Recent News Headlines - Software
Which three heavyweights will the smartphone market support?
While watching an interview recorded at the Gnomedex conference over the summer, I was struck with a statement from Micah Baldwin. In talking about the startup environment online with Jolie O'Dell, and specifically social networks, he said that any market can comfortably take three major players in the space. And given the crowded nature of the Smartphone OS market, do we have three clear heavyweights?
Nokia Messaging IM Beta goes to 2.0
Nokia Beta Labs 'IM Beta', part of the Nokia Messaging 'empire', previously only available for the E75, has now been upgraded to v2.0 and also supports the E71 and E63, according to the Beta Labs blog. Version 2.0 also adds support for Google Talk, in addition to the existing Yahoo Messenger and Ovi systems. You can investigate Nokia Messaging IM Beta here.
Rafe's Nokia World 2009 tour (part 2)
After the morning keynotes and interviews at Nokia World 2009, I decided to take a quick look round the 'experience lounge' at Nokia World. Following on from part 1 of the video, the tour of the show floor continues in part 2. You'll see the Nokia X6, Nokia X3, Nokia N97 Mini, Nokia 5230, Bounce Evolution running on the N900 and more software and services. There's also a quick look at some of the show floor features including a Twitter screen and side theatres.
Evolution series launches with Bold theme
Top theme maker Tehk is branching out into the burgeoning market for 'premium' themes - with the complexity of modern Symbian devices, it's becoming harder and harder to create themes which contain icons and elements for every nook and cranny, and I don't think it's unreasonable for theme makers to charge a small amount for their time and effort. Tehk here introduces the first of a seven part design series, branded 'Evolution', with a variety of versions at various prices, from 1 Euro up to 6 Euros. Read on for a screenshot and some of Tehk's comments.
Rafe's Nokia World 2009 tour (part 1)
After the morning keynotes and interviews at Nokia World 2009, I decided to take a quick look round the 'experience lounge' at Nokia World. In the video below you can join me on my first tour round the show floor, where I share my first impressions and analysis. You'll get a feel of the atmosphere on the show floor and there's a quick overview of some of Nokia's new service solutions, the Nokia Booklet 3G, Nokia Internet Stick (CS-18) and some third party software.
How to: Optimise the Nokia N97 (v12)
So my white Nokia N97 was returned to me after Ewan's extensive video diaries and after Tzer2's Finnish experiments on it. It's a little battle scarred in places, but hey, phones are designed to be used(!) I'm well aware of all the N97's pros and cons, but was relishing a chance to really get to grips with some of its - ahem - quirks, a couple of months on from my initial look. Read on to see how I got on, and to learn how to set up and optimise the N97 in this 'waiting for v20 firmware' probationary period.
Ovi Maps updated again, to 3.03(54)
[updated] Nokia Beta Labs has quietly issued an update to Ovi Maps 3.3 - 'subversion' 54 for S60 5th Edition (only) is now available on the main Ovi Maps page. There's still no opportunity to install to mass memory, and v3.3 is still English-only, but at least some more of the rough edges have been knocked off. 'GPS data lost' no longer sounds every few minutes(!), but at the expense of laggy screen updates - it seems the GPS interruptions are being averaged out behind the scenes. Ultimately, the N97's communications software subsystems simply need a big update. v20 firmware can't come soon enough for me.
Nokia Messaging gets HTML on 5th Edition
As reported around the web over the weekend, Nokia Messaging for S60 5th Edition has now received full HTML support. As usual, you’ll need to go to email.nokia.com in Web on your phone (a 2MB download). Version 10.1.0.13 will automatically replace your previous installation and will also keep all email accounts and emails. You may remember the issues I've had with Nokia Messaging - at the very least take the usual backups, syncs and precautions before installation.
Ovi Suite 2.0 now in public beta
More updates from Nokia (although there seem to be more betas than Google to be honest!) as Ovi Suite 2.0 receives an updated beta. It now includes support for installing applications on your smartphone via .jar or .sisx files on your PC, better use of memory and various tweaks and fixes to the syncing of photos and music.
Communities: the Social Messaging beta, initially reaches out to Facebook
More betas in from Nokia World, with Communities, billed as a 'Social Messaging' beta. The idea is that this can handle all your friends and updates for all social networks - an über client. This early version is quite limited though and only compatible with Facebook and the N97. I've explored it with screenshots below and there's also an official video to enjoy.
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