Mobility blogger Russell Beattie often comes up with really insightful articles and this one is a must-read. Coming to the Nokia N95 8GB as someone who's technically literate but not a hardened S60 fanboy, he comes up with some very apposite and constructive criticisms of the modern S60 interface. Plenty there that I'm in total agreement with, too.
You'll have spotted some of Krisse's recent game reviews for AAS - now there are video 'walkthrough' reviews as well, hosted on the NeonCherry site. Here are the links for the video reviews of CrazySoft's The Final Battle, Croker and the freeware classic S-Tris 2.
A group of companies, led by Google, today announced the formation of the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) and the development of Android, a Linux based software platform for mobile devices. Other companies involved include T-Mobile, Qualcomm, HTC, Samsung and Motorola and the first phones based on Android are scheduled to be available in the second half of 2008. Read on for more.
From Jukka Silvennoinen, author of the famous Y-Browser, come two new utilities, both free and both hosted on his MOSH account. There's an N95 'Inclinometer' (no, really, it uses the accelerometer!) and a dedicated AllAboutSymbian RSS-based newsreader, for the real AAS addicts among you(!)
Also part of a whole new Google Mail (on the Web) application, there's a new Google Contacts manager now out. What's now needed, guys, is a SyncML server so that we can sync S60 (and UIQ) smartphone contacts and calendar entries directly to Google's PIM data. At which point, who needs Microsoft Outlook? At all?
Nokia Multimedia Transfer 1.2 Beta for Mac just got Leopard-compatible! It also adds an improved Nokia Device Browser with folder view and the ability to customise the transcoding of files in iTunes and iPhoto transfers.
The Nokia Music Store (UK) is now live at music.nokia.co.uk. The PC site requires Internet Explorer (partly due to the Nokia Music Bar which is used to download tracks) and is open to allcomers. The mobile version (same address) can currently only be accessed on a Nokia N95 8GB or a Nokia N81, using the dedicated on-device client. [Updated] Screenshots showing both the store and buying tracks below the break! See also our earlier story which gives additional background details on the Music Store.
How come these technologies didn't surface nine months ago? First we had that early beta of Rotate Me, with auto sensing of attitude to swivel the N95's screen. And now (from the forum) comes news of an accelerometer project demonstrating the power and response of the N95's sensor with a moving ball example, with even vertical movement sensed and reacted to. Link and notes below.
On Monday Forum Nokia revealed the new look to the the Community parts of its site. The new section brings together the previously disparate discussion forums, blogs and wiki into a single site. There is a 'lobby' page which summarises the latest updates across these sub areas and adds a personal touch with video and podcasts from Forum Nokia staff.
I've been emailed about mScrapbook, a brand new video editing and uploading/sharing solution from Mogic, a company started by one of Quickoffice's architects. Essentially it creates embeddable Flash movies directly on your smartphone. More details below.
