Nokia announced today that it is 'renewing its business mobility solutions and strategy'. Nokia will cease developing or marketing its own behind-the-firewall solutions. Rather than offering its own complete end-to-end solutions, Nokia will strengthen strategic partnerships and will form its enterprise offering by combining Nokia devices and applications with software solutions from companies such as IBM, Microsoft and Cisco.
I can't really believe I'm recommending a rival site and video show(!), but Rafe can be seen moonlighting on the Mobile Industry Review show, they captured him chatting about the Samsung i8510 to camera. Look out also for MIR's James raving about the Nokia E71. You can skip past the first 15 minutes of the show which is all about the LG Renoir launch, to which I err... wasn't invited. Go figure.
Astraware's latest cross-platform game port to S60 and UIQ fares well on graphics and smoothness but falls down on lack of raw speed. Or so reckons Ewan, who's been applying the arcade skills acquired during his mispent youth to this new side-scrolling shoot 'em up.
Thanks to ratkat for the tipoff, but vtap have released a native S60 version of their 'videos from everywhere' client. This forms a competitor to the likes of emTube and Mobitubia - and of course to YouTube's own mobile client. vtap's unique selling point is that it aggregates from more than just YouTube. Look out for a video head to head between these four different systems in the near future.
In the fourth part of my Camera Nitty Gritty series, I examine how much (if any) difference a branded lens makes to the camera in a phone. With example photos from the Nokia N93, E90, N82 and N95, and from the Samsung G810 and i8510 and HTC Touch Pro, I try to demonstrate the variations in photo quality for a given megapixel count. What other factors play a part here and is it worth making branded optics a 'must have' item on your phone shopping list?
Hooray for PiZero - so many of his older S60 themes has 'expired' and you had to mess with the phone clock just to install them - but as of now, after much hard work, all his themes have been repacked with certificates that will last for decades. Good job, well done.
The best SatNav app for Symbian [in Asri's opinion! - Ed], Garmin Mobile XT, just reached version 5.0. The new version looks like a totally new app because the interface has been redesigned and the speed in loading map data is also greatly improved. Both S60 3rd Edition and UIQ 3 users can now enjoy the new version. Blurb and changelog below the break.
Smartphone game publisher Astraware has let us know that they're looking for more S60 owners to take part in their beta testing. Their S60 version of shoot-em-up Platypus had some compatibility snags when it launched recently, so if you want to help fix this kind of thing and get games free in the process head on over to the Astraware beta testing forum to find out more. They also do games for UIQ3 and most other smartphone platforms too so you may want to apply even if you're not an S60 owner.
ProfiMail has been around on all the Symbian OS sub-platforms for longer than I can remember. But did you know that the developers have been making great strides recently with full on IMAP Idle support and better integrated file and attachment browsers? Nick Anstee's been using ProfiMail for ages on his Nokia E90 and presents details of his personal email client quest, together with a detailed list of pros and cons for this quirky application from Lonely Cat Games.
As reported in other international blogs, the Nokia N96's first firmware update, to v11.018, is now available to the wider world, via Nokia Software Update [at least, it's now live in the UK]. No huge feature changes. As with v11 for the N95 almost 18 months ago, this is just to fix early shipping bugs. Also, thanks to AAS regular James Burland for setting up a N96 Flickr User Group. Worth noting even if you haven't got a device, in order to see the quality of its photos...
Even before Apple's iPhone App Store and Google's Android Marketplace Nokia's Download! service was mediocre. Now it looks decidedly sub-standard. In this feature article Tzer2 takes a detailed look at what's wrong with Download, asks whether a third party could step in and gives some pointers about the right way to do things.
AAS member macwhu has started a "Hello N96" blog detailing experiences with a brand new N96 bought on day of release, with a quick look at various features including the BBC iPlayer and a "fat test" against the N95.
Platypus is a quirky side-scrolling shoot 'em up that's done well on other platforms. Astraware has got in touch to say that it's now available for S60 and UIQ smartphones. Screens and description over on the main Platypus product page etc.
Video conversation site Seemsic has released a beta N95 client for the service. It allows you to record and subsequently upload a video to the site either as a new post or as a reply to an existing conversation. The service is free to join (as is Seesmic itself) and you can download it by pointing you N95 at http://m.seesmic.com/.
The Nokia N96 is now in stock on the Finnish electronics website Verkkokauppa.com, with the unlocked SIM-free version retailing for about 600 euros plus taxes. We've also heard from the forums that the N96 is also available in Britain, with the British version preloaded with the BBC's iPlayer and three programmes. Nokia UK's shop does indeed show the N96 as "In Stock - Ready to Ship". Looking at Nokia's other shops, it seems to be in stock in France and Italy, with other countries marking it as coming soon, so this is presumably a continent-wide rollout.