Recently mBrain Software released updated version of its popular Pdf+ viewer for both Symbian S60 3rd edition and UIQ 3 platforms. The applications gives users all the functions they would expect, such as displaying specific pages, searching, zooming, full screen mode and displaying and following bookmarks and links. Furthermore, Pdf+ can open password-protected files, and files encrypted with 40 and 128 bits Standard encryption.

AllAboutSymbian’s Steve Litchfield reviewed the application in great depth, and concluded that “Pdf+ impresses mightily”. Moreover, Pdf+ is certainly much better PDF-viewing solution, than the built in Adobe’s app which can’t handle Acrobat documents directly from the email, and sometimes, well, just doesn’t opens PDF files.

In just six months, zyb.com, the company we’ve already talked about, reached an impressive number of 70,000 users and almost four million uploaded contacts.

Those not familiar should know that zyb.com enables users to backup, share and manage their contacts and calendars via an intuitive online UI. Furthermore, using zyb.com users can also synchronize their PIM data with other devices and service.

To support its new feature offerings for mobile users, ZYB has also expanded to 25 employees, including the strengthening of its management team with the addition of Hans Hurvig as CTO and Thomas Klausbo as commercial director.

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) didn’t post their 2006 4Q results by country, they did it by continent. Data from Russia however has just been published:

The Russian sales of Finnish telecommunications equipment producer Nokia rose 7.7% on the year to 1.518 billion euros in 2006, the company said in a press release Monday.

In Russia, Nokia accounted for 25.4% of the mobile handset market in 2006, according to estimates of Russia’s largest mobile handset retailer Euroset.

Nokia controlled about 36% of the world’s mobile handset market in 2006, according to the company’s own estimates.

Source: Cellular News

Quite possibly the most important S60 application out there, Quickoffice, was just given a massive write up over at Symbian One.

Part one only covers Quickword, but it’s so exhaustive that snipping out pieces for quotes wouldn’t do it justice.

Check it out over at Symbian One, complete with lots of screenshots

I’m looking forward to part 2 which will cover Quicksheet, Quickpoint and Quickmanager. I’ll post it here as soon as it gets published so keep your eyes open!

To give you an idea of what this is and isn’t:

First of all I have to say that this not going to be a regular review, not even hands on preview and I am not going to write one long piece, this is going to be something like various impressions of a power user.

The full, detailed review in Apoc-style will be ready next week; I definitely need some time to test it completely and deeply.

The first page of this write up is just a spec sheet, so don’t even bother. Page 2 is where the content lays:

I have to say that a few of my worst fears appear to be true, the screen resolution as well as the battery life are not suitable for such an undoubtedly powerful and superior smartphone, and these two things just do not follow other specifications.

A-freaking-greed. The smaller battery was included to save on size, but that isn’t what kills me. What really grinds my gears is the 320×240 display. Absolutely no excuse to include such a low end screen on such a high end device. No reason. Zero. Nill.

At this point in the article he is asking you guys for questions, all of which he will answer in his upcoming review. I can’t wait to read it Apaco!

So once again, if I miss something or this overview is not so easy to be understood because of my too technical speaking, or if you have any further questions, suggestions or just want to discuss about the phone, feel free to reach me at our forum or via e-mail as well.

There are a LOT of pictures of the device, as well as some sample photographs taken with the camera. I highly encourage you to check out his write up!

Some highlights:

The first impression of the phone is that it is a bit bulky (thick), although it’s width and height are completely normal.

Unfortunately though, there is no option to set the actual default backlight strength so when the screen is ON, it’s always full-powered.

The S40 devices have a "premium" music application that supports playlists and sorting via various ways (found in the 7390 and 5300/5200 models), but the 6288 comes with the basic music player. All songs are sorted by filename and they are played one after another. You can do previous/next and fast forward and change the equalizer to 6-7 presets, but that’s about it.

The video player is a very basic one and does not support fast-forwarding.

The 2MP camera in the 6288 is very so-so compared to, let’s say, the Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE)’s also 2MP cameraphone W810i.

Of course, the phone has a few areas where it could have been better. It comes with only 4.5 MBs of free space and the fact that you can use a miniSD does not help you if you want to download or receive via Bluetooth a file that’s bigger or around that size (e.g. an mp3 file). The transfer will just stop, as the phone doesn’t let you specify if you want to save in the card or in the internal memory. Other areas where the phone could be better is in its default theme which I found repulsive in terms of usability, the Active Standby screen where the font is almost unreadable, the "Gallery" where the file manager actions require too many clicks and recognized filetypes arriving via IrDA/BT are not saved automatically in the right folder, the web browser window which does not make usage of the available screen space (there is an unused bar at the bottom of each web page) and the fact that creating IM/GPRS/PTT/email/etc accounts is not as straight forward as it should be (are global "configurations" and you can have different sets of them).

Source: OS News

Ah Eugenia is a hard woman to please. She does give this thing a lot of praise, but I chose to highlight the defects she has pointed out.

Nokia (NYSE: NOK), the world leader in mobile communications, has extended its support for the Nigerian entertainment industry further, by partnering with Reflux Productions Limited and DaWorks Records UK to launch Nigerian youths into international stardom.

The launch pad is the search for a true Nigerian voice, which can compete effectively on the International entertainment stage, in the Nokia First Chance, a new interactive TV reality show soon to air on select local and satellite TV stations.

Area Manager, Nigeria Ghana & Liberia, Vithesh Reddy, said Nokia’s decision to support the music reality TV show was buoyed on its commitment to developing Nigerian initiatives centered on supporting the Nigerian youths. Particularly in this case when they passionately aspire to both become international stars and project Nigeria positively.

Following the recent success of Nokia’s past music project, the Nokia Silverbird Danceathon, a dance competition where young Nigerians excelled and entrenched Nigeria into the Guinness Book of World Records, Nokia’s Channel Marketing Manager, Beatrice Olumhense, stressed that "Nokia wants young Nigerians to continuously aspire and believe in themselves with the certainty that Nokia will back them all the way to the top."

The Producer, Reflux Productions Limited, Mr Segun Giwa, said "Nokia First Chance will captivate viewers as they discover the vast talent and vitality of our youths, while the participants will be exposed to positive role models who are glowing sources of inspiration themselves."

Giwa explained that the production of Nokia First Chance commenced with auditions in November 2006 and will soon be aired on select TV stations across Nigeria.

The winner of Nokia First Chance will receive N1million and a sign-on album deal to be produced and released Internationally by DaWorks Records.

Nokia First Chance will be the first music talent show in Nigeria to deliver on its promise of an International record deal for winners.

Source: All Africa

I never even knew that this type of thing was done by Nokia. Brand recognition is the obvious motive, but maybe I’m wrong. Maybe Nokia really does want to connect people. Good stuff indeed.

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) and Siemens announced today that they would start sharing the proposed product portfolio plan for the future Nokia Siemens Networks with employees and customers starting in early February.  As a result, Nokia and Siemens will immediately begin the process of sharing the proposed future product portfolio information with employee representatives.

"As we continue to make strong progress in integration planning for Nokia Siemens Networks, it is critical that we are able to maintain the strong support that we have seen so far from customers by providing them with clarity about our future portfolio plans," said Simon Beresford-Wylie, CEO-designate of Nokia Siemens Networks.  "Sharing that information now is also in the best interests of employees so we are able to ensure the strongest possible start for Nokia Siemens Networks. While the portfolio plans are still subject to input from customers and employee consultation processes, we believe that we will be ideally positioned to provide best-in-class products and services for the converging telecommunications world."

Planning is still underway to assess the personnel, site and country-level impact of the proposed product portfolio plan as well as expected transition times and requirements for ongoing support for existing products.  As planning proceeds related to the personnel implications of the proposed portfolio plans, those implications will be made available in accordance with local legal practices.  The business and personnel implications are expected to be available only after the closing of Nokia Siemens Networks.

As previously announced, the synergies associated with the creation of Nokia Siemens Networks are expected to result in a headcount adjustment over the next four years of approximately 10-15 percent from the initial combined base of approximately 60,000.  Actual employee reductions will only take place after the appropriate consultations are completed according to each jurisdiction’s labor law requirements and Nokia Siemens Networks has begun operations.

Source: Nokia PR

Sad to see 10-15% of the workforce being cut, but it is to be expected. Mergers are never pretty in the short term, but hopefully we can see long term benefits arise.

I hate fast food, but every once in a while I indulge in this milk shake McDonald’s makes. They call it a McFlurry; it is essentially a thick vanilla milk shake with pieces of Oreo blended in. It is absolutely delicious.

Enough about that, check out the video Darla Mack shot:

Click to play

I think it’s safe to say that the video quality is better than the Nokia (NYSE: NOK) N93. Too bad this doesn’t have a tripod mount on the bottom!

China’s CDC Mobile, a provider of mobile value-added services and a business unit of CDC Corporation, has entered into a software agreement with Nokia (NYSE: NOK).

Under the agreement, CDC Mobile will allow Nokia to pre-install its proprietary software in selected Nokia mobile phones sold in China.

CDC Mobile’s software application provides mobile subscribers with services including mobile games, ring tones, news and weather forecasts.

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Source: Forbes

Would’ve liked to know how much Nokia is making off this deal. The more contracts Nokia gets the better.