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Skype officially ready for Symbian Belle FP1 and FP2 devices
Skype has been available through official channels for Belle-based Symbian devices for awhile, but not for those running FP1 or FP2. If you'd wanted to use the world's largest VoIP service from a more recent (or recently updated) Symbian phone like the 808 PureView, you were stuck. A low-key update has thankfully flicked the support switch for those who upgraded to the newer OS before their internet calling could follow suit. From early appearances, though, compatibility is the primary upgrade; My Nokia Blog doesn't see a functional difference from earlier releases. The Skype refresh is still a welcome tweak for those who'd like to hold on to Nokia's original smartphone platform for just a little longer.
Altis Gates brings in the Pet Corps
Altis Gates, the upcoming free-to-play title being published by IGG, is setting out to offer up some interesting mechanics for the f2p fans in the house. The game has 2 main classes with 12 subclasses, and offers players the chance to shape-shift into various different forms. To add to that, IGG is bringing in a new patch that will introduce a new type of game play called the Pet Corps to the game. Under the normal Altis Gates system, each player fights with one pet at his or her side. With the introduction of the Pet Corps pet training & battling system, the player will actually send a specially-picked formation of 5 pets into the battle to fight. Each formation calls on different elements to increase stats, while causing penalties -- thereby introducing quite a bit of strategy to each match. While players will not receive experience for these matches, the word is that pets will receive "incredible amounts" -- even if they lose. It makes this a great way for players to train up a number of pets in a shorter period of time, giving them a greater array of powerful pets to pick for regular battles. If you're curious about Altis Gates, we've embedded a video behind the break to show off some of the basic game play for you. IGG also let us know that the open beta for Altis Gates is coming on March 7th, so keep an eye on the official site if this looks like a game you'd enjoy!
AT&T to get Nokia E71 as E72?
Remember how AT&T ended up picking up the original E61 as the E62 -- but somewhere along the way, the tweaked version lost two of the E61's most important features, 3G and WiFi? Yeah, that sucked. The good news, though, is that since the E62's release, AT&T's really warmed up to WiFi and manufacturers have started to smile upon HSDPA 850 / 1900 en masse. Word on the street is that AT&T will be taking another shot at the whole S60 QWERTY thing, launching its own flavor of the E71 as the E72. Of course, you can get North American 3G in the plain ol' E71 this time around, so what would a customized E72 have to offer? Feature Pack 2, allegedly, a line item sadly missing from the original's spec sheet despite its release coming well after FP2 hit the streets. We've been hearing for ages that AT&T was eyeing this thing, so we take this as a great sign that the plans haven't been abandoned -- only question is, when's it going to go down?
Nokia makes VoIP a little harder in S60 3.2
For Nokia, WiFi and VoIP have seemingly gone hand-in-hand for as long as 802.11 radios have been offered in S60 handsets. It makes sense, of course -- the internet is a great way to yap at little or no expense compared to plain old cellular voice minutes when a traditional WiFi hotspot is available, and Nokia was really ahead of the curve with jumping on the bandwagon and making sure that the capability has been available out of the box. Unfortunately, it looks like constant carrier pressure may have finally gotten the better of Espoo, with GigaOM confirming that 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2 doesn't contain a SIP stack built-in the same way that FP1 historically has. That doesn't mean VoIP products are totally locked out, but it does mean that apps that rely on the native stack are out of luck until they've implemented a new stack of their own. Products like the N78 and N96 are affected by the buffoonery, while the E71, which uses FP1, is not -- a good thing, considering the corporate affinity for VoIP and the Eseries' business leanings.[Via jkOnTheRun, thanks BFish]
S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2 gets broken down to the nitty gritty
It'll be a little while yet before devices running S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2 are expected to hit the market, but thanks to mobile-review, we have enough visual stimulation to hold us over for, oh, at least another 15 minutes, anyway. Little changes have proliferated throughout the entire user interface, but biggies appear to be the addition of a third soft key, a heavily reworked and more flexible home screen (thank goodness), and improved application management. We strongly recommend having a thorough look at all the screen shots -- those media player visualizers are bangin', are they not?[Via MobileBurn]
