We’ve had news from Vodafone about new dates for the Nokia N97; if you are waiting for the Nokia N97 on Vodafone, it will be available for pre-order from 12th June, and will go on sale on 26th June, slightly ahead of the “July” date the Vodafone website has previously been advertising.

So, that’s 3UK, Vodafone and O2 (via Carphone Warehouse’s White Nokia N97 exclusive) confirmed, and we believe it will be released on T-Mobile and Orange on the 26th June too.

We know that the 3UK version will ship with their “Skype on 3″ application, and the planned Skype application support (which caused controversy earlier this year) is not due to be released as part of the firmware until later this year; at which point we suspect some operators will either released heavily customised firmwares (ie removing this application), or will simply not make the new firmware available.  In other news, there have been lots of rumours that the Nokia N97 will ship in the UK without a stylus, but we understand that it will ship with one in the box for generic models, and we would suspect most networks will leave it in the box too.

Of course, with Apple’s iPhone announcement next week, people may want to think twice before placing that pre-order…

Devicescape have traditionally released their Symbian application for free.  Easy Wi-Fi eases the process of managing multiple accounts to different Wi-Fi systems (BT OpenZone, FON, The Cloud, etc. etc.).  However, from their latest version, v3.0.70, they are now charging $4.99 for the Symbian version.  This is inline with their iPhone and iPod Touch applications, and whilst the Nokia Ovi Store is not yet up and running, they are handling the payment direct.

For existing users, Devicescape have stated that all v3.x updates will remain free, although they can’t promise this will remain for the future (ie only new users have to pay; the download will be for a 7-day fully functioning demo).  Also, for now, the Windows, Mac, and Nokia Internet Tablet versions will remain free.

As well as being able to provide Devicescape details of your home networks, it comes preconfigured with all open network hotspots (eg McDonald’s and Apple Stores).  This looks a very useful application, although there are other solutions (Psiloc Connect, BirdStep SmartConnect) which are also worthy of a look.

Although it’s been a while since we’ve mentioned the PSP, Sony are continuing to release firmware updates across the whole range of devices.  The latest firmware, v5.50 (due out soon), features an Information Board (similar to that on the PS3) to allow the user access to PlayStation and PlayStation Store News.  The update also includes other features, including:

• Memory Stick improvements – You’ll be able to create and access sub-folders on your Memory Stick PRO Duo for music, videos and photos. Separately, the available space required to download a file from PlayStation Store to your Memory Stick has been reduced significantly.
• Internet search for games directly from the XMB – You’ll be able to easily search the Internet for information about your PSP games. Select the icon for the game, hit the Triangle button, and then select [Internet Search] from the options menu to get search results based on the game title. This feature was added to PS3 with the recent 2.70 update.
• Trend Micro trial – PSP’s Internet browser is a great tool for checking out your favorite Web sites on the go, and we’re teaming up with the Internet security experts at Trend Micro to make the Web browsing experience safer and more secure. With the 5.50 update, you’ll have the option to access a free trial of two Trend Micro services:
  Trend Micro Web Security uses Web reputation technology to block PSP owners from accidentally visiting a Web site that may contain malicious content designed to steal personal information and confidential data.
  Trend Micro Kids’ Safety uses URL filtering technology to prevent children from accessing Web sites that feature inappropriate content.

The inclusion of children safety features is interesting, and we wonder if this is a direct result of Apple’s iPod Touch features, and the fact that many are now buying iPod Touch devices simply to use as gaming devices.  We like some of the additional features the iPod Touch offers, like the ability to set a maximum volume that can be selected, to limit ear damage to children’s smaller ears (a feature that’s been available in many iPods devices over the years, but oft forgotten).  However, Sony are only including access to “trials”, implying at the end of the trial there will be a cost to pay…

Information on the new PSP firmware direct from Sony here.

You may be surprised to find out it’s actually a phone; the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic.  According to a report by GFK Retail and Technology, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic was the best selling mp3 player both by sales volume and value during the first quarter of this year.  Having already shipped 3 million units worldwide since launch (although shipping does not equal sales; many may be sitting on shelves awaiting to be sold), Nokia have said they have ramped up production to allow them to ship 1 million units per month.

We suspect they have considered each device separately; if combined together, we suspect Apple are still leading, but with a range of different devices, we can understand how the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic has got so popular, with most networks offering it both on monthy contracts, and PAYG.

Still no sign of the device on 3UK though, although we are hearing rumours (and at this stage they are just that) we may see the Nokia N97 on 3UK, but not for a few more months.  This makes sense, as 3UK has carried the various Nokia flagship N-Series devices over the last few years; however, with the Nokia E75 and Nokia E55 being seen as other popular choices, we wonder whether we’ll be seeing them on 3UK…

Some content courtesy of Mobile Today.

Apple have announced that their are soon to hit 1 billion apps downloaded from their iTunes App Store.  To celebrate this, Apple is offering a range of prizes.  Anyone who downloads an app from now until that 1 billionth download will be entered into a prize draw, where the single winner prize is a $10,000 iTunes gift card, a 17″ Macbook Pro, 32GB iPod Touch, and an Apple Time Capsule.

To enter, simply download an app from the iTunes store (whether you need to purchase it or not), or fill in an online entry form into the prize drawer; you are limited to 25 entries per day.

fring have updated their iPhone / iPod Touch app, which should be available now in the iTunes Store.  You can now select to hide offline contacts, but probably the key new feature is offline notifications.  They’ve also added the flag icon to allow you select the country you are trying to dial (via SkypeOUT or SIP calls) and it will automatically enter the country code for you (shown above).  If your contacts (Skype, Google Talk, MSN etc.) try to reach you whilst the app is turned off, it will notify you when you come back online.  This is being slowly rolled across the UK and US right now, and should be “eventually be in line with Apple’s 3.0 firmware and new notification feature”

More information on this version of fring here.

Update: fring have also provided more information their “always-on” system here.

Skype has released their iPhone Skype client, and although it has a few features missing, has been well received.  The main complaint seems to revolve around the inability to make Skype calls via 2G or 3G networks, however, Skype have been keen to point out that it is a license restriction placed upon them by Apple, and hence not within their pwoer to fix.  The other issue is that the client crashes on install or running, although Skype claim this is only happening on jailbroken phones.

Skype on iPhone is available from here in the iTunes Store.

Ignoring the 3G call issue, you can make and receive Skype calls via Wi-Fi hotspots (however, we should point out Skype chats, and setting your Skype status and mood message will work over EDGE / 3G).  Skype have done a lot of good integration work on this client, so it can use the built in Contacts (for SkypeOUT calls), and can use the camera to set your photo.

Of course, with the inability to run apps in the background, as soon as you move away from the Skype client, it shuts down.  Any messages or calls that occur whilst you have the app shut down will be notified to you when you next start it up.  In that respect, running Skype on Android, Windows Mobile, Symbian (via clients like fring), or even the INQ1 and Skypephone all benefit from the ability to leave the app running in the background.

A final point; 3UK have reacted to this release pointing out that Skype has been available on their network (ie via 3G) since 2006, but they also claim that there are “over 1 million minutes of Skype to Skype calls made on 3 every month”. Now, that includes Symbian phones running X-Series (or simply having the current Internet Access) but wow, that’s a lot of Skype support…

The Nokia N97 is going to be one of the key releases for Nokia this year.  It’s timed to arrive around the same time as the updated iPhones, which may or may not work in Nokia’s favour, depending how much revolution Apple add.  However, in the meantime, here’s a video of the new Nokia with recaps of some of the main features of the device….

If the video does not display for you, please click here.

Apple launched their 3rd generation OS for their devices this week, announcing v3.0, which is suitable for the existing iPod Touchs (both generations) and the iPhones.  This OS update brings a whole range of features which seem to answer many of the small niggling issues that people have complained about; Copy and Paste support, MMS, Global Search, Tethering support (using the device to connect a PC to the internet), better Bluetooth support (including A2DP) and turn-by-turn SatNav capability.

However, it’s not all good news; the MMS functionality is not available on the iPhone v1 (2G), and existing iPod Touch users will have to pay to get this upgrade (as with previous major OS upgrades).  For 2nd Generation iPod Touch users, this OS update will also unlock Bluetooth support.  Also, although the capability of turn-by-turn SatNav is included, it can’t use the existing Google Maps support, so SatNav vendors will have to supply their own maps, which will potentially take up a proportion of the available internal memory.

The tethering support is said to be carrier dependent, so we won’t know until closer to the time whether O2 intend to allow this functionality in the UK.

Analysis of the beta firmware seems to indicate references to new devices, including 1 or maybe even 2 new iPhones, and possibly 2 iPod Touches (one may simply be the existing model with the new OS as standard).  We’ve been hearing rumours of an iPhone Nano, a cutdown device with a smaller screen and possibly some features, such as GPS and even 3G removed, and a new top of the range device is likely to keep hardware sales up, and the obvious features will be a better screen resolution, video capture support via a higher resolution camera and more internal memory.

The general consensus of this update is that it helps to close the gap on those little nuances, however, it’ll be interesting to see how Google’s Android reacts.  Apps like Locale for Android show the true power of that OS, allowing a whole range of actions to be taken based on triggers (entering a location for example); ringtones, volume, wallpaper, even sending tweets to twitter, sending an SMS etc can all be configured; although there are a large number of apps for the iPhone, something that offers automated actions based on triggers is something that’s been prevented by the limited access to the phone to developers so far (and the lack of being able to leave an application running in the background) and would complete the device.

Most people are aware of Apple’s shift away from DRM, with the ability to pay to upgrade your iTunes library to DRM-free music.  However, in the last couple of weeks, we’ve seen 2 other companies announce similar initiatives.  Firstly, Vodafone have announced their MP3 Music Store is going DRM-free, and on top of that, all Vodafone customers who have purchased from their store can get the tracks they have already purchased turned into DRM-free MP3 tracks for free.

Secondly, and this is a little bit more vague, but it looks like Nokia’s Music Store will be going DRM free, with their statement that “DRM-free is also on the roadmap for the future integration of Comes With Music”.  It looks like that in the coming months, Nokia will be removing DRM from their store, although as the exact details have not been published, it’s not yet clear if this will apply to existing tracks or whether it will apply to the whole Music Store, or just those with Comes With Music subscriptions.

Either way, it’s certainly likely that by the end of this year we will all have access to more choice of where to get our DRM-free music from.

Apple yesterday announced their new iPod Shuffle, which is already on sale for £59.  This offers:

• 4GB of storage

• Revolutionary new VoiceOver feature enables iPod shuffle to speak your song titles, artists and playlist names

• Significantly smaller than a AA battery

• Easier to use with all of the controls conveniently located on the earphone cord

• Gorgeous new aluminum design

• Built-in stainless steel clip making it ultra-wearable

Apple are claiming this is the world’s smallest music player, at roughly half the size of the previous iPod Shuffle and have added “With the press of a button, you can play, pause, adjust volume, switch playlists and hear the name of the song and artist”.

With the press of a button, you can play, pause, adjust volume, switch playlists and hear the name of the song and artist.

Combined with Apple’s FREE engraving, FREE gift wrap and FREE shipping offer on all iPods, this is the perfect Mother’s Day gift.

This is the new O2 Joggler Home Appliance, with it’s 7″ touchscreen, launched yesterday by O2 UK.  It’s an OpenFrame-based products (although it has to be said, there’s very little that’s Open about their products, more below), which offers a chance to become the focal point for the whole family (especially if they are all O2 customers…)

It comes with a range of applications built in, with options to download more over time.  These include:

• Weather information (from Sky News Weather)
• Road Traffic information (from TrafficMaster)
• News and Sports (Sky News and Sky Sports)
• Ability to show photos (stored on it’s 1GB internal memory, or from USB stick)
• Ability to play music / video (either local or streamed from your PC; although iTunes format not supported, which is unfortunate given O2’s iPhone exclusive)
• Ability to play games, like Sodoku
• Tools (alarm clock, calculator)

In fact, O2 have already announced that during May the following additional applications will be available:

• Messaging; send up to 50 free SMS text messages to any UK mobile per month
• Internet Radio support

However, one of the key selling points of this device is the calendar, which is available both on the device and as a standalone free service on the internet.  “Appointments, birthdays, school runs, work deadlines and more can all be stored on the O2 Joggler’s calendar, which will text handy reminders to family members’ O2 mobile phones.”  That’s last point is quite key; the reminders by SMS are only available to O2 UK customers, which I guess is O2 trying to encourage the whole family to select their mobile network and remain loyal.

It connects to your home Broadband either wirelessly or using an ethernet cable, and needs a permanent power supply (no batteries). There is no in-built SIM and therefore no ongoing costs or monthly subscription, and will be available next month (6th April) at £150, or will be free if you elect to take this device instead of a new handset when your contract is up for renewal.  However, this upgrade route is only open to those who are on 18 or 24 months contracts, ie not PAYG or Simplicity (SIM only) customers, although PAYG customers can use part of their upgrade discount to reduce the price of the Joggler, and it’s not available at all as an upgrade deal to corporate customers.

Mobile Industry Review were at the launch, and have even produced a short video and their opinion of the device here.

The device is running a dedicated O2 specific OpenFrame firmware, which although it runs on Linux underneath is not an open platform.  As OpenFrame firmwares are only provided to companies who sell these devices like O2, there is no ability (yet) to hack a different firmware onto this device, or to remove the O2 branding.  Other devices who have used the OpenFrame software have had additional applications, such as the ability to display photos from Flickr, videos from YouTube, and support for reading RSS feeds, all missing from the O2 device (as Mobile Industry Review point out, some even have a Domino’s Pizza option, but not this one), which does show the potential missed opportunity here.

Mobile Industry Review also point out that they are aware some of the other UK mobile operators are planning similar devices, so this may well be an interesting type of device to keep your eyes on.  However, right now, with no support for syncing the calendar from work diaries, or even Google Calendar, nor support for being able to sync the calendar onto phones (irrespective of whether they are S60, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry or iPhone), it does appear they have missed a trick here; an OpenSource equivalent of this, which offered access to other solutions such as Apple’s Mobile.Me or Google would be more popular, and fit better into the likely customer base.

Also announced by O2 is a new family bolt-on for O2 customers.  One O2 customers pay extra each month for the bolt-on and this allows them to add a number of other O2 customers into their “family” group (no pricing or maximum numbers available) and once setup, all parties can call, text or MMS each other for free.  Link these two solutions together, and you have the potential for the O2 Joggler to become the hub of a small family’s communications, as long as you don’t want to share the calendar from beyond the device.

All in all, an interesting product, but with rumours of new iPhones due out in the next few months, now might not be the best time to use up your O2 upgrade on this device…

Apple have just reopened the Apple Store, which was down for updates for the last few hours.  There have been a large number of updates, which include

• New Mac mini models
• New Mac Pro models
• New iMac models
• New Apple Timeport
• New Apple Airport Extreme

Some, if not all, of these products have had snippets of information leaked over the last days, and some products were said to be well overdue an update, but these products are now all available to purchase in the Apple Store.

We covered the IDAPT I3 charging device before; it acts as a cable free (apart from it’s power cable) way to recharge your gadgets, and even allows up to 3 devices to be charged at the same time, which we think is a fantastic way to handle the multitude of different charger connections in use today.

However, hopefully, one day this may not be so necessary.  This week, the GSM Association and 17 mobile phone manufacturers and network operators have agreed that they will work towards adopting the microUSB port as a standard data and charging connector, which will hopefully negate the need for every device to ship with a charger in the box (allowing smaller and lighter product boxes, which is good for the environment) and will allow you to use existing chargers with a new phone purchased.

The organisations involved have set a date of 2012 for the adoption of this new connector, which is a little further into the future than we would have liked, but it’s a start, and we suspect we’ll be seeing more and more devices moving over to this connector in the next year or so.  With some phones on the market for over 12 months (especially via the mobile networks) and with the likes of Nokia announcing phones for release in nearly 6 months time, it’s understandable that the manufacturers cannot commit to a date much earlier than 2011 anyway.

The list of companies involved in the UK market includes 3 Group (3UK), LG, Motorola, Nokia, Orange, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Telefónica (O2), T-Mobile and Vodafone, with some of these manufacturers already using microUSB for at least part of their range.

Vodafone have even produced a short video on how they see this affecting CO2 emissions and reducing energy…

These companies have agreed that the majority of their products will use the Universal Charging Solution, and we can only hope that other companies producing consumer rechargeable gadgets look to adopt the same connector for their convenience too.  The only main player missing is Apple…

We’re not going to provide the full tables this month (tables here from last month), as there has been so little activity by any of the UK network operators on releasing new firmwares, so we thought we would simply provide an update for each device we are monitoring:

• Nokia N95: v31 released in January 2009; no UK operator is even offering v30 (released September 2008) yet

• Nokia N95 8GB: v31 now released (in line with Nokia N95 firmware release); no changes from UK operators (3UK and Orange are the only networks to release v30 so far)

• Nokia E71: v200 was released in January 2009; we’re not aware of any UK operators offering v110, let alone v200, leaving most branded phones on v100

• Nokia 5800 XpressMusic: v20 was released this week, with most operators still on v11 (although they may well provide this update, as it adds geotagging amongst other things)

• T-Mobile / Google G1: Despite RC33 being released in the US, UK users are still stuck on RC8 (it’s believed a newer update will be available in the UK towards the end of February)

We’re not the only people getting frustrated by the lack of action on firmwares (see Abdul’s post here), which also highlights another issue; most online Nokia / Symbian users are aware of the ability to use NSS to “rebrand” their mobile phone to allow firmware updates, but at this stage, NSS does not yet support Symbian S60 5th edition (ie for the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic), leaving users no sensible option to allow them to obtain the firmware.

In fact, it appears that Apple are the only company who seem to “get it”, and understand how firmwares should operate, by ensuring the network operator has no control over the release.  Equally, they don’t allow branding of the device, which will always speed up the release of new firmwares.

Please note: branding is about the network providing additional / less applications and features as part of the phone’s firmware, it does not affect the network lock status (aka SIM lock) of the phone, and we don’t recommend or support using third party tools to unlock phones.

Launched back in December, the INQ1 on 3UK is set to receive a firmware update, in the form of an OTA (Over The Air) update, which should be available to customers within 2 months (it should start to be offered in 4-6 weeks time).  Mobile Industry Review were at a meeting with INQ last week, when they confirmed the update (called Update1) will feature:

• Improved Windows Live Messenger performance
• General stability improvements
• Pre-cached Facebook photos for performance
• Improved battery life (the improvement is described as ’significant’ – up to 50% longer depending on use)

Although all this sounds very interesting, what’s more interesting is that INQ also stated that they are looking to provide further upgrades in the future, and that as new devices were added to the range, they would, where possible, also distribute those new features across the whole range.

This is, in essence, a similar approach that Apple takes to it’s iPhone and iPod Touch devices, which all basically run the same firmware (with some hardware differences).  This bodes well for INQ, and will hopefully mean that if nothing else, more social networking sites will be integrated into the phone as time progresses.

In fact, Electric Pig explicitly asked about Twitter support, and were told (by Frank Meehan, INQ CEO) “I think we’d be stupid if we didn’t but we haven’t confirmed it yet – you want to do it properly”, which may well indicate that as part of Update1 or a future update we will see support for twitter in the existing INQ1 handset.

So, no need to wait until the new firmware ships, head off to the 3Store now, knowing you’ll be able to update the device in a few weeks time.

Story courtesy of Mobile Industry Review.

Although tax can be complicated (especially around this time of the year when many of us are completing tax returns), but berble.com’s b-tax iPhone application at least aims to simplify sales tax (or VAT).  Their new version, v1.4, now covers sales tax across the US, as well as the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, The Netherlands and India.  You simply enter the amount, and b-tax will calculate the gross and net equivalents of the amount entered straight away.  A very handy application if you need to understand the impact of sales tax on a transaction.

The new version is now available in the iTunes store, and has a small cost associated with it, and also need v2.2 firmware.

iPhoneMMS.net have released an MMS application for UK O2 customers.  The application is available in the iTunes store here, although you appear to need to buy credit direct with iPhoneMMS.net to allow you to send MMS.  This is currently only available on O2-UK, so if you have unlocked your iPhone and using it with a different network you are still out of luck.

The minimum topup is £3.79 for 10 MMS (which is cheaper than some networks charge directly!), although you get greater savings if you buy more credit (75 MMS), and there is no charge for incoming MMS.

According to Sling Media themselves, they will soon be launching their iPhone SlingPlayer client.  It’s not quite ready though, with Sling stating they intend to release it to Apple for certification this quarter, so we may still not see it until March or April…

More information here via Engadget.

Well, what can we say that hasn’t already been said, by many other Symbian specific websites.  Firstly it looks like the overall principle of the Nokia device plans was correct; let’s recap what that stated for the IP08 (codename):

• Widescreen touch
• Naviscroll
• QWERTY
• AGPS
• FM radio and transmitter
• 5MP AF camera
• WiFi, Bluetooth, TV-out

Well, the N97 has all that and much more.  Obviously you can’t have a widescreen touchscreen display, a Naviscroll and a QWERTY keyboard in a slimline small phone, and the N97 is a little larger than some, at 117.2 x 55.3 x 15.9 mm and 150g.  However, let’s remember that the E90 is 132 x 57 x 20 mm and 210g, so it’s still smaller than that in every way, even with all the added technology.

It has a 3.5″ 640 x 360 resistive touchscreen, and the 2584 x 1938 5megapixel camera includes Carl Zeiss optics, dual LED flash (some would prefer a Xenon flash, but the LED unit allows it to record video in the dark too), and is capable of 30fps video.

A trend started with the Nokia N96, this phone has a lot of internal memory as standard, offering a mighty 32GB, with the option of adding an additional 16GB via a microSD memory card.  It uses the BP-4L 1500mAh battery, which should offer upto 6.6 hours talktime (on GSM; 5.3 hours talktime on 3G) with a standby time of roughly 400 hours.

On top of all of that, Nokia have created a range of widgets that sit on the home page / Active Standby screen.  As seen above, these include facebook, Ovi, MySpace, and will likely extend out to many others.

The phone is due to go on sale in the second half of 2009 (unfortunately no Apple-like announcement that it will be available for immediate sale); of course we have to wonder whether Apple will have anything to respond to this with…