The application is said to work on a limited number of devices only, though I was able to install it on a Nokia 5630 Xpress Music even though it wasn’t on the list of officially supported devices.

Skype for S60 allows all the basic Skype functionality you would expect including High Quality voice calls (over EDGE, 3G, or Wi-Fi), Instant Messaging, Voice Mail, SMS Messages as well as support for file transfers. You can buy Skype Credit from within the application.

Interestingly, you still can’t make Video Calls even though other Series 60 applications like Fring can now do that as well. I guess this feature would be implemented in a future version, because this is still a beta preview release.

The chat windows also need a bit more work because the layout is pretty dry at the moment.

According to the official blog, the following devices are officially supposed to run Skype, but like I said earlier, it may work on other devices too:

Symbian S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1 devices (Download)

• Nokia E71
• Nokia E63
• Nokia E66
• Nokia N82
• Nokia E51
• Nokia N95
• Nokia N95 8GB
• Nokia N81
• Nokia N81 8GB
• Nokia E90

Symbian S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2 devices (Download)

• Nokia N96
• Nokia N85
• Nokia 5320
• Nokia 6210 Navigator
• Nokia 6210 Classic
• Nokia N78
• Nokia N79

Be sure to share your experience on your device specially if its not in the above list.

[Skype Share via Symbian Guru]

Who doesn’t love the HTC Sense UI that was launched with HTC Hero? The perfect balance of dark hues with lime green highlights is simply mind blowing. Unfortunately, the interface is exclusive to HTC’s Android phones, and Windows Mobile 6.5 devices (as an enhanced version of TouchFlo 3D).

Thankfully, someone has stepped up and designed a Nokia Series 60 theme based on the HTC Hero and Sense UI. The theme works on all Series 60 3rd Edition and 5th Edition devices including Nokia E Series.

The theme features the default wallpaper from the Sense UI, along with icons from most Ovi Store applications. In fact, all the 3rd party applications I had installed on my phone had their icons updated.

The only concern I have about the theme is that the rich graphics consume slightly higher RAM compared to the stock themes on Series 60 devices, so if you are a bit conscious about the memory then you should keep an eye on your memory consumption while using this theme. Most users wont feel the difference however.

Download

Download HTC Hero Theme (S60v3 FP1/FP2)

Download HTC Hero Theme for S60 E Series

Download HTC Hero Theme for S60 5th Edition

The cat is finally out of the Bag. Nokia have finally unveiled the N900 Smartphone running Maemo 5. In terms of Hardware, it stacks right up with the iPhone 3GS and the Palm Pre with an ARM A8 600MHz processor and 1GB of virtual memory. Read on for more juicy specs and video.

The phone would be released to select markets bearing a price tag of 500 Euros. Nokia are marketing this device along with the latest version of their Maemo OS to power users who want desktop like internet experience on their mobile devices – thanks to a Mozilla based (Firefox Mobile?) browser preinstalled into the device.

Other features of the device include:

• 3.5 inch touch-sensitive widescreen display
• 800 × 480 pixel resolution
• TI OMAP 3430: ARM Cortex-A8 600 MHz Processor
• PowerVR SGX graphics with OpenGL ES 2.0 support
• 1 GB of Virtual Memory (256 MB RAM)
• 110.9 x 59.8 x 18 / 181g
• 32GB of Internal Memory (Up to 48GB with MicroSDHC)
• Full QWERTY Keyboard
• Quad-Band GSM
• GPRS/EDGE, HSPA 10.2 Mbps
• WLAN 802.11 b/g
• A-GPS vith Ovi Maps
• 5MP AF Camera with Carl Zeiss – Tessar lens
• Video recording at 848 x 480 pixels @ 25fps
• FM Transmitter
• DLNA

And that isn’t even the complete list yet. This device had already attracted my interest when info about its rumored specs had started leaking around June.

Nokia also made it clear that it won’t abandon the Symbian OS in favor of Maemo:

“Just as Nokia continues to expand and diversify its device portfolio, so it is deploying multiple platforms to allow it to serve different purposes and address different markets. While we have seen continued growth in Symbian as a smartphone platform, Maemo enables Nokia to deliver new mobile computing experiences based on open-source technology that has strong ties with desktop platforms”

Nokia would be unveiling more details about the device along with a production sample at Nokia World 09 on September 2, so better keep watch.

[Via Nokia (Facebook)]

Nokia has just announced that its working on its very own Netbook (video after the break) all suited with an HD display, HDMI, integrated 3G with hot swappable SIM card, A-GPS with Nokia Maps and a massive 12 hour battery life. All that power packed into a stylish design running Windows 7. Looks like Microsoft – Nokia deal wasn’t only limited to Office on Symbian eh?

For the official answer to why Nokia decided to enter the Netbook market, Nokia’s Executive Vice President for Devices, Kai Oistamo said:

“A growing number of people want the computing power of a PC with the full benefits of mobility. We are in the business of connecting people and the Nokia Booklet 3G is a natural evolution for us. Nokia has a long and rich heritage in mobility and with the outstanding battery life, premium design and all day, always on connectivity, we will create something quite compelling. In doing so we will make the personal computer more social, more helpful and more personal.”

According to the official Nokia blog, we can expect more details at Nokia World 09 which is all set to rock on September 2. I can’t really wait to get more details on this because this Netbook already has me drooling. Here is the official video to help all of you join in.

There were rumors that Microsoft would be announcing something relating to a deal with Nokia, and as always, there were lots of speculation. Was Nokia going Windows Phone? Well that’s too good to be true. What actually happened is that Symbain would now get an official Office Mobile version.

When asked, Nokia said that they are pretty much committed to Symbian and wont be dropping it anytime soon. Though to keep our spirits up, they did mention that they would be looking forward to more exciting collaborations with the Redmond crew. Hmm now what can be more exciting? Internet Explorer instead of the crappy Nokia S60 Browser – uh second thought I just discovered a new liking for the Series 50 Browser.

[Via Microsoft PressPass]

Apple’s patented multi-touch technology is probably one of the hottest features everyone wants in their touch sensitive devices. We already saw that the HTC Google G1 is multi-touch capable couple of days ago, and now Symbian Freak just showed us a cool demo that put Multi-touch right on the much underplayed Nokia 5800 XpressMusic.

One shouldn’t forget the fact that the 5800 is a resistive touch screen phone, while multi-touch is limited to capacitive touch screens. The resistive technology has the advantage of being more accurate as the point of touch is recognized by the intersection of two separate plates on a grid. The basic hardware in the resistive touch screens isn’t capable of registering multiple points of interaction, though Stantum demoed their latest “TouchPark” at CES this year that did just that. This essentially means that given the right basic hardware, resistive touchscreens can also be outfitted with multi-touch via software hacks. And the demoed game above proved just that by turning the Nokia 5800 into a multi-touch device.

We can now hope that the technology would mature to a point that all S60 touch devices become multi-touch capable, especially the upcoming Nseries flagship, the Nokia N97, which would make it one step closer to being a true iPhone killer.

Being true to the rumors, Nokia today announced its own App store, termed the Nokia Ovi Store at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Even though Nokia got into the game pretty late compared to rest of the competition, it has a pretty good chance of even beating the Apple App store. Now most fan boys would start to argue that I probably wrote this article after taking down a couple of bottles but a look into the facts may very well change your mind.

Despite the recent drop in sales, Nokia is undoubtedly the biggest cellphone maker in the industry, with a market share of over 38 percent. In comparison, Apple has only managed to capture 1% of the total market (which was its plan by the way).

If you compare by platform, Symbian devices dominate half of the market with a 57 percent share, compared to a mere 2.8 percent of Apple. Note that these figures also include Symbian devices from other manufactures like Sony Ericsson and Samsung.

A major reason for the popularity of the Apple App Store was its revenue sharing model; 30 percent of the revenues from a product sale go to Apple while the remaining 70 go to the developer. The developer could also opt to sell the application for free, and wouldn’t have to pay anything to Apple per download. Nokia seems to be following Apple’s proven formula and is also offering the 70/30 revenue sharing model.

But why would Symbian developers let go of their existing business model and opt for only 70 percent of the total revenue? The answer is simple; they can reach a wider audience because it is a hell lot more easier for the end user to just browse a single catalog instead of visiting a hundred stores. On top of that, Nokia Ovi Store has some very intuitive features like built in Social Networking and Location Based Services, further promoting the sale of the applications.

The Ovi Store would offer services which include Ovi Music Store, N-Gage Gaming Service, Ovi App Store, Mashable Widgets and Nokia Maps. Think of it as iTunes, App Store and Google Maps combined with a couple more services. Though this doesn’t necessarily mean that it would do better than these individual services.

The real killer features of Ovi would be the built in artificial intelligence and the social networking features. The service would know what your friends and contacts are buying (or downloading) as well as feature reviews and suggestions from them. It also has a built in recommendation system that would learn your taste over time and organize and offer content accordingly, kinda like the Genius Music Recommendation system from iTunes. The selection of applications also vary depending on your current location. During the demo at the Mobile World Congress, most the content shown in the Ovi Store was targeted towards Spanish users.

The N97 would be the first handset to have the Ovi Store pre-installed when it is released this June. But Nokia’s biggest shot at market dominance lies in the fact that they would have the Ovi Store download-able and running on “tons” of Series 40 and Series 60 devices starting from may. Now how will they manage Application compatibility between these platforms is a major issue or they would just leave that out to the developers to choose the compatible devices.

The Ovi Store has all the ingredients for success built right into it along with big name launch partners already signed including Facebook, MySpace, EA, Qik and a lot more. After all these facts do you still believe that Apple’s App Store still has a chance?

Almost every major cellphone platform out there now has some sort of online application storefront set up thanks to the fad started by Apple. The reason? It is a whole lot more convenient to buy (if there are any prices) an application from a universal catalog than to go to the website of each and every publisher. Why no cellphone vendor ever though of it before is beyond me, but now everyone is doing it, so why not Nokia?

The Symbian Series 60 platform is the most dominant smartphone platform in the market, with a market share of 49% according to a recent study. It is only logical for Nokia to capitalize on that as Apple already earned huge profits even with a 10% share in the market.

And now Palm, Android and RIM also have their own stores leaving behind only Microsoft and Nokia, the two top platform developers who don’t have an online store front. An article published on Unwired News, Nokia has already done internal testing for the service and would officially be announcing the service at the Mobile World Congress next week in Barcelona.

If this turns out to be true, a lot of people would have their prayers answered (including me) and finally start getting the right applications they want.

But none of these gadgets excites me more than the upcoming Nokia N97, the flagship for the Nokia Nseries line. The N97 will bring the touch to the Nseries line up, and would be Nokia’s 2nd touchscreen handset after the 5800 XpressMusic (which didn’t quite impress me). While there are still a couple of months before it is released I thought it would be good to compile a post with all the information we currently have about this device. I’ll be updating this post along the way when more information comes out, so it would be a good idea to subscribe.

First of all, lets look at the official N97 trailer by Nokia for an appetizer.

I’m sure most of the people had already seen that video, but still its a fun one to watch every time. Next lets see some technical specifications on the handset.

• Series 60 5th Edition (Symbian OS 9.4)
• Touchscreen / Tilt Slider form factor
• 3.5″ TFT Touchscreen with a 640×360 wide screen resolution
• Physical and virtual QWERTY Keyboard
• 32GB of internal memory onboard
• Support for upto 32GB MicroSDHC (16GB MicroSDHC card included)
• GSM / UMTS / EDGE / 3G / HSDPA capable
• 5 Mega Pixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens, Auto focus, and Dual LED Flash
• DVD Video Recording at 30 Fps (640×480 resolution)
• 32-Bit ARM 11 CPU running at 369 MHz
• Talk time up to 400 minutes
• Standby time up to 430 hours
• Video playback up to 4.5 hours
• Music playback up to 37 hours

And that’s not all. The N97 features a fully customizable home screen with Widget support (a little like the Active Standby in Series 40), including 3rd Widgets like Facebook for example. The text input is another very strong point of the N97, which supports a QWERTY physical keyboard, or you can have a number of virtual keyboards ranging from a full screen QWERTY, a miniature QWERTY, a predictive text capable Numeric Keypad and even Handwriting Recognition. Here is another video demoing the features.

Nokia have went beyond the traditional Assisted GPS integration and added a built in compass that points to the true north. Couple that with GPS and you have a full blown turn by turn navigation system powered by Nokia Maps 2.0 Touch. There would be several apps available for the device at launch, and you can even emulate applications designed for the older Series 60 editions as well as Java MIDP. How will that compete with the Apple App Store and the Android Marketplace remains to be seen. Oh and since we’re on the subject, here’s another video showing comparisons between the iPhone 3G, Nokia N97 and HTC Android G1.

We have to admit one thing here, the iPhone is still the sexiest of them all, and that’s really not surprising because it is a product of Apple, which excels in aesthetic quality.

The N97 is set to launch around June/July in the Europe and Asia markets and around October in the rest of the world (including North America). The launch price is speculated to be around $600 to $700, which isn’t very surprising for a Nokia Flagship device. Please do share your comments and opinions on the handset, and be sure to check back on the article as I would be updating it to reflect new information.