All About Symbian - news, reviews and software for Symbian and S60 phones (via Mowser)

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Review: Crystal Mountain

Keeping up their very high standard, the programmers at Arctica have produced something quite different to their normal (excellent) arcade fare. This one combines Sokoban with Labyrinth, with a touch of Doom-style 3D. Sprinkle in ice monsters and flighty rabbits, plus some mind mangling variations and you've got yourself a 3D treat for puzzle fans.

# Posted by Steve in Reviews at 11:23 UTC, Feb 14th || Comments

Review: The Adventures of Tintin HD

Tintin, the Belgium reporter-come-adventurer, has been regularly refreshed in popular culture over the years; a case in point being the computer-enhanced “The Adventures of Tintin” movie. We recently reviewed the Java based game tie-in. However, even that game has had a refresh with this HD version. Do 3D graphics and a sumptuous John Williams soundtrack add to the original formula?

# Posted by David in Reviews at 7:26 UTC, Feb 14th || Comments

Review: Nokia 500

Following on from Rafe's introductory look, on video, at the Nokia 500, the cheapest Symbian smartphone of the modern era, I look in more detail and its form, function and performance. It's worlds away from flagships like the N8, but does it still have a place on today's phone market? And if you pick one up as a backup smartphone or for a family member, what compromises will you/they hit?

# Posted by Steve in Reviews at 7:05 UTC, Feb 13th || Comments

AAS Insight #202: Nokia Belle update arrives

In All About Symbian Insight number 202, we start with a few notes on the Nokia 500, with Steve and Rafe comparing their first impressions of the device. The major part of the podcast is devoted to the release of Nokia Belle for the N8, C7, C6-01, E7, E6 and X7. We share our experience of the update, discuss some of the initial problems and detail our personal highlights.

# Posted by Rafe in Media at 14:04 UTC, Feb 11th || Comments

How to: overcome or work around some common Belle update issues

Like most of you, I upgraded my Nokia N8 to Belle as soon as it was available. And hit a number of small (and not so small) issues. I realise that this won't cover the full scope of items that others may have run across, but hopefully some of the topics below may help somebody, from working out whether you've got new email to getting a more responsive UI.

# Posted by Steve in Features at 10:15 UTC, Feb 10th || Comments

Nokia releases API map for porting apps to Qt

Nokia has published a great resource for mobile developers who are interested in transferring their skills to Symbian apps via the Qt framework. The Nokia Developer website has published three guides for finding the Qt equivalent of API calls for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone 7. It has come late in Symbian’s life, but it is just what the developer world needed to reduce the friction in developing for this not-so-dead platform.

# Posted by David in News at 20:21 UTC, Feb 9th || Comments

Nokia Maps Suite 2.0 in Beta Labs

A beta version of Nokia Maps Suite 2.0 has been released through Nokia Beta Labs for Symbian^3 devices running Nokia Belle. The updates in this release include the addition of a photo layer to maps (displays your photos), the return of standalone route planning, improved map display in Drive, new homescreen widgets, the addition of hands-free voice search, improved coverage and integration for Public Transport, and the addition of a landscape view in Weather.

# Posted by Rafe in News at 18:21 UTC, Feb 9th || Comments

Nokia's official Belle update FAQ

Following on from our extensive story on the Symbian Nokia Belle update availability, I wanted to highlight Nokia's own, surprisingly comprehensive, Belle Update FAQ. With five major sections, covering roll out, how to update, application compatibility, music license problems and troubleshooting, there's plenty of meat in here, and most users should find an answer to their update queries.

# Posted by Steve in News at 9:06 UTC, Feb 9th || Comments

Review: LiveJournal

Symbian Bloggers are in for a treat – after having two options for WordPress, they now have a LiveJournal app too. LiveJournal is one of the original blogging platforms, and was a social network before there were social networks as we now know them. Users will be glad to hear this app is functionally equivalent to the WordPress apps, and supports specific features like LJ-Cut and other tags specific to the platform.

# Posted by David in Reviews at 7:35 UTC, Feb 9th || Comments

Nokia plans changes to its manufacturing operations

Nokia has announced planned changes at its factories in Komarom (Hungary), Reynosa (Mexico) and Salo (Finland), to "increase efficiency in smartphone production". These three factories will now focus on "smartphone product customization" and device assembly is expected to be transferred to Nokia factories in Asia, where the majority of component suppliers are based. Around 4000 employees will ultimately be lost.

# Posted by Steve in News at 9:57 UTC, Feb 8th || Comments

Review: Air Strike

We're all too familiar with the 'huge-production-budget game that plays like a turkey' - Air Strike is just the opposite, a labour of love by the developers that's clearly produced on limited resources yet has gameplay that's both insistent and addictive. Ultimately, it just falls short of mass recommendation, but that doesn't mean I didn't have a blast during my review period, blowing up enemy fighters and warships.

# Posted by Steve in Reviews at 7:02 UTC, Feb 8th || Comments

Nokia Belle update now available for N8, C7, E6, X7 and C6-01

The roll-out of Nokia Belle (i.e. Symbian Belle) for existing Symbian^3/Anna devices has started across the world, with most devices (here's the official Nokia Belle rollout status checker) getting an update via Nokia Suite to firmware v111.030. There's no OTA (over the air) update available this time because of the complexity and size of the update, which means the latest Nokia Suite on a Windows PC is required. Nokia is enabling the update, product code by product code, across the world. (Story updated again, with list of known issues).

# Posted by Steve in News at 10:22 UTC, Feb 7th || Comments

Review: FlickrUp

Flickr is the photo sharing site of choice for photography enthusiasts and professionals. Symbian users can already upload to Flickr either by email or Gravity. However, until FlickrUp came along, there was nothing available for browsing and uploading. This Nokia Belle-style Qt app is fully functional, resplendent with options, and is available for the princely sum of zero!

# Posted by David in Reviews at 7:13 UTC, Feb 7th || Comments

Review: Nokia 500 (quick look video)

In this quick look video review, we kick off our review coverage of the Nokia 500. The video covers the key hardware and design features and also includes a look at the in-box content, plus a demonstration of the device's exchangeable back covers. At €150, the Nokia 500 is the cheapest ever Symbian smartphone (when comparing launch prices).

# Posted by Rafe in Reviews at 16:06 UTC, Feb 6th || Comments

The curse of continuous auto-focus?

How's that for a controversial title? What I examine below is that there's more than one way to arrange focussing when shooting video on your smartphone - the rightly popular system of having continuous auto-focus does a good job a lot of the time but also manages to infuriate occasionally too. How bad is the problem, what are the alternatives and can I offer any tips for Symbian or Windows Phone users?

# Posted by Steve in Features at 7:16 UTC, Feb 6th || Comments

Review: Symeo

YouTube is the Web’s biggest video sharing service - which is part of its problem – there is a bewildering amount of choice. If you want to discover new content, having some sort of curation would be nice to find something entertaining for a few minutes. That’s exactly what Symeo does by providing pre-loaded channels of YouTube videos (not Vimeo as the name might suggest). Read on to see how well this version 1.0 app performs.

# Posted by David in Reviews at 14:05 UTC, Feb 5th || Comments

Camera shootout: Nokia N8 vs Apple iPhone 4S vs Samsung Galaxy S II

I've been very impressed by the technical knowhow of 'theycallthislife' and there's a new post up comparing the cameras of the Nokia N8, Apple iPhone 4S and Samsung Galaxy S II, the three best camera phones in the world right now. With good example shots that can be examined in full detail and with interesting analysis, it's well worth a ten minute read. As to the winner, let's just say that the iPhone 4S comes closer than any other contender has in the eighteen months the N8 has been available....(!)

# Posted by Steve in News at 12:26 UTC, Feb 5th || Comments

A day (still) made of glass!

Corning, the company behind the Gorilla Glass in our smartphones, has produced another of its inspirational 'here's the future' videos and, as with the original one, it's well worth watching. There are two versions of the video, actually, I've embedded the expanded one below, complete with video guide to all the (probable) tech used. Seems like touchscreens really are the new buttons? [PS. Watch out for the medical sequence - it's something we're used to seeing only in Sci-fi]

# Posted by Steve in News at 8:36 UTC, Feb 4th || Comments

AAS Insight #201: Q4, Belle and Social 1.5

In All About Symbian Insight number 201 we look forward to the release of Nokia Belle for existing Symbian handsets, with each of the team highlighting an expected benefit. We also discuss Nokia's Q4 results and device shipment numbers. Steve brings news of the addition of 360Cities to Nokia Maps, Rafe talks Social 1.5 and David shares his thoughts on CNN's Symbian application.

# Posted by Rafe in Media at 18:42 UTC, Feb 3rd || Comments

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