All About Symbian - news, reviews and software for Symbian and S60 phones

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Nokia Belle update now available for N8, C7, E6, X7 and C6-01

The roll-out of Nokia Belle (i.e. Symbian Belle) for existing Symbian^3/Anna devices has started across the world, with most devices (here's the official Nokia Belle rollout status checker) getting an update via Nokia Suite to firmware v111.030. There's no OTA (over the air) update available this time because of the complexity and size of the update, which means the latest Nokia Suite on a Windows PC is required. Nokia is enabling the update, product code by product code, across the world. (Story updated)

# Posted by Steve in News at 10:22 UTC, Feb 7th || Comments

Review: FlickrUp

Flickr is the photo sharing site of choice for photography enthusiasts and professionals. Symbian users can already upload to Flickr either by email or Gravity. However, until FlickrUp came along, there was nothing available for browsing and uploading. This Nokia Belle-style Qt app is fully functional, resplendent with options, and is available for the princely sum of zero!

# Posted by David in Reviews at 7:13 UTC, Feb 7th || Comments

Review: Nokia 500 (quick look video)

In this quick look video review, we kick off our review coverage of the Nokia 500. The video covers the key hardware and design features and also includes a look at the in-box content, plus a demonstration of the device's exchangeable back covers. At €150, the Nokia 500 is the cheapest ever Symbian smartphone (when comparing launch prices).

# Posted by Rafe in Reviews at 16:06 UTC, Feb 6th || Comments

The curse of continuous auto-focus?

How's that for a controversial title? What I examine below is that there's more than one way to arrange focussing when shooting video on your smartphone - the rightly popular system of having continuous auto-focus does a good job a lot of the time but also manages to infuriate occasionally too. How bad is the problem, what are the alternatives and can I offer any tips for Symbian or Windows Phone users?

# Posted by Steve in Features at 7:16 UTC, Feb 6th || Comments

Review: Symeo

YouTube is the Web’s biggest video sharing service - which is part of its problem – there is a bewildering amount of choice. If you want to discover new content, having some sort of curation would be nice to find something entertaining for a few minutes. That’s exactly what Symeo does by providing pre-loaded channels of YouTube videos (not Vimeo as the name might suggest). Read on to see how well this version 1.0 app performs.

# Posted by David in Reviews at 14:05 UTC, Feb 5th || Comments

Camera shootout: Nokia N8 vs Apple iPhone 4S vs Samsung Galaxy S II

I've been very impressed by the technical knowhow of 'theycallthislife' and there's a new post up comparing the cameras of the Nokia N8, Apple iPhone 4S and Samsung Galaxy S II, the three best camera phones in the world right now. With good example shots that can be examined in full detail and with interesting analysis, it's well worth a ten minute read. As to the winner, let's just say that the iPhone 4S comes closer than any other contender has in the eighteen months the N8 has been available....(!)

# Posted by Steve in News at 12:26 UTC, Feb 5th || Comments

A day (still) made of glass!

Corning, the company behind the Gorilla Glass in our smartphones, has produced another of its inspirational 'here's the future' videos and, as with the original one, it's well worth watching. There are two versions of the video, actually, I've embedded the expanded one below, complete with video guide to all the (probable) tech used. Seems like touchscreens really are the new buttons? [PS. Watch out for the medical sequence - it's something we're used to seeing only in Sci-fi]

# Posted by Steve in News at 8:36 UTC, Feb 4th || Comments

AAS Insight #201: Q4, Belle and Social 1.5

In All About Symbian Insight number 201 we look forward to the release of Nokia Belle for existing Symbian handsets, with each of the team highlighting an expected benefit. We also discuss Nokia's Q4 results and device shipment numbers. Steve brings news of the addition of 360Cities to Nokia Maps, Rafe talks Social 1.5 and David shares his thoughts on CNN's Symbian application.

# Posted by Rafe in Media at 18:42 UTC, Feb 3rd || Comments

Review: Tune It

Guitar playing and fiddling with tech seem to go hand in hand, judging from the number of fellow strummers I've come across. Many worse than me and a greater number a lot better. But we all have to tune our guitars every time we get the 'ol six string (or in my case the 12-string) out - which is why there's a booming cottage industry on every mobile platform in guitar tuning aids of every type. Here's a free option for Symbian....

# Posted by Steve in Reviews at 7:44 UTC, Feb 3rd || Comments

At last, CBD explained in one image

When Nokia introduced CBD (ClearBlack Display) at Nokia World 2010, for the C6-01 and E7 models, there was an element of uncertainty involved as to how this technology worked. Certainly it was incredibly effective at cutting out reflections from ambient light, but noone seemed to know the full details. After much digging, we established it was something to do with polarising layers, but only now do we see a clear depiction of how CBD works.

# Posted by Steve in News at 15:41 UTC, Feb 2nd || Comments

Skype now available for Nokia Belle

The Skype app is now available for Nokia's Symbian Belle devices (700, 701 and 603, etc., plus many others once Belle update is available) The application has been updated with the Belle UI look and feel and overall performance has been significantly improved. Nearly all of the core voice calling and IM functionality of Skype is implemented in the Symbian client, making this a must have app for frequent Skype users.

# Posted by Rafe in News at 13:15 UTC, Feb 2nd || Comments

Worldwide phone and smartphone stats, Q4, 2011

Most of the numbers are now in for Q4, 2011 and, while some are estimates, we now have a pretty good idea of the state of the mobile industry for the last quarter. Phones grew 6% year on year, smartphones by a whopping 63%, with the latter now at 36% of the overall market. The top three companies were the same by either metric - Apple, Samsung and Nokia are way ahead of the rest.

# Posted by Steve in News at 8:51 UTC, Feb 2nd || Comments

Review: Coloring Fun

Way back in the last decade, around 2003 or 2004, with a creative four year old daughter who was just taking her first steps on one of my PCs, I discovered a wonderful application, Electronic Colouring Book, an old DOS application, I believe, which kept her happy for ages. Rather than requiring super-precise mouse skills for proper computer artwork, the idea was to present line drawings and have the painter pick which colour to fill each enclosed section with. Worked a treat, and now today's four year olds can do the same with their parent's Symbian smartphone, thanks to Coloring Fun.

# Posted by Steve in Reviews at 7:55 UTC, Feb 2nd || Comments

Qt SDK 1.2 released

An updated version of the Qt SDK, version 1.2, was released today. It contains all the tools required to create Qt applications for Nokia's Symbian devices. The new version includes Qt Creator 2.4 (bringing improvement to the QML editor and numerous bug fixes) and Qt Mobility 1.2 (improved API access to Bluetooth and NFC).

# Posted by Rafe in News at 19:19 UTC, Feb 1st || Comments

Review: Star Chart

If you’re an aspiring astronomer but never get a clear night to see anything, do not fear. You can explore the cosmos in the comfort of your home with your smartphone. Escapist Software has just ported Star Chart to Symbian over from its Android and iOS versions. If you want to view the night sky without getting too technical, this could be the app for you.

# Posted by David in Reviews at 13:00 UTC, Feb 1st || Comments

Two-box solution or one? Symbian/iPad versus the Galaxy Note

12 years ago, I remember demonstrating to a packed room of enthusiasts to delights of pairing up my Psion palmtop with the Ericsson SH888 (titanium, indestructible), which possessed an infrared modem, meaning that I could get my palmtop online at a whopping 9.6kbps via Circuit Switched Data (this was before GPRS!) It was a working two box communications solution and it's with a certain nostalgia that I remember it as I look a modern 'two box' solution. How do the pros and cons of splitting one's electronics work out in practice?

# Posted by Steve in Features at 11:14 UTC, Jan 31st || Comments

Review: Robo-E

Sokoban is a genre you probably haven’t heard of, but have played many times. The original was a Japanese puzzle that involved moving boxes around a room. Without planning several moves in advance you can easily box yourself in. Robo-E is a spin on this classic puzzle with a Sci-Fi theme; you control a garbage collecting robot that has become confused and needs your Sokoban skills to get his job done!

# Posted by David in Reviews at 8:33 UTC, Jan 31st || Comments

How would you improve the Nokia N8?

It's somewhat amazing that the Nokia N8 remains in the top tier of smartphones a full 16 months after release - it's fair to say that this is almost entirely due to its camera, with perhaps build quality and gadget-complement contributing too. But no phone can go on forever. If you were Nokia and wanted to produce an "N8 mark II", what would you add/tweak? What's practical? What's worthwhile?

# Posted by Steve in Features at 10:46 UTC, Jan 30th || Comments

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