All About Symbian - Editorial News

A letter from the iPhone world

2008-07-08T15:47:13+01:00

Part rant, part apologetic, part FAQ, in this article I reply directly to a long and interesting email fired in by a Mac-owning, iPhone fan at my championing of the Nokia N95 (8GB) in Smartphones Show 62. Not your typical troll, Nikolay makes some good points in his missive but hopefully I make some equally good ones in return!

The Smartphones Show take on the MOTO Z10

2008-07-05T12:04:58+01:00

Smartphones Show 62 is now up, with a hands-on review of the UIQ 3-powered MOTO Z10, plus my Top 5 (Smart)Phones for mid-2008 - a personal choice, with reasons!

Should We Have Fixed Price Mobile Contracts?

2008-07-04T10:43:26+01:00

Ewan's on a train speeding down from bonnie Scotland but he's still found time to set up a Friday rant. Ewan reckons there's a gap in the market for a network operator to set up a 'no surprises' all inclusive 'flat rate for everything' plan. Your comments welcome, this one could run and run.

Nokia's Navteq deal gets go ahead

2008-07-02T23:14:53+01:00

Nokia today announced the European Commission has given unconditional approval for Nokia's planned acquisition of Navteq. Nokia has now received all the necessary regulatory approvals and expects to close the deal in the next 5 days. Nokia is acquiring Navteq for $8.1 billion.

Motorola MOTO Z10 - Form and function get a qualified thumbs up

2008-06-27T17:41:04+01:00

The Motorola MOTO Z10 represents a very different side of UIQ 3 (and Symbian) to the more familiar devices from Sony Ericsson. In his inimitable style, and in part 1 of our full review, Ewan looks at the Z10's form and general design, finding quite a bit to like in the process. Future review parts will cover built-in software, media handling and camera functions.

The Commoditisation of the Smartphone

2008-06-26T17:55:56+01:00

Something we've heard and talked about over and over again recently is that Nokia and others have all recognised that the future belongs to 'services and software' and that the hardware has become 'a commodity'. This is all a bit jargonistic and in this feature Steve explains these phrases in plain english from the point of view of the consumer.

Insight 30 - E71, E66, Z10 and more...

2008-06-25T11:29:45+01:00

As Ewan puts it, it's another madcap show - All About Symbian Insight number 30 right here, in which we talk about Missing Sync for Symbian, the launch of the Nokia E71 and E66, plus first thoughts on the Motorola MOTO Z10. Note that this show was recorded last Thursday and so predates Tuesday's Symbian announcements - we'll bring you audio content to do with this very shortly.

More E71 ruminations - the argument for QVGA and why Nokia got this one dead right

2008-06-23T06:31:45+01:00

With the release of the 2.4"-screened, QVGA E71, some naive bloggers were shouting down Nokia for not putting in a VGA display. Here's why the bloggers got this one wrong - in my humble opinion, of course! Comments welcome. And at what point in the future do you think VGA will become practical and affordable in 'phones'?

Up close and personal with the MOTO Z10

2008-06-20T09:18:31+01:00

Yup, at long last the Motorola Z10 is in the house and here's the first fruits: a hands-on Gallery for this camera/camcorder-focussed UIQ 3 smartphone. I'll be shooting my video review for the Smartphones Show and then this is going to Ewan for an in-depth review: is the Z10 too late to make a splash in the smartphone market? The hardware's certainly of high quality, as you can see in the MOTO Z10 gallery itself.

AAS Insight 29 - Of Apples, Nokias and Cloud Computing

2008-06-18T17:36:55+01:00

Rafe and Ewan are joined this week by Ricky Cadden as they take on the week's news and hot topics (recorded before Monday's announcements, but don't let that put you off) in Insight 29, a.k.a. AAS podcast 80. They cover the 'Evening with S60' in Boston, the LG KT610 clamshell, iGoogle and the new Google Reader for S60, Cloud Computing and Social Services, plus more N-Gage musings. Oh and they covered some new update from an American manufacturer in Cupertino...

There Will Never Be One Phone To Rule Them All

2008-06-17T12:47:47+01:00

Do we need all these different models and form factor variants of smartphones coming out? Ewan thinks so, arguing for variety from a ecological viewpoint. E71 or iPhone? - plenty of room for both in the marketplace, and rightly so, according to Ewan.

Nokia Download! on the web - Why?

2008-06-15T14:02:38+01:00

If you've been watching Nokia Beta Labs, you'll have seen Nokia's attempt to expand Download! into a web shop. All very well and good, but hardly unique and it's ultimately just another place to download commercial demos and a few Nokia utilities from, before side-loading them in from a PC. Why has Nokia bothered, given that they already have a far better distribution system in Download! on each device? Read on for my thoughts...

Should Nokia introduce touchscreen-based N-Gage games?

2008-06-11T18:09:05+01:00

Over on All About N-Gage, we've just published a special in-depth article looking at the pros and cons of touchscreen phone gaming, and we ponder whether Nokia should start making touch-based N-Gage games. Is touchscreen gaming the mainstream future or just a niche market? And does it matter either way?

In depth - Apple iPhone 3G versus Nokia N95 8GB

2008-06-11T13:11:31+01:00

Nine months ago, Steve looked at the then-new Apple iPhone, pitched against the also-new Nokia N95 8GB flagship - with the release of the iPhone 3G, it's high time for a rematch. It's evident that the iPhone 3G has closed the gap and wins in some areas, but there are still holes in its functionality that you could drive a motorhome through, leading to another overall N95 8GB victory.

Insight 28 - news roundup, integration and smartphone stats

2008-06-09T13:06:28+01:00

In AAS Insight #28 Rafe, Ewan and Steve discuss some of the news from the past week including Trolltech, Mail for Exchange 2.5 and the Symbian Smartphone Show before moving on to the general waffle topics: firstly S60's increasing integration with the PC and web, secondly smartphone statistics and definition.