If, like me, you'd like to see the Symbian freeware scene grow and grow, why not take a look at this appeal over on the Symbian Foundation blog? Craig is trying to amass votes so that the idea of a freeware test system can get progressed within the organisation - take a look and add your tuppence worth if you agree that it's a good idea!
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. In which case it would be helpful if, sometimes, Tomi Ahonen actually did a few diagrams, to keep general article length down(!) His latest missive, "Repeat After Me: The Rival to the Blackberry is NOT the iPhone" is still well worth a read though, aimed at putting some much needed perspective into the tech world's obsession over each month's rather misleading Admob phone-browser-ad stats.
Opera have published their monthly look at the mobile web, which even though it has a focus on the Norwegian browser company, is a nice snapshot of growth, both their own and that of the mobile web. From their 50.5 million users, the top countries for Opera Mini, their java based browser, were Russia, Indonesia, India and China.
Nokia Beta Labs today released Nokia Bots, a collection of 'mini-utilities' which monitor how you use your phone and try to improve your user experience either by making suggestions or automatically changing configurations. Or as Nokia puts it 'add-ons that make daily routines easier by learning from your behavior'. Nokia Bots, which runs as a homescreen widget, is available for the Nokia N97 and N97 mini from Beta Labs. Read on for further information and screenshots.
The Phones Show 106 just went live, now with an audio-only version (by popular demand), featuring 'Optimising the Nokia N97', plus a User Story with a very happy Nokia E55 user. There's also my review of the HTC Legend. And don't forget Phones Show Chat each week, the audio podcast where Tim Salmon and I chat about smartphones around a pint cup of coffee...
AdMob, a mobile advertising provider, has released its latest set of statistics, based on ad requests to its advertising network. It shows increasing demand for advertising from mobile websites and applications and notes an increase in the proportion of ad requests coming from smartphones. AdMob's numbers need to be understood in the proper context, but they do underline the increasing importance of advertising as a monetisation model for mobile content
T-Mobile UK are having a one day sale on their range of PAYG (Pre-Pay) mobile phones. As a result, the Nokia 5230 is available for £79.99. As part of the package you'll also get an 8GB microSD card and six months of Internet access. The 5230 is also one of Nokia's Ovi Maps free navigation phones, so you'll also be getting worldwide free sat-nav too. We think this represents fantastic value for money for those looking for a low cost smartphone or for a backup phone. But you've only got til midnight. More analysis below.
Simon Wardly, Software Services Manager for Canonical, is a strong advocate of distributed computing – the mythical cloud that exists in the modern web world – and he’s spent some time on his personal blog to go into some depth about the current “state of the cloud.” While not directly relevant to Symbian it makes for great background reading over your mid-morning coffee.
You can rely on Tomi Ahonen to tell it like it is - in this case musing on the appalling economics in the iPhone app world (there's a summary quote below), talking about the sheer numbers mean that even if you do a great app and are moderately lucky then you'll still lose your shirt. Comments welcome as to how much of this applies in the world of Symbian - Ovi Store, Play Now, etc. - I've a feeling there's a common argument that could be aimed at Symbian app development. Of course, the solution is a) to be insanely good and b) reviewed/feature here on All About Symbian...
OK, so Steve has a new favourite theme - and it seems that PiZero is experimenting with new ways of distributing his excellent themes: Earth is a new addition to the Nokia Ovi Store and appears for S60 5th Edition (touch) phones only. It's artistic and yet lightweight, with default icons to save RAM. Worth a look - there's a graphical preview below.
Thanks to Norman John for spotting online that at least one of the existing holes in the functionality of the Sony Ericsson Satio and Vivaz has now been plugged, semi-officially. 'Equaliser' is now a free download in the PlayNow store and is a tiny 17kb standalone utility whose music chip presets are honoured by the main Media/Music player. Hopefully this will become more integrated in future firmwares?
eBooks have been a part of the Psion/Nokia/Symbian scene, on and off, for 15 years now. Admittedly, it's more 'off' than 'on' at the moment, but that's absolutely no reason for you not to take a hot drink and 30 minutes to read Michael Mace's epic feature on 'The Future of Publishing: Why eBooks Failed'. He looks at the topic from every angle and in terrific depth. What I'd now like to see is for a commercial eBook platform really take off on Symbian: suggestions for current contenders welcome if you agree?
Much as All About Symbian doesn't encourage the hacking of Symbian smartphones, we do feel that the Samsung i8910 HD is a special case - a super-high-spec smartphone that has been somewhat under-curated by the manufacturer. And the device has attracted those who want to mod, not for installation of illegal software, but for genuine improvement of the device. Which is why I'm happy to link to the industrious Andy, aka 'HyperX', who has been beavering away to produce firmware HX-V3-16, details and link below.
Nokia have opened a crowd sourcing initiative, "Design by Community", to find out what form customers would like future Nokia phones to take. Each week, members of the public can vote on different aspects of mobile phone design. See below for all the details and links.
Always good to read of older (but classic) devices still being put through their paces. Diogo Neves has penned a lovely 8 point comparison between his trusty Nokia N95 8GB and his newer N97 mini and N900, looking at different functionality in daily life. It's fair to say that the older device is outgunned overall, but the margin is surprisingly small, bearing up my own opinion for years that the N95 8GB was the most powerful phone in the world.
