Nokia N8 goes official !

After the early preview by MR, N8 goes official and for everyone asking about price and release dates check out the conversations blog

Equalizer Application for Satio and Vivaz !

Finally an update on the question of Equalizer for Satio and Vivaz. As some of you might know one important feedback from you the readers of this blog has been that you want an equalizer in Satio and Vivaz. Since I got this feedback and saw your engagement in the issue I’ve worked quite a lot with trying to make that happen. As it turned out it unfortunately hasn’t been possible to add it in an integrated way in a software update. However some real hero colleagues of mine decided to try to build it as a separate application instead so I’m now delighted to at least offer a kind of solution for those of you that have been missing an equalizer.

For most markets there is now an free application called “Equalizer” available on PlayNow in the music category under applications. This equalizer will give you the following different options: Off, Classical, Jazz, Dance, Party, Pop, Rock, Spoken Word, Loudness, Mega Bass and Treble Boost. As I understood it it will equalize all music played in the phone, also the setting it makes is global and stay there if the Equalizer application is closed and also even stays after rebooting the phone. There are two important notes though: First of all this application needs the latest update to work on Satio (on Vivaz it works on the launch SW of course) and also since it’s a separate application it needs to be started separately when you want to start using it i.e. it’s not included under options in e.g. the music player. When an equalizer setting has been chosen it should stay even if the application is closed or the phone rebooted.

I’m well aware that it would have been even better to have a fully integrated equalizer and I’m sorry that we don’t have that. Still I hope that this solution will work for those of you that really feel that an equalizer has been missed a lot.

Here are some screenshots and a short video I shot to show you how it works. (Sorry for the shaky video – I didn’t have my tripod in the office today so I had to navigate the Satio with one hand while filming with a Vivaz with the other hand)

Via : blogs.sonyericsson

Silverlight for Symbian - Beta

Silverlight, a cross-browser, cross-platform implementation of the .NET Framework for building media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web on desktop computers, is also available for Nokia S60 5th Edition devices such as Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, Nokia N97 and Nokia N97 Mini.

 

Sample applications from Bing and Seesmic running on Silverlight for Symbian

Silverlight includes a runtime that is optimized to display content on memory-constrained devices. Silverlight support for Nokia S60 5th Edition devices includes:

• The ability to view Silverlight applications in the mobile browser.
• Tools to build Silverlight applications that target devices.

You can create Silverlight-based applications for devices by using Expression Blend 2 (free trial version), Visual Web Developer 2008 Express with SP1, or Visual Studio 2008 SP1 with Silverlight Tools for Visual Studio 2008 SP1. Application deployment on IIS is supported in this release.

Getting Started

In order to get started with Silverlight for Symbian, you will want to familiarize yourself with the platform capabilities. The following resources are available to developers:

• Getting Started with Sivlerlight for Symbian Beta
• Silverlight for Symbian Platform Reference

Once you’ve decided you are ready to start developing applications, get the required tools below:

• Silverlight for Symbian Developer Tools Beta
• Silverlight for Symbian device runtime

These resources will help developers understand the supported platforms, languages and features of the platform for Nokia S60 5th Edition as some best practices for converting desktop applications to run on a device.

SymVPN 2.0 is released !

SymVPN 2.0 is released. The major difference from previous version is added FULL support for S60 3.2 and S60 5th editions. This means more applications can work via SymVPN 2.0 created Access Points and take advantage of VPN security.

New SymVPN 2.0 is available for download from here

Updated version of SymNC 1.0 (Build 59) is here

Both upgrades are free for existing customers.

Please note, that you need to remove old SymVPN and SymNC from your phone before installing new versions as they are not backward compatible. Please make sure to write down software configuration before uninstall to restore your settings faster.

For your convenience here is some useful links: SymVPN 2.0 Compatible Applications (please update if you know more) and SymVPN 2.00 How to Install.

[How To] Increase the Kinetic Scrolling Speed and Smoothness !

How about increasing the speed and smoothness of the kinetic scrolling or your N97, 5800, Omnia HD or whatever your symbian's kinetic touch enabled device?

rem_dm over dailymobile has managed to find this hack to change the kinetic scrolling :

Just copy the file "20021192.txt" from Z\private\10202be9 to C:\Private\10202be9 and change this values (in orange color) :

cenrep
version 1
[owner]
0x20021194
[defaultmeta]
0
[platsec]
cap_rd=alwayspass cap_wr=alwayspass
[Main]
0x1 int 5 0 cap_rd=alwayspass cap_wr=alwayspass
0x2 int 10 10 cap_rd=alwayspass cap_wr=alwayspass
0x3 int 50 0 cap_rd=alwayspass cap_wr=alwayspass
0x4 int 8 0 cap_rd=alwayspass cap_wr=alwayspass
0x5 int 50 0 cap_rd=alwayspass cap_wr=alwayspass
0x6 int 100 90 cap_rd=alwayspass cap_wr=alwayspass
0x7 int 17 0 cap_rd=alwayspass cap_wr=alwayspass
0x8 int 60 0 cap_rd=alwayspass cap_wr=alwayspass
0x9 int 1 0 cap_rd=alwayspass cap_wr=alwayspass
0xA int 100 0 cap_rd=alwayspass cap_wr=alwayspass
0xB int 100 0 cap_rd=alwayspass cap_wr=alwayspass

* Credit for string function goes completely to rem_dm

0x1 = 8-0 = may b scrolling speed controlls if 0 no speed just scroll like text in xplore or opera
0x2 = 10-0 = controlls deceleration if 0 scrolls constant speed untill start / end appear
0x3 = 50-0 = if scrollbar exits list start or list end list never get back to default position when 0
0x4 = list end start BOUNCE BACK /SURFACE end RIGIDITY FACTOR if 0 over bounce occurs
0x5 = 50-0 = don't know
0x6 = 25-0 = klick accuracy decrease.. Increase scrolling sensitivity...
0x8 = 20-0 = may be Flick trace speed controlls not sure
0x9 = 1 =ks enabled
0xA = 100-0 = don't know
0xB = 100-0 = percentage of start end dragability.. If 0 list start end stucked

If you don't want to have a headache, just download this sis file ! and feel the difference !

gStorage : Use Gmail as a network !

gStorage is a file management tool, which can be used to manager your local files in a mobile phone and network files in a remote storage space. Currently, it supports those files(attachments) in your Gmail box. As we all know, the storage capacity of one free Gmail box is considerably large, up to 7Gb for the moment, and can be upgraded to 400Gb.

So, with this tool, you will get a large enough disk for your phone right now. It easily converts your Gmail box to a local mapped drive and you can exchange data with your Gmail box. Another way to extend the capacity for your phone is applying for another free Gmail box, but this requires you maintaining additional accounts.

At a default installation, this software is a freeware with a little limitation -- the total size of files to be sent or downloaded should be not more than 500Kb. If you like this tool and support its continuous development, please consider requesting a license which can remove that limit by just paying a one time fee for your phone(IMEI is required, press "*#06#" to get it in your phone). When using network file management functions in this software, it may cause network fees via some kinds of bearers, determined by your local network service provider. You should be aware of this in advance.

Download it !

Facebook Chat added to LCG Slick v0.60

slick has been updated to add facebook chat support !

Features

• Supported protocols: ICQ, Yahoo, Facebook chat, AIM, MSN, Google Talk, Jabber
• Text messaging
• Emoticons
• Alerts - sound, backlight, vibration, notify window displaying the number of new messages
• Group and buddy management (add, delete, rename)
• Message history
• File transfer - send and receive files
• Sending / receiving offline messages
• Downloading files sent as links
• More features to be added

Download it !

Nokia Feel : Explore what your device can do, based on how you feel !

Most devices today are very rational to use. They offer a solution based on a need, when you know what you want to do. Nokia Feel helps you discover what you can do with your device in a more spontaneous way. When you tell it how you feel, the application suggests a few things you could do. In this way, discovering the capabilities of your device can be emotional, surprising, and fun.



When you open the application you can select how you feel – are you feeling Energetic, Lucky, Lonely, Happy, Hungry, Bored, Lost, Caring or Creative? And when you have told it how you feel, the application suggests a few things you could do.

NokiaEditor (by PNHT) : Cook your own firmware !

Disclaimer : Do this hack at your own risk, you may damage your phone!

PNHT presents NokiaEditor Beta 0.4, with this tool you can extract, and repack ROFS2 and UDA files.

1. Download and extract tool.
2. Open tool.
3. Click "Open" button and select rofs2 or uda file
4. Click "Extract" button
5. Files will be extracted to:
   a. for rofs2 file "rofs2" folder
   b. for uda file "fat16" folder
6. Edit your files (don't close NokiaEditor):
   a. for rofs2 open "rofs2" folder and edit files
   b. for uda open "fat16.img" in "fat16" folder and edit it with magiciso or winimage
7. After you edited files click "Repack" button
8. Repacked files are in program folder:
   a. REB-RM************.rofs2.*** for rofs2 file
   b. REB-RM***********.uda.***    for uda file
9. Rename files (delete "REB-" at the beginning of file name) :
   a.  REB-RM************.rofs2.*** to RM************.rofs2.*** for rofs2 file
   b.  REB-RM***********.uda.***     to RM***********.uda.***    for uda file
10. Flash you phone with new files
11. DONE

Tips for editing ROFS2 and UDA files:

- If you want to add RP+ to your rofs2 file copy only "patcher.ldd" and "patcherShadow.ldd" to sys/bin folder. After flashing install RP+ LiteVersion.
- If you want to edit files that are in rofs1 image – copy them to rofs2 folder and edit they will be overwriten after flashing.


Example: if you want to edit file swipolicy.ini (that file is in rofs1) copy swipolicy.ini to rofs2 folder (system/data) and edit – Repack and flash.

Remember that rofs2 file have maximum size (about 33mb) so if you don’t have space for your files,mods just delete other language files from rofs2 folder.

Tool tested with 5530, 5800 files!!! I think it will also work with N97 files and others, it will not work with E51 files!!!

ALL FILES THAT ARE ADDED/EDITED IN ROFS2 STAY AFTER HARD RESET

Nokia Image Space : a new way to view photos

Just to let you know that Nokia Image Space is now available for you. It is a solution for showing a new view to your photos, as well as to those from your friends and other people.

You can currently sign-in to the service using your Yahoo! ID, as you do to your Flickr account, If you have Flickr account and a supported Nokia phone, you can get your content contextualized easily. Apart from geotagging from GPS, the photos will have full orientation information in the metadata. This allows spatial browsing of photos. Photos from different Image Space users are contextually linked between each other. This creates a better understanding of the place you are browsing.





When there are enough photos of a given area which have been made publicly available, Image Space generates a 3D presentation from them. This feature will be ramped up in phases during the next two months, so please be patient. You can see some examples now at Helsinki and Tampere.

Compatibility and system requirements
 
Nokia Image Space browser

- Adobe Flash 10 plugin for browser
- Firefox, IE or Safari browsers (Some differences in behavior between PC and Mac)

Nokia Image Space Capture for S60

- Tested on: N97 mini, Nokia 6210 Navigator, Nokia 6710 Navigator, Nokia 6720 Classic. Should work in S60 3.2 and 5.0 devices with inbuilt compass.
- Known issues: N97, some sensor issues with IS Capture


Via : betalabs.nokia

i8910 Omnia HD next firmware update will bring kinetic scrolling !

Just read it over Samsung Omnia HD Italian Facebook page !

We are working on the next update that, based on your feedback, will contain the scrolling Kinet. We hope to release soon. Continue to follow us.

I'm glad to read that, finally !

[PART 3] N900 Audio Test Vs 5800XM, Omnia HD and N95 8GB

As promised yesterday, here is the third part of the head to head audio quality test, this time i choosed to plug the Tv Cable to a Tv Set to see how the N900 performs against the 5800XM, the Omnia HD and the N95 8GB, some nice surprises to check out :




In addition, i grabbed my Sennheiser HD 448 to make some comparisons and the results was somehow the same as the ones on the video above, i see that the N95 8GB has a "normal" rendering sound in a way it has an average bass and trebles output but the N900 has surprisingly deeper and clearer sound (even if i set up the N95's EQ to bass boost mode, the N900 is still a little ahead !), when it comes to the 5800, sure it has deeper bass rendering than both the N95 8GB and N900 but a lower volume, also no Cristal clear sound, it's the Omnia HD who wins this race (Cristal sound effect) as you can see/hear.

For the N900, the lack of equalizer will make things a little difficult for some earphones/headphones to provide sound as how it's meant to sound.

In summary, the N900 has a really, really great potential when it comes the sound delivered by the earphones/headphones, it just needs hardware access to EQ and i'm sure it'll beat the best in class ;)

Anyway, i'll go much deeper in my detailed review, if you've some questions or tests you want me to make, just leave a comment :)

Ps : Please do not confuse speaker sound quality with the quality on the headphone jack

[PART 2] N900 Audio Test Vs 5800XM, Omnia HD and N95 8GB

Hi everybody, today i decided to grab a N95 8GB to test its speakers quality versus the N900's ones as requested by many readers after the Part 1 Audio test series.

This time, the actual devices speakers orientation isn't the same, the devices are oriented in a position when they should be used in a day to day use (as advertised !) to output the sound, all settings are the same, no sound effects, no equalizer, volume is set at the max, check it out :



Let me know what you think, and if you have any suggestions of things you would like to be tested with this Preview N900 handset then let me know ;)

The part three will include the headphones and TV Out sound quality, stay tuned ! ;)

[PART 1] N900 Audio Test Vs 5800XM And Omnia HD

In this brief post i'll quickly cover the speaker test on music and video playback with the Nokia 5800 Xpress Music (known by his hi quality speakers with bass rendering) and the Samsung Omnia HD (known by his Cristal sound effect), let's check out the demo :



Yep, the 5800 pins down many many mobile phone out there, so the N900 sounds really fade and weak, i'm still talking about speakers right here...

How about the quality on the headphones? ;)

Don’t type it, just SlideIT!

Do you remember DayHand?

- SlideIT is a new and revolutionary way to enter text easily and fast, and in a way that is much more fun than existing methods.

- From now on, just Slide along the letters with your finger or stylus,and words “magically” appear.

- Accuracy is not required.




All you have to do is to open slideit with dayhandinput (choose option "slideIT" under Akpth)

You can see a brief demo on My Samsung Omnia HD :



You can buy the latest SlideIT version for receive full keyboard functionality or you can download a SlideIT demo for FREE.

Download unsigned demo and fully functional version 

Download a modded version for Samsung Omnia HD

N900 : Boot Time Faster Compared To S60?

Definitely not ! Check out the video i made in comparison to my Samsung Omnia HD (with widgets too) :



In case you don't know, the Maemo OS on the N900 make use of upstart to reduce/to optimize the boot time (Like on the Palm Pre)!

Shazam Launches Enhanced Application on Ovi Store by Nokia

This new enhanced version of Shazam allows you to tell your Twitter followers or Facebook friends the songs you’ve identified. More importantly you’ll be able to preview, and purchase, the songs you’ve identified from the Nokia Music Store.

This new application is compatible with S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2 and 5th Edition devices. It will be free for the first 30 days, and then cost $4.99, €3.99 or £2.99 depending on where you are. The free version will still work, but you’re going to be limited on the amount of songs you can identify.

Existing users of Shazam will be prompted to upgrade ;)

Via : finance.yahoo

Opera Mini 5 & Mobile 10 Updated to Beta 2: Includes Opera Link & Download Manager

Both Opera Mini 5 and Opera Mobile 10 browsers were updated to Beta 2 today !

Download Opera Mini 5 beta 2 directly to your phone for free from http://m.opera.com/next/ or read more at http://www.opera.com/mini/next/.

The second beta of Opera Mobile 10 (10.00.315) is available as a free download to Windows Mobile and Symbian/S60 handsets from http://m.opera.com/next/ or read more at http://www.opera.com/mobile/.

The new versions include Opera Link support and a Download Manager which should make it a lot easier to sync bookmarks between the Opera Browser on your Computer, and your Opera Mobile Browser.
Straight from the Press Release :

Opera today launched the second beta versions of Opera Mini 5 and Opera Mobile 10, available as free downloads. In this second beta release, Opera Mini and Opera Mobile users can now enjoy popular desktop features, such as Opera Link and the Download Manager, from their mobile phones.
With Opera Link, users can synchronize personal browser settings with their Opera desktop browser, as well as all their connected devices, ensuring that their bookmarks, Speed Dial and search engines are always accessible. The Download Manager gives users a better way to control and speed up downloads to mobile phones.

Opera continues its mission to unify its browser products, and today’s beta release is no exception. Features further polished in the second beta release are the unified look and feel across Opera’s browser products, the visual bookmarks known as Speed Dial, and tabbed browsing, one of the most popular innovations in browsing history.

“For Opera, status quo is not an option. We are always improving our products, adding new functionality and features to deliver a faster and more personal Web experience,” said Jon von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software. “Also, unifying the look and feel, regardless of device, makes it easy for anyone to get online anywhere, anytime.”

The far-reaching popularity of Opera Mini continues to grow month after month. Opera reports that almost 40 million people used Opera Mini in October, saving the consumers 9.4 billion USD per year just by choosing Opera Mini.

Via :  zomgitscj

HappyWakeUp Updated to v1.25

If you followed my other blog some times ago, you'll surely remember HappyWakeUp !

Can you check out this update?

Version 1.25
Free 30 minutes nap functionality
Improved feedback in the morning
More alarm sounds

Version 1.20
New phone models supported (Symbian 60 3rd and 5th edition)
Adjustable length of the monitoring window
Improved continuous functionality

Version 1.15
Supports Symbian 3rd edition FP2 devices
Customizable alarm tone: HappyWakeUp uses the same alarm tone as the phone alarm clock
Small fixes and improvements

More infos to be found over here !

New Open Video Hub Version (1.0.39) Ready To Download !

Read about this :

Most important things from our TODO list (and the most wanted one) have been accomplished. New version of Open Video Hub is ready to download - and yes, the SIS installation packages are already signed - so no further actions in order to install the software is required.

Before installing this version (1.0.39) please remove previous installation (1.0.38). Also, on some phones it might be required to reboot the device after installation before the application can be started. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Todo List :

- Allow users to define categories in "Saved clips" and move clips around categories.

- Add option to start playback from user defined (in seconds) position.

- Add ability to access user videos/favorities/playlists/subscribed channels on youtube. Might require adding new functions to the plugins API.

- Fix help and documentation to reflect the changes in scale change settings.

- Enable playlist support, fix any remaining problems and bugs.

- Shuffle playlists using accelerometer and shake.

- Add a code that warns user about transfer manager not being empty when exit is being called.

- Support for KCapsVideoDownload flag in gvh app. Do not show that plugin on the list, and on the tabs. Only on the upload dialog.

- Seeking doesn't work with youtube clips. Check the demuxer for possible problems with index handling.

- Add ability to display more than one thumbnail. When user waits on one entry download them and change using timer.

- Use the new OSD (for touch UI) as default. It has to be modified to support scaling the interface down.

- Enable FindBox in Saved Clips. Since this code was not tested, heavy bugfixing might be required.

Download it !