"If music be the glue that holds nations together (c.f. the Eurovision Song Contest), then a Social Music Player should be the stuff of Peace Treaties". Or so writes Ewan Spence, wondering if Strands can pull everything from your music experience together? He slips on some lightweight headphones to find out... How good a music player is it, and how integrated is it with the online world?
After my recent look at using S60 with Apple Mac computers (see 'Features|How to'), Tzer2 now starts a new series of articles looking at using S60 with Linux-based computers. First off is a how-to guide on connecting the Linux-based EEE PC to the internet using an S60 phone as a modem.
In All About Symbian Insight #39 (AAS Podcast #92) Rafe, Steve and Ewan cover Nokia Open Lab 08 in the first half of the podcast; Rafe introduces some of the key themes and ideas that were discussed. In the second half of the insight we discuss the live streaming of video from a mobile phone.
When your application is blacklisted because it duplicates the functions on the phone, something has gone wrong, thinks Ewan Spence, who considers the issue of a single monolithic app store, and tells why he thinks the Symbian way is better.
Google Maps for S60 (and also the UIQ and Java versions) just got more accurate, with news that Google has significantly improved its cell tower location algorithms for its 'My location' feature ("far more accurate") to take into account tower coverage areas - hmmm... I'd assumed that these were already taken into account.... No matter, Google Maps is free, as always, at m.google.com, and this will help anyone without a GPS in their phone or in areas of poor sky visibility. (via Google Mobile)
Did you know that 8GB microSD cards can be a lot slower than 6GB ones? No, neither did, I, so I was very interested to read Ricky Cadden's detailed investigation into the issue.
Quite scandalous really, my sympathies go out to S60-theme-supremo PiZero in his tale of woe with Handango and with the criminal fraternity. Summary: people are re-selling his free themes for profit - you'd better read the full story over at PiZero's site. How on earth do these rip-off-merchant's minds work?
Guest writer Nick Anstee is pleasantly surprised by the audio quality from Nokia's latest Bluetooth accessory - the pair of MD-7W speakers. Here's his full review. We hope you're enjoying seeing Nick's writings - if you have acquired something interesting that you'd like to vent about in a formal review, do get in touch!
Not written from a Symbian viewpoint, but Michael Mace's latest missive, about smartphone/PDA ecosystems, is worth a read if you're a developer or if you're connected to a manufacturer. My initial reaction (again) is that Nokia's Download! system has the potential to be just as game-changing as the Apple example quoted - and it utterly defeats me why Nokia hasn't poured resources into this area.
Rafe is off to Finland for an event tomorrow, Nokia Open Lab, which "brings together a diverse group from across social media to discuss the future of mobile as well as content creation". There's more on Open Lab at events.nokia.com/openlab/, where there's a 'virtual event', too, open to all, from 10am – 6pm CET. A Tangler discussion forum will be appearing on the event site soon, and also at www.tangler.com/forum/nokia-open-lab. And, of course, Rafe will be bringing back photos, reports and insight, for posting on AAS next week. Stay tuned....
Stuff.tv are pretty prolific in their video output, often visiting smartphone territory - in this show they look at 5 of the top camera-phones, including the Nokia N82. Despite not having as many (gimmicky?) features as the opposition, the N82 seemed to come out overall winner (if the other presenter could have picked it as well, I think she would have).
The advantages and disadvantages of lens covers on camera-equipped phones is a hotly debated topic. Recent Nseries devices have seen a mix: N78, N95 8GB and N96 (no lens cover) versus N79, N85 and N95 classic (with lens cover). In the first in a series of articles on contentious camera issues, Steve looks at the question of whether scratches on the camera's protective glass really make a difference.
Today, in an online event, Nokia summarised and demonstrated its recent additions to the Ovi.com service offering: Ovi Suite - a PC software offering media management and phone sync, Files on Ovi - an online file storage and remote access to PC files, and Ovi Sync - a service which syncs contacts, calendar events and notes to Ovi.com. Read on for more details.
Symbian today issued another press release indicating that a further 10 companies (Acrodea, Brycen, HI Corporation, Ixonos, KTF, Opera Software, Sharp, TapRoot Systems and UIQ) have added their endorsement for the planned foundation. Last week Nokia announced it had reached an agreement with Samsung to buy the remaining share in Symbian pathing the way for the completion of the plans outlined in June.
Just a memory jogger about Nokia's Ovi virtual event, starting in under an hour (2pm BST, 3pm CET) at http://events.nokia.com/. There's currently an 8 minute video overview of the Files component, but today's virtual event will add a similar video for the PIM data section (Contacts and Calendar), plus there's a Q&A session with the product managers. If you miss the event, there's another chance tomorrow morning, starting at 6am BST.
