We seem to have missed that the big-selling Nokia N73 ME got a new firmware upgrade a few days ago. The new version is 4.0750.31.2.1 and reportedly makes the device a lot snappier. Hmm... I don't think Demand Paging is implemented here, but comments welcome from N73 owners - anyone care to back up, update via NSU and restore in the interests of experimentation?
Are you sitting comfortably? Steve quite likes the W960. The latest UIQ3 device, Sony Ericsson's second UIQ Walkman phone, with regular keypad, regular styling, flush screen and a practical 128MB of RAM, has made an impression. His thoughts on the W960 from the point of view of a smartphone user are here. I'll be looking at the Walkman components for the audiophiles next week.
There's a fabulously interesting article over at Unwired View, where the author's got hold of the probable tech details of Nokia's multi-touch system, to be seen this year. Even more interestingly, the article goes on to describe a Nokia patent for a touch-less, ultrasonics-based 3D control system. 2008's shaping up to be quite a year!
In All About Symbian Insight # 7 (AAS Podcast #55) Steve, Ewan and Rafe look back at 2007 and pick out their highlights from the year. We cover the Nokia N95, a resurgent UIQ and Nokia's Ovi announcement. In the second half of the podcast we turn our attention to 2008 and make a few predictions.
A US variant of Nokia's flagship Nseries device, the N95 8GB, will shortly be made available. The only change in the specifications from the standard N95 are in the supported the WCDMA frequencies - 850/1900 MHz instead of 2100 MHz. The device will be available from Nokia Flagship Stores and Nseries retailers during the first quarter at an estimated retail price of $749.
Reports are sneaking out of CES (in the USA) that Motorola just officially announced the Z10, their upgrade to the original UIQ 3-powered Z8. The 'banana' form factor is still there, as we reported from the Z10 prototypes at the Smartphone Show, and the Z10 will have the 30fps video capture and video editing suite demo-ed at the show, but there's also a 3.2 megapixel stills camera, which brings the device up to date, if not exactly cutting edge. Photo, specs and links below.
Nokia has released a huge speed-boosting and enhancing firmware update for their N95 8GB flagship. v15.0.015 is pictured below and is available now from Nokia Software Update (depending on your region and operator branding, of course). Updates include Flash Lite 3 video support and the Web Run Time engine (Widgets). More details below [updated].
I have to admit, buying a top smartphone on contract does appeal financially. Thanks to Ewan for pointing out that 3 just added the Nokia N95 8GB to their online shop with no initial bulk outlay, £15 a month 'rental' (i.e. buy it bit by bit) and £15 voice plan. So the same £480 as you'd pay SIM-free up front, but with your calls, Skype, texts for 18 months? Unlimited data (of the browsing kind) is an extra £5 per month and the first 500 customers get a free set of speakers. Seems like a good deal to me. (via Ewan)
Ewan's off round the world quite a bit, as you know. So what better way to keep him in touch with the world back home than a brand new Slingplayer Pro box, streaming his video and TV sources to his N95 wherever he roams? We packed him off to darkest RussiaXXXX err... Paris and Amsterdam in order to put Slingplayer Mobile through its paces and tell us whether it's worth buying .
Having been using the Nokia N95 8GB exclusively for the last month, it's been mostly wonderful but occassionally frustrating. So I can utterly sympathise with Devin as he publishes his 'N95 8GB fix list', with the grindingly slow Gallery load and absence of the video editor ringing true in my ears, and also with Rita's complaints from her exhaustive N95 8GB real world trip test. Firmware is still on the early v11 build, surely it's time for an update, Nokia? I've got NSU on daily refresh...
