Rapid Mobile Enterprise Development for Symbian OS (An Introduction to OPL Application Design and Programming) is the descriptive but slightly lengthy title of what author Ewan Spence has been calling "The OPL Book". As reviewer Steve Litchfield discovers this book is the best introduction to OPL yet, covering the development from scratch of two example applications, and featuring an extensive refererence section including the full OPL command reference. For those yet to take the plunge into Symbian development, OPL's RAD approach provides an ideal way to start writing Series 60, UIQ, and Series 80 applications. This book appears to be the perfect companion for that journey of discovery.
Appforge have announced an update to CrossFire (taking it to v5.6). Crossfire allows developers to us Visual Basic .Net and Visual Basic 6 on Series 60. 80 and UIQ devices. Along with this, they have released AppForge Data Sync (using Intellisync based tools) allows developers to include OTA syncing in their applications.
While the original RMRBank application (review here) for the Nokia 9210 happily ran on the 9300 and 9500, there were some areas where the new devices have slightly differnet configurations. So the latest release of RMRBank take care of the new devices, along with improved speed, support for OFX Open Financial Exchange protocols and a number of cosmetic changes.
Fathammer (in conjunction wth Ninai Games), have announced Super Drop Mania, a mix of Tetris and Columns for the Series 60 platform. 100 levels, annoyingly addictive music, and good gameplay means any review of this from Ewan is going to have to wait till he gets through all the levels!
With 40 plus phones already available, and another 40 odd due out through 2005, Ewan's a bit worried that Symbian's number of handsets is leaving open an area that might cause problems. Fragmentation of the OS and UI, and confusion in the end- user. Read the rest of the news to find out why...
Nokia has launched the website for their flagship RPG Rifts at www.rifts-promiseofpower.com. The most elaborate N-Gage game site since Pathway To Glory, it contains many tantalising glimpses at what's to come. The developers' blog indicates Rifts has just reached the beta stage so we should be seeing some more in-depth previews appearing soon.
It's time to pick your favourite photos from 19 great photos in the 2nd Open Photo Contest * here *. This poll will close on 17th April 2005 & Good Luck to all taking part.
Orange, following on from a successful event last year, are holding another Code Camp for mobile developers. Code Camp US will take place in Sarasota, Florida between 18-20 April and ot costs $249 to attend. Symbian is a Platinum Sponsor of the event. Code Camp is effectively an intensive 3 day event built around developer needs with a bit of fun thrown in for good measure (developers that means beer and a chance to win a Segway HT).
More Downloadable Demos for the N-Gage, it's the turn of recently released "X-Men Legends" to get the preview treatment. And if you're wondering how Activision have improved, I'll simply quote Wolverine. "No darlin'...Spiderman's a sissy."
In an interview published on N-Gage.com, Capcom has revealed that the N-Gage version of the hugely popular board game Catan will now feature live online multiplayer (with up to four players per game). As the interview says, this is the first time people around the world can play Catan together wherever they are.
NewTEL95 is a TELNET terminal emulator for the Nokia 9500 and 9300. It is based on the sucessful newTELnet9200 product series. The program also includes a PING and TraceRoute engine. It uses the phones TCP/IP stack and can use GPRS or WLAN connections. Aimed at sysadmins this is a powerful tool for the Series 80 line of phones.
Symbianware have released a version of their PowerDates program for the Nokia 9500 and 9300. The program helps you to organize and view anniversaries, birthdays and other special dates. There is a built in reminder and the program will sync with contacts and calendar. There are also several powerful import / export features.
Another week, another Mobiles Podcast over at the The Podcast Network. Given the gaming feel of the last week, you won't be surprised that Ewan and Rafe are knee deep in the Gameloft's of this world to talk about Mobile Gaming. As usual, the MP3 (20mb, 1hr) is available for direct download if you've not subscribed to the RSS Feed.
Lonely Cat Games certainly think so, and their alternative Email Client, ProfiMail, runs on the three main Symbian OS platforms (S60, S80 and UIQ). Ewan's reviewed ProfiMail to find out just why it's an important addition to the always connected Road warrior.
