Hopefully pulling no punches, I've been mulling over all the different form factors seen in the smartphone world in the last half dozen years. Is there a common consensus 'perfect' form factor? No. Could there be one in the future? Yes, I argue in The Quest for the Perfect Form Factor. And, to the point, at least one of 2009's smartphone contenders is achingly close, at least in terms of hardware, to the ideal. This being something of a contentious subject, your comments more than welcome of course!
The 8GB variant of the Samsung i8910 HD (also known as the Omnia HD) is now available to buy on the UK operator Orange. The handset costs £97.50 on a new 18 month - £35 contract. Once the phone is available through Orange's retail partners this price will likely fall, but at the moment the i8910 is only available direct from Orange retail (limited stock) or its online store.
The world of gaming for the Nokia 5800 is certainly in its infancy, if QuickBlock is representative. It's a simple touch-screen 'dodge the blocks' game and gets the review treatment from Ewan here. Maybe the Ovi Store, next week, will bring a raft of new, whizzy 5800 titles - we're starting to suspect a number are being batched up to launch with the store...
In All About Symbian Insight 70 (AAS Podcast 128) Steve and Rafe talk about the upcoming N97 and the return of Comes with Music to the UK. However the main part of the show is taken up with answering questions from listeners. We touch on Ovi Store, Nseries branding, screen resolution and more. You can listen to AAS Insight 71 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
Nokia has announced that the much anticipated Nokia N97 is going to be now available to pre-order online later today priced at £499 (inc VAT, SIM free) from the Nokia Online Shop. Typically the Nokia UK Online Shop gets the first stocks of UK variants of Nokia devices. Here are the links to the Black Nokia N97 and White Nokia N97), though no shipping date has been set yet. As we know, the Nokia N97 will also be the first device to feature (in its firmware) the Ovi Store, which is set to go live in the next week.
In the third of his tutorial series looking at Nokia Messaging, Asri al-Baker looks at the email setup process, using the Nokia 5800 as a guinea pig device. This guide applies for all users who are not using the E75 (at the moment) because this has a different (newer) version of Nokia Messaging. Asri explains the decision point about dropping back to S60 Messaging or deciding to press on with the (beta, but soon-to-be-commercial) 'push' service, the core of Nokia Messaging.
Many people have noted that the Download! client now gives a message saying that it will be "temporarily unavailable" today, while at the same time the Ovi Store site currently asks for a name and password to access it. Could something be stirring behind the scenes at Ovi Store?
So you reckon jigsaws are boring, old-fashioned and impractical? That's because you haven't played Spb Puzzle, a new digital version on the old classic, fashioned for S60 5th Edition phones likes the Nokia 5800 and N97. Here's my review of Spb Puzzle, in which I delight in the way your own photos can be used, broken up and then lovingly stitched back together again.
If you already have Nokia Messaging installed and working then this will seem old hat to you, but in the interests of completeness, and for newcomers to Symbian and S60, Asri al-Baker explains the different ways to get Nokia Messaging on your nearest and dearest. Asri's planning other articles in this series on Nokia Messaging, so do please give him some feedback.
DreamSpring, the developer of DreamLife, is running a "Buy One Get Another One Free" promotion to offer users who purchase a copy of DreamLife for UIQ a free upgrade to DreamLife for S60 when it's released. The offer is finishing at the end of May 2009. You can find more details at the official web site.
YouTube Mobile, the native S60 client for the video sharing service, has been updated and is now (almost) fully compatible with touchscreen phones running S60 5th Edition, such as the Nokia 5800. All main functions work perfectly, with touch-screen control and support for text entry fields and a virtual keyboard. See below for screens, comments and links.
Gmail on the Nokia 5800 with that clunky old Java client? Not interested? Don't dismiss the idea too quickly, for S60 Java, touch and Gmail aren't so clunky with latest versions all round and with the aid of this tutorial for beginners on setting Gmail up on the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic (and other S60 5th Edition phones). Full Gmail features and benefits, all running full screen, with push notifications and all for free?
Forum Nokia regularly publishes example applications; they are intended as examples for developers, but occasionally are useful enough to be downloaded and installed by consumers. New today is Route, a basic GPS tracking widget. AccuWidget, an existing WRT example, which shows weather forecasts, has also been updated. Both widgets support miniview, which means they can be added to the homescreen of the Nokia N97. Miniview is something that all widget developers should consider implementing.
