Just live on the interwebs is Phones Show Chat 7 (the companion audio chat based around my video podcast), in which Tim Salmon and I talk about the Nokia 5730's keypad, the HTC HD2 and the Nokia N900 (and other large screen devices), comments on Symbian's place in world marketshare, plus we specify and design our own ultimate smartphone. Available also as a RSS feed and iTunes podcast.
And now, a look at two extremes of the modern web and the services that we all use. There are big companies we like, there are small companies we adore. But what can the megacorps lea
There's a bumper Carnival of the Mobilists over at VoIP Survivor today, well worth scanning over, there's something for everyone in Carnival 194 - your wind-down Tuesday reading?
One for the UK readers of All About Symbian to set their video recorders for (or download the show afterwards with the iPlayer Mobile Client): BBC 4 tonight at 9pm is showing "The Life and Death of a Mobile Phone," looking at what our humble tool goes through from construction and use, through to the recycling at the end of its useful life.
In All About Symbian Insight 89 (AAS Podcast 151), Rafe and Steve talk about the recent release of version 20 firmware for the Nokia N86 8MP. Rafe and Ewan report back from Over the Air (OTA) where they listened to presentations on Symbian approach to evolving UI and Nokia's Qt strategy. There's also discussion about Nokia's acquisition of Dopplr. You can listen to AAS Insight 89 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
In theory, the best deal around in the UK for a mobile phone contract is currently being offered by the mobile virtual network run by supermarket chain Tesco – for a flat monthly fee of £30 the advertising offers you “unlimited” calls, text and data. That's an attractive package, especially for those of us on a budget. It might have a lot of small print, but unlimited is where the industry should be heading. Let me explain...
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Google Maps and Ovi Maps to solve the same problem
Yesterday's heads up from Google about a local search update left us scratching our heads. It was a redesign of the layout, as well as adding some category support, but fundamentally it was a tweak to the existing local search that's available in any city around the world by punching in http://www.google.com/m/local into your phone's web browser. Still, it got the blogs writing about the product again... read on for my thoughts!
Juniper Research, a telecoms analyst firm, recently released a report on Mobile Open Source Operating Systems, which predicts open source platforms will remain predominant and that, by 2014, Symbian handset shipments will increase from 87 million to 180 million per year, with Android and Limo adding 40m/year extra and taking the open source total to 220 million/year. Such analyst reports are educated guesses, but it does provide an antithesis to the 'Symbian is doomed' line that was popular, in some quarters, earlier this summer and a good jumping off place for some further platform thoughts. Read on for more.
Streaming video service Qik has added in support for Twitter and Facebook into the mobile phone client. Thanks to Oauth (a process that allows one website to authenticate you to another website), you can sign in with either your existing Qik account or your Twitter login details. Qik already posts a link to your Facebook or Twitter accounts if you have this set up, but you can now read the comments from Facebook under your Qik videos, collating them all in one place.
Just a quick note that programme 6 of my Phones Show Chat audio podcast is now live, in which Tim Salmon (of this parish) and I natter about N97 hardware issues, Ovi Suite problems, how Android is licensed and then I rant about smartphone batteries. If you're interested, here's the RSS feed. And the iTunes one.
Rafe reports back from the recent (September 2009) Ovi Developer Day in London, with details on all the main speakers and the issues raised (and responded to). Rafe notes in particular (and welcomes) a sea change in Forum Nokia's attitude to developers. There are also a number of interesting facts and stats about the Nokia Ovi Store.
