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Domain: symbian.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to symbian.com.
Stories · 16
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Nokia the Next Gizmondo?
An anonymous reader writes, "Yesterday Symbian announced that 100 million Symbian smart phones have shipped to over 250 network operators worldwide since the company's formation. According to a CNet article, however, Nokia phones running on the OS are actually worse than their non-Symbian predecessors. From the article: 'The fact is, Nokia's phones are in danger of turning from the iPods of the phone world into the Gizmondos — from devices dedicated to doing one thing well to jacks-of-all-trades that do too many things poorly. The S60 3rd Edition interface has received tons of criticism from veteran Nokia users for being far too complicated to use. It's great that there's new stuff to play with, but not so great that the old stuff, as in making calls and sending texts, has been made more complicated.'" -
10.4 on Display at FOSE
CmdrStone writes "Just thought I'd post to let people know that while at FOSE today in the Washington, D.C. Convention center I lingered at the Apple pavilion / booth. To my surprise every machine had 10.4 running. The build number matches the build number found on the rumor sites; 8A428. Does this presage Tiger hitting the shelves soon? Personally, my main interest was how much iSync was expanded to support more devices, phones, etc. The Apple rep confirmed that the number of devices has expanded. He lamented that his Symbian phone, the Nokia 9500 Communicator, still was not included in the supported phones. He did tell me that he was able to tether his Powerbook and get online via his 9500's T-Mobile connection." -
Virgin Radio Launches 3G Radio Service
An anonymous reader writes "Virgin Radio, one of UK's top radio stations, has launched the first 3G radio service for free (as in beer). This is great news for those with a Symbian equipped phone and an unlimited data plan. Various articles suggest that mobile radio could be a major threat to satellite radio. Russell Beattie and friends have had an initial look and commented on the program." -
The Future of Symbian
S3D writes "On 18 May 2004, Symbian, owner of the OS for high-end smartphones announced the formal launch of the Symbian Signed initiative for digitally signing and certifying Symbian applications that meet a set of test criteria. Gartner believes that Symbian Signed, in its current form, is a weak certification program oriented largely toward the needs of application publishers and network operators and may be inconvinient for developers. " -
Nokia Takes Control of Symbian
jpatokal writes "CNN reports: Nokia has bought out Psion's share of Symbian, pushing its stake in the mobile phone OS to a dominant 63%. This means rivals like Siemens and Samsung may now pretty much be forced to choose between proprietary Nokia or Microsoft technology. Symbian may be the more open of the two, but GPL it ain't - does Linux now have an edge?" We reported on a rumor to this effect late last year. -
Palm Changing OS Strategy
profet writes "CNET.com is reporting that PalmSource plans to change its OS plans and simultaneously develop/release OS 6 and continue development on OS 5. The names shall be changed to reflect that they are both current. The plan is to have OS 5 for low end devices ($100 price point is a goal), and OS 6 for high end devices. This is a drastic change from their current practice of having one current OS drastically customized (read: hacked) to suit the manufacturer's needs. It looks like PalmSource is aiming directly at Symbian's success with Nokia's series 60 platform." -
Nokia Taking Over Psion to Control Symbian?
securitas writes: "Reuters reports that Nokia is considering a takeover of Psion (mirror at Forbes), to gain control of the Symbian operating system. Psion is the second largest shareholder in Symbian with a 31.1 percent stake. Nokia holds 32.2 percent. The move is seen as a tactic to fight off Microsoft and dominate the lucrative and growing mobile phone software market. Symbian is currently owned by Ericsson, Nokia, Panasonic, Psion, Samsung Electronics, Siemens and Sony Ericsson. The report originates in the London newspaper, Business. What does this mean for the Symbian OS, which is currently an open OS?" -
Symbian OS 7.0s Hits the Streets
Ch_Omega writes "Symbian Ltd has announced the release of the latest version of Symbian OS, the global open industry standard operating system for advanced mobile phones, sporting enhanced networking capabilities, support for Java MIDP 2.0, a multimedia framework and new language variants. Here's the official press release and more coverage over at infoSync." -
Symbian OS 7.0s Hits the Streets
Ch_Omega writes "Symbian Ltd has announced the release of the latest version of Symbian OS, the global open industry standard operating system for advanced mobile phones, sporting enhanced networking capabilities, support for Java MIDP 2.0, a multimedia framework and new language variants. Here's the official press release and more coverage over at infoSync." -
Symbian OS 7.0s Hits the Streets
Ch_Omega writes "Symbian Ltd has announced the release of the latest version of Symbian OS, the global open industry standard operating system for advanced mobile phones, sporting enhanced networking capabilities, support for Java MIDP 2.0, a multimedia framework and new language variants. Here's the official press release and more coverage over at infoSync." -
VoIP Cell Phones Coming
bp33 writes "Wireless Newsfactor is running a story about how the wireless vendors are climbing over themselves to get Voice-Over-IP cell phones. You might ask "why bother? We already have wireless voice now." But with an open platform for wireless (Symbian, JavaPhone etc), your "voice" (er .. audio) just becomes bits that your programs can manipulate before sending." -
General IT Books?
Torulf would like to start an ongoing discussion on books that anyone in the IT field would benefit in having in their library: "Here's a topic that might generate some interesting discussions. I'm a student trying to get general knowledge of the IT business. The question here is about what is regarded 'basic knowledge' and where to find it. As we all know (I hope), a lot of knowledge can really only be learned through experience. In many cases, however, a read through the theory will save you a lot of time. As books are also easier to look up than experience, below is a suggestion of a reading list that might give a decent general knowledge in the field. Please fill out the gaps with what you think is required knowledge for anyone working in the industry. Mostly this is about a general overview of the different areas of the IT industry, but if you have suggestions of good material for becoming an expert in some particular field, by all means, share your knowledge." Torulf has compiled a fairly long list of books, below, however your own suggestions are always welcome."To start off the discussion, here are a few suggestions as to likely candidates. The books are linked to Amazon since they can provide a fairly quick and complete description of the books online.
Programming:
Learning a few languages certainly won't hurt. Here are some suggestions:- The C programming language
- The C++ programming language
- Programming Perl
- Programming Python
- A Book about Java
- A Book on SQL
- A Book about Functional languages (LISP, ML, etc.)
For any non-trivial task, it is suggested that you design before you code. User Interfaces:
A lot of programmers are more than clueless in this area. These at least won't hurt: Graphics:
Some general knowledge about graphics. Business/Management:
Here's something about management and financing. I don't really know about a good reference for marketing applied to the IT industry. This is the area where the average geek is even more ignorant than concerning UI. Security:
Alright, this list should be a lot longer. Misc.
And last some stuff that didn't fit in any of the categories above.- Modern Operating Systems
- Computer Networks
- A few operating systems
- A book about markup languages, ie HTML, XML, DHTML, etc
- A book about Algorithms and Data Structures in general
- At least some basic knowledge about Hardware
- Wireless systems seem to be growing. It might pay off to learn something about Symbian, J2ME etc."
Now that's a start to a comprehensive IT Library if I've ever seen one. How do you all feel about this list (if not the specific selections, then at least the material being covered)? If you were to make changes or additions, what would they be?
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The Ultimate Phone/PDA?
P800guy writes "Psion Place has a review of the SonyEricsson P800 available in Q3, this looks to be the best PDA/phone combined in the world. Running Symbian OS v7.0, 208x320 color touchscreen, triple-band GSM compatible, Multimedia Messaging (MMS), Bluetooth, GPRS always-on internet connection, built-in digital camera, support for HTML, xHTML, Java, iMode, WAP, Word, Excel, PPT. Check out the pictures, open, closed. In the US it'll work on Voicestream, ATT Wireless, and Cingular just don't expect it to be offically supported from day 1 of release." Getting closer- now if it just had a few gigs of memory for MP3s ;) -
Ericsson And Red Hat In Home Communications
Inforum writes: "From the Ericsson Web site: 'Ericsson and Red Hat announced a strategic initiative to develop a new range of consumer products and services for home communications. They will develop consumer products combining existing industry standards, such as Java, and the latest open source technologies, such as Embedded Red Hat Linux. The products will also support existing and evolving standards such as broadband networking and Bluetooth ...' Then I wonder: what will happen to Symbian?" -
3G VAIO Mobile Phones?
chinoodle writes "It seems Sony want to combine technologies from Texas Instruments and Symbian, and merge in their memory sticks to create 3G phones with broadband data and music capabilites. The Symbian press release is here and the TI blurb is here. Sony has licensed TI's low power DSP, and Symbians operating system - should be some tasty product.. " -
New Psion Palmtop
Chris O'Byrne writes "Psion have announced the Series 7 laptop computer. It's sub-notebook sized, around $1,000 (though only initially available in the U.K.), with 8.5 hours battery life, 640x480 colour LCD touch-screen display, instant-on, and all the usual connectivity and other extras from a Psion computer. The O.S. is Symbian EPOC 32. Looks like an expanded and beefed-up Series 5mx. "
