Today, in London, at its Remix event, Nokia formally launched its Comes with Music service offering. Comes with Music (CwM) lets you buy a Nokia device that includes a year of unlimited access (downloads) to tracks from the Nokia Music Store. After the year is up you can keep any previously downloaded music. CwM will launch first in the UK later this month on the Nokia 5310 Xpress Music, with the Nokia N95 8GB and Nokia 5800 Xpress Music to follow in due course. Read on for more details.
I have been playing with the Nokia N85 (prototype) and present some more thoughts on the new OLED screen technology used. How does it perform outdoors, specifically in sunlight? Could this be the Achilles Heel of the technology and how big a problem is it? Your thoughts welcomed if you've used a device with an OLED display.
Westward, originally released on the PC, is a cocktail that mixes in elements of town simulation, real sime strategy, adventure and humour. Does it combine the best of all worlds, or is it an unwieldy mess? Read Tzer2's review of Westward to find out... (Incidentally, this game is available for both S60 3rd and UIQ3, links for both at the end of the review.)
More 'normob' encounters in the last few days have left me speechless. If some of what I've encountered is typical then arguments about how to introduce smartphones to the average person in the High Street are, quite simply wasted. Or maybe I'm just a technology snob. Either way, I'm a geek and proud of it. You probably are too. Read on and comments welcome...
Some news for the developers this morning from EMCC. They've released a VoIP engine solution that can be used in their own applications. The engine is available for S60, Windows Mobile and 'other platforms.' While VoIP is available on some handsets (and in a few cases it depends on the network you buy the handset for), EMCC's “all in one” solution is geared towards developers looking to have consistency over devices and platforms.
In the latest AAS Insight podcast, Rafe, Ewan and I cover a range of issues, from the latest hardware (N96, and lots on the T-Mobile G1 running Android and how it fits into the current Symbian (and to some extent iPhone)-dominated landscape) and upcoming N-Gage titles.
With your smartphone having more and more storage, filling it with music online needs either a large investment in digital music stores, or a walk on the wild side of the internet. Or does it? Ewan has a look at free alternatives to loading up tunes to your phone without having to bother with those tiresome silver CD thingies...
Nokia announced today that it is 'renewing its business mobility solutions and strategy'. Nokia will cease developing or marketing its own behind-the-firewall solutions. Rather than offering its own complete end-to-end solutions, Nokia will strengthen strategic partnerships and will form its enterprise offering by combining Nokia devices and applications with software solutions from companies such as IBM, Microsoft and Cisco.
I can honestly say that this week's Carnival of the Mobilists is the biggest for quite a while, because I've been the one having to sit through all the submissions to compile it. Here's the result, Carnival 143 over at The Phones Show. Happy reading - and don't miss Tomi Ahonen's feature post or Barbara Ballard's conference notes, either are enough to get you through your lunch hour on their own!
In the fourth part of my Camera Nitty Gritty series, I examine how much (if any) difference a branded lens makes to the camera in a phone. With example photos from the Nokia N93, E90, N82 and N95, and from the Samsung G810 and i8510 and HTC Touch Pro, I try to demonstrate the variations in photo quality for a given megapixel count. What other factors play a part here and is it worth making branded optics a 'must have' item on your phone shopping list?
Even before Apple's iPhone App Store and Google's Android Marketplace Nokia's Download! service was mediocre. Now it looks decidedly sub-standard. In this feature article Tzer2 takes a detailed look at what's wrong with Download, asks whether a third party could step in and gives some pointers about the right way to do things.
A new type of SIM for a new type of roaming? Sounds like a job for Ewan. So we packed him off to Las Vegas on AAS expensessomeone else's tab to try the MaxRoam SIM out for real. Seems like it could make significant savings for anyone travelling regularly.
Nokia's next regular Connected Worlds event in Second Life will be held on Sept 25th, at 11am Second Life time (so 7pm for UK readers). The focuses this time around will be on Virtual Communities, with five of the top communities in Second Life joining the attendees in the Wulfenbach airship, which is conveniently moored to Nokia's Island.
