After three days of delays (FX: looks meaningfully at YouTube's system manager and the programmers of S60 Podcasting), The Phones Show 86 is now online - and available via RSS from the usual addresses. Subjects covered: News, Qwerty phones, my N86 video zoom demo and my verdict on the Samsung i8910 HD. See here for the video, RSS links and more info.
The Nokia 5800 has just gotten its v30 firmware update (actually v30.0.011). It's currently available Over The Air (*#0000# from the home screen) for some product codes, including my APAC one, as a 4MB download. Perhaps not the 'mega' update that many people had thought was coming, tying in with the upcoming 5530 XpressMusic, this is still a recommended update, bringing bug fixes and performance optimisations.
In which I reprise my 'Gotta have QWERTY' theme and explore the currently available options for anyone wanting Symbian OS and a 'proper' keyboard... I look at Eseries, Nseries and numbered S60 phones - it's safe to say there's no runaway winner either. (Oh yes - and I promise not to mention 'Psion'!)
After months of delay, the 'Ambassador' programme for the Samsung i8910 HD (used to be called the Omnia HD) has kicked off, with the production devices now delivered to contacts across the world. This means that SIM-free, unlocked phones are now in mainstream English reviewer hands for the first time. See below for some first impressions and, most importantly, sample HD video footage from the i8910 HD's camera. [Updated with new video sample, new compatibility notes]
Another year, another design iteration of Proporta's bestselling mobile charger range. This is 2009 and we now have the USB TurboCharger 1200 and the USB TurboCharger 3400, with the numbers helpfully telling us how many mAh of charge are stored within. I've been reviewing the (physically and electrically) smaller version - is it worth sacrificing charge for size?
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...
Solving a charging problem chez Litchfield, I was struck by the realisation that all chargers are not made equal. If this seems obvious to you then feel free to skip this chatty tutorial, but otherwise you might like to read how I sped up the charging time on my Nokia N86 by a factor of almost four simply by using the (ahem) right mains charger. Item of trivia: mains charging of a modern smartphone can be up to twelve times faster than microUSB trickle charging - quite a difference.
Never mind its geek-perceived flaws (e.g. pointed out by me!), I was interested to note that Vodafone just published their current top 10 selling phones (presumably for the month of July) and that the Nokia N97 was at no.1, i.e. it's the best selling phone on Vodafone right now. Snapping at its heels was the Nokia 5800, followed by a herd of feature phones. The Blackberry Storm and an Android phone were at the bottom of its top 10 - the full list is below.
Following on from my camera/camcorder series here on AAS, here's a look at the pros and cons of adding focussing to video capture in Symbian smartphones. What should a manufacturer do? What's the best way forwards? Is continual auto-focus practical yet? Is initial focus necessarily better than a preset focus? The pros and cons may surprise you...
Nokia and AT&T today announced the Nokia Surge, which they're calling a 'socially supercharged smartphone'. It's a Symbian S60 (3.2) phone with a QWERTY keyboard on a horizontal slide with a unique looking design. It features a 2.0 megapixel camera, integrated GPS and includes AT&T's Navigator, Video Share and Mobile Music services. The phone will cost $79.99 ($129.99 before mail in rebate) with a two year contract and will be available in AT&T stores in the next few weeks.
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]
Samsung Italy have released a fairly major (I8910XXIG2) firmware update for the i8910 HD (Omnia HD, as it's branded in Italy). The biggest change is to re-enable AAC (8bit 16KHz. mono) as the audio codec for HD video recording. A video example, taken on the new firmware, is posted below.
A third member of the AAS team has now had a few weeks with the Nokia N97 (we're saving Ewan til last - he'll be reporting back from the Edinburgh Fringe with it in August) and here Tzer2 presents a brief look at what stood out, especially in comparison to the smaller, cheaper sister device, the 5800 XpressMusic, drawing comparisons with the N95 and 6120 from a couple of years ago. Summary: it's only arguably better, has the potential to be much better, but has to be seen as too expensive.
