It's nearly the end of 2007, so we're presenting a short and sweet round-up of seasonal S60 3rd Edition themes in honour of the upcoming New Year. Don't forget the Champagne and assorted party snacks! UPDATE: We've now added PiZero's freshly-created collection of New Year themes. SECOND UPDATE: The legendary Babi has now come up with a New Year 2008 theme, which we've added to the article. THIRD UPDATE: As if to complete the trilogy, P@sco has done a New Year theme as well.
We don't normally news post version updates, but emTube is such a biggie. v1.04 of the best native YouTube client for S60 includes a simplified download and install, interface tweaks, bug fixes, an Italian language option and a flv recogniser (this bit needs self-signing though). Highly recommended for anyone with a Wi-Fi capable smartphone.
Forum enthusiast (on several sites) Menneisyys put together a multi-part 'bible' post on the differences between vanilla MP4 and H.264 video (ASP vs AVC) in our forums. He actually did this a couple of months ago but the subject's more relevant now than ever. Read on for the link and some of my own thoughts.
It's possibly the biggest and best game ever created for S60, has texture-mapped 3D surfaces, innovative puzzles and gameplay, a fabulous soundtrack and it's exclusively available for S60 3rd Edition and S60 2nd Edition phones. It's Lament Island, and it's reviewed in detail here by our very own Krisse, who awards it a coveted AAS MegaGame award. Highly recommended.
FT.com are reporting, along with a surprising number of should-know-better tech sites such as IntoMobile, how most Apple iPhone users use more than 25MB of data a month, and this is being reported as a big earner for O2 and is being contrasted to only 2% of other phone users hitting the 25MB/month mark. A masterpiece of spin, considering that the iPhone comes with flat rate data and increased use actually harms O2's bottom line, while data use from other phones generates them revenue. Staggering. I see Ewan M agrees too, so it wasn't just me...
Coming over the wires on Christmas Eve was the report that Anssi Vanjoki, the Exec VP at Nokia leading the push on the Finnish Community Portal, Ovi, would be happy for Apple's iTunes store to be represented (reports CNN). "Of course, Apple can get into our portal. We even invite (Apple Inc chief executive) Steve Jobs to do so," he is quoted as saying. It's highly unlikely that Jobs would take up this offer, but in ensuring Nokia's online strategy, including its music store, is mentioned in the same breath as a more powerful competitor (in this case the iPod) is classic marketing strategy for an underdog.
Ho hum, another month, another would-be competitor to the Nokia E90 Communicator. This time it's the Asus M390W , running Windows Mobile 6 and also with HSDPA, etc. Still, the run of E90 copies surely shows that there's a market for this much-maligned form factor?
As the sun sets, and Christmas draws near, it's time to retell classic stories, with the obligatory modern twist. Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, I give you "A (Mobile) Night Before Christmas" for your viewing pleasure.
All About Symbian would like to wish all its visitors a very happy Christmas. If you're hankering after some Xmas-related Symbian action while defrosting or digesting the turkey, don't forget to check out our recent features on Symbian Christmas Games and S60 3rd Edition Christmas Themes.
All About Symbian podcast #54 (also known as AAS Insight #6) is a Christmas special edition. Ewan and Rafe talk over a few topics of interest (software discounts and special offers available over the festive period and Palm's recent woes) before moving on to answer a special question: What phone does Father Christmas use?
mBrainSoftware has just released an important upgrade to Pdf+ for UIQ 3. It now has Chinese and Japanese reading capability and two versions are available, Pdf+ Basic and Pdf+ Standard. Oh... and for those with Pdf+ inside the ROM on devices such as the Sony Ericsson P990, P1i and M600, there's also a ROM upgrade for free. Full press release and details below.
