The Nokia E63, at £200 (SIM-free), is one of the cheapest S60 phones (at RRP) on the market. With its QWERTY form factor it looks, at first glance, very similar to the popular, but more expensive, Nokia E71. In the first part of his Nokia E63 review, Steve looks at the hardware and explains the differences between the two 'sister' devices, before covering the Nokia Email experience and discussing highlights from the on board applications.
While I'm sure the problem is not as simple as he makes out, Robert Scoble's reasoning on why Palm can now rule the American smartphone market and why both Microsoft and Nokia are out the game, makes for a great rule of thumb. In short, there are six smartphone/OS competitors (Nokia, Microsoft and Palm as mentioned, plus Apple, Research in Motion and Google Android) and only four US networks (AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile). Now the music has stopped, there are no seats left for the phones from Espoo and Seattle. Read on for my take on all this....
Hurrah! It seems that THQ and/or Nokia have changed their minds, and the apparently cancelled Worms for N-Gage has been un-cancelled. This is great news for the next gen N-Gage as the game was very well received on the original gen N-Gage, and should be even better on the new platform thanks to the bigger screen size and better internet connectivity. Nokia chose to mention All About N-Gage's "Most Anticipated Game" reader poll in their Worms announcement, so perhaps AAN's readers managed to get Nokia to see how much demand there is for this game.
In All About Symbian Insight 55 (AAS Podcast 108) we look at the UK launch of the Nokia 5800 MusicXpress, talk about the 'Curse of Silence' vulnerability (stops SMS messages from being received on some S60 handsets), before discussing our first impressions of the Palm Pre. You can listen to AAS Insight 55 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
A major firmware update for the Nokia E71, version 200.21.188, is now available. The new firmware adds the Internet Radio and My Nokia application, adds two new themes, adds a number of usability improvements and contains a large number of stability and functionality updates including improved WLAN support, more power efficient 3G and improved camera performance.
If you're a mobile game company interested in publishing your games on the N-Gage platform, you may want to check out their slightly updated Developer Application Process page. This page used to only mention becoming a first party developer. However, the application form now also says it can be used to apply to be a third party publisher, so presumably you can now publish your games on N-Gage without giving up ownership of them.
At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas Nokia has announced that the Nokia E63 will shortly be available in the US. The Nokia E63 is a QWERTY-equipped S60 phone and is effectively a budget version of the Nokia E71. It has a 2.0 megapixel camera, WiFi and 3G connectivity, and runs S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1. It will have an esitmated retail price of $279 (unlocked) and will be available in the 'coming weeks'.
Ewan finishes his look at Nokia's OLED-screened N85 by taking it online. He also sums up his impressions, concluding that "underneath these colours is a thoroughbred". He does concede that some of the software in the N85 is "old" but recognises that this also brings maturity and stability. There are plenty of positives in the N85's package, it seems.
Probably a quick bug fix (in view of the numbers sold) to make darned sure that noone gets caught out by the 'nuisance' CurseSMS bug in S60 3.1, but N95 'classic' owners should try Nokia Software Update: v31.0.017 is available for unlocked devices in many countries.
In the first AAS Insight (54) of the year we look back on 2008 and share our hardware highlights, rant about our lowlights, make a few daring predictions and waffle on our favourite pieces of software from 2008. You can listen to AAS Insight 54 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
Over on All About N-Gage, we've reviewed the arcade racing game Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D, and we've also published the results of our readers poll on the best N-Gage game of 2008, along with the personal picks of the AAN/AAS staff.
Steve continues looking at the Samsung i7110, this time turning his attention away from the performance and onto the software and user interface. With the caveat that this build is still an early version, he finds a lot to be impressed by, but it still needs a little bit more polish before the i7110 can really shine.
In case you missed it during the hectic time between Christmas and New Year, Nokia have announced a competition to design a widget for the N97, specifically for the homescreen. The winning widget will 'go into production' (which we assume means it will be coded by the Nokia development team) and the winning designer will receive a production N97 with their widget ahead of the public release of the device. More details on the Nseries website.
So how will did Nokia's Comes With Music project do over the festive period? While exact numbers haven't been released by Nokia (or The Carphone Warehouse, who were distributing the phones with the service), an interview in The Financial Times quotes someone familiar with the sales being "OK, but not earth-shattering."
Many people are now reporting that the North American variant of the Nokia N96 has now got its own v12 firmware update (see here for our earlier post), including, according to Gearlog, compatibility with the new Mail on Ovi service. Can anyone upgrade and report back on how this works?