In the latest of my semi-definitive (is such a term an oxymoron?) series of case reviews, I look at solutions designed to carry and protect the Nokia N82, from silicone sleeves to holsters to in-situ flips. If you own a case which you think performs better or have spotted something on the web that you think might fit the bill, please comment!
As the new N-Gage platform has finally (and properly) launched, All About N-Gage has updated its Frequently Asked Questions section to answer our readers' most common queries. If you can't find the answer you want in the FAQ, post about it in this item's comments thread and we'll try to get back to you.
I've been comparing the audio quality in recorded videos in a selection of top Nseries smartphones. What differences are introduced by the move from stereo to mono and by re-using the main phone microphone? What about mike component quality? What about differences in automatic gain control?
With Rafe at CTIA, Ewan at Over The Air and others all on holiday, it's time for a little Friday catchup, with some links you may have missed. All-Format Writer is a freeware Java application that can create documents in the various competing ‘next-generation’ electronic document formats (ODT, DOCX, UOF and PDF) (via The Symbian Blog). Antony Pranata has a great tip for cleanly uninstalling PC Suite under Windows Vista. Al at the Nokia Blog has a great post about creating photos with High Dynamic Range (evening out extremes of light and dark). Finally, the insane(ly great) N82-toting Stavros has addressed the world. Again. Listen and learn!
Users of non-network branded Nokia E90s should check NSU right now. There's a new firmware update, v200.34.72, with Flash Lite 3, a new Quickoffice, and more. More details below. No idea why they should jump from v7.4 right up to v200, though! Read on.... [Updated: the update seems to have been pulled]
Ewan and I look at MosKillto, a new commercial demo of an accelerometer-driven shooting game. In our review, we look past the simple gameplay to appreciate the genre's history and its future. Oh, and add in a flamethrower and some zombies and you've got us hooked...
No, not that sort of pleasure. We're talking geek pleasure. I respond (hopefully with a voice of reason) to the S60 3rd Edition hackers over at Symbian Freak and to the hyped headlines that have started to appear around the world. And if you've no idea what I'm talking about, just move on, you're not missing much.
PDA Essentials magazine, issue 73, is now out in the UK. Of specific interest is an interview with Mark Loughran, sales director of Nokia UK, in which he states that Nokia should sell 35 million GPS-enabled smartphones this year. That's er.... a lot. Mark mentions the 6220 Classic as important in achieving this goal. More from issue 73 below, including their Sony Ericsson W960i review.
Thanks to Ricky Cadden for pointing us towards the brand new beta of OwnSkin's Professional Theme Creator. It's a 100% online theme creation application for S60 smartphones, i.e. no messing around with Java tools or having to install an SDK. Be patient while it's loading up, it'll take a minute or so to load into your desktop browser but the end result's well worth it. Finished themes can be shared directly or simply downloaded as SIS files for your device.
It's not often that Krisse struggles, but there seems to be a dearth of Easter themes around. For our article, we've only uncovered four Easter themes of varying relevance - can you help Krisse by suggesting other themes that fit this holiday better? Comments welcome!
Nokia's Official N-Gage Blog has now confirmed that the "First Access" beta testing phase will end on the 27th of March. It's unclear exactly when the full version of N-Gage will launch, but it should be "in the next few weeks". Nokia's also started a survey about the beta test and will give away the next gen version of Mile High Pinball to all beta testers who respond. You can also now sign up for SMS notification of the launch. Click on the headline for some important details.
In Download! on most Nseries devices there's: a new games catalog 'Try for free', a collection of fairly decent native [or at least ported through a runtime] S60 games from 3D Arts; Shockwave Minis, mini-games across a variety of genres; a new catalog of Jamster games (probably all Java); SNAP Arcade, in-house Java game creations from Nokia; 'Just for Laughs', a 'fun' video player and downloader. Can you spot something else new in your device/market? Lots of screenshots below, by the way.
Do you use GMail or a service like it on the web? Does your email server have an IMAP option? If so, why not set up Messaging on your S60, UIQ or Series 80 smartphone for IMAP access and get pseudo-push email, simply and for free? I investigate what's involved. And how does GMail via IMAP/Messaging compare with GMail via the dedicated Java application?
Oh, those inventive marketeers at WOM World. Today (Friday), at a live event in Rome (anyone able to make it?), their made-up (in more ways than one) genius of 'position art' will recreate the logo or scribble of your choice using a Sports-Tracker-ed Nokia N82. See www.theworldismycanvas.com for the full audiovisual Stavros experience, for quite a few laughs, to submit your own geo-scribbling and to find out more about the event. [Update]The recreation is now live, here.
Only Rafe and I this time round, here's AAS podcast 64, a.k.a. Insight 16, in which we talk about the new Nokia S60 devices for Vodafone and T-Mobile, the recent announcement of Silverlight Mobile for S60 and the issues surrounding the changes at Symbian Signed - how can the current debacle be resolved?