This week's N-Gage news roundup
Well, we haven't seen the hoped-for releases of Sims 2 or Pro Series Golf, but there have been one or two N-Gage-related developments this week. Click on the news headline to see a complete rundown.
Recent News - S60 3rd Edition - Miscellaneous - Page 20
How to: Get faster GPS locks and Get more from Navigation
In this beginners tutorial, I share a little of my sat-nav experience, hopefully of help to anybody suffering from slow GPS locks, especially under S60 and Nokia Maps, and frustrated by the apparent 'unreliability' of mobile navigation software. Here's how to make sure your GPS locks are faster and how to speed around Nokia Maps.
Symbian S60 3rd Edition gaming explained
Over on All About N-Gage, we've just published a guide to S60 3rd Edition games, or "unofficial N-Gage games" as we like to call them. If you're new to S60 gaming, you might want to check out this article which goes through what S60 games are, where you can get them, how you install them and which games you should download or buy. It's written with owners of N-Gage-compatible phones in mind, but the article could equally apply to almost all S60 3rd Edition devices.
'Fixing' Flash Lite 3 on the Nokia E90
You'll recall that the Nokia E90 Communicator recently received a major official firmware update, to v210.34.75, as reported by me here. This brought the E90 into a pretty mature state apart from the fact that Web's Flash integration seemed horribly broken, but only for some people. Read on for my investigation...
The S60 Summit - Illustrated!
Think you missed out by not being invited to the S60 Summit? Are you interested in the whys and hows of how the smartphone industry works and where it's going? Then check out Rafe's comprehensive slide gallery from the two days in Barcelona, complete with comments as appropriate. More content from the Summit to follow....
Rafe in third place, S60 Smarts winners announced
S60.com's recent video competition, "Show your S60 Smarts", has ended and the winners have been picked down at the S60 Summit. Our very own Rafe came in third, with a little help from his dog. You can view all the winning video entries here - that's your lunchtime viewing sorted and you'll learn a few things along the way too!
Outing the Nokia N100?
Wednesday morning sees the start of the S60 Summit in Barcelona, with Rafe and Ewan in attendance, more from them as it happens. See below, though, for photos and information on so-new-it's-almost-vapour Nokia N100 - the ultimate S60 smartphone? Plus my thoughts on Nokia's design strategies - maybe some of these will be taken on board by the manufacturers represented at the summit?
Nokia Music Store opens in Sweden
Sweden is the latest country to get its own Nokia Music Store. The deal is along the same lines as those in other countries, with 10 krona per track, 100 krona per album, and 100 krona per month for unlimited tracks on your PC.
What kind of online gaming do you most want on N-Gage?
A combination of 3G, 3.5G, Wi-Fi and flat rate phone data charges provide lots of possibilities for internet gaming on the new N-Gage platform. Take part in our new poll and let the world know which kind of online gaming you most want to see on N-Gage, or even tell us if you don't want online gaming at all.
How to: use eAAC+ to put FAR more music on your smartphone
Guest writer 'Snoyt' takes us expertly through the wonderful world of music compression, to explain how you can get thousands of music tracks on your smartphone, efficiently and in CD quality, using the eAAC+ codec rather than bog standard ol' MP3... Who needs an Apple iPod?
Smartphone sync to Google Contacts now a reality
GooSync's beta test for full Contacts sync through to Google Contacts just went live. It's a closed beta, so please don't email me for extra links or privileges. Below, I've tried to illustrate how it all works and some of the implications of syncing with the big G. The beta test, if the Tasks beta was anything to go by, should last a month or so.
Show your S60 smarts and S60 Walkies
The See Into S60 blog at S60.com is currently running a competition which asks you to 'Show your S60 smarts' by recording a video of your favourite application of favourite S60 tip. There are already some great videos showcasing S60 applications and S60 tips; you can view all the entries on the YouTube website. Read on for more.
How to: Make more from your smartphone snaps
In a tutorial for beginners, and with plenty of real world examples, I look at some practical photo-taking tips for your multi-megapixel smartphone when conditions are less than perfect... and I explain that adjusting the photo later in software is cheating - but often helps a lot!
Ovi Share Gets Geotagging
Nokia's Ovi Share just acquired geotagging! From now on, any new images that are uploaded will get their EXIF data checked for location information. As you can see if you read below the break, this means that images can be automatically addressed and mapped. This brings Ovi Share into the same ballgame as Flickr and Picasa Web. Comments welcome on what's needed next in Ovi Share.
Reset Generation slideshow video
Apologies to those who feel we're covering N-Gage a bit much lately, but this is something special: over on All About N-Gage we've put together a video of many brand new screenshots from the bizarre upcoming online strategy game Reset Generation (formerly Project White Rock), along with the game's main theme as a soundtrack. The game is an affectionate parody of gaming history, with every character making fun of someone much more famous. Watch it and see what you think...