In the latest AAS Insight podcast, Rafe, Ewan and I cover a range of issues, from the latest hardware (N96, and lots on the T-Mobile G1 running Android and how it fits into the current Symbian (and to some extent iPhone)-dominated landscape) and upcoming N-Gage titles.
With your smartphone having more and more storage, filling it with music online needs either a large investment in digital music stores, or a walk on the wild side of the internet. Or does it? Ewan has a look at free alternatives to loading up tunes to your phone without having to bother with those tiresome silver CD thingies...
Nokia is to ship jQuery with the next version of Web Runtime (WRT), according to the jQuery blog. jQuery is a light weight Javascript library that simplifies 'HTML document traversing, event handling, animating, and Ajax interactions for rapid web development'. In other words it helps developers make funkier S60 widgets.
Today the Nokia Music Store became available in Spain. Nokia is keen to highlight the inclusion of local content in the Music Store. This is especially important in Spain where local music represents 70% of sales (according to Nokia). The Nokia Music Store now has a catalogue of more than 4 million songs; music can be purchased and downloaded either on the PC or mobile device.
Nokia announced today that it is 'renewing its business mobility solutions and strategy'. Nokia will cease developing or marketing its own behind-the-firewall solutions. Rather than offering its own complete end-to-end solutions, Nokia will strengthen strategic partnerships and will form its enterprise offering by combining Nokia devices and applications with software solutions from companies such as IBM, Microsoft and Cisco.
AAS favourite Malcolm Lithgow has produced a handy reference article for anyone new to UIQ 3 smartphones such as the Sony Ericsson G700 and G900, with tips, application pointers and third party recommendations. One to bookmark.
I can't really believe I'm recommending a rival site and video show(!), but Rafe can be seen moonlighting on the Mobile Industry Review show, they captured him chatting about the Samsung i8510 to camera. Look out also for MIR's James raving about the Nokia E71. You can skip past the first 15 minutes of the show which is all about the LG Renoir launch, to which I err... wasn't invited. Go figure.
I can honestly say that this week's Carnival of the Mobilists is the biggest for quite a while, because I've been the one having to sit through all the submissions to compile it. Here's the result, Carnival 143 over at The Phones Show. Happy reading - and don't miss Tomi Ahonen's feature post or Barbara Ballard's conference notes, either are enough to get you through your lunch hour on their own!
Astraware's latest cross-platform game port to S60 and UIQ fares well on graphics and smoothness but falls down on lack of raw speed. Or so reckons Ewan, who's been applying the arcade skills acquired during his mispent youth to this new side-scrolling shoot 'em up.
Thanks to ratkat for the tipoff, but vtap have released a native S60 version of their 'videos from everywhere' client. This forms a competitor to the likes of emTube and Mobitubia - and of course to YouTube's own mobile client. vtap's unique selling point is that it aggregates from more than just YouTube. Look out for a video head to head between these four different systems in the near future.
In the fourth part of my Camera Nitty Gritty series, I examine how much (if any) difference a branded lens makes to the camera in a phone. With example photos from the Nokia N93, E90, N82 and N95, and from the Samsung G810 and i8510 and HTC Touch Pro, I try to demonstrate the variations in photo quality for a given megapixel count. What other factors play a part here and is it worth making branded optics a 'must have' item on your phone shopping list?
Hooray for PiZero - so many of his older S60 themes has 'expired' and you had to mess with the phone clock just to install them - but as of now, after much hard work, all his themes have been repacked with certificates that will last for decades. Good job, well done.
The best SatNav app for Symbian [in Asri's opinion! - Ed], Garmin Mobile XT, just reached version 5.0. The new version looks like a totally new app because the interface has been redesigned and the speed in loading map data is also greatly improved. Both S60 3rd Edition and UIQ 3 users can now enjoy the new version. Blurb and changelog below the break.
On my WinXP laptop, Foxit Reader is my preferred PDF reader because it's fast, it's slick and doesn't hog memory like crazy. Although the future of UIQ is uncertain, some developers are still showing support to this platform. This 1.00 Beta version enables you to view PDF files easily on Symbian UIQ 3.X devices. With small size, fast launch speed and friendly user interface, Foxit Reader for UIQ 3.x is recommended and it's FREE! More from me and the developer below the break.
Ewan's title, by the way(!), with a musical slant as usual... He's back from a blogging conference in Las Vegas and musing on all the different ways to get information up onto your blog(s) from a smartphone. Some useful generic pointers in here, whether you want to blog text, images, video or audio.
