Nokia seems to have had a spring clean on its Download! catalog for many devices. Comments welcome, but maybe time to hit 'Refresh'? On my N95, I noticed the Foreca Weather utility (think iPhone Weather), Boingo Wi-Fi (a one-hit sub service to most commercial Wi-Fi networks), Easy Wi-Fi (err... ditto), Sonic Jump (a trial version of a Java arcade game, licensed from SEGA) and a Simpsons game, while the Symbian Blog has spotted the new IAC (Independent Artists Club) downloader. What have you spotted on your device?
You'll remember I wrote a few weeks ago about McDonalds plan to roll out free Wi-Fi in all their UK restaurants? Well, they seem to have done it already. Below is my illustrated report on how this works out in practice. Summary: it lives! - but perhaps not that convenient for lightning quick access...
Although not a specific Symbian OS item, many people use GMail. And they just added IMAP support, giving you another way to access your GMail on your smartphone with even more options. Just enable it in (On the GMail site) 'Settings|Forwarding and POP/IMAP'.
Two incidents in the last few weeks really exemplified why Motorola and Sony Ericsson just don't 'get' publicity or the press/blogosphere, in the same way that Nokia 'do'. And which of the big three is running away with all the attention and market share?
More from the Smartphone Show last week. In AAS podcast 39, Ewan talks to Scott Lowe from eLeader about the ways they can help businesses keep their sales forces equipped and communicating through the use of special add-on S60 applications.
Nokia's Beta Labs has released a standalone version of their free Device Status utility. It's fast and it works well, to give you free RAM and a hundred other bits of geeky information on any S60 3rd Edition smartphone.
In AAS video podcast 24, I talk to Phil Spencer from Quickoffice about the upcoming Quickoffice Premier v5 and I then collared Stuart Collingwood from SlingMedia to get a demo of the new Nokia N95 client, with a number of new features and better performance.
For completeness, S60 fans should note that I've updated my reasonably comprehensive S60 smartphone reference to include the new Samsung devices, as well as the Nokia 5700 XpressMusic and a new GPS column. As usual, if you can help fill in any of the remaining blanks....
Is the Nokia N95 8GB the best smartphone ever made? There's an awful lot to it, including some features which don't yet rise to their potential, plus a number of potential pitfalls, but on balance no other 'phone' ever created comes close. Within the limits of the QVGA screen and numeric keypad form factor, the '8GB' takes it to the limit in almost every department. Here's my illustrated Nokia N95 8GB review.
Hot on the heels of the Nokia N95 8GB shipping news comes the followup announcement for the Nokia N81 8GB (with more of a gaming focus and dedicated game/music keys). Full press release below - we've got no less than three N81s on order from various sources and will bring you a full review ASAP.
'Windows Live and Hotmail' has now appeared in the 'Internet' section of Download! for most Eseries smartphones and communicators (this was previously Nseries only). The blurb says that Windows Live is currently free but that there may be a charge in the future. Or you could just use Google and GMail instead 8-) (via Eseries)
It's AAS video podcast 23, in which I get the lowdown from Joe Odukoya from Symbian on ScreenPlay and FreeWay, and then I sit down with Boaz Zilberman, founder of Fring, to hear about why his VoIP and chat service is different to the competition.
You'll remember I wrote a few weeks ago about McDonalds plan to roll out free Wi-Fi in all their UK restaurants? Well, they seem to have done it already. Below is my illustrated report on how this works out in practice. Summary: it lives! - but perhaps not that convenient for lightning quick access...
Is the Nokia N95 8GB the best smartphone ever made? There's an awful lot to it, including some features which don't yet rise to their potential, plus a number of potential pitfalls, but on balance no other 'phone' ever created comes close. Within the limits of the QVGA screen and numeric keypad form factor, the '8GB' takes it to the limit in almost every department. Here's my illustrated Nokia N95 8GB review.
