As Spinal Tap know only too well, more Dobly Dolby is always a good thing.
Good news then for Symbian fans - Symbian Limited has confirmed that Dolby Laboratories has signed up to the Symbian Platinum Partner Program.
What this means in practical terms is that select Symbian phones will ship with Dolby Mobile technology, which promises “rich and vibrant surround sound from various types of mobile entertainment content”, according to Jerry Panagrossi, Symbian’s Vice President and General Manager of North American Operations.
As usual, the first few such phones are being rolled out in japan only so it might be a while until our own entertainment content gets all rich and vibrant.
If you use your phone to play MP3 files - either music or recorded ‘dictaphone’ clips - or if you like using music clips as ringtones, then this could be for you.
MP3Cube is a free utility for S60 phones that is basically a scaled-down audio editor, The app lets you chop up MP3 files into smaller chunks (useful for grabbing the intro to a song for use as a ringtone, for example).
MP3Cube also lets you downsample MP3 files - this just means reducing the audio quality of the track to make a smaller file. This is particularly useful for spoken word tracks as the space savings can be significant without losing much in the way of audible quality.
Information about track length, ID3 tags, etc can also be viewed using the app, and it also works as an MP3 player of course.
Because this is running on a low powered smartphone, rather than a desktop PC, things can be a little slow - particularly on longer tracks - but for short editing tasks on the move this is a useful app and worth a download.
Syntrax is not the most useful bit of S60 and Windows Mobile software out there, but for a certain type of person - one who likes electronic music, bleepy synthesizers and harbours secret ambitions to perform with The Orb - it is great fun.
Syntrax is a bit like a scaled down version of the PC/Mac synth Rebirth. Wheras Rebirth emulated a variety of real-world analogue synths like the TR-808 and TR-303, Syntrax is more like a ‘tribute’ to analogue synths with its cut-down display and sawn-off sequencer.
It’s pretty powerful for all that. For the cost of a download, you get an 8-track midi-compatible sequencer, synth and a sample editor.
You can build your own tracks from scratch or play with one of the library of presets and example tracks. The only limitation in the version linked here is a lack of Save option - but a free registration will soon take care of that.
SRS Labs are a leading Audio technology company who make software and hardware audio enhancers for Home Entertainment systems, media players and PCs. Their SRS WOW HD audio driver has been providing 3D acoustic enhancement for the O2 XDA Flame and has now been released in a form compatible with any Windows Mobile 5+ device.
The app gives much greater control of your phone’s sound output - allowing you to ‘widen’ the stereo sound - and (when using headphones) can trick your ears into believing that you are listening to music in an open space, rather than in a ’sweet spot’ in the middle of your head.
Patented ‘TruBass’ technology uses more psychoacoustic trickery to make bass notes sound deeper and richer - far beyond what your tiny speaker can actually produce.
SRS WOW HD is freeware, available for download here.
SkyeSpy sounds like the kind of Symbian app that Q might show to 007 at the start of the next Bond film (maybe a chance for some product placement here, guys - look into it).
With this cunning little app you can turn an ordinary S60 3rd Edition phone into a listening device and alarm system.
Once the app is running you simply leave it in the location you want to monitor. As soon as the phone detects any sound above a specified level it will spring into action and either send an SMS, call a designated number (so you can listen in) or record a sound clip, optionally sending it via MMS.
All incoming calls and texts are muted so your victim (sorry, subject) will never know they are being monitored.
SkyeSpy can also listen out for incoming calls, then silently answer them - letting you bug a room on demand.
The app’s developers, Skyestream, suggest using it as a baby monitor or burglar alarm (surely this runs the risk of having your phone stolen along with the rest of your belongings?) and of course there are any number of more ethically dubious uses that I am sure you can think of yourselves..
SkyeSpy costs £8.20 at the above link, and there is a 1-days free trial so you can give it a whirl.
Mplayer is the movie player of choice for many Unix and Linux desktops. It is open source, free, widely ported to different hardware and software platforms and capable of playing almost every video and audio format you can throw at it.
Now a friendly coder on the XDA Developer Forums has ported Mplayer to Windows Mobile versions 5 and 6.
This beta version already supports an array of file formats including MPEG, MP3, OGG, RealMedia and AVI making it a useful Swiss Army Knife for portable media.
It’s a little memory hungry and the user interface is a bit primitive at the moment, but enhancements have been promised and the open nature of the source code means that any bored developer could lend a hand.
