What do you get when you decide to shoot a UK music video using only phones? Specifically, Nokia's N95 8GB, N86 and 5800? Well, rubbish, in the case of the third one just mentioned, but the N95 and N86 in the hands of a couple of hundred fans, shooting around the band (Noisettes), should provide something interesting, the full story is told in the brief documentary embedded below. (Even riskier, the video is being edited (all 140 hours of footage) by the fans themselves, online at shotbyfans.com, if you want to take a look there as well.)
Thanks to Norman John for the heads-up on a big v200 firmware update to the Nokia 5730 XpressMusic. v200.12.87 is available both over the air and via NSU for unbranded phones in most parts of the world. As ever, network-branded phones may take a lot longer. Changes from the old v101 firmware include the Next-Gen version of Web and a multitude of performance tweaks.
Nokia Beta Labs has debuted an 'experimental' application, Nokia Diagnostics, aimed at helping S60 5th Edition users diagnose, troubleshoot, and configure their devices "with ease on their own". See below for the launch video and details.
Several improvements have been made to the Ovi Store application for Nokia phones today. The first is that content area pages now include sort tabs for 'Top Free', 'Best Sellers' and 'New' - a new version of the client - v1.5 (611) - is obviously involved, but it should prompt you to download the update. More later when we've all woken up in the UK and tried the new client out!
Now that figures from (almost) all smartphone manufacturers are 'in' for Q4 2009, it's possible to look back over the entire year just finished. Was it an 'annus horribilis' for Nokia and for Symbian? Or was it a case of the market heading for a new equilibrium, in the face of new competition? Using figures collated by TomiAhonen Consulting and Strategy Analytics, I deliver my verdict.
After months of struggling with low RAM (in which CellPhoneSoft came up with RAMblow) on the Nokia N97 and N97 mini, we now have firmware for most N97 product codes that has more free RAM and handles memory much better. Still, the appearance of RAMblow, screenshotted, linked and detailed below, may help anyone trying to clear extra RAM for a big game, for those whom the new firmware has not yet been released and for those with other devices with RAM problems.
ARM has posted a video to their YouTube Channel showing a Nokia N95, coupled with LEGO Mindstorm NXT kit and LEGO Technic pieces, solving a 4x4x4 Rubik's cube. The N95's camera is used to identify the layout of the colour squares and work out the moves necessary to solve the puzzle. The N95 then instructs the LEGO model on the moves to make.
Nokia Beta Labs has debuted a utility for both S60 3rd Edition and 5th Edition phones to enable the editing of words in your phone's predictive text dictionary, a long-awaited function. You are also able to import and export the custom dictionary, meaning you can transfer it from one phone to another. There's a video to explain what's covered and links below.
A hat tip to Andrew Seftel for spotting the Nokia 5230 on Vodafone pay-as-you-go in the UK for £99. This, as far as we know, is the first instance of a non-contract S60 5th Edition smartphone coming in at under £100, a staggering price point. And incredible value given that the 5230 is one of the Ovi Maps Free Navigation handsets. So 3.2" display-equipped touchscreen smartphone and worldwide free navigation all for under a ton, with no contract, no obligations. What do you think?
Just a note that Phones Show 101, out now, has an interesting interview with the CEO of Vlingo, the email/text/search voice recognition system for Symbian, talking about how it works on the likes of the Nokia N97 and the future for voice. There's also my extended take on the hottest new competition for Nokia and Symbian, the Google Nexus One. Can Android 2.1 make up for the hardware shortcomings?
According to Nokia Beta Labs, though curiously not according to my Windows Vista laptop, there's a shiny new beta of Ovi Suite 2.1 available - according to my logs, the change is from v2.1.0.78 to 2.1.0.82. Do bear in mind this is still definitely classed as a beta, so please feedback any problems via the Beta Labs page. There's a changelog below, should you need convincing to update.
More stories of developers and their apps on Symbian’s blog this week as they feature independent developer Dimitry Tarasov. He’s the man behind Blacklist Mobile, Whitelist Mobile and the recently launched Ting! What is life like when you give up your day job to go full time as a mobile developer, what decisions does a one-man (or woman) operation need to consider, and where do the ideas come from?
Just a note that Tim Salmon and I went rather overboard on Symbian-powered phones in the latest Phones Show Chat, no. 23, here. Though in theory cross platform, we found ourselves debating Nokia N97 mini, Samsung i8910 HD, Sony Ericsson Satio and even Nokia N85, in the usual mix of review material, Q&A, tips and rants. If you want to subscribe in Podcasting, here's the feed to add.
Did you see the single numebr tweeted by Symbian yesterday? Prefixed by the tag #symbiancountdown, the number 108 was released to the world. With no explanation. So we've put our thinking caps on, wondering what this Symbian Countdown could be. Is your favourite theory in here?
