S60 3rd Edition FP2?!!

The s60 3rd Feature Pack 2 seems to be the next best OS available for SmartPhones of the like of the Nokia NSeries - that is phones that are packed with multiple processors, stand alone graphic processors and huge amounts of RAM (128 in the case of the N95-2). With Feature Pack 2 you get features in your phone that were until recently available only through expensive 3rd Party software. Moreover it increases the User Interface of the phone making it more efficient and usable.

First of all, with FP2, the MultiTasking ability of the phone has been more concentrated upon which I believe will make it more competitive against other mobile OS and also bridging the gap between SmartPhone and Computer(which Nokia seems to love doing..remember "This is what Computers have become!"). From FP2 onwards the Multi Tasking Menu can be activated from the options menu as well. Before, this was possible only by an extended press on the menu button.

More intuitive UI has been another priority ofS60 3rd Edition Feature Pack with the addition of a labeled middle softkey, for more work with less clicks. Another UI update is the Active Idle Toolbar, which now also has a option for being Vertically placed. This results in better screen space utilization for the active app.

The Messaging application is much more smarter than before. You just select create a message and bearer(SMS,MMS,Email) is selected automatically. If the final message has only text, it's SMS. If there are other media components included to message, such as pictures or video, message type is MMS. Small, but it's nice.

Functions that until now were available only through 3rd Party Software which have been built-in into the OS now are as follows:

1. There is RSS/Atom feed support so selected news feed can scroll on the bottom of the idle screen. This is similar to the Nokia Gallery's scroller.
2. FSCaller's full screen caller image has now been included as a built-in feature. This makes caller identification easier. Besides it looks cooler!
3. Personal pictures can be used to personalize your theme. There is a neat slideshow screensaver.,which allows you to select your favorite pics from the gallery. Also the wallpaper has similar slideshow functionality. I don't remember the name of the app that used to support this.
   
4. Users of S60 are very aware of BestProfiles in which you can set time limits and alarms for your profiles to change. This also has been embedded into FP2, you can set a timer for profiles, so the phone for silent for one hour and then it goes back to general profile automatically. Very use full.
5. Web Browsers are the most used application in S60, as browsing is extremely popular and everyone loves to download media files. Currently if you download a music or video file, you have to wait until file is completely downloaded and only then can you open and play it. FP2 supports progressive downloading from browser which allows for instant playback during downloading. Sort of like streaming links. I've never seen these features, especially the streaming download, in a SmartPhone app before! It's more like it was brought from the DAP software for Windows!!
6. As if that wasn't enough Downloading function has also other improvements. When for example a mp3 is downloaded, you'll get a "Save as" option so it's easy to set it as ringing tone. And if it's a picture download you can set it as wallpaper straight away. Cool eH? :)
   

All these features make for a great mobile computing experience, I only hope they bundle in a high capacity battery along as well - high power apps such as these will have little mileage when it comes to battery consumption!

N95 Accelerometer & FlashLite

Watch this video. FlashLite can also do this with the help of N95 Accelerometer APIs. It's been created and edited by Abhijit and Ganesh and Debashish Paul and has been hosted at http://designtraffic.blogspot.com

BT Guard v.1.0 for S60 v3 : secure your Bluetooth & save battery

SymbianGuru released the new software BT Guard, the security software which protects your phone from Bluetooth intrusion and saves battery life.

Application switches Bluetooth off or to invisible mode automatically, based on the user defined settings. This protects one of the most vulnerable places on the mobile: the Bluetooth connection and saves you from the unwanted Bluetooth request connections and attacks.

Key Features:

• BT Guard changes BT automatically after the defined period of time elapses
• Bluetooth can be turned Off or set to Invisible Mode
• Application may ask for your permission, this setting is fully customizable (ask always, never, only when an active connection detected)
• 10 days full functional trial

More info as well as pdf user manual for Bt Guard can be found on www.symbianguru.com.

Your very own personal translator-N95

Our great N95, the phone that had almost all the features that you'd wish to have on a smartphone, has just got better by adding yet another feature - and this one beats them all! This is the deal - Nokia has come up with a prototype camera phone application which, among other things, will reportedly make ordering dinner from your favourite foreign restaurant easier.

Named Point & Find, the app incorporates numerous elements such as image recognition, GPS positioning and artificial intelligence algorithms to find out what you clicked! . Bear in mind though, that the actual working out of what image you may have snapped will be done on your network provider’s server because AI and Image Recognition recquires some serious processing power. This is not to say that the N95 is low on this! Once you have taken your photo the phone will connect to the net and hopes are it will provide the user with a selection of online purchase options, or in the case of say a movie image it will show movie reviews, or whatever it can find up on the net.

Yet there’s more, Nokia have hopes of designing the concept to include the translation of foreign restaurant menus as well, so if you visit say a French cuisine restaurant where the menu is in French, just whip you mobile out, snap a picture of the menu and get it translated right there on your mobile screen. Apparently Nokia claims the prototype application is presently able to scan and translate 600 Japanese and 9000 Chinese words, still a bit of a way to go then before they cover all the bases, but Hey! It's still a great start!

Courtesy PhonesReview.

Phone Guardian v.2.0 for S60 v3 released: more security and more thief tracking

Symbian Guru released the new version 2.0 of Phone Guardian – the security software which helps to protect the phone from theft and unauthorized access.

New version of Phone Guardian introduces security fixes of the previous version. Phone Guardian has got new SMS commands for instant thief tracking, full lock and turning on and off the siren. The software has been translated in to many languages. Also new security engine was introduced. This engine is invisible for the users, but it allows more easy functional security updates in the future.

Phone Guardian locks the phone automatically, after SIM change and on receiving of the lock SMS. Phone unlock is possible only using unlock SMS with right password or password entering in the application.

Phone Guardian allows phone and thief tracking using the SMS with useful information. The Info-SMS contains always the current SIM card and phone number, as well as Cell ID information which allows territorial tracking of the mobile.

Phone Guardian 2.0 has following new features:

1. New SMS commands:
- Full lock: helps you to lock the phone and emits the siren
- Turn On/Off of the Siren: turns the siren on and off remotely
- Info SMS: can be requested any time. It sends you info regarding your phone and location
2. Phone Guardian was translated into new languages, such as French; German; Spanish; Italian; Swedish; Danish; Norwegian; Finnish; Russian; Dutch; Polish; Latvian; Lithuanian; Ukrainian
3. The error with phone unlock after reboot was fixed
4. Uninstall now is possible only using the Phone Guardian password
5. New security engine was introduced which enables further extensions of the software in the near future.

Phone Guardian 2.0 is free for all existing users, and it really is worth the money!