Google Maps hits 2.1
Just a quick note for those that hadn't spotted the differences in the screenshots in my free-nav article above. Google Maps for Mobile 2.1 for S60 has just been released, with a selection of improvements. Read on for details.
Recent News - General - Page 109
Steve's Navigation Weekend of Frustrating Freebies
This is 2008 and, being away from home, I wanted to revisit some of the free satellite navigation applications that I'd previously played with over a year ago - surely one of them had developed into something that could get me home? Or is successful real time navigation still the preserve of the commercial applications like Nokia Maps, Wayfinder, CoPilot, etc.? Here's my attempt to find my way home using amAze, Nav4All and Google Maps for Mobile...
Trivopaedia 2008
I know quite a few of you rely on my definitive pub-quiz-helper, Trivopaedia. It's now been brought up to 2008 levels, with up to date stats for v2.3 . It's available in Mobipocket reader and iSilo formats (i.e. compatible with any portable device or any platform), in addition to being fully online as well - and of course it's still free.
123play.com launches: Free games not bad at all!
The ad-funded mobile games portal 123play.com just launched, with a decent selection of modern (though not quite top tier) Java games, I've been looking at half a dozen of these below the break, so read on. Anyone downloading a 123play.com game before June 17th also gets entered into a draw to win a Nokia N81 8GB, so there's double interest here.
S60 Ambassadors gets underway for real
At the Summit today, S60 has announced the opening of its 'Ambassador' web site. The Ambassador program aims to harness enthusiasm for S60 among early adopters, promising 'freebies' (not devices, but general 'swag') in exchange for signing up. With news and software leads flowing out to 'Word of Mouth' ambassadors and with reports on good and bad experiences with S60 smartphones coming in from people on the street, it's potentially a win for all parties.
Carnival 125
All About Symbian regular Matt Radford is hosting the Carnival of the Mobilists this week, it's here at his All About iPhone blog. Carnival 125 is a bit of a cracker, actually, with discussion about whether content providers should pay the carriers for the data consumed by the end user, with a look at a huge new mobile-related craze from Japan, plus a detailed look at the implications of Google's Android (and the aforementioned Apple iPhone) for the rest of the smartphone industry.
Sarin to step down as Vodafone CEO
Arun Sarin is stepping down from his CEO role with Vodafone. While cutting a controversial figure since his appointment almost 5 years ago, he has overseen rapid expansion in traditional markets, and made significant inroads into India, Turkey and Eastern Europe. In those five years theuser base has grown from 120 million users to 260 million.
Insight 26: N78, N-Gage and Maps 2.0
In AAS Insight 26, the latest All About Symbian podcast, covers opinion on new devices (HTC Touch Diamond, Apple iPhone 3G, Blackberry Bold), looks ahead to the S60 Summit, gives a first impression on the Nokia N78, the N-Gage games transfer issue and the launch of Nokia Maps 2.0.
And we're GO at the Australian Grand Prix!
Ferrari World Championship seems to have been a high profile game announcement that was followed by a very low profile release (e.g. it's not even in Nokia's Download! system) - but unnecessarily so, since it turns out to be great fun and one of the best Java games to yet appear. Cross-platform and running on just about any phone or smartphone, here's my full and illustrated Ferrari World Championship review. Highly recommended.
Shock horror: Nokia's maps are created by aliens and robots...
[Update: this is now live, no password needed] Nokia's latest Flash-based novelty site is about to go live. The Mapsters are a small tribe of robots and err... aliens, who specialise in trampling on perfectly good cities and turning them into two-dimensional maps. For a preview go to www.themapsters.com/preview and use username 'mapsters' and password 'preview'. And there we were thinking that Nokia's Maps were created by the Navteq people.... (watch out for the jaw-dropping Flash earthquake effect in the opening sequence)
Nokia Maps 2 now officially available
[Updated] Nokia has announced that Maps 2.0 is finally available, after several months in (a very wide) public beta. The press release, with official changelog over v1.2, is below, plus also the less formal changelog for the full v2.0 release over the v2.0 beta. See also my preview of the Nokia Maps v2.0 beta. And here's the all important download link (build 2102 is the one you want). Nokia Maps (as referenced in my recent Location Based Search feature) is a core product for the next five years and has enormous potential, both standalone on devices and as part of (Maps on) Ovi.
Orange and Nokia to co-operate on services
Orange and Nokia today announced a three year strategic international partnership on mobile services. The two companies will work together to provider users with an offering of music, games, advertising, maps and location based services. The relationship will see 10 Nokia handsets added to the Orange Signature range with services integrated into the familiar Orange user interface.
Nokia to manufacture Linux-based phones?
According to the Finnish business newspaper Kauppalehti, Nokia's Chief Financial Officer said Nokia is considering manufacturing Linux-based mobile phones. The article quotes Rick Simonson, Nokia's Chief Financial Officer, as saying "we are definitely moving in the direction (of Linux-based phones)" at a seminar in Boston run by JP Morgan Chase. There was no further detail though, and apparently Simonson refused to be drawn on which kind of Linux would be used. Nokia already makes the Linux-based N800 and N810 internet tablets, which use Nokia's own version of Linux called Maemo, but current tablets have no telephony ability.
Review: Toshiba Portege G910 vs Nokia E90
So you've been eyeing up qwerty clamshells from the dark side (Windows Mobile)? So had I - in this case, getting in the Toshiba Portege G910 flagship, with a spec sheet that rivals the Nokia E90 - in theory, at least. Having used both, here's my illustrated head-to-head review: G910 vs E90. The winner? You can probably guess, but let's just say that this Windows Mobile clamshell has got more than a couple of surprises up its sleeve.
Nokia Music Store opens in Sweden
Sweden is the latest country to get its own Nokia Music Store. The deal is along the same lines as those in other countries, with 10 krona per track, 100 krona per album, and 100 krona per month for unlimited tracks on your PC.
