SPB Software has just announced the availability of their SPB Mobile Shell 3.5 user interface for Symbian devices. One of the most popular smartphone platforms in the world has so far struggled with providing good user-experience to touch-loving users so it was about time that someone did something about it.
Indeed the SPB Mobile Shell 3.5 will transform your Symbian 5th edition running device beyond recognition and having played with it for a week I can confirm that this is a change for the better. Read more »
If you are looking for a way for making new buddies when you visit South Africa for the World Cup this summer, check out the latest bit of software that exited the Nokia Research Center. It let’s you initiate chats and share content with people in the vicinity. The most innovative thing about it is that you don’t need mobile internet access to connect to some distant chat server. Instead your cellphones connect directly using ad-hoc Wi-Fi mode that’s supported by all phones.
Do you remember David Wang and his work to port the Android OS on iPhone 3G? Well, he’s done all of the heavylifting and the image file and instructions to install Android on your iPhone 3G are now available online.
On 21 January Nokia blessed (almost) all their smartphones with free lifetime voice-guided navigation with version 3.03 of their Ovi Maps application. Now, four months and 10 million downloads later the company has released an updated version of the app improving its speed, accuracy and adding Wi-Fi positioning in the mix.
According to the dev team, the new 3.04 version of Ovi Maps gives more accurate positioning, faster zooming and panning as well as faster tilting. Nokia have worked with local Yellow pages companies like Telegate in Germany and Cityvox in France as well as their partners from Michelin and Lonely Planet to increase the Ovi Maps points interest database size.
And in an attempt to make their devices an even better replacement for standalone SatNav units Nokia started shipping the N97, N97 mini, X6 and 6710 Navigator phones with a car holder and a car charger in box. The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, 5230, E52 and will too get the car holder treatment but will miss out on the charger thingy.
And best of all, Ovi Maps data now includes additional 2 million kilometres of road: it now covers 77 countries throughout the world. Read more »
The Android v2.2 is still awaiting its official premiere but, reportedly, its successor is already in the works and is expected to become available sometime in the last quarter of the year.
One of the major announcements at the Google I/O developers event is the new open web video format called WebM. Based on the VP8 video codec and Ogg Vorbis audio codec, WebM should be optimized well enough to allow playback even on mobile phones, tablets and netbooks.
WebM is an open-source format that will be licensed for free so it should provide a nice alternative to the H.264. Read more »
While we never experienced this with our review units, there are plenty of Andriod handsets owners who claim that their batteries cannot last even a day on a single charge. One of Google co-founders Larry Page, however, denied that this has anything to do with the OS and claimed that there is something wrong with the third-party software installed on the devices experiencing such problems.
The Android OS development continues to amaze the mobile world – more than 10 thousand applications joined the Android market last month alone and about 12 000 more are expected in May. However the main weakness of the platform developed by the Open Handset Alliance remains its fragmentation.
Adobe and Apple won’t stop at anything to prove each other wrong and now Adobe have found a valuable ally in Google and their Android OS. As we are expecting Google’s announcement of Flash-flaunting Android 2.2 (Froyo) tomorrow, Adobe have already prepared a list of Flash-enabled websites to demonstrate the new Flash prowess Nexus one and Motorola DROID will get as soon as they update to Android 2.2.
It’s no secret that the Ovi store is losing the application count battle big time but Nokia are doing everything they can to fix that. This year’s “Calling All Innovators” developer’s contest will give away almost 400 000 US dollars in cash prizes to the best applications.
Google is watching you, every email, every web search. And, apparently, it’s also snooping on your Wi-Fi network. As it turns out, Google has been collecting the information sent over many non-password-protected Wi-Fi networks during their Street View tours. And that’s been going on for years!
Up until now I thought of the Street View as of a remarkable idea. Actually, even now, after this disturbing news, I think it’s Google Maps’ greatest feature. But what is that spying obsession?
With the Google I/O Developer Event coming in less than a week (19 May), the world is already getting ready for some major announcements. And just so happens that Google placed a giant statue of Frozen Yogurt in their backyard. You know, right next to the giant Cupcake, Donut and Éclair.
Jeez, I wonder what could it be that Google have in store for us?
Windows Mobile 6.5 users got a free upgrade to Office Mobile 2010 just a couple of days ago and the first previews of the software have already hit the Internet. Looking at the screenshots though, it’s hard to tell what they’ve changed – it looks the same…
Ars Technica has put together a quick preview of Office Mobile 2010 and have found that when editing documents, a stylus is still more accurate than a finger. The upgrade brings new versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote and adds the SharePoint Workspace application. Read more »
HTC has postponed the Hero update several times for the past few months. It’s now targeting June for international release of the Hero Éclair update across all Europe.
Propaganda is a powerful weapon in war, they say, and both parties in the Adobe vs. Apple conflict don’t hesitate to use it. Today it’s Adobe’s turn to strike as they launched a full-fledged ad campaign against their Flash’s new arch enemy.
HTC EVO 4G LTE dropped by, here’s the video
Beast wars: Samsung Galaxy S III takes on the HTC One X and the Galaxy Nexus
Samsung Galaxy S III lands in our office for a hands-on
HTC One S for T-Mobile hands-on
Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III hands-on and S Beam demo videos are here