TamsS60 - the S60 Blog

As expected, a WiMax version of the N810 internet tablet has debuted - here is a stock image of the box:

The color of the device was changed to black - that’s all that can be discerned from the outside. On the inside, nothing seems changed either except for the addition of WiMax - and a operating system update that also is available for the N800 and N810:

Also being introduced with the Nokia N810 WiMAX Edition is the newest Internet Tablet operating system. This new upgraded OS2008 introduces useful new features to the platform, including an enhanced e-mail client, support for Chinese character rendering in the browser and RSS feeds and Seamless Software Update functionality to eliminate manual software updates, making periodic updates of the operating system quick and easy. While standard on the Nokia N810 WiMAX Edition, current owners of Nokia N810 and N800 Internet Tablets with earlier operating systems will be able to upgrade their device to the revised operating system for free during the second quarter of 2008.

P.S. The folks at Engadget have a few hands-on shots…

Mobile devices have seen usage as news readers for a long time. Originally, services like Plucker or AvantGo downloaded content on the desktop and pushed it out onto the mobile device. As data prices fell(and RSS/Atom became popular), the first news readers for smartphones popped up. Resco Neeews for Palm OS is among the best readers available for mobile devices…can the S60 version stack up?

After starting up for the first time, Neeews asks you if you wish to place your data in RAM or onto an external memory card. I usually choose the external card; as that reduces Neeews RAM consumption to approximately zero:

Once fully up and running, the product presents you with a list of feeds that are filtered according to your interests:

Adding your own feed is possible, too:

Selected feeds are added to the main Subscribed tab. Alternatively, you can create tabs of your own containing only a few of the many selected feeds:

The color icon next to the feed’s name shows if it contains new articles:

Feeds can be ‘extended’ to show individual articles:

Articles can be displayed with embedded images. Clicking the Read full story link opens your phone’s web browser and takes you to the news source’s web site - the full article can be read there:

The program’s feed rendering is very flexible - you can turn off your theme’s background, choose font size and enable/disable images:

If multiple web browsers are installed onto your device, you can even choose which one Neeews will use:

Interesting articles can be bookmarked - links to them then appear in a separate tab:

Articles can be updated manually or automatically. Manual updates halt the application; images always are downloaded when an article is first opened:

This review looked at version 1.23.01 of Resco Neeews on a Nokia N71. The program needs approximately 500k of memory space on your memory card; articles can eat up a few extra MB’s. Having 10MB free on your memory card definitely puts you on the safe side…

Overall, Neeews is an excellent newsreader for your Series 60 phone. If you wish to access news on the go and have a data plan, Resco Neeews is a must-have. The price of just 11.95$ makes this a complete steal…get it while the price is low!

Web browsers for mobile devices have been a difficult issue since the first wireless handhelds appeared - early browsers were slow and lacked features, while later browsers supported more features at the expense of speed. Opera has always been popular for its very fast desktop browsers - can the mobile version stack up?

Opera’s start page is very well-done. Looking a bit plain at first, it soon expands to show the 10 last-visited pages. Web addresses can be entered with ease, the search box is interlinked to Google:

Entering a web address via the ‘goto URL” window pays out big - the program uses an IntelliSense-like approach to simplify entering URL’s:

Opera is among the first mobile web browsers to support multiple windows - however, opening an existing link in a new window is not possible as of now:

Flickr pages can be used on the go - image comments are supported, too. The N71 does not have a load of RAM or phone memory - however, I experienced no out of memory errors even with multiple windows open:

Another stunning feature of Opera is the support for dynamic menus - this example is from Resco’s web site:

Web pages can be zoomed in and out flexibly, a fullscreen mode is available for maximizing display area:

The desktop version of YouTube is rendered perfectly, too - however, videos are not shown due to lack of a flash player on my N71:

When downloading a file, Opera first asks you if the file should be squeezed into your phone’s memory or saved to an external memory card. After that, it switches to a download manager view. The whole process works very well…except that files get removed from the list when Opera is restarted:

This review looked at Opera 8.65 on a Nokia N71. Data connection was provided by Hutchison Austria’s 3G network. Opera can be installed to an external memory card and needs about 3MB of memory.

Cutting a long story short - Opera for S60 is the best web browser ever used on a mobile device. The program tackles all web pages thrown at it and delivers superior rendering quality for all elements at insanely high speeds. If Opera would manage to improve its ‘tabbed browsing’ and download manager, this could be the zen of browsers. As it stands now, the price of approx. 20€ is a steal for everyone who surfs the web with his phone often.

One of the most useful features of a smartphone is its always-on capability that can be used to quickly determine all kinds of relevant data. Finding out a weather forecast has always been a very important thing for me - a dedicated program like Handy Weather can speed this up significantly…

HandyWeather’s main screen consists of a chart showing the weather forecast for the next 5 days for each of the selected cities(scroll left and right).

Pressing Center once allows you to switch to ‘night graph mode’. In night graph mode, the program shows a graph of forecasts for the 5 upcoming nights:

Today gives a bit of extra info on the weather of the current day:

Tap Current Status to see the ‘current status’ as of the last update:

Adding a city is easy. Handy Weather displays a list of countries; select one of them to see a list of available cities:

Forecasts can be sent to other users via email and SMS - this is a really outstanding feature I use very often to inform comrades about the weather:

Handy Weather can be customized widely via the ‘Preferences’ menu. It can e.g. be set up to work in celsius or fahrenheit scale:

The program can automatically update itself in predefined intervals, too:

This review looked at version 4.01 of the program on a Nokia N71. The program has worked reliably in the review period - no crashes,…

Overall; Handy Weather does exactly what it should - give a ‘basic’ weather forecast. The program does not give the fancy information given by programs for other platforms; but it gives you all important data you need… The price of 14.95$ is justified!