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.
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 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.
Steve Litchfield proclaims the ten smartphones from the Symbian OS world that have made the most impact in terms of innovation, style and functionality.
So, you've got a 332 MHz top-of-the-range smartphone from 2007 with 3D graphics acceleration hardware and a 16 million colour screen. What do you do with that? Obviously, you'd use it to emulate 8-bit home computers and consoles from 1982!
The Nokia N95 (like the N93 and N93i) has a TV Out feature, which lets you connect it to any television. Krisse examines how S60 games look on the big screen, and how the big screen may affect gameplay.
The Nokia N95 (just like the N93/N93i) has a TV Out ability which lets you plug the device into any television set. If you add a full-size Bluetooth keyboard, you get something resembling a desktop computer, both in appearance and function. In the first of a series of articles, AllAboutSymbian looks at whether the N95, or indeed any smartphone, can replace the PC.
Nokia's marketing team have a lot on their plate with the upcoming Next Generation Mobile Gaming Platform. Can the name 'N-Gage' be overcome? Ewan takes a look at the mountain ahead...
Home consoles and home computers have played such a big part in the history of gaming, it seems inconceivable that they would ever disappear. But is gaming about to become 100% mobile?
