DDH has announced that their popular database system HanDBase is now available for UIQ 2 smartphones such as the Sony Ericsson P910i. The full press release is below, let's hope that porting the code over to modern UIQ 3 smartphones is simple and quick!
Nokia’s SNAP system always developers easy access to features that a mobile multiplayer game would need – identify, server, high score tables, and more esoteric functions (think of it as a bit like the Nokia Arena on steroids). To aid this, they’ve announced a two part testing program for ‘mobile connected games;’ a self-testing process coupled with a final external Testing House final certification. SNAP mobile will run on the N-Gage Platform, but also on regular S60 and S40 devices from Nokia, and this is an obvious move to stop poorly implemented games having a negative impression on the new market.
Nokia has issued a press release today revealing some of the first 3rd Party games due on the Next Gen N-Gage gaming platform: Asphalt 3, Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway, Brain Challenge, Midnight Pool and FIFA 2008. Also, publishers Indiagames and THQ Wireless have now officially announced their support for the platform, joining Gameloft, EA and Glu Mobile. Nokia's Gregg Sauter is due to give a speech at the Game Developers Conference later today in San Francisco, where he will presumably give more details on this and other Next Gen gaming matters.
One of the companies that Rafe caught up with at the recent 3GSM was Abaxia - you might not recognise the name, but they play an interesting role in the S60 ecosystem. Users of the Orange Signature devices will be familiar with their work, as they are the company who programmed Orange's alternative Home. That's not all they do though, as Rafe found out in the All About Symbian Podcast #15 .
Y-Browser, possibly the best third party file manager and general utility for S60 3rd Edition smartphones, has been officially updated. Version 0.8 includes an overhauled interface, working ZIP archive support and an extra icon pack, plus the usual mail folder and text/file viewer plug-ins. Free and highly recommended.
Widsets, java-hosted online widgets that bring you news or filtered web lookups, have a steadily growing following. They're also partly funded by Nokia, fully compatible with every Symbian OS smartphone in the last few years and the always excellent E-series blog has just published an eloquent Widsets write-up.
UIQ Technology has released the sixth and last of their official themes for all UIQ 3 smartphones: Amazonia is 'inspired by the mighty Amazon rainforest'. Unfortunately, the link is to a Flash widget, so you'll have to click through to find it, and see the note on the UIQ page about the .utz download.
For anybody still with a S60 2nd Edition smartphone (e.g. Nokia 6630, 6680, N70, N90), note that there's a new beta of FExplorer out. v1.16 (22 Feb 2007), adding better selection of multiple files, a rewritten file editor with copy/paste/select functions and some bug fixes. Note that we're still waiting for a proper public beta for S60 3rd Edition.
Thanks to the E-series blog for pointing out that Nokia has released a free Time Zone Upgrader utility, updating the rules for automatic Daylight Savings Time adjustments in some countries. Especially applicable to those the in the good ol' USA apparently.
One of THE major launches of the last couple of weeks was Smart2go. The best intro to Nokia's mapping and routing software by far is Ed's write up of the free service at E-series.org. In the meantime, I've clocked up 300 miles driving with the premium voice-guided upgrade and will be doing a proper review and TomTom comparison as soon as Smart2go comes out of beta.
