New firmware updates are now available for both the Nokia E71 (110.07.127) and the Nokia E66 (110.07.126). Updated applications include Mail for Exchange and Nokia Maps and there are improvements to the email and settings wizards, performance enhancements for Bluetooth and camera hardware as well as a number of bug fixes.
In part 3 of his Nokia N96 review Steve covers the multimedia capabilities of the phone. After comprehensive testing he delivers his verdict on the still photography, video recording, music playback and video playback capabilities of the N96 before coming to some overall conclusions about the multimedia functionality. Part 3 follows on from the general overview in part 1 and application walk through in part 2.
Over on All About N-Gage, Ewan Spence has been getting frustrated with the relative lack of games for N-Gage, arguing that Nokia should open up the system to Java and other more generic titles, to increase the variety and depth.
In May of this year there was quite a fuss when Nokia confirmed that new N-Gage games were locked to one phone forever. They then responded to the dismay by saying that transfers would be possible after all through Nokia customer services, but it now turns out that this can only be done once: you can transfer N-gage games from one phone to another, but they are lost forever if you move onto a third phone. In a follow-up editorial, All About N-Gage takes a closer look at this policy, and wonders where on earth Nokia's promised multi-transfer solution has got to. When will N-Gage users get the same transfer rights as Nokia Music and Nokia Maps users?
Call this a quirky weekend item if you like, but the humble paper clip came to my rescue today and I thought I'd share what happened. After a week trialling the Nokia N96, I'd become really attached to its kick stand, enabling it to prop itself up for comfortable 'by your side' video watching. How could I apply this to my other S60 smartphones? Read on...
Very interested to hear about the Bergamot Project. Their Swim tool has just been released for S60 and enable automated synchronisation (at long last) with your chosen sync server (e.g. GooSync, Ovi). Only thing is that it's unsigned and you'll have to used Symbian's online signing tool to sign it for your specific phone. More comments and links by Ricky Cadden here.
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.
Canalys latest stats are in and their commentary makes for interesting reading. Notable highlights are that the whole market rose 28%, year on year, not surprisingly, with smartphones now comprising 13% of the entire phone market. Nokia (No. 1 still) looks like it's got a fight on its hands generally though, with Apple being the big overall winner, up from 4% to 17%, thanks to the initial surge when the iPhone 3G was launched, while Nokia has slipped from 51% to 39%. Canalys believe Nokia will rally with the 5800 and N96 for Q4 though, and that RIM will rally back into the no. 2 spot with their Storm.
Year after year, handheld and phone companies make the same mistake, releasing buggy and incomplete products to market and then having to back pedal and fight fires for the next 12 months. Back when I was in industry, our company had a motto: "Right First Time". Now, I know phones are complex devices, but there's still got to be a better way. Read on....
Mobile Systems has announced availability of v5.0 of its OfficeSuite, with the headline feature being viewer support for Office 2007's XML file formats. Here's the press release. (Long time readers will know that rival Quickoffice already has full Office 2007 editing, but more competition in this field is always good)
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.
One of the easiest contests ever: every week for the next twelve weeks a Nokia N81 8GB and limited edition N-Gage bathrobe will be given away on Gamasutra.com in association with Sauna Talk. All you have to do is answer one multiple choice question, which has a hint link next to it where you can find the answer. You can enter once a week, so you effectively have up to twelve chances to win the prizes. (In case you're unaware, Sauna Talk is a series of videos designed to advertise the N-Gage platform to developers. Apparently the contest is only open to those "related" to the games industry, but don't ask us what that means.) (via the Official N-Gage Blog)
Another Desert island Desktop interview, where someone's Smartphone comes under the microscope. I took a few moments at the recent Smartphone Show to sit down with Symbian CEO Nigel Clifford to find out what applications he's loaded onto his device.
Generic unlocked Nokia N96 owners (RM-247) can now update their firmware to v11.018 (from v10) at last. Thought you might want to know. The fix is painless and data-loss-free, thankfully. [Updated to remove mention of the bogus v12 firmware]
In case you haven't got time to read through my AAS reviews of the Nokia N96 and LG KT-610, here are easy-to-digest video versions, courtesy of The Phones Show programme 68, out now. Use the RSS feeds on the page if you wish, or click through to the higher quality version on YouTube. The low-res version is also embedded below.
