Over on Ovi Gaming we've reviewed five games which all retail on Ovi Store for €3 each: excellent surreal racing game Sheep Mania Barnyard Dash, relationship simulator Date Or Ditch, online Scrabble clone Lexulous (formerly known as Scrabulous), Lancashire's finest in Wallace & Gromit Adventures, and the return of the blue hedgehog in Sonic Unleashed. As usual we've included gameplay videos and screenshots along with brief remarks on all aspects of the games.
This afternoon, Google has quietly released an updated version of the S60 version of its Google Maps for Mobile application. The new version, 3.2.0, adds a 'Layers' feature which helps organise the information displayed on top of the map (including the existing Latitude, Driving Directions and Traffic functionality). However, Layers also gives access to some entirely new information including Transit Lines (e.g. London Underground), Wikipedia and My Maps (user generated content) overlays. Read on for more details and screenshots.
In All About Symbian Insight 80 (AAS Podcast 142), we discuss Nokia's Q2 results and the announcement of the Nokia Surge. We follow up with news of Symbian's Horizon program, before talking about the latest set of software updates for the N97. Finally we answer some questions from our listeners. You can listen to AAS Insight 80 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
Nokia today announced the Nokia 6760, it is an unbranded, enhanced version of the Nokia Surge that was announced in conjunction with AT&T last week. It is a horizontal slider with QWERTY keyboard and is a mid-tier, consumer-focussed, messaging device. The Nokia 6760 will be available from Q3 2009, at a cost of €200, before taxes and subsidies. Along with the Nokia 5530, it is one of the cheapest S60/Symbian phones released to date.
I've mentioned the direct lineage between N95 and N86 8MP before here on All About Symbian, so let's break this down - how far HAS Nokia come in the last two years? And how much of this distance is covered by software updates that can also be applied to the N95? In another of my device head-to-heads, I compare the N95 'classic', as it was at launch in early 2007, with the N86 8MP of mid 2009...
In this major feature, Rafe Blandford compares the relative performance of web browsers on various mobile devices, including the Nokia N95 8GB, Nokia E71, Nokia E75, Nokia N86 8MP, Nokia N97, Nokia 5800, T-Mobile G1, and Apple iPhone 3G. Which mobile device has the fastest browser? The results may surprise you - they did me.
Over on Ovi Gaming we've taken a look at four touchscreen-based budget titles available for €2 each: crazy golf simulator Pirates Cove Mini-Golf, GClue's adaptation of Reversi/Othello, puzzler Electric Beams Touch and reaction timer Speed Tester Touch. There are also gameplay videos and screenshots of all four alongside the reviews.
With announcements from many platforms on new developer studios being commissioned, success stories for independent coders, and huge download numbers being related in the media on what seems a daily basis, where is Nokia? Why is the Ovi Store not getting written about? Because unless the Ovi Story is told, developers are not going to want to take part in a software warehouse that appears to be a ghost town. Read on for my take...
Over on Ovi Gaming we've reviewed six games that are available in Ovi Store for one euro each: African board game Mancala Touch, Japanese-themed arcade game Go Sushi, turn-based puzzler Octopuzzle Deluxe, computer classic Mine Sweeper Touch, geographical tutor Flags Trivia and foreign vocabulary builder Dictiomania.
Over on Ovi Gaming we've recently been doing some reviews and videos of cheap, simple touch-based Ovi Store games for S60 5th Edition devices. Touch Card Match is a colourful version of memory, Spin The Bottle Touch is an underwhelming bottle-spinning simulator, Chessboard Touch lets two people turn a phone into a timed chess board, and Freecell Touch is a no-frills ultracheap version of the classic card game.
As we've already mentioned, All About Symbian recently had to be restored, after being hacked, from an overnight backup. While we lost some forum postings, a regular backup strategy meant that we didn't have to roll back too far to get to a working state. What would happen if something catastrophic befell a Symbian phone rather than a Symbian web site?
Over on Ovi Gaming we've been reviewing and videoing some freeware touchscreen titles for S60 5th Edition devices: Speedtouch is a minimalist but fun whackamole clone, Bubbles Touch is rather poor (in fact it gets our lowest score ever), and Fridge Magnets Touch turns your phone into a ouija board thanks to its internet connection.
Nokia have made available a number of new and updated applications for the N97 through the device's 'Software update' application. They include Ovi Maps 3.1, N-Gage 1.3, Nokia Messaging 10.0, Ovi Contacts 1.20, and a small helper application for freeing space on the N97's internal C: drive. Read on for more information and screenshots.
In All About Symbian Insight 79 (AAS Podcast 141), we share news of Symbian^2's release and the first Symbian package to move from SFL to EPL. Then there's a mention of Nokia Android rumours, leading into a discussion about Maemo positioning and Qt. Finally we talk about a recent post from Robert Scoble. You can listen to AAS Insight 79 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
In their own different ways, the Nokia N86 8MP and the Apple iPhone 3GS represent the pinnacles of their form factor. The one is the classic one-handed 'phone', the other is the classic two-handed 'PDA/tablet. Yes, never mind that over-simplification, in the feature below I look in detail at every aspect of the two devices and try to see where comparisons can be drawn. I'm not looking for an overall winner, but am genuinely interested in the areas in which each device and form factor wins out. [Updated with notes on the N86's 'real' digital zoom and a demo link]
