Forum Nokia regularly publishes example applications; they are intended as examples for developers, but occasionally are useful enough to be downloaded and installed by consumers. New today is Route, a basic GPS tracking widget. AccuWidget, an existing WRT example, which shows weather forecasts, has also been updated. Both widgets support miniview, which means they can be added to the homescreen of the Nokia N97. Miniview is something that all widget developers should consider implementing.
Ho yes. A huge dollup of Nokia E75 goodness for mid-week here on All About Symbian. Firstly I'm happy to present part two of our big Nokia E75 review, this time looking at its multimedia capabilities - I reckon it has the best camera ever put into an Eseries device. Then Ewan pops up with the fifth part in his E75 video blog, embedded below, this time reporting on it live from Eurovision in Moscow, highlighting its quick and unobtrusive nature, along with just about every feature being 'above average'.
In All About Symbian Insight 70 (AAS Podcast 128) Rafe, Ewan and Steve talk about the recently released Nokia E52, the N96's firmware upgrade to version 20, the newly released Pandemonium and the N97's processor and specifications. Rafe also reports on UI changes proposed for Symbian^4. You can listen to AAS Insight 70 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
Over the weekend the news arrived that a beta of Ozone, a WebKit based web browser, had been released for S60 3rd Edition. Ozone, previously available for UIQ 3, claims better standard compliance and faster performance that the built in S60 browser. In the full news story we take a closer look at some of Ozone's features and include some illustrative screenshots from both S60 3rd Edition and S60 5th Edition.
Last week’s Developer section feature article took a look at FleaC, an easier to use API for Symbian C++ developers. Also, Forum Nokia releases a utility to make the Sensor API (JSR-256) available for Nokia 5800 XpressMusic devices. Read on for more.
Ozone is now available for S60, at the same beta 0.9 version that appeared for UIQ 3 last year. Ozone is a web browser that "not only delivers advanced features such as client-side database support, application cache, zooming and multiple windows, but also provides the best web-standards compliant experience that's available". The beta download is at www.o3mobi.com. Comments welcome if you've tried Ozone.
The N-Gage application has been updated to a new version. There don't seem to be any major changes visible, but apparently this fixes some score sync and predictive text problems, and possibly other bugs. If you want to update, open your N-Gage application, select "Options" and then "Check For Updates", then follow the instructions. Alternatively you can download directly from this link. Important Notes: The update download file may have the old app version number, but it IS the new version. Also, after installation the N-Gage icon may get moved from the front page to the Applications folder, you can move it back to the front page by using the instructions below.
Thanks to CJ for noticing that a S60 5th Edition Touch version of Nokia’s Friend View application is now available. Friend View is similar to Google Latitude in that it lets you add friends to a custom list and shows you where each is at the moment, along with a status update or message. Do you think Friend View has a future and will it ever make it into a device's firmware? Will it ever get integrated with Nokia Maps in the way that Ovi Contacts has been? Comments welcome!
You've got to love Ricky and Rita at Symbian Guru, here unearthing (and providing a brief tutorial for) another gem - Pixelpipe, a new plug-in for Share online which widens the photo (and video) uploading compatibility to encompass Facebook, Twitpic, Picassa, YouTube and others. If you've used Pixelpipe then your comments welcome.
The AAS review of the Nokia E75 may not be the first in the world, but it's hopefully the most insightful and comprehensive. In the first part the review, Rafe considers the hardware and general design on the latest Eseries device. There's a detailed look at the keyboard, musings on this cross-over device and much more. Part two will follow next week.
Nokia has recently made available a major firmware update for the Nokia N96. The new firmware, version 20.050, improves email support (including an email shortcut on the homescreen), adds personalisation settings for Audio Themes, slide handling and slide show wallpaper. There also improvements to WiFi support, camera image quality, Flash Lite video support and more. The firmware can be updated over the air or via Nokia Software Updater. Read on for more details and screenshots.
The classic 3D platformer Pandemonium is out now in the N-Gage showroom. To see it, go to the N-Gage application on your compatible phone, select the "Showroom" tab, select "Options" and then "Update Now". You should also be able to see it in the "All Games" section. You can find out more about the N-Gage platform including a list of compatible phones in the All About N-Gage FAQ.