For all Symbian/S60 3rd Edition/5th Edition phones, SPB TV has been re-launched with a new version number, v2.0, adding higher quality TV streams, better performance and wider device compatibility. As before, SPB TV is marketing and advert-driven, with a registration process and with occasional static adverts displayed during channel loading pauses. Some screens and a link below.
Read on For Four Fabulous Friday links of interest, for perusal over your morning coffee or orange juice. Firstly, over at the somewhat prolific Ovi Daily App blog, you may have noticed a few AAS writers guesting in recent months? It's my turn now with my comprehensive review of Sparkle. You'll recognise it - shooting coloured balls from a cannon - but don't switch off, as it's also one of the best implemented games I've ever played. Yes, EVER.
Layar, an augmented reality browser, is now available in Ovi Store. Layar provides an augmented view of the world around you by overlaying information ('layers') on to your smartphone's field of vision (as seen through the camera). For example, this can be used to visualise local search (overlay local businesses), orientate the position of nearby landmarks and attractions and see nearby social activity (Twitter, YouTube, etc). Layar is available for all Symbian^3 devices, plus the N97 and N97 mini.
The Qt SDK beta 1.1 was launched today. While the SDK is a beta release, the Qt (4.7.2) and Qt Creator (2.1) releases within it are final (i.e. not beta or previews). This means that Qt Quick can now be considered to have been officially released. Qt Quick is a crucial step forward for Qt, bringing easy UI creation, which allows developers and designers to work together more easily to create applications with great user experience.
Well done to James Burland for not only coordinating the rise and rise of the various Nokia Creative photo awards but also arranging prize sponsorship, starting from this month's Nokia N8 Photo Awards, with a new Nokia N8 for a friend and a large framed print of your winning photo, should you be picked out by James. The N8-shot photos submitted are stunning, really, one is shown below - and that one didn't even win.... Why not get involved?
GoodGuide, a company that rates products for their health, environmental and social impacts, has tested 576 world phones and smartphones, with Nokia making all of the top 26 models in the table, including Symbian smartphones like the C6-00, N8, E72 and E5. In case you were wondering, the bottom of the table is largely made up with RIM Blackberrys.
Sound-clip publishing service, Audioboo, is now available in the Ovi Store. The "Twitter for audio" allows you to record short messages on your phone, tag them with text and pictures. Once uploaded to the Internet, Audioboos can be shared, listened to, and commented on. Already a popular service on Android and iPhone, Audioboo is a welcome addition to the Symbian platform.
Nokia Beta Lab have released an update to Ovi Maps, taking it to version 3.06. While still in beta, it’s available through the Ovi Store or direct from the labs. This is a small update from the main 3.06 release last week, with the addition of two check-in services, Qype and Foursquare taking centre stage. This version is specifically for touch devices only. That is, the Symbian^3 devices: N8-00, C6-01, C7-00, and E7-00; and S60 5th Edition handsets. S60 3rd Edition are not supported in this release.
Symbian^3 users should keep an eye on their Software Update application over the next few days as we have just become aware of an update for the Quick Search application and widget. The update is said to improve the user experience of the Quick Search widget, and other updates for 'organising conversations and sending images'. So far, among the review units we have at All About Symbian, the update has appeared on our C7-00 and C6-01.
After a year of development, Podcatcher (originally Escarpod) is now in the Ovi Store for all S60 3rd Edition, 5th Edition and Symbian^3 Nokia devices. Of course, it's not necessarily needed for phones with Nokia Podcasting on board, but it's a boon for the increasing number of devices which haven't. Screenshots below. Note that if you've been using the free distribution, at v1.10, this is much the same, but with a few less minor bugs.
We recently reported about a new beta version for Mobbler, having been updated for Symbian^3 and support for Last.fm's Scrobbling 2.0 API. Today the Mobbler team announced via Twitter that the very latest version of Mobbler is available for free download in the Ovi Store. This news means that the features listed for this new version at Mobbler's Wiki for the beta version we already reported on, have now graduated to Mobbler's official release.
This will either be a complete blast from the past or a glimpse into a world you never knew existed, but.... Nokia had a complete multimedia-accelerated game scene going on back in the early 2000s under the name N-Gage (no, not the software re-invention, we're talking plug-in MMC games on dedicated S60 hardware) and Martin from Retro Game Tech has been putting up occasional videos showing this growing collection of N-Gage's illustrious past. The latest is shown below. Thanks to Jay for the heads-up.
There's an interesting editorial over at The Telegraph, quoted below, in which the author questions, as I have done several times, the prevailing wisdom over whether the current craze for 'apps' (for accessing information and services) is a good thing. The editorial starts and ends in the pub, which is a good start to some decent left-field thinking. Why use 'apps' when we have the Web itself? Surely what we need is a better and more intelligent Web?
Please excuse the original story on this address, I was going by item numbers in Ovi Store URLs - it turns out that there isn't a strict one to-one correspondance between URL numbers and actual content items. The store simply now has over 100,000 allocated item IDs, many of which never materialised into content. Watch this space for some fuller Ovi Store statistics.
As reported on Slashgear, developers registered with Nokia's Launchpad programme were contacted earlier today. The e-mail was sent out to reassure the developer community, after last Friday's announcement of a partnership with Microsoft. In the e-mail, members of the Launchpad developer program were offered a free Nokia E7-00 straight away, and when available they will also receive a Nokia Windows Phone. In addition to this, developers have been given ten free technical support tickets valid for the next three months, as well as a free user experience test which is available upon request. Read on for more information.
