It's all very well having a Nokia-prepared selection of widgets (CNN, Accuweather, Mail, Social, etc.) to put on your N8 (or N97, C6) homescreen. But what if you want a web site or service that has no widget currently available in the Ovi Store? Here's my guide, for Symbian beginners, to getting all these other Internet resources on your smartphone's homescreen.
With the Nokia N8 finally here, there are a lot of people thinking “finally, it’s been shipped!” And a lot more now wondering how long till the E7 makes its way into the stores. Is there any rhyme or reason to the gap between announcing and shipping a phone for Nokia? And how do they compare to other manufacturers? I decided to have a look around.
“Follow the money.” It’s a slogan that’s true in pretty much any walk of life, including the mobile world. If developers are keeping this rule in mind, then the recent announcements regarding purchases and payments in the Ovi Store should have them very excited. What’s on offer is by far the best deal for developers in terms of major App Stores.
One of the challenges of the 2010 and 2011 smartphone is that being online is not just about email and web anymore. There's a complete social awareness of what your friends and family are up to, of breaking news, with complete interactivity in terms of everybody commenting on, and replying to, each other's updates. Plus these social networks have their own 'Inbox', meaning that for many people the social environment is their primary online interaction. Up until now, social on Symbian has largely meant third party apps and clunky widgets. But on top of Symbian^3 on their new devices, Nokia has implemented some fairly comprehensive social networking integration. Let me walk you through how it works, while David reports with some more background from a chat he had at Nokia World with the Social team.
At the beginning of September, the four Symbian Councils (Features and Roadmap, UI, Architecture and Release) held their latest face to face meetings. The usual range of activities were carried out, examination, review of and voting on contribution proposals, assessment of the hardening of Symbian^3 and feature complete date for Symbian^4, and much more. Also of interest was the proposal to change the naming of Symbian releases. This will see the introduction of minor release numbers.
With the upswing of developer interest in the new Symbian^3 platform, one of the questions that might be lingering in their minds is “what could I write for Symbian?” With all the promise of millions of devices and a perceived empty application store, what titles and areas should a developer concentrate on to make a big splash in the market?
On show at Nokia World 2010 were several exciting examples of future technology. One of those was a research project brought from Nokia's Beijing research and development labs. Named "Plug and Touch", it's an application which can turn any type of visual display (TV or projector) into a Symbian-powered touch screen display. Click through to read our commentary and see the demonstration video.
You'll remember that I wrote a piece six months ago looking at the (then) new camera technology EDoF (Extended Depth of Field), used in Nokia's super-lightweight smartphones, the E52 and E55? It's entirely possible that some people either missed this or didn't 'get' how EDoF works, even after my piece, because there still seems to be some confusion over whether Nokia's decision to put EDoF cameras in their new C6-01, C7 and E7 is a good one or bad one. I'm definitely in the former camp, but agree that E7 users might be disappointed. Read on for some genuine C7 EDoF photo samples and commentary.
Did you see it? The secret weapon unveiled at Nokia World? The phone to not rule them all but at least provide a strong army? No, behind the E7! And behind the C7! I mean the Nokia C6 (or the C6-01 to give its full name). This little phone packs a huge punch and could well have been the most important phone announced at the ExCeL center. And I wonder if its unique qualities are being lost in the shiny rush to discover the E7?
How do you let everyone know you have an App Store? That's a question that Nokia are still answering over the Ovi Store (and to be fair even Apple continue to think about this question), as the availability of Apps has become one of the key marketing lines in 2010 for the smartphone. Someone in Nokia has been smart though, and they've not only lined up as the 'brand sponsor' for The X-Factor this year, but put together a Qt application to feed the fans of the show.
