Scott Weiss, User Interface Technology Manager for The Symbian Foundation, recently said that S60 5th edition, the version that you see on current touch devices shipping from Nokia (NYSE: NOK) such as the N97 and 5800, is a temporary solution and things will change rather soon.

Back in April, the Symbian foundation blog said these two things will be included in Symbian^4 which is supposed to be feature complete this time next year, and be final by the end of 2010:

• A new “Orbit” extension library for Qt, which contains more than 50 widgets tailored for mobile user experience, and which will provide a replacement for the existing “Avkon” widget set.
• A new “Direct UI” interaction and navigation logic, combined with finger-optimised layouts offering excellent touch and hybrid-device user experience.

Krzysztof Choma, who is now unemployed, but used to be a Senior Software Engineer at Nokia for 3 months, and before that a Senior Software Engineer for Symbian for 2 years, confirms that the decision to kill Avkon, which is the codename for Nokia’s flavor of S60, has not yet been made and goes through the pros and cons of switching to Direct UI. The pros for taking Avkon behind the barn and putting a bullet in it’s brain are many: it’s old, maintaining it is costly and starting from scratch to compete with Palm (NSDQ: PALM) and Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) is tempting. The cons: developers would have to rewrite their applications. Well boo hoo!

Direct UI, the replacement for Avkon, is built on top of Qt from what I can tell, and creating a Hello World application in Qt on Symbian takes 10 lines of code, where as for Avkon you have to import multiple classes and create several files.

Conclusion after all that technomumbojumbo: Touch versions of S60 are still going to look like the same S60 from 2002 when the Nokia 7650 came out, and Symbian is not going to be competitive, in the UI/UX department, until the end of 2010. Expect devices with the new UI to probably hit in 2011. When Steve Jobs said the iPhone was 5 years ahead of it’s time, he was not kidding.

[Screenshot above via SlashGear]

Related News from IntoMobile:

• Eclipse, InnoPath join Symbian Foundation
• Symbian Foundation looking to deliver first handsets in 2010
• Brighthand Nokia E62 Review
• Nokia N91 review
• Symbian Foundation to get 14 new members including Qualcomm, HP and MySpace

Truphone has updated its Symbian S60 application and now it works on 11 additional Nokia (NYSE: NOK) handsets, running S60 3.2 (Feature pack 2) and touch-enabled S60 5th Edition. The new Nokia S60 smartphones that now sing along the popular low-cost VoIP and IM service/application are: N96, N78, N85, N79, 5630, 5800, 5320, 6210, 6220, 6650, and E63.

In addition, three of the devices from the list — Nokia N85, N79 and 5630 — are also compatible with the original Truphone Wi-Fi calling service.

With this addition, Truphone is now compatible with a total of 26 Nokia devices. Of those, software for 14 of the Truphone-compatible phones can now be downloaded from Nokia’s Ovi Store, with the software for 11 of the remaining 12 new devices to be added to the Ovi store soon.

Related News from IntoMobile:

• Truphone for iPhone adds 3G into mix
• Truphone adds AIM to its iPhone/iPod Touch app, PayPal to pre-payment methods
• Truphone goes Android with Truphone Anywhere Android application!
• Truphone goes BlackBerry
• Truphone on Nokia N80 Internet Edition

Feature wise, LoudSpeaker supports:

• Answering the incoming call automatically (after pre-set number of seconds)
• Activation on certain profiles, only
• Adjustable sounds on the call start and hang up

The application works on all Symbian S60 3rd and 5th edition devices, and is available in following languages: Spanish, French, Italian, Russian and Ukrainian. More details is available from SymbianGuru’s website…

Related News from IntoMobile:

• Magic Profiles Pro UIQ v1.2 released
• SymbianGuru’s AutoThemes automatically changes theme of your Symbian S60 smartphone
• QStarz BT-Q818 eXtreme is the world’s most powerful Bluetooth GPS receiver?
• iPhone Home Activation Coming Soon…
• Going to 3GSM? Put Amigo on your mobile phone!

Zeemote has recently announced that their JS1 Bluetooth Gaming Controller can now sing along even broader range of mobile devices from Nokia (NYSE: NOK), Samsung and LG. Basically, they announced a Symbian S60 driver, allowing their device to be used not just for games, but also for other applications such as music player, web browser and so on — virtually any application will work.

It’s a great move by Zeemote, as now millions of Symbian S60 3rd and 5th edition smartphone owners can use their handy accessory, not just for gaming, but for getting around the apps, too. At the same time, with this move Zeemote added dozens of new phones to the list of supported device. Nice!

[Via: slashphone]

Related News from IntoMobile:

• Zeemote JS1 enables near-console gameplay on mobile phones
• Mexico’s Telcel bundles Sony Ericsson W760i with Zeemote JS1 Controller
• Zeemote, Nokia to partner in Germany
• Sprimp to support Zeemote, too
• Have a Series 30 3rd edition device? Check out this list of essential applications

The Nokia (NYSE: NOK) E72 is the device I’m personally looking forward to the most this year since it fixes the problems of my current favorite phone, the Nokia E71. Adding a 3.5 mm headphone jack and a 5 megapixel camera are just what the doctor ordered. The iPhone 3GS isn’t doing it for me, the N97 is a load of fail, and the N86 is ugly. David Chieng, who from his bio is a:

Self-professed geek and husband. Now Editor for HWM, Singapore’s top technology magazine. Previous stints in publishing include editing for MAX-IT and PC Magazine in Malaysia.

He has a a Nokia E72. Images of the device can be checked out in this Flickr set, but more importantly, images taken with the 5 megapixel camera can be seen here. His E72 is running firmware dated June 5th, 2009, version 021.009. I can tell you from experience, that’s a wicked early firmware. Shipping firmware is usually 100.XYZ, but even with early code, his images look great!

Related News from IntoMobile:

• First image samples from the Nokia E90!
• iPhone hangin’ with the big boys on Flickr
• 7 pictures of the Nokia N96 leak! This isn’t a render folks, this is real hardware *UPDATE*
• Nokia N95-1 gets another update; Firmware version reaches 31.0.017
• The Nokia N95 is now shipping

Adobe’s CEO Shantanu Naraye announced Adobe Flash Player 10 beta last week:

“We are bringing Flash Player 10 to smartphone class devices to enable the latest web browsing experience. Multiple partners have already received early version of this release and we expect to release a beta version for developers at our Max conference in October. Google (NSDQ: GOOG)’s Android, Nokia (NYSE: NOK)’s Symbian OS, Windows Mobile and the new Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Web OS will be the first devices to support web browsing with the new Flash player…”

Of course, seeing all kinds of Windows Mobile, Symbian OS, WebOS (Palm Pre!) and Android OS-powered smartphones running around with full Flash support is going to make it harder for Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) to ignore the multimedia web technology. Apple’s betting that the HTML 5 standard will eventually kill Adobe Flash’s 95%+ market penetration, but in the meantime, iPhone users will have to watch their non-iPhone-having friends play around with embedded videos and interactive elements.

[Via: WMExperts]

Related News from IntoMobile:

• Adobe Flash support coming to Android OS!
• Adobe brings Flash to T-Mobile G1 - Android and Adobe Flash, together at last
• Adobe Flash Player 10 Coming to Android, Symbian, Windows Mobile and More!
• Adobe Flash Player 10 to bring performance increase to Mac - Adobe preparing to put Flash on iPhone?
• Flash Lite 3 to support video

We do get is some pricing info and a launch window: €600, October. That’s a lot cheaper than I was expecting, and a lot sooner. I’ll believe it when I see it, for now it’s just a rumor.

[Via: Cellulare-Magazine]

Related News from IntoMobile:

• BlackBerry Pearl Flip, Android G1 coming to Best Buy October 26th.
• Palm Pre launching June 16th?
• Motorola Z6tv VCAST phone to hit Verizon Wireless on October 5
• More Android Goodness Coming This Fall? HTC ‘Hero’ Release Rumored for October
• AT&T ‘happy’ with data plan pricing

While all eyes are on the newly announced Nokia E72, the Finnish giant’s other model, E75, is also a cool QWERTY keyboard-equipped smartphone, worth considering buying. Just recently, it has been spotted in white at the Eseries Social Media meetup, where Nokia (NYSE: NOK)’s Director of Eseries Marketing in Americas carried it around. Unfortunately, he hasn’t unveiled the release date — he just said “It’s coming”.

That’s good enough in my book, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the white E75 hitting store shelves within weeks. Otherwise, people may decide to wait for the E72, which is a cooler device, as far as I’m concerned.

Anyway, what do you think about the white E75? Like it? Or do you prefer the E72 in some other color? Comments form is all yours…

[Via: TheNokiaBlog]

Related News from IntoMobile:

• HTC Touch Diamond Coming in White
• Nokia E71 spotted in black, red at Nokia World 2008
• Telus BlackBerry Storm to launch November 17, along with new Pearl colours?
• “I have a dream…” of a perfect Nokia smartphone
• Nokia E75 QWERTY slider spotted in the wild!

Immersion argues that their haptics technology improves efficiency and intuitiveness by providing “unmistakable confirmation of touchscreen presses, adds improved accuracy and depth.”

Separately, they are also offering haptic player for touch feedback effects to the Symbian Foundation community.

For the record, more than 65 million handsets with Immersion’s high-fidelity, programmable haptics technology have shipped around the world so far.

Related News from IntoMobile:

• iPhone rumors galore: Haptic / vibration feedback touchscreen, GPS, Jabber, iControl remote iTunes control, new patents
• Chinese phone with WQVGA screen AND haptic feedback
• New Nokia patent application gives insight in to haptic feedback technology - More details on Haptikos
• Nokia’s iPhone fighting Nokia 5800 Tube - specs, launch window and live pic
• Samsung F490 hands-on video from Mobile World Congress

Just when we saw that leaked video of Nokia E72, the Finnish giant decided to push the button and announce the new device to the world. My initial impression is - WOW! It seems that the E72 fixes all the “problems” (if I could call them problems at all) of its predecessor - E71, and it even looks better.

Here’s what’s improved in the E72 when compared to the E71:

• 5 megapixel camera as opposed to E71’s 3.2 megapixels
• standard 3.5mm audio jack as opposed to 2.5mm
• new version of Quickoffice which can sing along Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) Office 2007 files
• I also guess the E72 runs Symbian S60 3.2 (Feature pack 2) like AT&T (NYSE: T)’s E71x — E71 runs S60 3.1
• slightly improved keyboard, like the one found on the E63

Rest of the specs seem identical — we still wait for Forum Nokia (NYSE: NOK) to include the E72 in their list of devices when we’ll have all the specs — and include a GPS, WiFi, HSPA, Bluetooth, QVGA screen… you name it.

The Nokia E72 is expected to begin shipping in late Q3 2009 at an estimated retail price of 350 EUR before taxes and subsidies.

Update: Stefan here, Dusan is traveling today, and it looks like Forum Nokia finally uploaded the E72 to their website! It’s also on Nokia’s consumer website; not to mention Nokia’s Press site uploaded the datasheet (PDF file). Here are the highlights:

• 114 x 59.5 x 10.1 mm
• Three colors: Zodium Black, Metal Grey, Topaz Brown
• 128 g
• 2.36 inch display, 16.7 million colors
• Micro USB
• 3.5 mm headphone jack
• Compass + GPS
• 1500 mAh battery
• GSM talk/standby: 12.5 hours/20 days
• 3G talk/standby: 6 hours/24 days
• Quad Band EDGE
• Tri Band HSPA! There will be two versions, one is  850/1900/2100 (NAM), the other is  900/1900/2100 (EU + ASIA)
• HSDPA maxes out at 10.2 Mbps; HSUPA maxes out at 2 Mbps
• WiFi b/g
• 640 x 480 video recording @ 15 frames per second
• And yes, Dusan’s hunch was correct, it runs S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2

Update: Stefan here again, one more thing, Mark from the Nokia Blog found some live pictures, told Engadget about them, and now I’ve embedded them after the jump!

Update: Third update, happy I’m not blasting your RSS reader with posts yet? Nokia Conversations uploaded this video. Towards the end there is a shot of the E72 in all 3 colors, I’ve taken a screen grab and posted it after the jump.

Update: Fourth update, only because I know how much people love comparison photos. These come from A Bugged Life:

E72 left, E71 right:

E72 bottom, E71 top:

Update: Fifth update: more live pictures added after the jump, this time from VR-Zone.

Related News from IntoMobile:

• Nokia 6120 Classic is official
• Nokia E51 announced, available in Q4 for 350 euros
• 7 pictures of the Nokia N96 leak! This isn’t a render folks, this is real hardware *UPDATE*
• Nokia E71x for AT&T will run S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2?
• Video: Nokia E72 accidentally makes an early appearance on YouTube

Symbian Foundation’s blog has recently announced that a team at ST-Ericsson and ARM have managed to make Symbian running on a highly capable SMP (Symmetric Multiprocessing) configuration. In other words, Symbian can sing along on dual-core CPUs!

The test environment consists of an ST-Ericsson U8500 smartphone platform embedding the first silicon implementation of ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore in the industry. A single instance of the Symbian operating system schedules multiple threads concurrently, distributing the CPU load on two cores. This guarantees the best combination of high performance and low power providing an unparalleled capability to build next generation mobile products for a variety of advanced consumer experiences.

The hardware used also contains an HSPA Modem, and can accommodate features and functionality such as:

• HD 1080p camcorder and video
• Up to 18 million pixels camera
• ~100 hours audio playback time
• 10 hours HD video playback time
• Simultaneously TV out over HDMI
• Video and Imaging accelerator
• Hardware accelerated 3D Graphics supporting OpenGL ES 2.0
• 2xWVGA (960×854) displays
• Touch UI on 2 displays

Please note that this is more of a proof of concept than something any manufacturer will pursue in the short term. Who knows how much we’ll have to wait to see the first dual-core smartphone being released. We’ll certainly watch carefully for any such news…

Related News from IntoMobile:

• Nokia N97 Announced with Slide, Touch and a Tilt
• nVidia announces Tegra 650 mobile processor - nVidia Tegra Mobile Platform is here
• iPhone’s display upgraded; Plus its battery rocks!
• nVidia Tegra platform could debut in HTC hardware at Mobile World Congress!
• Mophie juice pack goes iPhone 3G

When I saw this video on Engadget, I simply had to take a step back away from the keyboard, go to the bathroom, look at myself in the mirror and punch myself in the face. You’re looking at PhonePoint Pen, an application written by Sandip Agrawal, Ionut Constandache, Shravan Gaonkar and Romit Roy Choudhury at Duke University. These bright young lads are in Duke’s University Computer Science program, which according to their admissions page, runs around $53,390 without textbooks.

I can’t think of a better example of the disconnect between academia and the real world. We all know gesture based controls will be one of the many ways we’re going to interact with the world around us. With more and more smartphones shipping with accelerometers, and even compasses, we’re all going to be walking around with Wii controllers in our pockets that will allow us to manipulate stuff on digital displays and interact with real world objects.

Writing my name in the air however? You’re in university for fucks sake! You’re supposed to be drinking a 12 pack of the Bud Lite and writing your name in urine on the bed of the sorority girl you just contracted syphilis from.

Fail.

Related News from IntoMobile:

• Samsung patent application for gesture based mobile phone control
• NTT DoCoMo D904i Rocks Motion Sensors
• Motorola Launches Gesture-Sensitive W7 Active Edition
• Palm Pre gesture guide leaked!
• Nokia S60 Touch UI video gets updated

According to the post on Symbian Foundation’s blog, the site is far from finished, but they believe it’s ready to enter a public beta state.

The first thing you’ll see at the site is a registration screen. If you were part of the invitation-only beta, you can use the existing account to enter. Otherwise, click on the “Register” button and take it from there.

And “there” you’ll find out that “Symbian needs you!” The site offers code, bug-tracking, reference documentation, a wiki and forums; and it’s up to you as a Symbian developer (let’s presume you are) to contribute and help the platform grow.

There are plenty of changes to come, with some of them already being in the pipeline of intended upgrades. Others should come as a surprise to the Symbian Foundation, as members are expected to send feedback and participate in the site creation.

Related News from IntoMobile:

• Symbian Foundation launches new beta site!
• UIQ Knowlegebase - a companion to the discussion forums
• Win a free Sony Ericsson P1 from the Sony Ericsson Developer World Wiki contest1
• Python for S60 gets a Wiki
• Symbian Foundation looking to deliver first handsets in 2010

After the N97 has been launched, it’s time Nokia (NYSE: NOK) focuses on its first 8 megapixel camera-equipped baby - N86 8MP. We’ve seen the device being announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and even saw it passing the FCC hurdle, meaning that the launch is closer than we think. Support pages are live, too, hinting us it’s all about the timing now. The N86 8MP runs Symbian S60 3.2 (Feature pack 2), the platform Nokia knows so well, so I don’t expect them to wait for long before they send out the “you can buy the N86 8MP now” release. Stay tuned…

[Via: BGR]

Related News from IntoMobile:

• Nokia E71x for AT&T will run S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2?
• Nokia to launch two new Nseries devices on on August 18th? N79? N85?
• FCC approves BlackBerry Bold
• Nokia E71 - day 5: It’s almost a true mobile office with a Bluetooth keyboard
• S60.com going under by the end of June

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) has updated two of its QWERTY keyboard-equipped smartphones - the E75 and E90 Communicator.

We’ve no official change logs, but we do know the usual thing - once the firmware is upgraded, devices are faster and more stable, some apps are updated, new features are on board, and so on. For the E75, we know there are several email improvements in setup process, connection reliability, readability; and automatic lookup is added to Contacts.

With the update, Nokia E75’s firmware reaches version 110.48.125, and E90’s - 400.34.93.

To update your device, simply start Nokia Software Updater, follow instructions provided on the screen and that’s it. Make sure to backup your data prior to pushing the trigger!

[Via: SymbianFreak]

Related News from IntoMobile:

• Nokia N95 gets a firmware update
• Nokia N78 gets another firmware update - 21.002
• Nokia N78, N82 get firmware updates
• Nokia 5800 XpressMusic gets a minor firmware upgrade
• Nokia N95 gets a firmware update

Following on Nokia’s announcement that the Nokia N97 would launch in 75 countries this month, the Finnish mobile phone giant has gone live with a US 3G-compatible Nokia N97 NAM. The Nokia N97 NAM is available now for $699 unlocked and sucka contract-free.

The iPhone 3G S and the Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre may be getting all the hype this week, but it’s hard to discount Nokia’s range-topping Nokia N97 and its 3.5-inch near-HD touchscreen,

This is the White variant

5.0-megapixel Carl Zeiss camera, WiFi, GPS, microSD slot, 32GB on-board storage QWERTY keyboard and HSPA data connection. But, will the Symbian-based Nokia N97 have what it takes to fight the more intuitive and finger-friendly iPhone OS and WebOS? Sound off in the comments!

Find the Black Nokia N97 NAM hanging out in Nokia’s flagship stores in Chicago and New York City with a $699 price-tag around its neck. If you want the White Nokia N97 NAM variant, you’ll have to order through Nokia’s website.

[Via: UnwiredView]

Related News from IntoMobile:

• Poll: iPhone 3G or Palm Pre?
• Palm nixed microSD on Palm Pre for all the right reasons
• Nokia E63 NAM hits all US retailers!
• Nokia N97 goes on sale this month in more than 75 countries!
• HP unveils iPAQ Data Messenger and iPAQ Voice Messenger

Both Larry and and Dietmer are seasoned executives: Mr. Berkin was former vice president of Mobile Ecosystem & Corporate Business Development at ACCESS, while Mr. Tallroth was former Director of Legal for Nokia (NYSE: NOK)’s Open Source and Java.

Larry will now serve as head of Symbian’s US office and will be charged with expanding its partnership alliances and developer ecosystem. Dietmar, on the other hand, will serve as Symbian’s general counsel and will be based in Finland.

Commenting on the new hires, Symbian Foundation’s Executive Director, Lee Williams, said: “Symbian is strengthening its executive team with talented individuals, including Larry and Dietmar, both very experienced, passionate and already well-entrenched in the open source movement. Their contributions will enable the foundation to continue its efforts towards growing a thriving ecosystem, comprising a strong network of developers, partners, manufacturers and operators, around the Symbian platform.”

Related News from IntoMobile:

• Symbian extends collaboration offer to Google, possibly Android
• Mobile handset manufacturers bringing Symbian together for new open-source mobile platform - Symbian OS, S60, UIQ united
• Symbian Foundation looking to deliver first handsets in 2010
• Nokia buys out Samsung’s Symbian shares on road to Symbian Foundation
• Android and Symbian Duke it Out Over Open Source

Nokia (NYSE: NOK)’s fancy looking 5630 XpressMusic mid-ranger has been quietly launched by the Finnish giant. AllAboutSymbian noticed that the device is already on sale on Nokia’s website for Finland, Germany and Italy. The price is around 250 EUR (239.90 EUR in Italy and 255 EUR in Finland), while the offer for Germany is bit more expensive (379 EUR) but includes the device along with the Comes With Music service, Nokia’s unlimited music downloads service.

Specs wise, the Nokia 5630 XpressMusic is a Symbian S60 3.2 (Feature pack 2) smartphone with 3.2 megapixel camera with auto-focus, WiFi, HSDPA, and tons of other goodies, all which make the device a great buy…

[Via: AllAboutSymbian]

Related News from IntoMobile:

• Nokia 6650 lands on AT&T
• Nokia XpressMusic 5320 NAM hits the FCC
• Nokia moves 1 million Nokia 5800 XpressMusic touchscreen handsets!
• Nokia E71x for AT&T will run S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2?
• More Nokia N82 pictures leak, this time from France

Commenting on the announcement, Sesca Group’s Harri Halminen said: “Joining the Symbian Foundation is a significant step in Sesca growth strategy for international business. The membership opens us a new sales and marketing channel for accessing new customers around the world.”

For the record, Sesca’s Mobile Software division has over 10 years of experience in mobile software development and project consultation. The company offers its customers full project house offering for Symbian-based applications development and management services.

[Via: SymbianFreak]

Related News from IntoMobile:

• Symbian Foundation to get 14 new members including Qualcomm, HP and MySpace
• Mobile handset manufacturers bringing Symbian together for new open-source mobile platform - Symbian OS, S60, UIQ united
• Eclipse, InnoPath join Symbian Foundation
• Immersion joins Symbian Foundation to bring its touch feedback technology to the platform
• Symbian Foundation leadership bolstered with two new hires

Samsung is preparing to unveil a new device. It’s a candybar-shaped Symbian S60-based smartphone that will be called C5100. From what we’ve heard, it’s a mid-range handset sporting such things as QVGA screen, HSDPA connectivity, WiFi, GPS, 3 megapixel camera with flash, Bluetooth, and we guess a microSD memory card slot. All this is neatly packed in a metallic case, which looks quite durable.

Exact release date is unknown and the same goes for pricing. We do, however, believe it will be more affordable than the Samsung i7710, similar Symbian S60 device, which retails for about 500 EUR. Stay tuned…

[Via: Unwired View]

Related News from IntoMobile:

• Samsung S8300 Ultra Touch coming in Onyx Gold
• Samsung Steel heading to Vodafone
• Motorola working on a low-end W530 clamshell
• Samsung L870 is the first Soul smartphone?
• Samsung SGH-U800 welcomed as new Soul phone - Samsung Soulb