You may remember my 'choosing the phone that sucks the least' mantra from a while back? It seems that AAS-friend Ben Smith has come up with similar thoughts. In choosing an 'enterprise' phone (i.e. one optimised for getting work done and which an IT dept will support) to recommend to a friend or colleague, he manages in this article to dismiss just about all the current contenders. With all the current high end smartphone activity, it seems to use that no one model has got even close to being perfect...
SPB Software has launched a glitzy new
take on the weather forecast genre, with an interactive 3D globe and various weather animations, plus an N97 homescreen widget. More details and screens below.
Zany mobile geek Jon at TehkSeven has been popular for a while with miscellaneous videos, including stress testing the Nokia N97 and N900, but he's now launched his own thrice-weekly mobile news video show, 'Phoneage' (YouTube channel link). Covering all platforms, it's fun and it's quick, at about 3 minutes per show. A competitor to The Phones Show? Not really, the latter is fortnightly, longer and more feature-based. So I'm happy to recommend the newcomer as an additional subscription for you.
Tomi Ahonen's writings are always worth a read, especially when they're short enough that you can spare to time to read them(! unlike many of his essays...) Here he makes the good point that mobile bandwidth is a finite resource and that we're fast approaching a tipping point where bandwidth may actually become more expensive and not less, due to to the increased airwave contention.
In All About Symbian Insight 98 (AAS Podcast 162), we discuss the weeks news including closing Nokia Flagship Stores, Skype for Symbian Beta and Nimbuzz's Twitter integration. We also discuss some of the information that came out of Nokia's Capital Market Day, Steve's interview with Lee Williams (Executive Director of the Symbian Foundation) and offer insight into future Ovi Store developments. You can listen to AAS Insight 98 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
In October Nokia announced it was suing Apple over patent infringements with regards to the iPhone and GSM, UTMS and WLAN technologies. Today Apple announced that it had filed a counter-suit against Nokia. In the counter-suit, which has been filed in US District Court of Delaware, Apples denies all claims of infringement against it and further alleges that Nokia 'chose to copy the iPhone' and as a result has infringed on 13 of Apple's own patents. Such counter suits are common in patent disputes where each side tries to establish as strong as negotiating position as possible.
One million downloads a day. That's the popularity of the Ovi Store, reports ME News from a Nokia round-table this week. Although still in its first iteration, with a new version of the store due early in 2010, and many will comment that ring-tones and wallpapers as well as applications will be included in that number, it's a significant number.
With Symbian taking a right royal bashing in the tech industry gossip columns in recent months, I was determined to get Symbian's side of the story. Heading to their HQ in London, I collared Executive Director Lee Williams for a 20 minute interview, putting over my (and your questions). Here's the interview, transcribed in full (grab a coffee first). And, if you prefer, embedded below is a condensed 9 minute video version, forming the lion's share of my Phones Show programme 97.
Just a quick note about the widespread reporting of Nokia's intent to close the three flagship stores (in London, New York and Chicago) - e.g. Chris's analysis here. Rafe is investigating the story behind Nokia's strategy, so watch this space for his report. In the meantime, yes, I agree that the flagship stores were about more than just making a profit and it's a shame to see them go. But, putting them into perspective, Nokia has pointed out that have (ahem) 600,000 other relevant retail outlets around the world.
Thanks to Micky Aldridge for pointing out that Nokia is giving away one week's free Drive navigation for Ovi Maps 3.0 at the moment, as a trial of their service. Worth grabbing the code for typing in and trialling over the Christmas and New Year break? To get your code, head here and fill out your details. Of course, it would be even better if Nokia changed the whole sat-nav game in an instant and made the thing free for all, but....
Symbian is starting to crank up its presence at Mobile World Congress 2010, there's a new article here detailing the ways in which you can both help Symbian and help yourself. As a company, by cross-promoting your own products, as a developer by taking part in the BoF sessions, and as a general enthusiast by attending the Symbian party during the show (sponsors needed, if your company would like to promote itself at this evening event). And free MWC entry tickets are available in exchange for volunteer efforts on the Symbian booth. It's all kicking off in Barcelona, 15-18th Feb, 2009, so email Symbian if you want to get involved.
The Nokia Booklet 3G, a 'mini-laptop' running Microsoft Windows 7, represents a new direction for Nokia and its expanding product portfolio. In part 1 of our Nokia Booklet 3G review, Rafe offers a short introduction and look at the overall design and hardware. Part 2 will examine the Booklet's performance and software, before considering the Booklet 3G's market positioning and drawing some overall conclusions.
