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Top Story: Any colour smartphone you like, not just black
With the Symbian Foundation set to provide an open source smartphone OS, hardware partners with off the shelf components, and a huge amount of software ready to be placed into a smartphone, is the time right for the smaller companies to come back to Symbian? Ewan considers the potential rise of the boutique range of smartphones in 2010. Read on...
Top Story: AAS Podcast 138: Interview with Lee Williams, Symbian Foundation
In All About Symbian Podcast 138, Rafe talks to Lee Williams, Executive Director of the Symbian Foundation. The interview covers a wide range of topics, including the Symbian Foundation's planned application arena, the universal web runtime, the forthcoming Symbian Exchange and Exposition, Qt and the Symbian Foundation, the challenges of openness and open governance, and more.
Top Story: A tale of three smartphones: Rescuing a dead battery
Faced with a dead Nokia N86 that refused to charge, I didn't panic - armed with the luxury of some of other devices to hand, I was able to get the N86 and its battery revived and working properly. And, in the process, learned that all Nokia's batteries are electrically interchangeable. Maybe these concept will save the day when your precious S60 phone appears to have died? At the very least, add this to your 'Things to try' check list!
Nokia Should Lock Up Ovi Store Developers In A Warehouse
Over on the Lazarus like Mobile Industry Review, the other Ewan in mobile has posted an ambitious yet simple plan to save the Ovi Store from itself. Simply put, Nokia would create three enclaves of coders (in London, San Francisco and Paris) and give them a monthly stipend of £3,500 and as much coca cola and pizza as they can eat. As long as they code one application every eight weeks, the proposed 100 developers per warehouse get to stay. Total cost? Roughly £2.34 per handset. That's quite high, but this is a fascinating idea that should be taken seriously.
Nokia E71 and E66 v300.21.012 firmware update now available
An updated firmware, version 300.21.012, is now available for both the Nokia E71 and E66 (previous version was 210.xx.xxx). This is a major firmware update for the Nokia E71 and E66, it includes updates to Mail for Exchange software and email wizard, adds Internet Radio and social networking bookmark widgets, and improves overall performance. The new firmware can be downloaded and installed via Nokia Software Updater.
YouTube S60 client gets minor update to 2.2.6
Yep, it's another update to Google native S60 YouTube client, to v2.2.6, though note that this seems to be more about increasing compatibility - there are no performance improvements, you still can't log in to YouTube and it still doesn't work full-screen on the Nokia 5800. Ah well, at least it shows the development team is active! You can grab v2.2.6 via m.google.com on your phone.
Ovi Contacts updated, now supports touch/S60 5th Edition
Ovi Contacts, originally Nokia Chat, integrates the standard S60 contact list with a proprietary instant messaging and presence/status system. It has just had an update that brings it close to formal release status and includes much wider compatibilty, including support for the Nokia N97 and 5800 XpressMusic. The next step, presumably, is to start building this into more phones (the Nokia 5630 XpressMusic, Nokia 5730 XpressMusic and Nokia 6720 classic) already have it. Data-phobes should note that Ovi Contacts requires an online connection and will consume a small amount of bandwidth. Maps lookups are integrated into Ovi Maps.
Ovi Maps 3.0 is now officially released (but you need a PC)
It's official. After months of beta testing, Nokia has released Ovi Maps (née Nokia Maps) 3.0 to the world for most (but not all) S60 3rd Edition FP1, FP2 and S60 5th Edition phones. The download is a 20MB Windows installer, so you do have to own a PC, but there's a little note on the Ovi Maps download page saying that Mac support is 'coming soon'. I certainly hope so. See also Rafe's preview of this release, here on AAS.
The Nokia E51 hits v400
Nokia has also released v400.34.011 firmware for the diminutive E51, bringing "improvements and increased stability in Mail for Exchange and SMS reception". It also "improves stability and usability for VoIP and WLAN" and "robustness improvements when pressing the Home key". 'Stability improvements' and 'Robustness improvements' are of course Nokia speak for fixing bugs(!), but we're not complaining. Do note that the E51 is old enough not to have User Data Preservation, so do a full backup to memory card before using Nokia Software Update and then restore again afterwards. And make a note of any critical email or application settings - you know the drill.
The Phones Show 84 with Symbian interview and N86 review
The Phones Show 84 is now public (embedded below too), with a reprise commentary on the Nokia E75, a hands-on review of the Nokia N86 8MP and a interview with the Symbian Foundation's Executive Director Lee Williams, asking him some of your questions, on the subjects of robot duck overlords, LTE, touchscreens, open source OS and, of course, which phone does he personally use(!)
The Nokia N96 also gets a big bump - to v30.033 firmware
Not as sexy as the N97's update, no doubt, but the Nokia N96 has always underperformed and I'm hoping that v30.033 firmware, also released today, will help the beleaguered flagship-of-2008 come up to par. v30 is a 6MB over-the-air update and installed smoothly on my N96. The previous firmware version was v20, by the way. Some brief comments below.
The Nokia N97 firmware v11 goes live
For many people anyway, e.g. here at N97 enthusiast Gerry Moth's. See also his Twitter feed for his comments through the day. Rafe and Tzer2 both have N97s here at AAS and I'll try to get some comments out of them through the day!
I like my old phone, so why should I upgrade?
One of the questions sent into the All About Symbian podcasts has got me thinking. It was along the lines of "are you looking forward to the Nokia N97 or the N86 more?", and my honest answer, out of those two, was the N97. But reflecting a bit more on the question, and while the journalist in me wants to see the N97 in action (probably around this year's Edinburgh Festival, but more on that in August), the consumer in me doesn't feel the need to step up.
Skyfire updated
The popular proxy-based, media-friendly (and free) browser, Skyfire, has just had a significant update, to v1.0.0.12114, adding a reduced memory footprint and a long list of bug fixes (detailed below). You can upgrade by going to http://get.skyfire.com on your S60 3rd Edition phone. There's still no S60 5th Edition version, sadly.
They Breathe! Name the phones, win N79 hardware
"Breathe, breathe in the air"... So sang Pink Floyd in 1973. And now it's competition time here on AAS. Inspired to give away some N79 hardware, I've put together a video competition, embedded below. All you've got to do is work out how many phones I'm showing and what they are. Easy, eh? The first correct answer in the comments wins. Only one go each, mind you, so guess well...
SEE 2009 announced
The Symbian Foundation has announced that the Symbian Smartphone Show The Symbian Exchange & Exposition (with the name change, the acronym is now the friendlier SEE 2009) will be taking place on 27-28 October 2009 at Earls Court 2, London. More details below, plus you can expect an All About Symbian meet up on the evening of the 26th, venue to be arranged.
Looking ahead to Nokia N97 v11 tomorrow
I couldn't resist a link-of-interest to the Serie-N folks over in Italy, who have dug deep to uncover what's coming in the version 11.0.021 firmware for the Nokia N97 tomorrow. Relax, you can skip their first para in Italian - the good stuff's all in English!
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Symbian Software
TIP: Check out our feature article on recommended software for some of the best commercial software available for your phone.
PhoneBAK GPS
An integrated solution (''Anti-theft'', ''GPS Tracking'' and ''Emergency'') that lets users locate their friends, classmates, vehicles or family members to know their whereabouts.Transclick Ad-Enabled
Transclick is a translation/communication software. It is for free in a bundle with adtronic the advertisement-financed application storeBlockGO
BlockGO is an addictive puzzle game specially made for kids and adults. With 99 levels in 5 difficulties awaiting your challenge, you will have hours of fun time with BlockGO!Safe Deposit Box
Lock and hide important documents, pictures and files!ThreadSMS Lite 1.91
A chat-style SMS communication tools in S60. You can read and write SMS in a cool user interface like Msn Messager.Harrison's Manual of Medicine (Harrison)
Completely updated to reflect all the major advances and new clinical developments. This latest update is based on the 17th edition.Nelson's Pocket Book of Pediatric Antimicrobial Therapy (nelsonsabx)
The most popular and widely used resource on pediatric antimicrobial therapy. This latest update is based on the 17th edition.Blackwell's Five-Minute Veterinary Consult: Equine(5-mveteq)
It is now fully revised and updated, this invaluable tool provides a thorough coverage of practical information, arranged alphabetically for efficient searching.Saunders Pocket Essentials of Clinical Medicine(pktcm)
The ideal reference for students throughout their clinical studies. It provides a comprehensive account of general medical problems while facilitating the learning process.
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