Eseries

I absolutely love the free application - Nokia Sports Tracker. I’ve written  numerous times about this nifty little application over the past two years, yes Nokia Sports Tracker recently turned two years. How fitting that there is a new version out Nokia Sports Tracker 2(.05) to celebrate the application turning two years.

For those of you who know little or nothing about Nokia Sports Tracker, it is a free GPS based application (it works with Nokia devices with built in GPS functionality as well as blue-tooth, stand alone GPS devices paired with your Nokia device) used to create a training diary as you exercise. The application will track, speed, distance, time etc

I have to confess that I am as excited about the new features as I am excited about the upgrade process.

There is no separate download on your PC, no manual checking to see if there is a new version - if you already have a previous version of Nokia Sports Tracker installed on your device you will automatically be prompted to upgrade to the latest version when you launch Nokia Sports Tracker. Why can’t all software upgrades work like this?

It took me less than 5 seconds to download and install (yes, I am on a 3G network).

As usual, those modest, diligent, Finnish developers release a new version with little fanfare. So far there is no release notes, nor official blog post that I could find.

I have found a few new, cool features in the new version of Sports Tracker.

The first one is a “replay” feature which lets you visualize a saved activity by simulating the route. (more…)

Not sure exactly when Google Maps for Mobile hit the big Two Dot Oh but the most recent version of Google Maps for Mobile for Symbian S60 3rd edition devices, such as the Nokia Eseries, is version 2.03 2.05.

If you haven't tried the new version of Google Maps you should! (just go to www.google.com/gmm on your browser to download the new version)

One new features of 2.0 is the "My Location" feature.

The "My Location" uses information from mobile towers near you to approximate your location on the map. Naturally, it's not as accurate as GPS but if you don't have GPS and want to know your location it is very handy.

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Windows Live Messenger has quietly showed up in the Download Folder on Eseries devices in certain regions and with certain carriers.

The Windows Live Messenger client was initially released for a number of Nokia's NSeries devices. However, the client which supports Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Hotmail, Windows Live Spaces and Live Search is now officially available for Eseries.

However, once again, it should be noted that distribution seemed to be tied to certain carriers (read SIM) and certain regions.

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I personally think that Nokia Beta Labs is one of the more exciting initiatives Nokia launched in the first half of 2007. It is a powerful tool to foster new applications while soliciting honest and straightforward feedback from the core user base.

Tommi Vilkamo of S60 Blogs has scored what must be the most exciting and stimulating job at Nokia, as the General Manager of Nokia Beta Labs.
Congratulations Tommi, you have already improved a great concept. I expect many, many more exciting new applications, services and ideas to come out of Nokia Beta Labs.

The latest addition to Nokia Beta Labs is a threaded SMS application called - Conversations. The lack of a built in threaded SMS application in Series 60, especially the Nokia Eseries devices, has been my pet peeve.

Nokia creating a threaded SMS application is a great step forward. The application is integrated with the address book, it creates an additional tab where all your conversations are stored. The application is easy to use and if the text is too long to be displayed on the screen the message text will automatically scroll so that you can easily read the message.

 
However, I have to say that I am rather disappointed with this first version of Conversation.

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I've gotten hooked on a new drug and I cannot, will not, give it up.

The name of this wonderful new thing that is making my life better and more productive is SpinVox.

SpinVox is the British company with an impressive motto: "Any Voice, Any Phone, Any Screen"

SpinVox converts voice messages left on your phone to a text message delivered to you as an SMS or via email.

I'm often on the phone or in a meeting so I end up getting quite a lot of voice mails. Since my days are often action packed and I run from one fire drill to the next and from one meeting to the next I frequently forget (or don't have the time) to check my voice mail.

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Kaizen* is the Japanese management concept of incremental and continuous improvement - something the two main gentlemen behind Nokia Sports Tracker seem to have adopted.

They are continuously updating and improving the application at an impressive pace. These updates are often the direct result from end user feedback via the web. Very impressive!

The new version - v1.49 contains the following enhancements/changes:

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Some people might know of SYSOPENDIGIA as the company behind the MegaPhone - the 170cm tall jumbo phone running S60 which actually works.

The impressive creation is used for display/training purposes at various trades hows and events.

However, SYSOPENDIGIA does so much more.

They are a virtual powerhouse when it comes to Symbian expertise and have a wide array of services and products for operators, handset manufacturers and also end users.

One such product for end users is Corporate Phonebook.

Corporate Phonebook is more of a supplement than an replacement to the built in address book application.

Corporate Phonebook allows you to import your address book information from a backend system such as Outlook, Exchange, LDAP, CRM, and other Databases.

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Thank you Symbian Wave for creating SMS Chat For S60 3rd edition - a *really great* threaded SMS chat application for Nokia Eseries!

Many of us "switchers" coming to Nokia Eseries devices from Palm Treo really miss a more robust SMS application. Well, look no further. I would go as far as to say that SMS Chat For S60 3rd edition is almost as robust SMS application as you can get.

The application is stylish and has a very professional look and feel.

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A big THANK YOU to Krion for introducing me to spodtronic - a great alternative to Nokia's Open Source Radio Client.

spodtronic is a sleek looking radio and podcast client previously available on S60 2nd edition and now available for the Eseries and other S60 3rd edition devices.

The application is branded by Virgin and does contain some other pieces of advertising as well.

However, as annoying as advertising and commercially sponsored applications can get, this is not bad at all. Also, given the fact that the application is free and that there is an open source alternative, spodtronic is a welcomed addition to the field of radio applications.

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One one of the most commonly asked question I receive is:

"How do I increase the font size on my Nokia E61?" or "How do I make the text in BlackBerry Connect larger?" I cannot tell you how often I receive that question.

An interesting tidbit is that there seem to be a large number of BlackBerry Connect users who are looking for this.

Anyway, up until now my response have been that certain isolated 3rd party applications such as Alon Contact Guide and RoadSync support increasing the text size.  That was true until yesterday.

Today Psiloc released Font Magnifier a great application which lets you increase the font size on all applications.

As with all Psiloc's applications it is intuitive and easy to use. It lets you control the font size of all the installed fonts.

You use a slider to set the font size and then restart the device for the changes to be made. If you want, you can make the font size *REALLY LARGE*. 

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After a rather lengthy beta period (the creator behind Salling Clicker - Jonas Salling, really, really pays attention to details and produces rock solid products) Salling Clicker 3.5 is now publicly available.

I was fortunate to be part of the beta process so I have been able to use the new version of Salling Clicker for a few months.

Before I take a brief look at the new features; if you are unfamiliar with Salling Clicker I have written about it before, but in essence it is a great piece of software which lets you control your PC from your Eseries device. Although I concentrate on the Mac features Salling Clicker supports Windows as well.

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