Around 36 hours ago, Apple unveiled its latest iPhone 4 to the world - excellent build materials on it, but I believe that they - and Nokia - and others - are missing an important trick: what happens when you take your oh-so-portable smartphone out into the world. A world where the birds are singing, the people are smiling and the sun is shining. And you can't see a blessed thing on your smartphone's display. Returning to a theme from exactly a year ago, I compare some recent device displays to prove a very, very important point.
Forum Nokia, Nokia's developer portal, has unveiled a new look for its website. The structure of the site has changed; it is now divided into three key areas: design, develop and distribute - matching the three key parts of mobile application and service development. The website aims to provide access to a wide range of learning resources, tools and technical documents. However there's also an emphasis on helping developers connect with each other, which is achieved through the community section of the site.
The good thing about Ovi Maps 3.3 and 3.4 having a server-side-fed homescreen is that Nokia can add extra services and the application already installed on your smartphone will pick up the changes automatically. Such is the case for Expedia, ahotel-booking service: previously, a similar system (fed by HRS) was only available in Ovi Maps in Germany and Finland, but Expedia should now show up for UK and USA customers.
Every store has one, and they want every customer to have one. The loyalty card is one of those inventions where everyone seems to win – the customers get special offers and discounts, while retailers build both brand loyalty and market research on shopping habits. And in the modern world, they’re making the jump from your wallet to your smartphone, as Tesco and Subway join the ranks of virtual loyalty cards. Read on for more.
The Symbian Foundation and search engine Baidu have announced a strategic initiative that will see the two companies establish a joint laboratory to stimulate the development of 'box computing' on mobile devices. 'Box c
omputing' is Baidu's vision of the future of search - one that allows a more direct presentation of what a user has searched for. In related Symbian China news, Monotype Imaging announced it was contributing the MYuppy Chinese font to the Symbian Foundation. Read on for more.
A post on the Qt blog explains that Nokia is planning to move Qt towards a more open governance model. The move would see the community having shared control over decisions about Qt and its future roadmap. It follows on from the move to the LGPL license and opening up of the Qt contribution process last year. The planning for the move is at an early stage, but the Qt team are keen to have an open discussion with the community about the details and implementation of an open governance model.
In All About Symbian Insight 121 we share the best of the previous week's news: SEE 2010 dates, Nokia E73 Mode, Nokia Bike Charger and more. The team then briefly discuss the marketing messages around the Nokia N8, before moving on to some commentary on data rates and the data crunch. Finally Rafe reports back on some of the NRC demos he saw as part of Nokia's recent 'Open for Ideas' event. You can listen to AAS Insight 121 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
Some applications do one thing really well. Some apps do lots of things quite nicely. The recently added Dilbert app in the Ovi Store is thankfully the former. This is a wonderful little application – it's not a cheap cash-in (the app is actually free to download and use) and has everything you'd expect from an official application... even if this isn't, it's a worthwhile piece of coding and a good model to use for other online comic strip artists. Read on for screenshots and comments.
Steve Litchfield dons his flight helmet and heads out to do battle with texture mapped foes in his combat helicopter. Unfortunately, a shoddily implemented game title stands impenetrably in his way. Read on for his Heli Strike review here on Ovi Gaming, but be warned that, despite this being built on a pretty decent 3D engine, this is one Ovi Store game you won't be recommending to your friends....
Following on from last week's look at the PIM suite on Symbian smartphones and what you can do to suggest changes, Ewan turns to one of his favourite apps... the music player. How would he change this application, in terms of integrating more media sources and online feeds? And, along the same lines, I've exclusive news about an old Symbian OS music favourite that's now branching out to include video. Read on for extracts, links and more...
During a recent visit to Nokia's Espoo (Helsinki) offices, I had the opportunity to look round Nokia's Experience Lounge, which showcases all of Nokia's latest products and services - from Ovi Maps and Nokia Messaging to the latest Nokia handsets. As an additional bonus, tucked away in one corner of the room, is a set of shelves that contain one of almost every Nokia phone model ever produced. So how to share this with loyal readers? Film a walkabout of course!
David Gilson tackles that age old problem of how to manage web passwords using your desktop and smartphone - and he ends up at a solution that most readers won't even have heard of. It's also a solution that doesn't actually store your passwords anywhere at all, making it device-independent and utterly secure from hacking, in the case of theft or loss.
Our own Ewan Spence is no stranger to casual games on handheld platforms - heck, he's programmed a few himself in the past. Over on our Ovi Gaming site, he reviews Doodle Jump, a quirky new casual arcade game with simple controls. Summary? It's addictive - and surprisingly social - and don't let the fact that it's a port of an iPhone title put you off.
