Are you a panorama sort of person and do you feel left in the lurch by Nokia buying up the makers of Panoman? Not worry, for Scalado and RAVITEQ have teamed up to produce Autorama, a quick way to produce auto-stitched panoramic photos with next to no Photoshop elbow grease required. Here's my review of Autorama, one of the new arrivals in the Ovi Store on your Nokia 5800 or N97.
With Twitter the latest buzzword that doesn't want to go away, how can you get started using Twitter on your mobile? Ewan explains in great detail for anyone who doesn't 'get' Twitter or know where to start. Tweeting can be fast, fun and (yes) it's free too.
Forum Nokia has released a beta of Nokia Platform Services 2.0, which provides a much simplified JavaScript API with which WRT widgets can use the features of Nokia S60 devices. In addition, support for use of a device’s camera has also been introduced.
After releasing their first S60 app Speedy Go!, Cellphonesoft hasn't stopped making apps for UIQ 3 - they just announced Swiss Manager Elite, which enhances UIQ 3 even more. Looking at its features (listed below), it's an impressive application. And I can't help wishing for something like it for S60. What say you guys? Swiss Manager Elite for S60 3rd and 5th Edition please...
The (seemingly) device-of-the-week, the Nokia N86 8MP has just received a big firmware upgrade, to v11.043. This brings official Ovi Store compatibility (with Ovi web site shortcut and option to download the dedicated client), camera tweaks and the usual early firmware bug fixes and improvements. Try updating over the air (*#0000# on the home screen, though it didn't seem to be on the servers for the UK yet) or via Nokia Software Updater. No need to back up (but hey, it can't do any harm). Watch this space for any extra comment or reports.
Believe it or not, Million Dollar Poker is the third poker game on N-Gage, distinguishing itself this time round with true multiplayer action. Ewan seemed moderately impressed, but rightly berates Gameloft for making the trial version insanely short and for including truly lack lustre graphics throughout. Here's the Ovi Gaming review of Million Dollar Poker.
Nokia just added a Nokia N86 iSync plug-in to its download area for Mac owners looking to sync PIM data to their smartphone. iSync is free and works seamlessly to transfer Contacts and Calendar information to Address book and iCal on the Mac, even between multiple devices. Here's the iSync download page. PS. Note that the N97 is still not supported.
With Rafe indisposed, Insight #78 could have been a double header between Steve and Ewan, but that wouldn't be rock and roll enough, so James Whatley (The Really Mobile Project) joins us to chat firmwares, betas, messaging and travelling technology. Listen in on the fun or subscribe via the AAS Podcast Feed.
What a silly game of Chinese Whispers. The Guardian newspaper in the UK quotes 'industry insiders' as saying that Nokia is going to introduce an Android device, something which I thought made no sense, and then half the Symbian ecosystem blogs jump up and down giving credence to the story. Nokia has stepped in, thankfully, and firmly quoshed the bloggers' fun and games, with a press statement via Reuters. For the record, I think the 'insider' was confused - no doubt they were thinking of the upcoming Maemo tablets and thought that this was in some way linked to Android.
You'll hopefully have been following our review series on the Nokia N86 8MP - here's part 3: "Other features and Wrap-up" for your enjoyment and education. It's fair to say that the N86 is a stonkingly good camera phone, but how well does it fare as a top end smartphone, where are its weak points and can it compete with the touch-heroes of summer 2009? See also Part 1 and Part 2 of this review.
Mippin has released four news 'Buzz' widgets, optimised for the Nokia N97's homescreen, each covering a different area: general news, tech, gaming and gossip. On the N97's homescreen, the widgets scroll through the latest news headlines, with the full story (in full screen mode) just a touch away. The widgets also feature an offline mode and customisable refresh time and content areas.
Just a short note to say that, as expected, the E71's cheaper sister, the E63, has also gotten itself a firmware update, this time to v200 firmware update (via Nokia Software Updater), adding in Ovi Contacts. Screens and comment over at The Symbian Blog.
Over on the Lazarus like Mobile Industry Review, the other Ewan in mobile has posted an ambitious yet simple plan to save the Ovi Store from itself. Simply put, Nokia would create three enclaves of coders (in London, San Francisco and Paris) and give them a monthly stipend of £3,500 and as much coca cola and pizza as they can eat. As long as they code one application every eight weeks, the proposed 100 developers per warehouse get to stay. Total cost? Roughly £2.34 per handset. That's quite high, but this is a fascinating idea that should be taken seriously.
With the Symbian Foundation set to provide an open source smartphone OS, hardware partners with off the shelf components, and a huge amount of software ready to be placed into a smartphone, is the time right for the smaller companies to come back to Symbian? Ewan considers the potential rise of the boutique range of smartphones in 2010. Read on...
In All About Symbian Podcast 138, Rafe talks to Lee Williams, Executive Director of the Symbian Foundation. The interview covers a wide range of topics, including the Symbian Foundation's planned application arena, the universal web runtime, the forthcoming Symbian Exchange and Exposition, Qt and the Symbian Foundation, the challenges of openness and open governance, and more.
