Picked up a new Symbian S60 device? Looking to push the one you have further? Epocware, makers of Handy Shell and other major Symbian software are offering a 35% discount on the following programs:

Handy Shell: Was $19.95, now $12.97

Handy Calendar: Was $29.95, now $19.47

Handy Weather: Was $24.95 , now $16.22

Handy Safe Pro: Was $34.95 , now $22.72

Handy Alarm Pro: Was $14.75 , now $9.72

This deal runs for the next 5 days, so act fast!

I love casinos, but I am terrible at gambling. Flashing lights, lots of bars, video games; essentially casinos are just a grown-up version of the boardwalk arcades from my childhood. Of course, my problem is that I don’t understand how to gamble; I just tap screens, pull levers, and pretend I understand how poker works until I run out of money. Luckily, Astraware Casino for Symbian offers many of those games with virtual money; we’ll be taking a look at this versatile game set today.

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Since late May, my main phone has been a Nokia E71x. It is my first Symbian phone, but I owned Nokia feature phones before and had good memories of them, so I was quite excited to get to know a smarter, fancier Nokia. I’d read good things about Symbian as well as bad ones. Universally, the hardware was praised, but the software reception was a good more lukewarm. My E71x and I have good days and bad days; last week I was ready to sing its praises to the world, this week I’m a bit more annoyed and seem to be seeing nothing but its flaws. Nokia has been trying harder to muscle into the North American market, most recently by offering some incredible deals on AT&T. So I thought it would be helpful to share the good and the bad sides of my Symbian experience.

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It’s inevitable…you’re sitting on your couch, relaxing with your tivo and your xbox…when you realize you need to <gasp> go outside! But what is the weather like? How will you know whether to wear your crocs or your docs? You could get up and go outside, but that takes effort. Luckily for you, Epocware has the excellent utility Handy Weather so you can check the weather from your Symbian phone before you have to leave the couch. Continue Reading

I’ve recently become a convert to the Symbian OS. It has been a lot of fun to learn the ins and outs of a new system, especially one that approaches things like Symbian does. Nokia’s flavor of Symbian feels more phone oriented, with the PDA aspects tacked on as almost an afterthought. While this can be tweaked around a bit, the place it is felt most acutely is on the “Active Standby” screen (essentially the Symbian version of a Today Screen). The only major option if you want something that offers up more power is if you look to Epocware and their Active Standby replacement, Handy Shell.

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A while ago, I ranted on a Symbian forum about what a piece of cr disappointment the Nokia N96 was, and how it’d put me off Nokia smartphones forever. Until a recent firmware update, the N96 was slow, buggy and practically unusable. It creaks so much, I’ve actually come to think of the squishy casing as a feature – use it as an expensive stress ball, and it’s entertaining; the built-in DVB-H TV tuner is essentially useless anyway. Given the vitriol, you can imagine that it’d take a lot to get me interested in using the N96 again.

Spb TV has temporarily saved the N96 from The Drawer of Forgotten Gadgets. Spb TV is an IPTV client for Symbian S60 devices. It receives streaming live television over a mobile internet connection, and includes an electronic program guide (EPG) for supported channels; if you’ve ever used Livestation on your desktop computer, Spb TV is just like a mobile version of it.

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The lovely Alison graced my inbox this morning with the latest from Club Astraware; this month’s special is one you won’t want to miss!

Club Astraware offers for September 2008

The Club Astraware Member-only discount offer for September 2008 is Astraware Solitaire for just $9.95, that’s a huge saving of $10 off the regular price!

In addition to our regular offers for Palm OS(R) and Windows Mobile(R) device owners, this discount is also available to Club Astraware members who own Symbian(R) S60(R), and UIQ(R) smartphones.

Astraware Solitaire features 12 of the most well-known and best-loved single player card games, chosen based on direct feedback and suggestions from Astraware customers.

The games included in Astraware Solitaire are Klondike, Pyramid, Spider, Clock, Yukon, Canfield, Four Seasons, Sultan’s Harem, Idiot’s Delight, Golf, Calculation, and Freecell, and to make the playing experience both familiar and fun, each game has custom gameplay options so everyone can enjoy the games using their favorite variation on the standard rules.

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According to an unsubstantiated rumor on web site The Symbian Core, iTunes for Symbian is under beta testing with a rumored released of January 2009. No information is given as to why Apple might cannibalize their own hardware sales with an iTunes release for Symbian. Similar rumors surfaced in 1986 and were debunked as someone’s creative wishful thinking. If there’s truth to this rumor it might also be a remote control for iTunes versus a full blown implementation. This rumored development effort for iTunes comes on the heels of Nokia’s “Comes with Music” effort scheduled to roll out in the UK later this year.

There is an information that iTunes s60 will have the same functionalities as desktop version, including iTunes Store. Among the new features – the revolutional software technology with codename “HypnoBreathe”, that increases the sound quality on the level, which was not reachable for another s60 applications till this time. Someone says that Apple buy a special secret API from Nokia, that was created for a few years. Also, new s60 player will have ability to control the desktop iTunes by Wi-Fi. This feature will be avaliable for Mac and PC users. Official release of iTunes s60 will be maded in January, 2009.

Not all phones will be compatible.

The Symbian Core

Here’s another MobileHeist – providing our readers with amazing deals on great products for a very limited time. Our software store and its software partner, Warelex, are teaming together for an outstanding offer: first glance at the latest version of Mobiola Web Camera, version 3, for symbian-based phones and a 2-day promotional sale for $4.95. Mobiola Web Camera is one of the most popular applications for symbian-based phones, which turns your phone into a high-quality PC webcam and this latest version offers cool video effects. Offer your users an unbelievable deal on Mobiola Web Camera 3 for Symbian. This product retails for $19.95, but for 2-days only – this Thursday and Friday (June 12th & 13th) – we’re selling it for $4.95, which is 75% off the retail price!

To get the savings, you’ll only need to add the product to your shopping cart – no coupon code required.

Link: Mobiola Web Camera, version 3, for Symbian based phones – $4.95

As they say, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! Being a geek that doesn’t tend to enter my mind when a new firmware for one of my devices comes out.

In my defence, the v20.0.016 firmware for the Nokia N95 8GB added auto-rotate functionality, something I wanted (at the time anyway) since surfing in landscape is great, right up until text needs to entered. Auto-rotating would make it a lot more convenient!

The upgrade went smoothly, and after loading a few apps (Mail for Exchange, Opera Mini, Gmail and Windows Live Messenger) and entering my Exchange settings, my phone was back in business, with the auto-rotate support! But, the firmware seems to have a very irritating bug that makes me wish I hadn’t touched it. While Judie has been fixing problems, I’ve picked up a very irritating one.

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I really like how Astraware has begun to introduce their games to platforms other than just Palm, Windows Mobile, and a few odd iPod titles. Bringing their flavor of fun to the Symbian S60 and UIQ platforms means that even more people can enjoy losing themselves in a really good game, and now we can add Hidden Expedition: Titanic to their growing catalog.

Alison has also passed along this bit of goodness for those of you with Symbian S60 or UIQ phones:

On a related note, we’re still recruiting volunteer beta testers for UIQ and S60. If you think your readers would be interested, please point them to our blog post here: http://www.astraware.com/company/blog.php?entry=88

Here are many more screenshots, as well as information about Hidden Expedition: Titanic…
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Can you believe that it has been ten years since HanDBase came out? This was one of the first business tools I bought to run on my Palm, and it was also an application that I eagerly added to my Pocket PC once they crossed platforms. Modern versions of HanDBase will seamlessly sync between Palm OS, Windows Mobile (for Pocket PC and Smartphone), Symbian Series 60 and UIQ, and BlackBerry smartphones, and can be run from either a Windows or Mac computer. Pretty slick, right?

So what is HanDBase and why should you care?

HanDBase is a light and fast relational database manager for desktops, PDAs, and smartphones which offers data entry, searching, sorting, filtering, printing and synchronization across a wide variety of desktop computers, handheld computing devices and smartphones.

With HanDBase, you can create database forms to keep track of everything and anything. If you aren’t up to creating your own personalized forms, you can also download ones that others have created from DDH Software’s extensive database repository – which currently has over 2,000 titles!

That’s where the competition comes into play:

To mark their 10th Anniversary, DDH is “reviving its “HanDBase Applet of the Year” contest, seeking the most innovative uses for its popular HanDBase mobile database program for PDAs and smartphones. The goal for this year’s contest is to demonstrate how easy it is for anyone to develop a mobile solution for either work or personal use. The company will reward the Best Commercial Applet and Best Personal Applet with “HanDBase Runtime” licenses (a US $1,000.00 value) which will enable the winners to turn their entries into commercially-available standalone mobile applications.”

Are you up to the challenge? Read on…

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Alison from Astraware, a woman who is always eager to offer a game-style diversion, has just forwarded news about their latest…and it is really different.

You see, it is not for Palm, Windows Mobile, iPods, or your desktop- it is their first ever release of a Symbian S60 or UIQ smartphones title. Hooray!

S60 352×416

The title is Astraware Boardgames, and it “features 8 classic boardgames including Reversi, Chess, and Backgammon, all designed with casual players and non-experts in mind.” I’ve got it loaded on Sarah’s N95, and I hope she’ll let me give it a try…eventually.

The gameplay and graphics are designed to evoke the feel of classic board games, played on wooden boards, with traditional playing pieces and satisfying piece movement. Astraware Boardgames includes Chess, Backgammon, Ludo, Checkers, Reversi, Nine Men’s Morris, Snakes and Ladders, and Tic Tac Toe.

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