Playing devil's advocate, but only to a degree, Steve Litchfield turns the entire smartphone world on its head by rejecting its latest darling - large touchscreens. Ask any pundit in the mobile world about smartphones and you'll get the answer that it's all about touch. About large displays that can be caressed and programmed and manipulated with your fingers. Except that traditional, non-touch form factors have these 2010 'flagships' well and truly beat in many ways - here are the Top 10 Reasons Why Touchscreens Suck.
Skype for Symbian has been updated to version 1.1 and is now available for most Symbian (3rd Edition and 5th Edition) devices, either directly on the handset from m.skype.com or as a download from the Ovi Store. Apart from minor cosmetic changes, the interesting improvement seems to be a reduction in the amount of RAM that the application uses, now down to around 10MB on the AAS N97, acceptable on a modern-firmware-equipped device.
Microsoft’s browser-based app framework Silverlight is now available for Symbian S60 5th edition devices. Popping up in the Ovi Store, "the .Net framework allows for applications to run in the browser over multiple devices, operating systems and browsers". The easiest way to get Silverlight installed is to head to the Bing example app (here or here). If you need the runtime installed, you’ll be offered just the link, which takes you to the Ovi Store.
David Gilson looks in depth at Bolt, a Java proxy-based web browser for all phones that claims desktop-class browsing, a degree of social integration and both Flash and HTML 5 video support. This latter seems to be the only feature that really impressed David though, with Bolt's overall operation seeming stilted and clumsy in comparison to Opera Mini, its nearest competitor.
In All About Symbian Insight 125, we welcome David Gilson to the podcast for the first time. This week we round up a lot of news including a rallying cry from Nokia's Anssi Vanjoki, details on SEE 2010, firmware updates for the E71, E66, N97 and N97 mini, SkyFire's market retreat, Nokia 5230 pricing and more. In the main part of the podcast David tell us about his experiences with the Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro, Ewan talks about The Big Roll in Paradise and Rafe reports back from a 3UK briefing. You can listen to AAS Insight 125 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
"It's a cross between an adventure game and carpet bowls..." From such a startling mix comes 'The Big Roll in Paradise', created by Symbian legends Infinite Dreams and reviewed here by Ewan Spence. The core engine is a physics-perfect implementation of Bocce, in which you throw a jack and then vie with another player to throw your bocce/boules to roll closest to it. Accessible to casual players but with long term goals for more serious gamers - and with mini-games and side-quests to enjoy along the way, The Big Roll in Paradise comes highly recommended, it seems. The introductory 'free' offer may be over, but it's still a steal at £1.50.
In April, Nokia announced a raft of new phones, including the side-sliding C6. The first sign of this phone coming to market has appeared today with Play.com now taking pre-orders. Play have priced the C6 at £269.99 (UKP) which is £30 below the listed recommended retail price. As with most early orders there is an an early adopter premium. Nokia's original press release set the C6 at €220, which roughly translates to approximately £213 (UKP, including VAT) at current exchange rates. We recommend holding back for now, as lower prices should be appearing once the C6 is officially on the market.
The (unbranded) Nokia N97 'classic' was given a big update today, to firmware version 22.0.110, available right now Over The Air, as a 5MB download and shortly via Nokia Software Update. The previous firmware version was v21.0.102. Version 22 is a significant update because it includes Ovi Maps 3.3 with the free navigation, saving the user from having to use up around 10MB+ of the precious system disk C: for these two combined. More and an attempt at a changelog below. The N97 mini should also now see v12 firmware, which is equivalent, though I can't test this personally.
With my tongue slightly in cheek and with the news that sheds(!) are now firmly back in fashion, I wanted to mention a growing trend in the tech world - that of fiddling, customising and tweaking. Of devices, of their firmware and of their software. It's all huge fun, of course, but if you want to keep your life on track and blood pressure down then I'd suggest having a second, fallback device, also synced to everything you know and love...
Virgin Mobile (the UK MVNO under Richard Branson’s Virgin Group) has launched an interesting summer promotion on S60 5th Edition handsets, in conjunction with Nokia, and it ties in with one of the largest summer music events - the V Festival. Branded editions of the Nokia X6 and 5230 are now available from the company, along with some rather nice software tweaks.
In these times of recession, it's more vital than ever to watch your pounds (or Euros) - if you need (or lust after) a new(ish) Symbian-powered smartphone then why not think of getting something second-hand, on eBay, at a fraction of the new price? Or if you're trying to raise cash by reducing your smartphone stash that's been gathering dust under the desk, then read on for some comments and example selling prices as at the end of June 2010.
No, not a video editor, as the name might suggest, but rather an experimental way of jumping around your video collection. Working on any S60 5th Edition phone but so far only tested on the N97 and 5800, Nokia Video Cuts is available for trial and feedback now. I've included screenshots, links and an intro video below. If you like or dislike the app then please feedback to Nokia Beta Labs using the links they provide.
