A new beta version of Ovi Maps 3.0 has been released via Nokia's Beta Labs website. Ovi Maps is the new name for the application previously known as Nokia Maps. The new beta adds a number of new features including weather information, premium POIs and, in selected countries, safety camera information.
Additionally the number of countries covered by traffic data has been increased, the underlying map data set has been updated, zooming and panning performance improved, numerous bugs have been fixed and overall stability improved. The new beta includes support for S60 5th Edition (Nokia N97 and 5800) in addition to the existing compatibility with S60 3.1 and 3.2. Read on for more details and screenshots.
The BBC has just launched a standalone iPlayer S60 application (v1.0.0!) for the Nokia N95 and E71. iPlayer lets UK users catch up on BBC programmes that have been broadcast in the last week or so and has previously been exclusive to the Nokia N85, N96 and 5800, available as a Web Runtime widget. Although no formal announcement has been made by the BBC as I write this, it's as good as a done deal, as this BBC blog post strongly hints.
Nokia's 8 megapixel N86 smartphone is now shipping according to Nokia Press Bulletin Board. Outwardly similar to the N85, the N86 features a slightly redesigned casing, kick stand, non-flat chunky keypad, and of course an 8 megapixel af camera which is the highest resolution on any Nokia device so far. Our camera expert Steve will be examining this hardware in detail of course, but just to give the official specs the N86 has a variable aperture for low-light photography, a fast mechanical shutter and automatic blur reduction. The N86 runs Symbian S60v3 FP2, is compatible with N-Gage and Ovi Store, and comes with 8 gigabytes of on-board memory as well as a separate microSD card slot for extra memory. (via ZOMGitsCJ)
Nokia Beta Labs has a graduate! Gizmo for S60 an application that allowed you to access the Gizmo5 service for IM and VOIP functionality on your handset is no longer in beta test – it's all grown up, left the program and is now available as a regular application in the Nokia Download! Store, although interestingly it is not yet in the Ovi Store.
Forum Nokia has announced an update to the plug-in that enables WRT widget development in Aptana Studio and added new plug-ins for Adobe Dreamweaver and Microsoft Visual Studio. WRT widgets are clearly seen by Nokia as a mechanism to accelerate the availability of add-on features for S60 devices. Recent news, such as the availability of a Facebook widget, suggests it may be a good strategy.
The exclusive first-party music game Dance Fabulous is out now on the N-Gage platform (we all know Nokia never sticks to launch dates, this is two days early!). To get the game, open your phone's N-Gage application, go to the Showroom tab, select "Options" and then "Update Now". The download file is 31 megabytes and the price should be around 5 euros, which is interestingly in line with the average pricing on Ovi Store.
ZingMagic's conversions of board games are legendary and Gomoku Pro 2 doesn't disappoint in our Ovi Gaming review - Ewan's been keeping not one, but two games on the go (moku) simultaneously. Think of it as 'five in a row' for adults. It's a tidy game, with intuitive UI and plenty of customisation options, as you'd expect.
Ovi Store had capacity problems on the day it launched as demand for the service apparently far exceeded Nokia's estimates, but they seem to have cured that and Ovi Store now loads reliably. However, another problem has appeared which is rather annoying and frustrating: some items seem to be disappearing and reappearing at random. All too often people click on a game, app or other content and are greeted with the message "Sorry, this item is no longer available." even when it should be available. Let's take a look at the availability problems one by one, hopefully someone high up at Nokia is reading this.
In All About Symbian Insight 74 (AAS Podcast 134) Steve, Ewan and Rafe round up recent news from the Symbian world including ST-Ericsson's SMP demo, Google's 'new' S60 Mobile App, the commencement of Nokia 5630 shipping and more. In the second part of the show Steve gives a few N97 impressions and the team answer a few listener questions. You can listen to AAS Insight 74 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
Still regarded by some (including me) as the best smartphone for heavy email/office users, the Nokia E90 has received a major-versioned update to v400 firmware. Because the phone gets wiped as part of the upgrade process (no UDP here), it's difficult to measure the improvement in overall performance, so comments from users welcomed. Some screens below...
Another Ovi Store game, this time surreal gather-em-up Java title Katamari Mobile has been reviewed by Ovi Gaming, and wins a Recommended award (the review also includes a 10 minute gameplay video of it running on the 5800 and lots of screenshots too). The mobile version of Katamari is perfect for anyone longing for a return to the simpler days of abstract arcade gameplay, and it also provides a nice slice of unhinged Japanese humour.
