Steve has been thinking about the lure of Apple's iPhone to normal users. In this editorial he looks at screens and compares Apple's technology with that found in the N95 8GB. How important, for the average consumer, are screens in the all-important first impression period?
In All About Symbian Insight #36 (AAS Podcast #89) Rafe, and Steve chat about the web as a platform for services and follow on with a discussion on whether Nokia should make its services available on competing hardware. There's also a debate on the relative merits of the N78 and N82 for those looking to make a purchase decision.
This may sound like a spoof listing from TV Go Home, but it's absolutely true: Nokia presents a series of short videos aimed at mobile game developers, this week featuring Miikka Skaffari, Head of Developer Product Management. Episode 1 sees host Arnold Faber quizzing Miikka about the N-Gage platform's new development tools, APIs and SDK. In a sauna.
It's not only AAS which has guest writers, you know. Over at Darla Mack's site, AAS regular snoyt brings us an epic tale of how an N95 classic performed, week in and week out during some transcontinental journeying. He worked the N95 into the ground, but fear not for a more modern replacement is on its way...
In this video review Rafe looks at the Nokia 6650, the clamshell S60 device that is exclusive to the T-Mobile network (and which I reviewed in text last week). In the video (embedded below) you can see the T-Mobile and Nokia services running on the device, a run through of the 6650's cover UI and a demonstration of the customisable keypad lights.
Canalys have crunched the numbers and produced some definitive smartphone sales stats for Q2 for EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa). Always interesting reading, the highlights this time are that 38% of devices had built-in GPS, 58% had built-in Wi-Fi and 13% had touch-screens. Nokia shipped almost 9 million smartphones in this region alone, with 71% market share - 7% is the share of RIM and HTC, more or less in joint second place. Apple are lumped in with others, but may prove a contender in the future, of course.
You may recall that in March Steve reviewed an early sample of the Samsung i550W - plagued with bugs and issues, Steve was rather disappointed. However, Samsung haven't abandoned the device and, with latest firmware under the hood, the i550W is transformed into a 'recommended' device. Unique selling points of this candy-bar design are its thinness, the trackball, the extra shortcut keys, USB charging, plus smartphone staples like GPS and Wi-Fi.
Ewan watched Reset Generation's creator at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival and then sat down in a cosy corner to interview him - it turns out that RG is the tip of the iceberg - Scott Foe has a vision where every game will work (and generate income) on every static or mobile device, using piracy as the main means of distribution. Radical stuff.
Nokia Chat, the Contacts and GPS-integrated chat and location-sharing system, just became available for vanilla (i.e. non-FP1 or FP2) S60 smartphones such as the Nokia N93, E61 and E65. There are a few small functional limitations but, armed with a Bluetooth GPS, there's now no reason not to join in the world of Chat.
Do you use Google's chat and sharing site 'orkut'? If that's you and you have a S60 phone then there's a shiny new S60-optimised mobile site at http://m.orkut.com. From Google: "We have added a bunch of new features, including photo uploads, picture galleries, click-to-call and quick friend searches." Screenshots below.
Nokia has made available, via its website, a wide range of Ramadan related content for a number of phones (including all recent S60 devices). There are a number of applications: Quran (multi-lingual interface, search and bookmark, Emsakya (prayer alerts), Hajj and Umrah (journey guide) and more; as well as ringtones, wallpapers, anasheed (Islamic vocal music) and landmarks (for Nokia Maps).
Samsung recently announced the existence of the i8510 (INNOV8) handset and have now revealed that the 8GB version will be sold exclusively in the UK in partnership with the Carphone Warehouse (a similar arrangement to the iPhone), although which networks the phone will be available on has not yet been specified. The i8510 will have two memory variants: 16GB and 8GB, it appears that only the 8GB is a Carphone Warehouse exclusive, with the 16GB version being sold by other retailers and dealers in the UK.
What with more and more video codecs being involved and YouTube continually fiddling, it's not surprising that shareware-by-any-other-name Mobitubia is having to be fiddled with too, to keep it working efficiently. Version 1.81 build 5 just got released for anyone who's donated to the project and features video playback fixes, general app bug fixes and a new feature: Make thumbnail, for clips which don't come with one. Recommended.
Media sharers on Ovi might like to note that there's a whole new Share on Ovi home page, with much more functionality, plus SMS support and a chance to preview a new Share on Ovi Facebook application. Details below.
Our very own Krisse, when not writing for AAS, produces a series of video and text reviews for the independent Nokia Duck site - here's a fresh, beaky look at the Nokia E51 - well written as always!
