Resco’s Jan Slodicka has just informed me that Resco News for S60(review here) has just received a major update.
Version 1.2.4 fixes a very annoying bug that caused News to hang when finding a ‘dead’ feed – additionally, the program now supports the N95 8GB.
As always – if you aren’t using this excellent news reader yet, now is the best possible time to snag it from the TamsShop. The price of 11.95$ is a true bargain!
This is a RUMOR, based on a SINGLE SOURCE. Please DO NOT BASE important decisions solely on this article!
A web site called goebel.net has claimed that a “native” Skype client for S60v3 is imminent – however, it will not be provided by Skype itself but rather by a third party.
The page goes on to claim that 3(the provider behind the recently-launched “SkypePhone”) is very unhappy with its service partner iSkoot, as all calls are “routed” as regular GSM calls – the recent expansion of Skype usage has forced them to create more and more Skype servers(which, incidentally, cost $$$).
For the record, native Skype was demoed on a 6680 some years ago – but limited CPU power, lag issues and battery life apparently hindred a mass deployment!
A web site has recently popped up, offering some kind of synthesizer software for S60 and UIQ phones:
In case you are looking for some sample tunes created with the program, please find them here:
http://www.myspace.com/syntraxmobile
The product can be downloaded for free here(along with some tutorials):
http://www.finished.nl/index.html
In case anyone of you is especially interested in the G810(it prolly won’t ship, anyways), the folks at Symbian-Freak’s have managed to get their hands on one and proudly present a small hands-on video:
http://www.symbian-freak.com/news/008/02/samsung_g810_video_review.htm
The German telefon-treff.de forum has been extremely active when it comes to rumors – an user recently managed to get his claws onto a 16GB MicroSD card. He immediately popped it into a few S60 phones – here goes:
While no information on shipment dates is available as of now(and on how much this thing will cost when it drops), it’s good to know that 2 and 4GB memory card prices will drop a lot in the near future…and…well..we now know about yet another way to waste excess money…
The folks at Symbian Press have just released a new book that could be useful for all those of you planning to get into the S60 game business:
Here’s a short description of the contents:
The first part of the book discusses the mobile games industry, including why the mobile industry differs from other sectors of the games market, a discussion of the sales of mobile games, their types, the gamers who play them, and how the games are sold.
The second part describes key aspects of writing games for Symbian smartphones using Symbian C++ and native APIs. The chapters cover the use of graphics and audio, multiplayer game design, the basics of writing a game loop using Symbian OS active objects, and general good practice. A chapter covering the use of hardware APIs, such as the camera and vibra, is also included.
Part Three covers porting games to Symbian OS using C or C++, and discusses the standards support that Symbian OS provides, and some of the middleware solutions available. A chapter about the N-Gage platform discusses how Nokia is making the next generation of mobile games, by providing a platform SDK for professional games developers to port games rapidly and effectively.
The final part of the book discusses how to create mobile games for Symbian smartphones without using C or C++, using Java ME, DoJa (for Japan) or Flash Lite 2.
In case you wish to purchase the book, get it at Amazon’s for 50$.
The folks at Symbian-Freak.com have just posted that a hardware-accelerated version of Quake for S60v3 is available.
The product is said to require S60v3 FP1, and will offer hardware-accelerated graphics on all phones powered by an OMAP2420(E90, N95, N93, N82).
Please give them a click for download instructions(scroll down below the first ad).
The folks at AllAboutSymbian.com have posted photo galleries of all S60 phones shown at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Many of the photos seem to be exclusive to the web site – in case you wish to take a second look at Nokia’s, Samsung’s and LG’s new phones, please visit the gallery’s front page here:
http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/news/item/6766_Phone_Galleries_from_MWC_2008.php
The folks at CNET’s Crave have managed to get further information about the E71 at an official Showcase Nokia event in Sydney.
They report the following specs:
Information is usually scant at this stage, though the handset is purported to come with HSDPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, microSD expansion card slot, QWERTY keyboard, 3.2-megapixel camera, and onboard GPS.
Many analysts expect this device to be announced at the CeBit – yours truly will be there and will report!
P.S. The picture leaked some time ago(below) is said to be accurate…
While the Nokia N71 definitely isn’t the latest S60 flip phone, it nevertheless gives yours truly faithfull and reliable service(it has noteworthy build quality except for screen/keyboard scratching). Anyways, protecting the box from scratches has been a top priortiy for me – can the ya do the trick?
Brando’s products ship in small yellow envelopes from Hong Kong. Austrian customs leave them alone, mail serviced deliver them even when you’re not at home, and the protective padding works well enough – no issues here:
The case itself is delivered in a blister:
Putting the case onto the phone is very simple – just put each of the halves in place and push it in:
Brando has provided cutouts for all important operating elements – the case does not interfere with regular phone use(which wouldn’t be a real issue, as the phone can be removed from the case very easily):
Here is a picture showing the phone in the case:
Unfortunately, the pegs in the back of my N71 do not match the cutouts on the case – this causes weird noises when fully opening the flip:
In the end, the asking price of just 8$ and the lack of alternatives makes this a must-buy. While the case definitely isn’t perfect, the nuisances diminish in everyday use. If you wish to keep using your N71, get this case while supplies last…
The folks over at Symbian-Freaks.com seem to have some kind of telepathic connection to someone at Nokia’s, which they use frequently to extract cool new bits of news. Anyways, they currently present the first-ever TV commercials for the Nokia N78 and Nokia N96 – please rest assured that I will inform you as soon as they initially air in Austria.
Please use the two YouTube links below to find out more:
This has just been posted to the carbide.c++ beta group:
Dear Beta User,
We are one big step closer to the final release of Carbide.c++. Our last major milestone of our project has arrived.We now have Release Candidate 2 (RC2) ready for download. This will be the last major build that users will see until the production release. We will continue to post developer (daily) builds.
We have also reached Code Freeze – meaning we’ve started our “final validation” phase.
Please continue to post bugs on our Bugzilla tracking tool and feel free to post your general comments in the Google discussion area.
Thank you so much for your support – we are weeks away from shipping.
Regards,
/Mike
As always, please visit the beta group to find the download link!
All of you who managed to get N-Gage First Access running on their phones..you can now download a demo of Worms World Party for free! For all those of you new to the concept, we are basically referring to a version of Atomic Cannon, but with movable tanks that look like worms.
The N-Gage web site describes the game’s online features as following:
* The more worms, the better: 2 people can go head-to-head against each other over a wireless Bluetooth connection, or have a 4-way battle in the N-Gage Arena
* Because N-Gage Arena play is turn-based, the speed of your GPRS connection won’t affect the quality of gameplay
* Testyourself in tournaments, including “Worm King” elimination and “Survival of the Wormiest”
* Matchmaking helps you find other gamers by skill level or time zone
* There’s more than one way to top the global rankings in the N-Gage Arena, from top scores to worst friendly-fire offender to most boring worm
If you ask me, this is a potential hit that could really be the “killer application” for N-Gage. The turn-based gameplay eliminates all lag-issues, and the game is an evergreen that has been flying off store shelves for like ages. Well done, Nokia…
A demo video showing the new S60 touch UI in action has just been posted to one of the “official” S60 blogs:
http://blogs.s60.com/seeintos60/2008/02/s60_ui_innovations_demo.html
In order to save you the hassle of looking at it yourself – essentially, we are looking at evolution rather than revolution. Nokia did not redesign the S60v3 interface we know and love – they just made slight additions and added touchscreen support in order to reduce the time needed to scroll around with the 5way nav.
I personally think that existing S60 applications will be “compatible” with the new OS right from the start – as already said, the UI widgets essentially stay the same; you only get a new way to interact with them. As for newly-developed programs…S60 Touch apparently isn’t as flexible as operating systems developed for touchscreens – for example, I assume that a dialog like the one shown below(from Binary Clock for Palm OS) will not be possible without custom UI:
On the other hand, of course, this will probably mean that S60 Touch apps will probably will be usable without the touchscreen.
In the end, I am pleasantly surprised at how well Nokia has managed to integrate the touchscreen while not breaking the existing S60 “look-and-feel”. While a dedicated touchscreen OS definitely is more “flexible”, Nokia’s compromise between one-handed usability and flexibility seems to be pretty close to the sweet spot.
What do you think?
The folks at Forum Nokia’s have just announced an update to their Carbide plug-in for Visual Studio. Version 3.0.1 is compatible with Visual Studio 2005 and adds the following new features:
As always, Carbide.vs is a free download from Forum Nokia’s!
