News From Symbian Smart Phones World...

WeFi Joins Forces With Qik To Enable a High-Speed Mobile Internet Experience for Live Video Sharing!

9 Feb 2010 19:26:00 GMT

WeFi Inc., creator of the world's largest community-based global Wi-Fi network, and Qik, the leading live mobile video streaming platform, today announced a cooperation agreement, under which the two companies will enable high-speed Internet access for Qik users on WeFi's network of over 50 million Wi-Fi access points worldwide, which grows by over 1 million month by month.

In turn, WeFi will be able to expand its network to more hotspot locations, as Qik users are streaming live mobile video from over 160 countries and will discover and connect to Wi-Fi in new locations. WeFi provides users with easy, automated and free access to millions of Wi-Fi hotspots from their mobile dev... .. .

Winner of Symbian Freak's Member Of The Year Competition Announced!!

9 Feb 2010 09:56:22 GMT

As you may already know, for the first time we have been running the 'Member Of The Year' competition during January to find the person who have done remarkably a lot to make this site stand where it is.

We have also offered some really cool prizes for the first SF's Member Of The Year as well as for the voters and now we are truly pleased to announce the lucky winners and send out prizes!

This contest was created with the hope of establishing a bridge between the new and "experienced, well-established members". We are truly grateful for all the votes we rece... .. .

Nokia plans to develop Salo plant operating mode to further increase production speed and efficiency for a growing smartphone market

8 Feb 2010 08:57:02 GMT

Nokia is planning to develop the operating mode of its Salo plant to ensure production is focused fully on the high-value smartphone market, especially in Europe. The key drivers for a new operating mode in Salo plant are diverse customer requirements, faster deliveries in high-end mobile device manufacturing and the company's transformation towards a solution-driven offering.

The plans will result in the introduction of new and highly specialized manufacturing methods and also entail changes to personnel at the facility.

The planned new focus for Salo is expected to affect a maximum of 285 employees involved in produc... .. .

Technology: Lithium-Ion Battery Life Could Reach 20 Years

8 Feb 2010 06:55:25 GMT

For years we've been promised about super fast charging and longer-lasting batteries that will liberate using of mobile devices, but unfortunately none have materialized onto the market and despite rapid progress in technology, dry cell batteries have not progressed much beyond alkaline battery introduced more than a forty years ago.

Just as you can never be too rich or too pretty, you'll never complain about a battery that lasts too long and despite disappointments with so many 'breakthroughs' in batteries technology over the years there are several new developments could be about to come to the rescue and make batteries more efficient and last longer!

Thankfully, it would seem that Japanese company Eamex have found a new way to increase the typical aver... .. .

User Review: My Non-Tech Girls View Of The N97 Mini

5 Feb 2010 07:40:33 GMT

After years of using Sony Ericsson I decide it was time to go back to Nokia for my next phone. I finally got my hands on a N97 after months of drooling over it on the internet, only to be so disappointed with it I sold it after just 2 weeks of using it.

Its downfall was the plastic feel, bad keyboard layout and awful memory management not to mention the out the box software. For me this put a massive dent in my confidence with Nokia and swayed me back towards looking at Sony Ericsson again for my next phone.

Then I heard about the N97 Mini and people reporting it was so much better than the N97, but I wasn't convinced so when I got the chance to trial the N97 Mini courtesy of wom... .. .

REWIEV: Keep Your Smartphone In Top Form With RAMblow S60!!

4 Feb 2010 10:17:27 GMT

Despite the fact that smartphones are trying to push into the ultra-portable computers realm we're still constantly reminded of the pure limitations of the current hardware.

With lesser amount of free RAM, a smartphone can slow down considerably and can even forcefully close running applications without any warning.

One good workaround for this issue would be to use phone's available resources more effectively, and that's where the little, but powerful application with equally fierce name co... .. .

Faster Access To Relevant Content With New Content Sorting For Ovi Store

4 Feb 2010 08:46:57 GMT

Just to briefly let you know about new Ovi Store application and update on the most recent enhancements to Ovi Store Service that went out yesterday.

Focus with this release is to provide you a faster and easier way to sort through the Store content catalogue.

Starting with this new release, you will notice the sorting options as you navigate through the store. These sorting options, “Top Free", “Best Sellers", and “New" will make it fas... .. .

Nokia Diagnostics: New Experimental Troubleshooting App From Beta Labs

4 Feb 2010 08:18:51 GMT

The good folks over at Nokia Beta labs have just introduced a new experimental application called Nokia Diagnostics.

The main intention behind creating this experimental software is to create a solution for helping millions of Nokia users diagnose, troubleshoot, and configure their devices with ease on their own.

Beta lab's developers believe that exposing this idea to the Beta Labs community and sharing this application prototype would help them realise just that. With Nokia Diagn... .. .

NAM Variant Of The SE Vivaz [U5a] Gets The FCC's Green Light!

4 Feb 2010 07:48:02 GMT

According to documents that appeared on the US Federal Communications Commission's Web site Sony Ericsson has received regulatory approval to start selling its 5th Ed Smartphone that makes it easy to catch life in high quality video using its 8MPX camera!

Such approval is required before a wireless device can be sold to consumers in the United States and if nothing else FCC approval is always a good sign that phone is on the way and indicates that it will be released for US markets soon!!

As usually, the FCC pages shows nothing new, just confirms already very well known facts about this powerful ima... .. .

Symbian Goes Completely Open Source 4 Months Earlier Than Planned!

4 Feb 2010 07:27:46 GMT

The transition process is over and the whole source code behind more than a ten-year old Symbian OS is 100% open source and is expected to be offered for free through Symbian developer page starting today.

“The dominant operating system provider out there is Symbian," says Lee Williams, executive director of the Symbian Foundation, “and now we are offering developers the ability to do so much more."

The transition from proprietary code to open source is the largest in software history, claims the Symbian Foundation. Transition process has been completed four mont... .. .

Minor Firmware Update For Nokia X6 Available As FOTA Update!

3 Feb 2010 18:11:35 GMT

I just wanted to give everyone a quick heads up that Nokia has rolled out minor firmware update for its first capacitive touchscreen smartphone.

Firmware version 12.0.091 for Nokia X6 is now available as 'Over The Air' update for most of the generic product codes and should be shortly available through Nokia Software Updater as well.

Unfortunately, I still didn't manage to get the change log but as you would imagine, the firmware update is always recommended as it usually brings improvements in performance and optimizes the functionality of the phone across ma... .. .

New Ovi Maps With Free Navigation Races Past 1 Million Downloads In A Week

3 Feb 2010 10:22:20 GMT

Nokia has today announced that since the 21 January 2010 launch of the new version of Ovi Maps with free walk and drive navigation, there have been over 1.4 million downloads. The one million mark was reached just one week after the launch.

"We're averaging a download a second, 24 hours a day," said Anssi Vanjoki, Executive Vice President, Nokia. "When we announced free walk & drive navigation we knew it would be a game-changer.

The number of people now using their Nokia for navigation, and as a result looking for more location-aware software, is growing faster than even we predicted." The success of the ne... .. .

Greystripe Expands its Rich Media Mobile Advertising Network to Nokia's Ovi Store Apps

3 Feb 2010 07:09:27 GMT

Today Greystripe, the leading mobile rich media- advertising network, announced ad network support for Nokia's Ovi App Store. Although Greystripe has supported hundreds of millions of Java downloads, this is the first time they will be supporting apps in the Ovi store.

Greystripe is beginning to migrate 1,200 Gamejump.com Java titles into the Ovi App Store. With this announcement, Greystripe now supports the top three smartphone marketplaces: the iPhone App Store, the Android Marketplace, and Nokia's Ovi App Store.

The Ovi Store is designed to be an evolving media service that consolidates Nokia's existing services into a one-stop-shop for free and paid content. In May of last year, th... .. .

Ovi Maps Racing By Nokia Now In Ovi Store

2 Feb 2010 12:27:25 GMT

With Ovi Maps Racing, the first location-based mobile game by Nokia, players can navigate and access their location, create a track and race around the block.

Utilizing actual map data by NAVTEQ and the GPS technology of the mobile device, Ovi Maps Racing allows players to create a racing track out of their own physical location, whether at home or in the office *). Racing is experienced with easy and enjoyable touch controls and there are three racing cars to choose from.

Developed by RedLynx, a leading developer of connected games for handheld consoles and mobile pho... .. .

Nokia To Skip Symbian S^2To S^3 In The Third Quarter Of 2010

2 Feb 2010 09:29:00 GMT

According to Digitimes, Finnish mobile phone giant plans to radically speed up the development of the new Symbian Foundation's platform by jumping over the second version to offer version 3 with full multi-touch and gestures support that enables user interaction with more than one finger, and combines sequential touch inputs to a 'gesture'.

The main benefits of this new functionality will allows users to interact with applications in better ways, simplifying finger-based interaction with UI components, allowing common basic gestures and multi-touch gestures as well as enabling extensibility.

General manager of Nokia Taiwan, Michael Hsu, also confirmed t that development process of the next gen Sy... .. .

Nokia Custom Dictionary: Predictive Text Editor For S60 Devices

1 Jan 2010 11:04:19 GMT

In an attempt to address to address the wish that many S60 users have had, the good folks over at Nokia Beta Labs have just released the first public version of Nokia Custom Dictionary application to gather feedback from those early users in order to further improve and lunch the full functional version as soon as possible and make the application more broadly available.

Nokia Custom Dictionary is an experimental application currently offering you the chance to edit the list of words used by the phone for text prediction and transfer it between phones as well as import list of words from a text file. This means you can quickly “teach" your phone commonly used words or even cre... .. .

New Firmware Update For Nokia N97 May Arrive As Soon As Tomorrow

31 Jan 2010 18:38:00 GMT

The Nokia N97, company's flagship Symbian is to get a software update over the coming couple of days that is set to fix numerous issues the phone is currently suffering from, as well as improve browser, add smoother scrolling, better image manipulation and introduce dozens of bug fixes and further optimize functionality and stability of the phone.

The firmware version 21.0.xxx will be progressively available for most of the generic product codes through Nokia Software Updater and is expected to be available as quick over-the-air update as well. Since the v20 firmware the Nokia N97 beca... .. .

MuskokaTech Releases PathAway GPS 5 for Symbian Smartphones

29 Jan 2010 13:55:44 GMT

MuskokaTech; a leading provider of GPS Navigation and Tracking Software for mobile devices and smartphones, have announced the release of PathAway GPS 5 for Symbian™ handhelds.

Since 2000 PathAway has been a productive GPS tool on multiple mobile platforms and has now most recently been delivered on the Symbian platform.

PathAway is an all-purpose GPS software application for recreational and professional use. Key features of PathAway for Symbian include the ability to create customized navigational maps via PathAway tools or 3rd party sources; perform extensive GPS track logging and point capture; navigate using multi-point ro... .. .

Free Ovi Maps Navigation Now Available For Nokia N97

27 Jan 2010 17:56:17 GMT

Nokia has pleasantly surprised us here at Symbian Freak today by announcing availability of the latest Ovi Maps Client with free walk & drive navigation for life!

This new version of Ovi Maps requires the latest available firmware so update can be downloaded only by N97 users who have already installed phone software version 2.0.x.

To get the software and free navigation just run the built-in software update client which is located inside the Applications Folder and choose the new Ovi Maps from the list. In case you still didn't get the latest firmware you can read more about here and upd... .. .

Android To Grab 2nd Spot By 2013 - Symbian To Keep Its Leading Position!

27 Jan 2010 12:10:08 GMT

By 2013, IDC forecasts that worldwide shipments of converged mobile devices, also known as smartphones, will surpass 390 million units, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.9% for the 2009-2013 forecast period. Underpinning the converged mobile device market is the constantly shifting mobile operating system (OS) landscape.

In a market that was once dominated by a handful of pioneers, such as BlackBerry, Symbian, and Windows Mobile, newcomers touting open standards (Android) and intuitive design and navigation (Mac OS X and webOS) have garnered strong end-use... .. .

Nokia Research Center Unveils Mobile Radar Concept

27 Jan 2010 09:51:48 GMT

Nokia Research Center (NRC) Helsinki today unveiled a new research concept at Demo House 2010 research exhibition in Espoo, Finland.

The mobile radar demonstration shows how a mobile device can use an active radar sensor to measure speed and the direction of movement of approaching objects, just as traditional RADAR would.

It uses electromagnetic waves to provide a different type of mobile wireless sensing. This research concept could enable new ways for users to interact with their device, for example via gesture control. It also opens the door for the creati... .. .

Daily App Blog Q&A meet-up on the 27 th of January

27 Jan 2010 08:23:19 GMT

Hi Guys & Gals! Just wanted to inform you I'll be taking part in the Daily App Blog Q&A session with Robin Jewsbury, who's the co-founder of Mippin, as well as EyeMags.

The session will be held in WomWorld/Nokia office at 6.30pm (GMT) on Wednesday, the 27th of January.

It's not going to take long (40-50 min), but it be should fun little chat with a well established developer and 4 other bloggers, plus the whole thing is supposed to be filmed and posted on Daily App Blog for everyone to watch. Now you might ha... .. .

New Cheaper Variant Of Nokia X6 Comes Without Music and With 16GB Less

26 Jan 2010 18:28:15 GMT

At the last year's Nokia World conference in Stuttgart, Finnish mobile phone giant has released its first Xseries branded device that combines 32 GB of on-board memory, 3.2-inch finger touch interface, and 16:9 widescreen display optimised for photos, videos and browsing.

Nokia X6 is company's first in several categories, beside being Nokia first-ever phone equipped with a capacitive touchscreen, Nokia X6 is also first Nokia's device exclusively available in combination with 'Comes With Music' service that offers a full year of unlimited music downloads but also significantly increase the price and force users to pick up the Nokia music off... .. .

HipLogic Live Gives Your Symbian Smartphone a Real-Time Web-Connected Interface

26 Jan 2010 17:37:51 GMT

HipLogic, Inc., today announced the launch of HipLogic Live, a free download that redefines the way consumers experience content on their mobile phones. HipLogic Live enhances standard user interfaces (UI's), delivering today's most popular content including Facebook, Twitter, CBS news, CBS sports, weather, and entertainment through a web-connected, always-on interface.

How it works: HipLogic Live gives Windows Mobile and Symbian devices an 'extreme makeover,' allowing users to simply toggle between the original mobile operating system and an always-on interface for instant access to the web and apps. HipLogic delivers an iPhone like experience to mobile pho... .. .

IBM Delivers Enterprise Secure Mail for Symbian Devices

25 Jan 2010 17:11:11 GMT

IBM today announced a major expansion of IBM Lotus collaboration software and delivery of enterprise secure mail for Symbian smartphones.

"We believe IBM has taken a leadership position in providing the broadest mail and collaboration support for mobile devices," said Kevin Cavanaugh, vice president, messaging and collaboration, IBM.

General Motors (GM) is playing an innovative role in extending mobile collaboration into the automotive industry. Recently, GM's Chevrolet and OnStar unveiled the auto industry's first smartphone application that will allow Chevrolet Volt owners 24/7 connectivity and control of vehicle functions and OnStar featu... .. .

fring Gets An Update, Better Twitter And Support for Status Changing

22 Jan 2010 08:46:54 GMT

Just a quick heads up that Fring dev team today announced update to its popular free to download and free to use mobile phone application, related to minor bug fixes, general stability improvements with some new added bonus features.

fring's R&D team has been hard at work going through users' feedback, and they are pleased to release a new build for Nokia S60 3rd Edition and 5th Edition devices that should make your fring experience even smoother.

fring version 4.10 brings new Twitter client making it easier for users to post their tweets, re-tweet and follow friends, from wherever they are. Beside the brand-new look, Twitter 2.0 allows you to see full tweets and links on one screen & eas... .. .

Resco Photo Viewer 6.00 for Symbian OS Released - We Have Few Free Licenses To Give Away!!

22 Jan 2010 08:02:20 GMT

Resco, one of the leading mobile software developers officially announced the release of Resco Photo Viewer 6.00, new version of the most popular photo viewer on Symbian OS market. Except for the traditional sources users will be able to find it also on Nokia Ovi Store. This global store allows them to download and buy applications comfortably on their phone.

Besides several minor improvements Resco modified the application to support handling on touch-screen devices. The interface is, therefore, fully touch optimized. This includes scrolling, navigation between images and other tools such as zoom, rotation, color adjustment and more. For all of these functions Res... .. .

It's Official: Catch Life In HD With Sony Ericsson Vivaz

21 Jan 2010 11:33:08 GMT

Sony Ericsson Vivaz, announced today, follows on from the Xperia X10 announced in November 2009, and is the second phone in the new family of communication entertainment phones coming to market in the first half of 2010. Sony Ericsson Vivaz™ will come to market in Q1 2010.

With Sony Ericsson Vivaz™ communication truly becomes entertainment with high quality HD video allowing consumers to produce and broadcast their best experiences with the latest video capture and sharing features.

Capture - record spontaneous moments and memories in HD quality and crisp high resolution for a real-life video experience. The dedicated video key allows consumers to shoot vid... .. .

Nokia To Offer Free Walk And Drive Navigation On Its Smartphones

21 Jan 2010 10:03:18 GMT

Nokia has today announced plans to release a new version of Ovi Maps for itssmartphones that includes high-end walk and drive navigation at no extra cost,available for download at www.nokia.com/maps.

This move has thepotential to nearly double the size of the current mobile navigation market.

The new version of Ovi Maps includes high-end car and pedestrian navigationfeatures, such as turn-by-turn voice guidance for 74 countries, in 46languages, and traffic information for more than 10 countries, as well asdetailed ma... .. .

Sony Ericsson Vivaz Accidentally Announced Earlier Than Expected!?

21 Jan 2010 08:21:30 GMT

I can smell a kick, poor webmaster of the UK's Our Social Media website has released the full specification of the recently rumoured Sony Ericsson Kurara before its official release that is supposed to be in few weeks at the upcoming GSMA Mobile World Congress (formerly 3GSM World Congress) in Barcelona.

Leak is definitely not according to Sony Ericsson plans and all press materials are already pulled down but good folks over at Phone Arena have managed to extract basic specifications that show an amazing device with enough imaging power to challenge decent pocket camcorder.

Great 16:9, 3.2" touchscreen and amazing 8.1-Megapixel sensor capable to capture and process 720p High definition video with continuous auto-focus make this cut... .. .

Skyfire Version 1.5: A Sharper, Smarter and Finger-Friendly Way to Enjoy the Best of the Web

20 Jan 2010 17:07:49 GMT

Skyfire, makers of Webby award-winning, PC-like web-browser for mobile devices, today launched the next generation of its Skyfire browser, version 1.5, for Symbian S60 3rd and 5th edition smartphones.

The newest version follows the release of Skyfire 1.5 for Windows Mobile and is now available for download at get.skyfire.com.

Enhancements in the new version include full support for high-resolution screens, a fresh user interface (UI) that is more finger friendly, crisper text, smoother zooming, and a full-screen mode that maximizes screen real estate. “There wa... .. .

Symbian Responds To Smaato's Click Through Rate Mobile Ad Metrics?

20 Jan 2010 07:40:47 GMT

Last week, Smaato Inc. published the Click Through Rate (CTR) Index by Handset operating system are based upon 3 Billion ad requests served in the Smaato Network in December 2009.

In addition the Smaato Metrics show a comparison of Mobile Ad Network fill rates worldwide and for the USA.

The December performance numbers for the different Handset types show a significant spread between the operating systems in regards to the CTR. Symbian phones had the highest CTR (161) compared to the averaged Index of 100. Follow... .. .

Samsung Announces 64 GB moviNAND Flash Memory And 32GB microSD Cards

13 Jan 2010 10:41:22 GMT

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced semiconductor technology solutions, today announced two high-density memory solutions for mobile devices. The new storage solutions - a 64 GB moviNANDTM memory device and a 32GB microSD memory card - satisfy mobile handset designers' requirements for advanced compact high-density memory.

"Samsung's high-density memory solutions bring the storage capacity levels of computing systems to small, mobile devices," said Dong-Soo Jun, executive vice president, memory marketing, Samsung Electronics.

He added, “The 64GB embedded memory, moviNAND, and the 32GB microSD card each greatly expand the data storage density of mobile devices, meeting customers' me... .. .