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Tuesday 22 June 2010

Editorial: Nokia & The Press - You Had Better Not Tell The Emperor He Has No Clothes [ 22-06-2010 19:29 ]

Author: Serge Novikov Translation by: Paul Smith

What is a mobile journalist to do when a manufacturer ignores him? There is only one thing he can do ... his job.

Recently Mobile-Review has found itself cut off from the Russian Nokia community, through no choice of our own we might add. Our emails and phone calls go unanswered and our addresses have been removed from Nokia's Russian PR lists. We know we're being cut out because press releases still arrive at alternative addresses we use, but no longer at mobile-review.com addresses. We know we're being ignored because dozens of phone calls asking for information are answered with silence. This is Nokia's official position on Mobile-Review. Essentially they are trying to pretend that we don't exist and hoping that by cutting us off from their official information sources we will no longer be able to deliver the same level of coverage of them as we have done in the past. Is this because we won't kowtow to Nokia and sing the praises of products that don't deserve praise?

We are being sincere when we tell you that we genuinely do not know the reason behind Nokia's decision. We can speculate of course and suggest what might have been the trigger that set Nokia down this path, and of course that speculation will almost certainly centre around recent comments we made regarding the forthcoming N8. Obviously we can't confirm this since Nokia is petulantly refusing to speak to us and therefore also refusing to hold any meaningful dialogue. However, if Nokia's decision was based upon those comments or any other comments we have published about their products then it is quite frankly alarming. Alarming because it demonstrates two things: firstly that Nokia apparently isn't interested in a proper journalistic treatment of its products, which means that critical comments will be made, and secondly that instead of engaging with the press they throw a tantrum and pull up the drawbridge to hide. This fit of pique that Nokia are apparently engaged in is worrying news for any journalist or blogger who decides to 'break with the party line' and criticise Nokia:

Restricting information to certain sites creates an inequality between them, which reduces the quantity, and quality of coverage, to just a handful of sites and means that Nokia are, by default, biased towards certain journalists
By their knee jerk and hastily considered action cutting us off Nokia are actively attempting to stop the flow of information and as a result prevent us from carrying our our obligations as journalists
By taking unilateral action without even speaking with us Nokia are saying that they would rather bury their head in the sand than engage with the press. Is this how a responsible company that wants to engage with its customers behaves?

For our part we can only do what we have always done. That is to say endeavour to provide our readers with reviews of Nokia's products and report on Nokia in an objective manner, presenting all the sides of any debate or issue. We want to be clear on this issue, we will continue to publish reviews of Nokia's products and report on the latest news about the company, our readers have no need to worry about that. As far as we are concerned it is business as usual and as an example, despite Nokia not wanting to engage, we are publishing the world's first review of Symbian^3 and of course everyone will be free to discuss it on our forum. We can't allow ourselves to become biased for or against any manufacturer, we have to report on issues as they are. Sometimes that means glowing praise and sometimes it means harsh criticism, but we wouldn't have it any other way.

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Flash 10.1 Ready to Roll for Mobiles [ 22-06-2010 18:28 ]

Author: Irina Turina Source: Adobe Translation by: Paul Smith

Adobe have given the green light for Flash 10.1 to be released for Android. Demos of Flash 10.1 running on Android devices have been doing the rounds for a while now of course, but at last users will be able to try it out for themselves. It goes without saying that the release is for those lucky enough to be running Froyo (Android 2.2). It's not just Android users that can take Adobe's finest for a spin, Flash 10.1 has been released to mobile platform partners for devices running Blackberry OS, webOS and upcoming versions of Symbian, Win dows Phone 7, LiMo and MeeGo. Basically every major player in the smartphone scene ... well almost every major player. Apple famously, or should that be infamously, refuses to allow Flash anywhere near its iOS platform so whilst iPhone users may be enjoying the delights of iOS 4 this week, they won't be enjoying the delights of Flash, and for those that can use Flash on their device Adobe are promising some delights indeed talking up, as they are, its optimisation for touch based input, accelerometer recognition and zooming functionality. That's the jist of the announce ment, but if you're the type that likes to know all the little details check out the full press release.

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Samsung Spending $2.1 Billion on Factory Dedicated to Making Nothing But OLED Screens [ 22-06-2010 16:03 ]

Author: Ivanov Konstantin Source: IntoMobile Translation by: Paul Smith

Anyone who pays even the slightest bit of attention to the mobile industry will know by now that OLED screens haven't exactly been in ample supply of late, despite Samsung's best efforts at ramping up production. Well the South Korean manufacturer is all set to pour $2.1 billion into a new factory that will be able to produce some 30 million 3 inch OLED screens a month, or in other words 360 million a year. Why is this important? Well for one thing it will help to address supply problems, but Samsung have another reason for investing so much in this new plant ... growth. Samsung is a company that wants to grab a larger slice of the mobile pie, indeed they ultimately want to be the world's largest producer of mobile phones. To do that they need to take on Nokia, which currently produces somewhere in the region of 40% of all phones manufactured. Nokia can achieve that feat because of their huge manufacturing base and thir well established supply lines. Samsung are looking to equal that to give them the resources they need to increase their market share. Even if they don't overtake Nokia, at least no one should be short of an OLED screen!

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Google Launching Music Store This Year [ 22-06-2010 15:52 ]

Author: Ivanov Konstantin Source: Engadget Translation by: Paul Smith

There have been whispers in dark corners that Google might be looking to enter the music scene for a while now and those rumours were given a boost today by the Wall Street Journal. The paper is saying that undisclosed sources (aren't they always?!) have informed them that Google plans on launching its very own music store, presumably later this year. Initially the store would be a straightforward mechanism for customers to stream or download music, but in time, the sources say, Google would look to tie it into search (no surprise there) and eventually there would be a link-up with Android sometime next year. Remember that demo of music being purchased over the air on Android during Google's I/O event? If these rumours are to be believed it won't b all that far off that such a system goes public. Launching its own music store would help fill in a hole in Google's operations and help to put Android on a more square footing with Apple's iPhone, which of course already has access to OTA music purchases from the iTunes store. Of course it will also help to cement the rivalry that has grown up between Apple and Google ...

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Video: Androideroids - Uber Cool Atari Action for Android [ 22-06-2010 15:51 ]

Author: Irina Turina Source: Pocket-Lint Translation by: Paul Smith

Every now and again we see something that is just so intrinsically geeky and downright fun that it just begs to be posted.This is one such item. Developer Grant Skinner has come up with a multiplayer version of the Atari classic, Asteroids, for Android. However, this is no ordinary game you will see appearing in the Market. On the contrary, it utilises Abobe Air running on a desktop (and the app on the phone) to create a multi-player game across multiple visual experiences. Skinner has dubbed it 'Androideroids'. The game supports up to 8 players simultaneously and you can evens witch to a first shooter perspective on your handset, which acts as your controller by the way. I'm really not doing it justice writing about though, go check out the video below to see it in all its geeky glory.