Author Archive

Phillip Schwarzmann of Nokia Conversations gives us a peek behind the scenes at this years CES show in Las Vegas, in the video below, he talks with Holly Cannatelli about the setting up process, and what work goes on behind the scenes with the run up to the event going live. 

Holly states, that even though it looks a little hectic there, they were actually ahead of schedule with setting all of the booths up.  She also mentions that this years show is more about Nokia, and Ovi Services rather than devices.  Checkout the video below.

Fresh from JBC of Nokia Conversations in Las Vegas at this years CES show, is the launch of a brand new, free game in Ovi Store.  Not just any game either, this is a game with true meaning. 

Based on a map of the world, the game will take you to different countries, highlighting how the local populations handle such things as recycling, farming, and their particular methods.  The game is available now to download for free from the Ovi Store for the Nokia N97, N97 mini, 5320 and the Nokia X6.

We might not be at CES in Las Vegas, but the Nokia Conversations team are, and they are covering the event with updates via twitter, and the Official Nokia blog, Nokia Conversations.  Earlier today, they let us know about a really cool concept, a game that is headed for Ovi Store very soon, but this is a game like no other.  We may of seen the last of N-Gage, but we ain’t seen the last of gaming developement from Nokia.!

Ovi Maps Racing, lets you create your very own racing tracks wherever you may be, and then race against your friends with real live navigation statuses.  Choose anywhere around the world in fact using Ovi Maps, and then customise your racing tracks. Checkout the video demo below, and keep your eyes peeled on Ovi Store for Ovi Maps Racing availability. 

Thanks to e’s Phoneblog, we have come to know about a minor firmware update for the Nokia E75 which become available just last week.. 

V202.12.01 – This software release includes improvements in overall performance, notably in the e-mail and calendar applications. With this release, large numbers of contacts can be handled more easily. This release also allows for faster Internet browsing, zooming and smoother with an automatic full screen mode.

To get this software through your device, type in * # 0000 # on the home screen or go to Device Manager. Select Options> Check for updates and follow the on-screen prompts. Additionally this software release is available through the Nokia Software Updater: www.nokia.com / softwareupdates.

This is a minor update, but fixes a few bugs, and has improved performance in the use of e-mail, calendar, address book and the web.

As usual, you can upgrade via NSU (Nokia Software Updater), it is recommended to make a backup before proceeding updating.

If you are always having to look around for a good language translation service online, you may be familar with Bablefish from Yahoo, and of course, Google.  Well now, if you have an N900, there is a realy simple solution, which comes in a very easy to use application called gTranslate, a Google translator application. 

This is actually only available currently in Extras devel, which indicates its currently not quite ready for primetime usage, but it should be available for all pretty soon.

Once downloaded, and installed on your N900, simply launch gTranslate, and then configure your input language, then your choice, and output language preference.  In the screenshot below, I chose English, as the input language, and Finnish as my output language.  Then its a simple couple of steps to translate any word, or sentence using the buttons below the main text area.  You can even copy, and paste your output translationed words, and paste them into say, IM, twitter etc.

gTranslate was created by Tuomas Siipola, and will no doubt be improved further in the coming weeks, as at the moment, there are some preferences that have been requested, for example, each time you launch the app, it reverts back to no languages chosen, whereas in an update, it will keep your last chosen presets. Expect gTranslate to show up in your download catalogue pretty soon. 

Yesterday on Twitter, The Symbian Foundation’s Official twitter account updated all of their followers telling them of a new Run Webtime Widget available for many S60 devices.  I was quick to try it out for myself, and found it really useful, although quite basic at the moment, so here’s hoping it will be more polished in an upcoming update.

Wikipedia Reader Widget is a Web Runtime application that allows reading Wikipedia pages in a format appropriate for small screens.

Installation

1. Get the widget from File:Wikipedia.wgz
2. Upload the Wikipedia.wgz file to your phone (e.g. by sending over Bluetooth)
3. Open the .wgz file by clicking or tapping, and proceed with installation
4. After installation, the application icon can be found in the “Applications” or “Installations” folder depending on phone model

For detailed installation instructions see How to get an app to the phone.

Remember that great application from Nokia called Nokia Image Exchange? It started out quite a while ago now, and restricted to S60 3rd Edition handsets. 

Its now being shown off working on a touch screen device, the X6, which can only mean one thing, Nokia Image Exchange is finally heading to S60 5th Edition devices. Checkout the video demo below.  

Nokia Image Exchange is an experimental imaging service for Nokia mobile phones. It is meant to be as convenient and effortless as possible.

With Image Exchange you can share images with your friends. It also makes your images easily available in its web interface to be viewed on a PC or downloaded. For more information, take the tour.

When connected, Nokia Image Exchange generates data traffic between the mobile phone and the service. The traffic costs depend on your network operator and data plan.

To download Nokia Image Exchange for Touch devices such as the N97, click here, for non touch, click here. Please take into account though, that this release is a pre(beta) version, so may not work as its supposed to.

Thanks to our Nokiausers forum member buxz777 for the heads up on this update for Mobbler, the Last.fm Music Scrobbler for your Symbian powered handset.  This latest release is v0.08.(237), and brings some extra functionality to your Mobbler usage, the most prominent extra feature is the Google Maps integration, where when you launch Google Maps whilst listening to your tunes, it will localize, and notify you of any Music events that maybe nearby.

Its a shame that the Mobbler team didn’t take advantage of Apps on Maps however, and use Ovi Maps which is already installed on millions of Symbian Smartphones.

Mobbler Changelog….

* Open a map in Google Maps (if installed) for an event location
* Can now view a list of queued scrobbles through the Tools menu, and delete unwanted scrobbles
* Open a QR Code to let friends download Mobbler
* Now dowloads avatars in shoutboxes
* Radio now works on Nokia E52 and E72 (disabled equaliser for these devices)
* mobblerhelper.sis is no longer needed for 3.0 phones
* Some minor defect fixes

To download this latest version, either launch Mobbler (if installed), and you will be notified of the newer version, or if you prefer to download to your PC/Laptop, and transfer to your smartphone, click here.

Best Screensnap V1.0 was a good screenshot tool, but most of you who have used this first version with a S60 5th Edition device would of noticed the annoying orientation launched bug.  Basically, if you launched Screensnap in landscape mode, only screenshots could be captured in landscape, and the same with portrait, launch in portrait, and then if you tried to capture a screenshot in landscape, the captured screenshot would be incomplete. 

Well Smartphoneware, the team behind Best Screensnap have recently released an update, bringing the bestscreensnap app to v2, fixing this annoying bug.  Best of all too, is this application does not require signing, so you can simply download, and install straight to your compatible device, and your ready to start grabbing screenshots to share.

With Best ScreenSnap you can capture screenshots on your smartphone, save them to a file or send them to friends or to your desktop computer.

Best ScreenSnap is FREE! You can download and use it absolutely free of charge. No spyware or adware inside.

Features include:

    * Configurable hotkey to make a screenshot.
    * Sound notification after taking screenshot
    * Supports true colour BMP, 256 colour BMP, and JPG
    * Ability to send image via Bluetooth, Infrared, MMS or email.
    * Auto-generated image name.
    * Ability to set up where to save screenshots.

To download Screensnap v2.0 .sisx file directly to your smartphone, click here. If you wish to download the .zip file to your computer, and then transfer to your device, click here.

How to install

    * You can download .SIS or .SISX (installation file) file to your mobile and execute it to start installation of the application.

    * You can download the file to your desktop PC. Then connect PC to your phone and transfer the installation file. Execute it to start installation. If you selected to download .zip file you should unzip it first.

    * You can download the file to your desktop PC and just execute it to start installation of the application on your phone if you have Nokia PC Suite installed.

Compatible devices: Nokia 5230, Nokia 5530 XpressMusic, Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, Nokia 5800 Navigation ed., Nokia 5800i XpressMusic, Nokia N97, Nokia N97 mini, Nokia X6, Samsung i8910 Omnia HD, Sony Ericsson Satio

Offscreen have done it once again, and released a simple, yet very addictive game for your Symbian device.  Its free too.! There are ten levels to complete, and these consist of electrial conductors, which you have to move about the screen, getting them lined up perfectly, as to illuminate the light bulbs which are randomly placed on the screen. 

The first few levels are quite easy, however, the further you go, the harder it gets, and then you realise its also a thinking game too.  You can download Electric Beams for free from The Ovi Store here, or directly here.  I have been playing around with for the last twenty minutes or so, and can confirm it is indeed quite addictive.

Beam up! Play a retro-style laser beam game on your touch device! The objective is to arrange the electric beams in the manner that all the beams pass through all vacuum tubes on the game board. Clear all ten levels.