Nokia today announced the Nokia 5230, a lower mid-tier, music and Ovi service-centric device for €149 (before taxes and subsidies). The device runs S60 5th Edition on Symbian and key features include a 3.2" screen, homescreen Contacts Bar and Media Bar, 2.0 megapixel camera, A-GPS, 3.5mm audio jack and integration with Nokia's Ovi services. The 5230 will be available from Q4 2009. Read on for full details.
Sequence Point Software's ARound project is now in beta, a free download for the Nokia N97 and compatible S60 3rd or 5th Edition phones. The project's aim is to incorporate feed data from Twitter, from geonames.org and from landmarks databases, combining the live camera viewfinder and compass and GPS information to produce an augmented reality solution for Symbian. Screenshots and links below.
In a thought-provoking piece, Tzer2 wonders if it would be possible to replace hard-remember text passwords with a signature, a pictogram or even just a custom gesture. Moreover, you can apparently try the last technique yourself right now if you have a S60 5th Edition phone.
It's part 5 of Ewan Spence's 'real world' test of the Nokia N97 at the Edinburgh Fringe and it's embedded below. In this wide-ranging part, he looks at 5800-to-N97 familiarity, at one-handed use, about how parts of the S60 5th Edition interface are like the Mimbari Grey Council (a Babylon 5 reference!), about the lack of a keylock clock (out of the box), about a Facebook widget that's just sllooooowwww, plus he explains why the N97 should come with the full editing version of Quickoffice, before finishing with some E75 comparisons and the observation that the N97 is like the stunning prom date which goes badly wrong... It's all below, in Ewan's inimitable style.
Symbian has made available the first draft of the overall top level specification which will make up Symbian^2 ('Symbian Two'). There are several points of interest to pick out, notably the processor support, FAT (file system) performance improvements, the 'Graphics' support, the integrated SQLite and the fact that screen size is still fixed at 5800/N97 level. Nothing earth shattering then, but still nice to see Symbian being so open about everything.
Nokia today unveiled the 'Nokia 5800 Navigation Edition'. The device ships with lifetime voice-guided drive and walk navigation licenses for Nokia's Ovi Maps software and service. Included in the box is a Nokia self-mount car kit, consisting of a Nokia Car Charger (DC-4), Car Holder Pack (CR-103), Rotating swivel adaptor (AD-69) and Easy Mount (HH-17). The 5800 Navigation Edition will start shipping in Q3 and is expected to cost €285 before taxes and subsidies. Read on for further details.
Any open source project lives or dies by its members, whether those members are active contributors to the code base or provide support in other ways. The Symbian Foundation is no different. The responsibility for building and maintaining membership of the Symbian Foundation falls on the shoulders of Lauren Sarno.
Google's native S60 YouTube client has just got itself a significant update, to v2.2.17, now working in full-screen mode (at last!) on S60 5th Edition phones like the N97, 5800 and Samsung i8910 HD and with new countries and languages added to its officially supported list: Brazil, Czech Republic, Poland, Russia and Sweden. You can get the update by going to m.google.com in Web on your phone. Screenshots below the break.
Over on Ovi Gaming we've been reviewing lots more games, we have another batch of Ovi Store client installation walkthroughs, and we'd like to know which games you want us to review. See below for a complete list of links...
Just a quick link to a couple of nice software mini-reviews in the last 24 hours over on the Nokia 5800 'Tube' blog, looking at PixelPipe, which plugs a number of popular image and video sharing services into S60 Share Online, and at Shazam TrackID, which tries to identify music that's captured by the phone's microphone. A couple of nice 5-minute reads.
It's part 4 of Ewan Spence's 'real world' test of the Nokia N97 at the Edinburgh Fringe and it's embedded below. In this (surprisingly gripping, considering the focus on PIM!) part, he looks at reactions to the N97 from the iPhone-loving community at the Fringe, he complains about Ovi Sync, rants about a UI fail in the N97's Contacts and rails again against missing category support in all the PIM application. He's a happy bunny really, honest.
In All About Symbian Insight 83 (AAS Podcast 145), Rafe and Steve discuss the enterprise focused alliance between Microsoft and Nokia and ponder its implications. Steve shares news of Gartner's Q2 smartphone shipment figures, before moving on to first thoughts on the Nokia E55. We then answer some reader questions. You can listen to AAS Insight 83 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
Gartner may have beaten Canalys to the Q2 smartphone sales figure stories, but there's still plenty of interest in Canalys' version of events. The headline numbers are similar to Gartner's, with Nokia in the lead with 44% of the market, RIM in second place with 21% and Apple in third with 14%. From a platform point of view, Symbian OS powers just over half of all smartphones sold across the world, though this market share was down 8% year on year. RIM and Apple's OS both gained share, with Windows Mobile being the big loser, with its market share almost halving year on year.
A minor firmware update, version 12.0.024, has been released for the Nokia N97. The updates fixes a number of bugs and improves performance and stability. The firmware is being made available through both Nokia Software Updater (part of PC Suite) and OTA on the device. The firmware is currently available for SIM-free models; as usual the availability of the firmware will vary by market and device variant.
Looking for fully-working freeware for your Samsung i8910 HD (Symbian flagship smartphone)? Look no further than my definitive top 20 list (with a few apps 'bubbling under'), everything here has been tested to install and work. And, most of all, not to require you to dip into your wallet! I'll also be doing a 'Top 20' commercial software for the i8910 HD (Omnia HD) next month, so watch for that. Comments welcome, as always.
