In Insight 108, (with Rafe away) Steve, Ewan and guest Tim Salmon chew over the week's news, including Qik Premium, Nokia Nuron, Ovi Mail 2.0, Skype and Terminal mode. Plus, we get Tim's views on where Nokia, Symbian and others need to improve in order to compete with the likes of iPhone and Android competition.
Thanks to CJ for the heads-up that Emoze, the third party push email aggregator that preceded Nokia Messaging, has just opened up its 'Pro' version for free. You can read more about it below and on the Emoze Blog but essentially you get rich HTML, multiple accounts, Gmail, Hotmail and Facebook support, plus a lot more.
While I've previously pitched the Google Nexus One head to head with the Nokia N97, concentrating on screen size and general capacity, there's another timely and interesting comparison to be made in the smartphone world, centred on metal construction and all-round communications and multimedia ability. Here, I take the industrial designed Motorola Milestone and the Nokia N97 mini - which will stand up to my intensive testing best?
According to the official Ovi Blog, the enormous HRS system is beginning to appear in the homescreen of Ovi Maps 3.3 (and beyond), offering hotel searching by proximity to your current location, with navigation to a hotel handled within the application. There's also integration with other phone functi ons, to allow real time availability checking and booking. Initially HRS is appearing in just Germany and Finland, but other countries should see this rolled out quite soon too. Some quotes and screens below.
Armed with the new HP iPrint Photo utility, Steve Litchfield walks you through the process of printing photos directly from your Nseries phone - no wires, no fuss. What could go wrong? See also the PS for those without a Wi-Fi-enabled printer.
Nokia’s Beta Labs have updated the Gig Finder application, with the feedback received from the users. This current build fixes a number of bugs and increases the size of the database used to find music gigs depending on your location and music preferences.
Yes, yes, we know that Quickoffice, like all good carpet and furniture showrooms, have always got some offer or other 'on'. But I notice that the full editing version of Quickoffice Premier for Symbian is only £6 in the Nokia Ovi Store today, plus a similar amount ($9) on the main Quickoffice web site. Anyway, if you've been putting off the upgrade to the editing version then maybe today's the day?
Synchronising your PIM data can be a treacherous prospect at the best of times. David Gilson has been risking the safety of his PIM data to show you how you can use the commercial service Memotoo to synchronise your S60 phone with not only Google, but the likes of Facebook and LinkedIn too.
Here on our Ovi Gaming sister site, Ewan tries out Columns with a Twist - Explode sees you rotating the world around you in order to direct gravity itself to lining up balls in the playing area. Don't worry, the screenshots will give you more of an idea. Ultimately, Explode is rather spoilt by unnecessarily amateurish touchscreen controls - we're hoping the developers perservere and tune the game a little more.
Alpine Electronics today announced a strategic partnership with Nokia and Navteq to bring a new car integration technology called 'Terminal mode' to car 'infotainment' systems. It integrates Nokia smartphones with in-car systems allowing, not only the usual call functions, but also the use of smartphone-based services (e.g. Ovi Maps navigation) and content (e.g. music) via the high resolution screens and audio systems embedded in the car. The integration also offers the opportunity for automotive-specific widgets on the phone, including fuel levels and engine status.
Nokia and T-Mobile USA today announced the forthcoming availability of the Nokia Nuron. The Nuron is a T-Mobile customised version of the Nokia 5230 and is termed a 'smartphone for the masses'. It operates on T-Mobile's 3G network and will come pre-loaded with Ovi Store (including operator billing) and Ovi Maps (including worldwide free navigation). It will be one of the cheapest smartphones available in the US market.
Nokia and Skype today made the formal announcement of the availability of Skype for Symbian. The application, which was released last month, is now available in the Ovi Store. The application implements a full Skype client including full support for instant messaging, account management, sending text messages and file sharing in addition to the Skype voice calling features (Skype to Skype and Skype Out).
The Symbian world's answer to 'Brain Training', SPB Brain Evolution has received a major update, bringing support for S60 5th Edition touchscreen-based devices with OS Symbian S60 v5. The title includes a set of "addictive mini-games which have to be played in sequence: only good results in a game unlock the next one". The game allows you to "improve your mental awareness and maintain your newly achieved brain fitness". Or you could just read a good book. Only joking - more details below.
Qik today announced, via its blog, that it is making Qik Premium available for select Nokia devices through the Ovi Store. Qik is an application / service allows you to stream video live from your smartphone to the web. Advantages of the premium version include improved processing on uploaded videos (higher quality play back and improved speed on low bandwidth connections), unlimited storage space and the ability to download videos (that you have uploaded to Qik) to your PC.
Phones Show 104 just went live, with three Top 3s, i.e. my (and the rest of the Phones Show team's) assessment of the top 3 phones in the world, in each of three categories. Overall, three Symbian handsets make the 'chart', out of nine slots. There's also a demo of Vlingo voice recognition on the N97 mini.
