When you take a look at the Ovi Store, it becomes clear to you that Widgets are becoming more prominent amongst the offered applications. I won’t say “I told you so” (because I obviously knew I was right), but I will ask you to focus your attention on the fact that most of these widgets aren’t new concepts created by developers but simply applications for well known brands like Bloomberg or Associated Press or Reuters.
On Symbian-Guru, we usually talk about the English widgets for their worldwide appeal, but given that I’ve lived in Paris for over a year and still bear some attachment to the city, I wanted to take a break to highlight the French widgets for Symbian^1 which are becoming more and more abundant as we move forward. These French widgets are a good proof that any local country-specific content is essential to bring the Ovi Store as well as the whole Symbian platform closer to the customer.
1. Le Monde
Originally bundled with the Nokia N97 in France, the Le Monde widget shows the latest french local and international news from the nationwide famous newspaper. You can get it for free from the Ovi Store.
2. Le Figaro.fr
Quite similar to the Le Monde widget, Le Figaro is another major newspaper in France. Their widget shows different news categories and can be downloaded for free from the Ovi Store (link only available in France).
3. Metro
Keeping in the news category, Metro is one of the free newspapers that I got handed daily while entering the french subway. Their widget, which is available in other languages as well, keeps hourly updates for news, sports, blogs, and works offline as well. You can get it for free from the Ovi Store.
4. TF1
TF1 is the biggest french TV station, and their widget is a mix of news from TF1 and LCI. It also has a complete video section with the full news brief and the weather viewable, and other videos too. It’s the only paid widget in this list, and before buying it for 1EUR from the Ovi Store (link only available in France), you can read Symbian France’s review of it.
5. Allocine
Also bundled with the Nokia N97 in France, the AlloCine widget helps you stay in touch with the Movies and Series news as well as the latest releases. This widget isn’t available for download anywhere, but I was smart enough to catch it off a French N97 back in the days, here it is.
6. Logic-Immo
Reviewed and praised by Blog-N97.fr, the Logic-Immo widget is one that shows the different real estate houses for sale or rent in France. You can specify the space, number of rooms, budget, location and several other factors and it will monitor them for you. It is available for free in the Ovi Store (link only available in France).
7. Amazon.fr
This widget won’t require any introduction, it’s simply the same widget as the English one, but you can ask it to specifically search through the Amazon.fr local store. You can download it for free from here.
8. Elle
The widget itself might be in English, but we all know that Elle is a true French and Parisian fashion magazine. It features recent fashion news, beauty style and stories, as well as catwalks and fashion shoots. You can get it for free from the Ovi Store.
9. GoEat Paris
GoEat Paris, as the name suggests, is a widget that helps you find restaurants near you around Paris. You can control the type of cuisine as well as the location where you want to search. It’s available for free in the Ovi Store (link only available in France).
10. Vie de Merde
Developed by Raphael Servant, the Vie de Merde widget is a french version of the well known FuckMyLife franchise. You can see the top stories and the flop stories, as well as browse by the latest VDMs. The widget is a free download from Raphael’s site.
11. RATP.fr
RATP is the Paris public transport company and this widget by Tarek Alaoui makes it possible to see the next subways on any Metro line in Paris as well as the train RER A and B.
12. Transilien
I never actually used the Transilien transport system in Paris, but if you do use the Transilien or the RER C, D or E, this widget also by Tarek Alaoui should make it easier to monitor the next trains.
13. Programme TV
Definitely one of my favorite widgets, Programme TV by Tarek Alaoui lets you see the latest programs to be aired on a lot of french TV stations.
14. Liberation.fr
Another news site, this free widget is also made by Tarek Alaoui and lets you stay in touch with the latest happenings on Liberation.fr.
15. L’equipe.fr
Following the same style as the above widgets by Tarek, L’Equipe.fr is a sports widget that helps you monitor the latest news in the sports world, from Football to Tennis, Formula One, Rallye, Basketball and more.
16,17. Symbian France & Blog N97
If you’re reading this post, chances are you’re interested in Symbian news and you speak French. If so, I can’t help but highly recommend two widgets that let you keep up-to-date with the latest news from my two favorite french Symbian sites: SymbianFrance (widget) and Blog-N97.fr (widget).
Bonus Link: Metro de Paris
It’s not a widget per se, but the Metro de Paris application sure looks like one. It was developed by PixelsBeatPaper team when they were still involved in Symbian, and features the simple Paris subway plan. You can drag it across the screen but you can’t zoom in and out. It’s simple but it beats the hell out of carrying the map in your pocket and I can’t stress on how many times I’ve used it. I still have the installation file, which I’ve uploaded for you here.
Do you speak French or live in France? If so, what is your favorite widget amongst these, and do you know of any other specific french widget that isn’t mentioned in this list? And what do you think of this new fresh availability of local country-specific widgets for Symbian? Do you believe, like me, that they bring the Symbian device closer to the customer or are they still way too hidden and not marketed enough for them to make a difference?
