StyleTap have now confirmed that their Palm OS emulation system is now in private beta for Symbian OS - I didn't get an invite into this stage, but by applying to be a beta tester, you might be lucky. After a short while, it will be opened up to all beta testers, etc. The significance of StyleTap is that there are still many people in the world who are hanging onto ancient Palm handhelds and Treos because they depend on one or more specific Palm OS-only apps - StyleTap will help them move fairly seamlessly onto S60 and Symbian.
It's another interview podcast, this time with Ewan speaking to Alfie Dennen from Moblog.net, which launched a new version of the popular platform late last week. We cover the history of the Moblog company, how to deal with upstart services such as Ovi(!) and what makes a service like this 'sticky' in podcast #85.
Nokia's unified login system Nokia Account is now working again and accepting new registrations, just click on the "New Account" link below the login form. As we noted before, it's not yet in use by most Ovi services, but the plan is for your Nokia Account username to replace all the separate logins Ovi currently requires. If you want to make sure you get your favourite username, it's worth registering it on Nokia Account now so you're ready for the unification. (Note that the registration only requires an e-mail address OR a phone number, you don't have to give both.)
With the news that Apple have (unsurprisingly) had 10 million downloads from their on-device AppStore in the first weekend of operation, I can't help but reflect back on the continuing disaster that is Nokia's Download! system - read my rant below and see if you agree!
Nokia Chat is a new, GPS-aware software and instant messaging service which is being previewed through Nokia Beta Labs. Nokia Chat is an instant messaging and presence application with added location features. Generic location information can be shared via your presence message, via matching GPS position with selected existing (Nokia Maps) favourite places or you can send an ad-hoc exact location as a chat message. Read on for more information, a brief review and screenshots.
Guest writer Luke Barton has been trialling the new CoPilot 7 satellite navigation system for S60 3rd Edition - here's his full review after using it for several weeks on his Nokia 6110 Navigator. Summary? It has some usablity issues, plus laggy voice instructions, but there are plenty of compensating features which will appeal especially to small businesses.
Typical - I take a day out to play golf (on the N95) and some updates I've been waiting for all happen. Nokia PC Suite v7 is now official - here's the download page. No huge changes, but plenty of detailed improvements and it always pays to stay up to date. And Flixwagon just went public and has a vastly improved S60 client. In addition, Nokia N81 users just got a firmware upgrade via Nokia Software Update. v20.0.056 brings the N81 bang up to date with demand paging and Flash Lite 3, among other improvements, according to p@sco.
Files on Ovi, which provides access to files on remote computers, is the latest Ovi service and is now available in beta form. After installing a software 'connector' on your PC you can then access files on your computer from any web enabled device (e.g. another PC or your phone). Files on Ovi is the results of last year's acquisition of Avevnu by Nokia.
Telenor and Nokia today announced a cooperation on mobile services using the Ovi service platform. Specific Nokia devices will be customised with services such as Nokia Maps, N-Gage, Telenor Music Store and Mobile TV with more to come in the future. Ovi services will be launched in the second half of 2008 and will be offered to Telenor customers in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Hungary.
There was always going to be one big topic for in-depth discussion in the latest AAS Insight Podcast - the announcement of the Symbian Foundation. Rafe and Steve are joined by Stefan and Ewan to talk over the ground-breaking news, and shoot a bit of Midnight Pool into the bargain.
Now the dust is starting to settle on the surprise announcement of the Symbian Foundation, many commentators are looking at the bigger picture - including ourselves, here at All AboutSymbian. Rafe has been looking at the strategic implications of the deal, and explains why it increases the chances of Symbian achieving long term success.
The Symbian Foundation website is now online, and carries a few more details on the project. The big news is the commitment to move the platform to be open source (using the Eclipse Public Licence) and have this freely available to all. The foundation itself is set to commence operations in the first half of 2009, and the annual membership fee will be $1500. Until the open sourcing, membership will be the route to obtain the platform royalty free for device manufacturers. Naturally, membership is not required to develop for the platform, that remains open to all, just as it is now.
Neither are huge updates, but Google Mobile completists like me might like to note that Google's native S60 search utility is now updated to a full 1.01 release and (the Java-based) Google Mail is now up to 1.5.0.1193. Search 1.01 does feature extensive help screens and extra informational menu options, but I can't see anything different in terms of functionality. As ever, m.google.com is your friend...
