Nokia's Podcasting application for S60 phones has some default podcast directories included, but these aren't very comprehensive and only include a tiny number of BBC feeds. However, if you add the BBC's online podcast directory to the app you can browse all current podcasts and subscribe to any of them with a single click. Adding the directory is very VERY easy to do, almost the same as adding a bookmark in a browser. See below for more details on how to do it (this should work on all current Nokia S60 phones including the 5800 and N95) ...
Nokia today announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire bit-side GmbH. Bit-side is a small (39 employees) software and service development company that is privately owned. Nokia say the acquisition will help speed up its mobile development for Nokia Maps. Bit-side is known for its imaging (Panoman) and entertainment applications (Marble Revolution). It is also the development house behind a number of well received mobile applications including Plazes for the iPhone and Pixelpipe for Android.
A lot of people want to watch video on their phone but find some video converters to be a bit confusing and overcomplicated, or they don't work properly. If you're looking for a "converter for dummies" that works with S60 devices you might want to try Nokia's rather overlooked Internet Tablet Video Converter. It's available for both Windows and Mac, it's totally free, and should work with all current S60 devices despite its Linux tablet heritage. It seems to work especially well with the Nokia 5800 as it has the same 16:9 screen shape as the tablets, and a somewhat similar resolution too.
Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo (CEO) and Rick Simonson (CFO), discussed Nokia's smartphone strategy during today's Q4 earnings call. Nokia intend to further expand S60 on Symbian OS to new categories and market segments as well as continuing to push it on to lower cost devices. As a result they are expanding the S60 investment when compared to Series 40. Furthermore they believe the combination of Nokia's five services (Ovi) with a larger portfolio of such devices will see a change in the definition of smartphone. Read on for more details.
Nokia today released its Q4 2008 results. Nokia net sales of EUR 12.7 billion, down 19% year on year and up 3% sequentially (down 18% and up 1% at constant currency). Nokia sold 15.1 million converged (S60) devices, down from 15.5 million in Q3 and 18.8 million in Q4 2007, of these 8 million were Nseries and 3 million were Eseries. Nokia's industry outlook for 2009 estimates mobile device volumes to decrease by 10%. The results are set against the background of the global economic slow down.
There's an interesting interview here by Richard Bloor, chatting to Jezar Wakefield. Yep, that 'jezar', tech-guru from the days of Psion and EPOC/32 (Symbian OS's beginnings). They talk about Jezar's current role in the field of audio in Symbian OS, about options for developers, about how a modern smartphone might have to manager up to 4 or 5 separate audio streams or events at the same time, and about OpenMAX, designed to make things even easier for developers.
According to a report on mobiletoday.co.uk, Sony has refused to let Sony Ericsson use the PlayStation brand on its phones. Sony Ericsson (a separate company jointly owned by Sony and Ericsson) apparently asked Sony for permission to use the "PlayStation" name as a sub-brand on their devices, in much the same way they have already used Sony's "Walkman", "Cybershot" and "Bravia". Sony said no, allegedly. (via Eurogamer.net)
With the sheer number of people now receiving the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic around the world and eager to show off how it all works, note that Warelex have updated their much-respected Screen Capture utility to support S60 5th Edition. Note that this is not just fixed screenshots, you can capture video of what you're doing on the device, for uploading later to your blog or YouTube. Connections between PC and the 5800 can be via cable, Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. v3.0.7 is the version you want, currently only available from the Warelex product page.
Nokia India has kindly released a number of free applications for their new 5800 XpressMusic, good to see this getting off to a fast start in most markets. SMS Timer and Smart Guard should work on all 5800s, while Marble Maze, Wave Secure, Touch Card Match and Touch Maneuver are regionally restricted to those with an India SIM card. Some of these applications, along with a few additional ones, are also available for the Hong Kong market.
In All About Symbian Insight 55 (AAS Podcast 108) we look at the UK launch of the Nokia 5800 MusicXpress, talk about the 'Curse of Silence' vulnerability (stops SMS messages from being received on some S60 handsets), before discussing our first impressions of the Palm Pre. You can listen to AAS Insight 55 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
If you're a mobile game company interested in publishing your games on the N-Gage platform, you may want to check out their slightly updated Developer Application Process page. This page used to only mention becoming a first party developer. However, the application form now also says it can be used to apply to be a third party publisher, so presumably you can now publish your games on N-Gage without giving up ownership of them.
Well spotted Symbian World for this find: a complete, functional touch-driven painting application for S60 5th Edition (and thus the 5800 XpressMusic) over at Forum Nokia. Although Mobile Paint is only an 'example' app, you can still save your creations in JPG form. Don't worry about all the source code bits, you only need to install one of the SIS files, etc. Screenshots and links below...
Programme 73 is now live (and also via iTunes, as usual, in QVGA and VGA formats), mainly featuring a monster video review of a production sample of the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. As per my AAS review, it's littered with both pros and cons, but there's no doubting that it'll find its very own market.
