Top Italian theme creator p@sco seems to have gotten so fed up with cheap and nasty themes from others that he's started a new initiative, Symbian Certified Themes . It's early days yet, if you're a theme developer and feel your creation is up to scratch then check it out. Also of note is a 20 year certificate that you can download and use.
Ewan's been trialling Wavelog, a new blogging client. Although it does the job, he found the application too restrictive for advanced users and too hard for beginners to get to grips with. Here's the full Wavelog review .
Prominent mobile blogger Rita El Khoury has been writing up a fortnight with the Nokia N95 8GB, trying to impress the Lebanese nation, bit by bit, day by day. It's been a fascinating read throughout the last half dozen or so posts. Here's the last in the series, and it handily contains links to all the other parts. If you're looking to get the N95 8GB, this is a good real world read.
The first firmware update for the N82 is going to have a subtle change we've been looking for; the preservation of User Data (writes Kevin at the S60 blog). The plan is that when you do upgrade the firmware, your applications and settings will remain intact . Three caveats; 1) you should still back up your data first; 2) It's only for the N82; 3) you'll need to wait a bit longer for the first N82 firmware upgrade to arrive.
Although I'm never sure about the whole Flash-only site, there's no denying the commitment of both Nokia's Nseries marketing team and its recruited bloggers, as they travel the world to demo what the N82 can do. Here's the Urbanista link, which you can revisit during the next three weeks to see who's travelling, what they've snapped and where they are.
The Pdf products from mBrain Software for S60 3rd Edition have received an upgrade. Most notable is v1.75 of Pdf+ Pro, which includes the functionality from PdfPrinter, allowing you (as it sounds) to print to PDF format, and also lots of Nokia E90 keyboard shortcuts. Pdf+ Standard v1.75 is also new out today. Pdf+ Pro is a paid upgrade to the Standard product.
In AAS Insight # 8 (AAS podcast 56) Rafe, Steve and Ewan discuss some of the news out of CES: the announcement of the Motorola Z10 and Nokia N95 8GB North American version. There's also information on the recent firmware update for the N95 8GB and the importance of runtime technologies for the Symbian platform.
The worlds of mobile and social networking keep circling each other but (the hibernating Jaiku aside) never seem to really hit it off. Ewan Spence has been looking at Zyb, an online sync host and social network that launched recently. How integrated is Zyb and is it worth signing up for yet?
AAS forum member Andrew Galpin answers one of the big FAQs of the last few months - how do you 'sign' an unsigned utility for use on your smartphone? Thanks, Andrew, clearly done, but all readers should both note that this sort of thing isn't for computing beginners and that a more elegant solution is just around the corner (see the header note).
We seem to have missed that the big-selling Nokia N73 ME got a new firmware upgrade a few days ago. The new version is 4.0750.31.2.1 and reportedly makes the device a lot snappier. Hmm... I don't think Demand Paging is implemented here, but comments welcome from N73 owners - anyone care to back up, update via NSU and restore in the interests of experimentation?
I reviewed Meteor almost three years ago but Krisse, in the run up to the next-gen N-Gage launch in 20072009 2008, has been revisiting many Symbian OS classics and here reviews Meteor again in QVGA form on a modern S60 3rd Edition device. Has the game changed in the intervening years - does Meteor still hold up? It's available for all versions of S60 and UIQ, plus Series 80, by the way.
