Shazam, the music identification service, has updated its Symbian client to version 3. The update features a cleaned up user interface. The main screen now only features the large button which triggers audio sampling. The buttons for your previous 'tags' and Shazam music charts have been moved to the top of the screen as tabs, along with a new settings page. The latter gives access to upgrading to the paid version of Shazam, as well as linking to one's Twitter and Facebook accounts. Read on for more details and screenshots.
Nokia Bubbles, the interactive screen saver, has been re-released at Nokia Beta Labs. This should be of interest to anyone who had problems or missed it the first time around. Prior versions of Nokia Bubbles required testers to install a beta version of the Qt libraries. That caused so many problems for testers that Nokia had to issue a .SIS file to downgrade their Qt files. Now however, Nokia Bubbles works with the current Qt libraries and is installed with Nokia Smart Installer, thus avoiding the earlier issues. Read on for more details and screenshots.
In an interview with the Nokia Conversations blog, China Edition, Nokia's CEO, Stephen Elop, said that "software updates to Symbian devices are expected until at least 2016", and that there is " a long history still to be paved for Symbian in the future". While Nokia has previously made it clear that Symbian investment would continue, the 2016 date is a definitive statement and may be further in the future than some have anticipated.
Yesterday Microsoft offered the media a preview of Mango, the next release of the Windows Phone platform. The release will deliver more than 500 new features, with an emphasis on communication, apps and the Internet. Mango will also see wider language support, the addition of 1500 APIs for developers and significant performance improvements. Mango is scheduled to arrive in the autumn and will be the version that Nokia uses on its first Windows Phone devices, scheduled to appear in 2012 in quantity.
Over on the Ovi Daily App Blog Ewan has been reviewing Herocraft's Robo. Robo is an action puzzler that sees you use logic the guide a robot around a landscape of boulders, mirrors and lasers; as Ewan notes this is a variation on the classic Sokobahn game. Robo is available for the N8, C7, C6-01 and E7; it can be downloaded for £1.50 from Ovi Store.
Just as Pixelpipe's FB Browser landed in the Ovi Store, they have also updated their Gmail Apps Browser which we reviewed in March. With this update, we see two major additions to the line up of Google services on offer; Pixelpipe have added both Google Reader and Google Maps. This means that Google fans can now access six ofcloud services in glorious HTML5 (rendered in QtWebKit) via one application. We also see an update to their dual progress and control bar, which now auto-hides when not needed, giving more space over to the Web apps. Read on for screenshots and more details.
Following from ther Gmail Apps Browser, the team at Pixelpipe have released a second Qt WebKit based application. This time, their attention has turned to Facebook. This app provides an app shortcut that launches directly into Facebook, with its touch optimised interface. Read on for more details and screenshots.
You may recall our recent review of CoverUp. This application solved the long standing problem where the Symbian music player would fail to recognise album art. Sebastian Brannstrom (aka @teknolog), has announced version 2.0 of CoverUp. The new version features a simplified user interface, and the option to load custom images files, in addition the standard image search. Click through for screenshots and more.
Users of the social network for professionals, LinkedIn, will be pleased to hear that an official client has now been released for Symbian. It's available at the Ovi Store, free of charge, and is built with Qt. The client provides access to all the core functions of the social network. Users can view status updates from other users, and post their own, with an option to have the update tweeted. Read on for more details and screenshots.
Nimbuzz may not now have any Skype integration, but it's relentless in adding every other IM feature under the sun. Version 3 arrived last November, bringing a truck load of improvements, and we now have v3.01 bringing another "9 awesome reasons" to upgrade, including better call quality, custom wallpapers and an avatar gallery.
Microsoft today announced plans to acquire Skype, the Internet communications company, for US $8.5 billion. The acquisition has been approved by the boards of both companies and, pending regulatory approval, is expected to be completed later this year. The acquisition sets the scene for closer integration between Skype and Microsoft products, including Windows Phone. Given Microsoft and Nokia's recent tie up, it seems likely that future Nokia products may ship with Skype integration out of the box.
Thanks to a promotion currently running in Nokia's Ovi Store a number of high quality ('HD') games are currently available for free in Ovi Store, for Symbian^3 devices (Nokia N8, C7, C6-01 and E7). The games available include Angry Birds Rio, Assassin's Creed, Avatar, Fruit Ninja, Settlers HD, SIM 3 HD, Worms HD and more. The promotion is only running in select European countries including France, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
You may remember, almost three months ago, that I featured news of an innovative URL-to-application wizard: AppMe, claiming to create an installable Symbian application (for use on a homescreen shortcuts bar or simply in the main app menu) from any Internet page. It worked, too, though the wizard itself was desktop browser-based and a little rough around the edges. Well, AppMe is back, it's slicker, it's more rounded, it has its own mini 'app store' and it's now mobile too. More below.
Nokia and Accenture today announced plans for a strategic collaboration, which will see Nokia transfer its Symbian software activities to Accenture. As a result, around 3,000 Nokia employees will transition to Accenture. Accenture will then provide Symbian-related development and support services to Nokia. In the future, Accenture will also provide future smartphone ecosystem services around the Windows Phone platform to Nokia.
Nokia today announced that it plans to cut its workforce by 4,000 employees by the end of 2012, as part of the restructuring resulting from its recent strategy changes. The majority of the cuts will take place in Finland, Denmark and the UK. They are part of the previously announced measures to cut Nokia's operational expenditure by €1 billion. In addition, a further 3,000 employees will move to Accenture as part of the transfer of Nokia's Symbian software activities, which was also announced today.
