Did you know that Nokia has a free recycling scheme for all their hardware? Here's the UK page, but there's probably one for each country. Never mind travelling to a Nokia Care Point either, you just pop the hardware in a jiffy bag and send it to the free address. This was spotted by the Nokia Conversations team, talking about the similar USA page. Of course, there's always eBay - whereby the kit will actually get used again and you make a few dollars... but for the rest, there's now Freepost!
GooSync's beta test for full Contacts sync through to Google Contacts just went live. It's a closed beta, so please don't email me for extra links or privileges. Below, I've tried to illustrate how it all works and some of the implications of syncing with the big G. The beta test, if the Tasks beta was anything to go by, should last a month or so.
The See Into S60 blog at S60.com is currently running a competition which asks you to 'Show your S60 smarts' by recording a video of your favourite application of favourite S60 tip. There are already some great videos showcasing S60 applications and S60 tips; you can view all the entries on the YouTube website. Read on for more.
Fun in the world of Linux Mobile OS today as Google's Android sees too potential partners, Verizon and Firefox makers Mozilla, put their weight behind the LiMo Foundation (reports BetaNews). Having hardware, software and suppliers working on your ecosystem is key to any mobile endeavour, and it is perhaps one of the quiet strengths of Symbian that so many companies are involved in Symbian OS, and all publicly pulling in the same direction.
As Denis Norden might say, file this one under "Useful things we hadn't noticed until now", and apologies to those who had already seen this: the Ovi Share service has a support forum including Troubleshooting, Mobile, Developer and Feedback sections, which replaces the old Twango boards. As long as you've already logged into Ovi Share using your usual username, an identical forum username will be created automatically when you first visit. If you need to get there within Ovi Share, there's a teeny-tiny "Forums" link at the bottom of the screen.
Nokia Music PC Client is now available in early beta form from the Nokia Beta Labs website. The application is designed to help you manage your music collection on your PC and then transfer it your mobile device. The software has been designed with mobile users in mind and includes the ability to directly rip a CD to a mobile device, to easily sideload music from a PC and to use bi-directional playlists and music sync.
Ben Smith at SMSTextNews continues his long-term look at the Ovi components, and now turns his attention to the Nokia Music Store. His overall grade of a ‘C-‘ reflects his view that the service is “good enough as a default” but he wonders what positive impact the ‘Comes with Music’ package will have in the future.
Opera has formally updated Opera Mini, the proxy-based web browser, to version 4.1. With a speed increase compared to v4.0, and the addition of URL completion and the saving of web pages, the little browser that lets the server at the end of the connection do all the heavy lifting continues to improve in leaps and bounds. While the built in browsers on S60 handsets have significantly improved over the years, Opera Mini, while targetted at lower-powered phones, still packs a feature set that makes it a contender.
Sometimes... just sometimes... Krisse gets to play with review hardware too. In this case there's a review, complete with video, of the Nokia N81 8GB over on Krisse's personal blog, Nokia Duck. It's fair to say that the verdict is mixed and that the price was felt to be far too high, for the spec involved. The duck? Apparently it says 'Quack'. So as expected there, then...
Yesterday at Where 2.0, Nokia announced Maps on Ovi, a Web component designed to to complement Nokia Maps 2.0. As part of the Ovi brand, Maps on Ovi will allow users to plan their trips on their desktop and then synchronize (automatically or manually) it with their smartphones. Conversely, if you're already out on the road, you can record routes and points of interest on your handset and then upload them to the Ovi service when you return home to share with family and friends. More details and a screenshot below. Comments welcome!
Nokia's Ovi Share just acquired geotagging! From now on, any new images that are uploaded will get their EXIF data checked for location information. As you can see if you read below the break, this means that images can be automatically addressed and mapped. This brings Ovi Share into the same ballgame as Flickr and Picasa Web. Comments welcome on what's needed next in Ovi Share.
Mobile Social networks are not a big hit, according to new Nielsen Resarch (writes MoCoNews). With only 1.7% of UK mobile users using a social network specifically designed for mobile users. While users are moving to social networks via their handsets, the big winners in the connecting people stakes are, not surprisingly, the behemoths that exist on the desktop.Facebook's mobile site m.facebook.com accounts for over half a million hits and 9% of all UK mobile web users.
Ricky Cadden, over on Mobile Burn, takes a long hard look at the Sony Ericsson W960 Walkman phone, and finds a mixed bag, from a bright screen to a cheap stylus, a poor camera interface and of course a long look at music playback functionality, which gets a strong thumbs up albeit with a wish for a built in 3.5mm headphone socket and the ability to playback by genre. Ultimately the W960 comes up short in Cadden's estimation with a poor user interface, slow USB transfer and clunky camera to blame.
Yeah, yeah, more hands-on with prototypes by other sites - you can tell we're a tinsy bit jealous - but then on the other hand devices like the N96 don't seem anywhere near finished yet and we'd rather wait for the real thing. Still, the N78 seems fairly complete, according to this latest hands on by PhoneReport, which provides lots of photos and makes a few new observations. (via Symbian World)
