AAS Insight 104 - Symbian goes open source

In All About Symbian Insight 104 (AAS Podcast 168), Rafe and Steve start with a quick look ahead to Mobile World Congress and then round up a number of small news items, including multiple firmware updates (N97 mini, X6, 5730, E52), details of a new version of the Ovi Store client, information on Greystripe and the Ovi Store and  the lowdown on 1.4 million Ovi Maps downloads. In the second half of the podcast we discuss the big news that the the open sourcing (EPL) of the Symbian platform (40 million lines of code) has been completed four months ahead of schedule. You can listen to AAS Insight 104 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.

Nokia X6 Firmware updated to v12

It’s been making its way around the various territories in the last few days, and now we’re happy to say that we have the updated firmware running on the Nokia X6 here at AAS (link to our review). The update to v12.0.091 can be installed (once available) either Over the Air or via the Nokia Software Updater on your PC. Even though your data should be preserved during the update, we would always recommend backing up any phone before an update is started.

WebKit still receiving contributions from Nokia, Apple, Google and Rim

While you can argue about what the numbers actually mean, it’s nice to see that the main players in mobile browser are all feeding back changes to the WebKit open-source project. Alongside Nokia (and Trolltech), Apple, Google and RIM are all contributing in some form, as shown in Evan Martin's blog post to the Chromium web

Extended Twitter Round-Up (Ultra Plus Pro Deluxe)

David Gilson recently performed a big feature on Twitter applications on Symbian and S60. Mind you, thanks to the feedback of AAS readers, he has now expanded his survey to now cover an eye watering seventeen Twitter options for S60 users wanting to get more out Twitter. Gulp. Read on!

Review: Snaptu

Something of an oddball in the mobile world, Snaptu is a Java application that attempts to provide a cosy environment into which you can bring a plethora of online services (Flickr, Facebook, TV listings, News, etc). Ewan, as the main reviewer, wasn't too impressed by the limited functionality within each service or by the clunky Java text input. I was somewhat more positive, as you'll see from my 'PS' - but your comments welcome - are you a Snaptu fan?

YouTube for S60 gets a minor (and patchy) update...

Google's YouTube client for S60 has had very patchy availability recently. The official version on m.google.com was 2.2.17, while the version on the Ovi Store varied from 2.2.21 to 2.2.29, depending on which device you were downloading it for. Version 2.2.30 has now popped up on m.google.com for most devices. There are no feature additions that I can see and there's still no explicit N97 version on the web (though 2.2.29 is available for the N97 on the Ovi Store), but completists may want to install it anyway. Phew! Wish Google would just maintain the one version/SIS file... (via Mauku)

Video: Symbian's journey to EPL

Continuing our coverage of Symbian EPL news we offer this video were we talk to Chris Davidson, a Program Manager at the Symbian Foundation, about the journey to EPL. Chris talks about the processes involved in the transition, some of the challenges and the opportunities for device manufacturers and developers. We've also added an extra bonus video where Chris explains the #symbiancountdown and the story behind it.

Symbian Foundation completes move to open source

Today the Symbian Foundation announced that it has completed the move to open source. The platform, which runs on more than 330 million devices and has been developed over the last 10 years is now freely available to all under the EPL (Eclipse Public License). The process, which was delivered four months ahead of schedule, is the largest transition from proprietary code to open source in software history.

The completion of the open source transition marks a critical milestone for Symbian as it seeks to build the enablers for the future of mobile, based on openness and innovation. Read on to view our video interview with Lee Williams and for further information.

Review: SMS Chat

David Gilson reviews SMS Chat, an SMS manager application which shows you your text messages in a conversation view, and throws in a lot more features too. If you are tired of the same-old S60 SMS manager and want something new, then you might like to check out his review of this actively-supported utility.

Introducing Nokia Diagnostics

Nokia Beta Labs has debuted an 'experimental' application, Nokia Diagnostics, aimed at helping S60 5th Edition users diagnose, troubleshoot, and configure their devices "with ease on their own". See below for the launch video and details.