Nokia 5730 XpressMusic

Posted by Lester Madden under Smartphones, Symbian

When I first got my Nokia 5800 last month I have to admit I missed my Nokia E71 and the keyboard. I couldn’t see myself using the 5800 for too long. One month later and I’m still using it and I am in no rush to change it. And you know me I like to change my phones.

Bluetooth+ Blackberry + Lewis Hamilton = Fun

Posted by Lester Madden under Gadgets, Smartphones, Symbian

It seems that Symbian OS isn’t the only platform to have a version of ShakerRacer.

The guys over at Vodafone have developed something similar for the Blackberry Storm. Even Lewis Hamilton gets to have a play.

A Real ShakerRacer

Posted by Lester Madden under General, Software, Symbian

A nice relaxing weekend is almost over. Almost because I have today (Monday) off as holiday, so I’m still relaxing. Yesterday I went to see Tina Turner in concert at the O2 in London. I’m not really a fan, but it was very entertaining.

Someone sent me an SMS to ask if I enjoyed the show. The only problem was they sent it to my house phone not my mobile. In the UK that means your phone rings every 30 minutes until you pick it up and listen to the full message. 12:30am the first call started, by the time we located the phone it hung up. 1:00am we got the next one, I finally answered the call at 1:30am only to be greeted with an electronic voice asking me if I enjoyed the show. I’m not sure who sent me the message but in the words of Mr T. I pity the fool.

While is seems like a long time off, especially if you are a delegate, but the Smartphone show is only 7 months away. That means that it’s time to start planning what’s going to be at the show. Last year we launched Mobile DevFest to bring back developers to the show and had an amazing event. This year we want to make it even bigger and better for developers, so if you have any killer ideas that you would like to see, feel free to let me know.

Last year the central attraction of the Mobile DevFest was ShakerRacer. Control a radio controlled car over BlueTooth from a Nokia N95 using the accelerometer API. As you see from the photo below we had a huge race circuit to race the car around.

I found a real version of ShakerRacer where a couple of university students put a BlueTooth module in to real car for their BSc. It’s the daddy of ShakerRacers, the only shame is they didn’t thrash the car in the video, but knowing how hard it was to control the mini version that was probably a wise move.

Symbian Foundation – Application Spotlight MWC09 Summary

Posted by Lester Madden under General, Symbian, Travel

A few weeks back we decided, wouldn’t it be great if we could have real developers speak on our Symbian Foundation exhibition stand at Mobile World Congress. So we sent out an email to our developer community, sweet talked a few bloggers into giving us a mention and generally made a nuisance of ourselves asking for developers to contact us if they wanted to give a 15 minute talk on our stand. The only requirements were the application had to run on a S60 5th Edition device (eg Nokia the 5800).

Greetings From Barcelona

Posted by Lester Madden under General, Symbian, Travel

Arrived safe and sound. Its not as warm as I was expecting but still nicer than London. We have just had the first two presenters for the Application Spotlight and so far they have gone well. If you are at mobile world congress drop by the Symbian Foundation stand in hall 8 and see me for your party tickets. I am posting this blog on my Nokia 5800 so short entry today.

78 Partners And Counting

Posted by Lester Madden under General, Symbian

Yesterday the Symbian Foundation blog went live with a new press release annoucing that more industry parnters have signed up and pledged  their support to the foundation.

Application Spotlight – MWC Update

Posted by Lester Madden under Symbian, Travel

A couple of weeks back I invited people to submit their applications for the chance to present them on the Symbian Foundation stand at Mobile World Congress. I’ll admit that I was a bit nervous about the idea, not because I doubt anyone’s ability to build great stuff, but because the device was so new (it only shipped in the UK a few weeks ago) I had no idea how many responses I’d get back.

Mobile World Congress 2009 is almost here

Posted by Lester Madden under Symbian, Travel

Just a few days to go until Mobile World Congress 2009 in Barcelona.
I’m flying out from London City Airport on Sunday afternoon and will be heading off to the venue to register and make sure everything Is ok with the Symbian Foundation stand. I’ve never flown out of London City Airport before. Now I live in East London I thought it would be easier to get to than Heathrow, we’ll see.

If you are going to the event, make sure you pick up your entry pass on the Sunday or expect a 2 hour queue on Monday morning.

My Next Phone

Posted by Lester Madden under Symbian

Strange week this, it’s the last week of Symbian. On Monday I’ll be a Nokia employee with a new Nokia email address. That of course means… time to chose a new phone.

Clarification on presenting at Mobile World Congress

Posted by Lester Madden under Symbian

Apologies for IE readers, parts of the site are not rending correctly.

If you’re interested in presenting on the Symbian Foundation stand at Mobile World Congress, I just wanted to clarify what smartphone devices currently use Nokia Series 60 5^th Edition.

The only device currently available is the Nokia 5800

So if you want to be on the stand presenting you’ll need to make sure your application runs on one of these.

From closed to open

Posted by Lester Madden under General, Software, Symbian

Wow has it really been that long since I last posted? Where has all the time gone?

What have I been up to since I last blogged, well I started working for Symbian who ship the OS for the worlds leading smartphones. If you’re using a Nokia device then chances are you using Symbian OS. My job is to get 3^rd party developers and device developers to build using our OS. Yes that right I have entered the exciting world of marketing.