

When Scott Foe takes the stage, it pays to take notes - even more so when he presents a masterclass on promoting games and the idea of bacterial marketing at the recent Edinburgh Interactive Festival.

Hands-on Preview of Nokia 5320 XpressMusic (retail version)

The Nokia 5320 XpressMusic has finally gone on sale, and we've got hold of one of the first retail units. This is the actual phone as it is now in the shops. The review should be coming soon, but hopefully this will keep those interested happy until then.

So How Much Is A Game Worth?

You've written your Killer App, now it's a matter of selling it. But at what cost? Ewan thinks about the issue of pricing games and applications in the modern world. In response Steve points out the true cost of gaming and argues that purchase price is almost irrelevant.

Top 10 - Classic Smartphones

Steve Litchfield proclaims the ten smartphones from the Symbian OS world that have made the most impact in terms of innovation, style and functionality.

2007 - the year in review

AAS Predictions for 2008

New Year 2008 S60 3rd Edition Themes

A Symbian Christmas 2007: Part 2 - S60 3rd Edition Themes