Skype has released an official mobile client. The application is written in Java so it should run on a variety of phones including both S60 and UIQ phones. The application uses an Internet connection for status and contact information and for Skype chat (instant messaging). However while the application does allows you to make calls, it routes them through the PSTN (phone) network rather than over the Internet. This means you will be charged for both incoming and outgoing calls of any type. Read on for more.
The Mobitubia blog has announced and released the last public (as in free to the public) version of the popular YouTube access utility and Flash video player. v1.80 build 4 has a huge change list, central to which is smoother video playback. Great application. More details below.
Nokia today announced the next stage of its Widget (Web Run Time) platform for S60. The new version will allow widgets to access information and services on the phone (such as location through GPS) in order to enable context sensitive widgets. Also significant is a brief mention of Open C++ which will further extend the number of standard, platform-independent, programming libraries available on the S60 platform. Read on for more.
What two devices are black, metal, quad-band, Wi-Fi, GPS, qwerty and 3mp cam-equipped? That's right. The Nokia E90 and the i-Mate Ultimate 9502. Here Steve has pitched them headlong at each other, to see how the two titans fare. If you've been eyeing up the Ultimate, make sure you read this!
The Nokia Music Store is now available in France, with a pricing of 1 euro per song, 10 euros per album, or 10 euros a month to listen to all the store's tracks through a PC. As with the other Nokia Music Stores, tracks can be bought onto a PC and sideloaded onto a phone, or bought and downloaded directly onto certain phone models.
Yes, it's that time in the month. PDA Essentials magazine is out, issue 74, this time with a two page feature on N-Gage, a two-page tutorial on location tagging your photos on the N95, plus a review of the Sony Ericsson W960i as part of an iPhone killers group test. Good reading, as usual!
Fellow mobile writers Matthew Stevens and Darla Mack have drawn our attention to Gypsii,
another entrant in the albeit crowded marketplace for social networks
powered by the mobile phone. Gypsii is primarily built around photo
sharing and tagging each photo with the GPS derived location data, then
sharing this with your friends on the Gypsii network.
More proof that Symbian Signed is starting to uncork the freeware blockages of the last year. Martin Storsjo's most excellent Large Time screensaver has also (at last) been officially Symbian Signed. (via p@sco)
Interesting to see the recent crop of accelerometer-based utilities starting to get Symbian Signed at last. p@sco is reporting that ShakeSMS is now available for download in official Signed form, so no more messing around with IMEI-based .SIS files, which has got to be good news.
Nokia just announced a new S60 music and gaming focussed smartphone, the 5320 XpressMusic. There's a new 'Say and Play' feature (voice-controlled music playback), up to 24 hours of playback time (almost double that of the N95 8GB), a dedicated audio playback chip and USB2 transfer speeds for loading music on in the first place. Some thoughts, PR details and images below.
AAS Insight 21 (aka AAS podcast 70) sees Rafe and Ewan chatting at length about Nokia's Q1 results, Orange Partner Camp (Rafe was there) and the rise and rise of N-Gage, looking at FIFA 08 and Space Impact: Kappa Base. Ewan apparently reckons Rafe 'waffles' a bit in this podcast. I call it 'informed expert analysis', but then I know which side my bread's buttered on... Oh, and here's the RSS feed for you to subscribe for the future.
These N-Gage promotions seem to be appearing thick and fast! This one is very simple and easy to enter though: just play any Gameloft N-Gage game (Asphalt 3, Brain Challenge, Block Breaker Deluxe) on your N-Gage phone (currently N81, N82, N95 and variants) and upload at least one score to the Arena before the 18th of May 2008. Everyone who does this is automatically entered into a draw for a range of prizes.
Nokia just announced that their Music Store is now available in Australia. Cool. But there's a big music-related announcement in London tomorrow (Tuesday) - so there's much more to come. I'm betting on the release of a new PC music client, as demoed at Go:Play. Any takers for that bet?
WalkingHotSpot, the software that turns your phone into a WiFi hotspot, is now available for download and there are some exclusive screenshots and preview thoughts below (the break). This means you can share your 3G data connection with other devices over WiFi. The obvious use for this is with a WiFi enabled laptop when travelling. The current version is intended as a trial to showcase the technology; the full version will be made available through carrier channels.
The battles between Nokia's three Nseries flagships have raged on and off across the Internet for many months. Steve's used each of the N95, the N95 8GB and the N82 as his main device for long stretches of time and here presents a real-world summary of attributes and differences. Is there a winner? Only just. Comments welcome if you've also used all three or just have an opinion!
