Recent News - General - Page 113
Playing Safe vs High Risk?
Rita over at Symbian Guru has been collating a fascinating exchange of comments centred around the Nokia N95 and its impact both inside and outside the company. Rita goes off into an extended basketball/rugby metaphor that I'm afraid I don't quite follow, but she does make great points about the different strategies employed by Apple and Nokia. The first plays things safe and tests to the limit, the second produces bleeding edge releases ahead of the competition and then fixes problems as they go. Fascinating contrast.
Skype, the 5320, Widgets and One-handed use
It's All About Symbian Insight 22, a.k.a. audio podcast 71, in which we cover Skype Mobile, the new Nokia 5320 XpressMusic, new announcements in the world of Web Runtime and widgets, plus a discussion on whether touchscreen devices that require two hands to use will take off in the mainstream. Listen here.
ShoZu Makes Its Way To Your Desktop for Media Uploading
Many of you are users of ShoZu on your mobile device - I certainly am. So it's with delight that Ewan MacLeod (SMSTextNews) points out they now have a desktop client. As with the mobile client, ShoZu Desktop is multi-platform (using Adobe Air on PC, Mac and Linux) and lets you upload your media to the popular sharing sites, email to friends, or post them onto your blog.
In the face of overwhelming specs, what makes a smartphone 'smart'?
With the announcement of LG's Secret, with 5mp cam, auto screen rotation, DivX VGA video playback, TV out, Office viewers, etc, I've been musing on what makes a smartphone 'smart'. How does my Nokia N95, for example, compare? I've been playing with the Secret's older brother, the Viewty and have been able to draw some conclusions.
Carnival 121
It's the week's best (generic) mobile reading, as always, and hey, it's hosted at my 3-Lib site this time around. Feel free to pop over to Carnival of the Mobilists no. 121 for your Monday morning reading!
Save Money On Your Telecom Bill with Pat Phelan
Pat Phelan's suggestions on reducing your telecoms bill are all worth a read, even if you're not a penny pinching Scotsman. Naturally he does mention his MaxRoam SIM card, but this is a much more over-arching look at your entire budget - from Skype and Rebtel to specific mobile plans and roaming options, there's probably something here for everyone.
Sony Ericsson Q1 results show falling profits
Sony Ericsson's Q1 results show an increase in overall device shipments of 2% from last year, but the good news end there with the average selling price dropping from 134 EUR to 121 EUR and profits dropping 42% to 181 million EUR. Sony Ericsson cite higher research and development costs (as a % of sales) along with slower sales growth of high end handsets.
Battle of the Black Metal Titans
What two devices are black, metal, quad-band, Wi-Fi, GPS, qwerty and 3mp cam-equipped? That's right. The Nokia E90 and the i-Mate Ultimate 9502. Here Steve has pitched them headlong at each other, to see how the two titans fare. If you've been eyeing up the Ultimate, make sure you read this!
Nokia Music Store opens in France
The Nokia Music Store is now available in France, with a pricing of 1 euro per song, 10 euros per album, or 10 euros a month to listen to all the store's tracks through a PC. As with the other Nokia Music Stores, tracks can be bought onto a PC and sideloaded onto a phone, or bought and downloaded directly onto certain phone models.
Symbian in the news
Yes, it's that time in the month. PDA Essentials magazine is out, issue 74, this time with a two page feature on N-Gage, a two-page tutorial on location tagging your photos on the N95, plus a review of the Sony Ericsson W960i as part of an iPhone killers group test. Good reading, as usual!
Nokia 5320 XpressMusic Gallery
Here's our Nokia 5320 XpressMusic Gallery with a collection of photos from today's event showcasing Nokia's newest S60 phone. Rafe includes some detailed commentary on the music, gaming (N-Gage) and hardware design features of the phone. There's a lot to like in this mid-tier music maven. We'll have a text preview, with more details, in the next few days.
Carnival 120
Well done to Krisse for being post of the week in Carnival of the Mobilists 120. Some good background reading here and I'd better pay attention this week since 3-Lib is the next host(!)
Sony BMG Joins Nokia and Comes with Music
Nokia have announced a partnership with Sony BMG, allowing their catalogue of titles to be available with the Comes with Music program, due to be available in the second half of 2008. Along with Universal, Nokia now have two of the 'big four' music labels in the program. EMI and Warner are still absent, although Nokia makes a point of stressing that they are still 'in discussion' with many other international labels.
AAS Insight - Profits, Orange and N-Gage
AAS Insight 21 (aka AAS podcast 70) sees Rafe and Ewan chatting at length about Nokia's Q1 results, Orange Partner Camp (Rafe was there) and the rise and rise of N-Gage, looking at FIFA 08 and Space Impact: Kappa Base. Ewan apparently reckons Rafe 'waffles' a bit in this podcast. I call it 'informed expert analysis', but then I know which side my bread's buttered on... Oh, and here's the RSS feed for you to subscribe for the future.
