Today Nokia introduced the Nokia C6, a mid-range touchscreen smartphone, with a slide out QWERTY keyboard and comprehensive social messaging software suite. The C6 runs Symbian^1 (but with pervasive kinetic scrolling and widget homescreen, N97-style) and features a 5 megapixel camera, integrated GPS and comprehensive connectivity options. It ships with a full range of Ovi services, including Ovi Maps (free car and pedestrian navigation), Ovi Store (content downloads), Ovi Music (music store), and Nokia Messaging (email and instant messaging). The Nokia C6 will be available later this quarter at a price of EUR 220 before taxes and subsidies. Read on for more.
In All About Symbian Insight podcast no. 112, Ewan returns with a bang and, together with Steve and Rafe, brings you up to date with developments in the Symbian world. We start with news of the WordPress Symbian client, the beta release of Nokia Bots and the recent upgrades to Nokia's Ovi Store. In the second half of the podcast there are hardware thoughts on the Sony Ericsson Vivaz (Steve) and Nokia 5230 (Ewan). You can listen to AAS Insight 112 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
Some say he can light a fire in the wild just by staring. Some say his favourite food is sprouts. All we know is he's called Ewan Spence. Part 6 of a series of short videos from Ewan is embedded below, along with some of his 'diary' commentary, as part of his gaming and blogging spring trip to San Francisco (GDC) and Austin (SXSW). We set him a series of challenges (also known as a real world test of the Nokia 5230/Nokia Nuron), all delivered by the Stig. In part 6, Ewan answers all the questions that have been either emailed in or left in the comments for previous videos.
Some say he can shout across the Forth Bridge and be heard on the other side. Some say he can't pronounce the word "badminton". All we know is, he's called Ewan Spence. Part 5 of a series of short videos from Ewan is embedded below, along with some of his 'diary' commentary, as part of his gaming and blogging spring trip to San Francisco (GDC) and Austin (SXSW). We set him a series of challenges (also known as a real world test of the Nokia 5230/Nokia Nuron), all delivered by the Stig. In part 5, Ewan accepts a photographic challenge and goes seeking tips from a 'pro'.
The halls of Austin have been cleared of the SXSW Interactive crowd, to be replaced with the bands, managers, promoters and fans of the music conference. And that’s brought a sea change to a certain factor: it’s almost impossible to spot more than a handful of iPhones. From the reaction in the halls, Nokia have a chance to win over America this year.
Navteq, at Mobile World Congress 2010, showed off their new mapping collection system called Navteq True. The system, which is placed on top of a vehicle, combines a LIDAR system, multiple panoramic cameras, and positioning (GPS and IMU) sensors. Navteq is part of Nokia and its digital mapping products underlie numerous location products and services, including Ovi Maps. In this video we get a closer look at the system, see some of the data it collects and find out what implications it has for digital maps.
Our latest MWC video is a tour around the Qt stand, looking at some of the Qt-enabled devices - from phones to printers and appliances. Mobile developers and users have been hearing more and more about Qt in the last 18 months. It is the future application framework for both Symbian and MeeGo (Nokia's two open platforms going forward). However, as this video demonstrates, Qt is already a well established technology and the 'Qt everywhere' slogan has already been realised.
Some say he's secretly part of Finnish Rock band Lordi. Some say he only needs 5 minutes sleep a night. All we know is, he's called Ewan Spence. Part 4 of a series of short videos from Ewan is embedded below, along with some of his 'diary' commentary, as part of his gaming and blogging spring trip to San Francisco (GDC) and Austin (SXSW). Rafe set him a series of challenges (also known as a real world test of the Nokia 5230 / Nokia Nuron). In part 4, Ewan takes on the Stig-delivered challenge of finding a party, having a drink and messing around with FourSquare.... [Hmm... sounds like a 'jolly' to me.... Ed]
As part of the activities at its MIX10 conference Microsoft has announced that the Beta of Silverlight for Symbian is now available. Microsoft describes Silverlight as 'a cross-browser, cross-platform implementation of the .NET Framework for building media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web on desktop computers'. The current Beta lets you run Silverlight applications and content in the standard Symbian^1 (S60 5th Edition) web browser.
On the road on his USA gaming and new media trip, Ewan's been power-trialling a couple of accessories. The word 'power' is important here because that's what the Proporta USB TurboCharger 3400 and Powertraveller powermonkey-eXplorer provide - stored power for your smartphone and other electronics. Here are Ewan's on-the-road experiences with the two gadgets.
Some say his beard is made of stainless steel. Some say he relaxes by hanging upside down from the light fittings. All we know is, he's called Ewan Spence. Part 3 of a series of short videos from Ewan is embedded below, along with some of his 'diary' commentary, as part of his gaming and blogging spring trip to San Francisco (GDC) and Austin (SXSW). Rafe set him a series of challenges (also known as a real world test of the Nokia 5230 / Nokia Nuron). In part 3, Ewan goes shopping, mapping and walking.
Our latest MWC video features a walkabout with Lee Williams, Executive Director of the Symbian Foundation, in Hall 1 of exhibition area. The video summarises some of the key messages of the Symbian Foundation from the event. There's discussion of the buzz around Symbian at MWC, the formal launch of Symbian^3, the Open Screen Project (which the Symbian Foundation had just joined), the importance and strengths of Qt to Symbian developers going forward, the Sony Ericsson Vivaz and the bright future for Symbian.
Nokia is currently transforming itself from a hardware company to a hardware+services (solutions) company. At MWC 2010, we spoke to Tero Ojanperä, EVP of Services, in order to get an insight into current progress. Over a wide-ranging interview we cover a number of topics around Nokia's service strategy including how Ovi fits into Nokia's software platform strategy, the thought processes that led to free navigation, the importance of services compared to phone hardware, getting content onto the Ovi Store, the importance of partners and much more.
Some say he plays tiddlywinks with 50p pieces. Some say he plays electric guitar secretly at 5am each morning. All we know is, he's called Ewan Spence. Part 2 of a series of short videos from Ewan is embedded below, along with some of his 'diary' commentary, as part of his gaming and blogging spring trip to San Francisco (GDC) and Austin (SXSW). Rafe set him a series of challenges (also known as a real world test of the Nokia 5230 / Nokia Nuron).
