Nokia today announced the addition of three new business targeted Series 60 phones to its portfolio. The Nokia E60, E61 and E70, the first of the new Nokia Eseries range. The phones are based on Series 60 3rd edition and Symbian OS v9.1. The Nokia E60 provides a classic design with 3G and WLAN functionality. The E61 is a GSM quad-band, WCDMA2100 (3G), WLAN phone with, a full keyboard on the phone, a 16 million colour screen, and support for all the major corporate email systems. The E70, with two variants one for Europe/Asia (triband GSM with WCDMA) and one for the Americas (GSM50, in place of GSM 900) is an all in one messaging device with when opened up reveal a full messaging keyboard.
Mobile Innovation have announced that their TRY testing tool is now available for Series 60 3rd Edition. TRY allows developers to speed up, automate, and improve the quality of their testing process.
The story of the Smartphone Show is that this year developers and their needs are to the fore. After the announcements of the new multi platform developer tools in the new Nokia Carbide series, and the UIQ Developer program and tools, Symbian have announced a range of their own initiatives. These include free developer certificates, a free Symbian Signed route to market for freeware and opensource, free Symbian Signed testing tools and memebrship of the Eclipsse Foundation.
Nokia today introduced the Carbide.c++ family of development tools. There are three editions: Professional - for device developers and high performance application, Developer - offering a new graphical Rapid Application Development for advanced level application developers, and Express - an entry level tool available for download at no cost based on the Eclipse IDE.
Zi Corporation will be demoing their Qix discovery engine technology at the Smartphone Show and talking about recent research showing Qix has the potential to become a key enabler. Qix is an innovative solution to the problem of increasingly complex click paths as Smartphones add more features and applications. Qix brings up a list of options (Contacts, Programs, Bookmarks and more) after a user starts typing the name or number on the phone keypad allowing for speedy access. Additionally Zi will be providing visitors to their stand (83) with free (usually $19.95 through Handango) copies of their eZiText (Series 60) and eZiText FEP (UIQ) programs.
Quickoffice Inc. today announced a licensing agreement with Nokia which will see Quickoffice (an office suite allowing the editing, viewing and creation of Word, Excel and Powerpoint files) included on the Series 60 platform. This likely means that all future Series 60 phones will come with Quickoffice on board.
Symbian in conjunction with Forum Nokia, Sony Ericsson, and UIQ has announced the Symbian Signed Freeware Route to Market, sponsored and paid for by Symbian and the supporting companies.
Long time tech book publisher O'Reilly moves into the Symbian space with Nokia Smartphone Hacks. Ewan's reviewed the book, and while it's full of useful info, the American focus and inclusion of Series 40 feel a bit strange in a Symbian targeted book.
Crystaix's puzzle game, JewelRumble for Series 60, has had a minor update to version 1.2.1. Internet high score tables and addictive modes of gameplay mean it's worth having a look at this java title.
In a 'belt and braces' move, Nokia has signed a licensing deal with Symantec to preload the latter's anti-virus software onto (unspecified) future smartphones. Read more...
Nokia have launched a photo competition to find the best images taken with a camera phone. They have challenged five international photographers to inspire entrants by showing what can be done with a camera phone. Why not view the Nokia Photo Competition Site and enter your best photos.
Steve plays with the new Nokia Music Pack and then goes straight back to the music solution he's been using for the last year. Read the full review here.
Nokia's PC Suite has been updated to version 6.6.18 (from 6.6.16). New features include PC text messaging for the Nokia 3230, improved Internet connections and better connectivity stability. For those having problems with syncing this is a recommended upgrade.
According to the latest Canalys report EMEA smartphone sales have increased by 170% in the last year and now accounts for 7.5% of all mobiles sales. Series 60 dominates with just under 80% of the market share with Series 80 taking another 13%. UIQ has 4% with Palm, Blackberry and Microsoft taking 5% between them.
F-Secure are reporting, via their weblog, that they have discovered a new Trojan targeting Series 60 phones. The Tojan deletes key system files (which will prevent some phone restarting) and write a random password to the MMC (so you can not access data on the MMC). The Trojan pretends to be a pirated copy application (InstantSIS). As F-Secure state: 'Cardblock.A is not a threat to people who don't use pirate copied software'.
