This may sound like a spoof listing from TV Go Home, but it's absolutely true: Nokia presents a series of short videos aimed at mobile game developers, this week featuring Miikka Skaffari, Head of Developer Product Management. Episode 1 sees host Arnold Faber quizzing Miikka about the N-Gage platform's new development tools, APIs and SDK. In a sauna.
A beta version of Nokia's new e-mail client for S60 devices is now available from Beta Labs, and provides an alternative to the default S60 Messaging application. It will work with most services including Gmail, but it doesn't currently work with Hotmail or corporate mail. There's also a consumer site for this client called Nokia Email. (via Symbian-Guru.com)
The Nokia 5320 XpressMusic has the lowest launch price so far of any S60 device, and is squarely aimed at the mainstream market. It's a music-oriented device, with external playback controls, a dedicated audio chip and a 3.5mm headphone socket. It will also become a slightly gaming-oriented phone later this year, when the N-Gage application becomes available for it. All About Symbian has put it through its paces, and you can find out how it did by reading our review. If you have any questions about the device, post them in the comments thread of this news item and we will try to answer them.
You wait weeks for new N-Gage games and then they all come at once! Nokia's first party game Bounce Boing Voyage, a 3D remake of the classic embedded Bounce games, is now available in the N-Gage application's showroom (if you can't see it select Options and then Update Now). You can watch the rather amusing official trailer by visiting the Bounce Boing Voyage game page on All About N-Gage. UPDATE: All About N-Gage has now published a review of Bounce.
Nokia's arguably missed a trick by not promoting Reset Generation's embedding ability, which lets you put the entire full game (including multiplayer online) on your own blog or site using a tiny bit of HTML code. You can find out how to embed the game by clicking on this item's headline, and if you've already embedded the game you might want to post a link to your site in the comments thread.
The long-awaited online multiplayer puzzle/strategy game Reset Generation is now available from the N-Gage application's showroom (use the "Update Now" option if you can't see it). UPDATE: The PC version has also now launched, you can play it through your browser for free on All About N-Gage (Windows only, but it works with both Firefox and IE). The PC version is identical to the N-Gage version, including online multiplayer.
The single-player demo of Reset Generation (previously only available to Fileplanet subscribers) is now available to everyone, click here to play it through your PC web browser. The full version of the game, which is possibly launching on PC and N-Gage next week, will also include a multiplayer online mode and the ability to embed the game in your own blog or website.
The 5320 XpressMusic has finally gone on sale in Finland, and is the cheapest S60 so far (the SIM-free model is launching for 195 euros plus taxes). All About Symbian has managed to get one of the first retail units, and we've written some first impressions and done some preliminary photos with annotations, which you can see by clicking here. We can answer any questions you have about the phone if you post them in the thread of this news item. The full review is coming soon.
Over on All About N-Gage, we've been taking a look at using games from the new N-Gage platform on television sets through the TV Out feature found on some compatible devices. As well as a video demonstrating the platform in action on a telly, we present an editorial assessing which games work, which don't, and what the future might hold for TV Out on N-Gage.
For those who grew up with 'Series 60' and are now trying to get used to 'S60 3rd Edition', there's a timely article here from Ravindra, pointing out that the old d-pad shortcuts on the 'home'/'standby' screen are still available as an option. I can quite see his point and I'll bet that many people reading this had totally forgotten about this alternative app launcher.
Nokia's N93 seemed to be blazing a trail for a new generation of phones equipped with 3D graphics acceleration, with the N95 and N82 strengthening this assumption. However, this year's flagship device the N96 doesn't have any 3D hardware, so has Nokia changed its mind? In a special editorial, AAS's sister site All About N-Gage takes a look at what Nokia's options are for 3D chips with particular regard to their recently launched N-Gage platform. Will they get together one day, or is this a doomed romance?
Nokia's opened a new site called N-Gage Feedback Forum, which lets you submit ideas and feedback, and vote on other people's submissions too, all in a Digg-style interface. It's hosted by the consumer feedback company UserVoice, and it should be very interesting as long as Nokia does actually respond to the points raised. The top suggestion right now concerns the continuing lack of N93/N73 support...
Lifted from the comments to a previous story, I wanted to highlight an addition to the excellent traintimes.org.uk. When accessed from your phone browser, the site now has the facility to add a UK train journey (via a vCal file, don't worry, it all happens seamlessly) into your phone's Calendar. Very cool, and the site only needs just over 100K of data per lookup, much less than the full Nation Rail equivalent.
If you have an N-Gage-compatible phone (at the moment that means the N81, N81 8GB, N82, N95 or N95 8GB) you may like to take a look at this article over on AAN which details an ultra-simple method for installing the N-Gage application. It works entirely through the phone's browser, and doesn't require a computer at all. We've mentioned this method before in other articles, but it seems a lot of people missed it and Nokia doesn't really publicise it either, so here it is again in greater detail.
It's been a busy week over on All About N-Gage, with videos, polls, sales charts, themes, the big Brothers In Arms review, and other assorted gubbins. For those of you who haven't been following AAN lately, we present a quick round-up.