Symbian posts

Spotify music service comes to Nokia phones, North American users still screwed

by Jay Hathaway Nov 23rd 2009

I admit it, European Download Squad readers: I'm jealous of you. My friends in London and Paris are swapping Spotify playlists like crazy, and we Americans and our brothers to the north still don't have access to this awesome music service. Heck, it doesn't even take a fancy phone to use Spotify in Europe anymore: it's just arrived on Nokia's Symbian phones.

This is a huge move for Spotify, which already has iPhone and Android apps. Nokia phones are extremely popular in the lucky parts of the world where Spotify is available, and supporting such a wide range of devices allows Spotify to look down its nose at passé walled gardens like iTunes. When Spotify comes to North America - sometime next year, but not soon enough! - it'll face competition on the iPhone, but I don't see a clear rival on Android or Symbian devices.

Do you? What will be your mobile music app of choice for 2010?

Tags: mobile, music, nokia, spotify, symbian

Filed under: Audio, Symbian, Mobile

Spotify Mobile S60 client previewed on video

by Paul O'Brien Sep 16th 2009

Hot on the heels of the release of their Android and iPhone clients, online music streaming service Spotify have posted a preview video of their forthcoming S60 client on their blog.

Aimed at Premium subscribers in the handful of European countries that Spotify currently supports, the application appears to support all of the features available in the existing mobile offerings and is a nod to Spotify's mission to support the largest possible mobile userbase - we'd like to see a Windows Mobile client next please!

Spotify is yet to make clear it's intentions with regards to launching in the US, however such a move seems highly likely provided the appropriate deal can be cut with the labels.

Tags: nokia, s60, spotify, symbian

Filed under: Windows Mobile, Symbian, BlackBerry, Mobile, Android

Moving to Android? Sprite Migrate makes it easy.

by Paul O'Brien Sep 10th 2009

Many of us change our phones regularly.

The phone world moves on quickly and with carrier subsidies, upgrading to a new device is often cheap or even free, particularly in Europe. While physically transferring your phone number to the new device is usually as simple as swapping in a new SIM card or getting the device activated by the carrier, migrating data can sometimes be a real chore - particularly if you're switching to a different type of phone.

With the arrival of Android in the Smartphone space and it's continuing growth, this is a pain point that is being felt by many users who are switching to Google's new baby from other Operating Systems such as Microsoft's Windows Mobile, Nokia's Symbian OS or RIM's Blackberry OS. Thankfully, there is a solution if you are in one of these camps!

Sprite Software, makers of 'Sprite Backup' have just released a Beta version of their 'Sprite Migrate' tool into the Android Market as a free download. Sprite have a very good reputation in the mobile space, and rightly so. Their products are relied on by millions of users worldwide, shipped by carriers on a number of devices and Sprite certainly have a glowing pedigree!

Sprite Software was founded in 2001 by two former employees of Binary Research, developers of the well known Ghost software that was sold to Symantec in 1998. Any computer technician that has been in the business a few years will tell you how vital Ghost was to their toolkit, and how infallible it was!

How well does it work? For me and my test device, it did exactly what it said it would... everything made it across intact!

Tags: android, backup, blackberry, migrate, sprite, sprite migrate, SpriteMigrate, symbian, windows mobile, WindowsMobile

Filed under: OS Updates, Symbian, Mobile

Next Gen Symbian platform won't run S60 apps

by Brad Linder Aug 7th 2009

The Symbian Foundation is looking ahead toward the next few generations of the mobile operating system. And according to the Foundation's David Wood, the group plans to replace the S60's Avkon API with Qt when Symbian^4 is released in late 2010. In other words, applications that are designed to run on today's S60 devices probably won't run on future Symbian phones.

Of course, Palm also broke backward compatibility when the company launched the new WebOS featured on the Palm Pre. But the company decided to partner with a third party to build an emulator that would allow WebOS users to run older Palm apps. Perhaps we'll see an S60 emulator for Symbian^4 one day?

[via Engadget Mobile]

Tags: s60, symbian, symbian4

Filed under: Symbian, Mobile

App Stores for everyone: Symbian jumps on the bandwagon

by Brad Linder Jul 16th 2009

Symbian is the latest company to announce plans to launch a mobile app store... sort of. What Symbian is actually expected to announced today is more of an App Store platform that will allow developers to market and sell their applications through a variety of stores including Nokia's recently launched Ovi store.

Nearly half of the world's smartphones run the Symbian operating system, but a relatively small portion of US customers have Symbian-based phones. And while there are app stores for BlackBerry, iPhone, Google Android, and Windows Mobile phones, which make it easy for users to download and install applications directly on their devices, Symbian users (with the exception of Nokia owners) have been left out in the cold.

Symbian isn't looking to profit directly from its app store platform. It won't be taking a cut of profits from developers. Rather, the idea is to encourage developers to write programs for the platform to help keep Symbian competitive, although with Symbian's global smartphone marketshare hovering around 49 percent, this sounds like more of a long term goal than a short term one.

Tags: app-store, symbian

Filed under: Symbian, Mobile

Nokia Ovi mobile app store goes live... and crashes

by Brad Linder May 26th 2009

Nokia opened the doors to its Ovi Store today. The Ovi Store is Nokia's answer to the iPhone App Store, and it provides access to 20,000 programs that you can download and install on a number of Nokia phones running the latest Symbian operating system. Or at least it's supposed to. Because for much of the morning, the Ovi Store has been unreachable.

Here's how it's supposed to work. Users with more than 50 different Nokia devices should be able to download an Ovi Store app onto their phones and use it to browse, download, and purchase software. You should also be able to visit the Ovi Store with a web browser at store.ovi.com.

But TechCrunch reports that the web site has been going offline intermittently for hours, and some applications that were available earlier this morning are no longer available now. A number of Engadget readers have left comments saying they can't even download the Ovi Store application anymore. And even if you do manage to get the store installed on your phone, All About Symbian reports that the experience leaves a lot to be desired, thanks to confusing navigation and slow page load times.

Tags: nokia, nokia-ovi-store, ovi-store, symbian

Filed under: OS Updates, Symbian, Mobile

Symbian moves to a 6 month release schedule

by Brad Linder Mar 13th 2009

The Symbian Foundation is planning to move to twice a year release schedule, which means user -- and more importantly, cellphone makers -- will be able to plan for updates. The Symbian operating system is found on millions of cellphones.

Symbian won't be the first operating system to be released on a regular schedule, as opposed to "when it's ready." The folks at Canonical have been releasing a new version of Ubuntu Linux every six months for the last few years. It's true, that not every new build is loaded with dramatic changes from earlier versions. But that's a good thing. Can you imagine using a cellphone or desktop operating system that launched an entirely new interface every six months? There's a reason Windows has been using some form of the Start Menu for years, while Apple has adopted the Dock. It makes the learning curve a lot simpler when users simply have to get used to minor tweaks and changes and not a whole new paradigm.

That's not to say that Symbian, Canonical, or any other groups putting out software on a regular schedule won't occasionally have releases that proide a major shakeup. Those are important too. But when you're shooting for a six month release schedule, the most important thing is to make sure that all the features work by the time a new version is unleashed on the public.

[via Techmeme]

Tags: release-schedule, symbian

Filed under: Fun, Internet, Weird Wednesday

Weird Wednesday: Windows 3.11 on a phone, gaming by brain waves

by Lee Mathews Feb 25th 2009

This morning, Brad wrote about one enterprising individual's success with getting lightweight Linux window managers running on an Android handset.

That's cool and all, but a user at Polish site FrazPC has taken things to a whole new level of nerdiness. His project: getting Windows 3.11 to run on the Symbian-powered Nokia N95 (link to site via Google Translate). Sure, the graphics look better on the Android hacks, but there's something cool about seeing the OS from my family's first non-Commodore PC running on a cell phone. At last you'll be able to bask in the horror of Hot Dog Stand conveniently, no matter where you are!

Speaking of which, there's retina-burning rendition you can see at Hot Dog Stand Tribute. Sadly (or perhaps not so much), the Windows XP theme download isn't working.

In another flashback - this time to something a bit more recent, remember Vic's item about software that records your dreams? How about a piece of hardware you can buy right now that can pull off headshots using the power of your brain? If you haven't seen OCZ's Neural Impulse Actuator, it's a whole lotta crazy.

You can check out a video of its creator utilizing the device in a head-to-head combat on G4. Sure, he gets schooled, but that hardly takes away from the cool factor. I'm not certain I want my brain controlling my computer directly just yet. I'm a tad worried about possible detriment due to random, misguided thoughts.

Tags: mind-control, nokia, ocz-nia, symbian, weird-wednesday, windows-311

Filed under: Symbian, Palm, Commercial, Mobile

Run PalmOS apps on Symbian with StyleTap

by Brad Linder Jan 16th 2009

While we're still waiting to find out whether StyleTap will bring its PalmOS emulation software to the new Palm Pre, the company has officially launched a utility for Symbian S60 series phones that allows users to run thousands of Palm applications.

The Symbian version of StyleTap has been in closed beta for a few months. The company says the program supports more than 30,000 apps designed to run on PalmOS devices. There's also a version of the program for Windows Mobile phones and PDAs.

StyleTap is available as a 14 day free trial so you can find out whether your favorite Palm apps work. A full license will set you back $49.95, which may seem like a lot of money, but it's much cheaper than purchasing a spare Palm III to carry around in your pocket in addition to your phone.

[via Palm InfoCenter and Symbian Guru]

Tags: emulation, palmos, s60, styletap, symbian

Filed under: Symbian, Mozilla, Browsers, Mobile

Firefox Mobile for Symbian coming in 2009

by Brad Linder Dec 16th 2008

The team working on the mobile version of Firefox has been primarily focused on developing the browser for Linux and Windows Mobile devices so far. But around 50% of all the Smartphones in the world actually run the Symbian mobile operating system. So it should come as no surprise that Mozilla is also working on a version for Symbian phones.

The plan is to have a working browser by the end of April, 2009 although there's no official release date for a beta version just yet. Of course, since the browser an open source project, I wouldn't be surprised if Symbian users were able to download and test early builds as soon as February when the roadmap predicts "basic/limited browsing" fucntionality.

[via Gizmodo]

Tags: fennec, firefox, firefox-mobile, symbian

Filed under: Video, Windows Mobile, Symbian, Web services, iPhone

Mobile carriers worst nightmare has come true, thanks to Qik

by Joey Celis Jul 7th 2008

Live video streaming from your mobile phone is probably a mobile carrier worst nightmare simply because the amount of bandwidth video consumes. And leading that nightmare is Qik.

Simply put, Qik takes your mobile phone's built in video camera and transforms it into a webcam that connects to the Qik site where it will host live feeds of your video, as it happens. That's right, people can now watch you make a fool of yourself anywhere you go.

We were able to test the Qik service on our 3G connected Windows Mobile phone. The installation was quick and only required a few SMS messages be sent back and forth to authorize our account. Once configured just launch the application and your video will automatically appear on the Qik website. Video quality is acceptable and we only experienced slight delays due in part to our mobile connection and location.

Once you end your transmission the live video is then archived to the site for later viewing. Of course like any good site, they offer 2 different privacy settings for your feeds, public and private. At least this way not everyone in the world can see that you haven't cleaned up your room.

Currently in alpha, Qik supports a handful of Windows Mobile and Symbian phones with iPhone testing starting soon. We hope that future updates to the service will also include the ability to adjust video size and image quality. They do recommend an unlimited data plan and in the few days that we used the service we would also recommend it as well.

Tags: iphone, mobile, mobile video, mobilephone, MobileVideo, symbian, windows mobile, WindowsMobile

Filed under: OS Updates, Symbian, Open Source, Mobile Minute

Nokia buys out Symbian, announces platform to go open source

by Brad Linder Jun 24th 2008

Nokia has announced that it is buying out the 52 percent of Symbian that it didn't already own and opening up the platform. Nokia and a number of other companies including AT&T, LG, and Samsung have also announced the creation of the Symbian Foundation.

Now, open source software is great for developers because it mean that anyone can easily look at the code, tweak it, and write applications designed to run well on the platform. But ther's also a huge benefit for telecom companies. Nokia will provide access to the Symbian OS royalty-free to members of the Symbian Foundation. And anyone can join the foundation for a nominal $1500 annual fee.

Symbian currently has about 60 percent of the mobile browser market share. The move to make the platform open source should help Nokia and Symbian maintain that lead in the face of challenges from the LiMo Foundation and Google's Linux-based Android platform.

[via OStatic]

Tags: nokia, open-source, symbian, symbian-os

Filed under: Utilities, Symbian, Palm, Commercial, iPhone

StyleTap PalmOS emulator coming to Symbian, maybe iPhone

by Brad Linder Apr 11th 2008

StyleTap is an application that lets you run PalmOS software on Windows Mobile devices. The company has been working on a Symbian version of StyleTap since last year, and is now looking for beta testers. The test will begin on May 12th, and users can sign up by sending an email to StyleTap asking to be part of the beta.

In other news, while the company hasn't exactly committed to releasing a version of StyleTap for the iPhone, it's looking more and more likely that we'll see an official version at some point. In February, the team posted a video demonstrating an experimental version of StyleTap running on an iPhone. This was before Apple released the iPhone SDK, so the team obviously had to Jailbreak an iPhone to get the software running.

Now that the SDK is available, an official version could be in the works, but according to the StyleTap blog, developing the application isn't quite as easy as you might think, thanks to some "legal roadblocks." So StyleTap is asking anyone who'd be willing to pay for software that lets you run Palm apps on an iPhone to let Apple know.

[via jkOnTheRun]

Tags: iphone, sdk, styletap, symbian

Filed under: Windows Mobile, Symbian, Palm

Windows use is growing quickly on mobile phones

by Chris Gilmer Oct 23rd 2006

In the world of smart phones, it seems like good old Microsoft is seeing some fast growth rates. The current numbers, according to Microsoft's Mobile and Embedded Devices division, were at 6 million last year, with hopes that they can double usage for this year. The biggest taker in the market is currently Nokia, who runs Symbian on their smart phones allowing for software that runs email, mobile TV, and games. The leading device in the smart phone arena is of course, the Blackberry, whose usage also hits the 6 million mark. Microsoft has a lot to contend with considering Blackberry plans to double its users every single year. I think there is certainly room for all four major players [including Palm] in the marketplace, but it really does make it that much harder to decide which devices to purchase and run software off.

What do you think, who has your vote? Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Palm OS, or Symbian?

Tags: blackberry, microsoft, mobile, nokia, palm, palm os, PalmOs, smart phone, SmartPhone, symbian, windows, windows mobile, WindowsMobile

Filed under: Fun, Games, Windows, Windows Mobile, Symbian, Freeware, Time-Wasters

S-TRIS 2 Tetris clone - Today's Time Waster

by Jason Clarke Oct 16th 2006

Tetris clones are a dime a dozen, but S-TRIS 2 is unique in two ways. One, it's free, and two, it's damn good. I found and tested it on my Pocket PC, but it turns out that S-TRIS 2 is available for a number of platforms, including Win32 (Windows), GP2X, Pocket PC, Smartphone, and Symbian. How cool is that?

In terms of game play value, S-TRIS 2 is right up there. The visuals are clean, quick and smooth, the sound effects are solid, and the controls feel responsive. It's a simple matter to remap the controls if you prefer a different layout - for example, I like to have the "fast drop" button be the center button on my keypad, and it took me all of about 15 seconds to make that happen. The game gracefully pauses if you have to turn the power off on your device, and starts up and shuts down relatively quickly.

S-TRIS 2 is definitely a keeper on my Pocket PC.

Tags: Game, GP2X, Pocket PC, PocketPc, S-TRIS 2, S-tris2, Smartphone, Symbian, Tetris, Windows

The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

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