In All About Symbian Insight 102 (AAS Podcast 166), the team start with news of Sony Ericsson's Vivaz and its continuous focus HD video capture capabilities. We move on to an in-depth discussion of Nokia's Ovi Maps announcement last week. The final item in this weeks podcast is a quick mention for the new beta version of Ovi Suite. You can listen to AAS Insight 102 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
The social networking application, Fring, has been updated to version 4.1. Notable additions include fast switching of your status (offline, online, busy or invisible), the addition of DTMF tones in VoIP apps, and an improved GUI for their Twitter section. This sits on top of their multi-platform solution that covers not just a wide range of smartphones, but different online services as well. The latest version can be found at Fring.com/download.
Everyone has been wondering why Ovi Maps hasn't been offered, for convenience, through the Ovi Store client - and, with the release of the new all-free, official v3.3, that's exactly what Nokia has done, indicating a high degree of confidence on its part. Great to see it heading up the store, anyway, and now merely a download away. And a side note for those for whom this doesn't appear - many other S60 3rd Ed FP2 phones will work fine with Maps 3.3 - just grab the closest version via your desktop and side-load it.
Last year, David Gilson compared Google Maps and Ovi Maps, controversially finding that Google Maps (for Mobile) had the edge. However, Nokia has now announced that voice guided road navigation for Ovi Maps no longer requires a subscription fee and is available to all. Read on to see how this game-changing move effects the battle of the maps! (Note that this article is a rewrite and does contain some of the original text.)
Ewan takes a sideways look at the addition of Lifecasting to Ovi Maps this morning - what implications are there for bringing this social element into a mapping and navigation product? And what challenges remain in this area for Nokia? How will this release change the world? Read on in his Lifecasting editorial.
Nokia today announced that it is releasing a new version of Ovi Maps with free walk (pedestrian) and driving (car) turn-by-turn, voice guided navigation functionality. Ovi Maps has global coverage, with 74 countries covered by its navigation services. Maps for all regions will be available, for free, for loading over the air or pre-loading via a desktop computer. Traffic information and city guides, from Lonely Planet and Michelin, will also be made available at no extra cost. There's an initial set of devices, in terms of availability, with more compatible devices to follow. See below.
This is an industry-shifting move; Nokia is essentially changing the economics of the consumer GPS navigation market overnight. It will give its phones a significant differentiator on shop shelves and has long term strategic implications for the future of location services. Read on for further details and analysis.
Third party web browser Skyfire has released their latest version for Symbian smartphones. Version 1.5 updates the user interface for a smoother experience both in the updated UI and in the rendering engine, as well as making its debut on 5th edition devices.
Well known, cross-platform, games developer Polarbit has, for a limited time only, made four of its games titles available on Ovi Store for free. (previously £3). Raging Thunder, a car racing game, is available for both some S60 3rd Edition (E72) and S60 5th Edition (5800, N97 etc.) devices. Wave Blazer (power boat racing), Armageddon Squadron (arcade flight sim / shooter) and ToonWarz (3D first person Shooter) are available for S60 5th Edition only.
Two cracking posts on the Symbian blog today about application development and the story behind the applications. Mobbler, the music tracking web service; and Mobilyze, and in-development app to help patients undergoing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.
Nokia have announced that their Beta Labs are closing the online portion of the Mobile Web Server (MWS) product, launched some two and a half years ago, is closing at the end of this month. By allowing your mobile phone to act as a web server for the content it carried, MWS was an alternative ad-hoc style connectivity option for a number of users. Nokia have stressed that the local parts of the application will continue to work, and are reminding people that not all Beta Lab products have a happy firmware ending.
In All About Symbian Insight 101 (AAS Podcast 165), we round up the weeks news including updates to Ovi Suite, Samsung's 32 GB microSD card announcement, firmware updates for the 5800, N86, E72 and E75 and the release of Betalab's Gig Finder. We also discuss the UI concept proposal from Nokia for Symbian^4, before Ewan gives us some concluding thoughts on the X6. You can listen to AAS Insight 101 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
S60 has long been without any form of Wikipedia application besides the mobile web site. There are now two applications in early development, but do either of them significantly add to the mobile web site experience? David Gilson has been comparing all three and answers that question in this feature.
Kudos to Jon at tehkseven for a couple of beautifully done 'simple' themes. Just White (in 5th Edition, 3rd Edition and Eseries-tailored versions) and Just Black (again in 5th Edition, 3rd Edition and Eseries versions), the latter with full Ovi icons. Recommended if you just want something clean, clear and efficient.
In All About Symbian Insight 100 (AAS Podcast 164), we first look back at the decade just gone and consider how far we've come, before looking ahead to what will happen in the next decade. Steve brings news of an i8910 firmware update, Ovi Maps Racing and more and the teams answer questions relating to N97 Exchange support and briefly discuss what to expect at MWC You can listen to AAS Insight 100 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
Coming out of the Symbian Foundation's developer wiki system is a handy Wikipedia widget that installs on any Symbian-powered smartphone with Web runtime (so that's most of them). Search results are all optimised for the small screen and it seems a quick and efficient way to access Wikipedia's content. I've included some screenshots from the widget below.