All About Symbian - Feature Articles - Series 90

Features - Series 90 - Comment

Touchscreens through the years - and my new party trick

I have a new party trick and you won't be surprised it involves my smartphone. And a kitchen knife. All of which has got me musing about the nature (and role) of touchscreens on handheld devices through the years. Expectations and roles sure have changed. Though it's tempting to say that there's nowhere else for the touchscreen to go. The rest is surely up to the programmers behind the glass?

# Posted by Steve in How To, Comment, Hardware at 10:31 UTC, Jan 13th || Comments

Why size matters

No, not a cheap attempt at Google search traffic on male enhancements, but another serious look at the ever changing, ever growing statistic that is phone screen size. Steve Litchfield looks at devices and use cases past and present, from Psion Series 5 to Apple Newton to Dell Axim X51V to Nokia 7710 and through to the Samsung i8910 HD in the current day. Initially cautious over whether phones might get too big, Steve points out that a 4" display is more a 1995 phenomenon than a 2010 one....

# Posted by Steve in Comment, Hardware at 18:56 UTC, Apr 18th || 20 Comments

The Symbian Phone of the Decade

I asked an eclectic selection of 20 luminaries, bloggers and power users from the Symbian ecosystem: "Which is the Symbian-powered smartphone of the Decade? Which one was most significant, the most memorable, the most game-changing and the most loved?" Here are their answers, for your interest and amusement - and yes, a clear winner emerged...

# Posted by Steve in Comment, Hardware at 21:33 UTC, Dec 30th || 46 Comments

The fastest smartphone in the west? Text input speeds compared

Steve Litchfield directly compares speeds of text entry on a range of PDAs and smartphones and draws some conclusions about design and general form factor. [original article 2006, updated 2007 and June 2009]

# Posted by Steve in Comment, Hardware at 6:42 UTC, Jun 8th || 42 Comments

The Quest for the Perfect Form Factor

Steve Litchfield explores the notion that there's one perfect form factor 'to rule them all'. A form that could suit everyone. And he has an answer, though don't hold your breath if you think you might see other form factors fading away anytime soon....

# Posted by Steve in Comment, Hardware at 20:32 UTC, May 18th || 33 Comments

The AAS Pub Meet 2007

Details on the All About Symbian Pub Meet.

# Posted by Rafe in Comment, Previews at 12:19 UTC, Sep 13th

Who needs Outlook? Syncing to Mobical.net

Steve Litchfield has been getting twitchy feet over his reliance on Outlook as the PIM partner to his smartphones and he's overjoyed to find a Web-based PIM that's totally cross platform, that supports just about every smartphone ever made and which is completely free!

# Posted by Steve in How To, Comment, Software at 6:20 UTC, Jul 31st