It may be early days for this variant of S60, and of course many S60 3rd Edition commercial applications work fine too (though they won't be optimised for the new screen resolution(s) and touch), but if you own a compatible smartphone, which applications should you be willing to dip into your wallet for? Which are the best, in terms of both quality and value?
In a follow up to his popular series, from August 2008, investigating the practicalities of a S60 smartphone owner switching to an Apple Mac as the desktop counterpart, Steve Litchfield reports back after a couple of months of living the Mac life for real.
NB. It seems that some of the functionality below isn't applicable to Samsung S60 phones, e.g. The crucial Nokia Multimedia Transfer doesn't recognise a non-Nokia device. Fair enough, I guess, but something you should be aware of.
Nokia's Podcasting application is bundled with all new S60 devices in the Music or Applications folder. It includes a feature which lets you add web-based podcast directories so you can browse and subscribe to podcasts entirely from the phone, without the use of a computer. This tutorial shows you how to use an RSS feed reader application to create online podcast directories using the OPML format.
Continuing a fine and longstanding tradition, we bring you what will be a regularly updated top pick of the very best freeware for S60 5th Edition. Where necessary, there are notes about compatibility with different devices or manufacturers. Updated October 20th 2009
This round-up replaces the previous Top 20 Freeware for the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and is also now a Top 25 Freeware for the Nokia N97.
Ovi Store has been announced, and many people just saw another smartphone applications shop. But it's actually a lot more than that, and its launch could be the most significant thing Nokia has done since entering the mobile phone business.
Quite a lot of people think you need a computer to subscribe to podcasts, but you don't. The Nokia 5800 lets you browse, subscribe and download podcasts straight onto the phone, with absolutely no need for any kind of PC or Mac. Read on to find out all the details, including how to discover new podcasts or listen to old favourites.
The sad state of Download! has been a topic of discussion in Symbian S60 circles for quite some time. Other consumer device platforms from Nintendo's Wii to Apple's iPhone have managed to show how successful software and content download shops can be if they're easy to use, so why can't this happen on Nokia's Symbian devices? We've taken a look at the latest version of Download! on S60 5th Edition, on the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, to see if it's any improvement...
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...
