Symbian released it's quarterly summary of device numbers and operation figures for Q2 2005. 7.8 million devices were sold in the last 3 months to June 2005, and more Symbian devices were sold in the first half of the year than the whole of 2004. There are 54 different phones shipping worldwide and 50 Symbian OS phone models are under development by 11 licensees.
Finnish paper Taloussanomat published a rumour that the Nokia N91 (the iPod like Nseries music phone) would come with iTunes support. However Nokia were quick to deny the rumour, but did point out it would be straight forward to add support via the iTunes software. Indeed one of the key selling points of the N91 is that it will not be tied to any one service. Users will be able to add music themselves from their own collections, but there are also likely to be several services available. Indications point towards services powered by Loudeye with subscription services such as Naspter and Yahoo Music Unlimited also possibilities.
Nokia have just announced they are to have an N-Gage booth at Gen Con Indy 2005, the main RPG and gaming convention in North America which takes place in late August. This is particularly interesting because it ties in exactly with an earlier rumour about an unannounced game reported exclusively by All About N-Gage. Perhaps our source was right?
According to a press release by Nokia, Asphalt Urban GT 2 will have online shadowracing, one of the key things lacking from the first Asphalt game. It'll also feature music by Moby, and "images of the super sexy Las Vegas act, Pussycat Dolls", whatever that means...
Sourceforge project QBubbleMP, has its first official release today. Taking the classic Bust-a-Move / Puzzle Bobble gameplay to the UIQ platfrom, and utilising bluetooth for multiplayer gaming, it looks a lot of fun. Worth checking out and seeing how it improves.
O'Reilly have launched the Nokia Smartphone Hacks book (thanks for the link Matt), with 100 hints and topics over the whole range of Nokia devices. Given Nokia are the recognised brandname in the USA and not Symbian it's an understandable title, but I suspect UIQ owners might wonder where they can go for hacks. Any advice?
The ever popular (with the AAS Staff) IRC application, Quirc, has been updated to version 1.21. Worth checking out, you'll find the AAS crowd on Freenode on #mobitopia.
Another Series 60 virus 'outbreak' reported in the Register, and yet again it's the anti-virus software vendor who's prominent on the scene. "Prospective victims need to accept a download"? More like explicitly choose 'Yes' three times... Mutter mutter... Further reading.
Yes for $9.95, CelCall are offering CallMe UIQ and CallMe S60. This app sends a text to someone in your phonebook, asking them to call you so "[you don't] pay incredibly high rates to call home when roaming." Or you could just send a text yourself...
What does it take to make a good UI on a smartphone? Symbian One talk to Giuliano Maciocci of Mobile Innovation, abut the design issues and challenges confronting modern day developers.
Steve takes a look at iSilo, a tool aimed at packing up websites into a single file for use on a mobile device. iSilio has a long history and originated in the Palm world, see what Steve thinks of the Series 60 version in his review.
Rafe gets inspired by Steve's 'Next generation' thoughts and Nokia's almost simultaneous release of Mobile Search. Here's his own version of the future.
