Planet Mobile

Androinica: Rumor: T-Mobile USA training employees on HTC Desire

Andrew Kameka — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:53:23 +0000

Someone I follow on Twitter claimed that his friend – a manager at a T-Mobile store – was being trained on several phones slated to come to the carrier this year. Among those phones was a little device known as the HTC Desire. I reached out to a couple of contacts I have at T-Mobile retail [...]

Androinica: Application Where gets relevant with its own local ad network

Christopher Smith — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:51:31 +0000

Mobile advertisements can seem odd and out of context on most ad supported applications. That is why being able to target advertisements to customers when and where they need them is so important. uLocate, the comapany that created Where a location-based search and recommendation app, announced that they are starting their own “hyper-local” advertising network called Where [...]

Androinica: Motorola CLIQ XT: A few leaked images and a sales pamphlet

Robert Nelson — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:20:29 +0000

T-Mobile is expected to roll out the CLIQ XT as of tomorrow March 10 but in the meantime that has not stopped a few individuals from securing and posting a few last minute goodies. First up is the sales pamphlet, which judging from the title “sell it in 60 seconds” seems to be aimed at making [...]

Androinica: Samsung Galaxy Spica now available with Rogers, $79.99 on contract

Robert Nelson — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:01:01 +0000

As expected, Rogers has officially announced the availability of the Samsung Galaxy Spica. And due to the previous rumors and leaks this announcement comes mostly as a refresher but here goes. Feature wise, the handset offers a 3.2-inch (320 x 480) touchscreen display, an 800MHz processor, 3.2-megapixel camera, 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth and ships with a [...]

All About Symbian: Review: Cube Touch: Match

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:36:41 +0000

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.

All About Symbian: Sony Ericsson Vivaz - design choices, comparison with Pro, video demo

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:12:18 +0000

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.

Key points

The Vivaz and Vivaz Pro feature what Sony Ericsson call the 'human curvature' design, which means the handset 'fits' into your hand.
Special 'polarising' paint gives a highlighted 'light touched' effect on the Vivaz. This light touched area draws the eye and makes you think the phone is smaller than it really is.
Light reflection on the side of the device creates a 'line' which draws the eye and makes the phone appear slimmer than it actually is.
The Vivaz has a glass screen, which means the phone can be thinner and gives better touch sensitivity than the plastics typically used in resistive screens.
There was a design choice on the Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro - in order to keep the phone 'thin' it was a choice between a lower resolution camera or a smaller battery. The battery won and consequently the Vivaz Pro has a five megapixel camera instead of an eight megapixel camera.
Four colours for the Vivaz: Blue, Silver, Black and Ruby
Dedicated video shooting button (separate from camera capture), plus UI which recalls Sony HandyCam.
Sony Ericsson put its HD experience on top of Symbian because they were confident the platform could handle it (calling on experience gained with the Satio) and because of the battery life (power management) characteristics of the platform. The only Sony Ericsson HD video recording device are the Symbian powered Vivaz and Vivaz Pro.

Sony Ericsson Vivaz design considerations

Sony Ericsson Vivaz and Vivaz Pro compared

Sony Ericsson Vivaz Colours and video shooting / uploading demo

We'll also be starting our review series of the Sony Ericsson Vivaz very soon.

Androinica: Yearly sales forecast cut for Google’s Nexus One

Christopher Smith — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:20:25 +0000

Remember how many bloggers and news outlets used the cliche phrase “iPhone Killer” when referring to the powerful Google Nexus One? Well it seems that analysts at Goldman Sachs overestimated the sales of the Nexus One this year just as some journalists overestimated the phone’s impact on the market. Goldman is cutting their estimates from [...]

Androinica: Sony Ericsson does barebones XPERIA X10 unboxing video

Andrew Kameka — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:32:34 +0000

Most unboxing videos we come across are typically from bloggers lucky enough to be granted early access to the device. Sony Ericsson decided to do their own unboxing video in-house and reveal the packaging and contents of the Sony XPERIA X10, scheduled for release in certain countries next month. Sony does a to-the-point video that [...]

Androinica: Android puts me to sleep for only $19.99

Andrew Kameka — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:41:36 +0000

Between the shirts, keychains, plushes, and collectible vinyl figures that have circulated the Android world in recent months, it’s becoming chic to put Andy on everything. The latest item with an Android logo is a pillow made to order for just $19.99. The pillows are designed by Etsy seller Craftsquatch and are custom-made. It takes 2-6 [...]

All About Symbian: Satio update enhances camera and core functionality, but still buggy

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 11:44:00 +0000

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.

The Satio, you will remember, had much to recommend it, from the 12 megapixel camera with Xenon flash to that big 3.5" transflective touchscreen. The problems were almost all to do with software and with this update, a number of them (but not all) have been resolved.

The update is available through the Update Service client found at www.sonyericsson.com/update as usual, with a new screen, as shown below, showing automatic preservation of data and contents. This is, I believe, new for Sony Ericsson's S60 5th Edition phones.

Mind you, this firmware is a such a big leap that for any modern smartphone I would have recommended updating/rebuilding from scratch anyway. If, like me, you've been experiencing instability on your Satio with the previous firmware, I recommend taking the install+reset route here, followed by manually syncing/restoring just your data, re-install third party apps from latest versions and go from there.

[NB: there seems to be something of an underground hacking scene for the Satio (e.g. to add support for Nokia-certified software), much as for the Samsung i8910 HD - note that All About Symbian does not condone such hacking and in fact strongly recommends normal users to stay away from such activities - you'll only soak up hours of your time messing around and will almost certainly adversely affect the stability of your shiny new smartphone]

Changelog:

A number general OS bug fixes and performance improvements
Still camera quality improvements
Support for WVGA video recording – this is enhanced to fit the wide screen format and hence resolution is also slightly increased to 864x480 (the preset size will still be VGA, user has to change to get WVGA) - see below for sample
Upload of pictures to Facebook – you can now upload pictures directly from the picture menu you have on the home screen or from the Media UI
YouTube video uploading – you can now upload videos to Youtube directly from the Media UI
Conversational messaging – “Conversations” is now nicely integrated into the messaging menu
DLNA support – The new software will support DLNA media server for easy transfer of audio and still pictures. (Note that video is not supported)
UI improvements – several minor UI improvements have been made, "in order to optimize the user experience".
The Facebook client for S60 5th Edition is now built-in.

Notable though is that core showstopper bugs (e.g. in predictive text handling and media suite item browsing - where the whole phone can be repeatably given screen corruption and then frozen) remain. In addition, there's a new problem with touchscreen responsiveness, whereby virtual text input is definitely laggier than on the previous firmware and as a result taps get missed. Disappointing, especially as I went down the factory reset route - this was a clean install, etc.

Here's a sample of video from the Satio with R2AK firmware:

Resolution is certainly higher, though the lack of focus or pre-focus really lets it down (in common with the likes of the N97, to be fair). Also, sound levels in captured audio are way too low.

If you've updated your Satio, comments welcome - is R2AK an improvement overall? Does the Satio meet your expectations yet? Noteworthy is that the Vivaz is due here for review today. Let's hope its firmware is more stable and mature.

Steve Litchfield, All About Symbian, 9 Mar 2010

PS. (Some of the above info from The Sony Ericsson Update Blog)

Androinica: HTC Supersonic gets caught on camera

Robert Nelson — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:40:32 +0000

The HTC Supersonic seems to have made another appearance, unfortuantely as like the last time it seems that visit was also with Mr. Blurrycam. That said I guess we should be happy with the footage we get, whether blurry or not. As for the video, it is slightly interesting to say the least. Notably due [...]

All About Symbian: Ovi Maps now down to 'admin charges' levels for older phones

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:05:36 +0000

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.

The battered editorial N82 from 2008, showing the price of a full annual Drive Europe license

People will still ask 'Why couldn't the licenses just be made totally free?' - but I think we have to throw Nokia a bone here - there are substantial admin and infrastructure costs to maintaining an online mapping and routing service, handling license retrievals, and so on, and in my opinion 10 Euros for a full year across an entire continent is still spectacular value. Competing phone-based navigation systems are still in the 70 Euro to 130 Euro a year bracket, and the purchase prices of standalone devices are higher still.

You'd spend more than 10 Euros by ordering coffee and a muffin for 2 people in a cafe - and here we're talking about unlimited journeys, everywhere you're likely to travel, with full in-car real time voice navigation, for a year, for less money.

A more interesting question is why Nokia haven't actually told anyone about the big price drop. Comments welcome if you noticed when it actually happened!

Steve Litchfield

Symbian Freak: Vote For 'Member Of The Month' And Win Cool Prizes!

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 06:57:00 +0000

Over the last couple days the SF Team, Moderators and Admin have compiled a list of the top 8 members and now we are kindly asking you to pick your favourite member to help us to find the member Of The Month for March 2010!

For all the new comers over here, this is our way of putting members in the limelight. This is all about you and will be decided by you.

The previous winner, moderators and administrators choose members because they did great work over here. This can be as a great hack/mod, helper in need, a good spirit and wha... .. .

All About Symbian: The All About Symbian Challenge: Ewan around America, 2010

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 06:15:00 +0000

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.

Ewan writes:

"A month or two before the Nokia 9500 was launched, with the help of Nokia, I took it on the road for a trip around America while I visited a number of conferences and cities. That annual tradition, of taking new hardware into the real world to review has continued, and this year is no different. Read on for this year's assignment and a video intro.

I'll be taking in both the Game Developer Conference in San Francisco, California, and the triple header of South by Southwest (Music, Film and Interactive) in Austin, Texas for the next two weeks.

Last year many of you enjoyed the video diaries of my journey, which coincided with my first use of the Nokia 5800 – and as you commented, watched as I slowly fell in love with Nokia's first mainstream touch based smartphone. While the video diaries are set for a return, there's less new hardware on show right now.

Rafe and Steve have cooked up something to keep me on my toes (and out of trouble); I was expecting something like a Vivaz Pro, but what arrived in the mail was... a bit more surprising.

As we've said many times here on All About Symbian, while the high end devices get the press and column inches, it's the lower end of themarket, with high volume sales at low unit prices, that will provide the lion's share of a company's income. With the recent announcement of lower priced Symbian units, that reality is here. Hence the challenge for March 2010 in taking a very restrictive budget and seeing just how far it can go. To recap, I needed to buy myself a new Symbian smartphone for use in March. As well as the phone itself, the budget must also cover the purchase of a SIM card; airtime and data bandwidth; any peripherals required; third party software; and anything else that you would reasonably be expected to buy. And the final cost must be less than $250, with no outstanding debt, contract or commitments at the end of the month.

The handset I chose is the Nokia 5230, a S60 5th Edition handset aimed directly at the low end of the market. Buying an unlocked handset comes in at $180 (see the recently announced (USA) T-Mobile badged version of the 5230 called the Nuron), and the only concession we've made in the challenge is that this was purchased online beforehand, rather than on the streets of San Francisco, on account of my busy schedule.

What happens now is that I make my way from Edinburgh to the Bay, via London Heathrow and Los Angeles International. The first order of business will be finding a SIM card, loading up the 5230 with some applications, and hoping that the challenges from Rafe and Steve, to be delivered by The Stig, won't get me arrested."

Androinica: Rumor: Google and Dish Network working on new set-top box with YouTube

Andrew Kameka — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:09:02 +0000

Google is developing a new media search service with Dish Network, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. Google and Dish Network are supposedly working on an Android-based set top box and service that would search not only TV shows, but also YouTube videos. The journal reports that there are set-tops “using elements of [...]

Androinica: Android games will have better graphics thanks to Android NDK r3

Andrew Kameka — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:41:35 +0000

The quality of games on Android has greatly improved on 2.0 devices, and users can count on even more advanced games thanks to the latest release of the Android Native Developer Kit (NDK). The Android NDK can be used to target Android devices with 1.5 or higher, and includes a number of enhancements; however, what’s [...]

All About Symbian: Nokia's Christof Hellmis on Ovi Maps and location strategy

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:36:30 +0000

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.

Christof Hellmis is responsible for the development of Nokia's location products, the most prominent of which is Ovi Maps. His previous position was COO of Gate5, which was the mapping company Nokia acquired in 2006 and whose Smart2Go product was the direct ancestor of today's Ovi Maps.

Key points

Free mapping and navigation has been a long term vision, but it is only the first step. "It was always with the intention of making location, mapping and, eventually, navigation for free on Nokia devices to the end consumer. So for us it was chapter one of the location story closed - new book, white piece of paper, next step."
Ovi Maps 3.3 was downloaded 3 million times in the first four weeks. It is used in nearly every country in the world and has very high active user rates. From March it will be embedded in all new Symbian handsets from Nokia. For older devices it is an open question - it's a question of resources - supporting old devices versus implementing new features in the roadmap.
Improving PoIs / locations listings is an on-going process. Working with partners is important to provide complete and accurate data. Similarly working with DigiGlobe and Navteq for improvements in satellite and mapping visualisations respectively. User generated data will play a role (primarily in correct and updating), but it is not an "either or" question - it is a combination of both.
Ovi Developer SDK ('apps on maps') will be productised in the second half of 2010. It is based on web technologies and addresses both the mobile and desktop (anything W3C complaint).
There is so much more to come: "Nokia is about connecting people - it always was and I hope, in the future, it always will be. The way people connect will be raised to new dimensions. If you really look at what matters for people in their daily lives there are three dimensional matters. There are three things - time, location and other people. Combining these three dimensions cleverly in your life in something that supports you - this is what we are after."

Video - part 1

Video - part 2

Rough Transcript

Christof Hellmis [Nokia], on Ovi Maps going free:

This is what we have been dreaming of for the last five years. Being a small company called gate5, being bought by Nokia, going through the Navteq acquisition... it was always with the intention of making location, mapping and, eventually, navigation for free on Nokia devices to the end consumer. So for us it was chapter one of the location story closed - new book, white piece of paper, next step.

Now the success speaks for itself. Within less than 4 week we have more than 3 million downloads of the application. And it is not only downloads, we have a very high active user rate. People use maps everyday for multiple contexts. Simple orientation, drive, walk. A new function that we bought, called Lifecasting, where people their location to social networks, in this case Facebook. We see users being very active and addicted to this topic. So we are very happy and pleased with the uptake of the service.

Rafe Blandford [All About Symbian]:

When can we expect to see the free Navigation embedded into handsets?

Christof Hellmis:

As of March all new handset being shipped will have the client pre-installed.

Rafe Blandford:

And in terms of current device support we have S60 3.2 and S60 5.0 (Symbian^1) - can we expect to see this extended?

Christof Hellmis:

We haven't decided yet. Going forward it is obvious - all new devices including Maemo / MeeGo platform will get the client. For others we haven't made a final decision yet, for us it is mainly a resource problem - we have scarce resources - we have roadmaps that burst with new innovation which we want to do - so it is a question what do we do first - and we haven't decided yet.

Rafe Blandford:

Ovi Maps as a product has strengths and weakness. A common comparison is the location / points of information database tied in with Google Maps versus Ovi Maps. Is there something we can expect to see in the future where this will improve?

Christof Hellmis:

Yes, we will improve a lot. We do not crawl the web for information because it is not so reliable. You see us being very active in the partner space - a few weeks ago Navteq announced a partnership with a Turkish yellow pages provider - so you will see us partnering with a lot of PoI and content providers that provide more accurate and more complete data. But clearly this is something we are absolutely aware of, something we would like to improve, but we do it with our partners because we believe a purely web based crawling approach does not make so much sense for us.

Rafe Blandford:

Do you think user generated PoIs could play a role here? Looking at Google, they have their GoogleBase, a lot of their strategy is based around user generated data.

Christof Hellmis:

It will be. But it will not be an either or. As always in life it will be a combination. The same way we don't believe in purely community generated maps, we believe it is very good to have a high quality base, maybe on mapping, maybe on PoI and use the community to correct, update or add missing information. This makes much more sense than just relying on the community approach - which we believe it is difficult to get a holistic and complete picture.

Rafe Blandford:

And similarly can we expect to improvements in the satellite view etc.?

Christof Hellmis:

Yes, we are working a lot [on this] and our partner DigiGlobe - they just launched a new satellite, so you will see this improving. If you follow Navteq closely they are equipping their new cars to make more imagery, richer imagery, move towards 3D imagery, photo realistic objects and point clouds. There is a lot of innovation to happen - this is why I said new chapter started - by far it is not done.

Rafe Blandford:

Traditionally Navteq has been on a six month update cycle - have you asked them to impove that. so you can have continuous updates, given that Ovi Maps is delivered over the air.

Christof Hellmis:

Navteq delivers roughly four releases a year, but it is obvious that the way maps have been delivered in the past - as DVD sets - this will change in the future. A live service will have the ability to update much quicker, and , yes, this is one of the key areas where we work with Navteq very closely together to have some sort of incremental updating of map data available and enabled.

Rafe Blandford:

And talking about Map coverage, on of the key areas is the wide range of coverage. Can you tell us how many countries people are using Ovi Maps in?

Christof Hellmis:

I think it is easier to count how many countries people are not using Ovi Maps. I think it is Korea - where we don't have maps, Japan - there we don’t have maps, Israel - we don’t have maps. We see users of Maps in every other country - there is not a single country where Maps is not being used. Of course the intensity varies - and that goes along with our strengths in the device business, but I think that is natural.

Rafe Blandford:

What is the timeline for Ovi Developer SDK ('apps on maps')?

Christof Hellmis:

That's an interesting question. We are working very hard to mature it and productise it and our plan is something in the second half, to give something out on real devices. And from day one have some compelling apps running on top of the Ovi Developer SDK running.

Rafe Blandford:

Do you see that as the way to add compelling features. For example one of the number one consumer desires is to have accurate public transport information - multi-modal transport information?

Christof Hellmis:

Yes, you will see multiple roles. Probably you will find more static information, like a basic Tube Planner, being part of a map. But as you already saw in September at Nokia World when we launched the closed Beta, we had Deutsche Bahn as one partner - they do public transport for all over Germany - and you could see in real time where the trains and buses are.

But you can also go round user cases where you say 'I am arriving at a station and I want to rent a bike' (because Deutsche Bahn also provide a bike and car rental service). So it is really about enablement of a multi-modal use case, but it is provided and operated by Deutsche Bahn, it is their look and feel, their use case - they know how best to do it on top of the Ovi SDK.

Rafe Blandford:

And can you tell us about the technology that this is built on top of?

Christof Hellmis:

It is standard web technology. So it scripting not coding we say. Our players have JavaScript APIs. So if you use HTML, CSS and JavaScript you are done.

Rafe Blandford:

And that also ties into the web version of Ovi Maps?

Christof Hellmis:

That's the true promise of our Ovi SDK that uses web technologies and spans across everything that is W3C comatible will be able to run Ovi applications.

Jeb Brilliant [A Brilliant Blog]:

Are we going to see more services in addition to Facebook on Lifecasting?

Christof Hellmis:

Yes, definetely, we will see other social networks. We can add networks without major upgrades.

Rafe Blandford:

What does it feel like to be part of this mapping revolution?

Christof Hellmis:

For us it is the ride of our lives, to be very honest. January 21st would have been a good time to retire, if the next phase wasn't even more interesting that the first phase! Because again Navigation is the base case, it is the obvious one, but it is the commoditized one. You don't get excited by turn by turn anymore. It needs to work and work reasonably well, yes there will be innovation, but is evolution not revolution.

Now the really interesting game starts. All the hyper-social, hyper-local - the combination of those on top - this is where it gets exciting and 3 dimensional stuff, where you really start to get eye candy.

For a lot of people a map is map - its is just 2D - just colorful lines on a display. But for us mapping in context is really 3D - the digitized globe - this is why it is getting really exciting. Nokia is about connecting people - it always was and I hope, in the future, it always will be. The way people connect will be raised to new dimensions. If you really look at what matters for people in their daily lives there are three dimensional matters. There are three things - time, location and other people. Combining these three dimensions cleverly in your life in something that supports you - this is what we are after.

All About Symbian: BigBen strikes for S60

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:17:43 +0000

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.

BigBen "protects the phone from accidental use by locking keys. The key lock can be triggered by idle time, application switch, and other events. In locked state BigBen acts as a fully customizable screen-saver, with various backgrounds and colors. The provided large digital and analog clocks are easily seen from a distance. The program also offers visible and audible reminders for missed calls, alarms and messages. Further services include the display of upcoming calendar items, and hourly chime with selectable sound. With BigBen it is possible to make the phone look and sound like the famous tower clock in London."

Links:

Documentation for BigBen:

User Guide, FAQ

Download trial version

Andrew Grill: MIPTV in Cannes April 2010 the place to be this year #miptv

Andrew Grill — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:17:08 +0000

All About Symbian: AAS Insight #108 - Symbian vs the rest, Nokia Nuron

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 08:03:48 +0000

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.

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Got a question or a topic you would like us to ponder and discuss in the next podcast?

Got some feedback from us (love it or hate it)?

Get in touch and let us know.

All About Symbian: Emoze Pro now free

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 07:37:55 +0000

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.

Apart from Rich HTML support, and PUSH email, the full version of Emoze also has:

Configure multiple accounts on a single handset
- Outlook
- Gmail
- Hotmail
- Facebook messaging
- Your own home or ISP email account
- OWA Corporate email
Manage all your email accounts on the GO
- Send and receive email
- Reply, forward and save to drafts
- Receive, View, Send and Download attachments up to 2MB
Each email account is identified by its own icon.
Each email account has its own inbox
Create folders and save mail from any account to a folder

You can download Emoze at Emoze.com or by visiting M.Emoze.com on your phone.

All About Symbian: AAA-powered as well?

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 06:26:15 +0000

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...

All About Symbian: 2010 Metal Monsters: Nokia N97 mini and Motorola Milestone

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 18:31:23 +0000

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?

"Both sit in the hand and feel like they mean business. The cool metal and ultra-solid build mean that you at least can see where your £380 has gone - in contrast to certain plastic devices which shall remain nameless (that creak and bend at the slightest provocation)."

Read on

All About Symbian: The E55 gets the treatment

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 18:27:58 +0000

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....

Symbian Freak: Hotel Booking Is Now Location Aware With Ovi Maps and HRS

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 12:17:17 +0000

Booking a hotel for Nokia users just got a lot easier with the HRS, Europe’s leading online hotel reservation system, that opening up its 250,000+ strong database of hotels to all Ovi Maps users.

With the latest version of the Ovi Maps and the HRS you can easily; search hotels close to your current location, check real-time price and availability information, make the booking with just a couple of clicks (or taps) on your Nokia phone and finally, be guided to your hotel with the free turn-by-turn navigation service, all with Maps!

You can also search for hotel accommodation in the customary manner by simply entering the destination, the arrival and departure dates and the room category. The displayed ho... .. .

All About Symbian: Does Symbian need a Mobile Browser Ballot?

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 11:02:53 +0000

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...

With the explosion of cloud computing, the browser is becoming an even more important gateway not just to traditional information-based websites, but services such as mapping, email, productivity and office suites. Couple that with Microsoft using their dominance of the Operating System market to make their Internet Explorer the default choice, and the EU were always going to look at this issue.

So the ballot is a sensible option that makes the browser choice simple for end users, without causing too much trouble in setting up a computer system.

The only question I have is when will we see a similar ballot screen on a mobile device?

Right now, the web browser on a mobile phone is tied very tightly into the operating system. It’s a vital part of how the phone works. Certainly under S60, the web browser plays a huge part in distributed computing, through the use of Widgets. Nokia have the largest market share in the mobile phone market, and as S60 pushes down into the low range handsets, that dominance could allow them to force “standards” onto sites, and not just with widgets, but with formatting of mobile sites and developers writing for a specific browser, rather than the mobile web in general.

Sound familiar?

I’m sure that Opera would like to get a stronger foothold into the smartphone market – the news from the Norwegian company is that the desktop browser ballot has resulted in a threefold increase of downloads of their browser. They already have a foothold in the mobile market with both Opera Mini (Java) and Opera Mobile (native code) versions available for multiple platforms.

Is it right that they get shut out by many because the handsets ship with a browser already installed? Mozilla have their mobile version of Firefox targeted at Maemo and the N900 devices – is there an option to do a deal with Nokia to get on the Internet Computer’s software stack? And there must be someone in Google playing around with builds of the Chrome browser on handsets other than Android.

Of course the marketplace for smartphones is much more competitive, with not only multiple handsets but multiple operating systems out there. You could argue for a long time that this provides the market with enough choice to calm competition regulators; with two year contracts being the norm now, that’s a lot of lock-in to a single platform, and not having any easy alternatives to something as vital as the browser could raise eyebrows in Brussels.

Do I think a protest is likely? No, but I do think that as an ecosystem we need to make sure that the values of openness and choice need to flow through everything in the chain – right now the browser is there, it works, but it, and the protocols it will use for cloud computing, are determined by the market leading company, and that’s a little worrying.

-- Ewan Spence, March 2010.

All About Symbian: Hotel Reservation Service (HRS) starting to be added to Ovi Maps

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 09:36:58 +0000

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.

"Booking a hotel just got a lot easier with HRS, Europe’s leading online hotel reservation system, opening up its 250,000+ strong database of hotels to Maps users:

search hotels close to your current location,
check real-time price and availability information,
make the booking with just a couple of clicks (or taps) on your Nokia phone and finally,
be guided to your hotel with the free turn-by-turn navigation service, all with Maps!

You can also search for hotel accommodation in the customary manner by simply entering the destination, the arrival and departure dates and the room category. The displayed hotels can be sorted according to individual preferences, such as the distance from the current location, the price or star rating. Useful information such as photos, hotel descriptions and average customer ratings is also available for display via the Ovi Maps service. You then only need to enter your contact details to make the booking at the desired hotel and choose whether you prefer to have your booking information sent to your device by SMS, email or both. For those users in Germany and Finland who have already downloaded the latest Ovi Maps, the HRS service will automatically appear on the homepage after signing into their Ovi account."

More on the Ovi Blog

Symbian Freak: Ovi Store Statistic: Nearly 1.5 Million Downloads A Day!

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 09:27:07 +0000

For those of you keeping track, Ovi Store continues to grow and these latest stats indicate an on-going upward trend for downloads and other metrics. Here are the latest stats for Ovi Store as of the 28th of February.

Nokia's online source for mobile content, is hitting its stride. Consumers in more than 180 countries now come to Ovi Store for nearly 1.5 million downloads a day. Volume is growing quickly: new users and downloads are up in February more than 100% month-on-month from January.

Local language support on Ovi Store, originally just seven languages, has now increased to 16: Chinese, Danish, Dutch, German, English, Finnish, French, Canadian Fren... .. .

Symbian Freak: Calling All Innovators: It's Back And It's Bigger Than Ever!

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 08:39:37 +0000

The 2010 Calling All Innovators competition is now accepting entries through 18 May. Last year the competition attracted more than 1,700 submissions from 85 countries, and this year could be even bigger.

Entries may be submitted in any of four categories: Eco/Being Green, Entertainment, Life Improvement, and Productivity.

The prizes will include cash awards of up to $30,000; spotlight placement in Ovi Store; a user experience evaluation; and a free one year membership in Forum Nokia Launchpad, a premier program to accelerate mobile development and elev... .. .

All About Symbian: How to: print photos via Wi-Fi from your Nseries phone

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 06:32:08 +0000

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.

Read on

Symbian Freak: Gig Finder Gets An Update And Many Bug Fixes

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 12:23:02 +0000

Following the great feedback submitted by the Beta Labs community, Gig Finder team have created a new release of Gig Finder that address most of the bugs reported by users.

Gig Finder lets you search for concerts / live music entertainment, purchase tickets directly from your mobile, and get relevant recommendations based on your music tastes and location (Location relevance currently available for USA, Canada, UK & Ireland).

Gig Finder allows you to quickly find the best live shows, concerts & other music events through adaptive algorithm that sorts the huge selection of live music and filter res... .. .

Symbian Freak: Nokia Partners With Automotive Industry To Introduce Terminal Mode - A New Industry Standard For Connecting Smartphones To In-Car Infotainment Systems

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:29:04 +0000

Nokia believes it should be easy to share information and content between your smartphone and other devices you use everyday such as your PC and the web. This way it is easy to keep everything synchronized and ensure you always have access to the things you love, such as your music, and the services you use, such as navigation, whenever and wherever you need them.

The average person spends between one and two hours per day in their car. Given that their smartphone not only holds their favorite music but now, if it is a Nokia smartphone, comes with free worldwide navigation services (Ovi Maps), the nex... .. .

Symbian Freak: Ovi Mail Now Integrated With Contacts And Comes With Arabic Support

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 10:22:17 +0000

The Ovi Mail team has just released Ovi Mail 2.0. With this release, your Ovi Mail contacts and Ovi Contacts are merged into one contacts list. Now you can view, edit, delete or create your contacts from Ovi Contacts or Ovi Mail. You can also sync your device phonebook with Ovi Contacts and Ovi Mail. This was the most desired feature by Ovi Mail users and we are excited to bring this to you.

Ovi Mail 2.0 also comes with Arabic support to help customers in Arabic-speaking countries view their Ovi Mail account in Arabic. Over 280 Million people use Arabic as their first lang... .. .

Symbian Freak: Qik Premium Application Available On Ovi Store

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:28:01 +0000

Qik, the leading live mobile video streaming platform, expands their relationship with Nokia by offering a Premium Qik application for Symbian devices through Nokia Ovi store.

Starting today you can download your videos, burn them into DVDs, enjoy higher quality playback and faster playback on slower connections for a promotional price of only $4.99/year.

Qik lets anyone easily stream live video from their handset, sharing their moments in real-time with selected friends and family or the entire world. More than three doze... .. .

Symbian Freak: Skype Now Available For Nokia Smartphones In Ovi Store

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:18:21 +0000

Skype and Nokia today jointly announced the release of Skype for Symbian, a Skype client for Nokia smartphones based on the Symbian platform, the world's most popular smartphone platform.

Skype for Symbian will allow Nokia smartphone users worldwide to use Skype on the move, over either a WiFi or mobile data connection (GPRS, EDGE, 3G). It is now downloadable for free from the Ovi Store, Nokia's one-stop shop for mobile content.

Skype for Symbian will run on any Nokia smartphone using Symbian ^1, the latest version of the Symbian platform. Skype will soon introduce this client to Sym... .. .

Symbian Freak: Nokia 5230 Nuron delivers apps, maps and free navigation to T-Mobile USA customers

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 07:23:41 +0000

Nokia and T-Mobile USA today announced the upcoming availability of the Nokia 5230 Nuron, a smartphone solution for the masses packed with applications, maps with turn-by-turn directions, and more. Operating on T-Mobile's blazing-fast 3G network, the Nokia Nuron offers dynamic Web browsing and rich experiences on a 3.2" touch screen.

The device is also the first pre-loaded with Ovi Maps, a free turn-by-turn navigation solution from Nokia, and the first to have the Ovi Store pre-loaded, giving consumers access to thousands of compelling applications and games. The Nokia Nu... .. .

Symbian Freak: It's Official: Introducing the Nokia C5!

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 08:18:18 +0000

Nokia today unveiled the Nokia C5, a smartphone optimized for social networking and sharing.

The compact device includes access to Nokia’s range of mobile services, such as free navigation, in one affordable package, with an estimated retail price of EUR 135, before taxes and subsidies.

With direct access to favorite contacts on the device homescreen and Facebook status updates visible from the phonebook, the Nokia C5 keeps people connected with the ones who mat... .. .

Symbian Freak: Nokia C5, An Affordable Smartphone Optimized For Social Networking And Sharing

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 08:02:59 +0000

I am not sure if this is planned or not, but Nokia has just released its first C series smartphone over at its official Facebook page.

According to Nokia, C5 is an affordable smartphone optimized for social networking and sharing that is expected to bring the Symbian OS to a broader audience at a great price and that's all we know for now.

I just hope we will get the full specifications soon altogether with its big brother equipped with the QWERTY keyb... .. .

Gabor Torok: Forum Nokia Champion - Elected for the fifth times

tote_b5 — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:44:40 +0000

I've just been informed by Nokia that I had got re-elected for the fourth times as a Forum Nokia Champion for 2010, thus it's my 5th year in succession from the launch of this program. It's definitely worth looking back what has happened in the past 4 years.

I started as a keen contributor to NewLC Symbian forum back in 2004. I had been programming for Symbian for 4 years by then when I "opened my eyes" to see that there were quite many independent developers eagerly looking for help on Symbian programming. I was fortunate enough to be "close to the fire" as I had been contributing to S60 platform development and as such had good resources to learn from. With the wish of helping others, I was an active contributor of the afore-mentioned forum.

Then came 2006 when Nokia kicked-off Forum Nokia Champion program to reward those people who had voluntarily helped the community and spread the word. People who were not only developers: one of the best examples is Anina, "an international model with a passion for technology". The word? Yeah, mobile development in general and those technologies in particular that had to do with Nokia. Like Symbian, Java, Flash, etc.

The good things offered to FNCs (our short name), among others, are:

Welcome device (one per year), I just voted for an N900 this year
Semiannual Forum Nokia Champion Day held at various places
Market yourself as a FNC backed by Nokia's brand, which is not only valuable when you're an individual, but your company is also authorized to use the FNC logo
Early access to new hardware, documentation.

Thanks to this program I met such people that I would never have done and learned about the use of mobile in medicine, developing countries in Africa, heard how people at universities get in touch with mobile, how an RC car can be controlled with a mobile, etc. I made friendships, took part in writing a book, got to know fellow Hungarians whom I would have never met otherwise. Met friendly Indians, heard about inventive people from the Orient and was proud when one of my workmates got also nominated as an FNC.

We created our informal e-mail group that is an inexhaustible source of mobile development knowledge, are available on LinkedIn (closed group, sorry), share ideas, job ads, etc among ourselves, and ultimately form a loose network of trustworthy people that we can always turn to with our problems.

I've also been rewarded by numerous small and not so small gifts during the years of my membership, being the biggest is the opportunity that I could travel around the world for the sake of meeting my fellow champions: I've been in Singapore, Las Vegas where I didn't lose a dime, London where I was one of the presenters and Budapest my home town at the time.

And even though my main focus has turned from being a "plain" Symbian developer long ago to sharing opinion on blogs and other forums as well as actively helping Nokia do their business, the point is still the same: it IS worth being a Forum Nokia Champion.

Who else has remained from the original founding members?

Tote

mobile-thoughts.blogspot.com

Home to PyS60 Developers: Nokia’s roadmap document released

Manikantan — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 08:31:22 +0000

Yesterday Forum Nokia released it’s roadmap document on its prospective work in 2010. This document is important to all developers who are aiming to make impression in the Nokia landscape of mobile devices. Insights in the document include -

1. The different Nokia platforms today - S60, Series 40 and the Maemo ( moving to Meego ).

2. Market share of different OS in mobile phones today ; Symbian continues to hold nearly 45% of the space.

3. Introduction to the Meego platform. And many more..

Quoted from the document - “ Series 40 supports Adobe Flash Lite 3.1;Symbian also offers Java ME, Flash Lite 3.1 and Microsoft Silverlight; Maemo offers support for Adobe Flash 9.4. We also expect to move to full Adobe Flash support on Symbian. Series 40 supports Adobe Flash Lite 3.1;Symbian also offers Java ME, Flash Lite 3.1 and Microsoft Silverlight; Maemo offers support for Adobe Flash9.4. We also expect to move to full Adobe Flash supporton Symbian. ”

It is really nice to note that Nokia is considering Flash to be an uncompromisable platform in its future for delivering rich content to its users; despite huge speculation about HTML5’s entry and how it can affect Flash’s market share.

Combining Python with Flash Lite and Symbian C++ This month series of papers were released by the Symbian...
SWFxME released ! My friend Sajid Ali has been working quite sometime on...
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Symbian Freak: VIDEO: First Glimpse Of The Symbian S^4 User Interface

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 12:14:22 +0000

Couple of week ago Nokia has submitted a proposal for a new framework for Symbian-powered UIs, to the Foundation's open community and now we just got the first video demonstartion of the Symbian S^4 user interface.

Sneak peek at the next gen Symbian user interface showed off a nice array of eye candy and some actually useful bits, like support for capacitive screens, multitouch, gestures, multiple desktop filled with widgets and advanced graphics effects that are scheduled to be in the release later this year.

Direct UI improves the competitiveness of the Foundation Platform by reorganizing and clarifying the feature richness of the software to improve access to and use of richly interco... .. .

Symbian Freak: New Ovi Maps Beta (v3.04) Brings Extensive Performance Improvements

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 11:41:03 +0000

The good folks over at Nokia Beta labs have just introduced new Beta version of the Ovi Maps.

With the Ovi MapsBeta (v3.04) exploring new places and getting to your destination is easier and faster than ever. This new Beta release is all about performance improvement.

They have made a few tweaks to improve the performance of Ovi Maps including improved positioning speed and accuracy, faster map zooming as well as improved search for cities with zoom out to city lev... .. .

Symbian Freak: Nokia N86 Explore: New Exhibition Opens @ Heathrow T5

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 11:08:30 +0000

If you live in or around the London area you'll have a chance to check out the huge, new exhibition at Heathrow Terminal 5 sponsored by Heathrow / BAA, Nokia and Skyline Whitespace.

This exhibition compares two very different cities Mumbai and Dubai, it will feature what I believe will be the world's largest printed mobile phone image and will be a show case of the creative and technical capabilities of Nokia's best camera phone. The images were created by stitching many separate mobile phone shots together to produce these extraordinary panoramic Images.

The 'Nokia N86 Explore' project set out to capture the essence and vitality of this two cities, Dubai and Mumbai using the Nokia N86 8MP. The two cities turned out to be very diff... .. .

Home to PyS60 Developers: Nixie Watch 1.30 (analog watch)

Jouni Miettunen — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 03:31:27 +0000

Nixie Watch is a software emulation of cool wristwatch seen in wrist of Steve “Woz” Wozniak, made using analog numerical tubes. Wish I had one, but had to settle for this… Looks good on my N97 mini - and as a bonus it also shows current time!

http://jouni.miettunen.googlepages.com/nixiewatch

Version 1.30, 2010-02-25

* New: Support PyS60 2.0.0
* New: Support S60 5th ed screen-size
* New: Manual screen rotation
* Tested with N97 mini and PyS60 2.0.0

* Support touch-only screen
* Red, Green and Blue nixie tubes
* http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2009/04…s-things-done/
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nixie_Wozniak.jpg

Enjoy,
–jouni

Nixie Watch v1.10 Google Analytics reports about 1000 pageviews in two weeks for...
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Symbian Freak: FCC Confirms Recently Rumored Nokia C6!?

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 13:29:59 +0000

Blurry photos and specifications of what is said to be the first Nokia C series device has made the rounds throughout the Internet rumour mill over the last couple of weeksjust got a bit more official!

Of course we still don't have any official word from the Nokia itself but at least now we have solid confirmation from none other than one of the most trusted sources of leaking confidential industry information.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), that approves all devices using the U.S. airwaves including recently rumoured Nokia C6, new messaging related device that is expected to brings the QWERTY keyboard form factor to a broader au... .. .

Symbian Freak: Sony Ericsson Vivaz Now Available To Pre-Order!

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 06:46:36 +0000

After gaining loads of attention since its official unveiling last month, the Sony Ericsson Vivaz is now available to pre-order at mobiles.co.uk as well as on Vodafone UK.

Vivaz is of the most eagerly awaited phones of 2010 and pre-ordering will guarantee you are one of the first to receive the hottest Sony Ericsson's touchscreen device that will be shipped direct to your door from the production line so you'll have it the same day it hits the stores.

Previously known as the Kurara, the Vivaz sports a vivid 3.2 inch touchscreen display and runs the Symbian operating system letting you customise the user interface with shortcuts and exciting new apps. The Sony Ericsson Vivaz also feat... .. .

Symbian Freak: Video: Vodafone UK Rolls Out Qik Service To Its Customers

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:08:43 +0000

The UK has always had a large cultural and lifestyle impact on the world. From literature, music, sports, fashion.and now Qik!

UK will be rolling out Qik, the leading live mobile video service, to its customers. This will enable Vodafone customers to easily share their everyday moments and events with their family and friends instantly.

With Qik, Vodafone UK customers can record and share videos directly from their mobile to their favourite social networks, like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, send video messages privately via SMS and email, or upload videos to a ran... .. .

Symbian Freak: According To Gartner Nokia and Symbian Still Lead Worldwide Mobile Phone Sales

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 13:49:38 +0000

In a report published today, market research and advisory company Gartner said that Nokia as well as Symbian still lead worldwide mobile phone sales while Android creeping up slowly.

Worldwide mobile phone sales to end users totalled 1.211 billion units in 2009, a 0.9 per cent decline from 2008, according to Gartner, Inc. In the fourth quarter of 2009, the market registered a single-digit growth as mobile phone sales to end users surpassed 340 million units, an 8.3 per cent increase from the fourth quarter of 2008.

"The mobile devices market finished on a very positive note, driven by growth in smartphones and low-end devices," said Carolina Milanesi, research director at Gartner. "Smartphone sales to end users continued their strong growth in the fou... .. .

Symbian Freak: Sky and Nokia To Offer Live TV on Nokia Smartphones

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 07:41:36 +0000

British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) and Nokia have signed a deal to offer live coverage of Sky Sports and Sky News on selected Nokia devices through free application that will give Nokia smartphone users a way to watch live Premiership football matches on their phones.

The companies say the new service “is set to revolutionise the viewing habits of Nokia phone owners. with real time sports, entertainment and news services whilst on the move".

As far as I know, application is only compatible with the 5th edition devices, Nokia N97, Nokia N97 mini, Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, and Nokia 5530, with the Nokia 5230 and X6 ver... .. .

Symbian Freak: Opera Releases Third Beta Of Its Mobile Browser

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 11:23:18 +0000

Opera Mobile 10 moves one step closer towards final with the release of third Beta of their mobile browser for Symbian devices.

In its continuing effort to improve mobile browsing, Norwegian software company Opera announced on Friday the release of a new version of its Opera Mobile 10 that includes a few new features along with numerous bug fixes and improved speed and stability.

Opera continues its mission to unify its browser products, and today's beta release is no exception. Features further polished in the third beta release are the unified look and feel ac.. .. .

Symbian Freak: Nokia X10: Next Nokia Full Touchscreen Device Leaked!?

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:49:41 +0000

The inside-out "leakage" of confidential information is a serious and fast-growing problem and I'm sure most of you realized by now that Nokia has serious security problem with a 'moles' penetrated deeply into its product development and production department.

Nokia apparently fails to stop leaking sensitive corporate data and their employees and beta testers continues with leaking confidential information and it becoming really hard job for Nokia to keep the information about upcoming models hidden from the public before its official release!

Sure, this is more than welcome issue for the end users and freaks like us but the leak of confidential information about unannounced products or technologies can alert compet... .. .

Symbian Freak: Nokia Ovi Suite Gets An Update And Many Bug Fixes

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 09:08:22 +0000

The deployment of Nokia Ovi Suite 2.1.0.87 started yesterday as a web update for existing Nokia Ovi Suite users.

If you've downloaded Ovi Suite within the past week, you probably already have this version but if you get an update notification in Nokia Ovi Suite about this new release it is highly suggestible to go ahead and proceed to update into latest version, as it contains many improvements, new features and numerous different bug fixes in different parts of software including many crash bugs, which have been reported to the team during the 1st beta testing period.

With Nokia Ovi Suite 2.1 you can easily shuttle multiple content types between your device and computer; register for Ovi services and upload photos or download maps for fr... .. .

Symbian Freak: Nokia to Launch Snapdragon Powered Symbian Phone

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 06:59:14 +0000

In a recent interview with Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, Qualcomm chief Paul Jacobs reportedly stated that two companies are working together to develop advanced smartphone running under Symbian OS and powered with Qualcomm's Snapdragon processor.

Nokia and Qualcomm are leaders in advanced wireless technologies, and this new level of cooperation will bring exceptional leaps in mobile performance to people around the world. The first mobile devices based on this collaboration are expected to launch in mid-2010 and to be powered with Symbian^3 Platform.

Snapdragon is the name of the architecture of a family of chipsets with an ARM-based CPU. The architecture was developed by Qualcomm (which calls Snapdragon a "platfor... .. .

Symbian Freak: Comarch - a member of the Symbian Foundation

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 20:13:01 +0000

The Symbian Foundation today took time out from the Mobile World Congress to present the variety of ways in which members have been contributing to the success of the open source platform, while simultaneously boosting their own business.

Symbian is the only mobile open source project in which active members truly determine the future of mobile - stated Lee M. Williams, Executive Director of the Symbian Foundation.

Members are raising their profile in the ecosystem and generating new business opportunities for themselves through the diverse methods in which they are engaging with the pro... .. .

Symbian Freak: SPB Mobile Shell 5.0 Arrives, Brings Support for Symbian

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 08:45:04 +0000

SPB Software, a leading mobile applications and games developer announces the release of SPB Mobile Shell 5.0, a major upgrade to the world's bestselling mobile application, popular among both end-users and OEMs.

Unlike all the previous versions of SPB Mobile Shell available exclusively for Windows Mobile smartphones with touchscreens, version 5.0 is to be released for Android, Windows Mobile and Symbian. Thanks to the new portable SPB UI Engine, SPB Mobile Shell is planned to be spread to more mobile platforms.

Major updates to the new version include a new 3D engine and an improved social networking integration. The former means support for new types of eye candy effects su... .. .

Symbian Freak: Final Version Of Skype Client For Symbian Devices Gets Support For Touchscreen Devices!

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 08:03:02 +0000

If you are waiting for the native Skype client for Symbian phones you have probably already suspend your hopes and/or got some of the 3rd party solutions that transfer voice and video over the cell or wi-fi networks to Skype network.

Fortunately, the long wait is over as Skype's mobile dev team have just announced the final release of the native Skype client for Symbian devices that brings several bug fixes, performance enhancements as well as compatibility improvements.

Alaso, many of you have been asking when they'll release a version for touchscreen phones and I am very pleased to inform you that final version adds support for touch User Inte... .. .

Kuneri Bloggy: In App purchasing for Flash Lite

Ugur — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 00:48:25 +0000

Integration of Tanla License Manager into KuneriLite Rapid Application Development toolkit, brings monetization and DRM solution on top of cost-effective & thrilling Symbian app development using Flash Lite. February 15 2010, Mobile World Congress, Barcelona - Tanla and Kuneri today announced their cooperation in providing In App purchasing solution for Flash Lite. In App purchasing, powered [...]

Symbian Freak: Nuance Unveils T9 Write for Pen-Based and Touch Screen Devices

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 17:20:43 +0000

Nuance Communications, Inc. today announced an enhanced version of Nuance T9 Write, the Company's innovative handwriting technology for touch screen and pen-based devices that features multi-touch gesture and on-top writing capabilities.

Nuance T9 Write blends handwriting input with Nuance XT9 predictive text technology to enhance the recognition of naturally shaped letters, numbers, symbols and punctuation in more than 40 languages - predicting words as you write them.

"The text input landscape has changed significantly over the last few years with the advent of touch screen devices, so Nuance continuously innovates to give manufacturers and th... .. .

Symbian Freak: fring Brings Skype Video Calls To All Symbian 9.2 Devices

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 17:02:43 +0000

As you may or may not know, fring launched the world's first fring and Skype mobile video calls last November, enabling users to conduct video calls to other fringsters as well as with Skype contacts over their device's Wi-Fi or 3G internet connection.

Today, only 2 months after its launch, their mobile video calling usage rates are already a substantial percentage of our users' mobile internet calls.

Video over Internet calls account for more than 40% of fring's global call traffic, on supported devices, and more than 60% of its call traffic throughout top Western European cou... .. .

Symbian Freak: The Symbian Foundation Joins Adobe's Open Screen Project!

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 10:51:44 +0000

The Symbian Foundation today announced that it is joining the Open Screen Project, an industry initiative led by Adobe dedicated to enabling the Adobe® Flash® Platform across a broad range of devices.

The work of the Open Screen Project will help deliver Adobe Flash Player on future versions of the Symbian platform.

The rich and open capabilities of the Symbian platform combined with the Flash Player will enable Symbian device users to benefit from the huge amount of Flash-based web content for a vivid and complete Internet experience. “It's difficult to ima... .. .