Have you ever looked at a feature on your phone and wondered why the heck it's there? In an editorial on the topic, All About Symbian takes a look at five functions that are perhaps no longer needed on modern handsets, yet continue to be added to new models.
There were a lot of smartphones around at the recent Symbian Smartphone Show, and lots of people who had them in their pocket. Ewan decided to find out what people were using, and approached Symbian CEO Nigel Clifford to be our next guest in our 'Desert Island Desktops' series...
Ewan recaps the show for posterity and for anyone who's been living under a rock for the past fortnight...
In part 1 of this series, Steve Litchfield looked at exposed camera glass on some phone models and investigated whether scratches really make a difference. In part 2, he investigated the pros and cons of LED/dual-LED/Xenon flashes in camera phones - does Xenon or dual LED flash make that much difference? In part 3, he investigated the fabled 'Megapixel myth' with an objective eye. In part 4, he focussed on the difference between good and poor optics (at the same camera resolution) and in part 5, he pitched all the top smartphone cameras head to head, in detail. In part 6, AAS guest writer Dirk Snoyt took up the theme of camera phone flash research and got all technical on the theme of colours...
Now, I return with a look at the difference optical zoom makes and ask the question "Is it better to have optical zoom or just much higher resolution?"
At the Symbian Smartphone Show last week, Lee Williams was announced as the Executive Director of the Symbian Foundation. Right after that, he sat down with Rafe and Ewan to talk in more depth about the plans for the Foundation, and to discuss what he brings to the table.
It's all very well standing there smugly with your new Nokia N or Eseries phone, knowing that it's functionally superior to your friend's Apple iPhone. But when you both turn on your devices, it's the iPhone that people gather round, partly because of the larger screen (covered here - The Pull of Real Estate, Intensity and Interaction), but also partly to watch its party tricks. Watching these you might well ask: 'Why can't my S60 phone do that?'
Old hands may know the answers, but just in case you know (or are) a relative S60 beginner...
In part 1 of this series, Steve Litchfield looked at exposed camera glass on some phone models and investigated whether scratches really make a difference. In part 2, he investigated the pros and cons of LED/dual-LED/Xenon flashes in camera phones - does Xenon or dual LED flash make that much difference? In part 3, he investigated the fabled 'Megapixel myth' with an objective eye. In part 4, he focussed on the difference between good and poor optics (at the same camera resolution) and in part 5, he pitched all the top smartphone cameras head to head, in detail.
Now, AAS guest writer Dirk Snoyt takes up the theme of camera phone flash research and gets all technical on the theme of colours...
Next up in our series of Desert Island Desktops, taking a look at people's standby screens - this time, Alfie Dennen of Moblog http://www.moblog.net/
Having multiple 'tabs' open in a browser is something we take for granted on a desktop computer. And it's not unknown on other handhelds. But Nokia has traditionally tried to discourage people from using multiple browser windows on S60 phones. Is this justified and what's the easiest way to create and use extra windows in Web?
The EEE PC portable computer range has received a lot of coverage over the past year partly due to its low price but also partly due to its small size. How does Asus' minilaptop compare to Nokia's microlaptop, the E90 Communicator? All About Symbian is about to find out...
