Something we're likely to hear more of in 2010 is the 'damage' that mobile phone users who make use of the always on promise of mobile data cause on the coverage and quality of a network. Head of O2 Robin Dunne said as much in this interview on the FT. While he points ot the "unlimited" data on the iPhone (during much of 2009 O2 had the UK exclusive on this handset) with more awareness of data connectivity, expect more problems in the New Year.
As part of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in two weeks time, 20 mobile apps have been selected to compete in the Mobile App Showdown. Perennial Symbian favourite Gravity (here's the AAS Review of the Twitter client) is currently running fifth in the public vote, which continues until Friday 8th January.
Mobile Royale have served up an great guide to the Top 100 Resources (in their opinion) for Symbian users online. With pointers to the initial sites, popular Symbian users on Twitter, applications, must read articles and guides it's a good jumping off point for users new and old.
No, not a blatant Phones Show plug (though Phones Show Chat 18 is out), but a serious attempt to provoke thought and discussion. Ahead of a video feature on smartphone recommendations, I've opened up my thought processes to you below, in some detail, breaking down the market into a whopping seven stereotypes(!) Maybe you'd like to chip in with comments, recommendations and disqualifications of your own?
There's a particularly interesting page over on the Symbian Foundation web site, detailing how the OS itself is 'built'. In other words, turning the millions of lines of Open Source code into a set of binaries that will work on phones and emulators. Fascinating stuff, if you've any interest in software engineering. (via Jim Clarke)
In All About Symbian Insight 99 (AAS Podcast 163), we discuss recent news including Nokia's presence at MWC, Ewan's Le Web trip and recent Apple legal activity. Then there's discussion of the Nokia Booklet 3G and the future direction of such mobile devices and software platforms. Finally there some special Christmas related content making for a longer-then-usual podcast. You can listen to AAS Insight 99 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
Vodafone UK customers (PAYG and monthly) apparently all get free data from Christmas Day to New Years Day - yes, it's only 50p a day, but still a handy little stocking filler from the big V? And got to be handy for all those people unwrapping Vodafone-branded phones and wanting to try them out for free....
It's been a rough year for the Symbian ecosystem, and an especially rough year for their partners. Samsung and Sony Ericsson have taken their portion of the punishment, but the lion's share belongs, for good or ill, to Nokia. The ecosystem strikes me as remarkably like another that last year was on the way down, but is now in good health.
As an experiment, I lent my Nokia N97 mini to All About iPhone's Matt Radford, to see what he thought of the device and its interface, coming from a staunch iPhone background. Embedded below is my ten minute catch-up interview with him, for your interest. A fuller textual report from Matt is in the works over Christmas, pudding and festivities permitting!
As you wind down for Christmas and New Year, a chance to clear some Links of Interest from my inbox. The ever insightful Tomi Ahonen, as part of a rant against smartphones not taking over from PCs, makes some interesting observations about 30 second tasks versus 30 minute ones. Only a short piece and worth reading. And the Bluetooth SIG has formally adopted the new Bluetooth 4 spec, (rolling in Nokia's Wibree work), meaning that ultra low power wireless communications between all our devices is getting ever closer. Quote from the press release below.
A couple of Phones Show-related links for you: show 98 is now live, with my video review of the Nokia E72 and a walkthrough of Nimbuzz with Twitter on the Nokia N97. And if you're anywhere near Berkshire in the UK on the 6th of January 2010, there's an informal Phones Show pub meet - anyone welcome, though my offer of 'free beer' might need a caveat if too many people want to attend... 8-)
Our very own Asri al-Baker has taken the time to sit down with Malcolm Lithgow, the guy behind Dreamspring, a software house which has been in the Psion and Symbian worlds for almost as long as I have(!) - Asri questions him on the challenges and rewards of developing for Symbian and asks him to summarise a modern developer's other options (Maemo, iPhone, Android, etc.) Here's the fairly lengthy, but interesting, interview.
Sasken, which provides mobile software services and solutions, has put forward a proposal in the Symbian Foundation for a Social Mobile Framework, which will hopefully be included in future releases of Symbian. The aim is "to enable seamless integration of social networks and web services into native C++ applications". Some more details and links below, if you're a developer or if you're interested.
The application development system Python for S60 has finally reached the big version 2.0, at least in runtime form, and is being pushed out via SW_Update on selected S60 phones. I've done some screens of the availability and installation process below on the Nokia N86. I daresay an official announcement and a full development release is also imminent. Watch this space.
As suspected, (Norman John is reporting that) Nokia is holding its own partner event in Barcelona in February, within walking distance of Mobile World Congress. Open just for the 15th and 16th, Nokia promise that "invited guests can relax on comfy sofas, enjoy delicious food and drinks as they discuss the industry and network with their peers". And, no doubt, a few tasty new Symbian-powered smartphones? We'll see.
