A regular pop-up in the news here, but my Grid of mobile devices has been updated again, over at 3-Lib. Gone is the Sendo X (still crying over that one), new is the Orange M2000 and clones. Suggestions for additions to the Grid are welcomed!
Macromedia have made the runtime available for FlashLite on both Series 60 and UIQ available to anyone who wants it - just nip over to their website, pop in your IMEI and away you go. If you're looking for applciations that use it, then Macromedia's FlashLite Exchange is a good a place as any to start looking (Update: It appears the free promotion is now over. Pity).
Thomas Boys draws the curtains and gets personal with the iTech Bluetooth Virtual Keyboard, with keys drawn by lasers. Don your dark glasses now and read the review.
Ewan gives Jewelrumble a good workout in his review and finds a Bejewelled clone that's well implemented, has some bonus features and is compatible with a large number of Symbian smartphones.
Steve has already had a good look at the new UIQ layout in the UIQ 3.0 SDK, and now you can get a hold of it over the internet. UIQ's Developer Site has the download, which includes the required library and binary files, gcc and winscw compilers, all the required tools, utilites and API documentation. Be aware this is still in beta, and those of you who picked up a copy at The Smartphone Show should get this update (and read the release notes carefully).
Every 6 months Orange run a developer event which is a mixture of technical sessions, networking and fun. Rafe reports back from the most recent event at Opio, France on what the Camp offered to the attendees.
The Symbian Community Newsletter is always interesting, but in the wake of The Smartphone Show, this one's a must read, with lots of interesting hyperlinks.
Nokia China have announced the N6708 - a UIQ touchscreen phone. The phone features a 1.3 MP camera, a mini SD expansion card slot, a Chinese localised Office application, and runs Symbian 7 and UIQ 2.1. This phone is expected to be only available in the Chinese market where data input is eased by the use of handwriting reognition. The N6708 is an ODM (rebranded) version of the BenQ P31. The specifications are the same as the BenQ 31, but there have been several software tweaks. There are some pictures of the device here from Zol.com.
Steve Litchfield gets to grips with UIQ 3, the user interface behind the upcoming Sony Ericsson P990. What's new, what's different and what's been fixed?
Ewan gives his impressions after 30 minutes poring over the upcoming Sony Ericsson P990 at the Smartphone Show. Summary: a genuine flagship smartphone.
Thomas Boys takes a chatty look round the recent Smartphone Show on Day 1. With starring entries from the P990, many Symbian handsets and the Orange man.
The story of the Smartphone Show is that this year developers and their needs are to the fore. After the announcements of the new multi platform developer tools in the new Nokia Carbide series, and the UIQ Developer program and tools, Symbian have announced a range of their own initiatives. These include free developer certificates, a free Symbian Signed route to market for freeware and opensource, free Symbian Signed testing tools and memebrship of the Eclipsse Foundation.
Nokia today introduced the Carbide.c++ family of development tools. There are three editions: Professional - for device developers and high performance application, Developer - offering a new graphical Rapid Application Development for advanced level application developers, and Express - an entry level tool available for download at no cost based on the Eclipse IDE.
Zi Corporation will be demoing their Qix discovery engine technology at the Smartphone Show and talking about recent research showing Qix has the potential to become a key enabler. Qix is an innovative solution to the problem of increasingly complex click paths as Smartphones add more features and applications. Qix brings up a list of options (Contacts, Programs, Bookmarks and more) after a user starts typing the name or number on the phone keypad allowing for speedy access. Additionally Zi will be providing visitors to their stand (83) with free (usually $19.95 through Handango) copies of their eZiText (Series 60) and eZiText FEP (UIQ) programs.
