S60 Open to new features

I'm happy to announce that the fourth Chinese language S60 blog has been born! Authored by Tongren, an S60 expert whose applications have won numerous awards, the new blog is maybe not surprisingly all about applications. Tongren will talk about the coolest and most innovative applications and also about the latest technologies those. Welcome onboard Tongren!

Below's how Tongren himself describes his topic:

Innovation is an eternal topic. I have always admired Nokia's innovations on mobile phones and applications--from the first smart phone I used (Nokia 6600) to the latest model Nokia N95 8GB--each of them gave me a big surprise! As a 3rd party S60 developer, I am keen on developing innovative applications for s60 phones to enable end users to use their phones in an innovative way. In this blog, I will introduce the most innovative and coolest applications, some of which are developed by me. I hope it will help in your daily life and business, and if you have any good ideas, please share with us!

Hi See into S60 blog readers! My name is David Rivas and I head up S60 Technology Management. I hope that you noticed the news we announced today together with many other industry players, about setting up an independent and open foundation to create one open and unified mobile software platform which will build on Symbian OS and S60, with selected UIQ and MOAP(S) technologies integrated.

This is great news, we are all very excited as we believe this will bring even more innovation, applications and services to the devices, as well as even more appealing devices to the market with these technologies. Given the tremendous changes going on in the market place today, I believe that this exactly the evolutionary path that we should all be on. Please check out symbianfoundation.org for further details!

My colleague Minna mentioned that she used the N95 Moving Ball demo as a level when she was doing some renovation work at home. She's clearly not the only one; how else to explain Magic Level, which turns your N95 into a proper level with hundreds of uses around the house. And you thought mobile phones were only good for taking panoramic photos.

Thanks to Symbian Freak for the link, and for this pointer to another version.

At Nokia for Business event in London, Nokia announced two new Eseries devices, the Nokia E71 and Nokia E66. Both of the new devices are optimized for personal and professional email. The Nokia E71 features full qwerty keyboard and the Nokia E66 is a slider phone, both equipped for easy-to-install and easy-to-use professional and personal email.

If you use MS Exchange at work you can access your emails using the Mail for Exchange mobile email client, which comes pre-loaded with both devices. Additionally, the Nokia E71 and Nokia E66 support the Nokia Intellisync Wireless Email solution as well as third party email solutions like System Seven and Visto Mobile. Both devices come with the new switch mode that allows you to easily switch between personal and work home screens.

Both devices are expected to begin shipping in key markets in July. The Nokia E71 and the Nokia E66 are expected to retail at EUR 350, before taxes and subsidies.

If you are interested in what goes on at the launch event, All About Symbian is reporting live from the event on Jaiku and Twitter.

This month's technology update article on www.s60.com features the new Open C++ SDK plug-in, which lets S60 developers reuse even more open source and existing code in their development projects.

The Open C++ package includes a set of middleware libraries that are compatible with all S60 3rd Edition devices, and an additional set of graphics and media APIs that can be used on a selected set of S60 devices.

Jump over to www.s60.com to read more.

Again, spent a weekend at summer cottage. Enjoying the blossing apple trees, sun and all the new green stuff around. First night was a bit cool and especially the moisture made it feel worse. But there is something special in the air when you are there without extra help technology can offer. You enjoy the candle light and the warm of the small stove. Anyway, you sleep much better if the air is a bit cool, I think.
On a second day you keep wondering around the yard, doing some serious gardening and again the magical night comes and you want to pull blanket over your head.
Then it hits.
You have not heard of anything about surrounding world for 2 days. It feels odd nowadays when you are usually washed with news, ads and all those things that technology delivers to us. But, it still have my N95 in my bag and suddenly I notice that I'm already browsing, full speed, the latest news about the city and rest of the world.....it kind of ruins the original feeling of my summer cottage but cannot help my self!

The yearly S60 Summit featured over 60 demos at the expo area 15 speakers and of course the lovely S60 Garden party at Villa Bugatti. During the event the new Samsung SGH-L870 was launched as well as the S60 Ambassadors website Photos from the event can be found from Ovi and Flickr.

The RC truck demo was once again a success. Our Demolab guys had added real truck sounds, lights, and a horn to one of the vehicles they built for the event. To me it seemed as they were having just a bit too much fun with this project.. Check Oren's earlier post about the truck to find out more.

Rafe and Ewan from All About Symbian did a great job in covering the seminar sessions on Jaiku. Check out also their S60 Summit's Top Gear: Ewan Reports on the Shaker Racer.