Today the Nokia Music Store became available in Spain. Nokia is keen to highlight the inclusion of local content in the Music Store. This is especially important in Spain where local music represents 70% of sales (according to Nokia). The Nokia Music Store now has a catalogue of more than 4 million songs; music can be purchased and downloaded either on the PC or mobile device.
In the fourth part of my Camera Nitty Gritty series, I examine how much (if any) difference a branded lens makes to the camera in a phone. With example photos from the Nokia N93, E90, N82 and N95, and from the Samsung G810 and i8510 and HTC Touch Pro, I try to demonstrate the variations in photo quality for a given megapixel count. What other factors play a part here and is it worth making branded optics a 'must have' item on your phone shopping list?
Ewan's title, by the way(!), with a musical slant as usual... He's back from a blogging conference in Las Vegas and musing on all the different ways to get information up onto your blog(s) from a smartphone. Some useful generic pointers in here, whether you want to blog text, images, video or audio.
A new type of SIM for a new type of roaming? Sounds like a job for Ewan. So we packed him off to Las Vegas on AAS expenses someone else's tab to try the MaxRoam SIM out for real. Seems like it could make significant savings for anyone travelling regularly.
In the third part of my Camera 'Nitty Gritty' series, I look at the so-called Megapixel Myth. Are more 'mp' necessarily better in a camera phone? What other factors are involved and what's the base specification that I'd recommend? I illustrate my points with test photos from 2, 3, 5 and 8 megapixel S60-powered phones.
In an appropriately 'over the air' day (ref the HTC G1 announcement), Tzer2 looks closely at how divorced S60 is from a desktop computer. In other words, do you need to be tied to a PC or Mac at all these days? The answer is largely 'No'. Tzer2's article will make you think and challenge the way you've viewed Symbian OS and S60 phones up until now.
Nokia will be holding an Evening with S60 in London the night before the Symbian Smartphone Show. It is a chance to see the newest S60 devices, get one-one-one demos and meet other S60 enthusiasts. The event will be held at Nokia's Flagship Store in Regent Street on October 20th between 7:30 and 10:00 pm. You need to register here if you want to attend the event.
Admittedly the question is up there with 'Why does the beach get wet when the tide comes in?', but Tzer2 asks the question "Why do so many gadget fans buy devices on their launch day?", producing an easy to read essay on the cult of the early adopter. And argues, in the process, that their zeal (and expenditure) is good for all of us in the long run...
You may have gathered, over the years, that Ewan's a bit of a Mobipocket Reader fan. Personally, I sit there fuming wondering why the developers still haven't got round to programming a 'Find' function, but that's another rant for another day. Anyway, Ewan's penned a useful beginner's guide on how to make your own ebooks, for reading on the move and for saving huge amounts of excess book-weight when travelling.
Maemo, the Linux-based software platform which runs on Nokia's touchscreen-based internet tablets, has had its latest version unveiled under the brand "Maemo 5", which introduces built-in compatibility with mobile phone networks including HSPA (i.e. HSDPA and HSUPA). There's apparently no telephone voice support (yet), though there is VOIP, and it should be interesting to see how upcoming Maemo 5 devices compare to the upcoming S60 touchscreen devices. Will they be totally different products aimed at totally different markets, or will there be potentially damaging overlap? If there is significant overlap, will Nokia really want to keep two parallel product lines going?
In the second part of my 'Camera Nitty Gritty' series, I look at the relative advantages and disadvantages of the different flash technologies used in phone cameras: Xenon, LED and dual LED. With examples, I demonstrate the increased illumination from LED to Xenon and also show the differences in the speed of capture.
After my recent look at using S60 with Apple Mac computers (see 'Features|How to'), Tzer2 now starts a new series of articles looking at using S60 with Linux-based computers. First off is a how-to guide on connecting the Linux-based EEE PC to the internet using an S60 phone as a modem.
In All About Symbian Insight #39 (AAS Podcast #92) Rafe, Steve and Ewan cover Nokia Open Lab 08 in the first half of the podcast; Rafe introduces some of the key themes and ideas that were discussed. In the second half of the insight we discuss the live streaming of video from a mobile phone.
Google Maps for S60 (and also the UIQ and Java versions) just got more accurate, with news that Google has significantly improved its cell tower location algorithms for its 'My location' feature ("far more accurate") to take into account tower coverage areas - hmmm... I'd assumed that these were already taken into account.... No matter, Google Maps is free, as always, at m.google.com, and this will help anyone without a GPS in their phone or in areas of poor sky visibility. (via Google Mobile)
Pre-order information on Expansys suggests that Nokia's Comes with Music handsets may have a premium of around £70-£85. Comes with Music gives you unlimited music downloads for a year (and the right to keep that music at the end of the year). However it is must be noted that these prices should be considered speculative and subject to change. Read on for more details.
