All About Symbian - General News

PC Suite, Flixwagon and N81 updates!

2008-07-04T20:16:29+01:00

Typical - I take a day out to play golf (on the N95) and some updates I've been waiting for all happen. Nokia PC Suite v7 is now official - here's the download page. No huge changes, but plenty of detailed improvements and it always pays to stay up to date. And Flixwagon just went public and has a vastly improved S60 client. In addition, Nokia N81 users just got a firmware upgrade via Nokia Software Update. v20.0.056 brings the N81 bang up to date with demand paging and Flash Lite 3, among other improvements, according to p@sco.

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.

Files on Ovi now available in beta

2008-07-03T16:39:08+01:00

Files on Ovi, which provides access to files on remote computers, is the latest Ovi service and is now available in beta form. After installing a software 'connector' on your PC you can then access files on your computer from any web enabled device (e.g. another PC or your phone). Files on Ovi is the results of last year's acquisition of Avevnu by Nokia.

Telenor goes Ovi

2008-07-03T11:17:46+01:00

Telenor and Nokia today announced a cooperation on mobile services using the Ovi service platform. Specific Nokia devices will be customised with services such as Nokia Maps, N-Gage, Telenor Music Store and Mobile TV with more to come in the future. Ovi services will be launched in the second half of 2008 and will be offered to Telenor customers in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Hungary.

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.

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.

Nokia Backup in action

2008-07-02T11:49:05+01:00

So we've been waiting months for Nokia's Ovi Sync. And along comes Nokia Backup instead, ostensibly everything that Ovi Sync will be. The two have got to be linked, surely? I've been trialling Nokia Backup and it's a bigger and better system than you might think, with what I think is a world first. Read on.

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.

How to: Print photos using PictBridge

2008-07-02T06:25:33+01:00

PictBridge compatibility is something often forgotten in Nokia's Nseries smartphones - in a real world example, I show how it works. Now you can print photos directly and quickly, wherever you are in the world!

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.

The AAS Insight #31 - Here Comes The Symbian Foundation

2008-07-01T14:55:18+01:00

There was always going to be one big topic for in-depth discussion in the latest AAS Insight Podcast - the announcement of the Symbian Foundation. Rafe and Steve are joined by Stefan and Ewan to talk over the ground-breaking news, and shoot a bit of Midnight Pool into the bargain.

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.

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.

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.

AAS Podcast #82: David Wood (Symbian EVP) on the Symbian Foundation

2008-06-26T07:07:16+01:00

In another of our regular podcast interviews, Ewan Spence talks to David Wood, EVP Symbian, on some of the finer details on the Symbian Foundation. Launched ten years to the day after the announcement of Symbian, Wood discusses a number of issues around the new strategy of the Symbian partners.