A java game that's essentially a cross-platform port. Doesn't sound promising, does it? Yet UniWar confounds the sceptics by being, in Ewan's words, 'faultless'. Whether playing alone or in online multi-player mode, the game looks great and has all the options and gameplay mechanics needed. Now available in the Ovi Store for both S60 3rd Edition and 5th Edition phones, here's the full UniWar review here on our Ovi Gaming site .
Offscreen Technologies, who have released a wide portfolio of games, applications and eBooks on Ovi Store, have announced that their content has been downloaded more than 25 million times. Offscreen has focussed on providing content for Nokia's touchscreen devices, including the Nokia 5800, N97, X6 and N900. They currently have around 100 titles in the Ovi Store; some of the applications, including Level Touch, Bright Light Touch and Labyrinth Lite Touch have been downloaded more than a million times each. More below.
A major new firmware, version 31.023, is now available for the Nokia E72. The update introduces several new pre-installed applications: Ovi Sync, Advance Communication Manager, Smart Connect, and Internet radio. Additionally, a number of the core applications have been updated including Ovi Maps (free navigation and location sharing version), Web (to version 7.2), and Ovi Store. There are also the usual bug (e.g. the spacebar bug) and performance fixes. Read on for further details and screenshots.
If you're in the 'why can't Nokia do a camera phone with 18 megapixels and 10x optical zoom?' camp then Nokia imaging supremo Damian Dinning (the guy behind the N73, N82 and N86) waxes lyrical here on the impracticalities of fitting such optics, sensor and supporting elements into a phone form factor. These things, as you'll see, are always a lot more complicated than meets the eye!
What if the Symbian handset manufacturers followed the lead of Microsoft? Slashgear picks up on a Windows 7 architecture guide that gives [proposed] information on what customisations hardware manufacturers and networks can add to the new range of Windows Phone 7 phones. In short, not a lot. Which got me thinking about why the open principles of the Symbian Foundation are in opposition to this rush for conformity.
After a few sporadic sightings yesterday, the full roll out of firmware version 50.0.005 for the Nokia 5800 Xpress Music has begun. The popular touch-screen device receives kinetic scrolling in the application menu, an updated version of Ovi Maps (free navigation and location sharing), minor updates to a number of other applications and the usual bug fixes and performance updates.
The Nokia Conversations blog has just released a poll asking users about the features they use least in their phones. In addition to the Design by Community project, which is looking for which features users want in their phones, Nokia Conversations want to know which features people are using the least on their smart phones. Options for the poll are shown below, and votes should be made here.
In the run up to their Q1 2010 earnings call, Nokia are getting a number of firmware updates out the door. The Nokia E51 has now had a big update, from v300.34.56 to v410.34.001 firmware, available as a 80MB download through Nokia Software Update or Ovi Suite. A full backup and restore is needed for the E51, since it's old enough not to have User Data Preservation.
No, not a cheap attempt at Google search traffic on male enhancements, but another serious look at the ever changing, ever growing statistic that is phone screen size. Steve Litchfield looks at devices and use cases past and present, from Psion Series 5 to Apple Newton to Dell Axim to Nokia 7710 and through to the Samsung i8910 HD in the current day. Initially cautious over whether phones might get too big, Steve points out that a 4" display is more a 1995 phenomenon than a 2010 one....
A beta version of Nokia Messaging for Social Networks, also known as the Communities application, has been made available, via Nokia Messaging and Nokia Beta Labs, for the Nokia E72, E71 and E63. The application, which provides access to messaging and other features of social networks; currently Facebook and Twitter are supported. Communities is already available for Nokia's Symbian^1 (S60 5th Edition) devices and is the application that will provide social networking functionality out of the box on the Nokia C6 and E5.
Numo Solutions, the developers of SMS Preview, have announced they have passed the 1 million download mark on Ovi Store. SMS Preview shows a preview of incoming text messages, in a bubble that floats above other screen content, for a user defined period of time. It provides an improvement over the built in 'new message alert', which only tells you that you have received a message. Numo Solutions say that SMS Preview is being used in more than 170 countries on 50 different types of handsets.
In All About Symbian Insight 114 Ewan, Steve and Rafe share their thoughts on Nokia's announcement of the Nokia C6 and Nokia E6. We also shares news of Sony Ericsson's Q1 2010 results, the renewal of Sports Tracker, firmware updates for various phones and Numo Solution's Ovi Store success. You can listen to AAS Insight 114 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
On Friday Sony Ericcsson announced its Q1 2010 results, which saw the company reports its first profitable quarter since Q2 2008. While sales fell 19%, to €1.4 billion, the average selling price increased to €134 (from €120 a year ago). Bert Nordberg, President of Sony Ericsson, highlighted the positive impact of the company's cost cutting program and the launches of the Symbian powered Vivaz and Android powered Xperia X10.
In a blatant attempt to overthrow me as 'chief AAS case reviewer'(!), Ewan takes on SCreate's Executive Wallet Case for the Nokia X6. Thankfully, he's as fussy as me when it comes to wanting a great case and this one seems to fall distinctly short in a few areas. Watch this space for more X6 case reviews from the bearded one.
There's a wonderful article up on CrunchGear at the moment by Devin Coldewey, entitled the The User’s Manifesto: in defense of hacking, modding, and jailbreaking, in which the author presents a very intelligent and well-reasoned analysis of the scene, pointing out all the legal pros and cons from every angle. True, the article is USA-centric and doesn't mention Symbian, but all the same points apply equally to the modding scene on our devices in the rest of the world (e.g. my own i8910 HD HX adventures). Worth a read.
