Symbian in Motion

The recently announced and now available N78 has got it’s first OTA update (11.043), which includes many fixes to Bluetooth stability, music playback, optimized camera performance and navi-scroll sensitivity.

Finally it seems progress is being made with the S60 firmware upgrade and Nokia’s upgrade systems. S60 devices have had the ability to get OTA (over the air) updates for a while now, but so far we have yet to see any for the N95, N82, N81 etc…

To get the update you need to click Menu > Tools > Utilities > Device Manager. Select Options > Check for updates and follow the on-screen prompts. Remember that you can also use Wi-Fi to download the update. This update will NOT be available via the NUS application.

With the recent announcement of Diablo for the N810 and N800 which will also support OTA updates and a more seamless firmware update procedure (something many bloggers have been ranting about for some time) much like Apple’s iPod and Mac updates (seamless) it seems Nokia is finally making progress! This is another step forward for Nokia in making their products much more user friendly and easy to use and understand. If we can get more updates and frequent updates which fix and improve small little bugs and add enhancements to our handsets I’m all for it! This is how it should be done.

Nokia Europe [via Slashphone] [arjw]

Hot on the heels of the recent purchase of Plazes, Nokia is at it again, this time with a huge scoop! In a press release and on the 10th anniversary of Symbian (coincidentally) Nokia has made an offer to buy the 52% of shares it doesn’t own of Symbian. As of yet, it has an agreement to buy 91% owned by  a combination of Sony Ericsson, Ericsson, Panasonic and Siemens at EUR 3.647 per share. The total cost of the whole purchase would be EUR 240 million ($370 million USD).

“This is a significant milestone in our software strategy” said Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, CEO of Nokia. “Symbian is already the leading open platform for mobile devices. Through this acquisition and the establishment of the Symbian Foundation, it will undisputedly be the most attractive platform for mobile innovation. This will drive the development of new and compelling, web-enabled applications to delight a new generation of consumers.”

This is another strategic move by Nokia to move the Symbian OS forward along with Nokia handsets. It’s obviously a move to ensure that moving forward Nokia also has it’s own OS and can manipulate the market whilst having full control (much like Google’s Android OS), but with Symbian already accounting for 60% of the mobile handset market, thing’s seem to be much brighter for Symbian and Nokia.

Nokia just announced the agreed acquirement of Plazes, a location based, social status sharing website. This looks like a move to integrate location based social status updates for Nokia’s GPS enabled Symbian handsets.

Members of Plazes are able to update their location through their laptop or mobile phone, and update their online presence with their current, past and future whereabouts. That way Plazes provides location-based context and real-life value when coordinating with friends, family and business partners.

With Google acquiring Jaiku a few months back, it seems Nokia is also keen to integrate live social updates and presence on their handsets for the consumer. Obviously Social updates are a the hype at the moment, with Twitter, Jaiku, Plurk, and many others flooding the internet.

The questions remain - when will we expect the first handset with this sort of live, location based social updates integrated into handsets? Who will be the first? Google or Nokia? And more importantly, who will succeed?

Full Nokia Press release

During the Nokia Virtual event, the anticipated Nokia E71 and E66 were revealed. Details of the devices have been already leaked, but this is the official specs form the Data Sheets. Key features and promotional videos can be found below.

First impressions are very positive, especially the E71 in my opinion. The white version looks absolutely awesome. Expect more info and opinions on these devices soon. Also note the E66 in white for fans of that device.

Nokia E71 Featured Specs:

Key Features

• Optimized mobile email and messaging experience with full QWERTY keyboard and pocket-size for one handed typing.
• Two customizable Home Screen views with active stand-by plug-ins and application shortcuts – fast and easy switching between e.g. business and personal modes.
• Quick access to applications with One-touch keys (Home, Calendar, Contacts, Email).
• Intelligent input with auto-completion, auto correction and learning capability ensuring fast and error-free typing.
• Nokia Calendar and Contacts for Eseries applications with improved features.
• Built-in A-GPS and Nokia Maps
• HSDPA data connection up to 3.6 Mbps for fast web browsing and downloading

Additional features

• 3.2 megapixel camera with auto-focus and flash, front camera for video calls
• Music player, Media player, Visual Radio
• Nokia MiniMap browser
• Online sharing: Share on Ovi
• Built-in mobile VPN for convenient intranet access
• Data encryption for both phone memory and microSD
• Nokia PC Internet access (via Phone as modem functionality) Email solutions
• Nokia Intellisync Wireless Email
• Mail for Exchange and other corporate server mail formats
• POP/IMAP
• 3rd party email solutions

Email solutions

• Nokia Intellisync Wireless Email
• Mail for Exchange and other corporate server mail formats
• POP/IMAP
• 3rd party email solutions

Nokia E66 featured Specs:

Key Features

• Excellent personal information management in modern slide design
• Two customizable Home Screen views with active stand-by plug-ins and application short-cuts – fast and easy switching between e.g. business and personal modes
• Turn-to-full view – switch from portrait to landscape by turning the device
• Quick access to applications with One-touch keys (Home, Calendar, Contacts, Email)
• Easy email set-up with settings wizard
• Nokia Calendar and Contacts for Eseries applications with improved features
• Built-in A-GPS and Nokia Maps
• HSDPA data connection up to 3.6 Mbps for fast web browsing and downloading

Additional features

• 3.2 megapixel camera with auto-focus and flash, front camera for video calls
• Music player, Media player, Visual Radio
• Nokia MiniMap browser
• Online sharing: Share on Ovi

Email solutions

• Nokia Intellisync Wireless Email
• Mail for Exchange and other corporate server mail formats
• POP/IMAP
• 3rd party email solutions

Some High resolution pics of the Nokia E66 and E71 below, click to see full sizes.

Nokia E66

Nokia E71

We’re really not sure that this one has any weight to it all, but word is buzzing around the Symbian blogosphere in response to an assertion that S60 may be looking to TAT to help it modernize the UI. The rumors began in a forum and so far there hasn’t been much if any evidence to support this theory, but it would certainly be in line with the direction that S60 needs to go. Not that TAT’s Kastor UI is anything overly special, but this would go a long way in showing us that Nokia does in fact know that the look and movement of S60 is a bit antiquated. If the Kastor UI does make it to the S60 platform in one way or another, expect heavy customization as the UI shown in the screenshots above (and in video below) are hardly reminiscent of Nokia’s look or feel at all. It shows a great deal of potential though; Kastor’s smooth movement and focus on movement and transitions would go a great way to modernize the user’s experience with S60. We have heard that a lot of work has been going into this area of the user experience lately, but only time will tell.

Note that the video in the post linked below is a mash up of the core Kastor UI and parts of TAT’s customized UI framework called Cascades. It is unclear if the rumor encompasses just Kastor or Cascades as well but we assume since the article makes no mention of Cascades, it was included by mistake.

What do you guys think - Can Kastor be made classy enough to be S60-worthy or is it a little to “SE” for your taste?

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(from my post on BGR)