The Indian industrial giant Videocon is apparently interested in buying Motorola's handset business. Videocon already have licences to build 3G phone networks in India, and see potential benefits from also owning a handset manufacturing unit. Motorola currenly owns half of UIQ Technology and manufactures UIQ3 handsets, so such a sale may have implications for the Symbian world. (via Mobile Burn)
Ferrari World Championship seems to have been a high profile game announcement that was followed by a very low profile release (e.g. it's not even in Nokia's Download! system) - but unnecessarily so, since it turns out to be great fun and one of the best Java games to yet appear. Cross-platform and running on just about any phone or smartphone, here's my full and illustrated Ferrari World Championship review. Highly recommended.
MobiMate recently added extra real-time flight information and facilities to their flagship traveller's app WorldMate Professional. Luckily our own Ewan knows a thing or two about travel utilities and so I threw the app in his direction. The result? We now have ourselves another (though fairly rare) All About Symbian 'MegaApp'. Here's the full review.
You've got to admire some developers for the way they manage to release their titles across the range of smartphone platforms, in this case at least five varieties on Symbian OS. Attila Katona has been reviewing Herocraft's new Hexxagon Labs strategy game (think Othello but six-sided) on S60 and comes away quite impressed.
GooSync's beta test for full Contacts sync through to Google Contacts just went live. It's a closed beta, so please don't email me for extra links or privileges. Below, I've tried to illustrate how it all works and some of the implications of syncing with the big G. The beta test, if the Tasks beta was anything to go by, should last a month or so.
CoreCodec just announced the availability of version 1.24 of its CorePlayer Mobile for all platforms including S60 3rd Edition and UIQ 3. The YouTube support might not be interesting for some S60 3rd Edition users but for the UIQ 3 community, it is the icing on the cake because for the first time, FLV videos can be played on UIQ 3 smartphones without conversion. See below for UIQ 3 screenshots, links and comments.
Phone game developers Astraware have released the nautical adventure game Hidden Expedition: Titanic for Symbian S60 3rd Edition and UIQ3 smartphones. You can find out more about the game and purchase it on its official S60v3 page or official UIQ3 page. Naturally we'll be bringing you a review in due course. Astraware also asked us to mention that they're looking for S60 3rd Edition and UIQ3 beta game testers. Click on the headline for screenshots...
Ewan's been the perfect use-case for ShoZu, the media uploader, while he's been away on his 'Seesmarch' - lots of photos and video, flat rate data and a desire to share stuff with the world. Here's his report/review of the new ShoZu version 4. Suffice it to say that the application scores very highly indeed, with only a few small caveats.
If you're anything like Ewan and myself, you'll enjoy a good brain-stretching, language-challenging word game - and these have been few and far between on smartphones. However, the appearance of Scratchy, reviewed here by Ewan, has helped a lot, keeping him entertained on his American travels. It's Java-based and basically works on anything, by the way.
The makers of the free Xmas game Snowed In have come up with a similar Easter-themed free game called Eggstreme: Sizzler Supremacy. It's available for every Symbian platform (S60 3rd, S60 1st/2nd, UIQ3, UIQ2, Series 80 and Series 90). The S60 3rd version supports all screen resolutions including the N80 and E90. You can download the relevant game file by going here, and you can get the free unlock code by going here.
You'll remember that we've looked at Epocware's Handy Weather before, giving both the original S60 3rd Edition version and that for UIQ 3 well deserved AAS MegaApp awards. And now they've gone and improved it again, adding weather maps and streamlining the interface. Still a MegaApp? You bet, it's still one of the stars in the Symbian OS firmament - here's my review of Handy Weather version 5.01.
No, we haven't gone raving mad - it's just that Ewan (currently on walkabout in the USA) has been tweeting from Twibble. Err... that's sending Twitter updates by SMS, in plain English. It's a useful Java application, that's for sure, saving time and bandwidth. Here's Ewan's review of Twibble.
CorePlayer has been inching up to a major new release, 1.2, for a while now. Registered users can upgrade to a special 'preview' version of 1.2, which includes better support for file type associations, streaming video, plus support for Speex and GSM audio. (via p@sco)
In times of inconsistent quality, it's good to reflect back on devices that have oozed quality, charisma or style, and sometimes even all three. In "Top 10 - Classic Smartphones", I count down the significant stars of the Symbian OS world from the last 7 years. Controversial? Biased? Probably. But I'll bet there are four or five of these on everybody's own personal top 10 from the same period! Comments and your own picks are more than welcome!
Oxygen Software have been plugging away at their Phone Manager product for years, and they've just announced a major revamp, rebrand and relaunch. OxyCube is released yesterday and is compatible with a wide range of handsets and provides syncing and file browsing functions. (via SymbianOne)