Google have announced that they have now made a customised version of the Picasa Web Albums for Nokia S60 devices. As well as that, Google have translated it into 36 languages as well.

Simply head to picasaweb.google.com to access the new version.

If you were nervous about using Goosync before as you have to provide them with your Google username and password, fear not, as Goosync have just announced they are now using Google’s authentication service removing this requirement. Goosync allows you to sync (via syncML) your calendar directly to your Google Calendar.

Here’s an interesting snippet of information. Google have released an updated version of their iPhone version of their Google Reader, and it’s been noted that any device can access the URL, which is http://www.google.com/reader/i/. This version works well on both Symbian S60 smartphones, as well as the Nokia Internet Tablets, both of which seem to benefit from the additional effort Google has put into the user interface. It offers a better interface over the traditional mobile version by offering you easier access to each post. If you are a regular Google Reader user, and have never got on with the mobile version, then give this version a go…

The Symbian Guru has written up a comprehensive article that answers this very question, comparing the mobile GMail application, accessing GMail through the web browser, and using the built in messaging app and accessing GMail via IMAP. He has also included the Pros and Cons of each option. A useful article if you are looking into GMail access from your phone.

The article can be read here.

Google are planning to introduce a single banner ad per page when Google is accessed through mobile phones on its mobile web pages. Google have stated it will be a single ad to ensure it does not impact on the mobile browsing experience.

More information at SMS Text News.

Here’s a useful guide - it’s a step by step guide on how to configure the built in email client to use Google Mail on your Series 60 handset. It covers every step of the way, and although it’s only useful once, it makes getting the settings right a breeze.

Step by Step GMail on S60 [Via HandyWi, which also includes a video]

Garmin have announced agreements with MapQuest and Google Maps to allow you to send trips and destinations direct from the MapQuest / Google Maps website to your Garmin GPS. For MapQuest, this will utilise the “Send to GPS” option which will become Garmin compatible sometime this month, whereas the function is already available from Garmin. This will use the Garmin Communicator Plugin, which is already in use on other websites, such as Geocaching.com to transfer information to Garmin GPS units. Not all devices support full trip (route) details being transferred to them, but all seem to support a single destination being sent.

Goosync have added support for Tasks, on top of Contacts and the original Calendar functionality. In the same way as Contacts, the functionality is to sync from your SyncML device to the Goosync server only, as there is no API to allow them to directly sync your Tasks to the Google servers. However, it still allows Goosync to act as a Backup facility for your main data.

Earlier this year we mentioned that Google had released the Standby Screen Search capability for Symbian S60 devices. Now Google have announced the same facility for Windows Mobile devices. Similar to the S60 version, simply browse to mobile.google.com from your device to download the plugin.

Google have expanded their range of devices supported by dedicated Google Maps clients, and they now have a dedicate, native UIQ version, which is compatible with the Sony Ericsson phones with touch screens; P1, W960i, W950, M600, P990, and the Motorola Z8. Also compatible are the upcoming Sony Ericsson G700 and G900, as well as the Motorola Z10. It’s available now by pointing the browser on your UIQ phone to google.com/gmm and following the prompts.

If you use the FON hotspot network (actually, even if you don’t), then you might be interested to hear that all users of FON hotspots can now access GMail for free without needing a day pass. Google News, Google Maps, Google Search have been available for some while, but Google Mail now joins that list. These websites are available for free as an encouragement to new members to try out the FON network, and hopefully go on to purchase a FON router and share their network too.

Google have just announced their Outlook sync support to allow you to sync your Outlook Calendar directly with Google Calendar. For those of us who use solutions such as Goosync to keep our mobile phones and smartphones synced with Google Calendar, the ability to sync this directly with Outlook is a welcome feature. More information here.

If you have a S60 Nokia, then head to mobile.google.com from your phone, and download the new Google shortcut application for your phone. This installs a Google icon onto the Standy Screen, which when selected brings up a box in which you can type your search, and then Google will return the results in a web page. This should work with a wide range of N-Series and E-Series mobile phones.

Picture courtesy of Google’s Official Mobile Blog.

If you have tried to access your GMail (or GoogleMail) account via IMAP and had problems, then you need to know that last week Google (having worked with Microsoft) rolled out updates to their system to hopefully finally fix the problems. If you want to have another try, head to here for the configuration instructions.

Garmin have announced the Nuviphone, a mobile phone with SatNav capabilities. It has a 3.5″ touchscreen, full browsing and PIM capabilities, HSDPA, Quad-Band (3.5G), WiFi, Bluetooth, and is roughly the same size as the iPhone. As it uses a variant of the same proprietary OS as that on their SatNav devices, the UI will be familiar to many, and will have “millions” of POIs, and will have turn-by-turn voice prompts. However, it will also have Google Local Search capabilities (and potentially other Google apps such as Google Talk, and the camera may integrate with Google Panorama). Finally, it will use the phone network connection to get updates via Garmin Online for real time traffic, fuel prices, news, weather and stock prices (although historically these have been US only data). It is expected to be released in Q3 this year, so in time for Christmas.

Having released the SDK and Emulator for Google’s new phone OS, Android, a group of developers worked out that the development version of the OS, which was designed to boot an ARMv5 development board, would also boot other similar hardware, which includes the Sharp Zaurus PDA range. Apart from bringing a new lease of life to these PDAs, it has produced more devices suitable for developers to use in the short term.

Picture courtesy of Engadget.

Everex have announced their Cloudbook PC, which is a rival to the Eee PC. This includes the gOS Operating System (a Google optimised version of Ubuntu). It has a 1.2Ghz VIA processor, 512Mb memory, 30Gb Hard Drive, DVI output, 4-in-1 media card reader, a1.3 megapixel camer, and should last up to 5 hours. It has WiFi, and like the Eee PC, does not have Bluetooth.

The preinstalled software includes Firefox, gMail, Meebo, Skype, Google Documents & Spreadsheets, Google Calendar, Google News, Google Maps, Wikipedia, Google Product Search, GIMP, Blogger, YouTube, Xine Movie Player, RhythmBox, Faqly, Facebook and OpenOffice.org 2.3 (includes WRITER, IMPRESS, MATH, DRAW).

It will be available before the end of the month in the US, no UK availability information has been announced.

partfoundry have developed a GPS solution for the iPhone and iPod Touch, the locoGPS, and are hoping to release it in February this year. This will allow jailbroken devices to have GPS functionality and a GPS application. Along with the Google Maps Cell-Based Location Services due for the iPhone, it seems these Apple products are adding one of the few features that the top of the range Symbian devices had to differentiate them. With the SDK due to ship in February, we can safely predict this year there will be a lot of new applications and hardware accessories for these devices.

According to Engadget, we may well be seeing a new iPhone firmware very soon, although it may not be released until MacWorld in a couple of weeks. The key features are Google Maps Cell-Based Location services (as already available for many Symbian and Java phones), and the ability to reorder the icons on the home screen (springboard). The springboard also support pagination, which appears to be in preparation for additional applications, due around February 2008 when the SDK formally ships.

There are already rumours that you can’t downgrade, and people with jailbroken / unlocked phones may suffer problems upgrading to 1.1.3

Last week Google launched Google Sync for Mobile, an application for keeping your mobile phone in sync with your Google Calendar. This is a BlackBerry only solution at the moment, although there are plenty of alternatives for smartphones, such as GooSync, which will work with any SyncML client. Once downloaded and installed, it automatically keeps your BlackBerry calendar in sync with your Google Calendar.

If you have a BlackBerry, and want to try it out (and have the ability to browse and install new applications), then head to http://m.google.com/sync on your BlackBerry browser.