From AAS's department of the bleedin' obvious come comments from me after looking into data from the last ten years in the Symbian world, looking at screen sizes across a range of form factors and interfaces (including Series 80 and UIQ). Yes, form factors are gradually converging, and yes, screens are getting larger. No real surprise there then, but I thought you might be interested in the charts themselves below...
During its N8 developer event, which took place in London yesterday, Nokia demonstrated some of the key features of their upcoming Symbian^3 handset. This included, for the first time on a real device, a preview of the new Ovi Store client. The new Ovi Store client has been redesigned to make it more attractive and easier to use. Read on for some exclusive images and preview comments.
I hope the industry are paying attention to yesterday’s launch of the Blackberry 9800 Torch. This was the new Blackberry, the next step up in the portfolio and even at a mid-range price, is being perceived as the flagship device. With a new version of the operating system paired with solid, but not stunning, hardware choices in the processor, screen and memory department, the reaction has been similar to that of Nokia’s N8. Some thoughts from me below.
Rafe's at Nokia's N8 Developer Launch event at The Century Club in London today and you can follow his thoughts and reporting via the official @aas Twitter account. The event aims to "provide an introduction to Qt and the Nokia N8 - complete with live developer workshops at all levels and an opportunity for some hands on time with the device itself." Not that Rafe's a stranger to the N8 - see his extensive hands-on gallery here, but we're sure he'll come back with some interesting new titbits anyway. More links and a pic below.
NAVTEQ, the division of Nokia that provides mapping and location data services, has announced that its new JourneyView product has entered into a private beta period, ahead of a full launch early next year. The JourneyView product is a combination of 360 degree street-level imagery and links to map and POI content. The private beta is intended to allow developers and other partners to get a demo of the data and help shape the final specification of the product.
You've seen the 'pinching and zooming' adverts for many (non-Symbian) smartphones, showing lightning fast manipulation of full desktop-class web page renders, with new pages 'coming down' in a matter of seconds. "It's the Internet in your pocket" say the promos. And, from my own observations, for many people this is utter pie in the sky. Out in the real world, mobile coverage and bandwidth falls diabolically short - which partly helps explain the popularity of a certain proxy-based web browser that works on everything and enables not the 'real web', but more 'looks and feels a lot like the real web, but isn't really'...
In All About Symbian Insight 129, we start with a number of short items: Angry Birds as a favourite game, Qt on Samsung and Sony Ericsson, Vodafone Mobile Clicks competition. In the second half of the podcast we respond to number of listener questions, from a discussion of how quality impacts on user experience, to how Nokia should market the N8 and the possibility of an Android Nokia device. You can listen to AAS Insight 129 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
"No..." "No..." "There he is!". Yes, for some Friday fun it's Capcom Europe's port of the popular children's book series, Where's Wally! How well does an artwork based book translate to the gaming world on your smartphone? Ewan decides to risk a pun and takes a look.
The Nokia N8, the first publicly announced Symbian^3 device, is available for pre-order from Nokia Italy's web store. It is priced at €469 (£390 / $600), with availability stated as being at the end of September, just in line with Nokia's stated Q3 shipment date. Nokia Italy is offering free delivery and say that customers pre-ordering will be 'among the first to receive the new N8'. Other Nokia stores will no doubt make their pre-order processes available shortly.
In this feature, I've been taking a long hard look at the top-end smartphones in the Symbian powered world over the last three years, pointing out their flaws and frailties, and - where appropriate - pointing out what should have been done to fix things up. Yes, Symbian has been cracking along with record momentum in the mid-tier, with Nokia trouncing the iPhones, Blackberries and Android phones in terms of raw unit sales, but Symbian's partners have been scoring rather a lot of own goals in recent times. And what of the 2010 Symbian^3 crop, such as the imminent Nokia N8 - will these suffer a similar fate? I'm optimistic...
In All About Symbian Insight 128, we open with a round up of recent news including the formation of the Symbian Developer Cooperative, the retail availability of the Nokia C6, news of the i8910 HX7 firmware, and Nokia's Conspiracy for Good. Rafe talks about his experience with Track and Protect and Ewan asks whether Symbian needs a reference device. Finally we talk over Nokia's Q2 2010 results. You can listen to AAS Insight 128 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
As mentioned in part one of my Defining the Smartphone feature from earlier in the week, the very word now encompasses a surprising range of hardware, with some claiming that the older phone-like devices are outdated when compared to the modern capacitive touch slabs and that the former shouldn't even be called smartphones. In this, part two, I attempt to quantify the various attributes of two of the extremes from the smartphone world, I take the latest evolution of Nokia's classic S60 slider form factor, the N86, and pitch it head to head with the current highest rated Android smartphone in the UK, the HTC Desire. Will my own smartphone definition hold water?
Although popular, Nokia Beta Labs have closed down support for the Nokia Conversation application. With development now at and end, they reckon that having the forum and feedback still open, but without receiving any appropriate response would “be doing a disservice” to the users. Conversation streams will be part of the Ovi Suite and feature in the upcoming N8.
Following on from Steve’s discussion earlier this week on discontinued smartphones, it’s been interesting to watch the reaction from other publications around Google’s Nexus one no longer being sold, and how it was a failed experiment and customers will only buy devices from the High Street. Regardless, it's a path I think Symbian should think about going down...
If you've been wondering how to get started in developing serious applications for Symbian and weren't quite sure whether to knuckle down and get into the official C++-based Symbian SDK or head for the new programming wunderkind, Qt (pronounced 'cute'), then have a look at this interview with Lucian Tomuta, also embedded below. He gives an intro and then shows how easy it is to compile and test apps, right onto the phone.
