Nokia UK has just launched a photo competition for UK residents based around its N8 smartphone, with the theme of 'Life through your Nokia N8' and with the grand prize a 'huge' version of your winning photo on a billboard near your home. Plus - ahem - £1000 to spend, so not too shabby. Details are listed at Nokia UK's Facebook page and photos (as many as you like) can be sent in by email.
I'm with Devin (at The Nokia Guide) all the way when he lists his '13 Reasons Why I Love The N8', giving an overwhelming vote of confidence in the N8's build, specification and functionality, based on his usage of the device over the last few months. Worth a read, even if you're already an N8 fan.
The alternative browser company, Opera, has announced that the Opera Store is now available for users of the various browsers from the Norwegians. Powered by Appia, the store can be found at mobilestore.opera.com and will be on the initial speed dial for new users to Opera. In tandem with the launch, their Publisher Portal is also open for business.
Those interested in buying the Nokia E7, wanting to see more of the device before spending their money, should head over to my blog. Following on from writing part 4 and part 5 of our extensive E7 review, I held an impromptu photo shoot of the E7, along with some other devices. There are twenty seven photos, showing the E7 from all angles. Read on for a preview.
Read on For Four Fabulous Friday links of interest, for perusal over your morning coffee or orange juice. Firstly, over at the somewhat prolific Ovi Daily App blog, you may have noticed a few AAS writers guesting in recent months? It's my turn now with my comprehensive review of Sparkle. You'll recognise it - shooting coloured balls from a cannon - but don't switch off, as it's also one of the best implemented games I've ever played. Yes, EVER.
Well done to James Burland for not only coordinating the rise and rise of the various Nokia Creative photo awards but also arranging prize sponsorship, starting from this month's Nokia N8 Photo Awards, with a new Nokia N8 for a friend and a large framed print of your winning photo, should you be picked out by James. The N8-shot photos submitted are stunning, really, one is shown below - and that one didn't even win.... Why not get involved?
GoodGuide, a company that rates products for their health, environmental and social impacts, has tested 576 world phones and smartphones, with Nokia making all of the top 26 models in the table, including Symbian smartphones like the C6-00, N8, E72 and E5. In case you were wondering, the bottom of the table is largely made up with RIM Blackberrys.
There's an interesting editorial over at The Telegraph, quoted below, in which the author questions, as I have done several times, the prevailing wisdom over whether the current craze for 'apps' (for accessing information and services) is a good thing. The editorial starts and ends in the pub, which is a good start to some decent left-field thinking. Why use 'apps' when we have the Web itself? Surely what we need is a better and more intelligent Web?
Somewhat ironic in the light of Nokia's imminent partnership with Microsoft to produce Windows Phone phones ("joining an ecosystem"), figures have been released showing that Nokia's Ovi Store revenues (much of which was from Symbian-based smartphones) were up 719% year on year and ahead of the Google Android Market. More stats below.
Thanks to Jay for highlighting a video demo of NFC on the C7 over at Mobile World Congress. Every C7 has a NFC chip but there's no software to drive it, at least not yet. What's demoed below is a prototype interface, showing how to find out more about a product that you 'touch' with your C7. Early days, obviously, though with Samsung also really getting into NFC for their 2011 smartphones as well, you have to think that this could be the year NFC emerges into the real world.
Just a heads-up that both my Phones Show video review of the Nokia E7 (also embedded below) and an edition of Phones Show Chat (post-that day) are now live. The former finds the E7 to perhaps be one compromise too many, while the latter sees David Gilson, Tim Salmon, Dan Carter and myself chewing over the Nokia-Microsoft news, plus the usual chit-chat, q&a and so forth. RSS and other links below.
Over on Engadget, Chris Ziegler has grabbed a video Q and A session at Mobile World Congress with Stephen Elop. It’s wide ranging in the ground covered, although given the short time-scale it’s mostly sound-bites and short paragraph style answers. And some questions were outright dodged. Nevertheless, it casts some more sunlight on the decisions of Elop and how the next few months are going to pan out for Symbian, Meego and Nokia.
Noted Nokia blogger, Ricky Cadden, has posted over at Mobile R’n’R with his take on why Nokia made the right decision going with Windows Phone for 2012 and onwards, rather than continuing to push forward with Symbian. Whether you agree with him or not, it’s a good read with reasoned arguments, sticking to the facts without speculating too much. Read on for choice quotes and my own somewhat sceptical commentary....
One of the implications of Friday's announcements was that in Nokia drastically reducing further development of the Symbian OS and ecosystem, the future of Qt, its next-gen development platform, was also put into doubt. After all, it's argued, Windows Phone has its own tool-chain and Qt simply isn't needed. Daniel Kihlberg, one of the top guys at Nokia's Qt division, has responded to the uncertainty with a rallying article, of which some quotes are copied below.
The well known music streaming and recommendation service, Last.fm, has announced that its online radio stations will become a premium only service. This will directly affect users of Mobbler, the only Last.fm client available for Symbian. For some time now, the Last.fm streaming radio stations have been available for free listening, supported by advertisements. Last.fm states on its blog that it has not been practical to support music streaming to emerging mobile markets, based on advertising income. Read on for more.
