Nokia recently released updates for S60 3rd Edition Fearure Pack 2 devices and S60 5th Edition phones. The updates included an updated NokiaBrowser bumped to version 7.3.1.26, as well as updates to Ovi Maps.

I got my hands on a friend’ss Nokia E72, which is one of the devices benefiting from the updates, and proceded to see what changes exactly were delivered.

Updating OTA
OTA updating was a breeze. The 17MB update file was downloaded and installed without issues. However, after the update, while other applications were able to use my data connection, the new browser just wouldn’t work.

Updating via Ovi Suite
To address this, i decided to reinstall the firmware via ovi Suite. This time, it was a huge file of 196MB. However, after the re-installation, all problems disappeared and everything works fine now.

NokiaBrowser 7.3 in action

While NokiaBrowser 7.3.1.26 for S60 v3 is the same version that ships with Symbian Anna, you need to know upfront that only the performance improvements of the Anna browser are here. Nothing has changed in the user interface, which remains a bit clunky to use.

The new browser is faster in page rendering though, plus it has basic support for HTML 5 (it scores 123 out of 450, beating only the WindowsPhone browser), some support for CSS 3, and JavaScript 1.8. Because there are no UI modifications, there is still no option to open new tabs in the menu, which is a bit disappointing. However, this feature should be available in the new browwser for S60 5th Edition devices, which have touch displays.

However, if you click a link coded to open a new page, new pages do open and you can switch between them.

That’s pretty much what the new browser for Symbian S60 3rd Edition (feature pack 2) is about: significant performance improvements. A commendable effort by Nokia, though I have a nagging feeling that some users would feel unimpressed. Still, let’snot forget that S60 3rd Edition is a much older platform and modifying the UI might not be worth the trouble at this time.

What do you think? Were you expecting more?

The new BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900 browser has been put to the test against the iPhone 4, Google Nexus One, Nexus S and Blackberry Torch 9800 browsers – and what do you know – it trounced them all.

Here’s a picture of the slide. Its a little blurry though.

Time to welcome the Blackberry browser into the club of elite mobile browsers; right?

Read the full report at BlackBerry 7 browser performance is faster than the iPhone, Android

InMobi is the world’s largest independent mobile ad network. By mobile ad, InMobi deals with display ad via the mobile web and mobile apps. SMS and search ads are not included.

InMobi’s inaugural network data report for July 2010 was released in September 2010 and provides some very interesting statistics from the InMobi mobile ad network.

Globally

Global Manufacturer Share

Nokia dominated the global scene with 47.4% marketshare of ad impressions. Samsung came in 2nd with 13% and Sony Ericsson 3rd with 10%.

However, Apple and 6 other manufacturers gained some share at the expense of Nokia.

Global OS Share

Nokia’s feature phones (26%) and Symbian OS (22%) led the pack, but iOS and Android showed the strongest growth globally, and mainly at the expense of Symbian and Nokia.

Africa

Manufacturer Share: Africa

On the African front, Nokia totally dominated the landscape with 61% share, followed by Samsung in 2nd place at 22%, and Sony Ericsson in 3rd place with 6%.

OS Share: Africa

In the battle of the OSes in Africa, again Nokia’s feature phones led the pack with 33%, Symbian 2nd with 29%, and BlackBerry at a distant 3rd with 1%.

Nigeria

Manufacturer Share: Nigeria

For Nigeria, the manufacturer statistics show that Nokia’s share at 1st place was even higher than the continental figures, standing this time at 78%. Sony Ericsson is in 2nd place with 9%, while Samsung followed in 3rd place with 6%.

OS Share: Nigeria

A look at mobile OS marketshare in Nigeria for July 2010 shows that Nokia’s featurephones took up the lead with 65%, Symbian followed with 13%, and all others put together took up 22%.

Nigeria has unseated South Africa as the country in Africa with the highest number of users on the Opera Mini mobile browser, according to the latest State of the Mobile Web report issued today by Opera Software.

Nigeria swept aside China and South Africa to finish March as the #5 country globally for unique monthly users of Opera Mini, rising from its February position as #7. Now only Russia, Indonesia, India and Ukraine are ahead of Nigeria in terms of unique monthly users.

Until now, South Africa has maintained the top spot in Africa and consistently held sixth place globally for the highest number of Opera Mini users, in all but five months since the State of the Mobile Web reports began in April 2008. Nigeria debuted in the top 10 list in March 2009 but has been less stable in its position, sometimes dropping off the list entirely.

Despite earlier jumpy trends, Nigeria has shown a steady climb in the list of top Opera Mini user countries since September 2010: spending two months each at the ninth, eighth and seventh spots before rising in March to #5 – pushing back South Africa to seventh place.

In the year to March 2011, Nigeria experienced 143.5% growth in the number of unique Opera Mini users, compared to 67% growth in South Africa. During the same period, South Africa showed higher growth in the number of monthly page views and data transfer (99.5% and 95.5% respectively) compared to Nigeria (87.7% and 80.0% respectively).

“Nigeria is a country to watch,” said Jon von Tetzchner, Co-founder, Opera Software. “It will be very interesting to see whether its stint as the top African country for Opera Mini turns out to be one-off result or the beginning of a long-term trend for mobile browsing in Africa.”

Opera is the most popular mobile browser in both South Africa and Nigeria, with StatCounter’s March results showing Opera to have 67.5% share of the mobile browser market in South Africa and 87.7% in Nigeria. Opera has 71.8% market share for mobile browsing in all of Africa.

Read the full State of the Mobile Web report at opera.com/smw/

Dayo and I were hosted to lunch yesterday at Nokia West Africa, where we got a chance to play with a pre-production model of the Nokia E6 running the much-anticipated Symbian Anna firmware.

We came off from the playtime with very good impressions of the OS and theUI. Symbian Anna feels fresh, breezier, faster and more user-friendly compared to the current firmware running on say the N8 and E7.

I am a mobile web enthusiast and so was particular about the browser. Simply put, we are able to say that the new browser is faster and easier to use.

L-R: Old browser; New browser

Nokia Conversations published an article on this very subject, and I can verify that the article describes the new Symbian browser accurately. A few points:

• Streamlined UI – removal of the double layer of icons at the bottom of the browsing window (see image above), and has instead replaced them with a small back arrow that is always on show and an options icon that can call up various different tasks such as bookmarks, history or the exit button. That makes for some extra room up top to include a convenient address bar for easy URL typing and web searching.
• Most operations take one less click than previously, with ‘back’ only requiring a single tap.
• Version 7.3 of the browser has been created using a newer version of WebKit , a new JavaScript engine and has been optimised further for Symbian, meaning that JavaScript on v7.3 is 30% faster than the previous version.
• Greater compatibility with HTML 5 with a score of 111 out of 400 in an industry HTML5 test. (The old 7.2 version scored 29 in this test).
• Implementation of split-screen typing view mode and with a portrait Qwerty keyboard makes typing in URLs and keywords in the address bar a lot easier for touchscreen devices
• Multiple window support – You can open a new empty window from the Window menu or open a link in a new window with a long press.
• URL auto completion.
• Improved fonts
• Ability to copy a link from the site onto your clipboard for using somewhere else – Long pressing on a link will open up a new menu that allows you to copy that link or to open it in a new window
• Double tap on the screen to re-render page to fit the screen.

Read Nokia Conversations’ New Nokia Browser faster and easier to use.

ConnectNigeria.com is an information search portal that helps you find everything you need and connects you with people and businesses that are looking for you or your business in Nigeria. For those always on the move or those whose primary PC is their mobile, there is a mobile version available.

ConnectNigeria Mobile aims to score high on usability by offering certain mobile-friendly features, including:

• ability to click on the phone number available on the business listing page.
• ability to instantly send an email (if available) to the business by simply clicking on the email address or visit the website of the business, if any, without typing it.

If you need to constantly find business organisations in the country on your mobile, you should bookmark ConnectNigeria Mobile.

Opera Software today tinkered in its giant statistics machine and found that Opera Mini reached 100 million monthly users in March and two billion daily page views – new peaks for the world’s most used mobile browser.

“Sweeeet!” said Lars Boilesen, CEO, Opera Software.

Hold the phone: didn’t Opera just announce 100 million mobile users two months ago? They sure did; though that number represented the combined total for both its mobile browsers, Opera Mini and Opera Mobile. Now, Opera Mini has rocketed ahead to 100 million users in its own right.

The number of monthly Opera Mini users across the globe has grown by 11 million since February 2011 and doubled from the 50 million mark celebrated in February 2010.

Opera Mini’s twin March milestone, two billion daily page views, already doubles the one billion daily page views achieved in July 2010.

About Opera Mini
The Opera Mini mobile browser works on more than 3000 different mobile phone models, from basic feature phones to high-end smartphones. The unique Opera Mini technology compresses web content by up to 90 percent before sending it to the phone, resulting in faster page loading and lower browsing costs. It shares many features with Opera’s browsers for computers, including tabbed browsing, password manager, bookmarks and Speed Dial. Opera Mini is the world’s most popular browser and available as a free download from m.opera.com.

About Opera Software ASA
Opera Software ASA has redefined web browsing for PCs, mobile phones and other networked devices. Opera’s cross-platform web-browser technology is renowned for its performance, standards compliance and small size, while giving users a faster, safer and more dynamic online experience. Opera Software is headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with offices around the world. The company is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol OPERA..

Today, opera has announced that “more than 100 million people use an Opera browser each month on their mobile phones. According to the numbers issued today in Opera’s State of the Mobile Web report, 90.4 million people now use Opera Mini every month and approximately 15 million people use Opera Mobile each month. In all, 105 million people use Opera on their phones.”

Those are impressive figures – and well deserved too. Any initiative that promotes accessibility, especially among lower-end devices, is one with huge potentials. The world-famed Opera Mini browser has made it easier and less costlier for millions of mobile subscribers worldwide to access the web on their devices.

A quote from Lars Boilesen, CEO, Opera Software:

“We want our browser to impact lives in a meaningful way. It’s one reason we use mostly renewable resources to power Opera Mini’s servers. It’s why we make it light, so you don’t have to recharge your battery every few hours. It’s why Opera Mini and Opera Mobile can help operators reduce the bandwidth that clogs their networks. A browser may never change the world, but we’ll never stop trying to.”

Opera has also announced that they will be releasing “new versions of the Opera Mini browser on Android, iPhone, J2ME, BlackBerry, Symbian and even the iPad”.

Source

In recent times, I began to feel that the Mobility Nigeria website needed a fresh look. Not too long ago, the desktop site got that new look. After that, I never really sat down to work on the mobile site.

Well, I got to doing it yesterday. If you access MobiliyyNigeria.com on mobile, you will have noticed the new look already. You can login if you are a registered user, subscribe to RSS feeds, as well as specific topics’ comments. I am working on re-integrating the list of most recent comments, so if you are missing that, hang on to your hat.

The new layout is cleaner and sleeker. Hope you enjoy using it as much as I enjoyed working on it.

Here in Nigeria, the smartphone seems to be gaining some popularity. A significant number of people who were using non-smartphones are migrating more and more to smartphones.

Of course, web services are some of the most prevalent uses that smartphones are put to. The question is, do you access your web services more via your mobile browser or more via applications installed on your device?

For example, MobilityNigeria has a mobile application downloadable for Symbian devices. Do you use it by default or do you access the site via your mobile browser? How about Twitter, Facebook and other web services?

There are some applications that package access to a number of services. Take Snaptu, as an example. It bundles Twitter, Facebook, and RSS feeds of your favourite sites. Do you take advantage of that convenience or do you prefer to use your mobile browser (which by the way gives you access to all the above too)?

I use a Blackberry Bold 9700. My job and recreation take me to the following websites on the internet: Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Yahoo, Tedtalks, Nairaland, Blogspot, and MobilityNigeria. I have UbberTwitter, which is a Twitter application, Facebook, Yahoomail and Gmail set-up on my Blackberry. All these make it easier and more friendly for me to use these services. Why would I go through the pain of typing www… in my Native browser or Opera mini? Although the mobile browser is not completely useless, I am only more comfortable with the applications, they have richer UI and features.

What about you? Do you use the mobile web more than mobile applications?

Have your say using the comment box. Also, don’t forget to share the article with your friends on Facebook, Twitter and other online services.

On the 5th of November, I updated my Facebook status with the following:

In contrast to me, my wife is very cyber-disconnected. For example, she has over 60 pending FB friend requests. How can I win her over to the “dark side” of ultra-connected people?

You see, she would go for weeks (and sometimes even months) without access to her Facebook account or Yahoo mailbox.

I got some interesting responses to that status, with a good friend even jabbing me for using up the quota of connectivity that she should have used. Here are some of the responses:

• Ah! sir, I don’t think you can win this battle. Even fasting and prayers won’t solve this. Maybe you should try gisting tech things with her. I’m not even trusting this would work sha
• How can she when you have taken over her own quota of connectivity. You need to slow down a bit so she has some more opportunity.
• Yomi, whenever u get the answer let me know so I can use same formula on my wife Lol

Well, I do think that the solution I opted for hit the nail right on the head. The following day was her birthday, so I simply gave her a new phone as a birthday present. Since then, she has been active online with Facebook, her Yahoo mail account, and web browsing. She even visits Mobility Nigeria. Unbelievable. Simply unbelievable.

Now, I know that you are all interested in knowing what phone that must be. A device that has successfully turned an internet-disconnected middle-age mother of two and corporate manager into a semi mobile nerd within two weeks must be of interest to anyone who is into phones.

Is it a Symbian device or a Blackberry? Windows Mobile or Android? Or perhaps even an iPhone? Please hold on to your horses and take a chill pill first.

I thought you would also be interested in the factors that I had to contend with in choosing a device for her. Here they are –

1. Simplicity – the device must not be so complex as to overwhelm her. This is someone who has done little more than voice, SMS and taking pictures with her past phones.
2. Battery life – she very often fails to remember to charge her phones, so it must not be a device that would die by 2pm. Her previous phones went at least two hectic days on a charge.
3. Hardware QWERTY – from experience, she’s pretty much lost with touchscreens. All that swiping and tapping takes her nowhere – or to the wrong menus. If I was getting her this device because of email and Facebook, text entry must be sweet and easy
4. Appearance – well, it must look the part. A trendy-looking, classy-looking device
5. Cost – yes; it must not cost an arm and a leg. This device was supposed to be an experiment to see whether given the right tool, she would adapt. If this worked out fine, I would be very willing to splash out on a more expensive device for her

So, those were pretty much the factors that I juggled in mind in approaching this very difficult problem. Plus, it was almost embarassing that the wife of a mobile web nut like I am goes for months without logging into Facebook or checking her Yahoo mail (for all those of you who had requested her FB friendship, sent a message or mailed her and didn’t get a response until recently, now you know why). Eventually, I did make a choice. And so far, that choice seems to be working. Perhaps its still the euphoria? Is this a crush that my wife has for her new toy or is this the start of the making of an epic?

Oh, yes; the phone?

A Standing Ovation Please
My madam’s new connected lifestyle was made possible by getting her a simple, non-smartphone device – The Nokia C3 running the proprietory S40 operating system. That’s it? yes; that’s it.

Don’t tear your hair out (at least not yet). The solution works. Or is working. Or appears to be working.

Now, you know what to get your wife (or, God forbid, husband) if you’d like to gently prod her into hopefully becoming a hopeless mobile internet addict like yourself.

Opera today unleashed the final version of Opera Mobile 10.1 for Symbian/Series 60 phones, with significantly faster JavaScript performance for a speedy browsing experience.

Making its debut in Opera Mobile 10.1 for Symbian is just-in-time compilation (JIT) performance optimization to the Carakan JavaScript engine, the same powerful engine that drives Opera’s desktop browser. Speed trials of today’s release show that Opera Mobile 10.1 races ahead of its predecessor, performing nine times faster than Opera Mobile 10.0 on the SunSpider JavaScript test.

Location, location, location… Also making its debut in Opera Mobile 10.1 is support for geolocation, which puts you and your mobile on the map. Geolocation enables web services such as maps and travel applications to recognize your location to provide you with customized, relevant content. Your privacy is in your hands, and you choose if and when Opera Mobile shares your position.

“Powerful smartphones deserve an equally powerful browser,” said Lars Boilesen, CEO, Opera Software. “Opera Mobile 10.1 today brings the best mobile browsing experience to the world’s most popular smartphone platform.”

Here are more reasons to put Opera Mobile 10.1 in the driver’s seat for your Symbian mobile browsing:

• Pioneering features from Opera — such as Speed Dial, tabbed browsing, Opera Link and password manager — reduce the time and typing required to navigate your favorite websites.
• When slow network speeds put the brakes on your browsing, gear up with Opera Turbo compression. Opera servers shrink webpages to as little as 20 percent of their original size, reducing your data costs and turbo-charging your browsing speed.
• Opera Mobile fine-tunes the look and feel of your browsing with kinetic scrolling, a virtual keyboard and auto-rotation to landscape.

Opera Mobile 10.1 is available for smartphones based on Symbian^3, and Symbian S60 3rd and 5th editions. Opera Mobile is free to download from m.opera.com. Read more about Opera Mobile at www.opera.com/mobile.

Source.Thanks to EyeBeeKay for the tip-off.