Now that all the beta-testing games have been re-released, we can look forward to completely new titles on the N-Gage platform. But which one are you most looking forward to? Click here to let us know in our latest survey...
Tetris from Electronic Arts and Block Breaker Deluxe from Gameloft are now available to download via the N-Gage client showroom. The name Tetris will be familiar to most game players, but you can still check out the specifics in our review of the N-Gage implementation of the game. We're not sure the masses will be rushing to download this one, especially with the likes of S-Tris available for free. Block Breaker Deluxe might be a better bet - it is a Breakout clone which was the first new N-Gage game we reviewed.
Free software for our smartphones has never been so abundant. From Nokia's stream of useful freebies to technology demos from big companies to small utilities from home developers, everything now seems to be free. With so much freeware around, is there still a market for paid-for software? And which would be the top picks of the All About Symbian team, for both S60 3rd Edition and UIQ 3-powered smartphones?
Yep, Ben from IntoMobile has spotted this Motorola competition for (very) amateur film makers. Interestingly, the second 'round' of the final (the bit to actually win the £10k) has to be shot on the Z10 itself. Very cool on all fronts.
Skype has released an official mobile client. The application is written in Java so it should run on a variety of phones including both S60 and UIQ phones. The application uses an Internet connection for status and contact information and for Skype chat (instant messaging). However while the application does allows you to make calls, it routes them through the PSTN (phone) network rather than over the Internet. This means you will be charged for both incoming and outgoing calls of any type. Read on for more.
Returning to an old theme but with fresh eyes, Ewan approves of the new strategies for marketing N-Gage, worries a little over the FIFA 08 giveaway and then suggests a different N-Gage giveaway of his own.
The Mobitubia blog has announced and released the last public (as in free to the public) version of the popular YouTube access utility and Flash video player. v1.80 build 4 has a huge change list, central to which is smoother video playback. Great application. More details below.
Opening at 1800 GMT (so 7pm UK Summer time, 11am US West Coast) is the first official System Rush tournament. Organised by the N-Gage Arena Team, there are Arena Points (NGP) on offer. Register online in the first 15 mintues, and make sure to bring up the chat room at the top of the N-Gage forums as you race each other. Good luck!
While I'm posting Motorola UIQ 3 news, I thought I'd mention this post from last week at MotoSmartphones, saying that by mid week this week (i.e. about now) the UIQ 3-powered Z10 should be available in O2 shops and also SIM-free in the usual places. Shout if you manage to find one in the flesh!
It seems that Motorola just announced a tweak to the venerable UIQ 3-powered Z8 'kick-slide' smartphone. At an event in Korea, the Z8m was unveiled, although details are still sketchy. It seems that there might be 4GB of built-in flash memory, in addition to an expansion slot. Can anyone fill in more detail on this story?
Nokia today announced the next stage of its Widget (Web Run Time) platform for S60. The new version will allow widgets to access information and services on the phone (such as location through GPS) in order to enable context sensitive widgets. Also significant is a brief mention of Open C++ which will further extend the number of standard, platform-independent, programming libraries available on the S60 platform. Read on for more.
Sony Ericsson's Q1 results show an increase in overall device shipments of 2% from last year, but the good news end there with the average selling price dropping from 134 EUR to 121 EUR and profits dropping 42% to 181 million EUR. Sony Ericsson cite higher research and development costs (as a % of sales) along with slower sales growth of high end handsets.
What two devices are black, metal, quad-band, Wi-Fi, GPS, qwerty and 3mp cam-equipped? That's right. The Nokia E90 and the i-Mate Ultimate 9502. Here Steve has pitched them headlong at each other, to see how the two titans fare. If you've been eyeing up the Ultimate, make sure you read this!
The Nokia Music Store is now available in France, with a pricing of 1 euro per song, 10 euros per album, or 10 euros a month to listen to all the store's tracks through a PC. As with the other Nokia Music Stores, tracks can be bought onto a PC and sideloaded onto a phone, or bought and downloaded directly onto certain phone models.
Yes, it's that time in the month. PDA Essentials magazine is out, issue 74, this time with a two page feature on N-Gage, a two-page tutorial on location tagging your photos on the N95, plus a review of the Sony Ericsson W960i as part of an iPhone killers group test. Good reading, as usual!
