As part of its promotional activities for the N8, Nokia is releasing a series of overview videos presented by Chris Bennetts, a Senior Product Manager at the company. The second video covers the Photos, Photo Editor and Videos Editor applications as well as USB On-The-Go functionality; rather than just linking to it or embedding it, we've broken this video down in detail to offer you some insight into the N8's photo and video software. Read on for further details.
The good thing about Ovi Maps 3.3 and 3.4 having a server-side-fed homescreen is that Nokia can add extra services and the application already installed on your smartphone will pick up the changes automatically. Such is the case for Expedia, ahotel-booking service: previously, a similar system (fed by HRS) was only available in Ovi Maps in Germany and Finland, but Expedia should now show up for UK and USA customers.
Every store has one, and they want every customer to have one. The loyalty card is one of those inventions where everyone seems to win – the customers get special offers and discounts, while retailers build both brand loyalty and market research on shopping habits. And in the modern world, they’re making the jump from your wallet to your smartphone, as Tesco and Subway join the ranks of virtual loyalty cards. Read on for more.
The Symbian Foundation and search engine Baidu have announced a strategic initiative that will see the two companies establish a joint laboratory to stimulate the development of 'box computing' on mobile devices. 'Box c
omputing' is Baidu's vision of the future of search - one that allows a more direct presentation of what a user has searched for. In related Symbian China news, Monotype Imaging announced it was contributing the MYuppy Chinese font to the Symbian Foundation. Read on for more.
In All About Symbian Insight 121 we share the best of the previous week's news: SEE 2010 dates, Nokia E73 Mode, Nokia Bike Charger and more. The team then briefly discuss the marketing messages around the Nokia N8, before moving on to some commentary on data rates and the data crunch. Finally Rafe reports back on some of the NRC demos he saw as part of Nokia's recent 'Open for Ideas' event. You can listen to AAS Insight 121 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
Some applications do one thing really well. Some apps do lots of things quite nicely. The recently added Dilbert app in the Ovi Store is thankfully the former. This is a wonderful little application – it's not a cheap cash-in (the app is actually free to download and use) and has everything you'd expect from an official application... even if this isn't, it's a worthwhile piece of coding and a good model to use for other online comic strip artists. Read on for screenshots and comments.
Following on from last week's look at the PIM suite on Symbian smartphones and what you can do to suggest changes, Ewan turns to one of his favourite apps... the music player. How would he change this application, in terms of integrating more media sources and online feeds? And, along the same lines, I've exclusive news about an old Symbian OS music favourite that's now branching out to include video. Read on for extracts, links and more...
During a recent visit to Nokia's Espoo (Helsinki) offices, I had the opportunity to look round Nokia's Experience Lounge, which showcases all of Nokia's latest products and services - from Ovi Maps and Nokia Messaging to the latest Nokia handsets. As an additional bonus, tucked away in one corner of the room, is a set of shelves that contain one of almost every Nokia phone model ever produced. So how to share this with loyal readers? Film a walkabout of course!
American pollsters Nielsen have released details on a survey of mobile users and their attitudes to mobile applications. Being a US company, the 4,200 people surveyed provide a good cross section of which genres are popular, and the huge le-up that built in applications receive. Any developer looking for a new project should be taking notes.
David Gilson tackles that age old problem of how to manage web passwords using your desktop and smartphone - and he ends up at a solution that most readers won't even have heard of. It's also a solution that doesn't actually store your passwords anywhere at all, making it device-independent and utterly secure from hacking, in the case of theft or loss.
The Symbian Foundation today announced the Symbian^2 platform is being used in four of the seven Symbian based handsets announced by NTT DoCoMo a few weeks ago. The F-07B (Fujitsu) went on sale on May 21st; it features a dual orientation screen (swivels from portrait to landscape) and a 12 megapixel camera. The SH-07B (Sharp) went on sale a week later; it features a 12 megapixel camera with full HD video recording and is partially waterproof. The F06-B and F-08B will go on sale later in June. These are the first Symbian^2 handsets to ship worldwide.
Here's the latest in my series about taking older, classic (2008 or before) hardware and finding out how far it can be taken to work to best effect in the modern day. You'll have seen the features on the Nokia E61i and E90 - now here's Pimping the Nokia N82 - a quirkily styled candybar that sat at the top of Nokia's hardware tree for ages - and in some ways still does.
In All About Symbian Insight 120 Rafe reports back on the first part of his trip in Finland to find out about Nokia's approach to innovation. Rafe and Steve then discuss the Nokia-Yahoo partnership announced this week, the release of Nokia Messaging for IM for Nokia's S60 5th Edition phones, the game Creebies and an interview with Symbain's Lee Williams that suggested the first Symbian^3 phone will arrive from an Asian manufacturer (rather than Nokia in the form of the N8). You can listen to AAS Insight 120 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
The initial website for this years annual Symbian show recently went live. They reveal that SEE 2010 will take place in Amsterdam at Beurs van Berlage on the 9th and 10th of November. On the site you can find the basic information about the event and register your interest in attending as well as find out more about sponsor and speaker opportunities. SEE 2010 could be the venue for the first substantive look at the new UI of Symbian^4 and will set the scene for the Symbian ecosystem as it moves towards what is likely to be very busy 2011.
