At the Nokia Developer Summit today, Nokia unveiled a number of major improvements in its developer tools, including "significant enhancements to the Nokia Qt (SDK), resulting in a 70 percent reduction in the number of lines of code required when developing for Symbian", improvements to the Ovi Store "including a new look and feel, making it faster and making apps easier to find", plus a "lower barrier of entry and increased monetization opportunities for developers, including free Java and Symbian signing, in-app purchase, improved revenue share, and advanced developer analytics".
At Nokia World 2010 today, Nokia introduced the E7-00, running Symbian^3, a high-end hybrid (touch and QWERTY) device, with a clamshell form factor, that recalls both the N97 and Nokia's popular Communicator series. It is the new flagship for Nokia's enterprise-focused Eseries device category. The standout feature here is the form factor with its four line QWERTY keyboard. Also onboard is an 8 megapixel camera, a 4" 'Clear Black' AMOLED screen, 16GB of internal memory, integrated GPS and comprehensive connectivity options. The E7 will be available in Q4 2010 at a price of €495 before taxes and subsidies. Read on for pics, specs, opinion and some videos.
Nokia World 2010 starts today and the team is on the ground to bring you live coverage from Nokia's premier event. Over the next two days we'll be bringing you the key news, views and information. This news story contains our live coverage, where you can see the latest images and text updates; you can also interact with the team, asking questions and adding your own thoughts. Alternatively you can keep up to date by following our @aas account on Twitter, where we will be posting text updates and images.
Anssi Vanjoki, Executive Vice President in charge of Mobile Solutions (Symbian and MeeGo devices) and a member of the Nokia Group Executive Board, has resigned. He will work out his six month notice period, will continue in his current tasks for the time being and will be attending Nokia World. Coming just days after the appointment of Stephen Elop as the new CEO of Nokia, it seems very likely that Vanjoki was one of the internal candidates passed over for the job, consequently he has decided to move on.
Having seen All About Symbian get a serious freshening up this week (design, discussions, structure, etc.), today sees The Phones Show also getting the spring clean treatment... in err....the autumn! As of Phones Show 120, released today, the show is 720p HD - and yes, it's still all filmed on phones. In this case the Samsung i8910, but it's appropriate that show 120 covers my verdict on the top 5 720p-shooting smartphones. You might recognise the no. 1 in the list - and you'll also recognise the E5, the subject of my hands-on video review.
Nokia's UK music service, Ovi Music, is now DRM-free in its pay-per-track store. Nokia started switching its music stores last year; while new country launches moved straight to the DRM-free version, existing countries have been switched over only gradually. Ahead of next week's Nokia World and the launch of the N8, Nokia is moving over most of the remaining countries to the new version of the service, where there are no restrictions on how and when you play any of your music downloads.
Nokia's Board of Directors has appointed Stephen Elop, currently head of Microsoft's Business division, to replace Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo as CEO of Nokia as of September 21st. As a Canadian, he becomes the first non-Finn to lead the company, reflecting Nokia's increasingly global management and work force. The market is responding positively to the news, with Nokia shares up 5% in early trading.
Nokia today released two new first party gaming titles through the Ovi Store. Ovi Maps Challenge is a map-based geography trivia game. As you play, you unlock additional levels and collect countries in your passport. Bounce Boing Battle is a two player game, played over Bluetooth between two devices, and offers a twist on the classic Pong style of gameplay. Both games are implemented in Flash Lite and have been developed by Rovio, the same company that created the popular Angry Birds game series, and are available for all of Nokia's touchscreen Symbian phones.
A Mobile TV headset has been announced via Nokia Conversations that will allow any USB On-The-Go enabled Symbian^3 device to receive DVB-H TV signals. The accessory has controls for volume and channel changing, as well as for accepting incoming calls, and will require installation of a mobile TV application from the Ovi Store. The headset should retail at €40 before taxes and should appear in Q4 2010. Taking advantage of Symbian^3's USB hosting feature means that users will no longer to be restricted to a limited number of models (e.g. N77, N92, N96); as long as USB OTG will become standard in Symbian^3 devices. Read on for commentary.
The Nokia N8, the first first Symbian^3 device, is now available for pre-order in Nokia's UK web store. It is priced at £429 SIM-free, with availability scheduled for the end of September. The store is also offering the N8 for free on a £35 18 month contract (Vodafone, T-Mobile and O2). The UK is a key market for Nokia and is expected to be one of the very first countries to get the N8, which is, perhaps, reflected in the pricing being at the upper end of expectations.
SPB Mobile Shell has been a popular homescreen replacement for Nokia and Samsung S60 5th Edition phones, but the Sony Ericsson Vivaz's alternative front end was seemingly more of a challenge to displace. SPB have now officially released Mobile Shell for the Vivaz and Vivaz pro today. Both devices have graphics acceleration and plenty of RAM, so performance definitely won't be an issue. More below....
One of the things that first aiders are taught is triage – the initial assessment of patients to work out which ones have a genuine problem and need to be looked at as soon as possible; and which ones are shouting loudly because they’ve broken a nail. In the online noise of social media and blogging, that triage skill is just as vital, because the companies making the loudest noises aren’t always telling the whole story.
The Symbian Blog have published an interview with the Klomptek, the developers of Track and Protect. The interview covers the background history of the company, but also gives an insight into the development process and some unusual use cases. The latest version of Track and Protect, 2.08, which was released last week, improves the registration process, adds support for the Nokia N8 (one of the first third party applications to be fully optimised for the new device) and has additional language support.
We’ve been following the Giff Gaff story at All About Symbian with interest since this community supported virtual network launched last year, and they’ve recently announced some price changes suggested and supported by their users. Read on for more information.
