In a move to placate a lot of very unhappy mobile web users (including myself), the BBC’s Anthony Sullivan hopes that the upcoming BBC Accessibility Tools will allow people to replicate the “low graphics” version of the BBC News website. Unfortunately, for people who’ve been using that version of the site for over ten years, it feels like they’ve lost a close friend. There’s a lesson in here for web developers around the world, read on.
This year’s theme at the Symbian Exchange and Exposition has been announced as "free", both free as in the Operating System, but also that the event continues to be free to attend and you are "free to connect and free to help shape the future of the mobile industry." It runs on the 9th and 10th of November 2010, in Amsterdam, with more details at the SEE website.
With my tongue slightly in cheek and with the news that sheds(!) are now firmly back in fashion, I wanted to mention a growing trend in the tech world - that of fiddling, customising and tweaking. Of devices, of their firmware and of their software. It's all huge fun, of course, but if you want to keep your life on track and blood pressure down then I'd suggest having a second, fallback device, also synced to everything you know and love...
Community based UK MVNO Giffgaff has extended their offer of free mobile internet to all users until the start of October. Giffgaff launched without an automatic way to charge for data, they said “hey, data is free up to 100mb a day,” and planned to charge for data at the end of June. Well, now it’s the end of June, and O2’s core data network is in the middle of being updated. So it’s free data till October for GiffGaff users.
Nokia Beta Labs have announced the first release candidate for the next version of Nokia Software Updater (NSU). The beta test is open until the end of August. In addition to managing firmware, the new version of NSU will now offer application updates, much like the built-in Software Update application on Nokia phones.
In these times of recession, it's more vital than ever to watch your pounds (or Euros) - if you need (or lust after) a new(ish) Symbian-powered smartphone then why not think of getting something second-hand, on eBay, at a fraction of the new price? Or if you're trying to raise cash by reducing your smartphone stash that's been gathering dust under the desk, then read on for some comments and example selling prices as at the end of June 2010.
It's worth noting that, though we haven't linked to it for ages, the Carnival of the Mobilists is still going strong, here's Carnival 228 over at MSearchGroove, featuring one of our own posts from last week. Always worth keeping track of for some generic mobile reading. Follow future Carnival posts and news on Twitter @COTMobilists
Skyfire, the proxy-based web browser which can handle Flash video, is reportedly tightening its belt, closing down its support, availability and operations in most countries from Thursday (1st July), according to Mobile Royale. A shutdown notice, curiously worded to only apply to Windows Mobile and Symbian users, is presented when attempting to use the browser [updated] anywhere other than the USA, the UK or Canada. [further update] There has now been an official Skyfire blog article on this, albeit with some mixed messages.
In All About Symbian Insight 124, the team discuss the future of Nseries devices and the respective roles of MeeGo and Symbian in Nokia's software strategy. We move on to a discussion of the application business model and app store, which leads into a discussion of Nokia's new developer initiatives. We also share news of updates to Ovi Store and Ovi Suite and the opening of Sports Tracker's online shop. You can listen to AAS Insight 124 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
Ewan and I have a rule of thumb, that 95% of content in every mobile app store is complete rubbish, without significant merit. But, rather than dismiss this 95% en-bloc, or one at a time, we thought we'd do better to dismiss some of the worst offenders category by category, so that you can spot future offenders yourself more easily in future. The traditional way is to handle software roundups is to go for a Top Ten list. But, by way of something slightly different, here's some coverage of the Top Ten Lists we won't be compiling... naturally itself in the form of a (somewhat recursive) Top Ten List!
Nokia's quoted comments regarding the future of its Nseries devices have been causing much comment in the media in last few days. This editorial puts some perspective into the story - Nseries devices only represent around 12% of Nokia's Symbian portfolio and the evolution of the brand towards Maemo/MeeGo had been signposted since Autumn 2009. Moreover it is vital to understand that MeeGo and Symbian are complimentary parts of Nokia's overall software strategy. Read on for further analysis of the evolution of Nseries and a number of salient facts.
Nokia has made a number of developer announcements today, which significantly strengthen their developer services and offerings. Perhaps most interesting is news of a public beta service that allows developers to get their content Symbian Signed at no cost (compared to a previous first time signing cost of up to $215). Also important is the news that individuals can now register as Ovi Publishers (previously restricted to companies) and that the Ovi Store is now accepting Qt-based applications. Finally, and the most significant in the long term, is the first full release of the Nokia Qt SDK 1.0 and the accompanying Nokia Smart Installer (previously in beta). Read on for additional details.
Nokia has quietly updated its Ovi Suite desktop connectivity suite, from v2.1 to v2.2(.0.241), adding simplified navigation, Office 2010 support, awareness for newer devices and a new 'full-screen' photo and video viewer. You'll be prompted when you next start Ovi Suite - or you can 'Check for updates' manually. It's a 69MB download.
Nokia Conversations have announced their results from the poll they opened last week, asking how users back up their phones. While Nokia Conversations did not publish a full set of results, it appears that around 55% of those who responded are not using the cloud, but instead using Nokia's desktop software. This 55% of desktop users is made up by the first and second places in the poll. Ovi Suite came in first with 36% and 19% answered 'Nokia PC Desktop'. It's good to see that more desktop users are using the more up to date Ovi Suite than the older desktop software.
