While I'm sure the problem is not as simple as he makes out, Robert Scoble's reasoning on why Palm can now rule the American smartphone market and why both Microsoft and Nokia are out the game, makes for a great rule of thumb. In short, there are six smartphone/OS competitors (Nokia, Microsoft and Palm as mentioned, plus Apple, Research in Motion and Google Android) and only four US networks (AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile). Now the music has stopped, there are no seats left for the phones from Espoo and Seattle. Read on for my take on all this....
In All About Symbian Insight 55 (AAS Podcast 108) we look at the UK launch of the Nokia 5800 MusicXpress, talk about the 'Curse of Silence' vulnerability (stops SMS messages from being received on some S60 handsets), before discussing our first impressions of the Palm Pre. You can listen to AAS Insight 55 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
I'll admit that Nokia's DT-29 phone stand, as shipped with the 5800 XpressMusic is somewhat more professional than my own paper clip version. Aaron, over at the N82 blog has put up a gallery of photos and comments on how well it works propping up his N82 for video watching and capturing - I think he's right and Nokia should market this as a standalone accessory. [Updated: see below for the PDF template to Make Your Own]
Judy Breck asks, over on Smart Mobs, if it's about time for a mobile phone with a dual screen? The thought is inspired by the new Lenovo laptop that has an extension to the regular screen in the lid that slides out to the side, providing an almost Cinerama experience. I suspect that my reaction would be similar to any Symbian OS follower, namely a discrete cough before pointing out the Nokia Communicators.
One of the delights of the web is just how much useful stuff there is out there for travellers. From running round on a trip and trying to remember which hotel you are booked into, how to get there and working out if you have enough credit left in the local currency, is exactly what a smartphone is good for. While there are a number of “Travellers Toolkit” applications out there, with a mix of free and premium functions, most of these services can be found for free online or replicated with the built in S60 applications.
Don't get too excited, as this isn't a commercial product yet, but Nokia have shown off Locate Sensor, a tiny gadget that can be attached to anything precious and then which communicates with your S60 phone. If the aforementioned gadget then gets separated from you, you can track it down (direction and distance) up to 100 metres away. So perfect for keys, laptop, etc. There's a reverse mode, too, which can act as an anti-theft device. See Electric Pig for more info and photos.
As you'll have seen from other Internet news sources, Palm have launched their long-awaited next generation platform and flagship, the 'Pre' [pronounced pree]. Having been propped up again and again by venture capital money, we've all been wondering what was there to keep the investors excited, and now we know. It's non-Symbian but very much of interest, see the details and comment below.
With CES currently in full swing, the future of two of our tech world memory card formats has been announced. First and foremost, SDXC has been launched, the successor to SDHC. The 'XC' stands for 'eXtended Capacity' and allows cards of up to 2 Terabytes (that's roughly 2000 GB) and up to 104MB/s for read/write speeds. Presumably 'micro' versions of SDXC will also appear at some point, for phone use. Secondly, the M2 cards used by some Sony Ericsson UIQ 3 smartphones are set to be superceded by 'Memory Stick HG Micro', also promising up to 2TB and with 60MB/s transfer speeds.
It seems that the Symbian Foundation has an interim web site up, with the main thing of interest being that you might like to apply for a job with it, in San Francisco or Finland. Fancy a change and a chance to influence the next five or ten years of mobile phone OS development? (via David Wood)
To go alongside the update of Truphone on the iPhone and iPod Touch to include Skype, CEO Geraldine Wilson told the GTD Times that because of the ease of use for the developer, they have no plans to offer future developments to platforms that were not supported by an App Store similar to Apple's endeavour.
Ooh, you all know how much I love Google Maps for Mobile (e.g. for S60, but also for other platforms). It just got itself a 'server-side' upgrade, adding in full directions support for local businesses. You don't need to update your software, just search for a business name (e.g. "Computer Training" or "La Fontana" [a local restaurant]) in 'Get directions'. Some screens below, plus link.
Tomi T Ahonen has penned a very interesting essay on how Nokia is now the world's biggest computer maker with 14% market share, as evidenced by 2008 sales. Tomi takes time to fully justify the inclusion of top end smartphones in the 'computer' category - some great reading here, including nuggets such as the Nokia N82 being as powerful as the Cray 2 supercomputer.
There's a particularly good Carnival of the Mobilists out today, number 155, hosted at Helen Keegan's TechnoKitten. Good reading, as always. Must remember to submit some AAS articles to it... [mutters]
And now, as we start 2009, how about some New Year resolutions from Ewan for the mobile enthusiast to keep their phone in the best of electronic health? It's a time for a new start, and a perfect time to clean out your 'house'. And as many of us pretty much live in our smartphones, then Ewan asks what can we do for 2009 to help out our mobiles and make sure they're in tip top condition?
