All About Symbian - UIQ News

AAS Insight 93 - SEE 2009, Q3 Canalys, N-Gage

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:13:08 +0100

In All About Symbian Insight 93 (AAS Podcast 157) we discuss the Q3 smartphone figures from Canalys and Rafe explains that Fujitsu and Quic have joined the board of the Symbian Foundation. We move on to a retrospective of SEE 2009 with discussion of the media reaction (which send Rafe into rant mode). We finish with thoughts on N97 PR 2.0 and the closure of N-Gage (sniff). You can listen to AAS Insight 93 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.

Symbian Foundation opensources EKA2 microkernel

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:45:49 +0100

Yesterday the Symbian Foundation announced the release of the EKA2, together with supporting development kit, under the Eclipse Public License (EPL). This marks a major stepping stone is the process to opensource the entire Symbian platform, which the Symbian Foundation is currently undertaking. The microkernel is the heart of the operating system and comprises of a 'robust, fully multi-tasking architecture', which 'manages all system resources and frameworks necessary for the co-existence of the processes and applications that make up the complete system'.

Review: Proporta USB TurboCharger 1200

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 08:17:12 +0100

Another year, another design iteration of Proporta's bestselling mobile charger range. This is 2009 and we now have the USB TurboCharger 1200 and the USB TurboCharger 3400, with the numbers helpfully telling us how many mAh of charge are stored within. I've been reviewing the (physically and electrically) smaller version - is it worth sacrificing charge for size?

How to: Charge your smartphone faster

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 06:22:45 +0100

Solving a charging problem chez Litchfield, I was struck by the realisation that all chargers are not made equal. If this seems obvious to you then feel free to skip this chatty tutorial, but otherwise you might like to read how I sped up the charging time on my Nokia N86 by a factor of almost four simply by using the (ahem) right mains charger. Item of trivia: mains charging of a modern smartphone can be up to twelve times faster than microUSB trickle charging - quite a difference.

Getting Things Done - Mobile Task Manager reviewed

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 08:07:46 +0100

Ewan takes a brief look at Tommi Laukkanen's new, free Mobile Task Manager, a no-frills to-do-list/project manager that still manages to knock spots off the built in S60 function. It's Java-based, but don't let that put you off, this is one lean and efficient concept app - let's hope it continues to evolve.

Long Live UIQ! Swiss Manager Elite UIQ 3 now available

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 04:16:07 +0100

After releasing their first S60 app Speedy Go!, Cellphonesoft hasn't stopped making apps for UIQ 3 - they just announced Swiss Manager Elite, which enhances UIQ 3 even more. Looking at its features (listed below), it's an impressive application. And I can't help wishing for something like it for S60. What say you guys? Swiss Manager Elite for S60 3rd and 5th Edition please...

AAS Podcast 138: Interview with Lee Williams, Symbian Foundation

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:50:00 +0100

In All About Symbian Podcast 138, Rafe talks to Lee Williams, Executive Director of the Symbian Foundation. The interview covers a wide range of topics, including the Symbian Foundation's planned application arena, the universal web runtime, the forthcoming Symbian Exchange and Exposition, Qt and the Symbian Foundation, the challenges of openness and open governance, and more.

Orkut Mobile App Launched by Google

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 07:59:26 +0100

Google's incredibly popular social network, Orkut, is now available through a java based smartphone client, which is optimised for S60 phones. Orkut has a presence with as much, if not more, impact than Facebook or MySpace in both Brazil and India and providing greater access to the network.

Get DreamLife S60 upgrade for free

Thu, 14 May 2009 09:16:07 +0100

DreamSpring, the developer of DreamLife, is running a "Buy One Get Another One Free" promotion to offer users who purchase a copy of DreamLife for UIQ a free upgrade to DreamLife for S60 when it's released. The offer is finishing at the end of May 2009. You can find more details at the official web site.

10 minutes with the Ozone web browser

Mon, 11 May 2009 15:49:23 +0100

Over the weekend the news arrived that a beta of Ozone, a WebKit based web browser, had been released for S60 3rd Edition. Ozone, previously available for UIQ 3, claims better standard compliance and faster performance that the built in S60 browser. In the full news story we take a closer look at some of Ozone's features and include some illustrative screenshots from both S60 3rd Edition and S60 5th Edition.

Ozone web maxes out on standards compliance and speed

Sat, 09 May 2009 10:34:26 +0100

Ozone is now available for S60, at the same beta 0.9 version that appeared for UIQ 3 last year. Ozone is a web browser that "not only delivers advanced features such as client-side database support, application cache, zooming and multiple windows, but also provides the best web-standards compliant experience that's available". The beta download is at www.o3mobi.com. Comments welcome if you've tried Ozone.

More on Symbian release plans - Qt-based Orbit UI supersedes S60 AVKON in Symbian^4

Fri, 01 May 2009 14:32:42 +0100

David Wood, writing on the Symbian Foundation Blog, about reviewing the release plans, has highlighted some details of upcoming Symbian releases. Symbian^2, the equivalent of S60 5th Edition Feature Pack 1, will be functionally complete next week and in devices early next year. Symbian^3, for which the majority of the source code should be available, enhances communication architecture, multimedia and graphics functionality, and should reach devices in the second half of 2010.

Symbian ^4 will see the full integration and optimisation of Qt into the Symbian platform. Further proposals includes the 'Orbit' extension library for Qt (replacing AVKON) and a new 'Direct UI' interaction and navigation logic. Put crudely, this means we will see an evolution of the existing S60/AVKON UI to a new Qt-based 'Orbit' Symbian UI for devices coming out in 2011. Read on for more details.

Art and Confusion

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:00:35 +0100

Every week seems to bring new themes for our smartphones, many of which introduce us to ever wackier and more artistic sets of icons for the applications we're familiar with. In this rantfeature, I argue that there's efficiency and elegance in keeping icons close to the originals, keeping the workload for our poor beleaguered eyes and brain down....

Symbian Foundation: day one and a new logo

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 15:01:29 +0100

Yesterday marked 'day one' of the Symbian Foundation. This announced the commencement of the beta testing of its new web site and that 81 companies have applied for membership (50 of which are first time endorsers). The new logo of the Symbian Foundation was also unveiled: Symbian, in stylised letters, underlain by a yellow heart. Read on for more.

Whatley Wednesday - Should Gravity come down?

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 13:24:10 +0100

In this comment piece, 'Should Gravity come down?', James Whatley shares his thoughts on mobile application prices. Have on-device stores, such as iPhone's App Store and Android's Marketplace, changed consumer's perception of the pricing of mobile applications? What constitutes reasonable value? Read our first Whatley Wednesday, then share your thoughts in the comments thread.