"Kicking off 2012 in a positive way, and heavily updated from the original feature, I've compiled a latest 'top 30 freeware' for all Symbian^3 smartphones. Excluding games, which tend to be a very personal taste (though there are some great free games too, if you look around). Hopefully this article is a great reference to point new Symbian users to, with everything from small utilities to major applications. And free, free, free...." Read more here:

Thanks to a reminder from WebProNews, it's instructive to look again at the smartphone world via StatCounter, a pro service embedded on many web sites which tracks the browser and OS used to access them. And, reflecting the still enormous installed base of Symbian-powered smartphones across the world, Symbian still (for web access, at least) still dominates the world, at 31%.
The counter-intuitive nature of the chart, i.e. that Symbian still dominates despite Android and iOS activations reportedly running very high through 2011, is explained by the difference between sales marketshare and installed base 'share'. Earlier this year, actual sales of Android-powered smartphones per quarter overtook Symbian. But the 300 million or so active Symbian users across the world - regardless of whether they're using a three year old Nokia 5800 or even an older N95 - is a statistic that can't be ignored for actual use. You may remember that I've talked before about not underestimating the inertia behind Symbian's installed base - the numbers boggle the mind.
Added to the huge installed base of Symbian smartphones is the factor of the rise and rise of affordable data, even on pay as you go SIM cards, across the world. In other words, just about everyone is now getting online. In StatCounter's eyes, web access is web access." via allaboutsymbian.com

"Nokia is clarifying the naming of the user interface of its Symbian smartphones. The user interface will now be referred to as Nokia Belle, rather than Symbian Belle. The operating system will continue to be referred to as Symbian. Thus devices, such as the Nokia 701, will be referred to as Symbian smartphones running the Nokia Belle user interface. The news comes via a post on Nokia Conversations, but we have confirmed the details with a Nokia spokesperson. The naming change is aimed at making things clearer for consumers by clearly distinguishing between the operating system and the user interface. This seems sensible, given Nokia's commitment to deliver additional software updates in 2012. The advent of the named software updates for Symbian devices (Anna, Belle, C...) effectively decoupled the user interface updates from operating system updates.  It may also make it easier for Nokia to market the devices; despite being the pioneering smartphone platform the Symbian brand was never very well known amongst general consumers, especially when compared to the Nokia brand. It is also not unreasonable to argue that the Symbian brand, where it is known, may have damaged by the poor overall performance of Nokia's smartphone business in the last few years.  Nokia Belle is already being used on the most recent Symbian devices including the Nokia 700, Nokia 701 and Nokia 603. It will also be available, via a software update, for the Nokia N8, Nokia C7, Nokia C6-01, Nokia E6, Nokia E7 and Nokia 500 early next year." via allaboutsymbian.com

"As Android and Apple continue to dominate the U.S. smartphone market, RIM and other smartphone manufacturers have made moves to reclaim lost market share.
PORT WASHINGTON, NEW YORK, December 13, 2011 - According to The NPD Group, a leading market research company, Android's operating system (OS) share of smartphone sales grew to command more than half of the U.S. smartphone market (53 percent) from January through October 2011, as Apple's iOS share grew to reach 29 percent of the market, and RIM's OS share declined to 11 percent. RIM and other companies that were formerly on top of NPD's smartphone rankings, however, have made critical business decisions this past year in a quest to shore up their U.S. smartphone businesses." Read more inside..

"Worldwide sales of mobile devices totaled 440.5 million units in the third quarter of 2011, up 5.6 percent from the same period last year, according to Gartner, Inc. Non-smartphone devices performed well, driven by demand in emerging markets for low-cost devices from white-box manufacturers, and for dual-subscriber identity module (SIM) devices.
Sales into the channel reached 460 million units. Gartner analysts said this increase was because of inventory build-up in the channel partly because of the shipping of new devices late in the quarter but mostly to prepare the channel for the holiday season. Gartner expects most of the build-up to be sold by the first quarter of 2012." Read more inside..

"It's the end of an era as Adobe has confirmed that it will no longer be developing its Flash Player for mobile devices. Instead Adobe will be focusing on HTML5 and Adobe-AIR native apps for the major mobile platforms. Adobe's VP Danny Winokur explained the decision:
Our future work with Flash onmobile devices will be focused on enabling Flash develoeprs to package native apps with Adobe-AIR for all major app stores. We will no longer continue to develop Flash Player in the browser to work with new mobile device configurations (chipset, browser, OS version, etc) following the upcoming release of Flash Player 11.1 for Android and BlackBerry PlayBook. We will of course continue to provide critical bug fixes and security updates for existing device configurations. We will also allow our source code licensees to continue working on and release their own implementations. " via mobile-review.com

"Whilst Android was busy racing past iOS in the mobile download stakes it was also extending its lead in the advertising stakes too. Millenial have just released new data for their network, which shows continued growth for Android and a very healthy lead over iOS.Android accounted for 56% of impressions by the end of the September quarter, which was double iOS, which had 28%. Even if iOS is trailing Android it is still way out in front of third placed RIM, which could only muster up 13% of impressions. Windows Phone is barely worth mentioning, having just 1% (and that's after being combined with Windows Mobile)." Read more inside..

 

 

"Aside from the tiny physical depth of the 700, the design is dominated by the speaker grille at the bottom, clearly styled to indicate that there's a decent speaker underneath. After some testing, I'd rate the speaker quite highly, it's possibly the same component used (albeit in duplicate) in the 5800 and X6 and sounds extremely crisp, with no high frequency loss due to there being plastic in the way (as on the X7 - twice, you may remember). The speaker itself is still less than a centimetre in length, so the full width grille is a little misleading, but I was still impressed overall with the sound coming out of the 700. Being a touch-driven phone, the display is of the utmost importance, of course. And it's of terrific quality, possibly the same component used to great effect in the C6-01 that predates this 700. The ClearBlack Display technology works superbly and the nHD display is very crisp and clear, with that 'painted on' look we've seen in the C6-01 and E7 before it. Given that the 700 is arguably a direct descendant of the popular 5800, it's instructive to put the two devices side by side: the 5800 is far more bulky and its display far, far less impressive - in alllight conditions." Read more here:

 

"The latest firmware for both the 5800 and 5530 are now rolling out and are available for over the air (OTA) update. The updates take the 5800 to version 60, and the 5530 to version 40. The update is mostly for performance improvements and bug fixing. However, Web has received a big update, taking it from version 7.2.6.9 to 7.3.1.33. This is only a few iterations behind the Symbian Anna browser, which is reflected in the updated user interface. Read on for screenshots and more details.The OTA update was offered to one of our 5530’s yesterday, but then mysteriously disappeared before it could be installed. However, it reappeared today and the 6.9MB download automatically installed itself without a hitch.While it is difficult to objectively measure, the overall performance does seem to have improved. Particularly, the application menu seems faster; this was always something that was prone to stutter in S60 5^th Edition. Page rendering in Web appears to be significantly improved too.This highlights the point that even though Symbian is in its twilight years, older models are still being supported. Hence, a purchase of a Symbian device now, will be supported for as long as the device can be reasonably expected to be in use.The new version of Web now features the combined URL and search bar, as seen in the Symbian Anna browser. While this version is a few iterations behind that found on Symbian Anna (7.3.1.37), it has the same support for tabbed browsing. There is also a toolbar along the bottom of the screen with controls for back, forward, bookmarks, tab switching, and a menu launcher." via allaboutsymbian.com

"Nokia today announced the Nokia 603, a low cost Symbian Belle handset, which the company says is designed to appeal to first time smartphone users and those upgrading from older devices. Key features include a 1GHz processor, 3.5" ClearBlack Display touchscreen, durable design designed to "withstand the knocks of everyday life", and comprehensive connectivity options (pentaband 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0 and NFC). The 603 is expected to start shipping this quarter at a cost of €200 before taxes and subsidies. The 603 has a sleek design; it is notably thinner (12.7mm) than some of the handsets it is replacing (e.g. C5-03 - 13.8mm) and also has a smaller screen bezel. From the start, Nokia is offering a choice of colours (black or white on the front, with back covers of black, white, fuchsia, green, yellow and blue)." Read more inside..