There are two online happenings I'd like to draw your attention to today. Firstly, the guys at AutoTrader - who released their Symbian application a week or so ago - are holding a one hour 'Twitter Takeover' at 12pm GMT on their AutoTrader UK account, so if you're looking for improvements to their app or have questions about mobile support then get involved by asking questions. Secondly, the folks at SPB (who make Mobile Shell and SPB TV, among others) are holding their annual web survey on your smartphone preferences and habits - here's the start page for All About Symbian readers - with some prizes for respondents, detailed below.
The official Symbian blog as just published a video taken at SEE 2010, with Terence Warmbier of the Immersion Corporation. This is the company responsible for the haptic feedback hardware found in every Symbian device. Immersion is pushing haptic technology to allow users to discern material textures and spatial sensation, from just a tap of a screen. This technology is already applied to user interfaces and games, but Warmbier also spoke about using haptic ringtones to allow the user to feel who is calling them. Click through to see the video.
Nokia seem to be far more Mac-aware these days - the C6-01 and C7-00 - and even the still-in-womb E7-00 - are all now listed in Nokia's iSync plug-in system, for PIM sync to the Mac's iCal and Address Book. You can find these iSync plug-ins and more at Nokia's revamped Mac software page here. Particularly notable is a veritable flurry of FAQs and tutorials explaining how to do the more common operations with Nokia Multimedia Transfer, and how to connect up a Nokia smartphone to a Mac in the first place.
An at-a-glance readout of the amount of free RAM in your Symbian smartphone has always been a bit of a 'faff' to get, usually involving a dedicated full-screen utility. Free Memory Bars, released today in the Ovi Store, solves the problem by putting a Symbian homescreen widget panel to good use, showing RAM, C: disk and E: disk status, in terms of proportion free and figures in Megabytes.
It’s nice to see that Nokia’s strategy is slowly becoming clear to the mainstream media, as this article in the Wall Street Journal shows. While it does (eventually) get to the point, it starts as many articles do, from a false statement, magnified by Stephen Elop’s new role as CEO. Namely “his first decision was to go it alone and not adopt Android.” A statement that makes for a headline but has no basis in commercial reality.
You'll remember Skyfire, the proxy-based (i.e. like Opera Mini) browser that also managed to somehow transcode flash video as well? Released originally for Windows Mobile and Symbian, it is now being officially phased out, with the proxy servers stopping working at the end of 2010. In something of a tunraround, Skyfire's new 'vision' is based around a local browser on iOS and Android, with a cloud 'booster engine' for handling video and social networking. See below for a surprisingly personal and heartfelt quote from the developers.
Sports Tracker, the popular GPS and activity utility that was spun out of Nokia Beta Labs and which is now its own entity, has just had a big upgrade to v4.0, available over the air by simply running an older version on your Symbian-powered phone. The main change is the addition of social sharing functions, to friends or 'everyone' on Sports-Tracker.com and/or to your friends on Facebook, but there are other enhancements, including a new night mode. Some screenshots and more details below.
A hat tip to Jade for reporting here on the Nokia E7 manual being online now, courtesy of the always-helpful FCC. Of particular interest to me was the mention of standard 'ctrl' editing shortcuts when in text fields - I'm glad to see that these are now back in place, presumably in addition to the usual 'long press on shift' method beloved on the likes of the N97. The shortcuts are listed below. We expect to have the E7 in for review shortly, so stay tuned!
Asri al-Baker, from i-symbian.com, and friend of All About Symbian, has just released a Web Runtime widget for all Symbian devices which will load up the iPhone version of the GMail website. This version of the website offers the richest functionality for any mobile platform. Asri reports that this work was actually inspired by a tweet made by myself(!) Thanks for the contribution, Asri! Read on for more ...
You'll know David from his articles for All About Symbian and All About MeeGo over the last 12 months, but if you're interested in knowing more about him as a person then you could do far worse than check out this mini-interview with him over on the Ovi Blog. Did you, for example, know that he has a Masters in Quantum Theory? Must remember to chat to him about string theory and multiverses sometime....
Forget check-in fatigue, the problem with many location based services and networks is this, once you've checked in, there’s nothing for you to do (an argument by many, but let's take Jon Evans recent rant on TechCrunch as one). Putting aside the collecting of badges and bragging rights, the standalone location-based networks are losing market share now the early adopters have got bored. But there is an answer, and some companies are pushing towards it.
You've got to love a labour of love - and that's what Vuk Vulovic (a.k.a. highdiver) has produced here for the Nokia N8. Starting with the idea for a page of helpful tips on getting the most from his N8, the post blossomed into the current 67 tips, most of which are also illustrated. Worth bookmarking and worth placing a bet that he gets up to 100 before Christmas?
Symbian Podcatcher, the Open Source project to provide podcast collection and playback (and especially useful on many Eseries phones and the new Symbian^3 devices that lack Nokia Podcasting), has received updates across the board. The Symbian^3 build has received a minor update to 1.0.9, while the Symbian^1 (a.k.a. S60 5th Edition) and S60 3rd Edition builds have received more major updates, to v1.0.32 and 1.0.1 respectively. Read on for the download link and a brief comment.
Have you ever jealously eyed up the battery usage stats in a friend's Android-powered phone? Now available in Ovi Store for all S60 5th Edition and Symbian^3 models is 'Nokia Battery Monitor', a joint development between Nokia and VTT Technical Research Centre in Finland. It runs in the background, gathers information on exactly where your battery power is going and predicts how long you've got to go before the dreaded 'power saving mode' kicks in. See below for links, screens and more details.
I have just read an interesting post by blogger @Smartfonefan, in which he goes into great detail deliberating about whether he should buy the Nokia N8 or upcoming E7. It's a rather empaphetic read, and anyone who is reading All About Symbian will instantly understand that difficult and pleasurable period we all go through when we try to find out every last detail (which hopefully AAS provides!) about our candidate devices, to make that final decision.
