Speaking at the MobeyForum conference, Nokia's Anssi Vanjoki has reaffirmed the company's commitment to NFC (Near Field Communication) technology. Starting from 2011, Nokia's global Symbian smartphone portfolio will begin to include NFC functionality. However it may, or may not, be included in all country variants. NFC is a short range (~10cm), high frequency wireless communication technology; the major uses are likely to be in Bluetooth pairing, reading RFID tags (e.g. smart posters), mobile ticketing (e.g. London's Oyster system) and mobile payment (contactless payment).
Marguerite Reardon at Cnet is worried that the upcoming data caps are going to “force developers to be efficient”. Which I raised an eyebrow at, because I’d hope that any decent developer out there is already coding as efficiently as possible. If they can’t make sensible use of data, what else are they not bothering about in application design? Should we be worried that smaller batteries will force developers to stop using tight coding loops next? Read on for more.
In All About Symbian Insight 122, we share the best of the previous week's news: Expedia hotel booking in Ovi Maps, Nokia 5228, Nokia Notifications and Tesco's Clubcard application. Steve shares his thoughts on the visibility of various screen technologies in bright sunlight, including a hands-on with Super AMOLED, and Rafe explains last week's Symbian Baidu tie up. Finally, the team discuss the launch of the iPhone 4 and the high-end device landscape. You can listen to AAS Insight 122 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
With the football World Cup 2010 (eh, what, is something happening today?) starting this evening and going on for all eternity a month, you'll be wondering how you can keep track of the goings on in South Africa on your smartphone. Whether out and about or on the sofa, there are plenty of options to keep you informed and entertained. Read on for some suggestions.
As part of its promotional activities for the N8, Nokia is releasing a series of overview videos presented by Chris Bennetts, a Senior Product Manager at the company. The second video covers the Photos, Photo Editor and Videos Editor applications as well as USB On-The-Go functionality; rather than just linking to it or embedding it, we've broken this video down in detail to offer you some insight into the N8's photo and video software. Read on for further details.
Every store has one, and they want every customer to have one. The loyalty card is one of those inventions where everyone seems to win – the customers get special offers and discounts, while retailers build both brand loyalty and market research on shopping habits. And in the modern world, they’re making the jump from your wallet to your smartphone, as Tesco and Subway join the ranks of virtual loyalty cards. Read on for more.
The Symbian Foundation and search engine Baidu have announced a strategic initiative that will see the two companies establish a joint laboratory to stimulate the development of 'box computing' on mobile devices. 'Box c
omputing' is Baidu's vision of the future of search - one that allows a more direct presentation of what a user has searched for. In related Symbian China news, Monotype Imaging announced it was contributing the MYuppy Chinese font to the Symbian Foundation. Read on for more.
In All About Symbian Insight 121 we share the best of the previous week's news: SEE 2010 dates, Nokia E73 Mode, Nokia Bike Charger and more. The team then briefly discuss the marketing messages around the Nokia N8, before moving on to some commentary on data rates and the data crunch. Finally Rafe reports back on some of the NRC demos he saw as part of Nokia's recent 'Open for Ideas' event. You can listen to AAS Insight 121 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
Following on from last week's look at the PIM suite on Symbian smartphones and what you can do to suggest changes, Ewan turns to one of his favourite apps... the music player. How would he change this application, in terms of integrating more media sources and online feeds? And, along the same lines, I've exclusive news about an old Symbian OS music favourite that's now branching out to include video. Read on for extracts, links and more...
During a recent visit to Nokia's Espoo (Helsinki) offices, I had the opportunity to look round Nokia's Experience Lounge, which showcases all of Nokia's latest products and services - from Ovi Maps and Nokia Messaging to the latest Nokia handsets. As an additional bonus, tucked away in one corner of the room, is a set of shelves that contain one of almost every Nokia phone model ever produced. So how to share this with loyal readers? Film a walkabout of course!
American pollsters Nielsen have released details on a survey of mobile users and their attitudes to mobile applications. Being a US company, the 4,200 people surveyed provide a good cross section of which genres are popular, and the huge le-up that built in applications receive. Any developer looking for a new project should be taking notes.
David Gilson tackles that age old problem of how to manage web passwords using your desktop and smartphone - and he ends up at a solution that most readers won't even have heard of. It's also a solution that doesn't actually store your passwords anywhere at all, making it device-independent and utterly secure from hacking, in the case of theft or loss.
The Symbian Foundation today announced the Symbian^2 platform is being used in four of the seven Symbian based handsets announced by NTT DoCoMo a few weeks ago. The F-07B (Fujitsu) went on sale on May 21st; it features a dual orientation screen (swivels from portrait to landscape) and a 12 megapixel camera. The SH-07B (Sharp) went on sale a week later; it features a 12 megapixel camera with full HD video recording and is partially waterproof. The F06-B and F-08B will go on sale later in June. These are the first Symbian^2 handsets to ship worldwide.
The initial website for this years annual Symbian show recently went live. They reveal that SEE 2010 will take place in Amsterdam at Beurs van Berlage on the 9th and 10th of November. On the site you can find the basic information about the event and register your interest in attending as well as find out more about sponsor and speaker opportunities. SEE 2010 could be the venue for the first substantive look at the new UI of Symbian^4 and will set the scene for the Symbian ecosystem as it moves towards what is likely to be very busy 2011.
