Swype, an alternative text entry system based on finger 'swipes', now supports additional languages. A number of language packs have been released for both the S60 5th Edition and Symbian^3 versions of Swype and are now available via Nokia Beta Labs. Additionally an updated version of Swype, for Nokia's S60 5th Edition, has been released, which fixes a number of bugs. An updated version for Symbian^3 will appear in the Ovi Store in the near future.
A small 'Apps update' for Symbian^3 phones is now available via the Sw Update application. The update, which is around 1MB in size, 'improves the stability of phone applications'. The update is available for the Nokia N8, Nokia C7 and Nokia C6-01. However it may take a little time to become available for all variants, in all countries.
There's a superb article published today over on Mobile R'n'R by Rita el-Khoury, listing the ten things you should do first with a new Symbian smartphone to ensure you get the very best experience, from replacing the browser and social clients to automating and customising the look and feel. This is one to bookmark and recommend to friends who are eying up the likes of the Nokia N8 and C7, methinks....
I haven't linked to the Phones Show Chat podcast for a long time, but show 70, released a few minutes ago, ended up being something of a Symbian special. We'd invited James Burland on, of Nokia Creative fame but latterly a big iPhone fan, to try and 'up' the iPhone content, but it turns out he's a recent Nokia N8 convert, so there's an especially strong Symbian flavour to the show, which runs to 1 hour 10 mins. Also in the show are musings on Nokia breaking America (or not) and discussion over ever-increasing screen sizes.
Matt Miller, writing at Nokia Experts, shares the news that Slacker Radio, an interactive radio service, will soon be available for Nokia's Symbian^3 handsets. Slacker Radio allows users to create custom radio stations based on artists or songs. Slacker Radio, which is currently only available in the US and Canada, will be available through the Ovi Store and Slacker's website in February. Supported handsets will include the Nokia N8 and other Symbian^3 handsets.
A recent post of the Nokia Beta Labs blog indicates that Nokia will be discontinuing its augmented reality test-bed application - Nokia Point and Find. However it goes onto say that the underlying augmented reality (and visual search) technology will be incorporated into "the future of key experiences like Maps and Search". The technology may also become available to third party developers, presumably through a service API or similar provision.
Nokia Big Screen, available through Nokia Beta Labs, provides a UI optimised for viewing media via HDMI-out, effectively turning devices like the Nokia N8 and E7 into portable media centres. Nokia Big Screen can be used to view photos and video and listen to music. Additional features include support for video subtitles and audio lyrics (karaoke style). For the best user experience, Nokia Big Screen can be used in conjunction with a Bluetooth remote control device (any HID device), such as Nintendo's Wiimote.
January is traditionally one of the quietest periods of the year for smartphone purchases. However if you are in the market price points have never been lower. For example, the C6-01, the mid tier Symbian^3 handset, can currently be purchased for £210 on PAYG in the UK. Similarly, at the low end of the market, the Nokia 5228 is currently available on PAYG for just £50. This downward pressure on smartphone prices is nothing new.
Having delivered sterling service over Christmas and New Year for my own family, I was interested to see Daniel Wexler's similar account of his holiday adventures with the Nokia N8. As for me, the pre-loaded Ovi Maps Navigation and camera and camcorder were the stars. Embedded below is one of his edited video mashups from the N8's output, see Daniel's blog for more videos and some sample photos. Also below is a typical photo from a sunset walk I did on Christmas day in the UK snow - again, it had to be N8 for me.
Visiarc has announced its cooperation with Nokia Beta Labs to provide a way to make Mobile Documents, integrating an email client with a document handler, more visible to the target market and to receive more feedback to improve it. Also worthy of note is the release of a new Mobile Documents beta for Symbian^3 (version 0.9.19) which comes with two new enhancements.
Just a heads-up that Real Golf 2011 HD, which received a rave review from me on the Nokia N8, is now available in the Ovi Store for other Symbian^3 smartphones (e.g. the Nokia C7). Note that the N8 version is free, part of a specific licensing deal by Nokia, but the C7 and C6-01 versions cost £3. Don't worry about this too much, it's well worth the small fee and has almost infinite gameplay.
Enough of me wittering on about how good the Nokia N8's camera is - have a look at the first set of Nokia Creative N8 Photo Awards, hosted by James Burland. Culled from almost 500 of the top camera phone photographers in the world, the top entries (one of which is linked/demoed below) in the December 2010 awards really show what the N8's Carl Zeiss-lensed, 12mp, large sensored camera can do.
I can’t resist pointing out another fabulous theme by PiZero I’ve just stumbled over. Called Digiflowers, it’s available for S60 3rd Edition, S60 5th Edition and Symbian^3 handsets. It works in landscape and portrait mode, looks fantastic and adds an artistic flair to your home screen and desktop. Well worth checking out from pizero.net.
Just when you thought it was all over by completing the festive variant, Rovio go and release an update to Angry Birds for Symbian^3 handset owners. With two new level packs (Danger Above and Big Set Up), Golden Egg support and some tweaks to the UI, the fowl flyers are set to keep you frustrated into 2011.
Popping up at the start of the week was a significant alpha version of Gravity. Taking the popular social media client up to version 1.5a, it’s not quite polished and stable yet, so if you want to wait for the hardened version, then check back in January. But if you’re happy with a little bit of peril, then you’ll get a number of new features and improvements, including a portrait qwerty keyboard for touchscreen devices!
