Nokia Ovi Blog

Climate Mission: fun way to learn more about climate change

Published
by
Johannes Olli
on February 8, 2010
in Ovi by Nokia and Store
. 2 Comments

Hi, my name is Johannes and I work as a product manager for Sustainable Lifestyle Services at Nokia.

Climate change and fun are something that you don’t expect to see in the same sentence too often, let alone in one and single product. However, Climate Mission, a mobile game published by Nokia, is something wherein these two unusual suspects are married like lovers in the happy end of romantic comedies.

Have you ever guided ants to collect tree needles into their nest? Shot seeds from trees to make more carbon absorbing trees growing? Helped farmers to place layers of stones on their fields to reflect the excessive heat back to space? Grouped together all kinds of recyclable items? And all this in a mobile game? Well, here’s your chance.

Climate Mission offers heaps of fun and lots to learn. Inspired by the writings of Finnish evironmentalist Risto Isomäki, the game features four types of minigames revolving around climate change, each having 20 levels of increasing difficulty.

Climate Mission is available to download from Store for a very special price: free! The game works currently on Nokia N97, N97 mini, 5320, 5530 and X6. The support for 5800 will be added soon, so hang in there, 5800 owners!

-Johannes

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Introducing the Nokia Gig Finder app!

Published
by
Steven Stewart
on February 6, 2010
in Music and Ovi by Nokia
. 4 Comments

Hi, it’s Steven from the Music team here.  We have a cool new music app called “Gig Finder” that I would like to introduce to you. Whether you are the ultimate music fan or if you are just looking for something to do, Gig Finder helps you find the best music entertainment near you. Search for concerts and live shows, purchase tickets directly from your mobile and get relevant recommendations based on your personal music tastes and location.

Download the app for free here

Screenshot0177Whether it’s international music starts or upcoming buzzmakers, the Gig Finder brings you smart recommendations and helps you find all the information you need to get the best tickets for music events right from your phone. The Gig Finder will also fetch you the directions to the event with a direct link from Maps and allow you to share the information about the gig to Facebook or via SMS or email. Events link directly to the artist pages in Nokia Music Store / Ovi Music (when available in your country) so you can preview or download music before or after seeing your favourite artists live.

The first release of Gig Finder includes information about gigs in United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Ireland.

So, for example, if I were dying to see where Rihanna is performing in those countries, this is what I would do

1. Type in the name of the artist

2. Leave the country and dates blank if I want to see all results.

3. Select SEARCH.

4. Look through the results and choose the venue and date you want.

5. Compare prices and seats and buy tickets directly from your phone.

6. Click MAPS to get directions to the venue.

7. Under the ARTIST tab, click GO TO STORE to get music from the artist to prepare you for the concert.

8. Select the STAR icon to Add to Profile so you can get automatic notifications about this artist and help Gig Finder learn your music tastes for smarter recommendations.

Also, remember that we will continue to develop and enhance the Gig Finder based on your feedback, so please let us know of any improvements you would like to see to make it even easier to bring you closer to the music and artists you love.

Gig Finder works with Nokia devices based on S60 5th Edition: N97, N97 mini, X6, 5800, 5530 & 5230.

Cheers,
Steven

PS. Gig Finder will also be available at the Store soon!

Ovi Maps Racing now available FREE from Ovi

Published
by
Tiina Mikkonen
on February 5, 2010
in Maps, Ovi by Nokia and Store
. 5 Comments

Hi, my name is Tiina and I wanted to tell you about a game I’ve been working on  with the team here at Nokia.

Ovi Maps Racing, is a location-based game that combines map navigation and racing. Utilizing actual map data by NAVTEQ and the GPS technology of the mobile device, Ovi Maps Racing allows players to create a racing track in their own physical location anywhere in Europe and race for the quickest time around the block.

Ovi Maps Racing is now available for download in Store for free (for a limited time only!) for all Nokia touch screen devices based on Symbian^1, such as the Nokia N97 mini and the Nokia 5800 Navigation Edition.

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In addition to creating tracks based on their own location, players can also race in offline mode and customize tracks within the available in-game map data. The game also includes 20 pre-defined tracks with global high scores in well-known European cities – such as Berlin, Amsterdam and London.

Also, a point worth noting is that the International Mobile Gaming Awards (IMGA) has shortlisted Ovi Maps Racing as a nominee in the category of “Excellence in Gameplay”. Winners will be announced at the IMG Awards Ceremony at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain on February 15, 2010.

Ladies and gentlemen, get ready to download the game and start your engines!

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Faster access to relevant content with new content sorting for Store

Published
by
Eric
on February 4, 2010
in Ovi by Nokia and Store
. 8 Comments

Hello Store Users,

We’re pleased to provide you with an update on the most recent enhancements to Store that went out yesterday.

StoreContenrSortTabsArrowOur focus with this release is simple: to provide you a faster way to sort through the Store content catalog.  Starting with this new release, you will notice the sorting options as you navigate through the store.  These sorting options, “Top Free”, “Best Sellers”, and “New” will make it faster and easier for you to cycle through the content catalog and see the items that are getting the most buzz or are newest to the Store.

To get this latest release, open up the Store application on your device and click “accept” when prompted to install the new software. You can also check out http://store.ovi.com through your Nokia mobile browser.

As always, we’d like to hear your thoughts.

Sincerely,

-Eric,  Store Team

Maps with Free Navigation: over 1 million downloads in one week

Published
by
niini
on February 3, 2010
in Maps and Ovi by Nokia
. 15 Comments

Today Nokia announced that since the launch of the new version of Maps (see our recent post here) with free walk and drive navigation there have been a staggering 1.4+ million downloads with over 20% coming from China. The one million mark was reached already at the end of last week and we’re averaging a download a second, 24 hours a day, said Anssi Vanjoki, Executive Vice President of Nokia.

Nokia is determined to lead the market in mobile maps, navigation and location-based services. This first step is a key part of rolling out location and map-based services, quickly activating a massive user base.

“This is great news for our 3rd party application developers. Within a matter of days there is an installed base of more than 1 million active users all potentially hungry for new and innovative location-aware apps”, Anssi continued.

As of 31 January 2010 the top five countries downloading the new version of Maps were China, Italy, UK, Germany and Spain. The top five most popular Nokia devices installing the download were Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, N97 mini, N97, 5230 and E72.

Also, a heads up to everyone thinking of getting a new phone: starting next month all new Nokia GPS-enabled smartphones will include the new version of Maps, pre-loaded with local country map data, with high-end walk and drive navigation and access to Lonely Planet and Michelin travel guides at no extra cost.

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Scheduled Store Maintenance on {TBC} Wednesday, February 3rd at 7 PM EST

Published
by
Eric
on February 2, 2010
in Ovi by Nokia and Store
. 5 Comments

Dear Store Users,

We’ll be making some updates to the Store this week that will require us to take the service offline for a short while Wednesday 3rd at 7PM EST. The Store will be offline for roughly four hours. We will be posting more details on these enhancements shortly here on the Ovi Blog.

We appreciate your patience and apologize for the inconvenience. We’ll resume the Store service as soon as possible.

–Eric

So you want to be a Rock Star…

Published
by
Mike Man
on February 2, 2010
in Ovi by Nokia
. 0 Comments

Chances are that’s not going to happen.  Especially if you’re anything like me, with the inability to sing, play any instrument, or dance. But fear not, you can still be a Rock Star – you don’t need to sound or move like one, you just need to look like one.

ENTER THE ROCK STAR PHOTO COMPETITION!

To celebrate the release of the long awaited Guitar Hero 5 Mobile for Store, we put together the Rock Star Photo Competition where the best Rock Star Photos win a trip for 2 to see any Nokia Theater gig in New York or Los Angeles.

Here’s what to do:

Go to the link above and follow the steps to upload your Rock Star photo.  If you don’t think your photo is Rock Star enough, you can fully customize it with our Rock Star tools like I did.  All you need to register is your Ovi Account (it’s free and quick to get if you don’t have one already).

Judges will choose the 5 best Rock Star photos from the top user-voted photos.  These 5 will win:

o        Nokia X6 mobile phone

o        Guitar Hero® 5 guitar bundle including game software and guitar controller

o        Microsoft Xbox 360 console

The judges will then choose the top photo from the five that will win the trip to see any gig at the Nokia Theater in NY or LA.

Now that I’ve used the term Rock Star enough times, go submit your Rock Star Photo, and maybe you’ll get to see a Rock Star live!

-Mike

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Nokia Ovi Suite 2.1 now available in Beta Labs

Published
by
Samuli Ylinen
on February 1, 2010
in Ovi by Nokia and Suite
. 9 Comments

Nokia Beta Labs has opened up a public testing for Nokia Ovi Suite 2.1, which has been tested privately for a few weeks now. This new 2.1 version is actually quite a leap ahead, so let’s talk about the improvements for a bit and why this might just be the version that finally replaces Nokia PC Suite:

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  • Nokia Ovi Suite 2.1 Beta release works now with Ovi Sync and Mozilla Thunderbird
  • The new version also completely supports Windows 7, along with older versions of Windows
  • Nokia Ovi Suite 2.1 synchronizes much better with Nokia’s Ovi services, including Share and Sync
  • There have also been major fixes to Contacts sync and UI localization (languages) and improvements to overall stability
  • Syncing videos from device to Nokia Ovi Suite, video playback and transferring videos from Nokia Ovi Suite to device are also now supported

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This new version of Nokia Ovi Suite 2.1 also uses significantly fewer resources on your computer, especially when compared to Nokia Ovi Suite 2.0 and earlier variants.

So download the updated Nokia Ovi Suite 2.1. Beta now and try it out! We’re very excited to hear your comments & feedback (you can leave yours by using the widget inside Nokia Ovi Suite).

Cheers!

-Samuli, Nokia Ovi Suite team

Free Apps for January

Published
by
William Tepfenhardt
on January 25, 2010
in Ovi by Nokia and Store
. 7 Comments

If you are like me, January is always a difficult month.  Between the weather and the post-holiday doldrums, it definitely takes a toll on you, but it shouldn’t have to be so difficult!  That is why the kind folks at Polarbit and Store have decided to offer 4 free games for a limited time.  Plenty of gaming fun to keep you busy at home, school or at the office (which is what keeps me entertained during those long wintery days in Helsinki).  Get them for your Nokia 5800, N97, N97 Mini, X6, 5230 or 5530.

With Armageddon Squadron go back to WWII and climb aboard some of the best known aircraft from the era and go through bombing raids and dogfights against your enemies.   No one ever gets tired of great car racing games, and Raging Thunder keeps the thrills going with some great 3D racing.  Wave Blazer takes you to the oceans with a four-thousand horsepower engine which will leave you breathless as you glide over the water at high speeds.  Can’t get enough of playing first person shooters at home on your consoles? Well what would be better than taking it on the go with Toon Warz!

wave blazer.pngAll these games can also be played Multiplayer (Beta) over WLAN, so enjoy the competition against your friends.

Go to Store now to get them for your mobile!

Armageddon Squadron

Raging Thunder

ToonWarz

Wave Blazer

Share your location with Maps

Published
by
Pino Bonetti
on January 22, 2010
in Maps and Ovi by Nokia
. 15 Comments

I am really excited to introduce you to one of the new features of Maps, now with free Walk and Drive navigation.

With ‘Share location’ you can now share on Facebook where you are, what you’re up to and finish with a photo.

It’s really easy and so much fun! Just open the new Maps (that you can download here) and choose the option Share location. Directly from the start screen of Maps, from the contextual menu of ‘My position’ or, even more easily, from your home screen (only for supported devices) once you install the corresponding widget.
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Here’s in detail how you can share your location on Facebook:

1. Open Maps: Download and install Maps from nokia.com/maps. You can share your location directly from Maps. Just tap on the dedicated icon or menu item

2. Add the Home Screen Widget: More easily, you can share your location from the Home Screen of your Nokia, just add the corresponding widget

3. Select where you are: Your Nokia detects your real life location via GPS/A-GPS or network positioning. You may share the street address you are at or a meaningful place from the nearby points of interest (POIs) or a favorite place saved on your Maps.
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4. Enter your status: You can also let others know what you are up to.

5. Attach a photo: To capture the moment and make it more memorable, you can also take a photo and share it with your friends.

6. Go to Facebook: Open your Facebook profile and see what you are sharing. Check out if your friends have left any comments and keep the conversation going.

Share where you are and what you’re up to on Facebook! So download Maps now with free Walk and Drive navigation from nokia.com/maps