Google just announced that it’s bringing some serious location-based integration to its services, all centered around the new Buzz social networking tool built into Gmail. Google’s going to do location better than the usual latitude / longitude coordinates — it’s able to snap those to actual place names and then take context-aware actions depending on where you are. The new location services is integrated into the main mobile Google.com search page and the new buzz.google.com page for the iPhone and Android, and into maps for Android, S60, and Windows Mobile. Buzz is rolling out starting today, and it should hit everyone within “the next few days.” Continue reading Google Buzz takes mobile location services to the next level Google Buzz takes mobile location services to the next level originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:48:00 EST.

The former Kurara caterpillar has now sprouted into a Vivaz butterfly , and what do you know, all its lustrous color options have already been handled and explored by Dutch site All About Phones . We’re told that early leaks and spy shots did a disservice to the handsome styling of the handset, which borrows some design cues from the Xperia X10 . It’s smaller than you might think, apparently, and a delight to handle, though the back has an unfortunate taste for fingerprints. The Symbian S60 5th onboard is said to be “remarkably fast,” and an improvement over the implementation on the Satio . We couldn’t resist snatching one more photo with all four hues on display, which can be found after the break, but you’ll have to read that source link for the full dish and photoshoot

Nokia’s proudly showing off the Symbian S^4 user interface to all and sundry, which is expected to fall onto phones sometime early next year. We may still be awaiting Symbian^3, but Symbian^4 looks like a breath of fresh UI air. Anyone that’s using a phone laden with the current Symbian^1 should be rejoicing at the sight of these images, which show a cleaner, more modern platform. It’s almost taken inspiration from Android (in fact, the User Interface Concept Proposal actually compares the UI to Android), but you know as well as I do that pretty pictures have nothing on actually getting your hands on a running device. Lag is a prevalent problem with S60, though that’s partly to do with hardware faults obviously. Symbian is building the latest version in Qt, and it will reportedly support touchscreen and hybrid phones.

See, this is what we were saying. It’s not that we’re not excited about Maemo , or that we hate S60 , or even that we dislike it when a company like Nokia builds a free messaging app that integrate social networks like Facebook (and now Twitter) into the handset experience. It’s just that Nokia has just built an app that only works on the N97, N97 Mini and the 5800, leaving the company’s quasi-flagship handset the N900 out in the cold. The new app can upload pictures and videos, integrates with email and the dialer, and pushes Facebook and Twitter updates live to the homescreen. It also serves as a all-too-timely example of how hard it is to support two operating systems at once

The 5230 has only recently made its way out to stores, but that hasn’t stopped Nokia from fashioning a KIRFy sort of successor for it. Meet the Nokia 5235, a spec for spec copy of its elder brother, including the same 3.2-inch touchscreen, 2 megapixel camera, and Symbian S60 5th edition. We thought we could spot a tiny difference in the materials being used, but otherwise you really are looking at the exact same handset . Your wallet would tell the difference, though, as the 5235 has a pre-tax and pre-subsidy price of €145 ($214), which is more than €100 cheaper than the previously noted 5230 CWM variant — in other words, Nokia is renaming its CWM model and chopping the price nicely. Why , we don’t know, but when is the first quarter of 2010. Nokia 5235 Comes With Music and a low price in Q1 2010 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Dec 2009 07:26:00 EST.

We were surprised yesterday to hear that Nokia is moving ahead with both Symbian and Maemo phones, but reassured by their admission that the Symbian UI kinda blows. Well, now we have juicy screenshots of improvements they’ve got in mind. Nokia’s device top dog, Kai Öistämö, reiterated that they don’t see the Symbian OS as the problem—just the interface. Accordingly, they’re planning two big interface milestones for 2010, the first of which will arrive by mid-year. They plan to: “Use a new optimized graphic architecture with a focus on graphics and responsiveness, showcased beautifully on a large capacitive screen.

The miniaturized version of Nokia’s N97 began shipping to eager consumers in Europe in late October , but for those unable to save their pennies in America while waiting for the N900 , today’s the day to unload. As of right now, the (obviously unlocked) N97 Mini is shipping from both Dell and Amazon here in the States, with the former offering it for $430 (after coupon) and the latter selling it for $479.99. Any takers? Or has the full-sized N97 already claimed that piece of your heart? Nokia N97 Mini now shipping to American lovers, haters originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Dec 2009 21:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds

Symbian’s problem isn’t that it lacks capabilities, it’s with the user experience: namely the clunky, awkward, and occasionally terrible S60 interface. Enter Maemo , to save the day! And also, apparently, a newer, friendlier Symbian. Nokia wants to get better , please. The latest of Nokia’s reliably rousing Capital Markets Day reports points to two goals, both of which sit decidedly forward from here: In 2010, we will drive user experience improvements, and the progress we make will take the Symbian user interface to a new level…[Nokia will] deliver our first Maemo 6 -powered mobile computer, with an iconic user experience, in the second half of 2010.

Nokia’s just confirmed on its official blog that the X6 will hit shelves in Finland and the UK starting next week, with other countries to follow soon after. After hearing a while back that the touchscreen, Comes With Music-lover would be shipping around November 12th — well, we didn’t want to falsely get anyone’s hopes up again. But now that the word is official, we can all sit back and behold the beauty that is the X6 — with its 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen, 5 megapixel camera, and 32GB of onboard memory. The S60 (that’s the 5th edition) device will be available in Nokia stores this Friday, retailing for

We were promised a preview of Sony Ericsson’s Symbian-sporting Satio sibling, and indeed here we are, looking at the machine-translated Kurara analysis courtesy of Eldar from Mobile Review . He pulls no punches in his introduction by noting that the new handset will offer little in terms of specs to trump the Samsung i8910 HD , and sketching out the tough market it’ll have to compete in once the Nokia X6 comes out and starts grabbing market and mindshare alike. As to the phone itself, he describes the 8.1 megapixel camera as an “inexpensive” unit and lets the sample photos and 720p sample video shot with it speak for themselves. Battery life was found to be “lacking,” though we congratulate SE on electing to use a 3.5mm headphone jack and MicroSD memory expansion over its own proprietary formats. Overall, the Kurara was “pleasant to use,” but lacked the necessary wow factor and its fate, says Eldar, will depend on just how keenly Sony Ericsson wants to price it.