Nokia Users

Nokia’s Official Blog, Nokia Conversations have today let us know that The evolution of Nokia and Ovi will result in the Ovi Branding being dropped and replaced by Nokia from July this year 2011.

Starting with first services on some of the new Nokia devices in July and August, Ovi services will be rebranded as Nokia services in a transition expected to continue into 2012. Each of the services under the Ovi umbrella will simply be rebranded as Nokia, with no planned disruption to the service roadmaps.

Nokia’s EVP and Chief Marketing Officer, Jerri DeVard explains the shift:
We have made the decision to change our service branding from Ovi to Nokia. By centralizing our services identity under one brand, not two, we will reinforce the powerful master brand of Nokia and unify our brand architecture – while continuing to deliver compelling opportunities and experiences for partners and consumers alike.

Head across to Nokia Conversations for the full press release on these changes.

LinkedIn is a well known Social service for users to share their professional experiences in their line of work, build connections, and even help users change careers, and look for that new job.

Recently Nokia launched their mobile client of LinkedIn, and was created using Qt with the LinkedIn Platform, the company’s development toolkit to allow programmers to access the network from external applications.

I had a lot of difficulty installing this on my E7 due to various issues with the Qt packages I use, and to this day, i still can’t install it, but remember I do Beta test a lot of things, so this maybe isolated just to me, and few others.

N8 installation went fine however, and having had a play around with this app, I’m happy to report that it’s impressive! Very quick with a pleasant UI, and smooth User Experience, which matches the likes of the LinkedIn app on iOS, and that’s saying something.

Head across to Ovi Store to download LinkedIn for Symbian today. It’s free too!

In a brand new video posted to Youtube yesterday from Nokia, we are shown that maps.ovi.com now has the added functionality so you can now use Public Transport routing.

In this new video, we are shown this feature by way of the all new Ovi Maps 3D. Enjoy!

Nokia Beta Labs updated their Mac OSX Client of Nokia Software Updater yesterday, bringing the latest version to 3.0.400.

Support has now been added for the following devices:

• 5230 (RM-588, RM-593, RM-594, RM-629)
• E5 (RM-632, RM-634)
• E71 (RM-346, RM-357, RM-407, RM-493)
• E72-2 (RM-529)
• N97-1 (RM-506)

Known Issues

• Nokia Software Updater for Mac works only in Snow Leopard or newer operating system
• Automatic check for new phone software does not work
• Application updates are not supported
• The following devices are supported

Please remember, this is indeed a Beta release, so please help the Beta Labs team develop this client further by reporting any issues over at Beta Labs.

The blockbuster acquisition, the most expensive in Microsoft’s history comes just days after rumors surfaced in the tech world that Google and Facebook were interested in partnering with, or buying Skype, but Microsoft beat the two Giants to the punch!

Microsoft said it will use Skype to “increase the accessibility of real-time video and voice communications” across its suite of products, including Xbox and Kinect, Windows Phone and other Windows devices.

The deal gives Microsoft an immediate foothold in the VoIP world, as Skype counted 170 million users in 2010.

Skype, which launched in 2003, was acquired by eBay in 2005 for $3.1 billion; eBay then sold “the majority of its stake in 2009 to a private investment group for $1.2 billion less than it paid.”

The company generated $860 million in revenue in 2010 last year, though had an overall loss of $7 million for the year.

Microsoft said Skype will become a new business division within the company — headed by Skype CEO Tony Bates, who will report directly to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

Full Press Release

I have been fortunate to of been invited to Berlin on the 25th of this month where I will be brainstorming with the Ovi Maps team. The purpose of this is to highlight any known current issues Nokia users may have with the Ovi Maps on certain devices, but also to help better the Ovi Maps services also.

If you have experienced any issues with Ovi Maps on your device, I need you to let me know in this thread, but please include the following details…

• Nokia Device
• Device Firmware
• Version of Ovi Maps installed
• Issue experienced with Ovi Maps/Services such as Check-in etc
• How to replicate issue
• Any known remedy you use to get around the issues experienced

As mentioned above, I will be in Berlin from the 25th until the 28th of this month, so you have until the 25th to get yourself heard in this thread within our Nokiausers forums, and I will be your voice, and raise any issues you may have with Ovi Maps. You need to be a registered Nokiausers forum member in order to post in this thread.  Registration is completely free, and will only take a few minutes of your time to set up a new user account.

I will also be open to any ideas, and/or suggestions you may have on how to improve Ovi Maps and its services, including any UI & UE enhancements you feel need adding.

Look forward to hearing from you!

Latest news from Nokia Beta Labs today is that their Nokia Reader client has an update available, bringing the newest version for Symbian^3 devices. ONSP v1.1.11118 upgrade contains multiple fixes that provide improvements for Reader:

• Improvements for connectivity
• Fixes the bug that forced user to re-enter Nokia Account username and password
• Fixes the bug that caused Reader to stop from working on some devices, requiring Reader to be re-installed

These fixes are valid for Symbian^3 devices like the Nokia N8, C6-01, C7, and E7.  Try out Nokia Reader with this upgrade, and share us your opinion how Reader is working for you!

Next up, is news that Nokia Custom Dictionary has now been archived, and the Beta Labs team wishes to thank everyone who contributed to the experimental release..

Thank you all, for your support of Nokia Custom Dictionary. It will continue to be available in the Beta Labs archives using the direct link - http://betalabs.nokia.com/apps/nokia-custom-dictionary/

For all those who have requested an update for Symbian^3 devices, the application should work after your device is updated to the Symbian Anna release.

Saara over on the Ovi Blog has informed us of some impressive news. The Ovi Facebook page has reached a staggering 300,000 likes, and to celebrate, Ovi are running a challenging competition with a chance to win a Nokia N8.

To thank all our fans, we decided to run an interesting competition that is going to test your creativity and knowledge of the Ovi Store.

It’s almost summer, and the Nokia N8, with its great camera, seems like the perfect companion to go on holiday so, we want to hear from you:

Which 3 applications from the Ovi Store would you install on your Nokia N8 before going on holiday and what would you use them for?.

Head across to Ovi Blog today where you will find out everything you need to know about entering this Ovi Blog competition.

For the Nokia N73, Quickoffice Premier 5.0 is one of the best choices that could be made. It has a lot of functionality, including support for Microsoft Office 2007! It’s essentially an office suite for your mobile smartphone. Opening Word, Excel, or PowerPoint files through this software gives you near-desktop abilities and views, and the font, highlighting, and other format options stay with it. It lets you view, save, and edit documents in all the listed formats right there on your phone, and is so convenient for businesspeople on the go who might not have the time to stop by the office – or who might be hundreds or even thousands of miles away – but who still need to see that all-important document from a client.
While the software isn’t free, it’s surprisingly inexpensive based on the average cost of office software for the PC today. You can download it to your PC or you have the straight-to-phone software download option that’s becoming very popular today. Having that option means that you can get this great software anywhere you are, as long as you have your phone and the right kind of connection to receive it. Having this kind of office capabilities on your phone turns it into a mobile office and lets you accomplish so much more than you would otherwise be able to get done. Looking for themes? Check out our Nokia N73 themes section for more great deals on downloadable content!

The strength of the features – from more shortcut keys to complete graphical editing and support for complex formulas – means that you’ll never be at a loss for something to do and you’ll never be floundering around in front of that potential new client because you don’t have a document with you or don’t have the capabilities you need to make editing changes, send it somewhere else, or save it for use later. With PowerPoint you can make presentations anywhere, and you can use Excel to show others the sales numbers, the projections for the next quarter, and how your competitors appear to be doing. Overall, the Quickoffice Premier 5.0 is a highly valuable business tool that will further complement your Nokia N73 mobile phone and all of the capabilities that it already possesses when it comes to doing business around the country or around the world.