In an entirely self-centric link-of-interest, I thought these brief items might be of interest: The Phones Show 111 is now out, with a tour round my Psion collection and a commentary on how these led to the modern Symbian age, and with a feature on getting better photos from your smartphone camera; there have also been three new devices added to my smartphone-choosing Grid; and don't forget the Phones Show Chat audio podcast, about an hour each week - PSC 39 featured Andy Lee, a Blackberry expert, Tim and I were keen to talk to him about comparisons with the Nokia E72.
You'll have been followingmy adventures keeping the Samsung i8910 HD on the crest of an unofficial hardware wave by installing each of the 'HX' firmwares? Just over a week ago saw the release of what is by far the most adventurous HX release yet. I try to summarise (and comment on) the changelog below, for any other owners of what (for the next couple of months, at least) is still the most powerful Symbian phone in the world bar none.
Nokia has placed a number of full page ads in UK newspapers (see photo, below, in full story) promoting the Ovi Store on what the ad says is 'a big day for news' (it is election day here in the UK). The AP News, Evening Standard and Reuters apps are mentioned by name. The advert is notable because it is one of the few Nokia print ads I've seen dedicated solely to the Ovi Store.
Probably a minor bug-fix update (unless eagle-eyed readers can spot something I haven't), but note that Google Maps for Symbian just got an small bump from v4.1.0 to v4.1.1. As usual, grab it from m.google.com. Google Maps for Android also got a 4.1.1 update a couple of weeks ago, and this was given a big boost by a server-side switch-on of real time route instructions and voice navigation. Here's hoping we're just a few days away from the same being true of Symbian/S60?
Ovi Music Unlimited, which is branded as Comes with Music in some markets, has launched in India. The service, which can only be purchased with a new device, allows unlimited music downloads from the Ovi Music Store for 12 months. Music is DRM protected, but users are able to keep the music after their subscription period has ended. The service has been customised for India with a smaller Ovi Player (desktop client), local content from more than 150 labels and the ability to download music using different PCs.
Offscreen Technologies, who have released a wide portfolio of games, applications and eBooks on Ovi Store, have announced that their content has been downloaded more than 25 million times. Offscreen has focussed on providing content for Nokia's touchscreen devices, including the Nokia 5800, N97, X6 and N900. They currently have around 100 titles in the Ovi Store; some of the applications, including Level Touch, Bright Light Touch and Labyrinth Lite Touch have been downloaded more than a million times each. More below.
On Friday Sony Ericcsson announced its Q1 2010 results, which saw the company reports its first profitable quarter since Q2 2008. While sales fell 19%, to €1.4 billion, the average selling price increased to €134 (from €120 a year ago). Bert Nordberg, President of Sony Ericsson, highlighted the positive impact of the company's cost cutting program and the launches of the Symbian powered Vivaz and Android powered Xperia X10.
There's a wonderful article up on CrunchGear at the moment by Devin Coldewey, entitled the The User’s Manifesto: in defense of hacking, modding, and jailbreaking, in which the author presents a very intelligent and well-reasoned analysis of the scene, pointing out all the legal pros and cons from every angle. True, the article is USA-centric and doesn't mention Symbian, but all the same points apply equally to the modding scene on our devices in the rest of the world (e.g. my own i8910 HD HX adventures). Worth a read.
It had to happen - someone's gone and done an Apple iPad theme for Symbian. The example screenshots are shown below, along with the link, though note that the home wallpaper is optimised for the Nokia 5800 (and similar) - it'll look a little odd on some other S60 5th Edition phones!
You may remember that I've been following the adventures of Andy, aka 'HyperX', in his attempts to produce wonderful things with modified firmware for the power house Samsung i8910 HD. His latest adventure, in video form below, shows a whopping 62 full applications running at the same time. Also impressive is 194MB of free RAM after booting. Gulp. For the record, I'm now on HX 3.29 on my i8910 HD - and yes, there's probably a part 3 coming to my own HX journey. Walking on the wild side indeed - the performance of some parts of S60 with 62 apps all running is a little patchy, as you'll see in the video!
If you thought my text reviewsof the Vivazhereon AAS were a little generous to Sony Ericsson, then you might appreciate my Phones Show 107 review of the phone, where - maybe - it's possible I got out of bed on the wrong side that morning. Or maybe the Vivaz really is that flawed... There's also your Desert Island Smartphone (poll) results. Enjoy.
Nokia Beta Labs today released Nokia Bots, a collection of 'mini-utilities' which monitor how you use your phone and try to improve your user experience either by making suggestions or automatically changing configurations. Or as Nokia puts it 'add-ons that make daily routines easier by learning from your behavior'. Nokia Bots, which runs as a homescreen widget, is available for the Nokia N97 and N97 mini from Beta Labs. Read on for further information and screenshots.
The Phones Show 106 just went live, now with an audio-only version (by popular demand), featuring 'Optimising the Nokia N97', plus a User Story with a very happy Nokia E55 user. There's also my review of the HTC Legend. And don't forget Phones Show Chat each week, the audio podcast where Tim Salmon and I chat about smartphones around a pint cup of coffee...
T-Mobile UK are having a one day sale on their range of PAYG (Pre-Pay) mobile phones. As a result, the Nokia 5230 is available for £79.99. As part of the package you'll also get an 8GB microSD card and six months of Internet access. The 5230 is also one of Nokia's Ovi Maps free navigation phones, so you'll also be getting worldwide free sat-nav too. We think this represents fantastic value for money for those looking for a low cost smartphone or for a backup phone. But you've only got til midnight. More analysis below.
