As smartphone platforms go, UIQ is a pretty underserved one; it just doesn't command enough of a following (by either manufacturers or end users) to justify boatloads of serious third-party development. That's why we're especially delighted to see that Digia's @Web, a Webkit-based browser with touch control and desktop-grade rendering capabilities, has emerged from beta and gone live. The full version's not a free download -- you'll pay 8 (about $11) for the privilege, in fact -- but for diehard UIQers looking for a way to rock the interwebs, this is probably the ticket.

[Thanks, All About Symbian]

HTC might be setting the pace for Windows Mobile development right now, but it better watch its back -- especially on the low end of the range. China's ZTE, which has somehow silently risen through the ranks to become the world's number six phone manufacturer by volume, is said to be prepping a renewed global assault that will see it move beyond its typical role as a provider of low-end dumbphone fare to occupy the low-end smartphone niche, a market with traditionally limited choice. Windows Mobile and Linux are apparently both high on ZTE's hit list, with a contract already underway to supply Vodafone with a carrier-branded device next year (to fill the void left by the 920's killing, perhaps?); Symbian's not getting quite as much love, though they're said to have their eye on that camp, too. The firm commands a 30 percent market share in China's nascent TD-SCDMA market, and hey, you can only be a massively successful manufacturer in your domestic market before trying your hand elsewhere, right?

[Via mocoNews]

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?

Espoo's usually a pretty cold place, but HTC's S740 has to feel the heat coming off Nokia headquarters now that the purported E75 slider has been spotted in its natural habitat. We don't have a ton of information about this thing, but considering the length of time that transpired between the E71's first spy shot and its release, we do know that we could still be in for a bit of a wait before this thing is announced, much less retailed. If Nokia manages to keep the thickness in check, we're thinking this could be a fantastic form factor for S60, Eseries or otherwise -- and since the phone borrows heavily from the ID of the beautiful E71, we're optimistic it's going to be a looker. Let's just get it out the door in a reasonable amount of time, alright?

[Thanks, African Remix]

43 devices representing some 80 million mobile phone users -- that's the largess of Nokia announcing Microsoft's Exchange ActiveSync support on all its S60 3rd edition devices. Mail for Exchange will also be available out-of-the-box in future E-series and N-series devices. That means future phones like the Nokia Tube and existing, high-end, media-centric devices like the venerable N95 and new N96 will now feel just as comfortable in the beige cubicle as you do.

The Symbian Foundation has definitely managed to quickly reach a quorum in the few months since its inception, and the group has just announced yet another round of heavyweights to have thrown their support behind the effort. This time around, Sharp, Opera Software, South Korea's KTF, and UIQ are among nine new firms to throw their hats into the ring (in other words, if the Windows Mobile and Android camps aren't paying attention yet, they probably ought to be). UIQ might be the surprise here, considering that S60's perpetual second fiddle had already made moves to get ready for the Foundation's activities -- but whatever, good to hear that they're officially on board now.

That delightful little gift to original N95 owners in the form of firmware v30 has now spread to the European-spec N95 8GB, too, offering better battery life (allegedly), a new Flash Lite client, upgraded media player, "enablers" for Comes With Music (sounds promising), and a host of other tweaks that make the N95 better than ever. In fact, it might have some N95-1 and N95-2 owners saying "N96 who?" -- but North American N95-3 and N95-4 owners, as usual, might let their eyes wander toward the newer piece anyway since there's no indication when they'll be seeing the upgrade.

So it turns out that Nokia may have been just a little presumptuous in its June announcement that it was buying the entirety of Symbian in its effort to open-source it. The press release's headline back then proudly proclaimed "Nokia to acquire Symbian Limited to enable evolution of the leading open mobile platform," but in reality, Nokia had only gotten firm commitments representing 91 percent of Symbian's outstanding shares in total at the time; Samsung hadn't yet agreed to the sale. Espoo merely said at the time that it "expected" a deal to happen there -- and now it finally has, giving Nokia the clean sweep it needs to make its Symbian Foundation dreams reality. It'll still be a good while yet before we see Foundation hardware at retail, but at least these guys can go about their business now without a nagging feeling that Sammy could be the party buzzkill.

[Via Phone Scoop]

Barely a month after Nokia's North American E71 went on sale at the Chicago / New York flagship stores, we've received word that the QWERTY-less sibling (that'd be the E66) has now arrived at the same locales. The quad-band slider boasts support for AT&T's 3G network, and there's also a 3.2-megapixel camera, GPS, WiFi and all the other goodies you'd expect from another solid S60 contender. Snap it up now in Grey Steel for $540.

[Via IntoMobile]

We pretty much gathered that the 6650 was real from that page on Nokia's domain that has since been pulled, but if there was any lingering doubt, this should take care of it. The specs here confirm what Nokia had spilled -- most importantly, that the radio is rocking HSDPA on the 850 and 1900MHz bands, just what the doctor ordered to get some action on AT&T. A quick perusal of the manual shows that it's N-Gage compatible, though we were a bit surprised to see mentions of video calling; our guess is that they just haven't updated it for AT&T's inexplicable aversion to that particular feature yet. It'll also feature S60 3.2, so if you're in the States and S60 is how you roll, this puppy's got to be on your short list. Our money is on it getting official at CTIA next week.

[Via Phone Scoop]

Well, here's one we didn't see coming: it seems that AT&T has wised up to the fact that Americans like their Symbian (well, at least a few of 'em do, anyway) and wants to keep S60-equipped options on the table. Yes, granted, AT&T is a founding member of the Symbian Foundation, but the proof is in the pudding, and the last Nokia smartphone to land there was the N75 in May of last year -- an eternity by mobile standards. More recently, the N75 grew up, got sexy, picked up some brushed metal, and emerged in Europe earlier this year; now, it's surprisingly and unexpectedly been retooled with North American 3G spectrum. It's got a 2.2-inch QVGA primary display, 160 x 128 secondary, 2-megapixel cam, AT&T Navigator (which means GPS), push-to-talk support, and HSDPA 850 / 1900 to compliment quadband EDGE. We don't know exactly when it's coming, but for S60 fans who cringe at the thought of having to blow several hundred on an unlocked set every time they want some fresh hardware, this should be welcome news.

[Thanks, Al and Oscar M.]

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]

Adding a feature BlackBerry users have already enjoyed for a little while now, the S60 and Windows Mobile clients for Google Maps have now been imbued with transit directions, making it easier than ever to find the closest ratty upholstered seat with puke stains on it. Actually, that's just a side effect of its real lease in life, which is finding the best way to get from point A to point B via various forms of public transit. Version 2.2, as it's playfully known, also adds business ratings, user-generated search content, and generally makes things snappier, so it seems like a pretty obvious upgrade -- particularly if you enjoy sitting next to a dude with a boombox who hasn't showered in three days.

Just over a month after surfacing in Preview form, Mark/Space has loosed the finalized version of The Missing Sync for Symbian on the world. Yes, Mac lovers, this means you can now get your beloved computer to play nice with your Sony Ericsson, Motorola or Nokia-based S60 / UIQ handset. There's even a swank Proximity Syncing feature that enables your mobile and Mac to exchange hellos (and sync, obviously) whenever they are within Bluetooth (around 30-feet) range. The download is available now for $39.95, while packs with more licenses are available for $169.79 and up. Who's game to give it a go and confess whether or not it was worth the coin?

[Via TUAW]