Mozilla has released the Firefox for Maemo 1.0 second release candidate (RC2), after ten days of the RC1 release. My favourite aspect of this release is the spell checker, which highlights typos and misspelt words in the form field. If you currently have the beta 5 installed, you should automatically receive a software update. Alternatively you can download it at Firefox.com/m. Check out what new in the RC2 after the break.

Easy Navigation to Web Content

• Awesome Bar: The Smart Location Bar, or “Awesome Bar” is even more awesome on a mobile device. The Awesome Bar gets you to your Web destination with minimal typing, by intelligently searching the names, URLs and tags of the sites you visit, and takes into account how often and recently you visit them. With Weave Sync, the Awesome Bar will also search the Web history from Firefox on your PC
• Easy access to many search engines: Type your search term right in the Awesome Bar to search Google. Or send your search to another search engine (Wikipedia, Amazon.com, Twitter) with one touch. Customize with the search engines of your choice.

Touch Interface Optimization

• Touch-oriented UI: Firefox’s touch-enabled interface allows you to swipe left to view your controls (bookmark, go backward and forward, access your browser tools, like Add-ons, preferences and downloads) and swipe right to view your open tabs
• View without obstructions: The browser controls and Awesome Bar get stowed away when you reach your website so you can use the whole screen to view the site. Start to pan up or to the sides and your controls and Awesome Bar reappear
• Quick zoom: Double tap on the screen to zoom in, double tap to zoom back out
• One-touch bookmarking: Bookmark a Web site in one touch, along with the ability to tag it with a memorable term
• Tabbed browsing: Thumbnails of your open tabs easily identify your open pages.

Seamless Synchronization

• Weave Sync: Create a Weave Sync account on your PC and install the Weave Sync add-on on your mobile to synchronize your Firefox tabs, passwords, history and bookmarks between your PC and mobile
• Less typing: Access Firefox for mobile’s Awesome Bar and visit any site you’ve ever been to, regardless of which computer you visited it on, with just a couple keystrokes
• Don’t start from scratch: Weave Sync brings along your saved passwords from your desktop, removing barriers to your favorite sites
• Get up and go: Take your Firefox with you wherever you go. Surf the Web on your PC, get up and go, and have everything waiting for you on your phone — even your open tabs.

A Personalized Experience

• Add-ons: Firefox is the first mobile Web browser to support add-ons. You can discover and install useful extensions for your browser directly from your mobile device
• Location-Aware Browsing: Be a local wherever you are. Get maps and info relevant to your location. Its all optional– Firefox doesn’t share your location without your permission– and is done with the utmost respect for your privacy.

Private and Secure

• Instant Web site ID (”Larry”): Tap on a site favicon for an instant identity overview
• Password manager: Typing passwords on your phone is hard, so why do it more than you have to? Choose to remember site passwords and forget ever having to endure long and difficult typing
• Popup blocker: Banish pop-ups from your surfing experience once and for all
• Clear private data: As an extra security measure, you can clear all your private data via your Preferences
• Customized security settings: Customize settings for passwords, cookies, loading images and installing add-ons for a fully empowered mobile browsing experience
• Automated Update: Install upgrades directly to your device when you receive an automatic notification, or wait until you’re ready.

Productivity

• Preferences pane: Go to your Preferences in one touch. From here, manage your plugins and security settings, as well as access your Downloads Manager and Add-ons Manager
• Download manager: Download files seamlessly and securely. The manager shows your download progress and lets you search your files by name or the Web address where the download came from
• Spell checker: Catch typos and misspellings in form fields.

Mozilla today released the first release candidate (RC1) of Firefox for Maemo. Built on the same browser engine as Firefox 3.6 for the desktop, the new mobile Firefox comes packed full of your favorite features like the Awesome Bar, Add-ons, Weave Sync and Location-Aware Browsing. If you currently have the beta 5 installed, you should automatically receive a software update. Alternatively you can download it at Firefox.com/m.

We’ve improved text rendering, added new hooks for add-on developers, and continued to polish the application. We’ve addressed many N900 specific issues, including installing to /opt and the fixing the symbol picker.

Firefox Features

Here’s how Firefox RC1 brings the Web to your phone.

The Real Deal
Forget about the clunky, stripped-down mobile Web you’re used to. Firefox delivers the performance and security you expect, plus all the bells and whistles you know and love.

Site for Sore Eyes
Tabs and browser controls are stowed away to the sides of the screen. Now you can see what’s been hiding all this time – the entire Web page. Enjoy the view.

Touch of Genius
Bookmark your favorite sites with one touch. Swipe your finger across the screen to access tabs or install useful add-ons. Double tap to zoom. So smart it’s simple.

Awesome Bar
Forget about typing long URLs, let the Awesome Bar do the searching and get you the sites you love in an instant.

Get Personal
Add-ons have gone mobile. Personalize your browser and make it your own. Search and install add-ons on the go.

Password Manager
Typing passwords on your phone is just plain hard. Why do it more than once? Choose to “remember” site passwords and forget ever having to endure long and difficult typing.

Fab Tabs
Your tabs are close at hand. Just swipe your finger to the right to see thumbnails of all your open tabs to find what you want quickly.

Be a Local… Wherever You Are
Looking for the city’s best live music joint? An alternative route to the highway? Get insider info and access maps with Location-Aware Browsing.

Get Up and Go
Get Weave and surf the Web on your PC, get up and go, and have everything waiting for you on your phone: your history, open tabs, bookmarks, the Awesome Bar – just as you had left it.

[Via]

Vodafone UK has officially announced that they will begin selling the Nokia N900 in January 2010. The Nokia N900 is a high performance mobile computer with advanced Maemo 5 software based on Linux. With features like multitasking on a live Dashboard, wide screen video capture, 3.5″ WVGA touch display (800 x 480 pixels), QWERTY keyboard and customisable panoramic desktop, the Nokia N900 also features 1 GB of application memory and up to 48GB of storage.

Source: The Nokia Review

Today, at its annual Capital Markets Day event, Nokia set key targets and forecasts for the company and its industry for 2010. Senior company executives outlined how Nokia’s focus on execution combined with its core competitive advantages, position the company to achieve and sustain broad-based success in the mobile devices market. At the event, Nokia also demonstrated significant improvements to its forthcoming version of the Symbian user interface.

Nokia CEO, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, highlighted Nokia’s focus on user experience, stating: “In 2010, we will drive user experience improvements, and the progress we make will take the Symbian user interface to a new level. As an operating system, Symbian has reach and flexibility like no other platform, and we have measures in place to push smartphones down to new price points globally, while growing margins. I see great opportunity for Nokia to capture new growth in our industry, by creating what we expect to be the world’s biggest platform for services on the mobile.”

Nokia CFO, Timo Ihamuotila, described Nokia’s view of the industry and competitive environment: “Going into 2010, the overall mobile devices market is stabilizing and it is growing more in the areas where Nokia has competitive advantages. We believe that by executing on the operational priorities we have set, Nokia will be competitive in both mobile phones and smartphones and will improve its value share.”

Targets and forecasts for Nokia and the mobile device industry
- Nokia expects industry mobile device volumes to be up approximately 10% in 2010, compared to 2009.
- Nokia targets its mobile device volume market share to be flat in 2010, compared to 2009.
- Nokia targets lower average selling price (ASP) erosion of its mobile devices in 2010, compared to recent years.
- Nokia targets to increase its mobile device value market share slightly in 2010, compared to 2009.
- Nokia targets non-IFRS* operating expenses in Devices & Services of approximately EUR 5.7 billion in 2010.
- Nokia targets bringing Devices & Services non-IFRS* research and development expenses below 10% of net sales in 2010.
- Nokia targets Devices & Services non-IFRS* operating margin of 12% to 14% in 2010.
- Nokia continues to target Services net sales of EUR 2 billion or more in 2011.
- Nokia continues to target to have 300 million active users for its services by the end of 2011.

Targets and forecasts for Nokia Siemens Networks and the mobile and fixed infrastructure and related services market
- Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks expect a flat market in euro terms for the mobile and fixed infrastructure and related services market in 2010, compared to 2009.
- Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks target for Nokia Siemens Networks to grow faster than the market in 2010.
- Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks continue to target Nokia Siemens Networks to reduce its non-IFRS* annualized operating expenses and production overheads by EUR 500 million by the end of 2011, compared to the end of 2009.
- Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks target Nokia Siemens Networks non- IFRS* operating margin of breakeven to 2% in 2010.

Additional financial targets
- Nokia and NAVTEQ target NAVTEQ operating margin to be higher than Devices & Services operating margin in 2010, on a non-IFRS* basis.
- Nokia targets its financial income and expense to be approximately EUR 250 million expense in 2010.

Nokia Devices & Services operational priorities
In addition to providing its key financial targets, Nokia also outlined key Devices & Services operational priorities for 2010. These are:
- Improve our user experience;
- Re-engineer our Symbian user interface; deliver a major product milestone before mid-year 2010, and another major product milestone before the end of 2010;
- Deliver our first Maemo 6-powered mobile computer, with an iconic user experience, in the second half of 2010;
- Significantly increase the proportion of touch and/or QWERTY devices in our smartphone portfolio;
- Scale up our Services business by expanding geographically and in partnership with more operators;
- Provide third party developers with better tools to create applications and content for our Ovi ecosystem;
- Further optimize the industry’s lowest cost end-to-end business model in Mobile Phones; and
- Continue to build on our affordable and localized services offerings for emerging market consumers.