Attending the launch of the 4.8"-screened Samsung Galaxy S III in London last Thursday, I was struck that the borders of the smartphone world have changed yet again. At some point though, surely, enough is enough? Yes, we get it that smartphones are now personal computers in our pockets, as opposed to simply being 'converged devices', but have we already passed the point where the mass populace will start to revolt against the 'march to large' and vote with their wallets?
Nokia has long since been associated with image capture on mobile phones. However, it's not just the likes of Damian Dinning who have been finding ways to get the best out of Symbian camera hardware. Third party developers have been busy creating applications to allow us to be even more creative with our photographs. In this top five, we have alternative camera applications, post-capture image processing software, and more.
I'm struggling. I really am. To understand the whole concept of 'homescreens'. Symbian Nokia Belle allows up to six of the things and it seems that when I parade my one or two homescreens to the world I'm subjected to 'call yourself a power user?' taunts. But hang on, which of us have six 'homes' in the real world? Surely a homescreen is not a 'home' screen if there are six of them? And where the heck did the idea of a homescreen come from in the first place? With the help of the Nokia 9210 and Apple iPhone, I investigate....
The smartphone world has been full of challenges recently, not least various campaigns from the Windows Phone community, trying to 'smoke' other user interfaces, pointing out how fast some things can be done with the new OS. However, I have a challenge of my own - being something of a fan of hardware shortcut keys and multitasking, I thought I'd invite anybody who fancied themselves (and their devices of choice) to try and beat my time for a common enough set of actions, set below.
If you prefer a dose of petrol with your sports, then this week's game round up will be right up your racing track. We're looking at motor sports, motor cars, motor bikes, and motor boats - which should be enough to satisfy your need for speed. They're not all perfect, but they're the best of the genre that All About Symbian has reviewed. So read on as we recap Nokia Racing, Need for Speed: Shift HD, Powerboat Challenge 3D, Moto X Mayhem, and GT Racing: Moto Academy HD.
Here we are again. A few years on from the N97 system disk fiasco, we find many Nokia N8 owners running into similar disk space problems on disk C:, i.e. the internal system disk. Admittedly, the problems are nowhere near as severe as on the N97, but it's still worth a few words and suggestions on how to remedy a gradually filling disk C...
It was tempting to put 'in the last decade' in the title, but in fact we've only had cameras in our phone for ten years, amazingly enough, starting with the Nokia 7650 back in 2002... Nokia features heavily in the top 20, as you might expect, the company has been somewhat trail blazing in imaging, as acknowledged even by Nokia haters, but watch out for the iPhone, plus a Samsung and several Sony (Ericsson) models, too. Enjoy this camera tech-heavy trip down memory lane....
Calling all stargazers. Ever since the days of the humble Psion palmtop computers, astronomy programs have been one of the required applications for every platform. Whether you want to explore the night sky from the comfort of your home, or need a companion for aiming your telescope, there are plenty of options. Thanks to the rise of built-in accelerometers and digital compasses, an augmented reality mode has become a feature of many applications too. We've reviewed the great and the good of Symbian astronomy, and here is our round up.
We've commented at length in our review coverage (e.g. here) of the Nokia E6 about the need to 'hold it differently' because of the need for your thumb to reach parts of the touchscreen as well as the d-pad and keyboard. But what if you want to hold and use it in the same way as the older devices (E71, E72, E5) and only shift hand position to use the touchscreen when absolutely necessary. Are there keyboard shortcuts that can help?
Microsoft Office Suite for Symbian, which was delivered as part of the the recent Microsoft Apps 2.0 software update, provides a document viewing and basic editing functionality, but also deep integration with Microsoft's Exchange and Sharepoint solutions. This places an emphasis on being part of a wider enterprise ecosystem. Here's my overview of what's on offer.
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