The Monday evening before the Symbian Show, branded SEE09 this year, traditionally provides fertile ground for mobile related 'fringe' events - and this year is no exception. Fitting around other events, we will be having a small, informal pub get together. So from 5:30pm or so until around 8:00pm we'll (Rafe, Ewan, Steve) be in the Windmill pub, which is just a few minutes away from Oxford Circus. More below, including a map, if you're in London and want to come along!
The BBC has announced that its old RealMedia radio streams, still bookmarked/used by some knowledgable S60 phone owners to listen to the BBC's network of stations, are to be phased out at the end of March 2010, to be replaced by iPlayer/Flash solutions. The decision isn't without controversy, as you'll see from the extensive comments thread - if this affects you then I suggest you get involved.
From the Nokia N900 to the HTC HD2, I'm seeing a groundswell of opinion turning against smaller, slightly simpler smartphones - but I contend that what you're seeing and reading isn't even close to being representative of the mass market and that, as usual (and I know because I'm one of them) the geeks are skewing all the analysis towards faster, bigger, flashier...
Regular viewers of The Phones Show will know that I periodically run down my 'Top 5' phones in the world. Astute viewers will also have spotted that I haven't done one for a while. The problem is, as indicated by the headline above, that I'm having problems recommending a single phone or smartphone, let alone five of them. Things were simpler a year or so ago, I'd simply pick the Nokia N95 (or one of its cousins, the N95 8GB or N82) and that'd be the number 1 spot sorted. The phone world has moved on though, with greater variety, greater complexity and, yes, greater disappointments. Read on... [updated with extra comments]
Just a quick note that programme 6 of my Phones Show Chat audio podcast is now live, in which Tim Salmon (of this parish) and I natter about N97 hardware issues, Ovi Suite problems, how Android is licensed and then I rant about smartphone batteries. If you're interested, here's the RSS feed. And the iTunes one.
If your SIM-free Nokia N97 has been 'stuck' on v11 for ages, try your 'Sw Update' application again today. People are reporting that v12.0.026 is now available as a 700k over-the-air update. And no, we've no idea what took Nokia so long either.... All data should be preserved, but an extra backup can't do any harm, just in case. All you'll have to re-enter are details of your Internet access points and any Bluetooth pairings.
The Ovi Store team have just started to roll out the ability to re-download purchased content. Content is tightly linked to your Ovi account, which means you can re-download content either to the same device it was purchased on, or a different device (e.g. when you upgrade). Previously Ovi Store content could only be downloaded once, on original purchase, to a single device. Currently the re-download functionality is only available for selected content and there are some caveats. Read on in the full story for more details.
Sorry for the urgent 'stop press' item, but I've noticed that my domain manager company has gone out of business and that my old smartphones-show.com domain had lapsed. Can I ask any (lovely, friendly) AAS readers with web page or blog links to 'The Smartphones Show' or 'The Phones Show' to check where any links point to? The best URL to use is simply 3lib.ukonline.co.uk - Many thanks!
Yes, another year has passed and the annual Symbian bash is upon us. But with a slight twist, with the Symbian Foundation now well established and with the whole ecosystem, like much of the rest of the mobile industry, definitely in something of a state of flux. SEE (Symbian Exchange and Exposition) 2009 is free to attend and easy to get to. But what's on offer this year, what should you look out for? Steve Litchfield provides a few pointers...
PC owners might want to check out the latest beta of Ovi Suite 2, now apparently getting closer to final release. This latest beta has better support for photo sync between desktop and phone, plus many other minor fixes. It's a 90MB download from here if you want to keep bang up to date.
Yes, it's quite practical, once you get over the shock of seeing your svelte N97 turned into something rather retro in feel. Here's my review of the 3600... I'll repeat that: 3600mAh Mugen replacement battery (and cover) for the Nokia N97. And hey, you also get to choose between black and white, and you get a stylus thrown in - what more could the N97 owner away from home ever want?
