• search hotels close to your current location,
• check real-time price and availability information,
• make the booking with just a couple of clicks (or taps) on your Nokia phone and finally,
• be guided to your hotel with the free turn-by-turn navigation service, all with Maps!

In addition to this, the usual way of searching also works, you can simply enter the destination, the arrival and departure dates and the room category and the displayed hotels can be sorted according to individual preferences, such as the distance from the current location, the price or star rating. Additionally you will also have access to photos, hotel descriptions and average customer ratings to help make an informed choice.

Initially this service is being rolled out to users in Germany and Finland only, but we can expect a extended rollout soon. The service will shop up as a shortcut on the Ovi Maps app homepage on the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, Nokia N97 Mini and Nokia 6710 Navigator.

More details on the Ovi Blog.

With direct access to favorite contacts on the device homescreen and Facebook status updates visible from the phonebook, the Nokia C5 keeps people connected with the ones who matter the most. Accessing social networking sites, such as Facebook and MySpace, is fast and easy, while instant messaging and email accounts from Ovi Mail and other email providers are available through Nokia Messaging. Loaded with a 3.2 megapixel camera, a 2GB memory card that comes in-box and high speed data connection for effortless uploading of photos and videos to various online communities, the Nokia C5 delivers an outstanding sharing experience.

The Nokia C5 offers the latest version of Ovi Maps with free walk and drive navigation, including location sharing with Facebook friends. The Nokia C5 also provides fast web browsing, allowing easy access to favorite Internet sites, Ovi Music*) and a range of applications through the Ovi Store.

The Nokia C5 is expected to begin shipping in select markets during the second quarter of 2010.

The new Cseries represents the core of Nokia portfolio, focusing on social interaction between friends and family.

Here’s the email from Nokia:

What you need to do:

Absolutely nothing. We will create a Nokia Account for you and send you an email when we become Ovi music. Until then, try to avoid changing any of your Nokia Music account details such as password, email address and mobile number.

As part of the move to Ovi Music we will be creating a Nokia Account for you. If you do not wish to use Ovi Music and no longer wish to have a Nokia Account you can email us in next 5 days. By using these services, you accept the Ovi Music Terms, Ovi Service Terms and the Privacy Policy. You may not use the services if you don’t accept the terms.

It will only be in Q3 that the code for S^4 will be complete, and handsets will come out only in 2011.

What do you think of the UI?

[via: The Nokia Blog]

Ewan and Rafe we able to catch up with Lee Williams, the director of the Symbian Foundation at the Mobile World Congress and capture his thoughts on the Symbian v Android debate. He talks about where Symbian is heading in the next few years, on how ‘open’ Android actually is and how Google will probably benefit most from Android.

The N900’s love for other OS’s apart from Maemo keeps on growing. After Windows 95, Android, Mer and even Mac OS, @lifenexus has managed to get LDXE running on top of Mer on the N900. At bootup users are presented with an option to boot into Mer or Maemo. The alternative OS is installed on an external Micro SD card and works pretty well.

From Ashton’s Twitter account :

I managed to day to get Ubuntu mobile on n900. That would be MER with lxde desktop on top of it. Ill post instructions later. For now, enjoy the screens and Video.
N900 really has a large potential. the Operating system runs as fast as maemo itself and is natively installed on my SD card. It has support for wifi, charging, touch etc but no support for phone. so you cant make calls in mer. Just reboot into maemo when Done.

With the Symbian UI gettings a overhaul and faster performance on the horizon, things are really looking up for Nokia’s Symbian devices. Have you had a look at the Symbian^3 UI? Does a 1 GHZ Nokia running S^3 sound good to you?

[via: IntoMobile]

The v31 updates brings bug fixes and optimizations to the device along with updates to pre-installed applications such as Web, Email, Music Store and Maps.

[via: AAS]

You can hit skype.com/m from you Nokia device’s browser to download and install Skype. The client offers everything you would expect from a Skype client, free Skype to Skype calls, the ability to call mobile and landline numbers in your phonebook with Skype out credit, chats and so on.

There is still no video calling support, but for that there’s always Fring!

The update is a 16.2 MB download over the air, it will be larger if you haven’t already updated to the PR 1.1 firmware. As always, it is highly recommended that you perform these updates. The N900 has user data preservation when you update over the air, however if you are going to use the NSU, make sure you backup the device first as the applications you have installed are sometimes lost during the update. Flashing the N900 manually will result in complete data loss.

• Global leaders Intel Corporation and Nokia merge Moblin and Maemo to create MeeGo, a Linux-based software platform that will support multiple hardware architectures across the broadest range of device segments, including pocketable mobile computers, netbooks, tablets, mediaphones, connected TVs and in-vehicle infotainment systems.

• MeeGo offers the Qt application development environment, and builds on the capabilities of the Moblin core operating system and reference user experiences. Using Qt, developers can write once to create applications for a variety of devices and platforms, and market them through Nokia’s Ovi Store and Intel AppUpSM Center.

• MeeGo will be hosted by the Linux Foundation and governed using the best practices of the open source development model.

• The first release of MeeGo is expected in the second quarter of 2010 with devices launching later in the year.

• Nokia and Intel expect MeeGo to be adopted widely by global device manufacturers, network operators, semiconductor companies, software vendors and developers.

• Maemo 6 is already a 100% MeeGo compatible, but Nokia isn’t sure if they want to call it MeeGo something or Maemo 6.

• The Maemo.org and Moblin community will be migrated to MeeGo.com.

S^3 is expected to be “feature complete” by the end of Q1 and we should start seeing devices powered by S^3 in the second half of the year. This release will include:

• Significant usability and interface advances,
• Faster networking, acceleration for 2D and 3D graphics in games and applications,
• HDMI support (High-Definition Multimedia Interface),
• Music store integration,
• An improved user interface with easier navigation and
• Multi-touch gesture support, a feature-rich homescreen, and
• The ability to run even more applications simultaneously.

If you would like to see S^3’s improvements and feature additions in slightly more detail, click through.

• HDMI support enables users to plug their phone into a TV and watch a high-definition movie at 1080p quality without a Blu-ray player.

• Music store integration embedded within the radio enables users to identify a song and learn more about it. The addition of a “buy now” button, which links with the user’s chosen music store, makes purchasing easy.

• More efficient memory management due to Writeable Data Paging allows more applications to run in parallel for a faster, more complete and efficient multi-tasking experience, especially on mid-range hardware.

• A new 2D and 3D graphics architecture takes full advantage of the hardware acceleration available to deliver a faster and more responsive user interface. Users, developers and device creators will all benefit greatly from the visual enhancements and smooth transitions that will significantly improve the look-and-feel of their applications and services. Combined with industry-standard OpenGL ES, the new architecture also provides a great platform for high performance games – all without slowing the phone down.

• The industry-leading networking architecture, ready for 4G networks, provides next-generation Internet experiences on today’s devices. Consumers will benefit from the architecture’s ability to seamlessly balance each individual application’s needs regarding factors such as bandwidth, latency and jitter. This improves the consumer’s experience of network-dependent applications and Internet services like VoIP and media content streaming.

• One-click connectivity for all applications greatly simplifies the process of connecting to the Internet, without interrupting the user. New global settings allow the user to configure platform-wide behaviour, for example ensuring the device automatically switches from cellular to WLAN when a free WLAN network is available.

• Usability enhancements across the user interface include the adoption of a direct “single tap” interaction model, making it much easier to complete common tasks on a device. Multi-touch support for gestures such as “pinch-to-zoom” forms the basis of a gesture framework that can be extended and leveraged by the developer community.

• The Homescreen takes a big step forward with support for multiple pages of widgets and a simple flick gesture to move between them. The widget manager makes discovery and download of new widgets simple and support for multiple instances of a native widget means that consumers can monitor multiple weather forecasts, news feeds, social networking accounts or multiple email accounts simultaneously through a common interface.

Here’s a cool app to give you some Tips for Valentine’s Day.