So my white Nokia N97 was returned to me after Ewan's extensive video diaries and after Tzer2's Finnish experiments on it. It's a little battle scarred in places, but hey, phones are designed to be used(!) I'm well aware of all the N97's pros and cons, but was relishing a chance to really get to grips with some of its - ahem - quirks, a couple of months on from my initial look. Read on to see how I got on, and to learn how to set up and optimise the N97 in this 'waiting for v20 firmware' probationary period.
Trippy balls exploding, new age music, Ewan is in a 60's-inspired flash game... and he's (apparently) "hip to the groove liking it!..." Read the review to find out what the freeware title BoomShine is all about on the Nokia N97, 5800 and other S60 5th Edition phones. And if you try it for yourself, listen out for a rather nice new age soundtrack.
You can't help fail to notice the news around the net that the music service Spotify is now available on the iPhone. What you might not (yet) have picked up on is this subscription based mobile service will soon be on S60. Just to keep everyone happy and eager, the team (based in Stockholm and London) have debuted a video of the client.
[updated] Nokia Beta Labs has quietly issued an update to Ovi Maps 3.3 - 'subversion' 54 for S60 5th Edition (only) is now available on the main Ovi Maps page. There's still no opportunity to install to mass memory, and v3.3 is still English-only, but at least some more of the rough edges have been knocked off. 'GPS data lost' no longer sounds every few minutes(!), but at the expense of laggy screen updates - it seems the GPS interruptions are being averaged out behind the scenes. Ultimately, the N97's communications software subsystems simply need a big update. v20 firmware can't come soon enough for me.
Last week, in the developer section, I posted an interview with Christopher David, Head of Developer and Partner Engagement on Sony Ericsson’s plans to re-engage with Symbian developers for the Satio launch. It seems to have been quite timely, as additional information is starting to break cover.
For completeness, following on from the inclusion here of the official Nokia-produced summary of day 1 of their event last week, here (embedded below) is the summary of day 2, edited in similar 'party line' fashion, but interesting nonetheless.
As reported around the web over the weekend, Nokia Messaging for S60 5th Edition has now received full HTML support. As usual, you’ll need to go to email.nokia.com in Web on your phone (a 2MB download). Version 10.1.0.13 will automatically replace your previous installation and will also keep all email accounts and emails. You may remember the issues I've had with Nokia Messaging - at the very least take the usual backups, syncs and precautions before installation.
There's a nice long video from SymbianWorld, recorded at Nokia World 09, looking in detail at the upcoming Nokia N97 v20 firmware update (kinetic scrolling in all lists, more memory and much more), the same as the launch firmware in the N97 mini. The video is embedded below in high quality mode, for your convenience.
Over on Ovi Gaming we've sighted the first video of a hardware-accelerated version of Bounce (on the N900), and reviewed a selection of games from Ovi Store for the 5800 and N95. See below for links.
One of the interesting things I observed during the first day of news from Nokia World was the increasingly wide contrast between what Nokia and the retail stores are reporting on the Nokia N97, and what the blogging comentarati think is happening with the N97. Read on for my observations.
More updates from Nokia (although there seem to be more betas than Google to be honest!) as Ovi Suite 2.0 receives an updated beta. It now includes support for installing applications on your smartphone via .jar or .sisx files on your PC, better use of memory and various tweaks and fixes to the syncing of photos and music.
While horribly biased (of course), Nokia's Conversations team has done a good job in producing a snack size 3 minute video summary of the main things launched or emphasised at Nokia World 09 Day 1, and it's embedded below. Good if you're short of time! For much more detail, see our other stories and, mostly, wait for Rafe to get back to base with his own hands-on material.
More betas in from Nokia World, with Communities, billed as a 'Social Messaging' beta. The idea is that this can handle all your friends and updates for all social networks - an über client. This early version is quite limited though and only compatible with Facebook and the N97. I've explored it with screenshots below and there's also an official video to enjoy.
Quietly launching yesterday during Nokia World is the Forum Nokia powered My Daily App, which will be showcasing a new application in the Ovi Store every day. Yes it is a list decided by Nokia, "let's be honest: We're biased. OK, we admit it. We have a point of view, and we're not afraid to use it." but why not shout about the third party support of their devices? And they're so hip it hurts, because they're on Twitter as well (@mydailyapp). Seriously though, great idea, chaps.
Filmed by Mark Guim and embedded below is a Nokia employee demonstrating the kinetic scrolling in all applications in the upcoming v20 firmware update for the Nokia N97. They also talk about memory improvements - as I understand it, C: disk space will be partly improved by optimisations and partly by building into the ROM items which are currently extras. We're all hoping for more free RAM, too.
