TamsS60 - the S60 Blog

The S60 news and opinion source

May 30th, 2008

Snake SubSonic gets reviewed, hated

Being a big fan of the version of 3D snakes that shipped on my Nokia N71, I was naturally interested to see/hear how the successor Snake SubSonic turns out.

AllaboutNgage’s Ewan Spence has reviewed the program, and was very disappointed. He claims that even the N95 has problems rendering some parts of the game quick enough to prevent stuttering. Also, the drawing distance of walls is too low - Ewan reports multiple instances of walls popping out of nowhere.

Generally, the game seems much worse than its predecessor - as I currently have a loaner N95 8GB, I may in fact be able to bring a review myself. Until then, please enjoy the pictures from Sir Spence at the link below:
http://www.allaboutngage.com/reviews/item/Snakes_Subsonic1.php

May 30th, 2008

More Sony Ericsson G700/G900 goodness

Even though the G700 and G900 haven’t shipped yet, a load of new info has popped up recently. Enjoy:

Reviews
The G900 has been reviewed by both Mobile-Review and UnwiredView. Both think that the device will sell extremely well - that could mean some more “victims” for all UIQ developers who cross the chasm…

Whitepapers
Sony Ericsson has the great habit of releasing publicly-accessible datasheets of hallmark devices well before they hit the market. The datasheets for the G700 and G900 have now dropped and can be downloaded after passing a captcha(100page PDf files) - these things cover literally every nook and cranny of the device:
G700 whitepaper
G900 whitepaper

May 30th, 2008

Three BeiBei prototypes for sale

People wanting to get their hands onto a Sony Ericsson BeiBei NOW(albeit an initial review showed that the boxen were/are rather mediocre) can now do so at esato’s - a forum member of good standing claims that he has three prototypes and is willing to let go of them for 400 pounds each.

I myself will definitely NOT risk the cash(especially as no one knows how SE will behave when it comes to repair/customer care). Also, we know that the Paris will sell for less than 400€ - so why drop the 509€ on an “inferior” model…

People who are daring - click here:
http://www.esato.com/board/viewtopic.php?topic=170511

May 28th, 2008

Nokia N95 8GB NAM gets firmware update, too

Hot on the heels of the recently-released firmware update for the N95 NAM, the north-American version of the N95 8GB now gets an update too.

As of now, nothing is known about what the new version(designated v20.2.005) actually does - in fact, many analysts consider this a quick “fix” for the recently-discovered holes in the platform security.

In case you do upgrade your phone, please let us know what changes you saw!

May 28th, 2008

Samsung L870 drops officially

In case anyone of you wonders what became of the Samsung L870 - it has now dropped…

Nokia Press Services has announced that the device has been unveiled at the S60 summit that currently happens in Barcelona - all the info that’s currently available is as following:

S60 supports a wide selection of device segments from S60 device manufacturers. In the S60 Summit, Samsung presented their latest stylish S60 mobile, Samsung L870. Leveraging the capabilities of S60 platform, the device brings full connectivity and business application offering to the hands of the business professionals.

“We are happy to compliment our product portfolio with yet another appealing S60 mobile, Samsung L870 that is fully customized with style, performance and user interface,” says, Jongin Kim, Vice President of Mobile Communication Division of Samsung Electronics. “With S60, we can successfully deliver the latest mobile technology with fully customizable applications and intuitive user interfaces.”

As the complete specs of the device have been leaked before(here); there’s little more to see here.

No information is available on carriers/pricing BTW - it IMHO is a safe bet that we are looking at yet another VaporPhone here…

May 28th, 2008

Sony Ericsson Paris (p)reviewed

Don’t ask me what kind of black magic the folks at Mobile-Review’s do in order to get their hands on devices so quickly - anyways, they now have a “review” of the Sony Ericsson Paris (and loads of images) on their web site:
http://www.mobile-review.com/articles/2008/se-paris-en.shtml

Eldar states that the device is extremely similar to the G900 I handled at the CeBit - except that it has a QWERTY keyboard(2 chars per key) on a slider that goes below the screen. Spec-wise, the devices appear to be completely similar - the only difference noted is that the Paris ships with Opera preinstalled(not surprising as it is said to be all about web surfing).

Generally, the reviewer is rather negative about the device’s mass market potential - he claims that the G900 will go for the masses, whereas the more expensive Paris will appeal only to a small niche of the market.

Last but not least, he claims that the box will hit the market in September and will cost 400€(50 more than the G900).

May 27th, 2008

Nokia N95 NAM (finally) gets firmware update

The American version of the Nokia N95 hs just received a firmware update that can be obtained via NSU.

As of now, no change log is available for this version(designated v20.2.011) - however, users have reported that their phones now support the WRT, Flash Lite 3 and Demand Paging(a technology that increases the amount of program memory). Unfortunately, automatic screen rotation is not implemented - users will have to stick to third-party applications for this feature…

Please stay tuned - we will provide an official change log as soon as possible!

May 26th, 2008

Brando Crystal Case for Nokia N82 - the review

Traditionally, cases for mobile devices were made out of either aluminium(metal case) or leather. Recently, silicone and PVC(crystal) cases became more popular and eroded the market share of full-metal cases - can Brando’s latest offering for the Nokia N82 stack up?

Like all other Brando products, our sample shipped in a envelope from Hong Kong. The case itself is packed in a blister for extra protection:

Crystal cases always consist of two parts - installing them follows an ageold convention. First, slide the back part onto the phone. After that, snap the front piece onto the back as shown in the image below:

Brando’s case completely covers the phone’s screen - there is no need for a dedicated screen protector here. The camera and the keys got cutouts - unfortunately, the cutouts for the keyboard are a bit too tight and make hitting the top keys of the keypad a bit difficult:

Cutouts at the back allow the camera to operate normally:

The various buttons and ports at the side all got cutouts - unfortunately, the cutout for the memory card slot is in the wrong place - swapping out your memory card requires you to remove the phone from the case:

An extra cutout is provided for the headphone jack and the power button:

Finally, here’s a shot of the phone in its case:

In the end, Brando’s Crystal Case for Nokia N82 is a great protection from accidental scratching. Even though typing is made unnecessarily difficult due to the case’s somewhat tight keyboard cutouts, the phone remains perfectly usable while in the case(except for an occasional memory card swap). The price of just 8$ makes this an absolute must-have case for everybody who likes Crystal Cases - a review of a leather case(costing approx 5x as much) is coming soon!

May 26th, 2008

New shots of various Sony Ericsson UIQ boxen

The rumor mill has spit out a few new bits of info relating to Sony Ericsson’s new, stylish UIQ devices via the folks at JAMPB(who seem to have an excellent translator team).

G900 unboxing pic
We handled the G700/G900 at the CeBit - another news service now managed to get their hands onto a box and present the first-ever unboxing.

BeiBei - preliminary review
The folks at Mobile-Review managed to post a preliminary review of the BeiBei(aka G702). Generally, the reviewer seems to be rather happy with the box, but is unhappy with the scroll wheel and the stylus.

May 25th, 2008

Help us improve TamsS60 and win a copy of Resco News

Resco Neeews is an excellent news reader for S60 devices - and usually costs a bit of cash:

However, our long-term friendship with Resco has allowed us to give away a free copy of the program to a lucky reader - but there’s a little job to do in order to qualify.

Tell us what you like and dislike about TamsS60. What can we do to make TamsS60 better? Is there a topic that you would like us to cover? Anything you paticularily dislike? Or, are you totally happy and feel that we are the best news service in the world?

Visit the TamsForum, log in and post your feedback in the thread linked below in order to enter this contest(and don’t forget to state that you own an S60-powered device):
http://forum.tamoggemon.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=19