All About Symbian - Links of Interest News

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!

Having trouble controlling Pro Series Golf? Here are a couple of tutorials...

2008-07-05T05:26:10+01:00

If you've purchased the rather good Pro Series Golf, you may feel a bit confused by the controls as they're not really explained within the game itself. The method for choosing a club for example is far from obvious. However, help is at hand from two sources: the game's producer has posted a general how-to on the official PSG forum, and N-Gage Arena member ShadowSpawn has done a more extensive illustrated tutorial concentrating on swings and putts. Fore!

Live videocasting explained in detail

2008-07-03T10:24:19+01:00

If you've been left a bit bemused by geeks twittering on (literally) about live videocasting with Qik and the specifics of getting an audience, then take 10 minutes to watch Steve Garfield explaining it all very well on the DV show, using a Nokia N95 (of course) as his live video tool of choice.

Beta Labs - help shape future of Drive in Nokia Maps

2008-07-03T09:53:24+01:00

The Nokia Maps team is conducting research on the Drive car navigation feature within Nokia Maps 2.0. They are looking for London, Berlin and Madrid based users (both novice and expert) to take part in their research. This is an opportunity to help shape the car navigation functionality in the next version of Nokia Maps. More details are available on the Beta Labs blog.

From the Beta Labs blog:

Over the next few weeks Nokia Maps team will conduct a piece of research for the Drive car navigation feature within Nokia Maps 2.0. We’re looking for a range of users, from novice to experienced, who are based in London, Berlin or Madrid and have been using Drive within Maps 2.0 actively. Hands-on experience with other car navigation products is a big plus too.

If you are using the Drive feature actively, and are based in London, Berlin or Madrid, and happen to have some free time in your city during weeks commencing with July 21st and July 28th, this is an opportunity for you to influence the development of the car navigation feature for the next software release.

Nokia carries out a lot of user research when preparing or road mapping its product, but it is good to see an opportunity for people to volunteer. Hopefully this will allow the self-selection of the people most passionate about the future of the product.

CTO.Nokia.com talks mobile futures

2008-07-03T00:01:03+01:00

The Office of the CTO (OCTO) at Nokia is a key stone in Nokia's innovation and vision efforts (self described as a network of researchers and though leaders). CTO.nokia.com is a recently launched site which is intended to help to spread OCTO's vision of the mobile future and engage the outside world. It is a sister site to research.nokia.com and will feature editorial content from Nokia and selected third parties.

There's already some insightful content on the site, the first topic is a look at how the mobile industry is set to take advantage of nanoscience. There also a blog from Nokia's current CTO Bob Iannucci.

You can read more information about plans for the site here, a short extract is below:

Since Nokia embraced the Open Innovation research model two years ago, the collective work of OCTO extends far out into a global network of researchers and thought leaders at universities, think tanks, and the broader industry. OCTO’s eight hundred or so employees are its heart, but this broader community is becoming ever more critical to its success. Sharing OCTO’s vision for the future of mobility with the worldwide community, sparking an active dialogue, and fostering feedback channels are all necessary for bringing OCTO’s ideas to ever-higher thresholds.

The initial set of content revolves around blogs from Bob Iannucci, internal staff, and eventually external partners. There is also information on upcoming speaking events where OCTO and NRC staff will be presenting, and a stream of news stories that impact Nokia and the mobility industry as a whole.

In the upcoming months further content, features and new communications capabilities will be added to the site, evolving it into a full bilateral communications portal going forward.

It is great to see Nokia continuing to role out these types of initiatives. Interacting with the community through sites like CTO.nokia.com, Nokia Conversations, Forum Nokia Blogs, Nokia Beta Labs and the S60 Blogs not only sends a general positive message, but also opens up opportunities for discussion which will be to the benefit of all.

With all these avenues opening up it would be good to see a central gateway and, ideally, aggregator, leading to all these resources. Blogs.Nokia.com or Connecting.Nokia.com perhaps? A single point of entry would make it easier for interested parties to find and follow these resources. And why not expand this list at the same time?

Here's a screenshot overview of the site:

Win an N82 each week over the summer...

2008-07-02T08:55:06+01:00

If you've got some interesting hobbies or are just good with your hands, note that you can win a Nokia N82 and Bluetooth headset each week over the summer in Nokia's new Free Hands video competition. You can enter as many times as you like, too...

Nokia push email and Nokia backup

2008-07-02T07:13:25+01:00

Darla's back on the scene and in good investigative form, as she uncovers Nokia Backup, an official online backup service that may or may not be related to Ovi, plus she announces and demonstrates a brand new beta service, Nokia Email, offering push email from your existing mailboxes. Comments welcome.

More Symbian Foundation musings in the Carnival

2008-07-01T15:44:52+01:00

London Calling is this week’s Carnival of the Mobilists host. Coming to you during Wimbleton week from London, with plenty to talk about, including more Symbian Foundation musings.

...And Warners Makes Three

2008-07-01T09:27:51+01:00

Warner Music Group become the third of the so called 'Big Four' music labels to sign up to Nokia's "Comes With Music" program. Sitting alongside Sony BMG and Universal, this accounts for between 65%-70% of the total music market depending on which figures you use. Only EMI are outside of the program now - and once they come on board expect a big PR push from the Finns.

"Comes With Music" continues to attract attention, both from the commentators and the consumers. The principle of download (and keep) whatever music you want from the Nokia Store at no cost for a year after buying a new phone (expected to be restricted to 'music focussed' Nseries devices coming in Q3/Q4) is an attractive and easy sell to the modern market. Of course you pay as part of the phone's purchase cost, and it's that fee, which gets split by Nokia to be shared amongst the partners in the program that raises the eyes of the commentators.

Because music (well, legal music) online is not cheap, costing close to the same price as a physical CD. Which means that either Nokia is getting a huge discount from the publishing labels so they can get significant mind share in the young, affluent mobile users - you know, the people most likely to buy concert tickets and t-shirts; or Nokia are going to be handing over a significant bundle of cash for all the music they distribute.

As expected, financial terms have not been disclosed for the Warners deal - or any of the deals. The cost remains shrouded, even though there;'s a lot of interest in just how Nokia are managing this.

The full press release is available via Nokia's Press section.

Nokia N96 interactive 'manual' online

2008-06-30T17:41:17+01:00

Thanks to all the people who emailed in with this - I'd held off posting about it because I thought it was an accidental leak, but this comprehensive (Flash-based) Nokia N96 interactive demo has been online for a while now and not removed, so presumably it's 'final', especially as we're now within a month or so off seeing the first N96 in the shops.

Symbian Management and the Personal Blogs

2008-06-30T09:09:41+01:00

Two new-ish blogs for your reading pleasure were pointed out this weekend, and in the spirit of the rapidly opening Symbian, two of the executives, David Wood and John Forsyth have set up their own blogs. Outside the company, and representing their own personal views, you can find them at www.dw2-0.com and johnforsyth.blogspot.com.

David Wood (who we interviewed last week) is Symbian's EVP of Research, and is blogging at www.dw2-0.com, a URL which is sure to raise smiles with anyone who knows him (and for those who don't, the explanation is on the side bar). There's a ton of insight here, and Wood has proved time and time again to be a great commentator both on the industry, the role of Symbian, and project management in general.

John Forsyth is the Strategy VP of Symbian and leads the Strategy Group. The blog is one of his ways to help share information and thoughts on the launch and development of The Symbian Foundation.

Read their blogs at www.dw2-0.com and johnforsyth.blogspot.com. Thanks also to Michael Mace (former PalmSource VP) for the heads up.

PyS60 hits v1.4.4

2008-06-28T06:25:34+01:00

PyS60 (or Python for S60) has been evolving nicely and it now extremely useable as a 'quick' programming language for smartphones. And there's a shiny new version for wannabe developers to play with. See the announcement and changelogs at the usual place at Forum Nokia.

The first definitive review of the Nokia E66?

2008-06-27T13:41:29+01:00

Of course Rafe's upcoming E66 review will be even more informed(!), but in the meantime, I've been very impressed by the thoroughness of Alfredo Padilla, in this exhaustive multi-page E66 review. Well worth a read if you're weighing up the strengths and weaknesses of this replacement for the popular E65.

Google Mobile gets a makeover

2008-06-27T08:03:21+01:00

I'd noticed new icons for the elements in Google's Mobile services homepage yesterday but hadn't thought any more of it - it turns out that each element has had a new intro page written, explaining the difference between the download and web-based versions. As ever, try it at m.google.com - screenshots below.

Some of the pages are still a bit glitchy and if you follow the wrong path you end up back at the old version of the pages, but doubtless Google will sort this out during the day!

Keep your S60 phone 'Fresh'

2008-06-26T09:37:25+01:00

No apologies for the blatant plug, but PiZero's done it again. Fresh is an awesome theme for all S60 3rd Edition phones that's gone straight to the top of my hit parade. It's pretty, useable in light and dark conditions, bright enough to be used as a flashlight in the dark etc. Give Fresh a try.