The Phones Show 65 is out now (used to be The Smartphones Show), with a surprisingly positive (I didn't think I'd like it from the initial photos) video review of the Nokia N79, more generic musings on the advisability of Xenon flash and a review of iPhone-wannabe, the Samsung Tocco.
Over on All About N-Gage, resident gaming Jedi Ewan Spence has put Star Wars: The Force Unleashed through its paces on the N-Gage platform, including the innovative "cellweaver" control system designed specially for mobile phones. Is the force with this game, or is it just a pile of bantha fodder? Read the review to find out...
Yes, it's Talk Like A Pirate Day again, and in celebration you might want to steal software see our guide to ScummVM for S60 3rd Edition devices (which lets you play Monkey Island on your phone and is available for all Symbian versions), check out Astraware's Pirate Day half-price discount on Hidden Expedition Titanic (which is available on UIQ3 and S60 3rd), read our review of Return To Mysterious Island for S60 3rd Edition, or get nostalgic with the original gen N-Gage's High Seize review.
I can't really believe I'm writing a news post about a new version of Calculator - but hey, it's a Friday - and fair play to Nokia Beta Labs - at least it's still improving and there seems to be an intention to put it in future firmwares - so get on over, grab it and give Nokia some beta feedback. New for this release is a redesigned front panel.
Maemo, the Linux-based software platform which runs on Nokia's touchscreen-based internet tablets, has had its latest version unveiled under the brand "Maemo 5", which introduces built-in compatibility with mobile phone networks including HSPA (i.e. HSDPA and HSUPA). There's apparently no telephone voice support (yet), though there is VOIP, and it should be interesting to see how upcoming Maemo 5 devices compare to the upcoming S60 touchscreen devices. Will they be totally different products aimed at totally different markets, or will there be potentially damaging overlap? If there is significant overlap, will Nokia really want to keep two parallel product lines going?
For any UK readers champing at the bit over the Nokia N96, it's now officially available on the Nokia UK shop, for £535 inc VAT, in stock on the 24th Sept, plus "3-5 days delivery". If you're in a hurry, this seems a good way to go?
In the second part of my 'Camera Nitty Gritty' series, I look at the relative advantages and disadvantages of the different flash technologies used in phone cameras: Xenon, LED and dual LED. With examples, I demonstrate the increased illumination from LED to Xenon and also show the differences in the speed of capture.
Nokia's Share on Ovi team has been busy and there's a whole new Share home page ("simpler, less cluttered, easier to navigate"), plus an upgrade to the back end to deliver higher quality mobile video, for when viewing Share-hosted videos out and about. See below for the Share team's announcement.
Well... actually no. At least, it IS if you have a Blackberry or Java-only phone. Apparently a S60 version is also 'coming'. The Nokia E65 blog reports the news on a whole new version of Google Maps, complete with Street View and walking directions. Looks good. I just wish licensing agreements weren't holding the big G back from putting in real time tracking and turn by turn instructions as well....
"If music be the glue that holds nations together (c.f. the Eurovision Song Contest), then a Social Music Player should be the stuff of Peace Treaties". Or so writes Ewan Spence, wondering if Strands can pull everything from your music experience together? He slips on some lightweight headphones to find out... How good a music player is it, and how integrated is it with the online world?
Following on from Ewan's thoughts yesterday on the freedom in the Symbian/S60 developer world, I have to say that I take a slightly different view. Over and over, I'm finding that applications I download (from developer sites, from AAS, from Handango, etc) can't easily be installed, each coming up with 'Expired certificate'. Read on for a Steve rant....
After my recent look at using S60 with Apple Mac computers (see 'Features|How to'), Tzer2 now starts a new series of articles looking at using S60 with Linux-based computers. First off is a how-to guide on connecting the Linux-based EEE PC to the internet using an S60 phone as a modem.
The much talked-about Star Wars: Force Unleashed is now available from the N-Gage application's showroom (select "Options" and then "Update Now" if you can't see it). We'll be bringing you the review in due course as always. See AAN's game page for more info including screenshots and the official trailer video.
In All About Symbian Insight #39 (AAS Podcast #92) Rafe, Steve and Ewan cover Nokia Open Lab 08 in the first half of the podcast; Rafe introduces some of the key themes and ideas that were discussed. In the second half of the insight we discuss the live streaming of video from a mobile phone.
A couple of great little articles over on the N82 blog, covering ways of manually hiding your media files so that others don't stumble on your goodies (although there's also always the fairly new Media Safe 2, in our software store, which does everything automatically) and a how-to on setting a GIF or Flash animation as your S60 phone screensaver.
