SymPaper: Clean & Simple Read It Later Client for Symbian

Have you ever seen a something on the web that tweaks your interest, but you just don’t have the time to read it. There have been a number of options around this for a while now, but the problem has been the lack of Symbian support. One of these offering goes by the name of Read It Later which I have been using for a while, with the ability to send links from Symbian apps like Gravity from Mobileways.de, with no way of reading them on device. Enter SymPaper.

Favourite Apps is now my favourite widget

Whilst doing my usual browser of the internet and twitter I noted a reference to this app on a blog (if I could remember the blog I would provide a link).

You should have guessed by the name of this post that the app is Favourite Apps by Jaakko Haukipuro. After recently testing and reviewing SPB Shell 3D I was left wishing that the standard Symbian Ann homescreen supported the same kind of folder bars. This made it all the better when I found out about  Favourite Apps.

Gush is for photos (Store…Sort…Share)

Whilst paying my usual visit to twitter this afternoon I followed a link to Gush.

Symbian to finally receive Microsoft apps

Today a new post at Nokia Conversations they reported that Nokia and Microsoft have announced that Symbian is finally going to receive Microsoft integration in the form of “Microsoft Apps”.

Based on the post the apps are going to become available in the fourth quarter via the on device Software Update app on Symbian Belle devices. This is good news for those planning to buy new Nokia Symbian based mobile devices in the up-coming months, but sound like another waiting game for the masses of Nokia Symbian^3 and Symbian Anna device owners.

Camera Pro gets on device image auto orientation

The observant of you out there may have noticed that Camera Pro has recently received an update on the OVI Store, reaching v2.2. The good news is that you will note that a new setting has appeared in the image below: 

Mix a little colour and black and white in your images

I recently became of one existing app and one new comer from the same developer. The first was RainbowBrush and the second was SketchBrush.

RainbowBrush

If you have an image and you want it to look different with the subject this application may interest you.

The basic concept is that you select an image stored on your phone and open it with RainbowBrush. The first thing the app does is convert the image into grey scale, with the ability to re-colour portions of the image with the touch of your finger whilst enabling the user to zoom and pan to aid accuracy of re-colouring location. I you make any mistakes when re-colouring alongside the colour button there is a de-colour button to clean up any unwanted colouring over the lines.

The main limitation of this app is that it suggests that the image is downsize to 0.8Mb which is a little small when compared with the image capture capability of phones like the Nokia N8. The reason for this suggestion is that the operations required for this app are very RAM hungry as image manipulation often is. Other apps like HDR Photo Camera and alike appear to manage higher resolution image processing when on-device HDR fusing, but these are aided by the fact that the user is not expected to interact with the phone during the processing. RainbowBrush has to perform real-time image manipulation whilst providing fast user responsiveness so this is a limitation that has to be accepted.

SPB Shell 3D: Will it make you go all GUI?

Having tried the original SPB Mobile Shell for Symbian a few years back, I was interested when SPB announced; that they were now releasing SPB Shell 3D for Symbian.

My first impression once the app was installed on my Nokia N8 was that the GUI is a treat for the eyes. When I started playing with it I was VERY impressed that you can enable up to 15 homescreens.

The main difference between this GUI and the standard one is homescreen via a 3D carousel which can either be accessed via a tap on bottom centre icon or by dragging this icon left or right.

Homescreen layout

Another surprise came in the realisation that tapping on the top information bar does NOTHING. Over the years I have become accustom to tapping the information are providing me with battery level information, access to the alarms screen and access to the connectivity, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth menus. In some ways this feels like a backwards step from the default homescreen capabilities.

One very user friendly functionality of homescreen creation is tapping the bottom left icon opens an alphabetical app list which can enables the user to add apps to the homescreens via a long press. If you run out of real estate on a homescreen icons/widgets get transferred to the bottom bar and can be moved from here to another homescreen.  A limitation of this system is that it has been set up such that only one app can be added at a time with the alphabetical app list having to be re-accessed for each app addition. Also any app can only be added to one homescreen.

For those of your having used the auto rotate functionality of your Nokia devices over the years you may be surprised to see that SPB Shell 3D does not support this functionality with the GUI remaining portrait orientated no matter the orientation of the phone. This may be a result of the issues witnessed with misaligned and overlapping icons when auto rotated into landscape orientation in SPB Mobile Shell.

Symbian Anna makes it to the remainder of UK Sim Free N8

After posting on Thursday night that Symbian Ann had been officially released although the UK blue Nokia N8 (0599001) had not been updated when Friday morning arrived so did the firmware update for the remainder of UK sim free N8 family.

Observations

Once updated (flashed) and re-built I have been impressed with the increased speed of the operating system and the many little tweaks under the hood. A little after the re-build was complete I looked at the on device Software Update app and found a 2-part Anna update which added the Internet Radio app and a Social app update. The Anna update is important, but the Social app should be avoided for the moment in my opinion as this version of the app has issues letting go of the data connection (reboot required after use).

Symbian Anna Officially released for the Nokia N8

You may already be aware that Symbian Anna has finally released for the Nokia N8 as well as the Nokia C7 and E7.

What’s the difference?

With this comes the following improvements:

Improved text input

• There’s a portrait QWERTY keyboard for fast, single-handed typing.

• There’s also a split-screen view while you’re typing, so you can see the web pages, forms and message threads you’re replying to.

Better browser

• The browser is easier to use and faster, and offers better compliance with recent standards.

Enhanced Maps

• Ovi Maps now has a simpler and quicker search function.

• It also includes public transport routes.

• And you can check in to social networks, send emails and SMS messages sharing your location.

Business features

• Email improvements include full meeting request support.

• Hardware-accelerated encryption of your phone’s data for true business-grade security.

• Secure intranet access for business users who need IPSEC and SSL VPN enablers.

Near-Field Communications

• Symbian Anna also activates the NFC hardware in the Nokia C7, for easy sharing, games, use with NFC-enabled accessories and reading NFC tags on other items.

For developers

• Flashlite 4, Java Runtime 2.2, Qt Mobility 1.1 and Qt 4.7 bring things up-to-date for developers.

Camera Fx

A new app has arrived from the developer of CameraPro going by the name of CameraFx. Whilst Camera Pro is provided for those wanting to take professional looking photographs with maximum control variance CameraFx provides a something for those wanting to have more fun with their images.

The number of Masks, filters and effects is quite impressive with the extremely long list detailed below:

Masks

• None
• Custom Frame – Select a mask (8 bit gra…) from C:/, E:/ or F:/
• Lomo Lense
• Vignetting
• Frame

Filters

• None
• Black&White
• Black&White Inverted
• Custom Convolution 
• Dilate
• Edge Detect
• Emboss
• Erode
• Gaussian Blur
• Mean Removal
• Median Smooth
• Negativ 
• Night Vision
• Posterize
• Sepia/Old film
• Sharpen (Convolution)
• Solarize
• Thermal

Effects

• None 
• Fisheye
• Flip Horizontal
• Flip Vertical
• Mirror Bottom
• Mirror Left
• Mirror Right
• Mirror Top
• Moire 
• Pixelize
• Random Noise
• Time Warp
• Twirl
• Water

 

 

Flash

• No flash
• Auto
• Forced
• Red Eye

Open Image

Camera Mode

Settings

• Storage location
  • Custom location
  • C:/
  • D:/
  • E:/ 
  • F:/
• File prefix
  • Date
  • Custom
• Image size
  • 4000×3000
  • 4000×2248
  • 3264×2448
  • 3264×1832
  • 2592×1944
  • 2592×1456
  • 2048×1536
  • 1600×1200 
  • 1280×960
  • 1024×768
  • 640×480
• Image format
  • jpg
  • bmp
  • png
• Show captured image
• One tap selection

Sample Images

Below are a few fun images we took to show you what fun you can have with CameraFx.

Conclusion

With a price tag of only £1.50, CameraFx is well worth the money for all the fun you can have.