Shortcuts for the Nokia E61
Whenever I get a new device I inevitably enter a period of trying to shave off time or steps to perform certain tasks. Per this and my previous post I can safely say that I have entered that period. I try to find shortcuts that help me perform the tasks that I perform over and over again on my Nokia E61.
I use the the built in numeric shortcuts for the various folder/application positions on the device.
It might appear trifle but I prefer using these numeric shortcuts instead of navigating to the appropriate folder or application using the joystick. I imagine that I save second or two 
To further cut down time I also rearranged the layout of the folders on the menu screen. Since you always "land" on the 6th spot I consider that prime real estate. I decided to move the folder I access more than any other folder - "Installed" to that location.
Now I always "land" on Installed when I press the menu key. Tomorrow I'll write about how I have optimized my Active Standby screen.
August 6th, 2006 at 7:20 pm
Why not just move the apps you keep using most from ‘Installed’ into number positions in the main ‘Menu’ folder in the first place?
Steve
August 6th, 2006 at 9:26 pm
Thanks Ed.
I’m looking to enter power-user mode as soon as possible. I’m loving lots of the E61, but I’m missing some of the speed and familiarity of my use of Treos since the first 180 came out all those many years ago.
Number 1 thing I’d love to have from my Treo (is there a workaround):
- quick contact lockup
- faster list (visual) number selection for each contact
- single-click dial (voice, not video) for the contact
I’ve added some shots on Flickr and also posted screenshots on my blog at http://www.houseofbaldwin.com/blog/?p=164.
August 6th, 2006 at 11:59 pm
As for me all the main things that I use are in the Active Standby Apps (including Calcium). By deciding on what appears here I don’t really use the menu key.
What would be cool is the shortcut feature found on the older Nokia phones. Remember when we just press the menu button and the corresponding number and the menu item would appear? That would be a nice alternative to using the joystick. Don’t you agree?
August 7th, 2006 at 12:27 am
To find contacts quickly, just type a few characters from their name and the contacts are quick-searched - same as on the Treo?
For ultra-quick dialling, turn ‘Speed dialling on’, as per my Support tutorial on AllAboutSymbian:
http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/support/item/How_can_I_speed-dial_contacts.php
Steve
August 7th, 2006 at 3:14 am
“To find contacts quickly, just type a few characters from their name and the contacts are quick-searched - same as on the Treo?”
No the treo is quicker (unless I’ve missed something) - let’s say you want to find me (and I have a lot of contacts on my device).
on the nokia e61:
click contacts (wait) >>> press “c”, press “h” and then dab down a couple of times (because I have a few charles). select phone number
On the treo 650:
Push C (first letter of first name) K (first letter of surname) dial.
August 7th, 2006 at 3:21 am
Oh here’s another tip - holding down the red softkey will shut down any active connection.
August 7th, 2006 at 4:22 am
“click contacts (wait) >>> press “c”, press “h” and then dab down a couple of times (because I have a few charles). ”
Why the ‘wait’? Don’t you leave Contacts running all the time?
And the selection of mobile or home or office numbers has to be done on the Treo too, surely?
Steve
August 7th, 2006 at 5:22 am
My menu shortcuts appear to be random, any ideas? Like I press 1 and it lunches the 5th item, 8 launches the first and so on.
August 7th, 2006 at 5:30 am
yes you still have to select the number sorry omitted that step - even with the contacts already running it’s slower than the treo (let’s not even get onto the true awful pim offered by the e61 - don’t get me wrong i much perfer my e61 to my 650 but if only i had agendus or datebk 5 available to me…. Hopefully papyrus which has a beta coming out will fill that gap..)
August 7th, 2006 at 7:36 am
Is there a way to change the shortcuts? I would think it is more logical to heve the * representing the upper-right icon, and the 4 representing the left-icon of the second row. (Just as the keyboard-layout).
August 7th, 2006 at 12:23 pm
Ryan,
it seems some of us have firmware with a problem, where they’ve left the keyboard shortcuts set up older 3×4 keypads, rather than the E61’s 4×3 pad. Annoying.
August 7th, 2006 at 4:48 pm
hey guys, i know this is the wrong spot… but i was hoping someone would have a suggestion for a good program to convert videos into mpeg-4’s so i can play them on my e61. also, what bitrate and fps settings should i use?
Thanks
August 7th, 2006 at 10:32 pm
Cheapest is probably Quicktime Pro? It’s what I use and the results are very high quality. Lots of settings to fiddle with, too
Steve
August 8th, 2006 at 1:31 pm
Does anybody else have the problem were Java apps have super small icons?
August 23rd, 2006 at 10:45 pm
Brad,
to answer this:
“- single-click dial (voice, not video) for the contact”
You can define ‘defaults’ for the contact. If you define a default for voice call, then you make a voice call to the contact with many numbers by simply pressing the calling key (green one).
Defaults can be set from Phonebook, by opening a contact and selecting defaults from Options menu.
September 11th, 2006 at 5:46 pm
[...] The new firmware for the Nokia E61 brings about many changes and improvements. In addition to the list of changes reported on Symbian-Freak, I have also found that the menu shortcuts have changed. The previous layout was not the most intuitive. The new layout follows the logic and layout of the numeric keyboard. However, you now have to press the Blue Function key and the number in order to access the files and application. [...]
October 17th, 2006 at 8:00 am
> “click contacts (wait) >>> press “c”, press “h”
> and then dab down a couple of times (because
> I have a few charles). ”
Have you ever tried voice selection? The e60 does this quite well, at least for German names. Press the dictaphone key, speak the full name of contact to be called, check that the e60 recognized the name correctly and just wait for the phone to start dialing.
This also works for several built-in features such as profile selection.
Regards
November 21st, 2006 at 10:39 am
anyone know of a way to turn off the “to do” note at the bottom of the calendar. I like having my daily agenda on the standby screen but could use the extra line i’d gain by removing “xx to-do notes not done”
November 22nd, 2006 at 2:23 am
Shortcuts is a start, quick use requires seamless data exchange (through clipboard ) between applications.
Earlier I had a Nokia Communicator. It allowed me to copy (Ctrl+C) and paste (Ctrl+V) texts, calendar items and more. It was a breeze to copy text from one application to another.
In Series 60 version 3 this does not work, not even in Nokia E 70 with a QWERTY-keyboard and newest firmware! Usability stalls
Why is it so difficult to enable copy/paste between applications? Is S60 ver. 3 a Thumb-Only Platform? Is there a fix available somewhere?
Thanks in advance
November 26th, 2006 at 2:09 am
Anyone else found this problem that when you try moving icons/shortcuts for installed applications out in the main menu, they just randomly reset and go back into the installations-folder?
It’s getting on my nerves, badly :/
This, and the fact that the battery-indicator seems to be working only when you restart the phone and the random hard resets when disconnecting from an ad-hoc network, has left me in slight regret over buying the whole thing
January 18th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
I was wondering if there was a free app for the E61 that allows you to setup your profile changes (general, silent, etc) on certain days and times. My sidekick had this feature but its missing on my E61