Returning to a familiar theme but with a new twist, I caught myself doing something rather silly and rather telling. Reprising the pros and cons of touchscreen phones in the face of almost universal acceptance, seemingly, it does rather seem as though a tipping point has been reached. Read on for my Dec 2009 thoughts on 'Touch vs non-Touch'...
We currently have the strange situation where Google show their new voice-driven 'Mobile App' when m.google.com is browsed by a S60 5th Edition phone - and then during installation we're told that this phone is 'not compatible'. However, with a slight (and trivial) adjustment, it's quite possible to use this handy tool on a Nokia 5800, N97 or compatible.
In which Ewan Spence takes a slightly light hearted look at the infrastructure and privacy implications of Nokia's latest Device/Services concept video, introduced at The Way We Live Next event in Espoo. Rafe responds, having been in attendance. Your comments most welcome, of course - this one could run and run!
Steve Litchfield looks at the creeping size increases in modern 'phones' - at what point do they cease to become phones and turn into media 'tablets'?
Steve muses on the seemingly unstoppable handover in all parts of the phone world from traditional phone form factors to large touchscreens and wonder, in particular, just how far the Nokia N97 mini actually is a step forwards from the last (and best) of the mainstream S60 3rd Edition line, the Nokia N86 8MP...
Ewan looks back at the life of Nokia's original software and service platform... the N-Gage.
Guest writer David Gilson talks about his switch from Windows to Linux and his (successful) struggles to keep his desktop-S60 connectivity going.
The single biggest form factor for true smartphones in Western Europe in the last five years has arguably been that of the 'Communicator', a term coined by Nokia for its 9000 series, initially running on GeOS and then on Symbian OS 6 and (later) Symbian OS 7. Then came the oddball E90 and a slightly more mainstream E90, while Nokia's Nseries picked up some similar action in the shape of the N97. But how do they compare, head to head? Is there a true modern day successor to the Psions and Nokia 9210s of old?
Rafe reports back from the recent (September 2009) Ovi Developer Day in London.
