The classic 3D platformer Pandemonium is out now in the N-Gage showroom. To see it, go to the N-Gage application on your compatible phone, select the "Showroom" tab, select "Options" and then "Update Now". You should also be able to see it in the "All Games" section. You can find out more about the N-Gage platform including a list of compatible phones in the All About N-Gage FAQ.
So much for the quality stamp of being in the good 'ol BBC. Their latest Digital Planet podcast, going out worldwide, starts with an scaremongering piece which claims that the only reason why there hasn't been a mobile phone virus pandemic is that there aren't enough Symbian OS-powered phones out there yet. Completely ignoring the fact that the viruses mentioned are ALL for really old phones and OS versions, involve manual, deliberate installation and are aimed at really naive users. The Symbian Foundation's new PR dept would do well to fire a rocket into Gareth Mitchell, Jason Palmer and self-confessed expert Prof Barasbi, who, patently, haven't a clue what they're talking about. Pah.
Samsung Mobile Innovator has released the first iteration of the DevPak for the Samsung i8910 HD (formerly the Omnia HD). This plugs into the existing S60 5th Edition SDK to provide an emulator skin and control features, as well as additional APIs.
The next version of Nokia’s tool for S60 widget development is currently in beta testing. In ‘A First Look at Nokia WRT Plug-in for Aptana Studio 2.0’ I’ve been given the opportunity to preview the new features and find a considerably richer tool, offering support for all the current and forthcoming S60 widget features.
Sulake, best known for their Habbo Hotel online community for PCs, have now launched a new online community for S60 devices called Bobba. It's still in beta testing so there may be some bugs, but you can download the Bobba application free from the Bobba.com website, and there are no charges for using the service either (though of course you may have to pay data charges to your phone network). Bobba is compatible with all S60 3rd Edition and S60 2nd Edition devices, including all N-Gage-compatible phones.
The Nokia 5800 is criticised by some for being a single-touch device that can only register one finger press at a time. But is this actually true? Not quite. With a bit of clever interface design the existing 5800 hardware is already capable of registering two simultaneous screenpresses at once, and you can see how this works in the full story below (you can even try it for yourself, and there's a video of a 5800 game using it). The reason this is worth mentioning is that Nokia is already using a more limited version of this method in their just-released Maemo 5 SDK, which is the latest version of the platform they use on their internet tablets. If Nokia's already using it there, it seems very likely they could use it on their S60 devices too.
The historical strategy game Age Of Empires III is out now on N-Gage-compatible phones, and yes it does indeed have an online multiplayer mode as well as a rather sweeping orchestral soundtrack. You can download it from the N-Gage application on your phone by going to the Showroom tab, then select "Options", then "Update Now". As always you can find out more about the N-Gage platform including a list of compatible devices by visiting the All About N-Gage FAQ.
The Nokia N97 SDK is the first device specific S60 SDK released by Nokia. While the additions are not numerous, it offers some interesting new APIs for both C++ and Java technology. In addition, the emulator enables testing of the new home screen features for C++ application and WRT widgets.
Not able to attend this year’s inaugural Nokia Developer Summit in Monaco? Well all is not lost, you can still view the keynotes, quiz Nokia experts, and follow the ‘official’ event blog – which is already up and running with news about the widget hackathon.
Digital Chocolate's Cafe Hold Em Poker has arrived on the N-Gage platform, but how good is it? Ewan Spence passes judgement in the All About N-Gage review, and discovers lessons both for the game's developers and for the N-Gage platform as a whole.
According to a report in the Finnish national daily Helsingin Sanomat, the Nokia chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo estimates that the 5800 XpressMusic now accounts for "1 in 5 of all touchscreen phone sales worldwide". This figure was also mentioned in Nokia's Q1 results conference call and was repeated today at Nokia's AGM. It's a pretty good start for S60 5th Edition...
Apologies to those who already know this, but it was news to me and perhaps to other people too: if you run an internet radio station you can add it to Nokia's online directory of stations for free by visiting this link. The directory is used by Nokia's Internet Radio application currently available on Symbian S60 3rd Edition phones and Maemo internet tablets, and allows people to browse and listen to listed stations on their devices through wi-fi or the phone network. The directory accepts both internet-only stations and internet streams of conventional broadcast radio stations.
DChoc Cafe Hold Em Poker is now available in the N-Gage application's showroom section. Just go to the N-Gage application on your device, go to the Showroom tab, select "Options" and then "Update Now" to see it in the latest games list (alternatively you can select "Show All Games"). To find out more about the N-Gage platform including a list of compatible phones, try reading the All About N-Gage FAQ.
It seems that Nokia will shortly be releasing the first device specific S60 SDK (focussed on the N97) and there has been a lot of talk about Symbian on MIDs, how will this affect developers? Read on for my analysis.
In this developer feature we preview Nokia's upcoming Developer Summit 2009, which being held in Monaco at the end of this month. It is the first event that brings all aspects of development for Nokia devices together and Srikanth Raju, head of marketing for Forum Nokia, offers some insight.