Now that Nokia's Beta Labs has had some time to stew and develop, the fruits of its labor have started to ripen -- and, in some cases, over-ripen. So what exactly happens when the beta process is complete? The best-case scenario is "graduation," meaning that an app has gone through a full beta phase -- possibly comprised of multiple update and feedback cycles -- and go on to become production offerings. Otherwise, they're "archived," in which case they'll either be embalmed and offered as-is for posterity's sake or disappear quietly into the ether, never to be heard from again. Nokia says that it usually won't be able to disclose exactly why certain projects get archived, other than that they've served their official purpose to the company -- but for what it's worth, Beta Labs chief Tommi Vilkamo figures that roughly half of the Labs' apps will graduate and half will head to archival purgatory. Here's hoping Maps 2.0 doesn't head toward the latter category, eh?

Bless the hearts of the good folks at Nokia's Beta Labs, because they're really working overtime to make the Finnish devices in our lives do all sorts of things they were never exactly intended to do. Everything they've done so far has been absolutely brilliant at best and merely nifty at worst, and we think this latest effort falls more on the latter end of the scale. Beta Labs' PC Phone dropped a couple months back for controlling basic phone functions from the comfort of a lappie or desktop, and now we have this: Text Messenger is a Sidebar-dockable gadget for Windows Vista that simply displays your connected phone's text messages, and while we can't speak for others, SMS is enough of a time drain for us as it is -- the last thing we need is access to it when we're sitting at our PCs trying to get some work done, too. Now threaded SMS, on the other hand... yeah, we'll take us some o' that.

[Via All About Symbian]

Previously available only to a select group, Nokia is turning the beta version of its Maps 2.0 navigation app onto the masses. In addition to the car mode existing users will be familiar with, 2.0 adds "Walk," a new mode tailored to pedestrian use. Another new feature is the ability to purchase "multimedia guides" for destinations that hook you up with photo, video, and audio streams that detail places to go and things to see on your magical journey. As we'd previously mentioned, 2.0 also adds real-time traffic information and hybrid satellite views, both features that help to bring Maps in line with Google Maps for Mobile. The beta is available immediately, while a final cut is expected to be available in the second quarter of the year.

Separately, Nokia has announced that it'll be bringing its Maps franchise to Series 40, swinging open the door to high-function navigation on the company's mass-market, non-smartphone handsets. It'll be ready in the first half of 2008, though no plans have yet been outed regarding availability on specific Series 40 devices.

Despite a well-supported, open smartphone platform, plenty of 3G devices running said platform, and a large, vibrant community of developers, options for streaming radio on S60-based Nokias are disappointingly few and far between. Don't get us wrong, they exist -- trust us, we've tried them -- but it's an obvious use of HSDPA's generous bandwidth that seems largely (and strangely) underserviced. Nokia's finally taken matters into its own hands and released its Internet Radio beta, featuring a library of streaming stations from across the globe that automatically adjust bitrate based on your connection (audiophiles might not be too happy with what they get over EDGE, but hey, beggars can't be choosers). Grab the beta now for your N82, N91, N95, or N95 8GB -- oh, and don't be fooled by Nokia's graphic here, Internet Radio sure as heck isn't working on an XpressMusic 5200.

Entrenching its Nseries devices just a little deeper in the wide world of multimedia, Nokia's Beta Labs group has released its Audiobooks application which -- you guessed it -- plays audio books. The phone app itself works on pretty much any S60 3rd Edition device and reads books encoded using AMR-WB (read: optimized for the spoken word and very well compressed). A matching Windows-based app comes with the setup, too, enabling users to convert files to the AMR-WB format and compile 'em all into individual chapters. It's available now from the Beta Labs site; of course, you'll want to be careful on account of the whole "beta" thing, but it looks pretty solid so far.

Hot on the heels of its last release, Nokia's Beta Labs has wasted no time in releasing its latest software, Device Status 1.1 for S60 devices. The app is intended to help during the troubleshooting process by providing extra details such as IMEI, software version, and device memory. Once the application collects the information, it can be analyzed by the end-user or it can be sent to Nokia Customer Care to determine the issue. Anyone brave enough to install beta software on your latest N95, drop us a line and let us know how its workin' out.

[Via All About Symbian]

A popular trend in the software industry seems to be letting end users have at it with the latest, greatest goodies in the pipe before they're ready for prime time. Frankly, it's great -- power users get access to cool stuff faster, companies get feedback, and there's no one to take the fall when it fails. Nokia's the latest to hop on the bandwagon, inviting the public to take a gander at its "Beta Labs" with products like Mobile Codes (basically a fancy 2-D code generator) and Sports Tracker for the athletic types. It looks like there's more coming down the pike, too -- so even if you don't see something that strikes your fancy, might as well hook up to the RSS feed and keep an eye out.

[Thanks, Ed]