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SymbianGuru.com shuts down: No more love for Nokia

SymbianGuru.com used to be my favorite website for all things Nokia-related. But it seems that Symbian 3.0 is going further down a dead-end road, and even the Guru himself can't stand Symbian any more. And that's why he decided to shut the site down and switch to Android. Usually, I'm not a big fan of Ol'Google's Enterprises, but in this case I totally agree: Nokia used to be the number one mobile market mover, but recently they've done a terrible job. And when I read Guru's final article, I realized that both our experiences with Nokia's smartphone flagship N97 are frighteningly similar.

Please read the original posting – there's not much more I can add except for this comment:

I own an N97, and it get's crappier with each firmware update. Since the last one, *every single action* has to be confirmed twice. (Like: “Do you want to allow *insert-computer-name-here* via Bluetooth.” User clicks yes. Next step: “Do you want to allow *insert-computer-name-here* via Bluetooth.” User clicks again. Every single time. I'd love a third button: Yes/No/F**king yeah, I told you before, stop nagging me twice every time!).
The OVI service is a disaster as of yet – I mean, the different parts work fine, but there is no master plan; even gaming isn't integrated. OVI to me seems like one huge roof over a lot of very different isles.

At the end of his posting, Symbian-Guru included a message to Nokia. I totally agree:

To Nokia, you guys are losing. Hard. Wake the hell up. Doing the same thing repeatedly while expecting different results is the definition of insanity. I?ve been a huge Nokia fan since my 2nd cellphone, and I just can?t do it any longer. You guys aren?t competing like you once were, and everyone but you seems to see that. You used to build the world?s best smartphones, the world?s best cameras, the world?s best GPS units ? you?ve lost pretty much all of that, and with nothing to show for it. You unveiled your Ovi vision over 2 years ago ? I was there. Today, it?s still a complete mess. I have to log in every single time I visit the site ? regardless of how many times I check the ?remember me? box. I spent 6 months (and about 3 hours at Nokia World 2009) trying to find someone to help me with Ovi Contacts on the web ? no one knew who to point me to. You spent millions of dollars purchasing your Ovi pieces ? Ovi Files, Ovi Share, and a host of other little companies ? are you proud of what you ?built? with them? Most of your own employees (that I?ve talked to) don?t even use them, so why should I?

Apple iStore limits: How Pixelpipe got kicked

If you refuse to play by Apple's rules, you have to leave the store. The popular Pixelpipe application was removed last week simply because the developers dared to scan the contents of the DCIM-folder, which enables the users to select multiple pictures (or videos) at once. Even though this folder simply contains the user's own photos, Apple requires to use the official (single-select) API. Weird and sad but true: the software was removed after a third party programmer had filed a complaint. Read more

Viral Clip for the new HTC Magic

The second Google Android phone comes without any keyboard – after the rather disastrous hardware of the G1, HTC/Google decided to go with iPhone touchscreen hype. But unlike Apples geek gadget android can run multiple applications at once, also known as multitasking. This viral clip targeting the British market is quite funny, yet still I'm not impressed: using windows mobile on HTC hardware I've been enjoying these kinds of perks for quite some while now:

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