In an appropriately 'over the air' day (ref the HTC G1 announcement), Tzer2 looks closely at how divorced S60 is from a desktop computer. In other words, do you need to be tied to a PC or Mac at all these days? The answer is largely 'No'. Tzer2's article will make you think and challenge the way you've viewed Symbian OS and S60 phones up until now.
Greenpeace has released the 9th Edition of its 'Guide to Greener Electronics'. The latest edition sees Nokia reclaim its number one ranking with a score of 7 out of 10. It leads ahead of Samsung on 5.7, Sony Ericsson on 5.3 and Motorola on 3.7. Greenpeace says Nokia's improved ranking is largely down to improved take-back practices in India.
In All About Symbian Insight #40 (AAS Podcast #93) Rafe, and Steve discuss SMP (Symmetric Multiprocessing) on Symbian OS and what some of the key benefits might be. Steve gives us his first impressions of the Nokia N79 and finally there's some chat about gaming on the N-Gage versus the iPhone.
Possibly the first of several mobile chat clients to support Facebook chat, eBuddy has taken the wraps off its new Facebook support. It's Java, although Mobile Royale (who tipped me off about eBuddy) coincidentally has a challenge open for someone to write a S60 Facebook Chat client. And has anyone here tried weaving Nokia Chat in with Facebook - can it be done yet?
There's some especially good reading this week in the Carnival of the Mobilists, over at Next Generation Mobile, recommended. And it's my turn (gulp) to amass posts for next week's Carnival - if you've penned something interesting, do please email in to mobilists{at}gmail.com. Thanks!
Forum Nokia has launched a new developer contest, Calling All Innovators, which aims to encourage developers to create applications that will 'better society'. The competition takes place across three categories: ECO-challenge, Emerging Markets and Technology Showcase. There's a total prize fund of $150,000 with category winners each winning $25,000.
Nokia will be holding an Evening with S60 in London the night before the Symbian Smartphone Show. It is a chance to see the newest S60 devices, get one-one-one demos and meet other S60 enthusiasts. The event will be held at Nokia's Flagship Store in Regent Street on October 20th between 7:30 and 10:00 pm. You need to register here if you want to attend the event.
Admittedly the question is up there with 'Why does the beach get wet when the tide comes in?', but Tzer2 asks the question "Why do so many gadget fans buy devices on their launch day?", producing an easy to read essay on the cult of the early adopter. And argues, in the process, that their zeal (and expenditure) is good for all of us in the long run...
We've covered Python in passing before, but any wannabe on-device or RAD programmers might like to look at Daniel Rocha's latest piece, pointing out the good and bad points of Python (for S60), along with useful pointers and links.
You may have gathered, over the years, that Ewan's a bit of a Mobipocket Reader fan. Personally, I sit there fuming wondering why the developers still haven't got round to programming a 'Find' function, but that's another rant for another day. Anyway, Ewan's penned a useful beginner's guide on how to make your own ebooks, for reading on the move and for saving huge amounts of excess book-weight when travelling.
The Phones Show 65 is out now (used to be The Smartphones Show), with a surprisingly positive (I didn't think I'd like it from the initial photos) video review of the Nokia N79, more generic musings on the advisability of Xenon flash and a review of iPhone-wannabe, the Samsung Tocco.
Yes, it's Talk Like A Pirate Day again, and in celebration you might want to steal software see our guide to ScummVM for S60 3rd Edition devices (which lets you play Monkey Island on your phone and is available for all Symbian versions), check out Astraware's Pirate Day half-price discount on Hidden Expedition Titanic (which is available on UIQ3 and S60 3rd), read our review of Return To Mysterious Island for S60 3rd Edition, or get nostalgic with the original gen N-Gage's High Seize review.
Maemo, the Linux-based software platform which runs on Nokia's touchscreen-based internet tablets, has had its latest version unveiled under the brand "Maemo 5", which introduces built-in compatibility with mobile phone networks including HSPA (i.e. HSDPA and HSUPA). There's apparently no telephone voice support (yet), though there is VOIP, and it should be interesting to see how upcoming Maemo 5 devices compare to the upcoming S60 touchscreen devices. Will they be totally different products aimed at totally different markets, or will there be potentially damaging overlap? If there is significant overlap, will Nokia really want to keep two parallel product lines going?
In the second part of my 'Camera Nitty Gritty' series, I look at the relative advantages and disadvantages of the different flash technologies used in phone cameras: Xenon, LED and dual LED. With examples, I demonstrate the increased illumination from LED to Xenon and also show the differences in the speed of capture.
Nokia's Share on Ovi team has been busy and there's a whole new Share home page ("simpler, less cluttered, easier to navigate"), plus an upgrade to the back end to deliver higher quality mobile video, for when viewing Share-hosted videos out and about. See below for the Share team's announcement.
