TamsS60 – the Symbian Blog

A German web site called NokiaPort.de has uploaded the following image claiming it to be a fake:

I personally do not know how to classify it; as the folks at NokiaPort aren’t quite sure about what to do with it. However, the following things speak for the image’s authenticity:

The c button
The C button has a weird little distortion at the right side. This reminds me of my N71’s keys – the text on the keys eventually rubs off…especially on a prototype device!

Lens distortions
Looking at the black bottom rim, one can clearly see orange color abberations – this could well mean that we are looking at a real device.

As no similar Nokia device currently is on the market and the E65 is being sold off, it’s very probable that this is a real device. But – as said – no confirmation for now…

Fake or not? Please let us know!

Developers who read OpenSource code sometimes probably know the SDL – cutting a long story short, the SDL is a multimedia library that is intended for easy porting. Once SDL is ported to a new platform, porting SDL-based applications is very easy(if the rest of the code is portable).

Anyways, S60 developers are now in luck if the information on this web site is correct – the rather bold promise is as following:

S60 SDL is a Simple DirectMedia Layer adaptation for S60. SDL is a cross-platform multimedia library: Applications and libraries built on SDL can easily be ported to another operating systems. Usage of S60 SDL is not restricted to porting; S60 multimedia applications can be implemented without deep knowledge of Symbian C++ native API and a developer can use SDL and standard C interfaces. The SDL development supports both Nokia OpenC and Symbian stdlib (ESTLIB) C implementations.

With S60 SDL it is possible to port applications to S60 without a single code change. However S60 SDL has a special S60 API that makes integration to mobile platform easier. In practice S60 devices usually has a small screen and limited input posibilities, and CSDL interface helps to do adaptation without changes to the original code base.

The S60 SDL supports OpenGL ES development. Its possible to create SDL Surface for OpenGL ES content and manage that with SDL’s platform independent OpenGL API. In S60 devices that dont have hardware accelerated OpenGL, a software rendered is used automatically.

Anyone of you has further information? Please let us know!

Before we start this article: I am not an enemy of UIQ by any means. However, I come from the Palm OS side – and have seen platforms die before. For me, it looks like UIQ is going down – Palm OS Cobalt also looked beautiful on the draftboard!

UIQ Technology has recently released a new version of UIQ 3.3 – the basic tenor seems to be about hitting the mass market. It is said to be better compatible with Carrier’s certification process; and also brings along a consistent 5way navigation.

The company also hopes that this release will unite the “forks” between the versions UIQ 3.0(used by Sony Ericsson) and 3.1/3.2(used by Motorola) – UIQ 3.3 is said to be software-compatible with existing applications.

So far, so good. But who is left in the UIQ boat:
Motorola
Motorola currently offers two touchscreenless devices running UIQ – namely the now-dead Z8 and the Z10. A touchscreen device was rumored a few months ago, but was not heard from since. Things generally look dull inside of the big M; especially seeing that the company plans to split off its cellphone division.

Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson – once manufactured lovely cutting-edge UIQ phones. However, the current high-end models are starting to get old, and the Windows Mobile powered XPERIA is more-less round the corner.

The current UIQ lineup consists of consumer-centric devices that IMHO will not generate much third party software sales – developers should not expect much here.

Where do you think that UIQ is heading? Please let us know!

In case anyone of you is interested in any of the three devices mentioned in the title – they are all available for less than 300$ as of this writing:

Motorola Z8
In case you feel adventurous and want to put your bets on non-touchscreened UIQ devices now that Motorola has broken up, Amazon Austria currently sells these boxen for just 250€.

Nokia E65
The E65 is a rather solid Nokia S60 phone – take a grab at the shops below:

Amazon AT: 270€
Expansys US: 299$

Sony Ericsson m600i
Last but not least, the classic m600i(UIQ, touchscreen) is now available again. While the prices aren’t quite as low as they were some time ago, the box still is affordably priced at just 230$ at Expansys’s.

All egoshooter fans with a S60V3 FP1 device(nope, my N71 is out of the game) will rejoice – they can now enjoy the virtues of Quake and Quake II on the go.

People owning devices with an ARMv6 CPU and at least 28MB of free storage RAM can download the game; it comes in a hardware-rendered and a software-rendered version. N95-users are advised to stay clear from the hardware-rendering version as it needs too much memory..

Last but not least, here are two screenshots that the developer made on an N95 8GB – they show the software and hardware-accelerated versions next to one another(the developer did not state which is which):

Get the program here:
http://koti.mbnet.fi/hinkka/index.html

P.S: Got it running? Failed? Please let us know – commenting is free and anonymous!

The folks at TheNokiaBlog have reported that the 6620 has just cleared the FCC – this means that the device could ship to the USA any time.

Get the full scoop(and a few photos of the pink 6220 the FCC analyzed) here:
http://thenokiablog.com/2008/03/23/nokia-6220-classic-passes-fcc-approval-why-not-an-nseries-phone/

Here’s the latest bit of news on cutting-edge S60 devices:

Samsung G810
While we already handled the Samsung G810 at the CeBit, we didn’t have an opportunity to perform a full review so far. The folks at GSMArena already got their box and made a review – enjoy:
http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_g810-review-231.php

Nokia N96
Mobile-Review’s review of the N96 has now been translated to English – enjoy:
http://www.mobile-review.com/review/nokia-n96-en.shtml

Finally, someone has managed to give Nokia phones support for DNG/RAW capture. For all those of you new to the term, a DNG or RAW file is an exact copy of the information found in the sensor – which allows for further flexibility when “interpreting” the image on a scitex workstation.

Anyways, visit Tea Vui Huang’s web site to download a Java application that lets you capture RAW files.

P.S. The folks at Symbian-Freak have a somewhat detailed writeup about the program.

The folks at Mobile-Review.com have yet again managed to make the impossible possible – and bring along a review of the yet-unreleased Nokia N96. Even though the review’s text is all Russian as of now(an English translation is likely to follow soon); definitely give them a click for a few awesome pictures:

http://www.mobile-review.com/review/nokia-n96.shtml

People who have followed our sister site TamsPalm have witnessed a lot of controller reuse in the past – now, two Austrian students from the University of Applied Sciences Hagenberg have decided to take it all one step further.

Their program mobiPad allows you to link up your S60 phone with a Nintendo Wii controller via bluetooth – and then use that controller to interact with a game of your choice. The folks tested their program with S60 Quake, Doom Legacy and vBag; but promise compatibility with all “well-written” programs and games.

In case you are interested – pay them a visit here:
http://www.mobi-pad.com/info.html

The German c’t magazine has done a full-page review of Samsung’s i550 in the current issue:

In general, the device was rated very well(competitive with Nokia phones) – the magazine was especially impressed by the low price; but was unhappy with the lack of WiFi. For me, this is an excellent sign. Products reviewed in the c’t magazine usually sell somewhat well – this could very well show the start of a big rollout of the machine in Germany and Austria.

Stay tuned – when we see the device in the wild, you’ll be informed ASAP!

The beta of Carbide.c++ v1.3 seems to end very soon – Mike Trujillo from Nokia has just posted the following to the newsgroup:

Hello everyone,

Thanks again for making this a terrific beta program. I will be sending out a summary of the project to you, including the results of our user survey. Here are a few details on the release that I want to bring to your attention.

* Build 24 is the very latest. If you downloaded Carbide before March 14 then you don’t have the latest version. Check Help –> About in the IDE to see what version you have.

* Download Carbide v1.3 at http://www.forum.nokia.com/carbide_cpp

* We will be closing this beta group soon – it’s been open for over a year now and its time to formally close it out and recommend that you use our traditional forums for support:

– Please continue to use Bugzilla for bugs and feature requests:

https://xdabug001.ext.nokia.com/bugzilla/

– Please use Forum Nokia Discussion board for general information:

http://discussion.forum.nokia.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=95

* If you OWN a Carbide product (you paid money for a license) then you should be able to update your license at the Estore:
– Log on to https://pro.forum.nokia.com
– Click “Manage my licenses” to see what products are eligible for upgrading.
– Contact sales.carbide@nokia.com with any questions

* Your temporary licenses will be expiring soon – which means that you will revert to Express Edition. You can purchase a new license at the the Forum Nokia Estore:

https://pro.forum.nokia.com/estore

* Contest Winners – we will be reviewing the contributions of the beta users and awarding phones.

Please let me know if you would be interested in a wrap up session.
We could be a conference call or run as a webinar. We would review the program, discuss what went well and what can be improved. We could also use the time to discuss our roadmap with you and get your views on future features. Drop me an email (mike.trujillo@nokia.com) with your thoughts on this.

Thanks!

/Mike Trujillo
Carbide.c++ Product Manager

However, Carbide 1.3.1 is said to be upcoming soon – stay tuned to TamsS60 to stay on top of the news!

The two images above show what TamsS60 readers have known since February the 6th – the N82 now can be had in black, too.

We are currently pursuing a sample for review – please stay tuned!

On my dual-screen workstation, I permanently have task manager open in order to show me how much of my CPU capacity is being used. With S60 being a multitasking OS, compiling similar numbers should be ultra-easy…but my task manager’s programmer apparently didn’t find it worth the effort. Can CpuMonitor satisfy me?

Once the application is started, it starts to draw a chart showing CPU and RAM usage. Unfortunately, the time base cannot be changed:

The image below shows Resco Neeews starting up and updating a few feeds. Interestingly, the program does not show free but rather used memory – a higher line means less free memory:

Last but not least, the application also shows the CPU type and its frequency:

This review looked at version 1.10 of the program on a Nokia N71. It needs 73KB of memory and can be installed onto an external memory card. The program’s Chinese homepage(you can’t find anything here) is here, version 1.10 can be downloaded from tamoggemon.com for your convenience.

In the end, CpuMonitor is an absolute must-have for every power user. If you don’t have this cool bit of freeware on your phone right now, get it from the link above. What are you waiting for?

Every “small” OS house runs an application competition of some sorts in order to create the perception of a very active third-party developer community. UIQ’s version is called Application Competition and gives out packages consisting of a phone, marketing packets, software and a conference invitation.

Here are this year’s winners:

Business:
1. FlyingMoney Manager by FlyingBird Software
2. Mobile Documents by VISIARC AB
Mobility:
1. Handy Weather by Epocware
2. IM+ All-in-One Mobile Messenger by SHAPE Services
Lifestyle:
1. Spodtronic by Liquid Air Lab GmbH
2. The World Factbook by jDictionary Mobile
Entertainment:
1. MicroPool by Gábor Fetter
2. Paintball 2 by Crazysoft
Utilities:
1. Easy Search by WebGate JSC
2. GDesk by FiendSoft

So far so good – only IM and Handy Weather have made it to the Handango top 10…