With summer upon us in the UK and the sun burning down (well, some of the time, at least), I've been somewhat shocked at how bad all of the touch-screen-equipped Symbian-powered smartphones are when it comes to actually being able to see what's on screen clearly. Whether a map, a photo or an important email, surely you need to be able to read your device's screen in all light conditions? With this in mind, I went back to my store of older devices and could then feel another of my famous infamous comparisons coming on.
Nokia has placed a number of full page ads in UK newspapers (see photo, below, in full story) promoting the Ovi Store on what the ad says is 'a big day for news' (it is election day here in the UK). The AP News, Evening Standard and Reuters apps are mentioned by name. The advert is notable because it is one of the few Nokia print ads I've seen dedicated solely to the Ovi Store.
Nokia continued to push both their mapping service and the customisation potential of the smartphone with the release of Own Voice this week, which allows you to record your own vocal package for the turn by turn directions in Ovi Maps. How easy is it to use? Ewan finds out (below)...
The Nokia 6700s (6700 slide) is one of Nokia's newest smartphones and is one of the best examples of how the line between smartphones and featurephones has become increasingly blurred. It is an S60 3rd Edition device with a slider form factor, aluminium casing and a 5 megapixel camera with Carl-Zeiss optics. Our Nokia 6700s hands-on gallery runs through the major design features and includes a number of comparison shots with other Nokia smartphones.
A few weeks ago, David Gilson wrote up his thoughts on the N97 classic. While there was an awful lot to like about it, he found it to be undermined by an unstable OS, due to insufficient RAM & C: drive space. He was also curious to see if the N97 mini was really everything the N97 classic could have been, so he borrowed one and got to grips with it. What follows is a discussion of the differences between these two phones, and how each one lends itself to different usage scenarios. Hopefully this will help the with the venerable question "which should I buy?"
What has had the biggest effect on my smartphone usage? With all the applications out there, be they built in to the firmware, part of the manufacturer's additional software and services, or even the legion of third party apps, which is the one that makes the smartphone my smartphone? The music player. Read on...
At every turn in the mobile world, you see online services being launched, and applications that tie into existing services. Examine the top ten things that a typical iPhone or Android phone owner does and I'd bet that over half (if not 7 or 8) involved Internet access. The number's arguably lower in the Symbian world (more built-in/local functionality), but the trend is clear - software and service designers are assuming that mobile Internet access is a given. But what happens when the (signal) bars run out?
An All About Symbian application, which allows you easy access to the site's latest content, is now available in Nokia's Ovi Store. The application was built using Nokia's new Ovi App Wizard (more on that in a future post) and is based on the RSS content feeds. The content is divided into four channels: All About Symbian News, AAS Insight Podcast, AAS YouTube videos and the most recent AAS tweets. The application is free and is compatible with all of Nokia's Symbian^1 (S60 5th Edition) devices. Read on for further details and screenshots.
This week Nokia announced the launch and beta availability of the Nokia Qt SDK, a single 'easy-to-use' software development kit (SDK) for Symbian and MeeGo application development. The SDK is, effectively, an evolution of the Qt SDK, with specific focus on, and support for, Nokia's mobile devices. It provides a complete tool chain for creating, developing, testing, packaging and deploying Qt applications. The SDK is available for both Windows and Linux (Mac support is being investigated) and can be downloaded from the Forum Nokia website. Read on for more details.
If there's such a thing as a popular whipping bag in the mobile world, the Nokia N97 surely has to be it. The original S60 5th Edition flagship has undergone so many troubles and humiliations in the last 12 months that it should surely be six feet under by now. And yet, despite having ready access to any phone in the world, my main SIM card is currently in... the Nokia N97. Here's why it sucks... and why it still rules. In an understated, misunderstood, jack of all trades way....
Always of interest are the quarterly stats summaries from the market analysts. The first figures are in, with Nokia and Apple making gains at the expense of 'others' in the smartphone world, and with Nokia losing out slightly in the battle for generic 'phones'. More info below.
Never say we don't do some investigative reporting - in all the fuss of the launch of the Nokia N8, I've been sent out to find something exclusive about the latest smartphone from the slightly leaky walls of Espoo. And I think I've hit paydirt. Did you suspect Nokia was holding back on some of the N8's more fantastical features? If so, you're right. Read on for what's really in the N8. Honestly...
As part of our Nokia N8 coverage, we have recorded and published the All About Symbian Insight Podcast (number 116) a few days early. Ewan, Steve and Rafe share their thoughts on the announcement of the first Symbian^3 phone and Nokia's new imaging flagship. Over 45 minutes, we run through the N8's hardware and software and discuss the device's pricing and positioning, how the launch was handled and much more. You can listen to AAS Insight 116 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
This morning's announcement of the Nokia N8 marks, for me, the end point of a five year journey that Nokia has taken us on in the smartphone world. Yes, other manufacturers pop up in this field every now and then, but Nokia's path has been more consistent. Read on for more, including my thoughts on how the N8 finally replaces every previous smartphone camera champion. Xenon flash, stereo audio capture, intelligent digital zoom and more...
Nokia today introduced their first Symbian^3 device, the Nokia N8. It is a web aware, content creation and consumption smartphone flagship in a monoblock touch form factor. It features a 12 megapixel camera with Xenon flash and the ability to record 720p (HD) videos, a 3.5 inch capacitive touchscreen with support for multi-touch gestures, 16 GB of mass memory, microSD card slot, HDMI out, FM transmitter, integrated GPS and comprehensive connectivity options (3G, Bluetooth, microUSB and b/g/n WiFi).
The phone will ship with a full range of Ovi services (Maps, Music, Messaging and Store) and marks the debut of Web TV and Social Networking integration service. With Symbian^3 comes a number of changes both to the platform and the UI. Among the highlights are support for multi-page homescreen, re-written graphics architecture, a renewed music experience with cover flow and easier access to albums, visual task switcher, streamlined menu structure with Direct UI single tap paradigm and performance improvements across a broad range of areas.
The Nokia N8 will be available in Q3 2010 at a cost of €370 before taxes and subsidies.
