This afternoon, Google has quietly released an updated version of the S60 version of its Google Maps for Mobile application. The new version, 3.2.0, adds a 'Layers' feature which helps organise the information displayed on top of the map (including the existing Latitude, Driving Directions and Traffic functionality). However, Layers also gives access to some entirely new information including Transit Lines (e.g. London Underground), Wikipedia and My Maps (user generated content) overlays. Read on for more details and screenshots.
Google has officially declared its S60 YouTube client compatible with the Nokia 5800, with the release of v2.2.9 (it was 2.2.6) on m.youtube.com (i.e. you no longer have to intercept the one offered to S60 3rd Edition phones and transfer manually - you can just go to Google's mobile site in Web on your 5800). There's also a new 'Flag' (as inappropriate) menu function, but still MIA are login/favourites/commenting - surely a version 3.x version will be needed for these? Curiously, there's no 'official' compatibility yet with the N97. Watch this space.
In All About Symbian Insight 80 (AAS Podcast 142), we discuss Nokia's Q2 results and the announcement of the Nokia Surge. We follow up with news of Symbian's Horizon program, before talking about the latest set of software updates for the N97. Finally we answer some questions from our listeners. You can listen to AAS Insight 80 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
Ho yes. Every news network worth its salt has to have its share of iPhone and S60 widgets. ITN is the latest to join the throng, with its News widget now in the Ovi Store for all S60 3rd Edition and 5th Edition phones. It's free, of course, and has sections for 'Headlines', 'Sport', 'Business' and 'Fun'. Many of the stories have attached ITN videos, which pop up in fairly low res (176 by 144 pixels) 3GP format in RealPlayer. Some screenshots below.
Nokia today announced the Nokia 6760, it is an unbranded, enhanced version of the Nokia Surge that was announced in conjunction with AT&T last week. It is a horizontal slider with QWERTY keyboard and is a mid-tier, consumer-focussed, messaging device. The Nokia 6760 will be available from Q3 2009, at a cost of €200, before taxes and subsidies. Along with the Nokia 5530, it is one of the cheapest S60/Symbian phones released to date.
Over on Ovi Gaming we've reviewed six games that are available in Ovi Store for one euro each: African board game Mancala Touch, Japanese-themed arcade game Go Sushi, turn-based puzzler Octopuzzle Deluxe, computer classic Mine Sweeper Touch, geographical tutor Flags Trivia and foreign vocabulary builder Dictiomania.
Mundu Radio is a multi-platform software application for Internet radio, allowing you to stream hundreds of stations from around the world straight to your handset. Which is something that Nokia Internet Radio application can already do for most devices - does Mundu add enough to this mix to make it worthwhile? Ewan fires it up late at night, under the bed covers, to find out...
A nice bit of detective work by Devin has revealed that Files on Ovi (now just Ovi Files), always the least sexy of the Ovi services, has changed from a commercial into a free service. Possibly driven by poor take up, Nokia has simply made it free for all and is quoted as saying that existing unused subscription periods will be refunded. Interesting. I'd like to see them make pedestrian navigation free for all next in Ovi Maps - now that would put the cat among the (ahem) apples and blackberries...
One of my most essential Web Runtime apps, for S60 5th Edition, is Device Info - mainly for showing free RAM, but it does have plenty of other uses. It has now been updated to v2.0, with extra readouts, including IMEI. Grab it here for the 5800, N97 and Samsung i8910 HD. (via Wampyre)
Just a few quick notes of interest for Nokia N86 owners. Go into 'SW update', in your 'Applications' folder, and you should see an update to Ovi Maps, taking you from v3.0 to v3.1. This represents bug fixes and optimisations. The NokNok guys are also reporting that some N86 product codes are also showing Conversations 9.20, a threaded SMS system that plugs into Contacts, and which was previously only available from Nokia Beta Labs. Nokia also announced today that the N86, its imaging flagship, will shortly go on sale in the US, SIM-free, for $558.
The Symbian Foundation today announced the first details of Symbian Horizon, an application-publishing program, which aims to reduce the barriers developers face when taking their products to market and thus increase the profitability of creating Symbian applications. Symbian Horizon will place applications in a number of partner app stores including Nokia's Ovi Store, Samsung's Application Store and AT&T's MEdia Mall, effectively acting as an application publisher on behalf of developers.
Over on Ovi Gaming we've been reviewing and videoing some freeware touchscreen titles for S60 5th Edition devices: Speedtouch is a minimalist but fun whackamole clone, Bubbles Touch is rather poor (in fact it gets our lowest score ever), and Fridge Magnets Touch turns your phone into a ouija board thanks to its internet connection.
Fans of Spb Software's rather nifty world TV application, SpbTV (AAS shop link, support us by buying this way), should note that it has had a big update. Version 1.1 (download page) for all Symbian/S60 devices adds lower quality streams for anyone on a slow or weak 3G/EDGE connection, adds full support for TV out (making your smartphone into an Internet TV appliance!), plus better startup notifications (percentage reports while index building). Plus a litany of minor fixes and optimisations for a wider range of devices. Recommended.
Nokia have made available a number of new and updated applications for the N97 through the device's 'Software update' application. They include Ovi Maps 3.1, N-Gage 1.3, Nokia Messaging 10.0, Ovi Contacts 1.20, and a small helper application for freeing space on the N97's internal C: drive. Read on for more information and screenshots.
