NAVTEQ have supplied us with a comprehensive overview of their activities at this year’s CommunicAsia show, running 16 to 19 June in Singapore. The development of location based services in and for the APAC region remains strong and NAVTEQ is hoping to capitalise on this growth with its portfolio of map data and developers tools.
Nokia's 8 megapixel N86 smartphone is now shipping according to Nokia Press Bulletin Board. Outwardly similar to the N85, the N86 features a slightly redesigned casing, kick stand, non-flat chunky keypad, and of course an 8 megapixel af camera which is the highest resolution on any Nokia device so far. Our camera expert Steve will be examining this hardware in detail of course, but just to give the official specs the N86 has a variable aperture for low-light photography, a fast mechanical shutter and automatic blur reduction. The N86 runs Symbian S60v3 FP2, is compatible with N-Gage and Ovi Store, and comes with 8 gigabytes of on-board memory as well as a separate microSD card slot for extra memory. (via ZOMGitsCJ)
Forum Nokia has announced an update to the plug-in that enables WRT widget development in Aptana Studio and added new plug-ins for Adobe Dreamweaver and Microsoft Visual Studio. WRT widgets are clearly seen by Nokia as a mechanism to accelerate the availability of add-on features for S60 devices. Recent news, such as the availability of a Facebook widget, suggests it may be a good strategy.
The exclusive first-party music game Dance Fabulous is out now on the N-Gage platform (we all know Nokia never sticks to launch dates, this is two days early!). To get the game, open your phone's N-Gage application, go to the Showroom tab, select "Options" and then "Update Now". The download file is 31 megabytes and the price should be around 5 euros, which is interestingly in line with the average pricing on Ovi Store.
Ovi Store had capacity problems on the day it launched as demand for the service apparently far exceeded Nokia's estimates, but they seem to have cured that and Ovi Store now loads reliably. However, another problem has appeared which is rather annoying and frustrating: some items seem to be disappearing and reappearing at random. All too often people click on a game, app or other content and are greeted with the message "Sorry, this item is no longer available." even when it should be available. Let's take a look at the availability problems one by one, hopefully someone high up at Nokia is reading this.
Another Ovi Store game, this time surreal gather-em-up Java title Katamari Mobile has been reviewed by Ovi Gaming, and wins a Recommended award (the review also includes a 10 minute gameplay video of it running on the 5800 and lots of screenshots too). The mobile version of Katamari is perfect for anyone longing for a return to the simpler days of abstract arcade gameplay, and it also provides a nice slice of unhinged Japanese humour.
Another new batch of games has appeared in Ovi Store, the full list is below. (Incidentally, if anyone from Nokia is reading this, could you please take a look at the Ovi Store servers and find out why some games are constantly appearing and disappearing!) Anyway, on with the new games, you can see them listed below in alphabetical order. Most of the new games seem to be from the publisher Playfon, who are apparently making their Ovi Store debut.
The quirky and charming Java-based arcade puzzle game Go! Go! Rescue Squad! is available in Ovi Store and we've been taking a look at it on the Nokia 5800. To see our review, along with a ten minute gameplay video and lots of screenshots, head on over to the Go! Go! Rescue Squad! game page on Ovi Gaming.
We've added a review, screens and a video to ZingMagic's WordSearch game page on Ovi Gaming. We've based the review on the installment called Alphabet WordSearch, but it applies to all the WordSearch games as they're practically the same with just different word packs to distinguish them from each other. Alphabet WordSearch and Starts With WordSearch are free while the other editions cost 2 euros each, so this is very much a low-budget impulse purchase game series.
If you have a look at the Cooking Mama game page on Ovi Gaming, you'll see we've added a brief review of the game, several screenshots and a 7 minute video of the game in action on the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. We'll be gradually adding more and more to the game pages over time, so that they build up into a place where you can find out what Ovi Store games are really like.
The Nokia 5630 XpressMusic (Symbian S60 3rd FP2, 3.2 mp autofocus camera, Wi-Fi, 3.5G, 600mhz CPU) has quietly become available through various channels in Europe including the official online shops of Nokia Finland, Nokia Germany and Nokia Italy, it's starting to appear in normal retailers too, and is available to pre-order in areas and shops where it isn't yet on sale. The 5630 is designed for S60 users on a budget, and the unlocked SIM-free model in most places seems to be around 200 euros plus taxes, which is among the lowest launch prices so far for a smartphone. (Note that the Nokia Germany shop currently only stocks the Comes With Music edition which costs more due to its unlimited music downloads bundle.)