Gizmodo, famously, refused to even review the Nokia N8 because it was so 'irrelevant'. Thankfully, most other sites actually have brains behind them and are prepared to put in a little work. Fellow USA-based, and renowned, tech site AnandTech has put together a wonderfully comprehensive eight-part review of the N8, complete with multiple tables and galleries. And comes out the other end recommending the N8, with the usual caveats about needing the imminent browser (etc) update.
Our very own Rafe Blandford joined Tim Salmon and I (about 25 minutes into the 80 minute show) yesterday to record Phones Show Chat 72, worth a listen if you'd like to hear Rafe talking about not just Symbian, but all platforms and all phone tech. There's plenty of Symbian content in Phones Show 130 too, released this morning - skip over the Dell Streak review and you'll get a peek at my 'gear', plus a short spot about the 'gone but not forgotten' Nokia 7710 - remember that?
Nokia have released a set of fourteen support videos, embedded below, to show users how to get the most out of their Nokia C6-01. Ranging from basic things like how to use the buttons and touchscreen, to more sophisticated topics like planning a road trip and editing photos. This is a great resource for anyone new to Symbian^3. While the video titles are aimed at the C6-01, these instructions apply to any Symbian^3 handset. Click through to view our indexed list of videos. Thanks to Clinton Jeff at ZOMGITSCJ for spotting these.
Nokia's DAB radio headset, for Symbian^3 phones (Nokia N8, C7, C6-01 and E7), is now available in the UK for £45. The headset, which uses Symbian^3's USB OTG technology and therefore plugs into the microUSB/Micro-AB port, allows you to listen to and control, via companion software, DAB radio. The UK is one of the leading DAB markets with more than 250 different stations spread over the country. Sales of DAB radio units now outnumber those of FM radio units, thanks, in part, to government subsidies. Around 25% of radio listening in the UK is via DAB.
The Nokia C5-03, launched back in October 2010, is now available from the Nokia Online Shop, priced at £189 SIM-free. The C5-03 is billed as "a stylish and affordable 3G touch smartphone" and has the usual Ovi Maps/navigation, Nokia Email and comes bundled with a range of extras, including Doodle Jump, Shazam Encore, ESPN and Real Football Mini Edition, so should get new smartphone users off to a good start. More below.
January is traditionally one of the quietest periods of the year for smartphone purchases. However if you are in the market price points have never been lower. For example, the C6-01, the mid tier Symbian^3 handset, can currently be purchased for £210 on PAYG in the UK. Similarly, at the low end of the market, the Nokia 5228 is currently available on PAYG for just £50. This downward pressure on smartphone prices is nothing new.
Having delivered sterling service over Christmas and New Year for my own family, I was interested to see Daniel Wexler's similar account of his holiday adventures with the Nokia N8. As for me, the pre-loaded Ovi Maps Navigation and camera and camcorder were the stars. Embedded below is one of his edited video mashups from the N8's output, see Daniel's blog for more videos and some sample photos. Also below is a typical photo from a sunset walk I did on Christmas day in the UK snow - again, it had to be N8 for me.
Extended Depth of Field (EDoF) cameras, also known as Full Focus, have enabled Nokia to make ever thinner smartphones. Rather than relying on the larger actuating auto-focus lens system to produce a sharp image, EDoF exploits image processing algorithms to create an image that is universally sharp. The trade off here is that capturing fine details (like text) is often not possible, and there is a minimum focal distance of 50cm. Well, Jade Bryan over at SymbianWorld.org has come up with a method to get around this limitation, and like all the best ideas, it is remarkably simple. Read on to find out more.
Sorry, I couldn't resist another link of interest to a couple of stunning Nokia N8 camera projects: in this case PiX, the (South) African Photo Journal documenting in detail how they got on using the N8 to shoot the cover of their publication, replacing a dedicated DSLR. The video report is embedded below, and you can see their cover here on the PiX web site. And LMVisual, which used the N8 exclusively to produce a very professional video showing the art of BMX stunts, also embedded below.
One aspect of the performance of modern devices that is rather taken for granted, especially in the Symbian world, is audio rendering, i.e. how good a music player is each device? Devin, over at the Nokia Guide, has been putting the N8 to the sword here with the aid of his seemingly super-human hearing. Result? The N8 comes through with flying colours. Devin, how about some comparative tests now: don't suppose you can get hold of a few competing phones?
I couldn't resist embedding the interview below for aspiring Nokia N8 film-makers (like me?!), shot by Nokia with the McHenry brothers - the guys who did the short film 'The Commuter', which aired last month, every frame of which was shot on the N8 (though they cheated with the sound, which I'm a little disappointed with!). With some nicely techy tips and questions thrown in, it's worth 17 minutes of your time to sit down and watch.
The shipping date for Nokia's fourth Symbian^3 device, the communicator form-factor Nokia E7-00, has been pushed back by around a month in order to "ensure the best possible user experience". Originally the E7 was expected to ship in the last week of December. Nokia has not specified an exact new shipping date, but it is likely to be in late January or early February.
Marko Ahtisaari, SVP of industrial design at Nokia, was one of the guest speakers at this year's LeWeb Conference. He covered topics from dominant designs of smartphone user interface and collective intelligence with mobile devices. He outlined why he sees that there's plenty of work to be done in the world of mobile user experience, particularly in having mobile devices actually demand less of our attention. In his view, iOS is "beautifully elegant and fantastically constrained", while Symbian and Android actually share the same design pattern but differ greatly in their business models. Read on for a in-depth account of the speech and Q&A session.
The All About Symbian X6 seems to be at the back of the list for getting the firmware upgrades. So now that v30.0.003 has hit our handset it likely means that it is available to everyone else in the world. It’s the first update to jump from the twenties to the thirties, and brings new versions of some applications, as well as general improvements for better stability all round.
After a little nagging from readers, I've done an update to my smartphone-choosing Grid, over on its new home at my own domain at stevelitchfield.com. New on the Symbian front are the N8 and C7, new as competition are the HTC Desire HD, Motorola Defy and Dell Streak. More devices going up over the next few weeks as I get more comments and feedback. Just plug in your own preferences and see what comes out as the suggested best smartphone for you.
