In his latest editorial rant Steve has something to say about Twitter and similar services. Do they allow closer connections or are they another unnecessary time-sapping burden?
In Smartphones Show 26, I pitch the Nokia N73 against the Qtek 8500, a.k.a. the HTC STRTrK. Both are of similar age, price, size and are aimed at similar buyers. But which is the better 'smartphone for everyman'? If you want to grab the show on your smartphone, iPod or PSP, here's the RSS feed to copy and paste.
Rudy at m-trends.org is hosting the Carnival of the Mobilists this week, focussing on the wider, general world of mobile. Have a read if you're looking for thought-provoking reading matter....
Hmmm..... methinks the HTC P5500 is looking awfully familiar - the screen size, the slider, the built-in GPS, the 3 megapixel stills camera, the Wi-Fi, etc. I doubt there are copyright issues at stake here, but you know what they say about imitation being the sincerest form of flattery... Nokia must be doing something right with the N95! I can't wait to review the two devices head to head in the summer.
Nokia's Maemo user interface (which runs on the Linux operating system) was designed for their pocket-sized internet tablets, the Nokia 770 and N800. However, the latest version of the UI for upcoming tablets "will be also runnable on desktop Linux", according to one of Nokia's Maemo team. You can see some photos of Maemo in action on an apparently standard Linux PC here and here. This is how it looks on the N800.
Attempting to analyse the smartphone market, from HTC's diminutive Star Trek design to Nokia's all-embracing E90 communicator, was never going to be easy. I've had a crack at it, with the help of a few coloured pens - are we getting enough smartphone bang for our buck?
My Opera, one of the first proto-blogging systems, has now been extended to work well with both Opera Mini and Opera Mobile, enabling text and photo blogging directly from your mobile browser. Extra support includes chat groups and widget management. Opera's press release is below.
Nokia has announced that Nokia Software Update is now available from many Nokia local support web pages and that it's also now available in almost 40 languages. So far, over three quarters of a million people have updated their Nokia smartphone using the service. Kudos to their NSU team. Read on for the Nokia press release.
In a detailed long term review of the N800 and a provocative editorial, our own Krisse puts forward an eloquent and personal argument for 'semi-convergence'. Can two devices be better than one and is it worth the hit on size/weight? This one could run and run - watch for an editorial from me replying to many of the points made.
Announcing the inaugural ForumOxford: Future Technologies Conference to be held on 13 April 2007 at Rewley House, Oxford, UK. Sponsored by Google, Alpheus, Admob, Horizon Channel and Mi-Pay, this one-day conference includes speakers from Symbian, Google and AdMob. More details below.
One of the companies that Rafe caught up with at the recent 3GSM was Abaxia - you might not recognise the name, but they play an interesting role in the S60 ecosystem. Users of the Orange Signature devices will be familiar with their work, as they are the company who programmed Orange's alternative Home. That's not all they do though, as Rafe found out in the All About Symbian Podcast #15 .
Thanks to Darla for spotting that the long awaited N93/N93i tripod (Nokia code DT-22) is finally available if you know where to look. Expansys, for example, are offering it with only a 6 day wait and at only £15.
