Very interested to hear about the Bergamot Project. Their Swim tool has just been released for S60 and enable automated synchronisation (at long last) with your chosen sync server (e.g. GooSync, Ovi). Only thing is that it's unsigned and you'll have to used Symbian's online signing tool to sign it for your specific phone. More comments and links by Ricky Cadden here.
The application/service Nokia Friend View, which has been made available on Nokia Beta Labs today, is a combined location and micro-blogging application. It allows you to share your location (automatically using GPS or network-based location or manually) with your friends and see where they are, or at least where they were when they last posted a status update/post. Screens, details and thoughts below. Of particular note is that it has both a Web component (for desktop access) and also that it works on any S60 phone and not just Nokia devices.
More video from our coverage of the London Smartphone Show 2008, in which I chat to Phil and Tanya from Quickoffice about their new v6 office suite for S60, plus Sari from S60 waxes lyrical about S60 5th Edition.
WorldMate has announced that they now have over a million S60 users of their free (and optionally paid for) service. I've included the brief press release below, also partly because the company promises that the next generation of their software, WorldMate Live, is 'currently in development'. The 'Live' version incorporates social elements such as itinerary sharing and contact discovery via overlapping travel plans.
In All About Symbian Podcast 98 (Insight #45) we are back from last weeks Symbian Smartphone Show at Earl's Court. There some discussion on the feel and size of the show, Symbian Foundation related announcements, and the start of our run through of some of the devices and demos we saw.
AAS regular 'jbpseudo' has been writing here on his experiences with Taptu, specifically their new beta-status standby screen widget. I have to confess to having forgotten all about Taptu, so this article is a timely reminder of a valid competitor on the mobile side of things for the mighty Google.
GMail's Java-based client seemed to have been stuck at v1 for decades - it's just had the big 2.0 upgrade. It's still Java and larger (at 500K), but it's faster and, it's claimed, more reliable, especially when working for short periods offline. There's also now support for multiple GMail accounts and sending email in the background. To download version 2.0, go to m.google.com/mail in your phone browser.
In the first of our video features from this week's Smartphone Show 2008, I chat in AAS video podcast 31 to Michael Shean from Skyhook and Loughlin Spollen from Tagggit about their Wi-Fi-based location technology and the first S60 native app to use it.
Google just improved the way GMail Contacts worked. Previously, trying to sync a S60 phone with this (usually through GooSync) meant having to put up with hundreds of 'fake' contacts (added 'helpfully' by GMail, the people you've replied to more than 5 times), all of which then made it down the (virtual) wire to your phone's Contacts at sync time. Ugh. Well, check GMail Contacts now and you'll see there's a new 'Suggested' list, acting as a manual pre-filter before any of these extra addresses get added to your GMail Contacts. Good system and it should ease the syncing woes of many. Even better, the suggestions are back dated, so previous unwanted additions are 'undone'. Comments welcome!
As reported round the blogs, Nokia Beta Labs has released Map Loader 1.0 for Mac. Previously, loading your S60 phone with Nokia Maps ata required Windows. You can now load up with country maps using an Apple Mac. More info and links below...
Thanks to ares for the heads-up that Opera Software have been busy, releasing its Opera 9.5 web browser for UIQ 3 with widget support today. For technical reasons (lack of RAM?), it's only compatible with the SonyEricsson P1, W960, G700 and G900. Opera has also updated people on progress towards v9.5 for S60 - more on this in the weeks to come.
Sigh. Another month, another needless high profile security scare. The BBC should know better. In this case, they talk to a Mr Coney, who (surprise, surprise) happens to sell security software. He's quoted as saying "One of common types we see now runs amok on the Symbian platform. These viruses work their way through the contact book, sending themselves out to every subscriber who has been called or has called that handset." What a load of rubbish, timed to go live on the eve of the Symbian show, too. Read on.
It's all very well standing there smugly with your new Nokia N or Eseries phone, knowing that it's functionally superior to your friend's Apple iPhone. But when you both turn on your devices, it's the iPhone that people gather round, partly because of the larger screen, but also partly to watch its party tricks. Watching these tricks, you might well ask: 'Why can't my S60 phone do that?' Chances are, it can, with a few software caveats...
Back at last year's AAS Pub Meet (was it really that long ago?), Julie agreed to help me with a comparative review of Sat Nav applications for S60. We've produced odds and ends during the year, but you may be wondering where the promised head-to-head mega-review is. Good question. Read on if you're not offended by the sight of a grown woman (Julie) having a really good rant....
Now this is pretty trivial, but bear with me. Am I so unusual in matching a phone's theme to its body colour and styling? Below the break I've illustrated the idea with the silver Nokia N82, but I'd welcome your comments and feedback. What other device/theme pairs work very well?
