And so VoIP takes its first fledgling steps onto the Communicator, with Barablu, available now. It's only single duplex though, i.e. push to talk. Still, interesting! Thanks to the folks here for the heads-up.
Sept Solutions have announced that they're building a reader for OpenDocument files (as used by OpenOffice 2) for all Symbian platforms, followed by an editing suite. Press release here.
For all those occasions where you need quick and cheap web info on your smartphone and it's not covered by RSS subs or other Internet apps, what you need is a bookmarked page of essentially text-only 'useful links'. I've just updated the 3-Lib web guide.
For a limited time, AAS friend Mike Ullrich has made his DevMan (task switching, processor loading, that sort of thing) utility free, with reg codes generated automatically on the download page. Grab it while you can?
Proving that Series 80 development is alive and well, AAS's own Arjen has a new freeware utility for auto-starting the applications of your choice (to save waiting when needed). See his forum post for links and feedback!
As part of research for PDA Essentials, I've been doing some serious testing. And there's one aspect of the new Nokia 9300i smartphone that doesn't come up to scratch. Unfortunately, it's the aspect for which the 'i' version was created...
SmartMovie, always a competent (though quirky) video conversion system for Symbian-based devices, has recently embraced the terrific CoreMP4 codec and boasts much better performance. Steve Litchfield reviews the result, tested in this case on the Nokia 9500 and N70.
Perhaps stung by criticism of the slow frame rate of previous versions, Lonely Cat Games has released a whole new generation of SmartMovie for all Symbian-based devices, with a new MPEG-4 codec and claims of far better performance, up to 25 frames per second in some cases.
In an open letter to developers, Steve Litchfield muses on the unique requirements of software on the smartphone (compared to the limited restrictions when run on a standalone PDA). Nobody ever said this would be easy, but hard work will reap rewards.
After much, er.... discussion, SymbianWare (now rebranding itself as Rock Your Mobile) SmartphoneWare have sorted themselves out and divided up the portfolio of former SymbianWare products. See here for the full list of products and support details.
MBrain Software's popular Pdf Acrobat viewer is now available for beta testing here. Initial impressions are that it's a little slow but does let you open documents that the supplied Adobe Reader can't cope with.
Mobipocket Pro is now available for free (the standard version no longer exists). The Pro version includes extra features such as auto scrolling and configurable text-orientation. You can download the latest version from the Mobipocket web site. Also of interest is the new beta version (5.2) of Mobipocket Reader Desktop which changes the way the eNews system works (becoming effectively an offline RSS reader for mobile devices) as well as being a comprehensive system for managing and transfering eBooks to your mobile device.
Trivopaedia, beloved of so many for (ahem) checking answers in pub quizzes, is now updated to v2.1. A free download in iSilo and Mobipocket formats for any PDA or smartphone.
It seems those sneaky(!) OggPlay developers have been coding without telling anybody. While everybody's links have been to the project home page, there have been lots of updates going onto the downloads page. Why not upgrade your S60, S80 or S90 version of OggPlay now?
I've updated the 3-Lib smartphone comparison Grid again - see which device it recommends for you! Also updated is my A list page, with a surprising winner. At least I give my reasons...
