I love playing games on my Nokia phones. Whenever I am in a position to try a new phone, one of the first things I will do is see what games are available in Store, and try something new. Of course, I also keep the long-time favorites close by, so that I can play those games again and again. Some might call it a bit of an addiction. I try to tell those people – or perhaps convince myself – that it is just a requirement of doing my job properly. I need to play the games if I ever expect to be able to tell other people about them, right?

But there are so many – and the quality of the games available for Nokia’s smartphones today continues to get better and better. Naturally, games like Angry Birds and Doodle Jump spring to mind (no pun intended) … but we’re just scratching the surface there.

My latest game obession is Fruit Ninja by Australia’s Halfbrick. This game started out for one of those other mobile platforms, and was recently launched in Store for new Symbian devices like the Nokia N8. This game might look like child’s play, but don’t be fooled! Your task – like your blade! – is straightforward … your finger controls the blade, which must slice through randomly falling fruit as fast as possible, either before time runs out, or you miss one too many slices (or, you hit a bomb by mistake – but let’s not go there).

Fruit Ninja offers three ways to play – a Classic mode; Arcade style, which is only 60 seconds; and a Zen mode, for 90 seconds. I love the fact that the game is a quick diversion during the day – you can play, test your fruit-dicing skills, and then get back to work! My favorite of the three is Arcade mode, where there are banana-based power-ups that can affect your results and quickly help to boost your score. Additionally, as you play the game, you can earn a variety of goodies to help mix it up, including different types of blades.

The cartoon-like graphics are a hoot, the sound effects of the swooshing blades and squished fruit are fantastic, and it is a thoroughly addictive time-waster. Fruit Ninja is available in Store for $0.99 (USD).

Don’t want to hurt the fruit? How about space aliens? Maybe you want to take Star Invasion by Digital Chocolate for a test drive … this game harkens back to the classic Space Invaders, but with a few updated twists of its own. Just like its predecessor, Star Invasion pits you – in your spaceship – against waves of incoming invaders who are bent on taking over your planet. Your challenge is to knock them out of the sky with your laser cannon while also trying to avoid missiles that the aliens are aiming at you!

It is worth pointing out that this game has made some clever adjustments for the mobile format. Since there’s is not much room to move about on your device screen, as you scroll to the left and right your ship stays in the same place while the rest of the scene, including a starry background and multiple rows of invaders, shifts back and forth. Smart, right?

This quick video shows the game in action:

Star Invasion is a little more expensive – it is $2.99 (USD) in Store, but sill well worth it.

Yes, I can almost hear what you’re thinking … Why aren’t there any cool/addictive games in Ovi Store that are also free to download? Well, guess what – there are! One in particular that stands out for me is called Blockfest Deluxe by Arctica Software. So what is it? Imagine good old Tetris turned on its side and rendered in 3-D. That is pretty close to what you get with this game.

We had a hard time capturing screenshots of this game – maybe because it was moving so fast! – but this short video by the developers gives you a little taste of what you can expect:

Start up Blockfest, and you face several columns of blocks on the distant horizon that are slowly – and later, not so slowly – creeping in your direction. Within each column are one or more blocks of different colours. You, meanwhile, are given similar blocks to shoot at the columns to create groups that will explode in a confetti-like oblivion – it is really quite satisfying to watch on screen.

The free version of Blockfest Deluxe is ad-supported, but those ads do not interfere with your ability to enjoy the game. There is also a paid version of the game (which is ad-free) in Store for $2.99 (USD).

I could go on and on about the games available for your Nokia smartphone, but then my boss might start to wonder if I ever get any real work done … Before I go, two other games I want to mention that are super fun, and worth a closer look if you haven’t tried them for yourself are Lively Cubes by Shamrock Games; and Yumsters by HeroCraft – both companies are based in Russia. (You can impress your friends with that random fact of the day!)

So, how do you fulfill your personal mobile gaming addiction? Tell us about the games you crave in the Comments section below.

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I’m sure that many of you have celebrated carnival during the last few days.And this is the case also for Lukas who has just visited Brazil on his world bike tour.

Do you see the connection there? Brazil + Carnival = … read on

-Pino (@haikus)

When I heard that carnival is coming up, and that Brazilians just party four days in a row (no sleeping), I got worried. How will my cycling and carnival fit together? I wasn’t about to make it to Rio de Janeiro for the real action, so I chose the south beach coast of Brazil instead. Well, here is a short carnival summary how I managed 450 km on my way from Porto Alegre to Florianopolis.

Friday. Leaving Porto Alegre in dusk was good idea: there were 90 000 cars expected on the road to the beach that day! With a super fast riding on a freeway, just before the worst rush hour, I reached the Atlantic coast. Closer look to these southern beach resorts surprised me: no signs of carnival down here. I found a quiet place for set up my tent, and had a good sleep.

Saturday. Sunny and hot weather continued, as I rode north along the coast. First signs of carnival fuzz came around city called Torres, yet I wanted to make it further than that. Well, head wind and burning sun made me tired 30km after Torres, so I decided to call it a day in a small beach town 7km from the main road. Here I paid for an almost empty camping site (only three tents), but witnessed a very energetic party atmosphere on the beach. Sleeping wasn’t easy with the techno beat background until very morning.

Sunday. With an early start I hoped to get around the traffic, but it was a hopeless try. Trucks dominated the roads from the very beginning. So after eight hours of cycling in a crowd of cars, I was hoping to find a calm camping site for the night. A port town called Imbituba was a pleasant surprise. Yes, some party animals had costumes and followed a car in a rhythm of samba, but the camping site itself was very relaxed. People come here to escape the loud partying – said a nice fellow from Porto Alegre. He and one lady offered me a beer and some biscuits and we chatted until bedtime.

Monday. The sunrise in Imbituba was awesome, though I couldn’t waste too much time admiring it. Today I was going to reach Florianopolis, and Ilha de Santa Catarina on which “Floripa” is located. Monday made no exception in the amount of vehicles on the road, following me until Santa Catarina island. Florianopolis city center was calm, but the surroundings were not. Beaches and camping sites were packed with people. Some boys from my camping area offered me a hot dog and went to search for a night life. But earlier that day I visited Lagoa town with some carnival action, and realized I’m too tired-old-lazy-gringo to participate this party. I ate my hot dog and fell asleep at 9pm

Tuesday. The sun turned into clouds, and hard rain was expected for the last day of carnival. Many people were already packing their stuff and heading back to their homes. I still wanted to check out the southern part of the Island, so despite the rain I cycled 15km to the very end of the road. In this remote village I found a nice hostel with only few guests. The hostel keeper advised, that we should check out the carnival party on the beach, where all the nearby villagers gather. So we prepared some caipirinhas and headed for the last night’s beach party… the rain stopped, the stars appeared, and suddenly I was celebrating just a perfect carnival beach party in Brazil.

-Lukas

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Often times, there will be a sequel for a movie, or part two of a book, or the sophomore release from a band … and it just doesn’t live up to expectations, for whatever reason … there was so much hype for part one, how could anything new be better, right?

What about when it comes to mobile apps and games? Can the sequel – Part 2 – of the game meet your needs? This past week in the Ovi Daily App we came across a couple of sequels that definitely meet their expectations head on, and then power through to offer even more cool features not found in the original.

For starters, let’s take a look at Gish Reloaded published by HandyGames this time around. This game makes sewers and tarballs more fun than you can possibly imagine. It’s the successor to the Gish Mobile release that we reviewed in the Ovi Daily App this past October.

At it’s core Gish Reloaded is a maze game. You take the role of a sentient 12-pound tarball navigating through sewers and other underground environs collecting goodies and avoiding perils. Like the original Gish Mobile game, this new version continues to use an open-source physics engine to create the movement of your tarball. (Trust me, this stuff is cool for the inner-science geek in you, and makes the movement in the game super slick.)

But, as you will see, Gish Reloaded is more than just a basic maze game. It offers plenty of hidden goodies like secret passages, and doors and lifts you can activate.

Gish Reloaded offers both single-player and Bluetooth multi-player modes, and has 35+ Single-player levels; 25+ multiplayer cooperative levels; as well as deathmatch and speed race levels. If for some reason, you run out of levels to play, you can create  your own or download additional levels for free from the developer’s website. There were over 1,000 downloadable levels available! That should keep most of us quite busy for the weekend.

Gish Reloaded is compatible with Nokia Symbian smartphones (touch-enabled and keyed) and is available for $0.99 (USD) in Store.

Our next game sequel also has its hero underground … maybe that’s the theme today? This time, however, you are in the thick of it with Marv the Miner 2 taking on 31 levels of retro-styled platform-gaming action. In this game by Digiment, you must keep Marv moving in order to highlight/run across all of the steps in your path to complete the level and move on.

As you play, you try to collect as many gems as you can, avoid assorted baddies/monsters, and make sure you don’t fall too far – it’ll kill Marv quick. You do get three lives to begin the game, but still, run and jump with both eyes open.

As you move along, you will have new tools available to you to help you complete each level. And one more thing: each level is timed! Run out of time, and that will kill Marv, too. You wouldn’t want that to happen, would you? Look at his cute face … how could you hurt a fella like that?

Like the Gish games that offer ways for you to create your own levels,  you will find that the makers of Marv the Miner 2 have posted the full source code and build files for their game, and several other titles they produced. You can also see a list of some of the new games in the works (and, based on some other secret stuff the Digiment team shared with me this week, the new games in development are going to rock – stay tuned for those!).

Marv the Miner 2 is available for $1.99 (USD) in Store. There is also a free version, with in-game ads and 20 levels to play; and if you still aren’t convinced there is a 3-level demo version to try, too.

Before we go, I’ll mention one other sequel that caught my eye in Store … I have not had a chance to try it yet, but it is on the to-do list. Specifically, I’m talking about Farm Frenzy 2! We all went a little crazy for the original Farm Frenzy, so our hopes are up that this new version continues to bring us the charms of life on the farm – all 90 levels of it. We’ll be sure to let you know how it goes!

So what do you think? Game sequels or stick with the original game? Among your favorite mobile games, which one would you like to see get its own sequel? Dare to dream in the Comments section below.

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Looking back on this week at the apps we reviewed in the Ovi Daily App, I was struck by the fact that we managed to focus on a number of apps that will do your body good. These aren’t your typical sport/training apps – although there are plenty of those – but rather apps that can keep your mind active, and help you keep track of your physical health and well being based on the foods you eat.

Let’s start with the app that can assist you with your physical health. Its the US FoodInfo Nutrition Database by individual publisher Harald Meyer. This detailed app provides an easy window into the USDA nutrition database of more than 7,500 food items with details on calories, fat, carbs, and other nutritional components.

As our reviewer noted: “The US FoodInfo Nutrition Database is a great way to know all the details about all you eat, whether it’s information you have always wanted to know or whether recent changes in your life makes this information critical.”  The app costs $0.99 (USD) in Store, and it is compatible with a wide range of Nokia Smartphones (both touch and keyboard).

Next up, how about an app that could make your brain grow? Well, not exactly, but it might make you smarter – or, at least better prepared to answer questions during a pop quiz or some unexpected gameshow appearance. I’m talking about Mopedi, which is a Wikipedia reader for your Nokia touchscreen device that, unlike many other Wikipedia readers, works offline.

It should be noted right away that Mopedi is not your run-of-the-mill website reader app. It is visually quite intriguing – and might take a little getting used to. As you will see, the home screen for the app is all icon-driven – no text to get in the way!

After you install Mopedi (pronounced ‘mo-ped-ee’, with a stress on the first syllable), you will also download a full Wikipedia database in any of six languages: English, French, Finnish, Italian, Norwegian or Swedish. From there, you can then use Wikipedia on your Nokia device without needing an open Internet connection, or even a SIM card. This could make Mopedi especially useful when you are travelling in a foreign country.

This short video from the publisher, Finnish-based MPaja, shows one of the travel-related features of the app:

And, as you can see, the Wikipedia articles viewed on Mopedi look good and are easy to read.

Mopedi is available in Store for Nokia Symbian touch-enabled devices, and it costs $9.99 (USD). The Mopedi Places databases are also available in Store, and cost $4.99 (USD) each, except for the New York City Places database, which is free. Also, a free version of the core Mopedi app is available as a demo for download.

One more? Something a little more light-hearted, but still good for you? Then let’s try a math game called Doodle Digits, which is a fun number puzzle from UK-based uWaver. As you will see, the game design reflects its heritage as a pencil-and-paper-based puzzle game that is played by school children.

The game concept is simple: you start with a few rows of digits and you eliminate pairs of digits to try and clear the entire field.  You can eliminate a pair if they match (two 3′s for example) or if they total 10  (a 3 and a 7). When you run out of valid pairs you ask for more digits to be added to your playing field. Doodle Digits lets you vary both the difficulty and the type of game.

Doodle Digits is available in Store for a huge range of Nokia devices (from Series 40 straight through to the Nokia N8) for just $0.99 (USD). Still not convinced? You can try the free demo version first.

What apps do you use to keep mentally and physically fit these days? Share your ideas in the Comments section below.

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Time for a small confession: I am a certifiable news junkie. I need news and information almost as much as I need coffee in the morning. I crave it. I want the latest updates and headlines and information, and I want it fast. So naturally, I try to make the most of RSS readers to deliver the latest bits of news like a bottomless cup of coffee from my favorite diner.

And of course, if I am away from my desk, that need for news doesn’t go away. I take it to-go on my Nokia smartphone. There are a variety of RSS news readers apps available in Store that can handle the needs of a news junkie like me.

But maybe I should back up a step and make sure we’re all clear about what RSS is … It stands for “Real Simple Syndication” and as one of our reviewers recently pointed out in the Ovi Daily App, it is “a super-easy way to follow and read a large number of blogs, news feeds, and other online sources.” In this case, you’ll be doing all of the reading directly from your Nokia device.

So, first up is Ohile Wire, which is truly an easy-to-use app from the moment you begin. For starters, it comes pre-loaded with 20 high-quality news feeds in four categories: Headlines, Business, Entertainment, and Sports. Without doing any work, you will have a wide selection of first-rate feeds to browse.

Additionally, you can easily create new feeds, too. And you can add these feeds to either any of these four categories or a fifth category known as Personalized. Ohile Wire is available for $1.99 (USD) in Store, and it works with a broad range of Nokia Symbian OS devices, including the N8.

Similar functionality – but maximized for speed of delivery – is the Tech RSS Mobile News Reader by Greenpack Tech. You’ll find no ads, no banners, and no graphics with this app. Instead, it’s all about the text, which is often all you need when you want the latest news. As our reviewer pointed out: “For news readers in a hurry, Tech RSS is one streamlined solution.”

With this app you create and edit a list of RSS feeds, then read the latest articles from your feeds. You can also use the app to go to the web to view the full post — including graphics and comments — and to e-mail a feed to a friend or colleague. While Tech RSS is billed as reader for technology news, you’re not limited to that topic – the choice of feed is up to you.

The app takes up just 0.09 megabytes of storage on your device, which is fantastic, but note that it is constantly pulling information from the web, so your device will need an open Internet connection (and perhaps an unlimited data plan) to make the most of it. The Tech RSS Mobile News Reader is available for $0.99 (USD) in Store, and is compatible with Nokia’s touch-enabled device.

And the last pick for today is one that you might not have heard of before, but I promise its name is going to stick with you. It is called Goojet, and to make the most of this app you need to be willing to do a little set-up work of your own, but you will be glad you did. Do the initial set up and registration from their website using your preferred desktop browsing software.

After you register (for free) you will be able to select a wide range of pre-selected content choices that are neatly packaged in a section for “Favorites.” This will links to services like Facebook, Weather, news sources, and much more. You also have a tab for “News” which presents RSS feeds from major publications and websites. Within the News tab, you see most recent headlines from each feed first. So, in fact, Goojet is much more than just an RSS reader, but since it does this job well, I figured it was worth mentioning!

One other thing that I like a lot about Goojet is that you can create feeds for content that can then be shared with other members/users of the Goojet service. So, if you have a blog that you like, create a new feed for that blog in Goojet, and then anyone else using the software can find it, too. There’s no reason to keep the news to yourself right? Share it!

Goojet is free in Store, and works with Nokia Symbian OS, S60 3.2 and 5.0 devices (it is not compatible with new Symbian devices like the Nokia N8 … yet).

The options for the ways you use Goojet are entirely up to you, which is one of the reasons that I think this app is so darn useful. It offer genuine customization along with interesting user-generated content. And both of those things will likely keep you coming back for more.

How do you keep up with the news when you’re on the go? Tips for other RSS reader apps to try are welcome! Post your suggestions in the Comments section below.

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Happy Monday everyone. I hope you will enjoy the week ahead – one thing you will find here in the Ovi blog this week is apps every day. Our friend Pino asked us to help showcase apps, and we’re happy to oblige. Today, we’ll focus our attention on photo and video apps, and specifically apps you can use for easy sharing of the content you capture on your Nokia smartphone.

We’re going to start with the must-have app Pixelpipe, which is free in Store, and is configured so that you can upload and share your images and video content to more than 100 different online destinations, including the usual suspects like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Once you set up your account with Pixelpipe, you can add destinations for where your uploads should go – these are the various “pipes” that you choose. And, once you set up the pipes for the first time, you can pretty much let ‘em run.

As our guest reviewer in the Ovi Daily App, Jay Montano from MyNokiaBlog.com noted, “its deep integration with the phone’s gallery and camera leaves a very easy and simple uploading experience.”

This short video from Brett Butterfield, the CEO of Pixelpipe, shows how easy it is to use this app:

For more about this app, read the complete review, or take a look at the online tutorial that was recently created. Pixelpipe is free to download in Store and it is compatible with a broad range of Nokia touch-enabled devices.

Once you try Pixelpipe – if you haven’t already done so – you may find it hard to use anything else.

But what if online sharing isn’t enough? What if you want to take the photos you have on your Nokia smartphone, and you want to print them out and share them with friends? My first choice is the Touchnote Postcards apps for use on Nokia Symbian OS, S60 5.0 devices like the N97 mini (not, it is not available right now for devices like the N8).

With Touchnote installed, you can take the photos on your device, and turn them into printed photo cards that can be sent via good-old postal mail to family and friends around the world. And the entire process can be completed in just three quick steps – in many ways, it is as easy as sending an MMS.

The app guides you along each step, and you will be able to truly share your images with family and friends – maybe mom isn’t using Facebook yet – in a special way. The first printed card you create with Touchnote is free. After that, you will need to buy additional credits to send more cards, and you can do that directly from the app. You can download Touchnote Postcards for free in Store.

Our last app for today is one that requires a bit of time – and patience – but you will be rewarded for it with the really cool content you can produce. I’m talking about the FastMotion Time Lapse app by developer Harald Meyer. With this app installed on your Nokia touch-enabled device you can produce some really amazing stop-motion video.

This short video by Justin Chan is one of the best examples we have been able to find showing what you can do with this app – the results are very fun to watch:

As our reviewer said: This app is “a cool tool for capturing the slow-motion world and bringing it home in standard video format. Not many handheld camcorders can do what this app does, and certainly not many mobile phones, either.”

The FastMotion app is available for $0.99 (USD) in Store; and there are detailed instructions on the developer’s website to help you create your own mini-masterpiece.

How do you share the photos and videos you capture with your Nokia device? You can “share” your ideas in the Comments section below.

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If you’re a social media junkie – I mean, addict – wait, I mean, fan … right, fan … then you will no doubt have your favorite mobile apps to meet your daily needs. There are, of course, the usual suspects – the apps we all know and love like Gravity and Foursquare – but then there are also some additional apps that merit attention. For today, we’ll focus on three free apps that have proven to be keepers on my Nokia smartphone.

I’m going to start with Socially, which is one of those apps that just continues to mature and become more sophisticated with each new release from the developers at Antarix. As I noted in a recent review in the Ovi Daily App, “Socially packs a lot of goodies into its neat and well-organized package of social media information sharing.”

Socially is set up so you can easily sync it with your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Foursquare accounts. You can enable any of those four services in just a few steps by allowing those services to be accessed by the Socially application. You will have to do this individually for each service, but once you set it up, you’re good to go.

Then, whenever you have something to say, or Tweet, or post to your wall, one comment does it all. From the home screen of Socially, click on the icon for the speech bubble, and you will have a prompt to “Say something” – and below that text-input box you will see that all of the services you have enabled will be checked, so you can post to any or all four of those services at once. You can also add your location to your updates, if you want. In all honesty, I am just beginning to explain what this app can do – for the full details, take a look at the review. Socially is free to download in Store, and it works with a broad range of Nokia Symbian smartphones.

What’s that? You’re addicted to IM? Well, in that case you need WhatsApp Messenger. This app makes it possible for you to have instant message conversations with anyone else that also has the app installed – even among your friends that don’t happen to have Nokia devices (yes, there are some folks out there who use other types of devices!) – you know the ones I mean.

And, unlike other apps for IM chatting that you will find, WhatsApp does not require that you connect it to other IM-style accounts like AIM, or Yahoo Messenger. You conduct all of the chats directly from the WhatsApp client. As long as you and your chatting friend both have the app installed, you’re good to go. It is really very smart thinking.

WhatsApp is free for the first year, and available for download in Store. After the first year, the service costs $1.99 (USD) per year. The app is compatible with most Nokia Symbian OS smartphones – there is a list on the WhatsApp website.

Finally – for today – let’s consider one more free app that packs a punch, and that is Snaptu. This mobile app offers one-click access to a wide range of social media sharing sites and tools, but it also provides access to a handy catalog of other web-based services, as well as news, weather – even games.

The app has a cool widget-like design, so each service is easy to identify and use right away. My explanation will not do it justice  … happily the developer behind Snaptu put together a little video – complete with snappy soundtrack! – to show off what this app can do for you:

Snaptu is free to download in Store, and is available for both Nokia Symbian OS devices, as well as Series 40 devices.

What apps do you use for to communicate and share on the go? Tell us about the apps that float your social media boat in the Comments sections below.

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We are very excited about the upcoming Pictoplasma festival of contemporary character design and art, taking place in Berlin Germany on 6-10 April 2011. 

The Festival is full of exciting artist presentations, inspiring workshops, character driven performances and parties. But the main ingredient are the Character Walk exhibitions that bring contemporary character design and art to everyone of us to see and experience. The Character Walk is an Ovi by Nokia guided tour through 25 exhibitions in Berlin’s city centre. Stay tuned – we will surely keep you updated on what’s happening!

As a special gift to you, we provide Pictoplasma wall papers of their brand new character, The Missing Link, for free for Nokia users on Ovi. The Missing Link is a mysterious, archetypical character species – in reference to all those countless Yeti, Big Foot and Abominable Snowman legends. These white, hairy and friendly creatures provide just the right amount of smile and hairiness to make you want to get into physical cuddle-mode. Download your favorite (or all of them!) from the store.

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Howdy Chat Fans,

My name is Phil and I work in the e-mail and IM team based in Nokia’s Silicon Valley office. You might see me pop up on this blog looking for your comments and feedback or show up in a video demonstrating one of Nokia’s products.

I have been tracking the conversation over the last couple of months and I know there is a high bar for the Chat app.  We know that mobile chat is all about sharing the here and now – finding friends, knowing if they are available, and sending words and smiles – just like you do when you are on the computer.

Today, I am really pleased to finally announce the availability of the Chat 2.5 application for the following Nokia Symbian OS, S60 5.0 devices: Nokia N97, Nokia 5230, Nokia 5250, Nokia 5530, Nokia 5800, Nokia C5-03, Nokia C6-00, and Nokia X6 (availability may vary by operator and region). Chat 2.5 application availability information for the Nokia N97 mini and Chat for the Nokia N8 and other new Symbian devices will be forthcoming.

First, how do you get the application? You can download the Chat application from Store or by visiting http://nokia.mobi/messaging/im directly from your Nokia smartphone.

But before you download this Chat application, you need to make sure your phone is running the latest software – download, install and the use the Nokia Software Updater tool to confirm that you have the latest firmware. Once your firmware is updated, you are ready to download Chat.

Now for some details about some new features you will see in this Chat application as compared to the Chat application available on previous Symbian S60 phones:

Quick and easy access to conversations as they are happening

We’ve introduced the Chat home screen widget (only available for Nokia N97 and Nokia C6-00), which means you can jump straight into a new message as soon as you give it a tap.

Also you can also change your availability status right from the homescreen of your device without having to launch the app.

But because we know you might be in your Chat contact list when you think about starting a chat, you can also preview new messages from your contacts list  (So you’ll know if there’s something new that needs responding to without having to go into each conversation).

Keep up with your friends

You can stay up to date with your friends with one tap from a variety of communities. With this release, we have added a new community, MyspaceIM!

Project yourself

We have enhanced avatar support. So with this release, you can easily setup a new avatar for yourself; choose an existing image from the gallery or take a new picture!

We also have timestamps added to the messages, a small yet useful addition that I hope will make your chat experience more helpful.

So, what excites me about this application? It’s finally available! We can now offer this rich chat experience to our millions of customers who already have and are enjoying their Nokia device.

Try the new Chat 2.5 application now.

In the meantime I’m looking forward to hearing your feedback on the application.  Please feel free to leave any ideas in the Comments section below!

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When I read your comments on the Blog or I meet you during some events I can see how excited you are about Own Voice for Maps. It’s easy to use, it’s fun, it connects you with the people you care about, but most importantly, it’s emotional.

And now it’s even more than that. It’s cooler than ever. Do you know why? Easy. The Canadian electrofunk duo Chromeo recently launched their new record but has been back in the studio in New York to record the world’s smallest album – an exclusive voicepack on Own Voice for your Nokia.

So, not only does Own Voice let you record friends and family to be the voice on your Nokia. You can now let Chromeo’s electro-funk beats guide you, too. Fan-tas-tic!

Go get it now while it’s hot, but don’t forget to watch this interview with the band:

-Pino (@haikus)

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