Nokia Software Update now has firmware v31.0.016 available for the Nokia N82, weighing in at 118MB. The N82 has UDP, but best to back up anyway, just in case. I had a few issues, now resolved - the firmware is safe to upgrade to. See below...
In this, part 11 of my long running series, I look at a specific positive from the presence of large numbers of megapixels in a camera-toting smartphone, i.e. image flexibility. And I discover yet another use for your convergence device: as a microscope! With copious examples of 'Megapixel Microscopy', I'm hoping to fire a few more imaginations with this one....
A lot of people want to watch video on their phone but find some video converters to be a bit confusing and overcomplicated, or they don't work properly. If you're looking for a "converter for dummies" that works with S60 devices you might want to try Nokia's rather overlooked Internet Tablet Video Converter. It's available for both Windows and Mac, it's totally free, and should work with all current S60 devices despite its Linux tablet heritage. It seems to work especially well with the Nokia 5800 as it has the same 16:9 screen shape as the tablets, and a somewhat similar resolution too.
Despite some glitches at Nokia's end, telling me the N78 was already up to date and that the firmware version available was the same as the current one, v12 - hey, I 'updated anyway'. And lo and behold the N78 comes up with v20.149 firmware after all. Something screwy obviously present there, but worth a good look over-the-air or via Nokia Software Update if you own an N78. Do a backup anyway, but in theory all your data and apps should be safe.
You may remember Nokia Chat, the seemingly aborted Maps-aware extension to S60 contacts? It has just been reborn as... Contacts on Ovi. Supporting more devices, more platforms (including Series 40), more ineroperability (e.g. with Google Talk), and so on. And it's all free, of course. There's also (on FP2, apparently) a new feature, in that will optionally broadcast the music you listen as a part of your personal message. Here's the download page.
[Heavily updated] Pop into the Nokia store in Central London today and you'll find the Nokia 5800 has launched. Rafe got himself up at silly o'clock to get to Oxford Street in time for the opening, and he's been updating us over Twitter and uploading pictures as he goes. With close to 100 people queueing, the consensus is that the 5800 (the first touch based S60 phone, running 5th edition) is one of the most highly anticipated devices from Finland in the last few years. Read on for Rafe's thoughts and pictures throughout the morning, including unboxing the 5800 retail...
Samsung seem keen to get feedback on S60 application compatibility problems that you may be experiencing with their latest smartphones - they have just opened up a dedicated discussion board for this, so pop along and contribute if you have a L870, a i7110 or an INNOV8. There's also a board for older Samsung S60 phones, see their announcement for details.
There does seem to be a certain swing towards using your smartphone to keep fit in recent weeks, and Ewan shares here some of the ways in which his S60 phone (currently an N85) helps him keep moving in his daily cycle rides around the Edinburgh area. Interested to see the speed clocked in one of the screenshots though. Goodness knows how fast he might go if we gave him a N79 Active...
Just in case you're not already subbed up with the QVGA or VGA RSS feeds, you might like to note that The Phones Show 74 is now up, featuring an abbreviated video version of my Nokia E63 review, my six-monthly pick of the top 5 phones in the world, plus demos of StyleTap for S60 and T9Nav. Oh, and '10 things I hate about the Apple iPhone'. No, really!
Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo (CEO) and Rick Simonson (CFO), discussed Nokia's smartphone strategy during today's Q4 earnings call. Nokia intend to further expand S60 on Symbian OS to new categories and market segments as well as continuing to push it on to lower cost devices. As a result they are expanding the S60 investment when compared to Series 40. Furthermore they believe the combination of Nokia's five services (Ovi) with a larger portfolio of such devices will see a change in the definition of smartphone. Read on for more details.
Third party publishers Glu have announced Age Of Empires III for the new N-Gage platform, based on the PC real time strategy game set in the glory days of various European colonial powers. UPDATE: This has now been confirmed by Nokia, though they say that the release date in the press release is wrong and it's actually due some time in the first half of 2009. (Thanks to "brain" on the N-Gage blog's comments section)
Nokia today released its Q4 2008 results. Nokia net sales of EUR 12.7 billion, down 19% year on year and up 3% sequentially (down 18% and up 1% at constant currency). Nokia sold 15.1 million converged (S60) devices, down from 15.5 million in Q3 and 18.8 million in Q4 2007, of these 8 million were Nseries and 3 million were Eseries. Nokia's industry outlook for 2009 estimates mobile device volumes to decrease by 10%. The results are set against the background of the global economic slow down.
There's an interesting interview here by Richard Bloor, chatting to Jezar Wakefield. Yep, that 'jezar', tech-guru from the days of Psion and EPOC/32 (Symbian OS's beginnings). They talk about Jezar's current role in the field of audio in Symbian OS, about options for developers, about how a modern smartphone might have to manager up to 4 or 5 separate audio streams or events at the same time, and about OpenMAX, designed to make things even easier for developers.
Nokia today announced that it has signed pan-European licensing agreements for its Comes with Music download service. This includes agreements with Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing, CELAS/EMI Publishing and a number of national collecting societies (France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Finland and Norway). The announcement underlines Nokia's commitment to its music services and will enable Nokia to extend the reach of its unlimited download music service.
Twitter itself seems to be going from strength to strength, the micro-blogging platform that thinks big. Twim is a brand new Java-hosted but very S60-friendly Twitter client, letting you do everything from the comfort of your phone, and Ewan's been trying it out. Here's his Twim review.