Ovi Store can be accessed from almost any Nokia phone by just going to store.ovi.com on the phone's web browser, but certain phones also have an Ovi Store application available which lets you use Ovi Store much more easily. Some people have managed to find the Ovi Store application available through the Download! icon, but it now appears that you can also download the app directly from the store.ovi.com website. The availability of the app seems to currently vary depending on which model you have and which country you live in, and the easiest way to find out if you can get it is to visit the Ovi Store mobile site and see if the link appears for you. See the screens below for details.
Possibly as part of the whole Ovi server shake-up, possibly as part of the new Ovi Maps server architecture, Nokia's Maps servers have now been 'fixed' and will, after a frustrating couple of months of being broken, successfully match full seven character UK postcodes. Phew - just thought you'd like to know.
Yesterday Rafe had the opportunity to attend Nokia's Design Day: The Inside Story. The event, held at Nokia's London design studio, offers a closer look at a number of design projects. This year the topics included iconography (a global design language), gestures (future interaction methods), homescreens (empowering users through personalisation), and the Nokia N97 (merging the physical and online world). We'll have more detailed coverage next week, but, as a taster, here are a few images from the day.
In All About Symbian Insight 72 (AAS Podcast 131) Steve, Ewan and Rafe round up an eclectic collection of news including Google Calendar Sync, Spore, recent MOAP devices, recent stats and Omnia HD availability. In the second part of the show discuss moments of change - times when we've seen a device of technology that marks a significant shift. You can listen to AAS Insight 72 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
After a lengthy (but evidently productive) beta period, the Skyfire (cross-platform) web browser has now been released as a full v1.0. You may remember that Skyfire, like Opera Mini, is a proxy-based browser, in that all web content is parsed and compressed before making its way to your phone, saving time and bandwidth. Skyfire's main advantages over Opera Mini are that it offers full multimedia (including Silverlight, Flash video, RealMedia, etc) and Ajax support, meaning that it should work with just about any web site. Skyfire's Raj Singh claims that Skyfire have effectively reduced 'click fear'. Read on for screens, what's new, video from The Phones Show 81 (out today) and some useful links.
The rather brilliant N-Gage-exclusive 3D platform game Bounce Boing Voyage has been updated to include motion control on those phones which have accelerometers, where you can tilt the phone to control the main character (or you can use the traditional button controls if you prefer). If you've already bought the game you can get the updated version free, and if you haven't bought the game you can buy it from the N-Gage showroom tab. Instructions for updating existing games are below.
In a special edition of our AAS Insight podcast, recorded today (launch day of the Ovi Store), Rafe, Ewan and Steve share their first thoughts on Nokia's content shop. We talk about some of the initial connectivity and load problems (but try not to dwell on them), plus the usability of the Ovi Store on-device client. We conclude, after kicking the store while it's down (literally), by sharing some of our positive impressions.
The Ovi Store roll-out just reached the UK in the last hour for many device product codes, it seems that the store availability is still proceeding around the clock today, around the world, for up to 50 devices and (estimated) around 50 million customers. Go into Download! on your Nokia S60 device and hitting 'Refresh content', Ovi Store is now showing up, for example, on my 5800 XpressMusic (and my N95) in the root folder of Download. Screenshots, observations and comments below.
Nokia's Ovi Store has soft launched in Australia; the information we recieved indicates that Ovi Store is now accessible on a Nokia E75 on the Australian operator Vodafone (see updates, in full story, for other markets). Ovi Store is Nokia's content store and download application for applications, games, wallpapers, themes, ringtones and video clips.
We're expecting the roll out of Ovi Store, in other countries, to continue over the next few hours and days. It is likely that a formal launch announcement will be made this week. We'll be updating this story, and will have full coverage of the Ovi Store once it launches in the UK. For now read on for more details and the first live pictures showing Ovi Store in the wild!
At their recent developer summit Nokia described how it would be opening up the Ovi platform to third party developers. Apps on Maps was given as the initial example and now, at the Where 2.0 conference, Nokia has announced more of the technical details for the web side elements. The Ovi Maps Player API will allow developers to embed Ovi Maps on third party website and create 'mash-ups' by overlaying data and interacting with the map. As such it will be in direct competition with the Google Maps and its accompanying APIs. Read on for more details.
Google has announced that their new Google Sync for Mobile now supports S60 phones. You can now synchronize your Google Contacts and Calendars, but not via SyncML, rather disappointingly. Instead, sync has been implemented as a profile for Nokia Mail for Exchange, which has to be installed separately. The advantage of using MfE is that it's based on push technology, meaning that changes should automatically appear at either 'end' within minutes, i.e. your information is constantly up-to-date.
Launched today by code masters Spb Software is Spb TV for S60 3rd Edition and 5th Edition. I've been using it for a day or two on my Nokia N95 and 5800 and here present a full and detailed review of Spb TV. Around 100 channels, 'picture in picture' channel switching, QVGA video streams, a TV Guide that in some cases works a week ahead, the works.
CellPhoneSoft, the UIQ software experts, are transitioning across to S60 and one of their first utilities has just arrived: Speedy Go! This claims to speed up all S60 3rd Edition and 5th Edition smartphones by "display acceleration and overall speed boost". Hmm.... Anyone brave enough to try this on an S60 device and report back in the comments?
