There's a nice piece by Chris Meadows here talking about the future for Mobipocket and its previously ubiquitous ebook reader software, now that Amazon have not only bought Mobipocket but are competing against it vigorously with its own Kindle hardware and software. In fact, it's looking increasingly as if Amazon bought Mobipocket simply to put paid to a competitor. Yet there's nothing else decent to fill the vacuum on S60 and Symbian. Read on for some thoughts and links.
The Nokia N97 SDK is the first device specific S60 SDK released by Nokia. While the additions are not numerous, it offers some interesting new APIs for both C++ and Java technology. In addition, the emulator enables testing of the new home screen features for C++ application and WRT widgets.
Not able to attend this year’s inaugural Nokia Developer Summit in Monaco? Well all is not lost, you can still view the keynotes, quiz Nokia experts, and follow the ‘official’ event blog – which is already up and running with news about the widget hackathon.
In All About Symbian Insight 68 (AAS Podcast 126) Rafe and Steve talk about the upcoming Ovi Store in relation to Widsets, N-Gage and uploading content, before sharing their recent device purchases. Steve explain why he prefers his device with an Xenon flash and Rafe talks about 3's and Orange's service strategy. You can listen to AAS Insight 68 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
Ah yes, the orphan N96, the N95 replacement that was in turn maligned by reviewers and then ignored by Nokia themselves (in terms of firmware updates) - it's been a sorry year for the device and CJ sums things up well here in an illustrated post mortem. With a little love, the N96 could have been so much more, I feel....
Ewan muses on Nokia Messaging and the lack of category support in Nokia's PIM software in the third part of his video diary with the qwerty-side-sliding Nokia E75 - remember that he's been using the device for a month straight now. Video below. Oh, and watch out for the sci-fi ending.
Boy oh boy, Python for S60 is coming along nicely. Just in time for the likes of the Ovi Store, too. New in v1.9.4, out today are a single signed runtime, an improved application packager, easier runtime deployment, new APIs and a full-screen mode for the likes of the Nokia 5800.
Digital Chocolate's Cafe Hold Em Poker has arrived on the N-Gage platform, but how good is it? Ewan Spence passes judgement in the All About N-Gage review, and discovers lessons both for the game's developers and for the N-Gage platform as a whole.
Good news for climbers this morning, as Nepal Telecom announce their plans to extend mobile phone coverage to the peak of Mount Everest. Due for completion by the middle of June, climbers will be able to ditch the heavy (and expensive) satellite phones for the latest light and svelte models... assuming they can handle the temperature.
Every week seems to bring new themes for our smartphones, many of which introduce us to ever wackier and more artistic sets of icons for the applications we're familiar with. In this rantfeature, I argue that there's efficiency and elegance in keeping icons close to the originals, keeping the workload for our poor beleaguered eyes and brain down....
According to a report in the Finnish national daily Helsingin Sanomat, the Nokia chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo estimates that the 5800 XpressMusic now accounts for "1 in 5 of all touchscreen phone sales worldwide". This figure was also mentioned in Nokia's Q1 results conference call and was repeated today at Nokia's AGM. It's a pretty good start for S60 5th Edition...
Nokia Messaging, Nokia's combined email service and client, main aim is to deliver an easy to set up and use consumer email solution for Nokia's devices. A preview release for S60 5th Edition (Nokia 5800) is now available via the Nokia Beta Labs site. The S60 5th Edition version is optimised for finger touch and includes, optionally, the 'push' element of the Nokia Messaging service.
Nokia has launched (via Beta Labs) a new web-based service and Web Runtime widget, entitled Green Explorer, aiming to help you live and travel in more eco-friendly fashion through tie-ins with green organisations and community involvement. See below for some screens, notes and links.
