Nokia Quake III gains on-phone server, Bluetooth keyboard and mouse support

Remember when playing Quake III at a decent resolution required a $5,000 Alienware? Man, those were the days. Now, we can't help but be thankful for a few special Nokia handsets (the N95 8GB, E90 and N82 in particular) that can all handle the game by their lonesome. In fact, the latest version of the software adds a few remarkably awesome extras. For starters, users can now take advantage of on-phone server support, meaning that your handset can actually host a Quake III multiplayer battle (and may we recommend the server name "trashaccident?"). Also of note, the devs have tossed in support for Bluetooth mice and keyboards. We know, right? Tap the read link for all the juicy installation instructions.
Resource - Engadget

Nokia E63 joins the successful Nokia E71 to form a compelling QWERTY messaging device range

Espoo, Finland - Nokia today announced the latest addition to its Eseries range, the Nokia E63, designed for people who need to manage their business and personal lives equally well. Building on the success of the Nokia E71, the company's flagship messaging device, the Nokia E63 brings the QWERTY keyboard form factor to a broader audience at a great price. The Nokia E63 is expected to begin shipping in the coming weeks for an estimated retail price of EUR 199, before taxes and subsidies.

"Our research shows that people want a device that deals with both their personal and professional lives, but helps them to separate the two. When someone sits down at lunch, they want to update their social network or browse their personal email account and they don't want work getting in the way of that. It's another great case of technology adapting to the people that use it," says Soren Petersen, Senior Vice President, Nokia. "The Nokia E63 is a new proposition for Eseries - a messaging device where people will be just as involved in their social network as they are in their business network."

Whilst appealing to a new group of consumers with a design that feels great in the hand and has two new colors, the Nokia E63 is still very much a member of the Eseries family. Petersen continues, "People use Eseries to access their corporate mail, review their calendar and work in their business network, so the Nokia E63 still includes Wi-Fi connectivity, easy access to Mail for Exchange and dedicated key access to contacts, calendar and email."

The Nokia E63 also has the ability to switch modes with a single key press, switching from a view of corporate mail, appointments and intranet data, to a personal mode with a picture of friends, personal email and shortcuts to favorite hobby blogs or websites. Petersen adds, "The amazing response we have seen to the Nokia E71, which has very quickly become the best selling model in its category, let us know that we are heading in the right direction. People want a rich experience when using messaging, social networks and the Internet. With the Nokia E63 you can enjoy the web, update your status and work meaningfully with multiple email accounts."

The Nokia E63 also includes Files on Ovi, a service where people can get remote access to their PC files even when their computer is offline. Anyone buying the handset will have access to 1GB of online file storage for free.

The Nokia E63 will be available in ruby red or ultramarine blue with a range of multimedia features. Record and view images and videos with the digital camera and bright landscape display, listen to music downloaded from the Nokia Music Store, or a number of other sources, via the standard 3,5 mm audio jack or customize the device through the thousands of applications available for download.

Press materials and photos can be found at www.nokia.com/press

About Nokia

Nokia is the world leader in mobility, driving the transformation and growth of the converging Internet and communications industries. We make a wide range of mobile devices with services and software that enable people to experience music, navigation, video, television, imaging, games, business mobility and more. Developing and growing our offering of consumer Internet services, as well as our enterprise solutions and software, is a key area of focus. We also provide equipment, solutions and services for communications networks through Nokia Siemens Networks.
Resource - Nokia

Symbian Foundation Appoints Chief Amid Challenges

The news coming out of the Symbian Smartphone Show in London, an industry trade gathering for developers, manufacturers, and software companies, wasn’t just about the launch of the latest models this year. The choice of Nokia executive Lee Williams as the new chairman of the Symbian Foundation is raising questions about the consortium’s independence from Nokia—just at a time when analysts are projecting a slowdown in sales of high-end phones.

Williams is currently in charge of a division within Nokia that oversees S60, the dominant user interface used by the Symbian operating system. The announcement of his new appointment was made on Oct. 23 at the conference, which this year served as a kind of coming out party for the foundation.

London-based Symbian, the leading maker of operating system software for advanced mobile phones, was set up a decade ago to develop an independent software platform for smartphones. Its software is now used in more than half of all such devices, relegating rivals such as Microsoft’s Windows Mobile to a small slice of the market. But handset maker Nokia is its biggest customer, leading to questions about its independence.

Nokia announced a plan on June 24 to buy the 52.1% of shares it doesn't already own in Symbian and set up an open-source foundation, which aims to give away resulting software for free to other handset makers. The move was in reaction to shifts in the industry, which has seen a new crop of rivals enter, most using open-source Linux software.

The shift to an open source foundation required a change in Symbian's board. It had been owned by a consortium of rivals including Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Panasonic, Siemens, and Samsung. The new Symbian Foundation is being steered by a board of 10 members: five from phone manufacturers Nokia, LG Electronics, Motorola, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson, and five from network operators and chipmakers AT&T, NTT DoCoMo, Vodafone, STMicroelectronics, and Texas Instruments.

The new 10-member board unanimously approved the appointment of Lee, even though Nokia is Symbian's owner and its biggest customer. "It's hard to imagine a stronger candidate than the leader of an organization responsible for Symbian's dominant user interface, but we are still surprised the board has chosen a Nokia employee, potentially reinforcing the Finnish company's influence on the foundation," said a research note from mobile consultancy CCS Insight.

In the past it would have been "inconceivable" to have a handset maker chair Symbian, says Richard Windsor, a mobile analyst at brokerage Nomura Securities. But times have changed, and he notes, the fact that Williams worked for Nokia for just two years and agreed to give up all equity participation in Nokia goes some way towards alleviating concerns about his independence. Still, to maintain his credibility analysts said Williams will have to ensure the voices of rival handset operators, such as Sony Ericsson and Motorola, are also heard.

Williams' appointment comes as Symbian is facing competition on many fronts. With the rise of Apple's iPhone, touch screens have become essential to any manufacturer's range, so the Symbian platform will have to support them. The iPhone's success also puts more emphasis on developing attractive, user-friendly interfaces.

But, notes Windsor, the pressure to compete with Apple is causing more technology to be crammed into phones earlier, raising the cost of building smartphones. That means that price declines to consumers are slowing or stopping entirely. That's not good news as economic recession looms and people have less disposable income to spend on gizmos.

It is already hurting short to medium term growth of smartphones, leading Nomura to forecast only 25% growth to 177.4 million units this year. The forecast for 2009 is 20% growth but it could be smaller if the global economy continues on its downward spiral.
Resource - BusinessWeek