Nokia has today announced that the new version of Ovi Maps, which was announced on Thursday 21st January, has been downloaded 1.4 million times. The 1 million downloads figure was reached just one week after the launch. The new version of Ovi Maps offers worldwide pedestrian and car navigation, along with other premium features including traffic information, city guides and more, all for free, forever.
Today Greystripe, a mobile advertising network, announced ad network support for Nokia's Ovi Store. Greystripe enables developers to automatically add pre-load and exit 'screen' rich media adverts to their games applications via a self-service web portal. This should result in an increased number of ad-supported (free) games and applications in the Ovi Store. Additionally Greystripe is migrating 1,200 Gamejump.com Java titles into Ovi Store.
After months of struggling with low RAM (in which CellPhoneSoft came up with RAMblow) on the Nokia N97 and N97 mini, we now have firmware for most N97 product codes that has more free RAM and handles memory much better. Still, the appearance of RAMblow, screenshotted, linked and detailed below, may help anyone trying to clear extra RAM for a big game, for those whom the new firmware has not yet been released and for those with other devices with RAM problems.
Ovi Maps Racing is now available in the Ovi Store and, for a limited time, it is available for free. The game, which is available for Nokia's S60 5th Edition (Symbian^1) phones, is a top down style racer. The aim is to set the fastest possible lap times. There's a number of built in tracks with global leader boards, but the standout feature of the game is the ability to create your own tracks based on your current location. Using Ovi Maps (Navteq) mapping data you can create, and then race on, a track based on the map of your home town. Read on for more details.
In All About Symbian Insight 103 (AAS Podcast 167), the team start with news of Nokia's Q4 results, which saw an encouraging 5% upswing in smartphone market share (QoQ). We then discuss the Apple iPad news, which leads into a discussion of the importance of service ecosystems. Finally there's news of Skyfire and listener questions on advertising subsidies and dual boot devices. You can listen to AAS Insight 103 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
Ewan takes a look at a new 'TV' system for Symbian smartphones, 'Television', from digital media specialists Makayama. The lawyer in him wants to take the app to task for a misleading name and the consumer in him wants to take it to task for some channel errors and outdate content. But, overall, it's a competent video on demand applet that largely delivers what it (almost) says on the tin...
Nokia Beta Labs has debuted a utility for both S60 3rd Edition and 5th Edition phones to enable the editing of words in your phone's predictive text dictionary, a long-awaited function. You are also able to import and export the custom dictionary, meaning you can transfer it from one phone to another. There's a video to explain what's covered and links below.
Just a note that Phones Show 101, out now, has an interesting interview with the CEO of Vlingo, the email/text/search voice recognition system for Symbian, talking about how it works on the likes of the Nokia N97 and the future for voice. There's also my extended take on the hottest new competition for Nokia and Symbian, the Google Nexus One. Can Android 2.1 make up for the hardware shortcomings?
David Gilson and Panashe Ngwerume review the new Rseven online sync and backup service, uncovering a number of browser compatibility issues that the developers need to address. They find the beta-status Rseven understandably immature from a functionality standpoint, requiring more development in order to deliver its aims and ambitions in a modern multi-platform environment, but Panashe in particular calls the service a 'gem', implying that there's great potential here for the future.
Despite expectations that Ovi Maps 3.3 with free navigation would hit the Nokia N97 in a firmware update, it has popped up on Software Update (in the Applications folder) anyway as a 8MB download. Obviously, it's not recommended if you're starting off with less than about 30MB of free space on disk C: - in which case, you're better off waiting for it in a firmware release. Do please comment if you spot this for another Nokia phone that wasn't previously covered!
When it comes to Twitter applications (perenially popular, it seems), Symbian and S60 have no shortage of choice. Guest author David Gilson has done a mass review of all the Twitter applications he could find for S60, and presents us with a detailed feature comparison, along with a number of recommendations.
In All About Symbian Insight 102 (AAS Podcast 166), the team start with news of Sony Ericsson's Vivaz and its continuous focus HD video capture capabilities. We move on to an in-depth discussion of Nokia's Ovi Maps announcement last week. The final item in this weeks podcast is a quick mention for the new beta version of Ovi Suite. You can listen to AAS Insight 102 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
The social networking application, Fring, has been updated to version 4.1. Notable additions include fast switching of your status (offline, online, busy or invisible), the addition of DTMF tones in VoIP apps, and an improved GUI for their Twitter section. This sits on top of their multi-platform solution that covers not just a wide range of smartphones, but different online services as well. The latest version can be found at Fring.com/download.
Everyone has been wondering why Ovi Maps hasn't been offered, for convenience, through the Ovi Store client - and, with the release of the new all-free, official v3.3, that's exactly what Nokia has done, indicating a high degree of confidence on its part. Great to see it heading up the store, anyway, and now merely a download away. And a side note for those for whom this doesn't appear - many other S60 3rd Ed FP2 phones will work fine with Maps 3.3 - just grab the closest version via your desktop and side-load it.
Last year, David Gilson compared Google Maps and Ovi Maps, controversially finding that Google Maps (for Mobile) had the edge. However, Nokia has now announced that voice guided road navigation for Ovi Maps no longer requires a subscription fee and is available to all. Read on to see how this game-changing move effects the battle of the maps! (Note that this article is a rewrite and does contain some of the original text.)