After Google announced the Froyo earlier this year, which is a consecutive update of the well known open source mobile platform Android, there has been a number of rumors as well as a few official hesitations whether the flagship Android devices like sonyericsson’s XPeria X10 and Motorola Milestone. Since there was no response from the mobile phone manufacturers there were doubt among the Android users whether those devices were going to get the Froyo (Android 2.2) update since the update includes some crucial features for the smartphone users.

After the German telecom operator O2 gave some words that they will roll out updates for Motorola Milestone, the official confirmation of the update came a little bit later. Last week, Motorola has finally gave a schedule to update their Android lineup. Even though all the devices are not going the get the update for Hardware Limitations, the most anticipated update is finally coming to Milestone. It is sad to know that the update will not be available in all regions. But those who will be able to update their Android experience, I can say that, will be happy. Lets hope that everything that Moto announced, comes to be true as per the schedule.

Samsung has recently released its newest smartphone based on S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack2. Samsung I7110, is here to show a combination of features and performance. It aims at the highest level of power efficiency and platform security. It has got a 2.6” AMOLED (Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode) screen which will have a stunning experiences for you in navigation, multimedia, and connectivity.

So what’s in the phone? I7110 is a Symbian OS V9.3, S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2 with a large 2.6″ QVGA display. It supports a broad range of network with 3.6 Mbps (900/2100) HSDPA, EDGE / GPRS (850/900/1800/1900). Multimedia features include a 5 Megapixel CMOS with AF and LED Flash and some extras like Smile Shot and Blink Shot.

The video player is capable of playing DivX, H.263, H.264, WMV, MP4, and RV formact while the camera supports 30fps VGA/120 fps QVGA video recording. Music player has native support for mp3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, RealAudio. Also, you get a FM Radio with RDS

It has got loads of extra features alos. There is a GPS Navigation: Pedestrian & Driving, Geo-tagging, Optical Mouse, Accelerometer and more importantly FM Transmitter. The memory is expandable upto 16GB.

With these and the coming phones, Samsung has shown a keen interest in the s60 platform. While Nokia leads the s60 way, it is good for the consumers to get alternative brands equipped with the latest s60 operating system.

Symbian OS is one of the most popular smartphone platform is designed like many desktop operating systems with multitasking and memory protection.  In Symbian OS was designed to provide the integrity and security of user data while saving user time and get maximum benefit from the limited resources available with the mobile platform.
With its root from Psion Software’s EPOC, it has the following system structure:
The Symbian OS System Model contains the following layers, from top to bottom:

* UI Framework Layer
* Application Services Layer
o Java ME
* OS Services Layer
o generic OS services
o communications services
o multimedia and graphics services
o connectivity services
* Base Services Layer
* Kernel Services & Hardware Interface Layer

Of the Symbian Versions, the latest version is Symbian OS 9.5 that supports digital television broadcasts in DVB-H and ISDB-T formats, and provide location services. With touchscreen and many more facilities, Symbian is one of the most advanced and increasingly popular mobile operating system.

With advancement of mobile technology, people are now looking for more features and performance in their mobile phones; this demand has led the revolutions of smartphones and made the mobile more usable than ever. This demand has also given a rise to many operating platform. Along with individual mobile platform which are capable of running Java™ applications there are quite a number of popular operating systems. Below is a list of smartphone platforms:

» Symbian OS™ Software

» Windows Mobile™ Software

» BlackBerry® Software

» Palm® Software

» Android™ Software

Follow the links above to know more about mobile platforms and available devices based on that platform. Don’t know which operating system is your smartphone? Click here

Google has recently launched the Android based phone with T-Mobile in selected region. The phone comes preloaded with Search, Maps, Gmail with Contacts, Calendar, Google Talk, and YouTube. While Google implements these apps into the phone, their aim seems to help the users organize the information and make it universally accessible; Search is an integrated function of the phone which is easy to use and not limited to the web but also the phone itself.

This is done, by making the applications searchable. With a ‘Searchable’ application the ability to search inside the application has just become easier. For example, just starting typing will automatically open the search interface and show the respective reuslts. Even the phone includes a dedicated Search key on bottom row of the keyboard upon pressing which will enable the user to start searching immediately.

Search has also become easier with suggestions which will be displayed ‘As you type’ and the list of suggestions refines itself by selecting options will  immediately lead to that search. Developers will be glad to know that the phones API is designed to  catch up with third party developers to incorporate search into their applications. This will add more to the user experience on the go with the phone.

Sense is already implemented in mobile devices to recognize shakes and get various information like counting your footstep or determine the speed of your bicycle. Touch screen are also not too recent invention while many devices already incorporate the touch technology to provide user a better user interface. Some PDA’s like Sony Ericsson’s P990i or O²’s or Palms. But for a smartphone it’s.

The waiting is over. On October the 2nd this year Nokia Announced their cross generation mobile platform S60 5th Edition that will let you touch the screen of your cellphone to perform all actions on your favourite S60 V5 platform. Recently, s60 platform has been made open source and now introduction of the s60 V5’s advanced set of features will definitely secure the s60 platform to a higher position in the mobile market and put it’s competitors behind the race. This will enable new innovations and consumers will have better experiences from their devices.

According to Nokia, “With S60 5th Edition, the user interface is extended by the introduction of touch and with full support for tactile feedback. Enhanced display resolution support and a new Widescreen mode further compliments the touch UI and enables engaging visual experiences. Also, for the first time, the platform includes a framework for the use of advanced sensor technology. This all allows S60 device manufacturers to create innovative new device concepts for a wider range of user segments, while preserving the rich capabilities of the existing software platform.”

The first of the device, Nokia 5800 XpressMusic is designed for music lovers. So, what comes with the Touches? As S60 web browser is the 2nd best (PC World) mobile web browser after iPhone’s Safari, it continues to support the use of internet technologies and with it’s web browsing capabilites, it may lead the mobile internet world with desktop-quality browsing with Adobe Flash Lite 3; scrolling web pages and interacting directly with Web content has become easier by touching with a finger or the use of keys or stylus.

Sensors will enable the consumers to take the advantages to a integrated sensing feature that will lead to more exciting application expereinces. With an integrated multimedia experience of image and video editing makes it simple simple to edit pics and vids directly on a the device.

Still there are loads of features that are integrated and more SDK’s are there for the developers to add more to the platform.

Please visit www.s60.com for more information about the s60 Platform and Nokia’s website for information about 5800 XpressMusic

Earlier this month Opera has announced to work with NVIDIA to enhance the mobile web experience. Though from the first glance it appears that it will help the mobile web browser performance but it is surely going to improve the overall performance of the device.

Primarily, the combination is expected to come with NVIDIA Tegra chip based devices with Windows Mobile and Windows CE operating systems. Opera Software is going to offer the full desktop Web-browsing experience with JavaScript, accelerated vector and video content. While seamless internet connectivity is critical to any mobile device now-a-days, the combination of Opera 9.5 and NVIDIA Tegra is surely going to bring some changes to the total mobile internet market.

The Tegra family of computer-on-chip solutions that comes with a high-performance ARM CPUs that accelerates media is also with an integrated GeForce® GPUs. When collaborate with Opera’s browser will be providing consumers with rich media and for web, in-page video playback.

NVIDIA Tegra hardware Devices powered by Opera browser powered is expected to be available to consumers in 2009; yet no fixed date has been scheduled.

Good News for the Gamers on the Go. Nokia, the developer of the N-Gage platform for the gamers has jointly announced with Capcom that the classic game Resident Evil Degeneration is scheduled to be released by the end of this year. Capcom is one of the industry leaders in gaming has agreed to provide the game to be optimized for N-Gage in multiple play modes and multiple mission types. The graphic is expected to be 3D quality. It seems that Nokia is to confirm to the consumers about the unique capabilities of the N-Gage platform

Both Nokia and Capcom’s mobile gaming division are really thrilled about the deal to bring such a good game to the N-Gage platform and let the gamers extensive gaming experiences from the limited mobile resources.

However, though N-Gage was limited to a number of handsets earlier, now N-Gage is a mobile games service available in compatible Nokia Nseries and other S60 3rd Edition devices.

Palm has recently released a minor software update for its latest Treo 800w that is expected to fix a couple of problems with the device’s use.

According to Palm, some of the users have complained about battery charging which happens with a fully dischared battery which is left not to use for a couple of days. In this case the battery would not charge. Some others have told about using external usb devices. They complained that the device can’t recognize the external USB accessories.

These problems are expected to be solved with the software update. But Palm has recommended the update to all users.

Apple has announced the latest software update for iPhone. It’s too fast, because they have just released an update only about a month ago. It seems that they are working hard to fix-up all the troubles. It is good, especially for the consumers.

According to Apple the 2.1 version of the software contains a lot of bux fixes and improvements of user experience.  The software update is expected to decrease dropped calls and call related set-up failures. Some users may enjoy a better battery life (it is not clear how Apple claims that for ‘Most Users’)

Other updates include a faster backup to iTunes and faster installaion of third party applications. The greatest plus point of the update is said to have fixes of some bugs that were causing hangs and crashes while using third-party apps.

Messaging has also said to be improved. Both SMS and email is to show better performace and faster fetching of mails from POP and Exchange accounts. Now, iPod Nano supported Genius playlist can be created on the iPhone. Email attachments now can display iWork and Microsoft PowerPoint files. Email management has also become easier which lets user to group messages and delete multiple messages at a time.

One important security feature in the new software is that there is a option to wipe all user data from the memory after ten failed passcode attempts. This is good, I think because, data is more important than the phone itself.