In the first of our video features from this week's Smartphone Show 2008, I chat in AAS video podcast 31 to Michael Shean from Skyhook and Loughlin Spollen from Tagggit about their Wi-Fi-based location technology and the first S60 native app to use it.
There's an interesting piece today by the people who put together the Java runtime on S60, talking about how they want to streamline Internet connections by Java applets to involve less user prompts[link updated]. The plan is to put the new system in place in new devices and also in new firmwares for existing devices. About time, too, methinks.
Google just improved the way GMail Contacts worked. Previously, trying to sync a S60 phone with this (usually through GooSync) meant having to put up with hundreds of 'fake' contacts (added 'helpfully' by GMail, the people you've replied to more than 5 times), all of which then made it down the (virtual) wire to your phone's Contacts at sync time. Ugh. Well, check GMail Contacts now and you'll see there's a new 'Suggested' list, acting as a manual pre-filter before any of these extra addresses get added to your GMail Contacts. Good system and it should ease the syncing woes of many. Even better, the suggestions are back dated, so previous unwanted additions are 'undone'. Comments welcome!
As reported round the blogs, Nokia Beta Labs has released Map Loader 1.0 for Mac. Previously, loading your S60 phone with Nokia Maps ata required Windows. You can now load up with country maps using an Apple Mac. More info and links below...
The card game DChoc Cafe Solitaire 12 Pack is now available on the N-Gage platform. You can download it by going to the application's showroom section, then selecting "Options" and "Update Now". Alternatively you may want to try out the unofficial games Astraware Solitaire or some of the other card and board games available for N-Gage-compatible devices.
Australian developer DreamSpring have two announcements at today's Symbian Smartphone Show. The popular UIQ application DreamLife - an integrated activity manager providing additional integration between the core PIM databases in one single application – will be available on S60 early in 2009. They are also launching Riyala, a fully integrated suite of PIM services designed to sit alongside DreamLife.
Dashwire, a service which syncs the contents (media, contacts, phone settings) of your phone to the cloud and allows you to view and share the content on the web, will shortly be available for S60 phones. The service, currently available for Windows Mobile, is being demonstrated at the Symbian Smartphone Show and will enter Beta in November. Read on for more.
The cross-platfom application framework, QT, is now available for S60 devices. It's still early days, thus being called a Technology Preview, but anyone with an S60 v3 feature pack 1 device can install the framework – just follow this video after downloading the code. And let us know how you get on with the wealth of Qt powered applications out there already.
Thanks to ares for the heads-up that Opera Software have been busy, releasing its Opera 9.5 web browser for UIQ 3 with widget support today. For technical reasons (lack of RAM?), it's only compatible with the SonyEricsson P1, W960, G700 and G900. Opera has also updated people on progress towards v9.5 for S60 - more on this in the weeks to come.
Dr Jukka recently put 50 S60 WRT widgets on to his site for free download. There's a whole range of mini-puzzles and games that have, for the most part, been ported across from existing, freely available, Javascript versions. There are versions of old favourites, such as Same Game and Tetris, as well some less well known puzzles, such as Cohan Circle.
Sigh. Another month, another needless high profile security scare. The BBC should know better. In this case, they talk to a Mr Coney, who (surprise, surprise) happens to sell security software. He's quoted as saying "One of common types we see now runs amok on the Symbian platform. These viruses work their way through the contact book, sending themselves out to every subscriber who has been called or has called that handset." What a load of rubbish, timed to go live on the eve of the Symbian show, too. Read on.
It's all very well standing there smugly with your new Nokia N or Eseries phone, knowing that it's functionally superior to your friend's Apple iPhone. But when you both turn on your devices, it's the iPhone that people gather round, partly because of the larger screen, but also partly to watch its party tricks. Watching these tricks, you might well ask: 'Why can't my S60 phone do that?' Chances are, it can, with a few software caveats...
An awesome application just got much, much better. Wavelog just hit the big v2.0 (v2.01, in fact). It's a native S60 client for Blogger, Wordpress, Drupal and Joomla, with ancillary support for YouTube and Picasa uploads and insertions. There's more about Wavelog on the Telewaving web site.
S60.com are giving away (look under 'My exclusives') another of their periodic 'exclusive' themes. This time it's the rather dynamic 'Sporty' - one for your collection, at any rate!
Nokia Beta Labs brings us news of an update to Communication Center 2.0, with bug fixes and optimisations in all areas. Good stuff, though my previous comments about a fragmented PC-side software portfolio remain!
