S60.com in the SiMo Spotlight
Welcome to the first installment of a new feature that will be popping up here on Symbian in Motion from time to time called “SiMo Spotlight”. Spotlight posts will focus on things that I think think deserve some extra attention. Most Spotlight posts will focus on websites or companies that I find particularly interesting. Blogrolls are well and good but how often do you really look at a blogroll? The goal of the Spotlight series is to feature new sites and to highlight certain aspects of well-known sites that you might not know about or might not use to their fullest extent. With that, I can’t think of a better place to start than the site that is home to the talented team behind our favorite flavor of Symbian; s60.com.
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I think that most SiMo readers who have been around Symbian for some time are probably pretty familiar with s60.com. In a nutshell, this site is our gateway into the world of S60 and the minds of several of the team members behind all aspects of S60. Separated into three sections, s60.com supplies useful content to developers/manufacturers, S60 veterans and newcomers to the platform alike.
S60 in your life
The first of three main sections on the site is geared toward end users. This is a perfect first stop for new users on their way to S60 addiction. Here you’ll find general information, great freeware and payware apps and games, tips and tricks, free exclusive downloads and discount codes for registered users and the Application wishlist. I’ve discussed the wishlist here on SiMo before but it has since had a major overhaul with countless improvements.
The Application wishlist is a very useful tool for developers and end users alike. Do you feel that S60 is missing some useful functionality? This is the place to go to describe what you need. Other users can then rate your wish so that developers can browse the wishlist and see what S60 users are itching for. Do you know of an app that might already accommodate another user’s wish? You can post a link with a brief description that once moderated and approved might just make someone’s day. For example, after taking the screenshot above I posted some info and a link to scanR which allows users to take a photo with a camera phone and send the capture via fax or email. If you’re a developer and you don’t currently monitor the wish list from time to time, you really should start.
Doing business with S60
If you’re a developer, operator or manufacturer then this is the section for you. The business pages are packed full of info and reasons that you should be doing business with S60. From news, success cases and market penetration stats to operator endorsements, user experience benefits and developer tools; this section is indeed a useful first stop for businesses. Even though I’m not in any of the aforementioned groups I still keep my eye on this section to check out and press releases and even to take the S60 quiz every so often.
S60 blogs
Perhaps the most unique and recognized aspect of the s60.com site is the blogs section. Popularized by Tommi Vilkamo’s Tommi’s S60 Applications blog (now the Beta Labs blog), the S60 blogs have since drastically expanded to cover a wide variety of topics distributed amongst 17 different blogs and podcasts. Topics range tremendously from marketing and user-centric blogs like Dan Shugrue’s Consumed by S60 and Phil Schwarzmann’s See Into S60, to more focused and technical blogs such as Markus Ahonen and team’s Creating Carbide.c++ and Jukka Eklund’s Mobile Web Server Blog. For the less tech savvy crowd there is also the Smartphonin’ blog that is just starting to pick up speed and sports the tag line “The non-tech guide to doing stuff with S60 phones”.
A great aspect of the S60 Blogs is that they are edited by S60/Nokia employees. As such they really give the user a connection with Nokia that is pretty uncommon amongst similar giants. I also really like the fact that beyond the individual feeds broadcast by each blog there is also a comprehensive feed that combines all posts into one common feed. In addition, you can also subscribe to all S60 press releases through the blog section.
S60.com truly is an outstanding portal into the world of S60 through the eyes of the team behind S60. The site is quite well designed in that it is absolutely packed full of information but still well organized enough to be useful. Very useful in fact. Beyond that, it does an amazing job of connecting users to S60 and Nokia on a very personal level. Click through and enjoy exploring the site and meeting the team as they give you their points of view on the S60 world that they helped create and shape.
