UIQ stawarts CellPhoneSoft have released Padissimo, claiming to "bring novel and unique features". Padissimo "enhances navigation by providing two extra directional pads: one on the screen, and one on the keyboard". These new ways of moving around the screen can be used in any application apparently. More info and links below.
Not quite free but very close to it, you can now buy the updated puzzle game Quartz 2 Deluxe for S60 3rd Edition and UIQ3 devices for just €0.78 from Clickgamer (that's about 66 pence or 1 US dollar). As well as a single player mode the game also features internet and bluetooth multiplayer, and multiplayer versus computer opponents.
In All About Symbian Podcast 100 (Insight #47) we talk about recent device shipment and market share numbers from Canalys. Ewan has a bee in his bonnet with regards to N-Gage, Steve chimes in with his dislike of poorly implemented DRM, but Rafe thinks things might not be as bad as Ewan suggests.
With Sony Ericsson's and Motorola's decision to stop using the UIQ platform in future products the long term future of UIQ Technology, the company behind the platform, was thrown into doubt. As things currently stand the long term future of the company is not secure. As a result, yesterday, its remaining 270 employees were put on notice of dismissal. However Sony Ericsson has agreed to continue funding the company on a by month by month basis in order to allow the company to investigate options for the future.
In All About Symbian Podcast 99 (Insight #46) we talk about the N96 which has received mixed reviews from initial users. In the second half the podcast Ewan provides his first impressions of One, the latest N-Gage game, before we move on to discussing manufacturer commitment to the Symbian Foundation and what the future may hold for UIQ.
Yesterday, in a third quarter earnings call, Motorola's CEO, Sanjay Jha, said that they would be streamlining their OS strategy to concentrate on three platforms: P2K (low end and feature phones), Android (consumer smartphones) and Windows Mobile (business phones). Motorola will no longer use its own LinuxJava (MOTOMAGX) or the Symbian UIQ platform. It also appears that several UIQ phones that are currently in development, which would have hit the market next year, will be abandoned. Read on for more.
The presentation that was held by UIQ Technology at the Symbian Smartphone Show 2008 in London is now available for download. It contains some interesting facts about UIQ Touch (err... I thought UIQ supported touch since day one?). Also some cool design concepts which will probably hardly see the light of day. Anyway, the Powerpoint file is available for download from UIQ.Com.
UIQ is dead! But not for CellPhoneSoft, one of the most active software houses that still supports UIQ and who has produced File Associate, which can assign different applications to open files. For example, it can associate .DOC files with Docs To Go instead of the built-in Quickword. And it has a generic viewer to view .ZIP, SWF and TXT files too! Screens after the break.
During the Symbian Smartphone Show last week we spent some of our time uploading images from the show floor. Here's the resulting Symbian Smartphone Show 2008 gallery along with a few additions and some extra commentary. Read on for a few highlights from day two of the show that you may have missed first time round.
In All About Symbian Podcast 98 (Insight #45) we are back from last weeks Symbian Smartphone Show at Earl's Court. There some discussion on the feel and size of the show, Symbian Foundation related announcements, and the start of our run through of some of the devices and demos we saw.
Thanks to ares for the heads-up that Opera Software have been busy, releasing its Opera 9.5 web browser for UIQ 3 with widget support today. For technical reasons (lack of RAM?), it's only compatible with the SonyEricsson P1, W960, G700 and G900. Opera has also updated people on progress towards v9.5 for S60 - more on this in the weeks to come.
On monday it's time for the Evening with S60 London. However as things do not kick off until 7:30pm and as the AAS team are in town we thought we would hold an informal get together before the event in a local pub. So from 5:30pm or so we'll be in the Windmill pub which is just a few minutes away from the Nokia Flagship Store.
Mobile magazine is reporting that Sony Ericsson intends to close its flagship London store, quoting 'market conditions don't make it appropriate'. A shame, but you may remember my sorry experience there a while ago. It's not really surprising that the store failed to make a profit, in all honesty.
Westward, originally released on the PC, is a cocktail that mixes in elements of town simulation, real sime strategy, adventure and humour. Does it combine the best of all worlds, or is it an unwieldy mess? Read Tzer2's review of Westward to find out... (Incidentally, this game is available for both S60 3rd and UIQ3, links for both at the end of the review.)
Digia have today announced the immediate shipping of @Web, their Webkit based UIQ 3 browser. This application, which has been in fairly open beta testing for the last few months, brings full S60, iPhone & Google Android style browsing to the UIQ 3 platform.