On first glance, Handango are everywhere in the software market for Symbian OS smartphones (they even help out with the AAS Store). Ewan managed to catch up with their Vice President of Marketing, Clint Patterson, to find out more about Handango, what they do well, and where they think they could improve. Read the interview...
Not exactly N-Gage news, but a nice little heads up. Sony have announced an online music store for the Playstation Portable to download music direct to the device. Which sounds awfully like thier Sony Connect service, except it will also "offer PSP users free additional game levels and upgrades." Sounds like the PSP Arena is coming. Is this going to be an area where the N-Gage and the PSP will have parity to fight it out? We'll find out in Q3.
While Nokia sit back and enjoy the really weird Snakes Outbreak website, you can download a .sis file for Snakes on N-Gage from this link. Thanks to Matt Croydon for spotting the link.
The Ideaworks3D game for the N-gage previously dubbed "Super Future Racer" has now officially emerged into the light as System Rush (reports GameSpot). Ideaworks3D are best known for their supremely excellent N-gage ports of Colin McRae 2005 and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, with System Rush being their first fully original title. The brilliance of Colin McRae on N-gage bodes well for this bizarre new Wipeout-style racer which involves driving and flying through 3D tracks representing global computer networks.
Well it's the 25th, and the Snakes Outbreak is here... and everyone at All About N-Gage is watching the Snakes site go up and down like a yo-yo. We can't help feel the design of a TV station, and navigating through a Teletext/Ceefax system is a bit too ambitious, but there you go. We'll try to get a direct link to the Snakes download for you as soon as possible. In the meantime, why not refresh your memory about Snakes with our Interview with the Producer. Me, I'm just getting some screenshots to finish the review.
PalmSource has Hot Sync and Palm Desktop. Microsoft has Active Sync and Microsoft Outlook. Symbian has… a reputation for not being reliable with your data when synchronising. Yes, moving data around from your PC to your PDA/Smartphone is one of those areas where Symbian has a major problem. It may be a connected and online device, but does anyone truly trust a Symbian device to sync to his or her PC in the same way that the other major Operating Systems do? Ewan takes a closer look.
With the release of Snakes in only a few days, Nokia are previewing their next title, due out in Q3 2005 (reports IGN). Pit Runner is a cross between Interstate 76 and Carmageddon, with you driving your futuristi car against other opponents in the 3-D Field of Battle. More details when we get them.
But who are they? The stark page on the n-Gage website has only one clue... the URL... http://www.n-gage.com/snakes/. Time to note the 25th January into the Calendar application!
In a rare indication of sales figures, the president of Vir2L Studios (the developers of Elder Scrolls: Shadowkey on the N-Gage) has posted on the official Elder Scrolls message boards that the estimated userbase of the N-Gage is 1.5 million. The post (explaining why Vir2L chose the N-Gage format instead of Symbian) coupled with Nokia's "1 million N-gages" statement last September shows solid albeit unspectacular growth for the format. It also indicates that the QD has sold more units and much more quickly than the original model, which shipped around 500,000 before being discontinued. The QD was a step in the right direction, it seems.
Yesterday's MacWorld Keynote from Steve Jobs (I mean, a 512mb MP3 Player and an ITX Mini Clone... where's the iNewton?) has got me thinking - why do Apple have such presence, even with non-Mac fans? Is this something Symbian are missing out? Read on...
On behalf of the editorial team, Rafe peers into the crystal ball to see what awaits the Symbian world in the next 12 months. "The mists are clearing, I can see..." Read his predictions here.
Just got a new device and looking for some information? Then look no further as Steve Litchfield and Ewan Spence throw a few pointers into the air on where to get things for your shiny smartphone. Find out more About Your New Symbian Phone, be it UIQ, Series 60, or a Communicator.
Mobile Innovation do a lot of behind the scene coding for the Symbian ecosystem. They've started to release some of their tools for developers and Erik Thauvin has taken a long hard look at Codescanner to see how it measures up. Can it really help the Symbian C++ coder?
After two years of marketing hype, Steve Litchfield still finds himself struggling to understand the appeal of push email. Surely the whole concept of email (or indeed mail) is that it's a non-real time medium, to be read at the recipient's convenience? Read on...
