We had heard from our own sources that the firmware update would be available by the end of this month but since this statement was issued publicly, we’ll run with it. According to a Nokia support forum administrator, N95 NAM (N95-3) owners will soon be able to wipe those tears off of their tired faces. The long-awaited and highly anticipated firmware update is finally going to be issued by Nokia in early June. The following statement is from the Nokia Software Update team:

Nokia is aware of consumers’ demand for a new software release, and our development teams are working to produce the new software as soon as possible. We estimate that the new software should be available early June.

Please note that your mobile service provider, operator, or carrier may not have approved the latest Nokia device firmware available. Nokia produces many different variants of each product (for different countries and languages) and not all variants will have the latest Nokia device firmware. It is our priority to update all variants as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any delay.

To say that the update has taken an incredibly long time would be an amazing understatement. While the official change log is unavailable, we can expect the new firmware to support demand paging, web runtime and all the other goodies that other N95 variants have been enjoying for a while. Sweet.

[Via Symbian-Guru]

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(from my post on BGR)

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Thanks to Gerry Moth, a man I’m loving more with each passing minute, I am in the process of trying what looks to be the first functional Last.fm player for S60. It’s called Blastfm and it was built in Python. Sure, it’s not the optimal solution but beggers can’t be choosers! The app is in beta so be kind, but it allows you to stream various Last.fm stations and that is exactly what we’ve been looking for.

The problem - so far I’m not having any luck with it at all on my N95 8GB NAM. The app crashes with a System error (-2) as soon as I hit OK after entering my Last.fm credentials. I’m going to keep trying though because I’ve been waiting for this functionality forever…

Try it out, the download link is in the Nokia Addict post. Also, be sure to pay homage to M3 Solutions for putting this puppy together - if you can get it working! Make sure you read the Nokia Addict post before you try to install it!

UPDATE: Still not working for me guys. I’m giving up for now - let me know how it works out for you!

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If you’re not already registered with Disqus, I highly recommend you do so. Rather than just seeing a string of sequential comments, Disqus provides a tree-like structure allowing you to reply to individual comments so that various conversations can take place in an organized manner. If you are a registered Disqus member, you will receive email notifications whenever someone replies to one of your comments. What’s more, you can simply reply to the email with your response and it will be posted here on SiMo in the appropriate place. Sweet!

As a new feature that was just added, Disqus now supports video commenting as well thanks to Seesmic. This means that you can add video responses that will be posted in line if you so choose. I can’t say I’m a huge fan of the concept, but it’s there if you want it.

So give it a whirl and if you have your own blog, I highly recommend that you consider using Disqus to manage your comments.

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In the meantime, a big congratulations are in order for our four winners!

Peter S:

Giovani D:

Robert K:

(yes, that’s really his hand :) )

And last but certainly not least, Sergio S:

I’m sending out the prizes right now so winners should find their free licenses before they even see this post. A big thanks once again to everyone who entered this content and to Psiloc for making a great app and giving it away for free to a few lucky SiMo readers.

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Nokia’s Open to Anything line of viral commercials are great. Above, the latest addition can be seen featuring “The Amazing Stan”. Very cute. Actually, I missed the ball a while back when the great folks at WOM World sent me a little packing containing the competitive eating commercial (hotdog eating competition lover) packed with a cute little surprise. I was a bit busy at teh time and completely forgot to post about it. Well, better late than never I suppose. While I didn’t find the surprise overly tasty, my dog Thunder disagreed…

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At the moment I have literally got it and am setting it up (as can be seen from the picture above). Using the great little Switch application makes it easy to seamlessly transfer your personal data from one N Series to another.

I’m not quite sure on what I’m going to / hoping to discover from this or if there is anything specific I’m hoping to test from it. This might be more or less a general usage review, just to see how it gets along in a “normal” lifestyle.

If there is anything you’d like me to look into specifically, just leave a comment or send me an e-mail. For now here are a few pictures of it alongside it’s few cousins, the pictures aren’t the best so apologies in advance.

N82 Black Picture Set

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Odd that I haven’t seen any mention of this this before because it really does annoy me. Am I the only one whose N95 8GB browser fails to render thumbnails properly for the “Back” screen? Is it an early firmware bug that was resolved with the v20 upgrade in Europe? It works sometimes but more often than not, I have at least one or two blank thumbnails with each session. Am I the only one?

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I’m not sure how many SiMo readers are packing UIQ devices but I guess we’ll find out! Sling Media, makers of the Slingbox and one of my all-time favorite S60 apps, is looking for UIQ owners to beta test the upcoming release of SlingPlayer Mobile for UIQ. That’s right, get your hands on some juicy Symbian software before the rest of the world!

What you need:

• A UIQ handset (Sony Ericsson W950i, W960i, P990i, P1i, Motorla Z8, etc)
• A Slingbox
• The ability to respect embargos - don’t show / discuss the software you test until permission is granted

What you get:

• Sweet software for free
• A preview of some hot software
• The ability to help a great developer by identifying bugs
• The ability to help shape future development by getting your suggestions to the right people, right away

If you fit the bill, head on over to Sling Media’s beta site and register as soon as you can. Mmmm… SlingPlayer mobile on a touchscreen…

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You didn’t think I’d let Psiloc get away without forking up a few free license codes for SiMo readers, do you? Well actually, Psiloc loves SiMo readers almost as much as I do so they were happy to hand over a few free license codes for you guys. :)

So how will I give them away this time? Like the title says, just raise your hand if you want one…

Email me at zach ~at~ mobile9 ~dot~ com with a picture (or a link to a pic hosted somewhere on the net) of you holding your hand up and showing me that you want a free license code more than anyone else! Don’t worry if you’re shy, you don’t have to include your face - just your hand / arm. By the way if you’re wondering what the best way to get your pics to me might be, why not take the pic with your S60 handset and upload with Nokia’s Share Online or with ShoZu? Don’t forget to use Psiloc Connect as your Access Point to ensure that your upload goes as quickly as possible! Then just shoot me an email with the link to your photo on Flickr, Twango or wherever else. Easy as pie.

Next Wednesday morning, May 14, I’ll pick four entries and the people who email them to me will get free unlimited-use license codes for Psiloc Connect. Sweet!

Remember, by entering this contest, you’re giving me permission to post your photo entries here on SiMo when I announce the contest winners. Good luck to everyone who enters and don’t forget to have fun!

UPDATE 2:20, 5/6: Keep those entries coming guys! I’ve got over 20 so far and some of them are VERY creative. :) Those of you who have entered without an original photo, make sure you follow up with a pic before next Wednesday to be eligible!

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If I had a dollar for every time I begged and pleaded for this functionality in S60, well, I could have paid Psiloc to make this app a long time ago…

Psiloc Connect is an app that needs little introduction. Suffice it to say, you need this app. In my opinion, Access Points (AP) are handled very, very poorly by S60. Each app that makes use of a data connection must have its own default AP defined. This is just silly. As done on other OSes, the device should worry about connecting via the fastest available AP and apps should just call to which ever AP is currently active. Period.

Thanks to Psiloc, your S60 3rd handset can now use data as nature intended - intelligently. Psiloc Connect is a utility that you’ll install, configure and then never look at again. Huh? It’s not because you won’t like it, but rather because once configured it will constantly be doing its job with no user intervention whatsoever. In a nutshell, this app will add a new AP to your device called “Psiloc Connect”. Any app using this AP will first attempt to connect to the internet via available WLAN networks. If no WLAN is available, the new AP will automatically drop back to 3G / EDGE / GPRS. Done!

Do you live in a country where data is expensive? No worries, Psiloc Connect is still an app you need. You can configure it to connect via WLAN - and it will look for ALL of your WLAN networks as opposed to just one - and if no WLAN network is available, the app will not connect. No surprise astronomical bills, no worries.

As for battery life, of course using WiFi will affect your time between charges. The app itself is incredibly light-weight though. The Connect daemon only eats up 42KB in fact.

My advice? Head over to the Psiloc Shop and download this app ASAP. Again, this is how S60 should work. That’s the beauty of S60 though, isn’t it? There are so many phenomenal developers like Psiloc who take the bull by the horns, listen to end-users and crank out awesome apps that pick up where S60 left off. Psiloc offers a free trial as with all of its apps but believe me, once you have a taste there’s no way you’ll be able to go a minute without this app.

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