There's an interesting piece today by the people who put together the Java runtime on S60, talking about how they want to streamline Internet connections by Java applets to involve less user prompts[link updated]. The plan is to put the new system in place in new devices and also in new firmwares for existing devices. About time, too, methinks.
'As Live' from the 2008 Symbian Smartphone Show, here's All About Symbian Insight no. 44, hosted by Ewan Spence, with Rafe Blandford and Steve Litchfield; guests include (but not limited to ) Nigel Clifford, Stuart Clark, Andrew Grill and James Whatley. 40 minutes long and plenty of gossip, info and fun...
Lee Williams, currently the head of S60 inside Nokia, will become the Executive Director of the Symbian Foundation in the new year, the ten initial board members of the Foundation have announced on the second day of the Symbian Smartpone Show. His experience in running what till now has been one of the largest components of Symbian OS will be vital to the new organisation and the support from over 50 companies to the principles of the unified platform.
Google just improved the way GMail Contacts worked. Previously, trying to sync a S60 phone with this (usually through GooSync) meant having to put up with hundreds of 'fake' contacts (added 'helpfully' by GMail, the people you've replied to more than 5 times), all of which then made it down the (virtual) wire to your phone's Contacts at sync time. Ugh. Well, check GMail Contacts now and you'll see there's a new 'Suggested' list, acting as a manual pre-filter before any of these extra addresses get added to your GMail Contacts. Good system and it should ease the syncing woes of many. Even better, the suggestions are back dated, so previous unwanted additions are 'undone'. Comments welcome!
As reported round the blogs, Nokia Beta Labs has released Map Loader 1.0 for Mac. Previously, loading your S60 phone with Nokia Maps ata required Windows. You can now load up with country maps using an Apple Mac. More info and links below...
The card game DChoc Cafe Solitaire 12 Pack is now available on the N-Gage platform. You can download it by going to the application's showroom section, then selecting "Options" and "Update Now". Alternatively you may want to try out the unofficial games Astraware Solitaire or some of the other card and board games available for N-Gage-compatible devices.
Australian developer DreamSpring have two announcements at today's Symbian Smartphone Show. The popular UIQ application DreamLife - an integrated activity manager providing additional integration between the core PIM databases in one single application – will be available on S60 early in 2009. They are also launching Riyala, a fully integrated suite of PIM services designed to sit alongside DreamLife.
Developer tools are featuring widely at this year's Symbian Smartphone Show, with two tools now available to help you code your Symbian applications. The Symbian Analysis Workbench (SAW) helps developers track down defects in code and help in the optimisation process. Built around a pre-packaged set of tools for Eclipse and is integrated into the Carbide C++ Developer Environment. The ARM Profiler aids the development process, providing clear information to help add enhanced function and, more importantly, reduce power consumption.
Symbian have announced a wide range of companies joining the initial ten board members of the Symbian Foundation. Set up with a view to provide an open source mobile operating system with a strong eco-system, there are now over fifty companies supporting the plans that were revealed in June 2008. From today, ARM, CleNET, Flander, Fujisoft, Huawei, Inmote, Innopath, RedBend, Scalado, Symsource, Trango and Visa are supporting the Foundation.
Symbian Press and Wiley have announced two new books for the developer community at today's Smartphone Show. Multimedia on Symbian OS and Common Design Patterns for Symbian OS. As you would expect, the titles are densely packed with information, examples and practical knowledge for the mobile developer. They are both available to purchase on the Exhibition Floor (stand #97) or via the Symbian Developer Network.
Dashwire, a service which syncs the contents (media, contacts, phone settings) of your phone to the cloud and allows you to view and share the content on the web, will shortly be available for S60 phones. The service, currently available for Windows Mobile, is being demonstrated at the Symbian Smartphone Show and will enter Beta in November. Read on for more.
The N79 seems to be now making its way to shops across Europe, as Nokia's official site in Italy lists it as available now, and Expansys UK also has it in stock. You can find out more about the N79 from All About Symbian's extensive hands-on preview article.
The cross-platfom application framework, QT, is now available for S60 devices. It's still early days, thus being called a Technology Preview, but anyone with an S60 v3 feature pack 1 device can install the framework – just follow this video after downloading the code. And let us know how you get on with the wealth of Qt powered applications out there already.
It's fitting that the Carnival of the Mobilists should come from London this week, as the attention of the mobile world is focussed on Earls Court and Symbian's annual Smartphone Show. Carnival 146 is here and good reading on your travels into London...
Thanks to ares for the heads-up that Opera Software have been busy, releasing its Opera 9.5 web browser for UIQ 3 with widget support today. For technical reasons (lack of RAM?), it's only compatible with the SonyEricsson P1, W960, G700 and G900. Opera has also updated people on progress towards v9.5 for S60 - more on this in the weeks to come.
