Features
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Understanding Nokia's smartphone strategy decision
In this in-depth feature we look at the thinking behind the smartphone portion of Nokia's new strategy, which was announced on February 11th and sees, in essence, a transition from Symbian to Windows Phone. We consider Nokia's three options and explain that ultimately the necessecity for a competitive and sustainable ecosystem proved to be the vital factor in the decision.
Rafe Blandford · 24 February 2011 -
Qt in the mix: An interview with Chris Watt of TigerSpike
TigerSpike is a Sydney, Australia, based business — with offices in London and New York — that has been offering solutions in the personal media space for eight years. The company has recently started working with Qt and I (Richard Bloor) caught up with Chris Watt, product director at TigerSpike to find out about the company’s initial impressions.
Richard Bloor · 30 January 2011 -
Eight reasons for Nokia to adopt Fennec
In anticipation of a new browser coming to Symbian^3, it's time to do a little hypothetical thinking about the browsing scene on Symbian. In this editorial, I consider the case for Nokia cooperating with the Mozilla Foundation, for Fennec to be shipped with Symbian devices. This is of course blue sky thinking, as Web is deeply integrated into Symbian and Nokia have already said the future of the Symbian browser is Qt Webkit based. Despite that, there is an interesting, theoretical, case to be made, which I explore in this editorial. Whether you agree or not, read on to see what you make of my arguments - comments are invited.
David Gilson · 13 January 2011 -
Dear Santa, please can you get my smartphone the following...
At this time of year, the hardest thing to hear is a relative asking “what would you like for Christmas?” So I've come up with nine top gift ideas that you can handily print out, then ring one (or two) of them with a big marker pen before casually leaving it on the dinner table. Want a smartphone Christmas? Here’s what you need.
Ewan Spence · 16 December 2010 -
The Smartphone's Place in the Mobile Spectrum
You'll remember that I've been evolving a number of theories on the subject of just what makes a 'smartphone' smart? I postulated that Nokia's definition (and mine) of a 'smartphone' differed rather wildly from that of the popular tech media, who are really talking about what we're now starting to term 'superphones'. In the feature below, I present more analysis of the mobile device world, showing that there are in fact four specific 'bands' of form and functionality - bands that will always exist - one size really can't fit all.
Steve Litchfield · 23 November 2010 -
Nokia Push at Nokia World 2010
Nokia World 2010 played host to a number of mini exhibitions, including the inspiring and fun hacking competition, Nokia Push, which now includes the N8 alongside the N900. As well as ingenious and geeky N900 hacks, kite and skateboard mountings for both the N900 and N8 were on display. The latter were built to be given out to film makers so that they could use these Nokia handsets to obtain otherwise unobtainable camera angles. Read on for photos and more information.
David Gilson · 02 November 2010 -
How to make sure your virus-riddled smartphone is not going to kill you
Watching the feeds and blog sites in the last week would get a hypochondriac very worried, as multiple sites are reporting a “dangerous and new threat” from touchscreen smartphones, specifically that there are highly infectious virii being transmitted by sharing phones (stories like ”The Ultimate Bacteria Carrier” being typical). Really? You know, a bit of research and some common sense proves exactly the opposite. If you want to read more than the first paragraph, that is.
Ewan Spence · 21 October 2010 -
Navteq True at Nokia World 2010
Navteq were present at Nokia World 2010, with one of their GeoData collection cars taking centre stage. They were also showing a promotional video of their LIDAR based 3D data collection system. Also on display was the first showing of a mobile client to actually make use of Navteq's 3D street maps, running on the Maemo-powered Nokia N900. Read on for more details and a demonstration video.
David Gilson · 28 September 2010 -
Indoor Location Services - Future tech from Nokia World 2010
One of the future technology demonstrations at Nokia World 2010 was an innovative system for providing indoor location services. Indoor positioning has always been a missing link in navigation software because GPS signals cannot penetrate into buildings. This new system from Nokia Research Centre has the potential to revolutionise navigation, providing a seamless transition between outdoor and indoor navigation. For example, allowing people to navigate to a public place, and then find their way around once inside, and much more. Read on.
David Gilson · 26 September 2010 -
Tim Berners-Lee at Nokia World 2010
Sir Tim Berners-Lee's keynote speech started day two of Nokia World 2010 and I was there for All About Symbian to try and bring you his key points, summarised below. Sir Tim talked about the underlying principles that effect every member of the information society, not just Nokia users. As ever, he championed and promoted an open Internet and stands by the need for Net Neutrality. He currently holds a position at MIT, where the World Wide Web Consotium (WC3), of which Nokia are a member, is currently hosted.
David Gilson · 20 September 2010