It's autumn, it's time for the Symbian Smartphone Show, which means it must be time to wheel Symbian Signed back out in the open! Developer Sampo Suvisaari has been writing about why Symbian Signed means less choice for end users and proposes a simple and brilliant change to the system.
Today at 4pm BST (but also archived for later playback) Symbian are running a developer webcast focusing on the Accredited Symbian Developer (ASD) program /exam. ASD is an accredited exam program designed to test the skill / knowledge base of developers. After the exam has been taken a report is provided that allows you to quantify and individual or group's underrstanding of Symbian fundamentals.
Video podcast The Smartphones Show 16 has just gone live, with a hands-on review of the Sony Ericsson P990i, a brief promo of the Nokia N95 and a preview of upcoming Windows Mobile 5 rivals. The podcast is playable on any PC, Mac, Symbian OS 9 smartphone, iPod or PSP.
Steve muses over the whole PDA taking over your life thing, thanks to micromanagement of your own time and the many intricate apps. Why is your smartphone different, and why is less the new more? Find out as he proclaims (a bit too loudly for my liking) that he's not a geek.
In the first of a series of UIQ 3 application reviews, Steve gives the top-down racer Dreamway a run for its money. Worth a look for all smartphone owners, actually, as it's also available for all S60 and previous UIQ devices.
Rafe Blandford's been living and breathing Sony Ericsson P990i and UIQ 3 for two weeks now - here's his full review. Summary:shed loads of potential, very powerful, but also some rough edges and room for improvement through firmware updates.
Following Nokia's lead, Sony Ericsson plans to open a London showcase store next month, the first of several in major cities across the world. The full press release follows.
Sony Ericsson recently announced the forthcoming availability of the W958c - a variant of the W950 for the Chinese market. The specification is very similar to the W950, although the W958c removes the WCDMA (3G) connectivity and adds Chinese language support.
Steve Litchfield compares the latest communicators in depth, from the S60 3rd Edition powered Nokia E70 to the UIQ 3 powered Sony Ericsson P990i, and taking in the Windows Mobile powered HTC TyTN along the way.
Simon Judge has done a good job in compiling a database/directory of software specifically for Symbian OS 9 devices, along with some interesting comments. Well worth a look for trial versions and research, though don't forget that by coming back here and actually buying the apps through our own software shop, you're helping keep All About Symbian going. Thanks!
Still pressing for recognition of the significance (for some) of qwerty keyboards on mobile devices, Steve has a chance conversation in London and is shocked how narrowly many people seem to still use their smartphones. Here's his subsequent musings.
Richard Bloor takes a detailed look at the Sony Ericsson P990i (yes, we have one now, too - Rafe's testing it while in the USA), reviewing it with his developer hat on. Plenty of interesting observations and a positive perspective on this latest UIQ 3 device.
Just a note to remind everyone of our Support knowledge base. This was set up earlier this year as a replacement for the old FAQs and contains hundreds of common (and not so common) questions and answers for devices from all Symbian platforms. Here's the Support front page. If anyone would like to help me maintain/add to this, let me know!
Maybe it's because I still feel S60 3rd Edition device owners are starved of good games that I've gotten excited over the release of the freeware S-Tris 2 by Elements Interactive. It plays well, doesn't use up huge amounts of RAM and is available for every other mobile device under the sun...
Neuros very kindly sent over a sample of their MPEG-4 Recorder 2 set-top units, and I've been putting it through its paces. Essentially it's a tiny gadget designed to record video directly onto your smartphone's expansion card, for playback on the move. Here's the full review.
