Mobile phone maker Emblaze Mobile, an Israeli start-up, unveiled their contender for the smartphone market yesterday, the First Else. Featuring a brand new Linux-based operating system called Else Intuition, which they developed jointly with ACCESS; the handset aims to put applications on the centre-stage rather than the phone itself.

The video above provides an overview of the look and feel of the new handset and some of the applications which all looks extremely impressive, but I also feel this may prove to be the Achilles heel of this handset.

Two years ago, the Apple iPhone first hit our shelves and has since revolutionised the way people use their mobile handsets. Despite its hi-tech prowess however, the winning formula of the phone has relied heavily on Apple’s iTunes store that offered a range of third-party content, most importantly applications.

Despite a range of native applications already available on Else Intuition and the established ACCESS developer network, will third parties be tempted to invest time, money and marketing budgets on this unknown platform? The level of investment may also be a barrier to entry for some developers, with first looks at the operating system signalling significant levels of design and integration required.

Also, how will the handset itself meet the demands of developers looking to maximise market penetration with only a handful of applications compared to the tens of thousands on the Android, Symbian and Apple operating systems. With operators also looking to boost their developer friendly credentials, such as Orange with the launch of a new forum, Emblaze Mobile faces a challenge if they truly want to change the way we think about smartphones.

I wish them the best of luck in solving this and can’t wait to get my hands on the handset.

The latest hype in the U.S. has been the the new Google Android devices launching on 3 of the major wireless carrier networks and how they will stack up against the reigning ‘King of Cool’ Apple’s iPhone.

The video below from TechnoBuffalo tests them side by side and you can see them in action; how will they stack up?  I think in the end it’s a draw as both are amazing devices and each has some attributes that will suit individual users more than the other smartphone.  Well, let’s cue up the video and check it out:

The U.S. wireless carriers all have a new buzzword…..Android…..Droid…..Droid Does….iDon’t (the VZW spin on the iPhone) or whatever you want to call the latest mobile OS from Google.  The market here stateside has been gaga over Apple’s iPhone since it’s release in June 2007 and now there is a shiny new toy to compete with it in the marketplace and  the media can’t get enough of Android.

The big deal seems to be the open source for developers which makes the Android a popular smartphone choice today; in comparison, both Apple and RIM have proprietary OS’s, and while that isn’t bad (as shown by their popularity), open source is the way to go in the future.

So, that being said, should everyone go out and throw their iPhone’s and BlackBerry’s in the phone recycling bin?  Hardly…both smartphones are wildly popular and BlackBerry is still the Enterprise-approved standard smartphone plus the iPhone is a really great device with lots of great applications.

Android is a great system and I like what it offers, but it isn’t the Silver Bullet to kill the iPhone or BlackBerry, but it is going to make the others step up even further with new features, etc. and it will make a large dent in their sales over the coming years.

Android fever is here now – let’s check back this time next year and see if the market still is in love-affair mode; my opinion is maybe not quite as much, but it has long-term ability to be a player not just here in the U.S. but worldwide.

It seems every week analysts come out and proclaim one of the smartphones above will rise above the other in the battle for both operating system (OS) and device supremacy in the U.S.  The most recent analysts review says that Blackberry will remain the market leader through 2014; with 60% of handset sales expected to be smartphones over the coming years, it seems BlackBerry hasn’t had much of a market ‘buzz’ the last few months.  Which set of analysts will be correct in this?  I am not sure anyone knows yet, but they are all throwing opinions around like throwing darts at a dartboard.

The latest launch from Research in Motion (RIM) has been the Storm 2 on Verizon Wireless which wasn’t all that exciting; it simply fixes some minor bugs and has some additional enhancements.  Jim Balsillie, RIM’s Co-CEO, has promised some upcoming new devices set to launch….well…he never really said when.

The big buzz has been all the new Google Android devices launching on 3 of the 4 major carriers and plenty more in the pipeline slated for launch over the new couple of quarters.  The iPhone 3GS has been a hot seller as well and between those two, it seems BlackBerry is slipping behind in the smartphone battle.

With the holiday shopping season upon us, the carriers are ramping up their marketing, number of phone/device options, and more rate plans.  The shine is on Android right now but time will tell how the user experience will meet the market hype – if it does well, then the iPhone and BlackBerry will have a formidable foe to reckon with.

Stay tuned….this will be fun!

Unless you were vacationing this past week on a remote island without newspapers or internet, then we can safely assume you know that the tech news world is universally abuzz over the newly-released Android smartphones from Verizon: the Motorola Eris and Droid.  Some reporters have hailed the phones, specifically the Droid, as the long-awaited “coming out” device of the Android OS, suggesting that it’s the first to offer the interface and functionality that legitimize the hype that’s been building around the new open source operating system and will start giving Apple a run for its money.

With bullish enthusiasm, Brian Heater of PC Magazine finished his commentary on Friday by saying, “Android has arrived” and Michael Arrington of Tech Crunch simply said in his review,  ”It’s droid day; enjoy the moment.”  A more optimistic reception comparatively than most reviewers gave the first Android handset, the T-Mobile G1, in October of last year, which many felt showed Android’s potential, but lacked the “wow” factor they knew consumers needed to see.

No matter your personal opinion about the phones, these new devices—and the hype around them—represent a growing and increasingly lucrative opportunity for Android developers. The open source operating system is a new frontier for innovation, allowing faster time to market and acting as a “muse” to promote and push the bounds of creativity.

Yet, with this opportunity comes challenges, too.  Open source applications can be open to criticism when it comes to quality and reliability since it’s a largely fragmented and self-regulated frontier.  Tricia Duryee of MocoNews puts a fine tip on this point in her article last Friday when she reminds readers that:

“…there are now three different versions of the Android operating system currently for sale, which is raising red flags that the platform could become fragmented…. developers will have a difficult time developing applications that could run smoothly on each platform…since Google is relying on an open source platform, it could be affected by the platform splitting off and having multiple threads, which causes confusion.”

To overcome this challenge, developers need a cost-effective means for testing with handset accessibility, but also the full range of support from automation to recording to management and monitoring capabilities.  Open source OS’—without their rigid management and restrictions– have so many more variables than proprietary systems for developers to adjust to that it’s more critical than ever that developers’ time is freed from testing constraints, and instead they can remain focused on creating original applications.  After all, consumers don’t choose operating systems; they choose devices that give them the wow factor, and right now they’re facing almost too many options in the marketplace.

Innovation is what’s really going to drive consumers to Android and give it a run at becoming the number two operating system in three years time behind Symbian as Gartner predicts (see our blog post from October 23).  Hot apps, streamlined design, an intuitive interface—all offered by multiple handset manufacturers and wireless carriers.  Eliminating redundant application testing can pave the way for this to happen.

With the recent popularity of Google’s Mobile Operating System (OS), Android, the race is on to develop applications for all the Social Media sites such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Since all apps are not created equal, this article will highlight the top free Twitter apps in the Android Market today.

Links and graphics from Mashable:

http://bit.ly/4w3Veh

Samsung mobile announced it’s new OS for mobile phones. The OS named as BADA. ‘Bada’ means ‘Ocean’ in Korean language, which was chosen to show the limitless potential it can offer to the customers. As per the Bada website, “Samsung Bada includes a next generation UI framework with feature sets and design elements that facilitate leading-edge user interfaces for every Bada application.” The details will be revealed only after the release of Samsung Bada sets in December.

At present Samsung have Windows Mobile OS and Google’s opensource OS Androide phones in the market. Symbian OS is mostly used by Nokia. Most of Samsung smart phones are using Windows Mobile OS. Now a days, Samsung have Android phones also. Samsung may reject all other OS from it’s product range. SDK for Bada OS can get from the site from next month. I also thinking about try to develope some small applications for Bada OS. I am extreamly blind in this category. I only know little bit of C# and PHP. Both are used for Dynamic Web Development. So I need to study about how to develop applications for a mobile device. Hope it’s easy and I can develope one without any difficulty.

Stay tuned for more info about Samsung Bada and my experiments in the new platform.

Samsung Electronics, better known for its mobile phones, has decided to launch its own open mobile operating system, called “bada,” which can be used to develop applications for Samsung phones. Samsung said that bada–which means “ocean” in Korean–will build on Samsung’s work in proprietary mobile phone operating systems, and will be simple for developers to use. Samsung said that operators will be able to integrate the platform easily and be able to “provide unique and differentiated services to their customers.”

Samsung, the world’s second largest handset vendor, is getting into the mobile OS market very late and on the heels of ‘Android Mania’ which is sweeping the U.S. with 3 of the 4 major carriers now offering multiple Android-powered smartphones.  Analysts expect Samsung to continue using Android and maybe Windows Mobile for their mid and high-tier smartphones and use ‘bada’ for their lower end smartphones.

They will enter a crowded market in the mobile OS world competing against Apple (iPhone), Google (Android), Microsoft (Windows Mobile), Palm (Palm OS), Research in Motion (Blackberry), and the Symbian Foundation.

I guess time will tell if ‘bada’ can offer a unique user experience which will dictate it’s success or failure; but with Samsung’s mass-market volume, hopes are that economies of scale will encourage developers to develop applications for this.

BlackBerry maker, Research in Motion (RIM), has been running new ads in the U.S saying ‘Love what you do’ but got another shot in the chops Monday as their stock price tumbled after an analyst downgrade ahead of the Motorola Droid launch.  Verizon Wireless (VZW) is debuting the new Android-powered device November 6th, and with VZW accounting for an estimated 28% of RIM’s sales, this has to be sending up a Red Flag in RIM”s Waterloo, Ontario HQ.

The iPhone came out and originally was a nice toy for the ultra cool set, but is slowing eating away at RIM’s large Enterprise customer base.  With all the attention lately on all the Google developed Android devices launching on Verizon Wireless (Motorola Droid and HTC Eris), T-Mobile (Motorola Cliq), and Sprint (HTC Hero), the heat is on for RIM to launch those promised new BlackBerry smartphones soon or their stock price will take an even bigger hit.

Motorola has jumped into Android to revitalize their sagging handset division and HTC has decided to come out of the shadows and brand their devices as ‘HTC  – Quietly Brilliant’ as previously they were content to let the carrier brand the device (T-Mobile G1 and MyTouch).  Plus with the U.S. love-affair with the iPhone, RIM has GOT to do something and quick.   The CrackBerry addicts are large in number, but some of the market-leading stuff they offer is now seeming a bit watered down in the face of the iPhone and new Android invasion.

RIM Co-CEO, Jim Balsillie, promised new devices ’soon’ a month or so ago….well…soon better be REAL soon or mind-blowing or it will be tough sledding for them this holiday season.

WOW – just about every U.S. Tech headline, Television commercial, Tweet, and Blog is extolling the virtues of Google’s Android Operating System (OS) and how it is going to overrun the iPhone’s, BlackBerry’s, and all other smartphones.  Between the Verizon ‘IDon’t commercial’, HTC going mainstream, and Motoblur having spots during the World Series, you would think that Android was a shoe-in to rule the smartphone world.  I am sure the folks in Cuppertino, CA and Waterloo, Ontario aren’t hiding under their desks and throwing in the white towel.

So, what IS the big deal with Android and is it worthy of all the hype and press?  I have had the opportunity to play with the Motorola Cliq and Droid, and also the HTC Hero, and I have to say, I really like them.  The Android operating system does offer many things the iPhone and BlackBerry do not offer which are great advances in the Mobile OS battle; so here is my review and how all the new Droid devices will compete in the U.S. smartphone battle.

Ok – here is what is really cool about the new Android devices and what I like about them:

• Big brilliant screens (3.7″ vs. 3.5″ on iPhone)
• 5 megapixel camera vs. 3.15 on iPhone and 3.2 on BlackBerry plus 4x zoom, LED Flash, and overall better camera experience
• Real keyboard plus touch screen vs. touchscreen only on iPhone and EITHER touch screen or keyboard on BlackBerry
• Better email interface vs. iPhone
• Better browsing capability and built-in Microsoft Exchange capability
• Supports multiple applications running simultaneously
• Syncs Social Media and gives updates right on the home page automatically and aggregates Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace into one easy to use interface

So, that’s all the great stuff about Android; is it enough to overtake the iPhone and BlackBerry and become the king of the hill?  The new Droid’s do have some shortfalls and a few of them are listed below:

• The Android handsets are a little bulkier (about 6 oz) but since they support both touch and real keyboards, it might be understandable.  But, it isn’t exactly pocket-sized
• iPhone comes in 16GB and 32GB memory storage options while Android maxes out at 16GB
• Android doesn’t support ‘pinching’ like the iPhone to zoom in/out.  You have to double-tap the screen on Android
• iPhone offers 90,000 apps and Android offers about 10,000 at this time; the street thinks this gap will shrink shortly with Android being open-sourced and alot of development is happening at this time

So – will Android replace the iPhone as the most coveted smartphone in the U.S.?  It’s doubtful in the next couple of years, but with Google’s minds most likely hard at work trying to one-up their neighbor 7 miles to the south, you can bet it will get more interesting over the coming years.

Both are really cool devices and the BlackBerry has been the Enterprise standard for many years; it’s all about what YOU need and checking them all out before your next smartphone purchase is a smart idea.

With its second Operating System (OS) version hitting the street, Google’s Android OS is going to take market share from its competitors, but it won’t kill Apple’s proprietary OS that runs on the iPhone.  Who will be the biggest loser in the Global OS battle?

The most likely losers will be Microsoft’s Windows Mobile and Nokia’s Symbian OS; why you ask?  Well, let’s take a peek at those two for a moment; the new Window’s Mobile version 6.5 is still largely based on a Pocket PC device introduced in 1997…any further questions?  It may hang on for a bit due to IT departments are comfortable using it, which at this point is it’s only selling point.  Nokia’s Symbian OS, the world’s largest, is mainly installed on cellular phones and not smartphones; plus Nokia is moving to an open source platform called Maemo, but skeptics are not in favor of its potential.

With that being said, with all the new Android smartphones hitting the street in the U.S. and 3 of the major carriers now offering them (T-Mobile with 3, Verizon Wireless launching the Motorola Droid, and Sprint with the HTC Hero), Apple  and BlackBerry can’t be very comfortable right about now.

What’s so great about Android?  It’s an open source platform based on Linux, which means it’s open for development and not proprietary like Apple and BlackBerry’s OS’s.  Apple and Android have tons of apps and it’s not the sheer number that will win this battle, and both have more than anyone could ever need.  What Android has that the others don’t have, is Google’s turn-by-turn navigation which is built in to the Motorola Droid on Verizon Wireless.  It’s easier to use and more robust than its competitors and also free; Garmin’s Nuvi Phone, just entering the U.S. market, is going to have even tough sledding now.

So, in the long run, Android is predicted to win the OS war in the next 3-5 years, but Apple and BlackBerry aren’t going to go down without a fight, and the three behemoths will all continue to grow at the expense of Windows Mobile, Symbian, and Palm.

As for me, my new Motorola Cliq should be on its way soon and I got to play with one extensively today at my local T-Mobile store and I have to say…hurry Mr. Postman.

With my previous post talking about Gartner’s prediction that Symbian will continue to dominate the OS market for the foreseeable future, I was extremely interested to hear the views of our UK team who were exhibiting at the Symbian Exchange & Exposition earlier this week. Having attended in previous years, how did this show compare and what was making the headlines (apart from our Symbian Virtual Developer Lab announcement)?

Rather than live vicariously through my team, please find below my very first guest post:

When first walking into the show you cannot help but imagine you have entered a Dr. Seuss book, with cartoon pop-ups located around various meeting points at the show. However once you had moved past the cows with jet packs, the Loch Ness monster and a toaster with a light bulb shooting out of it, you quickly realised you were instead in the world of Symbian.

Regardless of the more business-like nature of the show, there was still that familiar feeling of excitement which slowly developed (excuse the pun) throughout the day. Attendees quickly found the free massage service, coffee bars and fully water submersible handset demos that were available and spirits were at a high at the evening event held in the Science Museum.

So, what was this world like? The world of Symbian was notably smaller than previous years, with fewer exhibitors and smaller “big brand” stands being evident from the moment you walked through the door. Other companies had selected to not have an open stand, for example Accenture, but instead boasted dedicated meeting rooms in which to conduct their business.

Symbian had also chosen to step-up education at the show, with more keynotes and seminars taking place than any other year. A significant main stage was complimented by a series of “topic rooms” where particular issues of interest to the community were discussed, for example Open Source Business Models and Handset Creation.

Although the above observations are a sign of the current economic climate, I also think this was evidence of the changing demands from attendees. People want to know how to make money out of the content and services they are developing. Symbian want to educate them on how they can work with developers to achieve this.

If I could summarise the show in one picture this would be it.

The Symbian ideas board was busy throughout the day with people making suggestions on how Symbian could be improved.

Thanks for taking the time to write the post guys and some interesting observations about how the show has changed since I last attended. So what did you think of the show? Also, check out some more behind-the-scenes pictures on our Flikr channel.

Last week, Gartner released an outlook for the 2012 operating systems market. While the current market leader Symbian is expected to remain on the top, the forecast around Android was of particular interest. Currently, Android runs on less than 2% of all Smartphone’s, but Gartner estimates that in three years time it will grow to become the second most popular Mobile OS.

Gartner supports this forecast on several arguments. First of all, Android is backed by Google, and the two brands operate in an open and creative environment, assumed to inspire innovation and development. It is worth to note the importance of Gartner’s place on this aspect, as the group actually revised their first outlook only a couple of days after it’s initial release, moving Windows Mobile from an original third place to a much less impressive fifth ranking following Steve Ballmer’s announcement of his disappointment in the company’s development team.

Gartner sees the current Smartphone market as heading in two directions, with Windows Mobile and Symbian focusing on tasks and communications, while iPhone concentrates on applications. Android is seen to mend these two markets, offering a complete solution.

Gartner also empathize how Android runs on phones from several handset manufacturers, in contrast to for example the iPhone OS. This is certainly an important point, just think about the number of Android handsets launched in just the past few months from a variety of manufacturers, such as Motorola and HTC. Moreover, they are distributed by different carriers, while Apple currently works exclusively with AT&T in the U.S.

Despite the strengths of these arguments, one should remember how much the mobile market can, and will, change in three years time. Think three years back from today, and many people didn’t know what an iPhone was.

Another aspect of the report is its most likely self-fulfilling effect. Gartner is an influential and trusted group, and if they believe in Android, so will the companies they advise.

Google just released its own version of Spotlight Search (iPhone’s search feature) for its Android mobile platform which it WAY more functional than Apple’s offering.  Plus since Android is an open source mobile operating system, you will be able to go to most any carrier in the U.S. very soon to get Android on a Smart Phone.

So….what’s so great about Android’s Quick Search Box (QSB)?  It resides on your Smart Phone’s home screen and will auto-suggest keywords as you enter text and will search your applications and content, and also is linked to a full range of Google Web Search options. When you start typing in the Android Quick Search Box, you’ll notice that it not only pulls up apps and contacts, but that it pulls web content. It’s not just about searching Google, but searching Google Maps, weather reports, and stock quotes. Being able to find nearby locations from the QSB via Google Maps is a very savvy addition all by itself, much less full web search.

QSB also includes the microphone icon, which links you to voice search. You can search for contacts, pictures, and more. Yes, it’s similar to the voice search feature on the iPhone 3GS. Finally, this app tracks your habits. If you are constantly searching for the same things and picking the same items, it will recognize that and bring them to the top of the suggestion’s list.

This update may seem small, but it’s implications may be huge and adds a new layer of search capabilities and will allow Android to win new users, ever those with iPhones.

There have been a rash of announcements from carriers in the U.S. about launching new Smart Phones utilizing the Android OS (Operating System) from various manufacturers including venerable Motorola.  With Motorola jumping into the Android pool head first with their launch of the ‘Cliq’ on November 19th on T-Mobile, and a second Android Smart Phone before year-end, is Android getting the traction it needs to challenge the two 800-pound Gorillas in RIM’s BlackBerry and Apple’s proprietary iPhone in the Mobile U.S. OS world?

Verizon has announced it will offer two Android Smart Phones this year with one of them being made my Motorola and Sprint is also seemingly in the Android love-fest as well.  AT&T has said they are still ‘evaluating’ Android but most likely they are trying to not dilute their iPhone sales while they still retain exclusivity from Apple.  Once AT&T dives deep into Android, the rush is on.

According to Gartner, Android will overtake of all other Mobile Operating Systems by 2012 except for Symbian which got it’s foothold with Nokia years ago, and it seems all the carriers are jumping onto Android, which is an open platform developed by Google.

The new Motorola Cliq, which I have discussed in previous blogs, will have a great Social Network interface for Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace with real-time status of what’s happening on your Facebook wall, etc.

The video below will show you some of the cool features of the Cliq using Android.  Please let me know what you think of Android and the video:

The iPhone 3.0 OS takes on some of the Blackberry’s advantages for business users.  See where the iPhone wins over Blackberry, and where the BlackBerry still prevails.

The BlackBerry is the corporate smartphone standard, yet the iPhone has captured the public’s imagination. With the release of iPhone OS 3.0, does the BlackBerry deserve to remain the business standard? Is the iPhone all flash and no substance? See how these two mobile 2.0 platforms compare in our head-to-head comparison.

To see how they stack up see the link below:

http://bit.ly/3HXcha

To say that the wireless industry’s attention is focused on smartphones is an understatement. Indeed, it may be more accurate to say that the wireless industry’s future hinges on the smartphone. (Hyperbole? Probably, but the point is that smartphones are huge.)

Considering 14 percent of U.S. cell phone users have a smart phone and 43 percent of users plan to get a smart phone with their next mobile device purchase, understanding your smart phone and what your needs are will become more critical.   The challenge is which OS (Operating System) offers the best feature set beyond the hype and what the flashy television commercials tell us.

There are BlackBerry, iPhone, Windows Mobile (Microsoft), Palm, Symbian, and Android (Google) operating systems.  What do each of them offer and what’s best for YOUR use?  The link below will give you some features and comparisons to better choose which OS best suits you.

http://bit.ly/1G4amR

I suggest you ‘test drive’ your final choices at a local cell phone store before you jump in head first and then realize you chose hype over substance – there are alot of cool devices and OS’s out there.  Choose wisely as you will have to live with it for 2-years.    Click here to check out comScore’s numbers

Here is a link to the article:

http://bit.ly/ATVRI

PointUI is an excellent windows mobile application for UI customization. PointSense is one of the theme available for PointUI, which brings in HTC Hero like look and feel for Windows Mobile.

Earlier Version of PointSense don’t have functionality to add widgets to the home screen, in fact to any of the screens. With PointUI we can enable multiple sliding screens in windows mobiles even for versions WM5, WM6.

Here are some of the screen shots of PointSense UI for windows mobile, will update with a separate post on detailed explanation about installation of PointSense V2.0

View Full Album

Video Preview:

HTC is the first company to release Android powered mobile devices. Android is supported officially only in HTC G1 and HTC Dream, but various developers from from XDA are working on porting Android to run on other HTC devices.

Few common HTC devices which can run Android as of now are HTC touch, HTC Wizard, Diamond etc… but still within this general names there are various code names are used based on specific configuration.Make sure you choose the correct version of files(installation method) for your device.

Here I have posted some of the videos demoing Android on officially not supported devices and reference to project pages.

1. Android on OMAP850 based HTC devices

Wing-Linux is the project which ports Android to OMAP850 based devices. OMAP850 is nothing but the CPU Type

Following devices comes under OMAP850

• T-Mobile Wing
• HTC Herald (HTC P4350 )
• HTC Wizard
• HTC Gene (HTC P3400)
• HTC Prophet
• HTC Touch Viva
• HTC Elf
• HTC Artemis
• HTC Excalibur
• Asus P320

2. Android on MSM7500 based devices

Vogue-android is the project hosted on Google Code works on porting Android on MSM7500 based devices. This project is more active and even ported HTC Hero build as well to the devices which they support.

 

TIP:

• How to Indentify your CPU type on windows mobile

Start –> Settings –> System –> Device Information –> Hardware –> CPU

• How to Indentify your Device type on windows mobile

Start –> Settings –> System –> Device Information –> Identity –> Model No

For years now, Google has been taking over the Internet. We all search the net with Google, map with Google Maps, chat with Gchat, mail with Gmail, and to a lesser degree, share documents and blog with them. Some of us even us them for their browser, and a few of us already have them as the operating system on our smartphones (I’m sticking with Apple’s stubborn OS for now). There are few phones that already use their Android operating system, and many more already confirmed to be on the way. It seems pretty clear that Google is trying to take over the mobile communications market, but an interesting announcement today suggests that companies are looking to put Android in new, non-cellphone / netbook devices. San Francisco-based Touch Revolution plans on putting the operating system in all kinds of nifty devices, like touch-screen remotes, home-use VOIP phones and HVAC control units. The company regards the open-source, Linux-based OS as the best option for their upcoming devices, as it’s a lightweight system that’s easily customizable, and works well with touchscreen interfaces. I’m really liking the idea of our future homes, controlled by all these nifty devices, being based on open-source software. The less that we have to spend on the big old operating systems Microsoft, and to a lesser extent Apple, are charging us (and developers) for, the better.

On Wednesday, Symbian made available its first package covered by the EPL, the OS Security Package, according to Symbian developer Craig Heath. ‘The OS Security Package source code is now available under the EPL, and it is the very first package to be officially moved from the closed Symbian Foundation License (SFL) to… the EPL,’ Heath wrote in a blog post. Heath said the EPL would allow the security package to bypass export regulations in the UK, where the Symbian code is legally based.

Review Coming Soon