TECHNICAL INFO

Thursday 30 June 2011

Symbian 3.2 and 5.0 get a browser and navigation update

Nowadays taking care of its latest smartphones is mandatory for every manufacturer with any kind of long term ambitions. However releasing an update for three-year old smartphones, ranging from entry level phones to former high-enders, and showing their owners that they aren't forgotten should certainly earn Nokia some bonus points.

The Finnish company just announced through their blog that they will be releasing an update for their Symbian 3.2 and 5.0 platforms. There's a whole bunch of handsets running those - check out the lengthy list:
Nokia E72
Nokia E52
Nokia E5
Nokia C5-00
Nokia 6700 slide
Nokia C6-00
Nokia C5-03
Nokia 5230
Nokia 5235
Nokia 5250
Nokia X6
Nokia N97 mini
Nokia 5800 XpressMusic
Nokia 5530 XpressMusic
Nokia 5530 XpressMusic

The update will bring the new Nokia browser v7.3 to the aging phones, which should significantly improve their browsing experience. This is the same browser that owners of newer Symbian phones will get when the Anna update is released. The benefits of the new browser include improved performance, support for International Domain Names (IDNs) and also supports non-ASCII letters such as Arabic or Chinese.

The other major feature of the firmware update is the updated Ovi Maps app. The software offering free voice-guided navigation will go to version Ovi Maps 3 SR4 on Symbian 3.2 devices, bringing indoor positioning through WiFi, as well as travel and recommendation services such as those through Lonely Planet. Those with Symbian 5.0 devices will get Ovi Maps 3 SR6, adding public transport lines and check-in services to social networking sites.

The final good bit about this update is the addition of a set of emoticons to the listed devices, which can be used when sending MMS.

Nokia C6-00 and Nokia 5230 are already eligible for the update, while the rest of the smartphones will get it in the next few weeks. So make sure you have the software update autocheck switched on in your phone.

Nokia X7-00 review: The stealth xpress

Introduction

Dressed to kill and with a fresh coat of paint on the interface, the Nokia X7 is keen to show there's still fight left in Symbian. The screen is a definite high point and the stainless steel body is fashioned like a stealth jet fighter. Symbian Anna adds in features that have been lacking in the OS, closing the gap on the competition.

The Nokia X7 combines stainless steel and Gorilla glass into one seriously attractive package. It boasts stereo speakers (just two, rather than four as you might think looking at it) to justify its Xseries spot and an 8MP camera with 720p video recording.

The screen impressed us quite a bit as you'll see in our hardware chapter but that's not all we liked about the hardware. The software changes are not as far-reaching as we would have liked, but there are some key developments that that give Symbian a usability boost.

Here's the short version of what the Nokia X7 is about and what didn’t work out very well.

Key features

Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
Penta-band 3G with 10.2 Mbps HSDPA and 2 Mbps HSUPA support
Stainless steel body 4" 16M-color AMOLED capacitive touchscreen of 640 x 360 pixel resolution; Impressive brightness and Gorilla glass protection
8 megapixel fixed-focus camera with dual-LED flash and 720p video @ 25fps recording; geotagging, face detection, smart zoom in video
Symbian Anna OS
680 MHz ARM 11 CPU and 256 MB RAM
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
GPS receiver with A-GPS support and free lifetime voice-guided navigation
Digital compass
microSD card slot (8GB card pre-installed)
DivX and XviD video support
Built-in accelerometer and proximity sensor
Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
Stereo FM Radio with RDS
microUSB port
Flash and Java support for the web browser
Stereo Bluetooth 3.0
Excellent audio quality
Smart dialing and voice commands
Social networking integration

Main disadvantages
Symbian Anna is still catching up with Android and iOS
Uncomfortable volume rocker, SIM tray and microSD card slot
Camera lacks auto focus, oversharpens images
Relatively limited 3rd party software availability
No office document editing (without a paid upgrade)
Battery life is not on par with the best in business

Android Facebook update brings video uploads

The official Facebook app for Android has been updated to version 1.6, bringing with it the much-awaited option to upload videos directly from the app.

Fandroids can now share hilarious videos of their pets (and chums) just as easily as they can with photos of said pets and friends by simply tapping the camera icon next to the status update bar, followed by ‘Video’ to choose the clip they wish to unleash on the interwebs.

Neat, huh? Well, the good news is that there’s more. Now if you click on a link to a Facebook page from the news feed, it opens the page within the app itself instead of launching the Android web browser, thus saving valuable time for the busy social bees amongst you.

That’s about it. It’s pretty tiny update so there’s not much else to say really. It’s a manual download by the way, so it won’t install on its own if you thought wizardry was somehow back in fashion.

HTC Evo 3D officially confirmed for July UK launch

HTC’s first glasses-free 3D capable Evo 3D is landing in the UK next month, the phone maker has confirmed.

The handset is the second with 3D media smarts to land in Blighty after the LG Optimus 3D. LG’s kit, which like HTC’s effort runs Android, finally went on sale last week some five months after it was first unveiled back in February.

Features of the Evo 3D include dual five-megapixel cameras to allow you to capture footage in freaky three dimensions, 3D playback on the 4.3-inch qHD screen with images that HTC claims “shimmer and dance with depth”. Of course, users can also still view footage in standard 2D high def.

Elsewhere, it’s home to a 1.2-gigahertz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor to keep everything ticking over super smoothly and the latest 2.3.4 version of Android (AKA Gingerbread) overlaid with the new 3.0 iteration of HTC’s Sense custom skin.

To ensure you’ve got plenty enough space for all your apps and videos, the Evo 3D offers microSD card support to allow you to expand its memory by up to 32GB.

UK carriers have yet to be confirmed, however, earlier reports suggested that Vodafone is on board already. Pricing is anyone’s guess right now, but we’d anticipate you’ll be grab it free from around £35 per month.

Nokia N950 teardown reveals a 12 megapixel camera

It seems FCC has gotten their hands on the developer exclusive Nokia N950 and they have managed to tear it apart and expose its internals for the camera, which has led to a rather interesting discovery.

It seems that the N950 is rocking a 12 megapixel sensor, unlike the 8 megapixel unit on the N9. Although Nokia did say it will be different they forgot to mention it will be better than the camera on the N9, even though the N950 is a developer device.Other interesting things that surfaced from the teardown are that the N950 has an LCD instead of an AMOLED display and a smaller 1320mAh battery compared to the 1450mAh battery on the N9, which would be fine for a developer handset.

Nokia N5 images leaks, powered by updated Symbian Anna

We have got our hands on some exclusive pictures of the upcoming Nokia N5. The device is based on an updated version of Symbian Anna, as can be seen from the revised interface and looks a lot like Harmattan on the N9.

The N5 will be available in black and white colored versions, with the white colored model having a lime green rear. On the front you can see the touchscreen display, which looks like it could be around 3.2-inch in size and call, end and menu buttons below it. The right side has the volume control and camera shutter buttons while the left side is left blank. On the back is a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash and a loudspeaker below.

The source has confirmed that the N5 will be followed by N6 and N7, possibly with larger displays and higher resolution cameras. These phones will quite possibly replace Nokia’s current low-end Symbian touchscreen smartphones, which are still running on the archaic Symbian S60 5th Edition.

No more information is available on these at the moment but we will keep you posted.

Nokia will not return to MeeGo even if N9 turns out to be a hit, says Stephen Elop

Nokia announced the MeeGo-based N9 smartphone last week and so far it has received nothing but praise from everyone who used the phone. Even in our short stint with the phone, we were blown away by the design, build, display and the interface of the phone and are aching to spend more time with it.

You’d think after receiving such positive response Nokia would give more attention to MeeGo, which is partly the reason why the N9 got such a fantastic response in the first place. But it seems Nokia doesn’t want anything to do with MeeGo anymore.

In an interview with Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop confirmed that even if the N9 proves to be a massive success, there is no returning to MeeGo for Nokia. Nokia instead will be betting everything on Windows Phone 7 platform and Elop is confident that it will be well received.

Be that as it may, I personally think it would be foolish to abandon MeeGo completely. From what I have seen so far, people are now far more interested in the N9 than their Windows Phone 7 devices, that too without having used the device. But then again, a halfhearted support from the manufacturer won’t do MeeGo any good either. If they launch just a handful of devices then MeeGo would find itself in the same situation that bada and webOS is in today.

So in a way it is good that Nokia is supporting Windows Phone 7 completely. That way the platform will grow, which will be a good thing for its users as well as the developers. Still it’s sad to know that that sexy interface on the N9 will probably be never seen on any device again.