All About Symbian - News Headlines

News Headlines - UIQ

361 Degrees podcast episode #7 - Nostalgia

Following on from last week's episode, which focused on Windows Phone Mango, here is the seventh episode of the 361 Degrees podcast. This week it's a nostalgia fest as we remember devices we've owned and that we think have helped shaped the industry. 361 Degrees is a podcast all about mobile technology, created by Ben Smith of Wireless Worker and co-hosted by Ewan MacLeod of Mobile Industry Review and Rafe Blandford of All About Symbian.

# Posted by Rafe in Links of Interest, Editorial Thoughts at 0:06 UTC, Jun 10th || Comments

Symbian: The Secret History

Well worth bookmarking for late evening reading over a beer or two is Andrew Orlowski's epic two part essay on the history of Symbian from creation in 1998 up to near the present day. Interviewing a number of past employees, admittedly, there's a strong aftertaste of 'these are all the bits that went wrong' and there's little in the way of acknowledgement of success stories, but Orlowski's text is readable and well researched. Here's part one: Dark Star, covering Symbian's creation and here's part two: The battle for Symbian's soul.

# Posted by Steve in Links of Interest, Industry at 14:55 UTC, Nov 29th || Comments

Support extravaganza - part 1!

Thanks to my kind editor at Smartphone Essentials magazine, he's let me republish a truck load of my own Q&A mini-articles from 2009's issues right here on All About Symbian. I've been adding these to our Support section (what do you mean, you didn't know we had one?) and a summary of the questions in part 1 of my big update is listed below, with links. All part of keeping AAS a definitive resource!

# Posted by Steve in Software, Miscellaneous at 11:33 UTC, Aug 24th || 1 Comment

Form factors converging, screens getting larger

From AAS's department of the bleedin' obvious come comments from me after looking into data from the last ten years in the Symbian world, looking at screen sizes across a range of form factors and interfaces (including Series 80 and UIQ). Yes, form factors are gradually converging, and yes, screens are getting larger. No real surprise there then, but I thought you might be interested in the charts themselves below...

# Posted by Steve in Hardware, Industry, Editorial Thoughts at 14:34 UTC, Aug 5th || 16 Comments

There's a Bookmark for that!

Over the last few years, I've had a burning conviction that's been growing and growing as I watch the current craze for 'Apps' blossom. Now, I've nothing against genuine applications or games, but it has to be said that a large number of so-called 'Apps' are simply scraping or managing exactly the same data as you can get right now, on any phone, for free. And, my way, there are no installations, no complications and no hassle. Apps? Pah - I've a new slogan to rival Apple's. "There's a Bookmark for that!"

# Posted by Steve in Software, Miscellaneous, Editorial Thoughts, Services at 8:00 UTC, Jun 23rd || 21 Comments

My Top 10 Reasons for Staying with Symbian

I was asked a very good question last week: "Why do you stay with Symbian when there's a world of wonder with iPhone and Android?" I have to admit to finding a number of positives in these other platforms, sometimes accompanied by positives in their hardware, but it's true that I do keep coming back to Symbian as the OS powering my smartphone-of-choice. Investigating my own leanings and trying to justify them, here are the top 10 reasons why I stay with Symbian.

# Posted by Steve in Software, Hardware, Miscellaneous, Developer, Industry, Editorial Thoughts at 10:54 UTC, May 14th || 56 Comments

Never mind the DT-22, here's the 'Mobile Phone Tripod Holder'!

It's true that the accessory title rather gives the game away and isn't inspiring, but this is an accessory that's much needed in the smartphone (and general camera phone) world. Steve Litchfield muses on a predecessor and and reviews the latest product that claims to be able to hold your phone while it snaps or videos away.

# Posted by Steve in Hardware, Miscellaneous at 7:36 UTC, Apr 7th || 7 Comments

AAS Insight 100 - Decades back and forwards

In All About Symbian Insight 100 (AAS Podcast 164), we first look back at the decade just gone and consider how far we've come, before looking ahead to what will happen in the next decade. Steve brings news of an i8910 firmware update, Ovi Maps Racing and more and the teams answer questions relating to N97 Exchange support and briefly discuss what to expect at MWC You can listen to AAS Insight 100 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.

# Posted by Rafe in Software, Industry, Editorial Thoughts at 17:43 UTC, Jan 10th || 5 Comments

The Symbian Phone of the Decade

I asked an eclectic selection of 20 luminaries, bloggers and power users from the Symbian ecosystem: "Which is the Symbian-powered smartphone of the Decade? Which one was most significant, the most memorable, the most game-changing and the most loved?" Here are their answers, for your interest and amusement - and yes, a clear winner emerged...

# Posted by Steve in Hardware, Miscellaneous, Industry, Editorial Thoughts, Events at 9:59 UTC, Dec 31st || 46 Comments

Uno-esque card game Mau Mau is now free on Symbian S60 1st, 2nd, 3rd and UIQ2

Long-time readers may remember we gave Lonely Cat Games' card game Mau Mau quite a positive review, and for those who don't know it's basically Uno played with normal cards. Well, it now appears that the game is available free of charge from LCG's website for all S60 editions and UIQ2 as well. Just download the file from the download page, then head on over to the free unlock code page and use your phone's IMEI. (UPDATE: Apparently there's the old annoying "expired certificate" problem with this file, but you should be able to get round this by altering your phone's date settings to March 2008 instead of March 2009. You can then alter the dates back to normal after installation.)

# Posted by Tzer2 in Software, Links of Interest, Games at 12:13 UTC, Mar 24th || 13 Comments

New version of Commodore 64 emulator Frodo, now with accelerometer support

The C64 emulator Frodo for S60 3rd Edition has been updated to version 1.5, and now includes support for accelerometers in selected phones, which lets you tilt the phone to simulate a joystick or steering wheel (you can see a demo video below). There's also an on-screen keyboard and vibration support. Frodo comes in versions available for older Symbian devices too such as S60 1st and 2nd Edition, Series 80 and UIQ, just scroll down the same page. Apparently Frodo for S60 3rd Edition should work in theory on the 5800, though it may run very slowly as the application hasn't been optimised for S60 5th Edition yet. (For more S60 3rd Edition emulators, see AAS's special feature.)

# Posted by Tzer2 in Software, Links of Interest, Games at 23:07 UTC, Jan 20th || 3 Comments

Westward 'the best game in its genre'

Westward, originally released on the PC, is a cocktail that mixes in elements of town simulation, real sime strategy, adventure and humour. Does it combine the best of all worlds, or is it an unwieldy mess? Read Tzer2's review of Westward to find out... (Incidentally, this game is available for both S60 3rd and UIQ3, links for both at the end of the review.)

# Posted by Steve in Games at 7:51 UTC, Oct 1st || 8 Comments

ProfiMail: A look at the cutting edge of S60 email

ProfiMail has been around on all the Symbian OS sub-platforms for longer than I can remember. But did you know that the developers have been making great strides recently with full on IMAP Idle support and better integrated file and attachment browsers? Nick Anstee's been using ProfiMail for ages on his Nokia E90 and presents details of his personal email client quest, together with a detailed list of pros and cons for this quirky application from Lonely Cat Games.

# Posted by Steve in Software at 10:58 UTC, Sep 26th || 16 Comments

Sony Ericsson "to axe 2000 jobs"

The BBC News website is reporting that Sony Ericsson is to cut two thousand jobs over the next year, in order to cut operating costs. The company was making a profit this time last year, but in the last quarter it reported a small loss.

# Posted by Tzer2 in Miscellaneous, Links of Interest, Industry at 15:27 UTC, Jul 18th || 10 Comments

Trivopaedia 2008

I know quite a few of you rely on my definitive pub-quiz-helper, Trivopaedia. It's now been brought up to 2008 levels, with up to date stats for v2.3 . It's available in Mobipocket reader and iSilo formats (i.e. compatible with any portable device or any platform), in addition to being fully online as well - and of course it's still free.

# Posted by Steve in Software, Links of Interest at 14:31 UTC, May 30th || 8 Comments

Motorola's phone division to be bought by Videocon?

The Indian industrial giant Videocon is apparently interested in buying Motorola's handset business. Videocon already have licences to build 3G phone networks in India, and see potential benefits from also owning a handset manufacturing unit. Motorola currenly owns half of UIQ Technology and manufactures UIQ3 handsets, so such a sale may have implications for the Symbian world. (via Mobile Burn)

# Posted by krisse in Links of Interest, Industry at 18:09 UTC, May 25th || 14 Comments

And we're GO at the Australian Grand Prix!

Ferrari World Championship seems to have been a high profile game announcement that was followed by a very low profile release (e.g. it's not even in Nokia's Download! system) - but unnecessarily so, since it turns out to be great fun and one of the best Java games to yet appear. Cross-platform and running on just about any phone or smartphone, here's my full and illustrated Ferrari World Championship review. Highly recommended.

# Posted by Steve in Games at 8:05 UTC, May 23rd || 11 Comments

The Traveller's BFF - WorldMate Professional

MobiMate recently added extra real-time flight information and facilities to their flagship traveller's app WorldMate Professional. Luckily our own Ewan knows a thing or two about travel utilities and so I threw the app in his direction. The result? We now have ourselves another (though fairly rare) All About Symbian 'MegaApp'. Here's the full review.

# Posted by Steve in Software at 19:44 UTC, May 19th || 5 Comments

Introducing Hexxagon Labs

You've got to admire some developers for the way they manage to release their titles across the range of smartphone platforms, in this case at least five varieties on Symbian OS. Attila Katona has been reviewing Herocraft's new Hexxagon Labs strategy game (think Othello but six-sided) on S60 and comes away quite impressed.

# Posted by Steve in Games at 9:19 UTC, May 16th || 3 Comments

Smartphone sync to Google Contacts now a reality

GooSync's beta test for full Contacts sync through to Google Contacts just went live. It's a closed beta, so please don't email me for extra links or privileges. Below, I've tried to illustrate how it all works and some of the implications of syncing with the big G. The beta test, if the Tasks beta was anything to go by, should last a month or so.

# Posted by Steve in Software, Miscellaneous, Links of Interest at 9:59 UTC, May 15th || 7 Comments

Pages: 1 . 2 . 3 . 4 . 5 . 6 . 7 . 8 . 9 » [35]