[sarcasm alert] I had to chuckle when I saw this blog post on one of my favourite sites about a third party extension to Android, enabling - shock, horror, amazement - folders, to organise one's applications. Maybe the developers are copying Apple, who famously added folders for applications earlier this year in their fourth iteration of the iPhone OS? That must be it. They couldn't possibly be copying what Nokia and Symbian has had since (ahem) 2002, eight years ago, could they? See below for the appropriate Android 'Folder Organizer' screenshots...
Nokia’s Beta Labs have updated their “bots” to be compatible with the full range of Symbian^3 devices, alongside some bug fixes and changes to the existing version for the N97, N97 mini and C6-00. The Bots, which are widgets that sit on your homescreen, will firstly record your behaviour, and then present options which should be suitable for you at that moment in time – the Contacts bot will now show you your four most used contacts, not just on overall usage, but on how often you contact people from a certain location.
Tomi Ahonen has been an industry commentator on the smartphone for a long time (and we’ve linked to a fair number of his pieces) but his recent article about "Some Symbian Sanity" (and a fair bit about MeeGo) is not only a long and in-depth look at Nokia’s strategy, but goes over many reasons why Nokia are far from out of the smartphone game.
File this clearly under 'link of interest', as it's an article about iPhone software and patents, but this piece on Patently Apple looks at recent patents taken out for software solutions to fix common camera phone quality issues, including blurry shots, vignetting and over-exposure. It's particularly interesting for me, as you might imagine, especially in light of looking at a number of Nokia camera phones which simply have superior cameras in the first place - maybe the ideal solution is a combination of hardware and software? Some more comments from me below.
Anyone who pays attention to technology knows that the E-book world finally started to take off with the release of Amazon's Kindle reader and book store. Since then, not only have competing readers and marketplaces launched, but so have mobile applications for the Kindle platform. Android and iPhone users have long enjoyed being able to synchronise their book collection with their mobile phones. So far though, Symbian has been left out of the party, despite being the largest smartphone platform on Earth. Read on to find out how to help change this.
You may remember that we publicised the 'emergency' three finger super-hard reset key sequence for the Nokia N8 a while back? This is obviously not really meant for general users, at least not in the N8's case, since some of the underlying Qt enablers are thereafter missing from the device and functionality like the Ovi Store is also rendered inoperable. Hopefully, most of you will never need this emergency sequence in the first place (*#7370# should be enough should the worst ever happen), but if you do find yourself utterly stuck then note 'Leo the Lion's mini-tutorial on how to add the right Qt enablers back in.
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.
Nokia Diagnostics is a little suite of on-device tests to help exercise core functionality of your Symbian smartphone and report back. It's a nice idea, driven by Nokia Beta Labs, and has had a big update (to v1.74) today, but only for S60 5th Edition phones (e.g. N97, 5800) - it seems that the S60 3rd Edition version is no longer to be updated. And Symbian^3 phones are also out of luck - so far - a version is promised for these 'soon'.
Recently added to the Ovi Store is a client for TheTrainLine.com - and I was going to review it but Jay Montano has beaten me to it, with a complete walkthrough. Highlights include a built-in portrait QWERTY keyboard, the re-use of saved pages and data, the speed and the full feature set. The application takes you right through to purchasing tickets and is free to download. A couple of screens and links below.
Orange Wednesdays is the first of a series of 'Signature Applications' produced by Orange UK, using Qt to build for Nokia devices, and there's a fascinating interview with Mark Sage and Rafel Uddin of Orange Labs UK, talking about the app's development, about the use of Qt, the differences Symbian^3 brings to the table and the way private APIs are being replaced by the use of official, public Qt APIs.
You may remember that Opera Software recently ported their acclaimed proxy-based web browser to (native) Symbian? Beta 1 of Opera Mini 5.1 was great apart from some weirdness when it came to incorporating text input from the phone's own text input system (e.g. virtual keyboard). Now we have Beta 2, with this fixed and doubtless a multitude of other minor bugs quoshed.
There's a new beta of Ovi Maps 3.6 out over at Nokia Beta Labs, including 'map loading' of areas direct to your phone's mass memory or memory card (over Wi-fi). There are also some interface tweaks, listed below, including more Symbian^3-like long-tap functionality and popup tips and hints for new users.
Nokia is running a competition to promote its new C7 and C6-01 handsets. (See our in-progress C7 review here and here). The object of the competition is to win as many votes as possible via the "Nokia C7 social challenge" Facebook application, by giving a special hyperlink. The five most popular contestants will not only win a C7 for themselves and twenty of their friends, but Nokia says it will throw them a big party as well! To enter, head over to Nokia's Facebook page and click on the "C7 Contest" tab. Read on for comment and the promotional video.
Those folks at GSM Arena have obviously had too much time on their hands as they've put together all the latest smartphones from the main manufacturers and have tackled another subject close to my heart: screen visibility and contrast in all light conditions. Representing the Symbian world in the round-up are the Nokia C6-01 and N8 and, it's fair to say, both acquit themselves pretty well, with CBD and anti-reflective AMOLED screens respectively.
