News From Symbian Smart Phones World...

Nokia Has Declined To Confirm The Plans About Ditch Symbian On Nseries Smartphones!?

18 Nov 2009 23:19:31 GMT

According to the Really Mobile Project blog, Nokia will abandon Symbian for all its Nseries devices, the company said at a meeting of Maemo enthusiasts in London.

There are number of highend Symbian powered devices in development so it won't be immediate though, but gradual with the transition being brought to completion by 2012!

Tanja Sauvola from the Maemo marketing team let slip that the company will abandon Symbian S60 entirely in favour of its own swizzy OS by 2012, meaning future devices... .. .

Anyone Watching The Live Rihanna's Concert Tonight?

16 Nov 2009 19:15:43 GMT

To promote its nice looking and clever little phone that will be initially only available in combination with "Comes With Music" service, the Finnish company is hosting globally streamed live and free concert tonight. International superstar Rihanna will showcase new material from her highly-anticipated forthcoming album Rated R exclusively to a Nokia audience from a secret London location.

From her breakthrough multi-platinum album A Girl Like Me to her ubiquitous global smash Good Girl Gone Bad, in just a few short years, Rihanna has helped redefine the path of popular music for a new generation. She continues that mus... .. .

Mahindra Satyam Joins the Symbian Foundation

16 Nov 2009 17:34:45 GMT

Mahindra Satyam announced today that it has joined the Symbian Foundation, which, together with its ecosystem, is creating an open and complete mobile software platform.

The platform is based on Symbian OS and software assets contributed by Nokia, NTT Docomo and Sony Ericsson, including the S60 and MOAP(S) user interfaces.

Portions of the source code are already being moved to open source, under the Eclipse Public License. By mid-2010, this process will be complete, the company stated in a press release. “The Symbian Foundation welcomes Mahindra Sat... .. .

Skyhook Wireless' App Fixes Slow and Imprecise Location on Nokia Phones

16 Nov 2009 15:18:19 GMT

Skyhook Wireless, operator of the world's most advanced location system, today released Maps Booster in the Ovi Store. This app will dramatically improve the speed and accuracy of location results on any S60 Nokia handset.

Nokia device owners regularly complain about terrible GPS performance in comparison to other leading smartphones like the iPhone.

Nokia Maps often takes up to a full 60 seconds to pinpoint location, while Maps on the iPhone loads location almost instantly. And when Nokia devices finally do determine location, the results can often be very inaccurate. With poor location res... .. .

The Highly-Anticipated Nokia E72 In Stores Now

16 Nov 2009 13:21:53 GMT

The highly-anticipated Nokia E72, a device tailor-made for business and personal messaging is now available in stores.

To coincide with the arrival of the Nokia E72, Nokia has also released research* revealing that more people rely on email than on traditional phone calls or text messaging when sending and responding to critical information.

Speaking about the research results, Nokia vice president Ukko Lappalainen said, "The research shows that people are spending an average of five full days per year - equivalent to a full work week - responding to emails. Half of us (46 perc... .. .

Weekend reading: SEE 09 - The innovation occurs with you!

15 Nov 2009 15:05:54 GMT

Hello my friends, I know, late is late, but right now, only a click away, lies a SF exclusive virtual tour of the Symbian Exchange and Exposition event that I attended on the 27th of October in London. No boring long talks, just a straight up stream of information and thoughts from the definitive Symbian event of the year, with lots of pictures to liven up the immersion. So jump right in and see what future holds for Symbian!

The first speaker program was already in full motion when I finally arrived at Earls Court 2 exhibition hall and exchanged my registration paper for a badge. Behind me was an hour long ride on the train and a few short jumps using London tube net... .. .

'Nature or nurture' study reveals 'musical genes'

12 Nov 2009 11:04:45 GMT

If you've ever wondered why a close group of friends might like completely different types of music, blame their genes. A study by Nokia into the musical tastes of nearly 4,000 twins reveals genetic influences on the music people like varies with genre.

While, on the whole, musical taste is determined just as much by nature as it is by specific individual experiences, nature's influence is strongest on appreciation of pop, classical and hip-hop music - indicating some people may be born to love Michael Jackson, Beethoven or Jay-Z.

Nature's influence is lowest on appreciation of folk and country, where family upbringing appears to play a role - so a CD collection full of Hank Williams, Dolly Parton and Joni Mitc... .. .

Pannon and T-Mobile To Delivers Nokia Messaging to Hungarian Consumers

11 Nov 2009 10:12:47 GMT

Pannon, T-Mobile and Nokia announced today that they will bring Nokia Messaging, Nokia's easy-to-use email service to their customers having Nokia enabled devices in Hungary.

From the 1 st November, all Pannon customers and postpaid T-Mobile customers will be able to access the Nokia Messaging push e-mail service, which supports all leading consumer e-mail solutions, such as Ovi Mail, Gmail, Windows Live Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail as well as the major local e-mail services, such as Citromail, Indamail and Freemail.

"In today's world, access is of key importance - not only the access to information but also the access to each other. Mobile phones pose an obvious solution to keep in touch with each other, and the combination of a handset and an e-mail solution is pe... .. .

Samsung To Ditch Symbian In Favor Of The Android, Windows Mobile and Bada

11 Nov 2009 09:01:28 GMT

According to Samsung Electronics' senior vice president Don Joo Lee, South Korean electronics giant will dump the Symbian operating system in favor of the Google's Android, Microsoft's Windows Mobile and in-house developed open operating system Samsung Bada, in a bid to simplify its handset line-up in 2009.

Not much is known about Bada at this point, except that it means Ocean in Korean and that Samsung is committed "a variety of open platforms" and although it sounds like a clich� nowadays, Bada will feature a new, rich UI, easy carrier customizations, and fun and enticing applications for end-users.

Sammy is hoping that Bada will join the ranks of Windows Mobile, webOS, iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, and Symbian. “By opening Samsung's mobile platforms we will be ab... .. .

Warning: Nokia Warns Of Faulty Chargers

9 Nov 2009 09:56:41 GMT

Nokia today initiated a charger exchange program, in which consumers owning certain Nokia-branded chargers manufactured by a third-party supplier are recommended to exchange these chargers for free replacements. During a routine quality control process, Nokia identified a potential product quality issue with certain chargers manufactured by one of its third-party suppliers.

The plastic covers of the affected chargers could come loose and separate, exposing the charger's internal components and potentially posing an electrical shock hazard if certain internal components are touched while the charger is plug... .. .

EyeMags Gets Support for For S60 5th Edition Devices

4 Nov 2009 11:48:33 GMT

Following our successful launch of the iPhone App Creation last week further work with the top end Smartphone market sees us launch support for these latest Nokia and SonyEricsson smartphones.

Both these technologies build on top of the mobile Java (J2ME) applications used for all other devices.

Now non developers can build their own content applications for most phones from low end to the top end Smartphones and make them available to the public immediately using the EyeMags technology. EyeMags believe this is a world first and ex... .. .

Nokia's Mark Ollila Discusses Death Of The N-Gage and Games on Ovi Store

4 Nov 2009 07:05:16 GMT

Mark Ollila, director of technology and strategy at Nokia Games Publishing, is responsible for setting the development of gaming on Nokia's mobile devices and probably the busiest person at Nokia after company has confirmed last week that its N-Gage platform will be phased out next year, with all the company's mobile games activities to be channelled through Ovi Store instead.

Mark is a well-known entrepreneur and highly respected authority in media technology, frequently hosting lectures and publishing research on the sector.

Mark has been involved in the setting up of a number of companies and research labs in media and mobile entertainment as well actively involved in advisory and awards for various industry events. Mark brings to bear an unrivalled knowledge of Mobile Enter... .. .

Mobile Browsing Revolution: Opera Mobile 10 Beta Now Available For Symbian S60 Smartphones

3 Nov 2009 07:40:15 GMT

Opera Software today unveiled the beta of Opera Mobile 10 for Nokia and other Symbian/S60 handsets. Most notable in the new Opera Mobile 10 beta is a sleek design, which Opera first introduced to the world in the recent release of Opera Mini 5 beta. The crisp, new look introduces the Speed Dial, tabbed browsing and the always convenient password manager to Opera Mobile.

Performance was prioritized in this beta. It is twice as fast as the previous Opera Mobile released for Symbian/S60, and users will discover significant speed improvement when downloading pages, zooming and panning. Opera Turbo is also integrated, saving end users both time and money with its server-si... .. .

R.I.P. Ngage: 2003 - 2010

30 Oct 2009 20:17:32 GMT

In a not so shocking twist of fate, Nokia has planned the removal of one of the services from its Ovi umbrella, officially ending the Ngage gaming community and service initiative by 2010 with an ever so subtle whimper. Via an understated post on the official Ngage blog, the Ngage community's are was let out of its balloon. The heartbreak was summed up with this statement:

"...the Ovi Store will be the new central place for all the mobile games that Nokia and other publishers offer from this point forward. We will no longer publish new games for the N-Gage platform."

In a conversation with correspondents at Mobile-Ent.biz, Mark Ollila, Nokia's new director of X-Media Solutions, Media & Games, reiterates the new strategy, stating, “Simplicity is impor... .. .

Second Version Of N-Gage Platform Will Die A Quiet Death Just Like Its Predecessor

30 Oct 2009 17:50:21 GMT

Nokia has finally and officially confirmed persistent rumours that widely-hyped but poor-selling 2nd version of N-Gage platform will die a quiet death just like its predecessor as it failed to live up to Nokia's and consumers expectations.

Nokia's online gaming service, opened last year, never moved beyond a niche audience and therefore it will closed next year, acknowledging failure in its first major services offering.

"N-Gage games will be purchasable until the end of September 2010. While the N-Gage.com site together with the N-Gage Arena and other community features will remain in operation throughout 2010, the Ovi Store will be the new central pl... .. .

Qualcomm Innovation Center Joins the Symbian Foundation

30 Oct 2009 17:10:05 GMT

Qualcomm Innovation Center, Inc. (QuIC) and the Symbian Foundation, today announced that QuIC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, has joined the Symbian Foundation and has been appointed to the Symbian Foundation board of directors. QuIC will support the Foundation with active participation on the board of directors and each of the four councils that govern the development of the Symbian platform.

QuIC's charter is to focus on optimizing open source software for use with Qualcomm technology. QuIC brings to the Symbian Foundation a wealth of knowledge and expertise in open source and, as a Symbian Foundation board member, QuIC is committed to working with its fellow board members for Symbian's cont... .. .

Nokia Has Rolled Out MAC iSync Plug-In For Nokia E52, Nokia N97 and 5530 XpressMusic

30 Oct 2009 16:35:26 GMT

iSync is the Mac's equivalent of ActiveSync, a software application published by Apple Inc. that runs only under Mac OS X and is used to synchronize data in iCal and the Address Book with Mac and with various devices including Smartphones.

Unfortunately, not all Smartphones are supported by iSync and Symbian devices cannot be used with iSync, but thanks to Nokia and just released iSync plug-in, Nokia E52, Nokia N97 and 5530 XpressMusic is now compatible with iSync and you can share data between phone and Mac, manages your contacts, and synchronises your diary entries in iCal

With iSync you can take the hassle out of managing data across devices by downloading changes and easily updat... .. .

Gartner: Worldwide Smartphone Sales To Outstrip Notebooks!?

29 Oct 2009 18:50:24 GMT

Personal computer (PC) vendors are eyeing up the booming smartphone market to offset a slump in computer sales, according to Gartner, Inc. Worldwide smartphone sales will grow by 29 per cent year-over-year to reach 180 million units in 2009, overtaking notebooks in total unit terms.

Currently smartphones account for 14 per cent of overall mobile device sales, but Gartner expects by 2012 they will make up around 37 per cent of global handset sales. Smartphone revenue is forecast to reach US$191 billion by 2012, higher than end user spending on mobile PCs, which is forecast to reach US$152 billion in 2012. From 2009, user spending on smartphones will start to surpass the forecast for consumer notebooks.

According to Gartner, PC vendors' cumulative share (Apple excluded) of the smartphone market has been static at less than 1 per cent for years. By the end of 2009, Gartner expects that all major PC vendors will have announced their aim to ha... .. .

Symbian Foundation Welcomes Fujitsu as New Board Member

29 Oct 2009 07:02:57 GMT

Fujitsu Limited and the Symbian Foundation today announced Fujitsu's appointment to the Symbian Foundation board of directors. Fujitsu joins wireless carriers AT&T, Vodafone, NTT DOCOMO, silicon providers ST Microelectronics NV and Texas Instruments, and handset manufacturers Samsung, Sony Ericsson, and Nokia as an Appointing OEM Member on the Symbian Foundation board.

Fujitsu has accepted all rights and obligations of a foundation Appointing OEM Board Member that includes supporting the foundation with both a financial commitment and active participation on the four foundation Councils that govern the development of the Symbian Platform.

Fujitsu brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise in the open source community and many technological firsts on Sym... .. .

Redownloading Of Premium Content Now Available For Nokia's OVI Store Users

28 Oct 2009 18:38:19 GMT

Michael Bramlageon from Ovi store team has just announced that they've come up with solution that allows you to re-download premium content you already purchased from the Ovi Store.

Re-downloading is as simple as it sounds - it lets Ovi Store users, who previously purchased and downloaded content to their device, to re-download, recover, and restore the content in the event that something happens to it.

Every day, millions of users from more than 180 countries, using a wide range of Nokia devices have discovered, purchased, and downloaded cool new apps and games, like Shazam, Gravity, and Pac-Man (my personal favorite) from the Store. They use these apps and games to enhance their lives-to discover new music, to stay in touch with their friends and followers, or to sim... .. .

Nokia N97 Mini Makes Its Big Debut In Stores - Nokia N97 Shipments Passes Two Million Milestone!!

28 Oct 2009 12:31:43 GMT

Nokia N97 mini makes its big debut in stores. With its stainless steel cues, the Nokia N97 mini is designed for style-conscious people who are active with social networks.

The device features a tilting 3.2" touch display, QWERTY keyboard and fully customizable homescreen. The Nokia N97 mini features same software with the Nokia N97 and will be in stores with an estimated retail price of EUR 450 before taxes and subsidies.

"In September, 2009, we exceeded 2 million Nokia N97 devices sold, and now introduce the Nokia N97 mini, underscoring the success of the design. We have also listened to consumer feedback about the performance of the device. The Nokia N97 soft... .. .

DreamSpring Releases Contact Manager DreamConnect For S60 3rd Ed Smartphones

28 Oct 2009 08:30:19 GMT

DreamSpring announced the availability of DreamConnect, an innovative contact manager introducing ground breaking technologies, for Symbian-based Nokia, Samsung and LG smartphones.

DreamSpring today announced DreamConnect for smartphones running on Symbian S60 v3.1 and v3.2 smartphones, following the release of its 5th edition version 2 weeks ago.

The S60 version of DreamConnect inherits many of the ground-breaking technologies from its UIQ and Psion predecessors. It features a clear display of information in business card format, key match, global find and hierarchical sub-categories, designed especially for users who have a large contact dat... .. .

Symbian Horizon Lowers The Barriers Of Application Publishing And Discovery

27 Oct 2009 16:27:35 GMT

The Symbian Foundation announced today the launch of Symbian Horizon, the publishing program for Symbian developers, at the Symbian Exchange and Exposition 2009 (SEE 2009). Developers can now sign up for the program to have their applications listed in the Symbian Horizon Directory, processed through Symbian Signed, and published to a growing list of application store partners.

The goal of Symbian Horizon is to help developers bring their applications to the largest mobile market in the world in a cost effective way. This publishing program is now being scaled up to process thousands of applications in 2010.

Horizon demonstrates Symbian’s commitment to improving the developer experience, including helping developers build applications, place them in a variety of global stores, and provide marketing support. The Symbian Foundation crea... .. .

HOT: The Long Awaited Update For Nokia N97 Is Now Available And Confirmed As Hackable!

27 Oct 2009 16:10:04 GMT

This is just a quick heads up for those of you who haven't seen Esilance's forum post about the long awaited and highly anticipated firmware update (20.2.019) for the Nokia N97.

Latest firmware update for company's flagship device is now available as FOTA update and through Nokia Software Updater as well for most of the generic product codes from EMEA and APAC region and is expected to be available for the rest of the world as well as for NAM and branded devices shortly.

Firmware v20 improves touch screen usability, allowing you to scroll smoothly through content by flicking the screen. Ovi Maps 3.1 brings 3-D maps, more accurate positioning, and improved search. Nokia e-mail, Ovi Contacts, Ovi Store, and VoIP support have been added. This release also includes improvem... .. .

Nokia Launches Its First TD-SCDMA Device - Symbian Powered Nokia 6788

27 Oct 2009 07:16:34 GMT

Nokia today announced the Nokia 6788, its first device for TD-SCDMA - China's domestic 3G standard, at an event in Beijing. The Nokia 6788 is the result of close collaboration between Nokia and the world's largest mobile phone operator, China Mobile.

Speaking at the event, said Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, CEO of Nokia: "Nokia sees TD-SCDMA as being central to the successful evolution of 3G in China, and so is fully committed to this 3G standard.

With a wide range of integrated China Mobile applications, the Nokia 6788 marks a new level of collaboration with China Mobile and offers enriched experiences to China's 3G users. Nokia plans to introduce more TD-SCDMA phones in the near future, further boosting the development of this 3G stand... .. .

Brief: Here's Your Chance to Win a Nokia N97 mini!

26 Oct 2009 15:46:00 GMT

If you are tired of your old Smartphone or get jealous every time you see what your friends have to work with, then you may want to check out the latest Nokia's contest!?

So if you would like to get something, newer, cooler and faster and if you want to enjoy fring and other applications available on Ovi Store, here's your chance to accomplish it all!

To celebrate the recent launch of the Ovi Store, Nokia & fring are giving out the most sough-after phone yet- the brand new N97 mini! Three lucky grand prize winners will have the opportunity to win a brand new Nokia N97 mini, and really, who cou... .. .

Extend Your Options with Updated WRT Tools

26 Oct 2009 10:12:16 GMT

Forum Nokia recently updated three tools for developing Web Runtime (WRT) widgets enabling the quick and easy conversion of standard web code and scripting languages into exciting new mobile applications and services while working directly within three of the most popular software development environments on the market today.

Nokia WRT Plug-in 2.2 for Aptana Studio extends support to computers running Linux-based Ubuntu 8.04 and Apple Mac OS X Snow Leopard. Aptana Studio is a free Web-development environment that offers integrated language support for key Web technologies, as well as embe... .. .

'Forget Apple, The Real Evil Is Google' Says Symbian CEO

25 Oct 2009 21:02:02 GMT

The Symbian operating system has received a bad rap from various directions. Most of it, like the claim that the OS is outdated, when the real issue is only related to the user interface, or that the competition has passed them by technologically, when in reality they're still behind Symbian in most respects, just really irks my nerves and rubs me the wrong way.

The lack of knowledge from the sources of the misinformation is just as bad, and Symbian's competitors are quick to run with these claims all the way to the bank.

Shockingly, Nokia, the original benefactor of the Symbian Foundation, always takes the high road, and never responds to some of the wild and untrue state... .. .

User Review: Vendetta with Sony Ericsson Satio

24 Oct 2009 19:35:31 GMT

Window shopping can get as boring as the sheer fact of doing that, yet on special occasions it can bring a lot of interesting finds.

But it would be a shameless lie to say that I haven't looked forward to this particular photo oriented flagship smartphone to finally materialize in UK mobile shops.

And now, after having seen the new toy in 'person' and gathered as much impressions as humanly possible in 5 minutes, I feel like my initial skepticism towards Sony Ericsson's Satio shou... .. .

Nokia sues Apple in Delaware District Court for infringement of Nokia GSM, UMTS and WLAN patents

22 Oct 2009 17:08:28 GMT

Nokia announced that it has today filed a complaint against Apple with the Federal District Court in Delaware, alleging that Apple's iPhone infringes Nokia patents for GSM, UMTS and wireless LAN (WLAN) standards.

As a leading innovator in wireless communications, Nokia has created one of the strongest and broadest patent portfolios in the industry, investing more than EUR 40 billion in R&D during the last two decades.

Much of this intellectual property, including the patents in suit, has been declared essential to industry standards. Nokia has already successfully entered into license agreements including these patents with approximately 40 companies, including virt... .. .

Sony Ericsson Teamed Up With Famous London Based photographer Jillian Edelstein To Celebrate The Launch Of The New Satio Handset On Vodafone

22 Oct 2009 07:32:35 GMT

To celebrate the launch of the new Sony Ericsson Satio handset on Vodafone, we are offering a once in a lifetime opportunity to have your eyes captured by photographer to the stars, Jillian Edelstein. Join the likes of Nelson Mandela, Kate Moss and Woody Allen and be immortalised by this legendary artist.

Jillian will be embarking on a mission to capture the unique beauty and individuality of 121 eyes, in 12.1 hours at a central London Vodafone store.

To be in with a chance of taking part, simply upload your details, an image of your eyes and why you'd like to be involved. Alternatively head to your local Vodafone store where you will be able to sample the new handset. A trained member of sta... .. .

Nokia N97 With Firmware v20 Now Available on RDA!!

22 Oct 2009 06:50:17 GMT

As you may have already know, Remote device access services enable remote access to various live Nokia devices based on the Symbian OS over the Internet.

RDA service is mainly aimed for developers and offers a possibility to reduce the effort on testing, demoing and content & application development but it is also a great opportunity for freaks like us to test some of the hottest upcoming phones and software updates.

Unfortunately service is heavily optimized for the S60 devices and therefore phone that I would like to test the most is not available yet but I'm pretty sure that those of you who own Nokia N97 would like to know that phone with long awaited software version 20 is now available on the Nokia's RDA service and if you ha... .. .