Nokia World starts in an hour or so (for 2 days) and we have Rafe and Ewan at the event, recording video and audio hopefully. You can also watch the main keynotes yourself on the web - in particular the opening hour or so with Nokia chiefs Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo and Anssi Vanjoki [URL now fixed!], starting at 8.15 GMT, although with the N82 already announced, your guess is as good as mine for what they'll talk about or launch - maybe they'll flick the switch on N-Gage? I'll have my N95s on 'Refresh', just in case!
Nokia has announced an official beta of 'Internet Radio', curiously only initially officially compatible with the N95 variants, N82 and N91. It works brilliantly and immediately, with no fiddling with (or searching the 'net for) Shoutcast playlists and comes with a full directory of hundreds of compatible stations. The full press release follows, with some screenshots.
Some commentators have reported that the camera photo quality on a Nokia N95 that's been updated to v20 firmware is worse than on one that still runs v12 firmware - I disagree, and here's why: the N95's camera is now capturing an image that's closer to real life and not presenting an artificially sharpened view of the world. Read on...
A number of sources are reporting that Motorola is to launch a range of high end multimedia ZiNE phones. This ties in with Motorola stated intent of using UIQ for high end multimedia phones. The rumours indicate that the first of the devices in this range will be the Z10.
You may remember Krisse's coverage of the addictive TibiaME, back in the summer - a massive multiplayer RPG for S60? Well, it's now had a big update, with wider J2ME compatibility, a new world, new features and over-the-air graphics upgrades. Krisse brings us a full report on what's new in TibiaME and what still needs work.
Adobe has finally made its Flash Lite 3 beta available for S60 3rd Edition, although both it (and I) stress that this is intended to be for developers only and isn't a consumer-focussed browser-integrated player. Comments welcome below on what Flash Lite 3 can and can't do in its current state (e.g. playing multimedia content). (via SymbianOne)
Hmm.... other bloggers keep reading my mind. I had an editorial on Nokia N95 firmware half done and now Stefan Constantinescu has not only produced a very interesting article detailing this and throwing in other observations of N93 and N95 8GB, but he's also given the power user's verdict on the brand new N82, with which he declares himself 'in love', despite a number of design defects.
In the second part of a Friday game double-bill, Attila Katona reviews Robo, also for (nearly) every Symbian OS platform known to man. It's a level-based puzzler in isometric 3D and Robo is really rather good in its cute, pixellated way.
It's been around for a while for S60 and UIQ (in all varieties), but Krisse brings us a detailed review of scrolling shoot 'em up Blazar in the modern age. That'll be the 'we're all kicking our heels, seeing what else is out there, waiting for N-Gage to be properly available' age, then....
In much the same was as the EU adopted the GSM standard back in the nineties, the mobile TV standard for Europe will now be based on DVB-H (from a consortium that includes both Nokia and Motorola). While not unexpected, neither is it universally accepted as a good idea, although the aforementioned rubber-stamping of GSM has prevented the compatibility problems in Europe that are still experienced in the American market (Reuters).
