The ad-funded mobile games portal 123play.com just launched, with a decent selection of modern (though not quite top tier) Java games, I've been looking at half a dozen of these below the break, so read on. Anyone downloading a 123play.com game before June 17th also gets entered into a draw to win a Nokia N81 8GB, so there's double interest here.
Nokia Wellness Diary has just been updated to v1.18, significantly bringing seamless data import from Nokia's Sports tracker and Step Counter applications - seems like Nokia really want us all to get fit... v1.18 also brings support for S60 3rd Edition FP2, as used in the upcoming Nokia N96, among others.
Have you had trouble installing N-Gage on your phone? Need some help with using the application? Want to know what other kinds of games your N-Gage-compatible phone can run? Perhaps you should check out a new site called the N-Gage School, which contains videos and step-by-step tutorials aimed at people of all skill levels, with more tutorials to be added on a regular basis. (Incidentally, to make things clear, the N-Gage School is written by yours truly, but it has no official connection to AAN or AAS.)
At the Summit today, S60 has announced the opening of its 'Ambassador' web site. The Ambassador program aims to harness enthusiasm for S60 among early adopters, promising 'freebies' (not devices, but general 'swag') in exchange for signing up. With news and software leads flowing out to 'Word of Mouth' ambassadors and with reports on good and bad experiences with S60 smartphones coming in from people on the street, it's potentially a win for all parties.
Today, at the S60 Summit in Barcelona, the Samsung SGH-L870 was publicly unveiled. The L870 is a S60 phone in a slider form factor and has a 3 megapixel camera, FM radio and 3G connectivity. It runs S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2 (the first Samsung device to do so). This takes the total number of S60 devices to 79.
Wednesday morning sees the start of the S60 Summit in Barcelona, with Rafe and Ewan in attendance, more from them as it happens. See below, though, for photos and information on so-new-it's-almost-vapour Nokia N100 - the ultimate S60 smartphone? Plus my thoughts on Nokia's design strategies - maybe some of these will be taken on board by the manufacturers represented at the summit?
With a passion for Snakes and armed with N-Gage on his trusty Nokia N95, Ewan Spence was the logical choice of reviewer for the brand new Snakes Subsonic. Unfortunately, Ewan reckons that the three year old original is slicker and smoother in most departments and that the new Snakes implementation suffers from numerous design and performance issues. Here's the full review of Snakes Subsonic.
Recently announced was the news that T-Mobile will carry Ovi, but only, it appears, after a long negotiation with Nokia (reports MoCoNews). The software and services space, traditionally the exclusive realm of the carriers is opening up to the handset manufactures, and specificallyNokia . "My life would be simpler if they would have not come to my space. It is still not the happiest thing to have someone try and take your cheese away," was the quote from T-Mobile CEO Hamid Akhavan.
The long awaited firmware update for the N95-3 (US version) is now available according to Symbian-Guru (sources from Howard Forums and N95Users). The update brings the US version of the N95 up to speed with its world siblings. It adds demand paging, Flash Lite 3, Web Run Time, Idle Screen Nokia Search and significant performance improvements.
What are the first 10 applications you install on your phone? That's the question that was poised, and answered, by Mark Guim of the Nokia Blog. Also weighing in with responses were a number of other S60 Bloggers: Vaibhav Sharma of the the Symbian Blog, Steve Rowlands at S60 Blogger, Gerrymoth at Nokia Addict, Zack Epstein at Symbian-in-Motion and Stefan Constantinescu at IntoMobile. Read on for a summary of the applications mentioned and their popularity.
In AAS Insight 26, the latest All About Symbian podcast, covers opinion on new devices (HTC Touch Diamond, Apple iPhone 3G, Blackberry Bold), looks ahead to the S60 Summit, gives a first impression on the Nokia N78, the N-Gage games transfer issue and the launch of Nokia Maps 2.0.
In its latest hardware feature, All About N-Gage takes a brief look at the N95 as a games machine. It turns out to be actually rather good, due to N-Gage and S60 games working in horizontal mode, and being able to use the multimedia controls as N-Gage gaming buttons. Those new to the N95 should also see the links to AAS's review of it as a general phone, which are at the bottom of the page.
Perhaps the clearest photos yet of the new, tweaked Nokia E90, with the lower profile keyboard, have emerged at the Swedish site Daily Mobile. Scroll down its page for the all-important revealing side shot. Apparently the keyboard is retro-fittable for existing owners complaining of screen damage caused by key contacts - although comments so far indicate that the new keyboard is even harder in operation... (Thanks to kflyer)
The Finnish online electronics shop Verkkokauppa.com has started shipping its first Nokia N78 smartphones to customers, with a sim-free unlocked pre-tax price of 367 euros (the Finnish price behind the link is 448 euros which includes 22% local sales tax). The price includes a 1 year subscription to Nokia Maps Navigation for the Nordic region. It shouldn't be long before the N78 rolls out to other countries too.
Nokia have responded with good news on the N-Gage Game transfer issue that AAN highlighted earlier this week. They say they 'have been working on a solution that would allow people to transfer purchased N-Gage games to a new Nokia device' and are working with Nokia Care Centers on an intermediate solution. It's excellent to see Nokia to respond in a positive and timely manner. Read on for the full statement.