In contravention of the prevailing spirit of the age, I find myself unconvinced by a touch interface on a phone, having tried using both Apple iPhone and Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, both of which I've rejected as my main device for different reasons. And, for a change, there's survey data (see the postscript) to back up my crazed(!) opinions - it seems that the majority of the great unwashed also prefer physical buttons to touch...
Rafe's back from the Mobile Word Congress, so this is Steve and Ewan's first chance to quiz him on what he found out. In an extended Insight, we look at the hardware and services from the phone manufacturers that were on show in Barcelona.
The Phones Show, programme 76, is now up, with my own compilation of MWC news and thoughts, plus musings on Google Latitude and a demo of the wierdest 5800 XpressMusic bug... Of special note is that there's a new theme tune (hurrah) and that I've finally hit on the Holy Grail of Nseries-shot MP4 video editing - it's the new iMovie 09 on Mac OS and it's stonkingly good. More on this shortly on AAS.
Over the last six months on All About Symbian in my 'Camera Nitty Gritty' series, I've tackled a number of phone camera-related issues head on and tried to draw conclusions, even though they sometimes fly in face of phone marketing. In this article, I provide an index to all the Camera Nitty Gritty articles and also summarise some of the individual article conclusions. Xenon flash, resolution, apertures, branded optics, it's all here and neatly broken down.
In the words of Howard Beale, I'm mad at all the MWC coverage and I've had enough. With Rafe still replacing fluids via the healing power of Lucozade, and Steve off to help ailing family and leaving me the keys to the CMS for the weekend, I might just let off a little humorous steam about the pointlessness of the Mobile World Congress.
It's going to be a common sight as on-device App Stores become more popular on smartphones, but SEO and potential Black Hat techniques to boost an applications likelihood of being found in a search could be just as important as development skills and making good banner ads. Pocket Gamer has an interview with Digital Chocolate (the name behind N-Gage titles such as Cafe Solitare) on the listing techniques that show them pushing the envelope.
Our final daily podcast from the Mobile World Congress as we look back at the GSMA awards, the environmental impact of mobile phones, chargers, Nokia messaging, SIM cards and almost the Android G2. Enjoy!
Ovi Store has been announced, and many people just saw another smartphone applications shop. But it's actually a lot more than that, and its launch could be the most significant thing Nokia has done since entering the mobile phone business, or so reckons Tzer2 in an All About Symbian editorial.
With so much news flowing through this front page over the last 72 hours, I thought a brief link summary might be in order. Sony Ericsson went first, with their display of their early prototype 12mp, S60 5th Edition Idou. Then we had Nokia's main keynote, introducing the S60 3rd Edition Nokia E55 and side-sliding E75, plus the Ovi Store. They also quietly dropped the 6710 Navigator and 6720 Classic. Samsung chipped in next with their launch of the Omnia HD, running S60 5th Edition and with 3.7" OLED screen and 8mp camera. Nokia then showed off the new N86 8MP at a breakfast launch, an N85 with significantly reworked camera. LG brought up the rear with their latest, the KT770, an otherwise unremarkable 3rd Edition slider.
Continuing to round up Mobile World Congress 2009, a few links of interest for Wednesday morning. Nokia Messaging just got itself an upgrade, with the return of Access point selection and a better experience for Yahoo! Mail users; well spotted Symbian's William, showing a veritable wall of Samsung Omnia HD phones all waiting to be carted off to AAS for review(!); plus our own Rafe has been busy overnight, see the live link above for his own photos and thoughts on the new phones announced; finally, Rafe was cornered by the chatty MIR team at the show and asked for his thoughts so far.
The team behind the internet telephony company Truphone have announced their Local Anywhere service at MWC. A SIM card based virtual network, it promises a full voice and data service with clear pricing for the users. Details on those charges should be available before the service launches later in the year.
Steve and I continue to look over the stories from Barcelona in the second of three planned podcasts discussing the MWC, before a full blown Insight Podcast when Rafe returns. More after the break.
As you know, the Symbian Foundation is all about Open Source, meaning that anyone, from the individual to the big company, can get involved with working on the OS source code. Membership is now open, and anyone interested in the process for becoming a member of the Symbian Foundation can now download and view the relevant set of documents here. For more information, see also David Wood's blog entry on the subject.
The GSMA has announced a plan for major phone manufacturers to produce one standard charger that would work with all handset brands, using a microUSB plug as the connection point (not miniUSB, as some sites have reported). The plan has the backing of almost every major phone maker, and if it succeeds presumably the rest of the phone industry will fall into line too. There are already some phones which do charge from microUSB, and the aim is to make most new models use standard chargers by 2012.
Nokia and Skype have announced plans to fully integrate Skype into selected Nokia devices. Kicking off with the Nokia N97, Skype will be part of Contacts, enabling users to easily see when their Skype contacts are online, to call and to chat using a data connection. Other selected Nseries devices are also likely to come with integrated Skype functionality, through initial inclusion and through firmware upgrades.
