All About Symbian - General News

Any colour smartphone you like, not just black

2009-07-03T09:11:10+01:00

With the Symbian Foundation set to provide an open source smartphone OS, hardware partners with off the shelf components, and a huge amount of software ready to be placed into a smartphone, is the time right for the smaller companies to come back to Symbian? Ewan considers the potential rise of the boutique range of smartphones in 2010. Read on...

A tale of three smartphones: Rescuing a dead battery

2009-07-02T10:46:37+01:00

Faced with a dead Nokia N86 that refused to charge, I didn't panic - armed with the luxury of some of other devices to hand, I was able to get the N86 and its battery revived and working properly. And, in the process, learned that all Nokia's batteries are electrically interchangeable. Maybe these concept will save the day when your precious S60 phone appears to have died? At the very least, add this to your 'Things to try' check list!

The Phones Show 84 with Symbian interview and N86 review

2009-07-01T10:12:07+01:00

The Phones Show 84 is now public (embedded below too), with a reprise commentary on the Nokia E75, a hands-on review of the Nokia N86 8MP and a interview with the Symbian Foundation's Executive Director Lee Williams, asking him some of your questions, on the subjects of robot duck overlords, LTE, touchscreens, open source OS and, of course, which phone does he personally use(!)

I like my old phone, so why should I upgrade?

2009-07-01T06:36:00+01:00

One of the questions sent into the All About Symbian podcasts has got me thinking. It was along the lines of "are you looking forward to the Nokia N97 or the N86 more?", and my honest answer, out of those two, was the N97. But reflecting a bit more on the question, and while the journalist in me wants to see the N97 in action (probably around this year's Edinburgh Festival, but more on that in August), the consumer in me doesn't feel the need to step up.

They Breathe! Name the phones, win N79 hardware

2009-06-30T21:01:20+01:00

"Breathe, breathe in the air"... So sang Pink Floyd in 1973. And now it's competition time here on AAS. Inspired to give away some N79 hardware, I've put together a video competition, embedded below. All you've got to do is work out how many phones I'm showing and what they are. Easy, eh? The first correct answer in the comments wins. Only one go each, mind you, so guess well...

SEE 2009 announced

2009-06-30T15:58:27+01:00

The Symbian Foundation has announced that the Symbian Smartphone Show The Symbian Exchange & Exposition (with the name change, the acronym is now the friendlier SEE 2009) will be taking place on 27-28 October 2009 at Earls Court 2, London. More details below, plus you can expect an All About Symbian meet up on the evening of the 26th, venue to be arranged.

AAS Insight 77 - Truphone, Intel, HTC Hero, Developers

2009-06-29T11:00:52+01:00

In All About Symbian Insight 77 (AAS Podcast 137), there is news of Truphone's extended support for Nokia and the 5800 continues its best selling streak. Rafe talks about Nokia and Intel's strategic tie up and reports back from the launch of the HTC Hero. Ewan shares news of AdSense for applications, which leads to a general monetisation discussion. You can listen to AAS Insight 77 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.

In search of the QWERTY king

2009-06-28T08:16:49+01:00

After being struck by an informed comment by Symbian's Executive Director, Lee Williams, that the touchscreen market would top out at about 30%, i.e. that at least 70% of phones will continue to be keypad or qwerty-driven, I wanted to get to the bottom of which smartphone keyboard, in the Symbian world, at least, was the best, in terms of size, feel, capability and efficiency. Oh, and I wasn't allowed to include any obsolete models... [Ouch.]

E75, N97, iPhone 3GS, N86 hit the Grid

2009-06-26T12:15:31+01:00

The Nokia N97, N86 and E75, along with the iPhone 3GS are now in my smartphone-choosing Grid, if you'd care to try your luck. After finding what the Grid thinks is your perfect smartphone, try playing the 'fiddle the preferences so that device X wins' game - it'll while away your Friday afternoon, anyway! 8-)

The N-Gage Games Lost To History, Waiting To Be Ported

2009-06-25T10:14:40+01:00

Almost sixty official games graced the original N-Gage platform, so why aren't Nokia taking the proven hits from that era and bringing them back to the front? Here on Ovi Gaming, Ewan looks back and chooses five that are ripe for re-invention. Why not take a trip down memory lane with him and then ask Nokia very, very nicely...?

Sun, sun, sun. And I can't see a thing on my phone!

2009-06-25T06:19:45+01:00

With the advent of summer in the Northern Hemisphere, Steve Litchfield reprises an old rant with a look at how the current crop of 2008/2009 smartphones fare on a sunny day. Does your phone turn into a hand mirror or can you see what's going on? Featured here are seven popular screen types, showing how well - or how badly - they do.

Insight 76: N86, N-Gage, N97

2009-06-24T12:37:51+01:00

In this Insight, Rafe, Steve and Ewan talk about the Nokia N86, a visit to Symbian, N-Gage Games (Dance Fabulous and Pinbusters) and general reaction to the N97.

Spore Origins fails to evolve on N-Gage

2009-06-23T11:48:34+01:00

"Oh dear. Spore as a gaming brand is close to a legend. Created by Will Wright, and released last year to great critical acclaim, you'd think that popping the genetic engineering life-sim onto a mobile would be a sure-fire hit. Err, no." And so begins Ewan's review of this latest N-Gage title here on Ovi Gaming. Spore Origins includes all the elements needed but fails miserably in its basic gameplay and interface.

Five reasons why Java has already saved Nokia

2009-06-22T06:52:57+01:00

It's been in every S60 phone since the first 7650 came out of Espoo... and it's still delivering for Nokia. Has Java really saved Nokia, asks Ewan Spence? From N-Gage support to bedroom coders, Ewan's clearly on a big Java high!

The Phones Show 83 now out

2009-06-21T07:37:41+01:00

It's a hardware spectacular for The Phones Show 83, now out, with news of new Symbian OS smartphones, a long video review of the HTC Touch Pro, with head-to-head section against the Nokia N97, plus a demo-focussed tour around case makers Proporta, down in Brighton. If you want to pick the show up via RSS, here are the QVGA (for phones) and VGA (for desktops) feeds.