S60 and Vodafone last week announced the release of the first Vodafone specific software package for S60 to all S60 licensees. The customised version includes Vodafone specific applications, services and branding. The first two handsets that will receive this software are the Nokia N95 and the Samsung SGH-i520. S60 and Vodafone first announced their collaboration a year ago at 3GSM in 2006.
Announced over in our forums was that emoze, the popular (for those on flat rate data plans) push email/contacts/calendar system, has just been upgraded to work on S60 3rd Edition devices like the Nokia E61 and N73.
Krisse reviews this top flight S60 game and finds beautifully rendered scenes, great music, a good plot and a unique interface. Will anything spoil the idyll?
Here's your game-for-the-weekend. Ewan has been reviewing Napoleonix for UIQ 3. A souped up, characterised variant on the likes of Chess and Chinese Chess? Maybe, but it looks gorgeous and is surprisingly playable.
Nokia has apologised officially for the three day delay(!) in availablility of its rather splendid Smart2Go software system, citing higher than expected interest requiring adding extra capacity to its servers. Over 30,000 people have downloaded Smart2Go for S60 3rd Edition or WinMob 5.0 in its first two days. Other versions are planned. Full press release below.
With 3GSM now subsiding, there's time to update my huge S60 device comparison table. If you can help fill in the few remaining blanks... There's also a new table of S60 3rd Edition freeware (previously integrated with that for older 'Series 60'). Enjoy.
Probably a touch of formality after completing their accquisition, but Sony Ericsson have confirmed that UIQ is still being licenced to other manufacturers if they so wish. In addition to this they're also inviting other phone vendors to become share holders in UIQ (which is currently 100% owned by Sony Ericsson). An interesting move, but will anyone take them up on it?
Nokia's free Smart2Go maps and routing service for S60 and Windows Mobile smartphones has finally gone live, only 3 days late and it would be churlish to complain too much. There will be a review along fairly shortly, I'd expect, once any of the AAS team get a chance to draw breath...
You may remember a news post a week or so ago about Nokia integrating their 'Search' tool (which accessed online databases like Yahoo) and their 'Search' tool (which lets you search for any text content on your device)? Yes, the names were confusing everyone and they were supposedly combined. Except noone told their web team and it hasn't been available. But it is now. Recommended for all.
The ease of mobile data could be the big talking point from Barcelona, so the announcement of Opera 9 Mobile is very timely. Promising widgets, multiple views of web pages (full screen, smart rendering, or intelligent zoom on a selected area), Java and Ajax support, the Norwegian company will be hoping that their browser is considered by all the major manufacturers. No release date has been given.
If you're heading over to 3GSM, perhaps it's not too late to add Symbian's new free utility AmiGO to your S60 smartphone (a UIQ 3 version is 'coming soon' - let's hope it arrives in the next couple of days!). AmiGO offers a map-based guide to bars, clubs, restaurants, plus handy Spanish phrases in audio format, a friend-finder functionality for other AmiGO users, plus news and a prize draw.
In this special feature Steve looks more closely at specific criticisms of the S60 UI and application set. He argues that some of these are answered in S60 3rd Edition's Feature Packs, some are down to user education, but there is still work to be done
Nokia and T-Mobile have announced that they are working together to help bring T-Mobile's core services to the market on S60 devices and to improve the ability for S60 licensees to create devices for T-Mobile. T-Mobile is the third such operator collaboration for S60 following on from Vodafone and Orange last year.
UIQ technology have announced a new version, 3.1 of their UIQ software platform. The new version adds supports for scalable vector graphics (SVG), improves the softkey configuration options and provides functions that facilitate multi-tasking thereby improving the ability to switch between applications.
Nokia has today announced that they will make their mapping and navigation solution (smart2go) available for free download. Initially available for S60 and Windows Mobile 5 it will later become available for other platforms. It is the same solution that is found in the Nokia N95. Mapping and route planning will be available free, but turn by turn voice navigation will be a premium service. Location is via any Bluetooth GPS. The download will be available from this Saturday.
