Living in Reading in the UK, I've been used to seeing a gradual computerisation of everything to do with the city's travel network, right down to electronic signs at some of the busier bus stops - it's clear that there's now computer awareness of all trains, buses and roads. Which begs the question as to why some or all of this data couldn't be put online for Joe Public to access. There's now an answer for Reading (and for several other UK cities), thanks to mxData and their new MetroTV mobile application, screenshots and details below.
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.
While the Symbian ecosystem has been making a lot of noise at the Mobile World Congress, most of the rest of the mobile industry has also been making its own wave. Ewan takes a little look around the other highlights coming out of Barcelona. Read on...
Slightly different format for the podcast this week as Rafe is in Barcelona. Steve and Ewan pick up the reins to talk about the announcements and products on show at the Mobile World Congress in the AAS Podcast #113. In Monday's recap, they set the scene, talk about the annoncements from Sony Ericsson, and discuss Nokia's Monday morning press conference.
We-Fi, the free software networking system that helps you find free and open Wi-Fi hotspots, has now been sanctioned by Nokia and is included in many device's Download! catalogs. We-Fi's a great idea - if it doesn't appear in your S60 phone's Download! then you can also grab it from here. It's also available for Window Mobile, Windows and Mac, by the way, and it's truly international. Can you get involved and help expand We-Fi's hotspot knowledge in your area?
In All About Symbian Insight 59 (AAS Podcast 112) we talk about the recent release of Google Maps 3.0 and its inclusion of the Latitude location service. We follow up with a general discussion of 'people location services' and discuss their implementation, utility and surrounding privacy issues. In the last third of the podcast we preview the forthcoming Mobile World Congress event.
Kudos to SymbianpOp and getting there first with a detailed and illustrated look at the new version of Buddycloud. This free software (for Java, S60, etc. and with special emphasis here on touch and S60 5th Edition) lets you interact with friends, with full status and (favourite) location updates, derived from GPS, cell towers and Wi-Fi, plus there's interoperability with the likes of Twitter and Facebook. An interesting read!
With news that a single application for the iPhone will 'crack open' any iTunes purchased app, the spectre of mass piracy arrives on the latest platform. It's a problem that every mature platform has to deal with, and it boils down to a simple phrase. Read on...
In All About Symbian Insight 58 (AAS Podcast 111) we talk about the recent release of Quickoffice version 6, Rafe reports back from Betavine's birthday bash, and Steve talks about T9Nav. The team then moves on to discuss Samsung S60 application compatibility, followed by a few thoughts on the capacitive versus resistive touch debate.
A lot of people want to watch video on their phone but find some video converters to be a bit confusing and overcomplicated, or they don't work properly. If you're looking for a "converter for dummies" that works with S60 devices you might want to try Nokia's rather overlooked Internet Tablet Video Converter. It's available for both Windows and Mac, it's totally free, and should work with all current S60 devices despite its Linux tablet heritage. It seems to work especially well with the Nokia 5800 as it has the same 16:9 screen shape as the tablets, and a somewhat similar resolution too.
Twitter itself seems to be going from strength to strength, the micro-blogging platform that thinks big. Twim is a brand new Java-hosted but very S60-friendly Twitter client, letting you do everything from the comfort of your phone, and Ewan's been trying it out. Here's his Twim review.
In All About Symbian Insight 56 (AAS Podcast 109) Steve, Ewan and Rafe discuss the news of the two N79 variants (Eco and Active), touch on the LGPL license option for Qt before discussing hands-on experience of the Nokia E63. In the second half of the show we talk about the issues around music DRM and consider the perfect mobile user experience.
[updated] Nokia PC Suite version 7.1 (v7.1.18.0, to be exact) is now 'official', in that every man and his dog is being reminded of its existence via normal PC Suite update checks. Version 7.1 includes the following extra functionality: arranging the contacts on your phone into contact groups, starting a phone call to a contact, and having full access to your phone's Calendar in a special new view. If the auto-update doesn't work for you, here's the download page.
