Hey, it must be UIQ week! Ewan's been reviewing Scribbler for UIQ 3 - a free form, inifinite paper note-taker. It's a cool idea for a touch-based smartphone and I think it's a keeper on Ewan's P990. Highlights are the strip overview and the export to image files.
Are you sitting comfortably? Steve quite likes the W960. The latest UIQ3 device, Sony Ericsson's second UIQ Walkman phone, with regular keypad, regular styling, flush screen and a practical 128MB of RAM, has made an impression. His thoughts on the W960 from the point of view of a smartphone user are here. I'll be looking at the Walkman components for the audiophiles next week.
Yup, it's out. A whole new version of the free Yahoo! Go! on-device portal. Version 2 was actually pretty handy, including mapping and routing and support for built-in GPS. Version 3.0 claims better email handling, more news, satellite maps, live traffic. Sounds a bit like Google's portfolio, except that here it's all in the one Java application. Worth a try? Type get.go.yahoo.com into your smartphone's browser.
In All About Symbian Insight # 7 (AAS Podcast #55) Steve, Ewan and Rafe look back at 2007 and pick out their highlights from the year. We cover the Nokia N95, a resurgent UIQ and Nokia's Ovi announcement. In the second half of the podcast we turn our attention to 2008 and make a few predictions.
Twelfth Night has come and gone so Xmas is well and truly over, but you can still get Snowed In 6: Deep Freeze for free if you hurry. Simply download the game from this page (click on the relevant "try" button), install it on your Symbian device, and then head on over to the unlock code page to get your free key. SI6 is available for all Symbian platforms, and the offer ends on the 15th of January.
Reports are sneaking out of CES (in the USA) that Motorola just officially announced the Z10, their upgrade to the original UIQ 3-powered Z8. The 'banana' form factor is still there, as we reported from the Z10 prototypes at the Smartphone Show, and the Z10 will have the 30fps video capture and video editing suite demo-ed at the show, but there's also a 3.2 megapixel stills camera, which brings the device up to date, if not exactly cutting edge. Photo, specs and links below.
If you're in any way technical and want to get to grips with the ins and outs of audio codecs and the practicalities of streaming and decoding internet radio then you could do worse than check out Menneisyys' latest cross-platform epic analysis in the forums. Warning: not for the faint hearted!
Just to assure those who might worry that AllAboutSymbian game reviews would turn into AllAboutJava, there is light at the end of the tunnel! Read on for a preview of a real treat for Symbian gamers.
Krisse is either getting dangerously loose with AAS MegaGame awards or has indeed found a second game in a fortnight to merit the high rating. Sola Rola, despite being built on J2ME, delivers at every turn, with smooth and believable 2D animation allied with great level design. Here's the Sola Rola review, make sure to click through at the end of the review to the video walkthrough, to see what Krisse means.
Craig Loxton, the guy who guested in the latest Smartphones Show, has been busy - he's set up a Symbian Help group on Google Groups , presumably intending to run it much like the old, beloved EPOC Digest back in Psion days. It'll cover S60 and UIQ matters and is open to all.
All About Symbian would like to wish all its visitors a very happy Christmas. If you're hankering after some Xmas-related Symbian action while defrosting or digesting the turkey, don't forget to check out our recent features on Symbian Christmas Games and S60 3rd Edition Christmas Themes.
All About Symbian podcast #54 (also known as AAS Insight #6) is a Christmas special edition. Ewan and Rafe talk over a few topics of interest (software discounts and special offers available over the festive period and Palm's recent woes) before moving on to answer a special question: What phone does Father Christmas use?
