You were right to save your money and not go to CTIA in Las Vegas - everything you need to know about what was shown is represented in Rafe's comprehensive CTIA 2008 image gallery for free, with pertinent analysis and commentary where needed. It's all here, from tweaks to new Symbian OS-powered hardware, to software innovations, from WiMax and LTE to demos in the sky.
In Insight number 20, Rafe and Ewan talk about what they saw on their recent trips, to CTIA in Las Vegas, and to Over The Air in London. Subjects covered include US operators, LTE and WiMax and Symbian SQL Lite. Listen here and subscribe using this RSS feed.
It ran all weekend in London and proved to be another good seeding ground for mobile ideas. Ewan's been at the Over The Air event and reports back here. And didn't you just know it would end with a Doctor Who spoof and light sabre duels? Big kids? Hah.
With Rafe at CTIA, Ewan at Over The Air and others all on holiday, it's time for a little Friday catchup, with some links you may have missed. All-Format Writer is a freeware Java application that can create documents in the various competing ‘next-generation’ electronic document formats (ODT, DOCX, UOF and PDF) (via The Symbian Blog). Antony Pranata has a great tip for cleanly uninstalling PC Suite under Windows Vista. Al at the Nokia Blog has a great post about creating photos with High Dynamic Range (evening out extremes of light and dark). Finally, the insane(ly great) N82-toting Stavros has addressed the world. Again. Listen and learn!
Symbian announced two new OS technologies today at CTIA: Symbian SQL and an advanced Location Based Services (LBS) architecture. The first will allow the use of much larger data sets by smartphone applications and the second will simplify the development of genuine location-sensitive apps and services. The full press release is below.
Officially, the recent N-Gage beta testing phase (aka "First Access") was only open to N81 owners. However, some people managed to find unofficial ways for other phones to take part as well. In recognition of this, the beta test feedback survey has been opened up to non-N81 owners as well, which means they'll also get a free copy of Mile High Pinball when it's released.
The SXSW interactive festival (happening right now in the USA) is a busy conference, but Ewan caught a taxi ride with James Pearce, Vice President of Technology for the dotmobi consortium, and asked him about the controversial top level domain for mobile devices, here in AAS podcast 65. Are you convinced about his arguments for .mobi? Comments welcome.
Ewan's been at Mix08 and took the opportunity to chat to Microsoft's Brad Becker, Group Product Manager (for the User Experience Platform and Tools Marketing Group) about the recent announcement about Silverlight Mobile. He also spent a little time with the developer of WeatherBug, talking about their rapid development under Silverlight Mobile. Watch the interviews here in AAS Video podcast 28.
Nokia has announced at CeBIT that it will make Microsoft's Silverlight (think Flash clone) available for S60, as well as for Series 40 devices and Nokia Internet tablets. Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering 'next-generation' media experiences and rich interactive applications. Microsoft will demonstrate Silverlight on S60 during the opening keyote at their MIX08 conference on March 5 and availability to developers is intended to be later this year. Read on for more details and analysis.
Rafe also spent a lot of time with the Nokia N78 at Mobile World Congress. Here's his detailed and illustrated preview. A natural evolution of the best-selling N73, despite the hardware improvements, it's the software and services improvements that really caught Rafe's imagination, taking Ovi and a much more rounded package to the mass market.
To complement his textual preview of Nokia's upcoming N96, Rafe has produced a comprehensive hands-on video about the device, covering each of its major areas with video (and photos) shot at Mobile World Congress. Rafe makes a compelling argument against actually calling the N96 a flagship, but its specs are still mightily impressive.
In this podcast we cover current developments around Nokia's Ovi strategy including Sync, Share, N-Gage, plus we chat about all aspects of the Nokia N96, following on from our hands-on preview. Finally, we rant and rave a little about Google's new native search 'client'. Here's the link: Insight no. 14, plus the RSS feed to sign up for the future.
I forgot to mention that Smartphones Show 53 went live a couple of days ago, with some nice video footage of the Nokia and Sony Ericsson S60 and UIQ 3 hardware launches, shot by Rafe, plus comments from me, iPhone tips and a look at how far the Nokia E90 has taken me since my Psion-toting days, ten years ago. Rafe's Mobile World Congress video clips will feature in their entirety in exclusive AllAboutSymbian video podcasts in the next few weeks, so stick around.
Knuckle down for the real thing, guys and gals, AAS proudly presents Rafe's definitive hands-on preview of the recently-announced Nokia N96. From the DVB-H TV receiver to the new codecs to the music controls to the auto-geotagging of photos, it's all covered. Rafe spent quite a time with the N96 and it shows. Read the feature to find out how the N96 compares to the N95 variants and to the N82 - is there a definite flagship?
Some events for your diary, should you be in the area. I'll start with the one I'm at(!). On March 5th at the 3Bs in Reading, UK, there's a chance to try out the Nokia N82 to take Xenon-flash photos and see me with my rock band, Shed Music. The fun starts at 8.30pm. On the same night, March 5th, WOM World are holding an Nseries get together at the Crown, in London, from 6.30pm. Finally, there's an S60 event in Milan, Italy on March 11th from 8pm. Phew!
