The app does everything a Skype app should do, send and receive IMs to or from a person or groups, share pictures, videos and other files; as well as receive calls to their existing online number and see when Skype contacts are online and available. The Skype application arrives to the Ovi Store as a free download and will work over Wi-Fi, GPRS, EDGE, and 3G data connections.

We reckon a lot of souls will be very pleased but carriers on the other hand might get nervous and/or upset about this. Anyway, if you are using a Symbian handset and are a Skype user then let us know how good the app works for you.

Press Release

Skype now available for Nokia smartphones in Ovi Store
March 03, 2010

More than 200 million smartphone users worldwide now have Skype at their fingertips

Luxembourg and Espoo, Finland – Skype and Nokia today jointly announced the release of Skype for Symbian, a Skype client for Nokia smartphones based on the Symbian platform, the world’s most popular smartphone platform. Skype for Symbian will allow Nokia smartphone users worldwide to use Skype on the move, over either a WiFi or mobile data connection (GPRS, EDGE, 3G). It is now downloadable for free from the Ovi Store, Nokia’s one-stop shop for mobile content.

Skype for Symbian enables Nokia smartphone users to:
– Make free Skype-to-Skype calls to other Skype users anywhere in the world*
– Save money on calls and texts (SMS) to phones abroad
– Send and receive instant messages to and from individuals or groups
– Share pictures, videos and other files
– Receive calls to their existing online number
– See when Skype contacts are online and available to call or IM
– Easily import names and numbers from the phone’s address book

Skype for Symbian will run on any Nokia smartphone using Symbian ^1, the latest version of the Symbian platform. Skype will soon introduce this client to Symbian mobile devices from other manufacturers, including Sony Ericsson.

“Symbian enables us to bring smartphones to more and more people and ensures scale for our solutions and compelling services, such as Skype. We’re seeing around 1.5 million downloads a day on Ovi Store now and believe that the Skype client for Nokia smartphones will have wide appeal to Symbian users,” said Jo Harlow, Senior Vice President for Smartphones, Nokia.

“Skype, the king of Internet communications, running on Symbian, the world’s dominant smartphone platform, makes for an explosive combination,” said Larry Berkin, Head of Global Alliances and GM USA, Symbian Foundation. “With Symbian’s global reach, Skype is that much closer to becoming the ubiquitous real-time communications platform for hundreds of millions of Symbian-based mobile users.”

Russ Shaw, General Manager, Mobile at Skype said, “With Skype for Nokia smartphones, more than 200 million smartphone users worldwide** will be able to take the Skype features they love with them on the move. Alongside Skype’s relationships with operators and handset manufacturers worldwide, making Skype available direct to consumers will help millions of users keep in contact with the people that are important to them without worrying about the cost, distance or whether they are away from a computer.”

The initial Skype for Symbian application is compatible with the following Nokia touchscreen models: Nokia N97, Nokia N97 mini, Nokia X6, Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and Nokia 5530 and the following non-touch devices: Nokia E72, Nokia E71, Nokia E90, Nokia E63, Nokia E66, Nokia E51, Nokia N96, Nokia N95, Nokia N95 8Gb, Nokia N85, Nokia N82, Nokia N81, Nokia N81 8 Gb, Nokia N79, Nokia N78, Nokia 6220 classic, Nokia 6210 Navigator, Nokia 5320.

For more information on Skype for Symbian, including the latest supported handset list, at http://www.skype.com/go/symbian.

“This is the largest open source migration effort ever,” Lee Williams of the Symbian Foundation told BBC News. According to him, they already executed the ideas 12-18 months before Android and before the launch of the original iPhone.

Press release:

The Symbian Foundation offers free code to everyone to enable them to contribute openly to the future of mobile

SAN FRANCISCO, US, and LONDON, UK, 4 February, 2010 – The Symbian Foundation today completed the open source release of the source code for the world’s most widely-used smartphone platform. The Symbian platform, which has been developed over more than 10 years and has shipped in more than 330 million devices around the world, is now completely open and the source code is available for free. The transition of this market-leading platform from proprietary code to open source is the largest in software history. The move has been completed four months ahead of schedule and provides the basis for unlimited mobile development based on innovation and openness.

Any individual or organization can now take, use and modify the code for any purpose, whether that be for a mobile device or for something else entirely. This strategic move provides the Symbian ecosystem with greater potential for innovation, faster time-to-market and the opportunity to develop on the platform for free. Symbian’s commitment to openness also includes complete transparency in future plans, including the publication of the platform roadmap and planned features up to and including 2011. Anyone can now influence the roadmap and contribute new features.

Lee Williams, Executive Director of the Symbian Foundation, comments: “The development community is now empowered to shape the future of the mobile industry, and rapid innovation on a global scale will be the result. When the Symbian Foundation was created, we set the target of completing the open source release of the platform by mid-2010 and it’s because of the extraordinary commitment and dedication from our staff and our member companies that we’ve reached it well ahead of schedule.”

IDC Analyst John Delaney remarks: “It’s increasingly important for smartphone platforms to offer developers something unique. The placing into open source of the world’s most widely-used smartphone platform emphatically fits that bill. It will be exciting to see where this takes the industry.”

All 108 packages containing the source code of the Symbian platform can now be downloaded from Symbian’s developer web site (tiny.symbian.org/open), under the terms of the Eclipse Public License and other open source licenses. Also available for download are the complete development kits for creating applications (the Symbian Developer Kit) and mobile devices (the Product Development Kit). These kits are compatible with Symbian^3, the very latest version of the platform, which is now fully open source and will be “feature complete” during Q1 of this year.

Available in all black, all white, white with pink highlights and white with yellow highlights colors,the 16GB version will be sold without the Come with Music service but will come with the latest version of Symbian^1 user interface. The phone retail package will also package with Spore by EA, Asphalt4 and DJ Mix Tour by Gameloft games.

Nokia X6 16GB Specifications:

• Network: WCDMA 850/1900/2100+QB GSM (LTA, NA). WCDMA 900/1900/2100 +QB GSM
• Size: 111 x 51 x 13.8 mm
• Display: 3.2″ 16:9 nHD
• 16 GB internal memory
• Talk time: up to 11.5h (GSM)
• Stand-by time: up to 18 days (GSM)
• Music playback time: up to 35h
• Video playback time: up to 4 hours (30 fps)
• Processor 433.9MHz
• 5 megapixel camera, Carl Zeiss optics and dual LED flash
• Bluetooth 2.0
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• A-GPS
• WLAN

You can now download the Skyfire here. See demonstration video below:

Click here to view the embedded video.

“User-generated content, especially video, is exploding on the web,” said Lennard Hoornik, Head of Marketing, Sony Ericsson. “With Sony Ericsson Vivaz, we have created a mobile phone that makes it easy to catch life in high quality video and upload that self expression onto the web to share with the world. Sony Ericsson Vivaz offers beauty inside and out with an open and intuitive user experience allowing consumers to capture, view and share their lives and spontaneity in HD quality.”

Sony Ericsson Vivaz

• 8.1 megapixel camera
• auto focus (photos), continuous auto focus (video), face detection (photos), geo tagging, image stabiliser, photo light, smile detection
• Video recording (720p HD recording)
• FM radio
• Java
• A-GPS
• 3.5 mm audio jack
• Bluetooth
• Micro USB connector
• Wi-Fi
• 3.2 inches 16.9 nHD wide touch screen (640 x 360 pixels)
• Size: 107 x 521.7 x 12.5 mm
• Weight: 97 grams
• Phone memory: Up to 75 MB
• microSD card slot
• Operating system: Symbian S60 5th edition
• Processor: 720MHz
• Talk time GSM/GPRS: Up to 13 hrs
• Standby time GSM/GPRS: Up to 430 hrs
• Talk time UMTS: Up to 5 hrs 20 min
• Standby time UMTS: Up to 440 hrs
• Video call time: Up to 2 hrs 30 min

“Today’s powerful smartphones deserve an equally powerful browser, like Opera,” said Jon von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software. “This beta continues our work to extend the desktop Web experience to mobile phones, allowing users to surf the Web without limitations, even while on-the-go. No matter the device in use, Opera delivers a faster, easier and hassle-free Web experience.”

Opera Mobile 10 beta is available for Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Samsung smartphones running Symbian/S60, 3rd and 5th editions. The beta is free to download to your computer from http://www.opera.com/mobile/next/ or directly to your mobile phone from http://m.opera.com/mobile/.

Click here to view the embedded video.

All Nokia Symbian devices that ship with Quickoffice will receive a free update to the latest edition of Quickoffice 6. Selected Nokia Eseries devices will additionally receive editing support with a free Quickoffice Premier 6 update. All updates are available via Quickmanager, Quickoffice’s secure in-application download manager.

First unveiled at Mobile World Congress as the first Symbian full-touch handset to be released by Samsung Electronics, the Samsung i8910 is offering a 3.7-inch AMOLED screen, 8 megapixel camera and supports HSUPA 5.76Mbps and HSDPA 7.2Mbps. The Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode (AMOLED) touch screen offers unrivalled sharpness of tone, vivid colours and efficiency in power consumption.

Samsung i8910 Specifications:

• Network: HSUPA 5.76Mbps / HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
• EDGE/GPRS Class 12 Quad Band (850/900/1800/1900)
• UMTS Tri Band (900/1900/2100MHz)
• Symbian S60 5.0 (Full touch UI)
• Display: 3.7″ 16M Full Touch QHD AMOLED (360×640)
• 8 Megapixel CMOS + CIF
• Camera Auto-Focus / Power LED Flash / Face Detection/Smile Shot / Blink Shot / Panorama Shot
• DivX / XviD / H.263 / H.264 / WMV / MPEG4, RV
• 24fps@HD(1280 x 720p) Video recording
• DLNA & HD TV out (Video DLNA dongle needed)
• Video Editing: Trim video, Audio dubbing, Live dubbing, Add subtitle, Image capture
• FM Radio with RDS
• MP3/ AAC / AAC+ / eAAC+ / WMA / RA
• Dual Stereo Speaker & DNSe 2.0
• GPS, Proximity, Light Sensor, Compass, Accelerometer
• Advanced TouchWiz UI with WidgetMobile Widget, Share Pix, Document Viewer, E-Dictionary, Biz Card Recognition, Podcasting, 3D Games, Application Download, Push Email (MS Exchange),Realtime video uploading, Smart Search
• Bluetooth v2.0 / USB 2.0 / Wi-Fi
• Memory: 8GB / 16GB Flash + External Memory slot : microSDH (up to 32GB)
• Size: 123 x 58 x 12.9
• Battery: 1500 mAh

The Omnia II features Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional and a large 3.7-inch AMOLED display with WVGA resolution. TouchWiz 2.0 User Interface and 3D effects make enjoying multimedia and multi tasking convenient and fun. Advanced R Touch (Resistive Touch) enables faster, more accurate touch response. Multimedia features include DVD-like (480p) video recording/playback, internet browsing and interactive 3D games. Users can download content quickly to the Omnia II’s HSUPA 5.76Mbps, HSDPA 7.2Mbps and Wi-Fi capabilities. Up to 48GB lets users store more of their favorite content.

• Network: HSDPA 7.2Mbps / HSUPA 5.76Mbps
• EDGE/GPRS 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900MHz, UMTS 900 / 1900 / 2100MHz
• Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
• 65K (effective) WVGA AMOLED Display (3.7’, 480 x 800)
• Advanced R-type Touch Screen Camera
• 5 Megapixel CMOS / Auto-Focus / Dual Power LED / Face Detection / Smile Shot / Mobile Blogging / Geo Tagging / Photo Editor
• Video Format Support (DivX, XviD, H.263, H.264, WMV9, MPEG4)
• Video Recording & Playing (30fps @ D1(720×480))
• Video Editing (Trim video, Audio dubbing, Live dubbing, Add subtitle)
• Audio Format Support (MP3, AAC, AAC+, WMA)
• Bluetooth® Stereo Headset (A2DP)
• FM Radio with RDS / 3.5mm earjack
• A-GPS with Navigation (3D Map) / LBS
• TouchWiz 2.0 UI with Mobile Widget / 3D Media Gate
• Multi-task manager / 3D Interactive Games Connectivity
• Bluetooth® v 2.0 / USB 2.0 / Wi-Fi Memory
• Internal Memory : 8GB
  External Memory : microSDHC (up to 32GB)
• Size: 118 x 60 x 11.9mm
• Battery: 1440mAh
• Talk time : Up to 10 hours (2.5G), 6.5 hours (3G)
• Standby time : Up to 600 hours (2.5G), 470 hours (3.G)

“With Satio you can enjoy any form of entertainment anytime, anywhere. Whether its music or movies you will never be more than a tap away from your favourite tracks or shows,” said Fredrik Mansson, Market Business Manager at Sony Ericsson. “Just tap directly into your favourite videos and music with the unique full touch media menu, standby panels and music player. Snapping perfect pictures also just got so simple thanks to the 12.1 megapixel camera, intuitive touch focus and Xenon flash. Share them with your nearest and dearest via your social networking site, produce huge prints and you can even comment directly on your images.”

The Sony Ericsson Satio at a glance

• 12.1 megapixel camera, video light, xenon flash, auto focus, face detection, bestpic, geotagging, image stabilizer
• red-eye reduction, smile detection, touch focus
• Bluetooth stereo (A2DP)
• WebKit web browser
• On-screen QWERTY keyboard
• Auto rotate
• Gesture control
• S60 5th edition Symbian OS
• HD and 3D games
• FM radio with RDS
• Java
• TV out
• In-built WiFi
• A-GPS
• Size: 112 x 55 x 13.3 mm
• Weight: 126 grams
• Main screen: 16,777,216 colour nHD TFT
• 16:9 widescreen
• Resolution: 640 x 360 pixels
• Size: 3.5 inches
• Phone memory: 128 MB
• Memory Card Support: SanDisk microSD

The Samsung i8910 is powered by Symbian OS, offering a 3.7-inch AMOLED screen, 8 megapixel camera and supports HSUPA 5.76Mbps and HSDPA 7.2Mbps. The Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode (AMOLED) touch screen offers unrivalled sharpness of tone, vivid colours and efficiency in power consumption.

Samsung i8910 Specifications:

• Network: HSUPA 5.76Mbps / HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
• EDGE/GPRS Class 12 Quad Band (850/900/1800/1900)
• UMTS Tri Band (900/1900/2100MHz)
• Symbian S60 5.0 (Full touch UI)
• Display: 3.7″ 16M Full Touch QHD AMOLED (360×640)
• 8 Megapixel CMOS + CIF
• Camera Auto-Focus / Power LED Flash / Face Detection/Smile Shot / Blink Shot / Panorama Shot
• DivX / XviD / H.263 / H.264 / WMV / MPEG4, RV
• 24fps@HD(1280 x 720p) Video recording
• DLNA & HD TV out (Video DLNA dongle needed)
• Video Editing: Trim video, Audio dubbing, Live dubbing, Add subtitle, Image capture
• FM Radio with RDS
• MP3/ AAC / AAC+ / eAAC+ / WMA / RA
• Dual Stereo Speaker & DNSe 2.0
• GPS, Proximity, Light Sensor, Compass, Accelerometer
• Advanced TouchWiz UI with WidgetMobile Widget, Share Pix, Document Viewer, E-Dictionary, Biz Card Recognition, Podcasting, 3D Games, Application Download, Push Email (MS Exchange),Realtime video uploading, Smart Search
• Bluetooth v2.0 / USB 2.0 / Wi-Fi
• Memory: 8GB / 16GB Flash + External Memory slot : microSDH (up to 32GB)
• Size: 123 x 58 x 12.9
• Battery: 1500 mAh