Obtaining Nokia S60 devices for review has been a constant source of frustration here at SymbianOne. Apart from the N95 currently with Glenn (and a prior N80), we have not been able to prise anything out of Nokia since a Nokia 9500 & 6680 back in 2004 - sad but true.

So it occurred to me that perhaps there was a lateral thinking solution to this problem in the shape of RGA - Forum Nokia's Remote Device Access service. Amongst the devices available is the recently shipped N81 (albeit a pre-sales version). Maligned elsewhere on the Web in several reviews, I though a "virtual" review was in order.

While checking this possibility out, I noticed something interesting. There are three Nokia N95s available in RDA with a special build to run Web Run-Time (WRT) widgets. If you are not familiar with these widgets, they are lightweight web technology (HTML, JavaScript etc.) applications you will be able to install on forthcoming S60 3rd Edition, Feature Pack 2 devices. (Maybe even the Nokia N95 if this special build is any indication of future public firmware updated for the N95.)

Anyway, these three WRT build Nokia N95s are booked solid - day and night - for several days ahead. Given that most of the remaining devices are more or less available for immediate booking, with no future reservations too speak of, the main interest can be only in the WRT widget abilities. (Incidentally the only other device with any significant interest appeared to be the Nokia E90, which is something of a curiosity.)

Of course WRT widgets can be tested on the current S60 3rd Edition, Feature Pack 2 emulator, but clearly some developers are already taking their widget development beyond early emulator testing.

WRT widgets are a significant development for the S60 platform, opening the platform up to yet another group of developers - in this case Web developers. The use of the WRT build Nokia N95s on RGA seems to provide proof. While at first sight the benefits of moving functionality a user could access with the Web Browser for S60 into a widget may not seem obvious, however being able to offer that functionality as an on-device application hugely simplifies access.

Given the availability of devices that can run widgets is uncertain (no Feature Pack 2 devices having been announced) the developer demand for the WRT build devices bodes well for a good supply of widgets when devices do become available. In the meanwhile I will be keeping an eye on postings with the "widget" tag on MOSH to see if anything interesting turns up - currently it has a few Widset (Java) widgets.