Application Review: Resco Photo Viewer 5.00 - Say Goodbye to your N82's Built-in Gallery

One of the major complaints about the Nokia N82 and any other pre-FP2 devices is the built-in gallery:

• It has no “folder-to-scan” option. All readable files are cramped in it, including the annoying support images from
  installed applications.


• It has no sorting nor filtering options


• Videos and images are combined in it which is absurd.


• Has the album feature but renders it useless


• It tends to be slow, especially if you store a lot of media files

Several software updates came and yet this has not been solved. Seems like its better to use a third party gallery application to suit our needs. Very kind of Mike, last week he sent me Resco Photo Viewer for review. I really wanted to get this app long before and here are my thoughts...

Pros:

• It’s fast.


• Provides different viewing options


• Can sort images by name, date, size or format


• Allows managing of images with folder manipulation


• Specify favorite folders to be scanned for images


• Slideshow options are more customizable, and has extra transition
  effects


• Faster image zooming and panning


• Handy dandy keypad shortcuts

Cons:

• No indication of how many images were found.


• Cannot insert text or clip arts when editing images


• A not so friendly user interface combined with poor help content

No bangs or whistles on the animation/transition department. I just remembered how the built-in gallery's carousel presentation wow’ed me when I first saw it, and how it wows my friends today. But Resco PV’s functionality really saved its ass. Well, I think it’s unfair to compare it with the s60’s built in gallery when it comes to UI, functionality is what really matters this time, and what we really miss from the s60 gallery.

Here it goes...

Viewing Options

Way better than the s60 gallery.. Resco PV offers several options on how it will display your files. Depending on your preference, you can choose different combinations of three viewing options. Two thumbs up here...

• All Images or by Folders (folder tree)


• List or Grid View


• Small or Large Icons.

Screenshots:

All Images > Grid View > Small Icons


All Images > Grid View > Large Icons


All Images > List View > Small Icons


All Images > List View > Large Icons


Folder Tree > Grid View > Small Icons


Folder Tree > Grid View > Large Icons


Folder Tree > List View > Small Icons


Folder Tree > List View > Large Icons


Set Folders to Scan for Images

Yes! The most prominent feature that the built-in gallery is lacking! Folders-to-scan for images is present in Resco PV. You can limit folders to be scanned for images by setting "Standard" folders (marked with a star icon). When you are in All Images viewing option, only images from the folders you set will be displayed. A very convenient feature indeed!

Zooming and Panning

Almost all of our images are in their full 5 megapixel glory. More often than not, zooming is needed when viewing pictures. And zooming with the built-in gallery is slooow. Panning while in zoom mode? Simply irritating. You’ll need to press the dpad repeatedly just to get a one step panning adjustment..

On Resco PV, zooming and panning is a joy, I tell you! One time quick loading when you try to zoom, after that, everything is instantaneous! Smooth panning and instant zooming up to 1600% (this is overkill i think), nothing more I can ask for. See video below (sorry for the video quality, recorded using a webcam T_T):



Image Editor

There’s also an image editor, and it's better than the built-in gallery’s (or at least for me). It’s faster, and you have more control on color adjustments (rgb). Screenshots below:







Also, you'll have the option to set the jpeg compression when saving an edited image and specify the new image's file name as well. Inserting clip-arts, frames and text is missing, but for me it's not a big problem. Red-eye reduction though is not present. I find it useful sometimes, guess I’ll just open up my gallery if I want to use it (or make sure that I use Red Eye as the flash mode for night shots).

Image Information

This is my favorite, I love how Resco paid attention on presenting image information. I usually do image comparisons and keypad shortcuts for easier access makes the built-in gallery a total loser. Using Resco PV, by simply pressing 5, information about the selected image is displayed. And pressing the left soft key will lead you to the Exif details! Very neat!




Slide Show

There are 11 slide effects to choose from plus the Random transition option. There's Random Image Order also that adds a sort of excitement, when waiting which image might appear next during the show. Same as the built-in gallery, you can also set the duration of each slide and set your favorite mp3 as a background music. The good part is that, with Resco PV, you can create new sets of slide shows from selected images and save it for later viewing. Here's a video (viewing slide shows and adding new sets from selected images). Again, sorry for the quality:



Maybe it's just me, but I like the built-in gallery's slide show presentation than this. On the s60 gallery, zooming and panning during animation really gives more life to the show than that on Resco's. What do you think?

Manage Images

If you want to group your images by folders, no need to open up your favorite file manager. You can directly manage your folders directly on Resco PV. You can create, rename, delete, move folders and transfer your images from one location to another easily when in Folder Tree view. Such a great feature! (hands down)


And More Useful Settings for your Satisfaction

If the built-in gallery has little to no settings, indulge yourself with Resco PV for it presents you with several settings from sorting, image rotation, backlight, slideshow, image rotation and more. You can even set this application to be the default viewer for several image file types.





----------------------------------------------

Overall, I am completely satisfied with Resco Photo Viewer. It does all the s60 gallery can do plus more! I miss the fancy animation and stuff from the built-in gallery, but hey, who needs it more than functionality? I find the user interface quite confusing though, as well as the weak help utility. I believe Resco needs to pay attention to this.

If you are in search for an application to replace your gallery, I highly recommend Resco Photo Viewer. Although it’s not free ($14.95), what’s nice is that you can try it first for 14 days before making a purchase. Click here to download RPV.

Do you already use Resco Photo Viewer? How was your experience with it? Do you think it’s really a good replace for your N82’s built in gallery? Or do you know a different and better application?

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Nokia Email Application (beta) - Works Great But No N82 Love?

So what's going on here? Nokia recently released a new email application called Nokia Email which is supposed to rival competitors such as Blackberry. Using a different technology than the built-in email client, Nokia Email really is a great tool - when it works.

So far it has been working just fine on my Nokia N82, email arrives extremely fast - sometimes faster than my Gmail browser window in Firefox. Nokia Email works with just about any email server that allows IMAP or POP access, not including corporate email and hotmail.

There is one thing that is making me ticked off however. Where is the Nokia Email version for the N82?

When I go to the email.nokia.com website to download the application, here is the screen I see (minus the question mark)...



I wonder what's going on here? Why no N82 love? I'm using the N95 version and it seems to be working fine, but I'm sure it can be working even better with a N82 version. Maybe consume less RAM and battery. My guess is maybe, for some reason, Nokia just doesn't have a N82 in the building to test this new application on. Who knows?

Granted Nokia Email is still in beta so we can't complain THAT much since it's not a final release. At least Nokia allows us to test out their applications before they are final.

I wrote up a full review of the latest Nokia Email beta release over at Symbian-Addict. Click here to read it.

Go to email.nokia.com to try it yourself.

Have you already tried this new application? What are your thoughts compared to other email solutions on your Nokia N82.

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Application Review: SkyeQuiKey - I Can't Live Without It

I really don't know how I've gone this long without using SkyeQuiKey on my Nokia S60 device. I've seen so many reviews about how useful it really is but I always have a hard to getting myself to pay for applications, especially when I'm on a tight budget. I wouldn't doubt it if about 60% of you already use this application. If not, then you really need to give it a shot. SkyeQuiKey is one of those applications you look at Nokia and say - Why isn't this already implemented out of the box?

What does SkyeQuiKey do exactly? It changes the way I launch applications. The way I lookup a contact. The way I open Bookmarks. The way I sent quick text messages. From the home screen of my Nokia N82 I can start typing with T9 input exactly what I'm looking for.

Bookmarks



If I'm looking for a bookmark called "Inside The Kings", I simply type "467" or "Ins" and launch it. Much easier than holding down zero than scrolling to my bookmark.

You may ask, "Why is it faster Mike? You can hold down "0" to launch the browser than make a few more clicks to launch the site." Well, yes that is true, but that extra two seconds it takes to hold down "0" makes all the difference when I'm in a rush.

Applications



I want to launch the Home Media application. Typing "hom" or "466" gives me a list of everything close to that. The more I type the less results I get, obviously. As you can see in the screenshot if I was looking for Google Maps this key combination would also work, since "466" is also "Goo", adding one more "g" in there would give me everything on my phone that has to do with Google including Google Search, Google homepage, and a Google contact.

Fast Calling & Messaging



I type "Nic" to look up my brother Nick. Once I have his name highlighted I have a few options. Pushing the green button will make a call to his default number. Left-Nav or will show me his contact card. Center button will show a list of all his phone numbers I can call, and Right-Nav will let me start a new SMS. The left and right navigation buttons are configurable.

New Phone Numbers



When entering a brand new phone number into your phone you have a few options. You can call, save to contacts, and make a new sms or mms message. Very handy.

Settings

There are a few settings you can configure in SkyeQuiKey.

- Order of name display,
- left/right navigation keys can be changed to sms, mms, e-mail, view, or call.
- toggle full screen display
- History

Make Room For More Home Screen Shortcuts

I used to have Contacts as my Number 1 active standby shortcut and New Text Message as my right softkey. SkyeQuiKey has freed up both of those to allow for other shortcuts on my home screen. This was another big reason for me deciding to keep this application on my phone.

Video Review By Mark Guim

My pal Mark from The Nokia Blog has recently reviewed this application. Check out his video demonstration.



Great video Mark!


Unlike it's rival application T9 Nave Beta, SkyeQuiKey is extremely fast. There is almost no delay when your start typing from your home screen, and it doesn't slow down any of the aspects of your phone at all. The RAM footprint is pretty much 0kb when your not using it.

It took me about a week to get fully used to using SkyeQuiKey. In the past, if I wanted to launch an application I would first go into Jbak Taskman and search from there, or dive into the Menu as my last resort. Same goes for Contacts.

How Do I Download It? You can get a one-day trial of SkyeQuiKey over at their shop. If you decide you like it as much as I do you can purchase it for $21.55 right now. Click here to visit the Skyestream Shop.

Do you already use SkyeQuiKey? If so, do you enjoy it as much as I do. If you haven't tried it, download the free trial and tell me what you think.

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1 Day Left For 20% Off Grand Opening Sale At The App Store! Ends August 31st

Hey just giving you all a quick reminder that tomorrow is the last day to get 20% off at the Nokia N82 Store. Go there and browse through thousands of applications to make your smartphone even smarter. Don't forget the other day I reviewed Best Profiles and absolutely love it. I decided it will stay on my phone permanently and is a "must have" application for my Nokia N82.

Coupon Code @ Checkout: N82BlogStore

Happy Shopping!

Oh and if you miss this sale don't worry there will be plenty others.

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Review: Best Profiles - Change Your Profiles Based On Location, Time, Calendar Schedule & More

Best Profiles has been installed on my N82 for about a week now and so far I'm loving it. There are so many features this application brings to the table it's not even funny.

I'm not gonna go into details about some of these functions, instead I'll just show you a rundown of what Best Profiles can do for your N82. Before I describe the application, I'm gonna show you a great setup I have thanks to this application.

My WORKOUT Profile

Here is a perfect example of what you can do with Best Profiles. I created a profile called Workout. What happens when I activate it with just ONE click?

1. Bluetooth is activated automatically for use with my stereo bluetooth headset.
2. The Sports Tracker application is launched.
3. Music Player is launched.
4. Theme is changed to a more visible theme for bright sunlight.
5. When my workout is over I can set it to close down all these applications automatically and switch another profile or just leave them open.

Just having that setup alone is enough for me to keep Best Profiles installed on my N82.

And now for all the features...

More Options In Profiles



You get added features that can be changed based on profiles. Wallpaper, bluetooth, backlight (always on), run applications (make a list of apps that you want launched), & theme.

Scheduled Profiles



You can set specific times and days of when you want a certain profile to activate. The rules include time, days, and priority over other profile settings.

Calendar Rules

You can have your profile change automatically if your phone is within the time frame of a certain calendar entry. This is based on keywords. Say you have a meeting with whoever. You can specify the keyword "meeting" to activate a certain profile when the meeting starts, based on what you have in your calendar entries. This can be helpful in so many ways. Lunch dates, movie dates, etc

GSM Locations

This is a huge one. Your phone will switch profiles if your in a certain location based on the cell towers that your N82 finds. I have mine set up perfectly. When I come within 1 mile of my work my N82 will automatically switch to the WORK profile so it won't ring as loud and my theme is changed. At the end of the day when I leave this location my profile will change to my GENERAL profile. I also have one set up for the bank, movie theaters, library, etc. Every time I come close to those buildings my phone switches to the SILENT profile. When I leave the area it switches back. Setting this up takes some time and getting used to.

Charger Rules



You can tell the N82 to go into a certain profile when you plug it into a charger. Pretty simple.

Override Profile Settings

You can override your settings if your in a certain situation where you want a different profile. You can Activate, Activate After, Activate For, and lock the profile. This is handy for unexpected events or when you just want control.


It took me a few days to actually trust this application. To my amazement I am able to trust it as long as Best Profiles is always running in the background. Everyday I double check that it is indeed running and of course before meetings still glance at my phone to make sure it's silenced. Under each rule and setting you can give Priority to ensure the proper profile is in use. My calendar keywords are of course set to the highest priority.

There are so many situations Best Profiles can come in handy. Whether your a business person with a busy schedule or just want to forget about changing Profiles this application makes life easier. There are so many variations and possibilities. I was telling my friend about it the other day, he now uses it to have a "naked girl" theme on his phone when he's at work to impress his buddies, when he leaves work the profile automatically switches to HOME so his wife doesn't see that theme. WHEW! Now thats really having trust in this application.

Download & Try

Right now you can get Best Profiles from the Nokia N82 Store for $14.95 and get another 20% off if you purchase the application by August 31st. There is a free trial so you can test out the application and see if you like it before making the purchase.

20% Off Coupon Code: N82BlogStore

Click here to download Best Profiles.

You can use that coupon code to take 20% your total at checkout. This special applies for all applications in the store.

Have any of you tried this application? Let me know if you find it useful.

Continue Reading...

Nokia Developing A New Enhanced Calculator For The N82 - Download Now

One of the weird quirks about Nseries phones like the Nokia N82 has been how crappy and weak the calculator is. As many of you here at the blog already know, Calcium Calculator is one of the first applications installed on my device to replace the built in calculator.

Nokia is finally realizing they need something new. Introducing Enhanced Calculator for S60.

Not to my delight, this application is being made in Java rather than the great .sis version that should be standard for all Nokia made applications. But they are using a version of the calculator from older Nokia S40 phones, which is why it is simply being ported over to S60 using Java. I guess they didn't want to start from scratch. So what does a Java version mean? Well the startup time is slightly slower than a .sis application. Other than that there isn't much difference.

So then what does this new Nokia calculator bring to the table?

Better Basics
First off it's easier to use basic functions like add, subtract, multiply, and divide. It works the same way as Calcium. Each d-pad directional button serves as one of those functions. This is much better as apposed scrolling around for the plus sign in the default calculator application.

Scientific Calculator
Functions like Cos, Sin, Log, Ln, square root, and a few others I don't know. It's about time that a free scientific calculator is available for the N82.

Loan Calculator
I like this one the best as I'm currently searching for a new "used" car. Mine is crapping out and hogs too much gas. Here you can input the months, interest, loan amount, and monthly installment. Whichever one field is missing will be calculated when all the others are filled out. Very handy.

Check out some screenshots...




Like all new Nokia applications, it will first have to pass through Beta Labs. This means it's still in the early testing phase and you have the opportunity to try it out. Any problems you find or things you want improved be sure to tell them at their comments section. It's great that Nokia allows this.

The developer of Enhanced Calculator says,

The original application was made for certain devices with certain screen sizes. So, I have made changes mainly to the UI of the application. Currently there are some limitations in using this application. It runs properly only in devices with QVGA screen (240×320 or 320×240 pixels), in other cases you should get an error message and the application will be closed. I have tested this in several S60 3rd Edition, 3rd Edition FP1 and 3rd Edition FP2 devices, those with QVGA screen should be ok for this application. However, if you have any problems with the application, post your comments here!

Click here to download Enhanced Calculator.

Personally this won't replace Calcium Calculator for my everyday use, but will come in handy for those more complicated equations. Not to mention the loan part of it will be a godsend.

Enjoy!

Continue Reading...

N82 Freeware: T9 Nav - Search Contacts, Apps, Etc. From Your Standby Screen With T9 Input

Once in awhile one of those applications came along that make you say - "damn, what the hell took so long for this". You know what I mean right? The functions that should already be party of our Nokia N82's but they're not. Thanks to this article from Vaibhav Sharma from The Symbian Blog I recently discovered T9 Nav beta. This application for the N82 and all S60 phones is one of those apps that adds so much convenience with such amazing simplicity.



What does T9 Nav do? Basically it allows you to search Contacts, Bookmarks, Calendar Entries, Applications, & Media Files with T9 input from your N82's standby screen, similar to how Jbak Taskman works except for it uses real T9. As you type each letter you start getting real time results which is quickly narrowed down based on what you've type. Once you see what you want you can simply scroll to that item and decide what to do with it. If it's an app or game you can launch it, same with calendar entries, bookmarks, and media files. If it's a contact that your looking for than you can just hit the green call button for a quick call or hit options to send a message.

I've only had this application installed on my Nokia N82 for a day and have already eliminated the Contacts shortcut on my standby screen. Accessing contacts using T9 Nav is ten times faster.

Keep in mind this application is still in beta and may have bugs. For instance I can't find the Music Player launcher. Also it seems that all text input on my N82 has a slight lag now. It's something I can deal with given the functionality T9 Nav brings. I'm sure all these problems will be worked out in future releases.

For more screenshots of T9 Nav beta for S60 phones click here.

OR

To download the application click here.

Continue Reading...

Introducing The Nokia N82 Store - Get 20% All Applications Till End Of The Month

Hey readers. I've been wanting to provide everyone with a one stop place to find commercial applications for your Nokia N82 that you wouldn't normally find written about here at the blog. Now you can find thousands of S60 applications in the new Nokia N82 Store that give you professional solutions to some of the wants and needs of your N82 smartphone. Most applications come with a free trial so you can try them out see if you like them before you buy them.

To kick off the store we will be having a huge Grand Opening Sale!

All applications are 20% off until the end of the month. Make sure to use the coupon code N82BlogStore when you are at checkout. *Keep in mind the coupon applies only to the full price of the application.

In the Nokia N82 Store you will find Featured Software, Best Sellers, and Special Offers for applications that are on sale. You will always see a set of discounted apps to load up on your N82.

For instance right now you can get Core Player for your N82 for $23.96 with the coupon code I gave you. It's normally $29.95.

About Coreplayer for S60...

CorePlayer™ Mobile is at the center of the CoreCodec™ Universe for playing multimedia on your mobile phone, portable media players, PDA, GPS or convergence device. CorePlayer™ is truly the next-generation in multimedia playback. Its simple yet powerful interface and advanced features is designed to empower the CoreCodec™ community.

See why the Chicago Suntimes times says that it, "actually has a user interface designed with bipeds in mind" and why companies like Joost are using CorePlayer technology!

Features:
YouTube support, with built-in browse and search
BlueTooth Stereo (A2DP) and Remote Control (AVRCP) support
Programmable Hotkeys
Supports over 15 Languages
Media library (Manage your RSS Feeds, playlists, podcasts, bookmarks)
Podcast Support (Standard and Enhanced)
Streaming support (HTTP, UDP, RTP, RTSP, RTCP, SDP, Unicast, Multicast)
IPTV/DVB-H/DVB-SH Ready
Audio: MP3, WMA, AAC, MKA, WAV, OGG, Speex, WAVPACK, FLAC, MPC, AMR, GSM, ADPCM, ALaw, MuLaw, MIDI
Video: CoreAVC™ (H.264), AVCHD, MKV, MPEG-1, MPEG-4 part 2 (ASP), DivX, XviD, MJPEG, MSVIDEO1
Images: JPG (420, 422, 440), BMP, PNG, GIF, TIFF
Containers: FLV, Matroska™, ASX, ASF, TS, PS, M2TS, 3GPP, MOV, AVI, MPEG-4, NSV
CoreUI / Universal Skins (Custom interface)

Pretty much it can play just about any media file you need. I will be doing a full review of this application over the weekend. Actually I will be doing a commercial application review every week showcasing an application that is on sale in the Nokia N82 Store.

Keep checking back for more application reviews, both commercial and freeware. I will be having deals on applications every month so you can find applications here cheaper than anywhere else. If any of you see an application you like in the store you can try it out and if you want more comments on it let me know and I can try and write up a review for it.

Click here to visit the new Nokia N82 Store.

You all know I love hearing feedback so tell me what you think about the new store.

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Mobbler + N82 = Last.fm On The Go, And It's Free!

Ok I'll be honest. I've heard plenty about Last.fm but I never gave it a try. I always use Pandora.com for all my internet radio streaming needs when I'm at my computer. I've always wanted a solution to Pandora on my N82 but have never got it. Today I saw this post over at Symbian In Motion and decided to give both Last.fm and this new S60 Last.fm scrobbler application called Mobbler a try. Wow am I impressed.





I've been using Last.fm all day now informing it of all the music I like and it has already came up with tons of more bands/artists that suit my tastes. When I launch Mobbler from my N82 and sign into my Last.fm account I get only streaming music that is related to my tastes. Or say I go out on a limb and feel like hearing some hip-hop (which I don't listen to often) it will find random hip hop artists that relate to the artist I typed in.

In order to use Mobbler you must have a Last.fm account. When you launch the application you will need to first login. Then hit Options > Start A New Station and you can go by artist, tag (genre), user, personal, recommended, & loved tracks. If you first learn Last.fm on the computer you will better understand how it works.

Also, if you leave Mobbler running in the background and you play tracks already on your phone from your music player the application will learn the music you like and apply it to your account for future internet radio streaming on your Last.fm account.

Here is how the developer describes Mobbler...

Mobbler, Mobile Scrobbler, is a last.fm radio player and scrobbler for Nokia S60 3rd edition smartphones. It allows you to listen to your last.fm radio stations and to scrobble tracks played using the Nokia S60 Music Player. Music player scrobbling can be done both whilst you listen, or queued offline to be submitted later.

And how it works from their Wiki page...

A track will be scrobbled if you listen to more than either 50% or 4 minutes of it in one go, whichever comes first. The track must also be over 30 seconds long.

If you restart your phone you will also have to restart mobbler to continue scrobbling. It would be nice if mobbler was a startup application, but it is not possible at this time.

A track will be sent to last.fm as 'now playing' only once per listen. If you pause and restart a track it will not resend to last.fm.

If your mobile phone loses it's data connection, mobbler will queue the tracks you listen to. When the data connection becomes active again, mobbler will automatically reconnect and scrobble all the queued tracks in one go.

If you close mobbler without scrobbling the tracks you listened to in that session it will still remember them and scrobble them the next time you open mobbler and connect to last.fm.

The status bar at the top of mobbler will tell you what state mobbler is in. If you are connected and everything is ok, it will tell you how many tracks it has successfully scrobbled so far. If you are not connected, it will tell you how many tracks have been queued and are awaiting submission the next time you connect. If there is a problem with mobbler, it will also tell you there.

If you scrobble tracks using another client before scrobbling tracks queued in mobbler, last.fm may ignore the tracks from mobbler due their spam protection filter. It would be best to scrobble any queued tracks from mobbler before using any other last.fm client.

Right now I can't get it to stream good over an Edge connection. I'm sure with 3g or Wifi it works a lot better. Maybe it's the building I'm in. The application is still farely new and in beta stage so you might find some kinks.

Keep in mind this application uses all data for streaming. It needs a constant data connection, so if you don't have an unlimited data plan be extremely careful.

Click here to download Mobbler and start streaming Last.fm to your Nokia N82 today.

Let me know what you guys think. Do you like it better than Nokia Internet Radio?

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A Week Of Free N82 Application Giveaways - Don't Miss Out!

Thanks to this post by Rita over at Symbian-Guru.com I want to tell you all about a great deal that the website SymbianGear.com is having this week. They are giving out free applications if you sign up for an account with them, which is also free. These applications usually cost money and a few of them are pretty good.

Check out the deals, it's one per day so don't miss out.

Today:
Aces Texas Holdem® - Limit 1.2.3 für S60: "Limit style" Texas Hold'em is most often played in casinos where betting limits are set by the house. Setting limits retains more players per round and more action to the game. See if you can beat the pros of Aces Texas Hold'em

Wednesday:
Advanced Device Locks for Nokia S60 3rd edition 1.07: Advanced Device Locks is a Symbian OS application for locking the phone or selected applications only, such as Messages, Pictures, Contacts, Video or any other.

Thursday:
X-plore 1.22 - X-plore is a file manager for Symbian phones, with wide range of functions on phone's file system.

Friday:
EUROPAinfo 1.0 for S60: This tool knows all country number plates, capitals, number of inhabitants, area, telephone codes and more about European countries - included maps and flags. Altogether EUROPEinfo has informations about all mebers of the European Union countries.

And a few more for Saturday & Sunday.

Click here to see the details.

If you happen to read this post too late you can always purchase most of these applications in the new Nokia N82 Store here at the blog.

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My N82 Now Shows Email & Text Message Details On My Standby Screen

Well this may not be the solution everyone is looking for, but it does the trick for me. After playing with an Eseries phone for awhile I've been wanting so bad to have email and text message details show on my N82's active standby screen. I would save me so much time to glance at the screen then put the phone back in my pocket if I see it's not important. The other day I was searching every corner of the net for a solution. After all, Nokia is "Open To Anything" right? So they say. I'm glad to say that a 3rd party developer has finally came up with a solution to one of the most wanted features on Nseries phones.

I finally came across an application called S60Ticker. This application allows me to have my latest unread emails and text messages show up on just my standby screen or any screen. It can show snippets of a text or the full message in a scrolling ticker, and can show the sender and subject of new emails from the default messaging application. It works well with with the theme I'm using or you can specify the colors you want to be used.

This application isn't the perfect solution to what we want but so far it's a damn good one. I know a few people that have tried S60Ticker in the past and didn't like it. So far I haven't ran into any problems.

S60Ticker is freeware unless you want to unlock some other features, you must pay around $9 which I gladly did. Getting the full version really makes the experience much nicer. Oh and it's already Symbian Signed so you don't have to worry about certificate errors or anything like that.

Read My Full Review...
Last night I posted a review of the application over at Symbian-Addict. Click here to check out the full review with more screenshots and details.

Or Just Download The App...
If you don't feel like reading my review and want to dive straight in click here to go to the developer page where you can find the application. There's lots to read so get comfly before you start disecting this application.

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Shareware: VibrateCall - Start Your Call On Loudspeaker

Once in awhile I come across one of those simple applications that just make my life so much easier. VibrateCall does so much in such a small package. The two functions it using during the start of a call is vibrate and loudspeaker.

Here is what it does...

1. Option to start the call with Loudspeaker. As of right now this is only for outgoing calls. I actually don't think I would want it to go straight to loudspeaker for incoming calls.

2. Option to Vibrate until call is connected.



I told you it is simple. For me this application has been extremely useful. When I'm at work unloading huge container ships I sometimes have to make a call so I step aside to a safe area and take care of business. It's so loud there I need to use the Loudspeaker almost all the time. All I have to do is call my contact and then the phone phone will vibrate in my hand constantly until the call is connected. This allows me to keep my head up and watch my surroundings instead of looking at my phone or holding it at my ear waiting for the connection. Then when I'm connected the conversation is started through the Loudspeaker.

I've come to get used to this method of calling and use it almost all the time now. Of course I have to disable it when I'm in a quiet room, but this isn't option. I usually step out when I want to make a call anyway.

Here's what the developer says about it...

Safer : "Radiation emission by a mobile phone when a call is connected is found to be as much as 20 times the level during a call"
Easier : You don't need to stick your phone to your ear when calling somebody, just hold the phone in your hand, you will know exactly when the call is answered.

Click here to read more or download VibrateCall for your Nokia N82. The newest version is already signed so you don't need any certificates. The application isn't freeware but instead shareware which means you must donate after 30 calls. I used the $4.95 option which was worth it for me.

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Freeware: Jbak Task Manager Changes The Way I Control My N82

Last week I started playing with the latest version of Jbak Taskman and fell in love with this free S60 task manager application. My previous favorite was Best Taskman but in my opinion Jbak blows it out of the water. To tell you the truth it's realy changed the way I control my Nokia N82.

In order to really enjoy this application you have to take some time setting it up. Once you get everything how you want it like I have you won't be going back to anything else. There are so many different things that can be customized here. I find myself rarely using the S60 menu anymore. Below is a screenshot of how I have Jbak setup on my N82.

Task Manager
The applications you see on the left side are my open applications that I'm currently running. I can scroll through any of those and bring them to the forefront or I can simply minimize all applications and get back to my standby screen while everything is still running in the background. If you have certain applications that are always or almost always open like Contacts, Call log, etc. you can choose to hide those from your task list. This will help get rid of the clutter.

Shortcuts
On the right side is a list of shortcuts that I have assigned. Each one is given a number which of course refers to the numbers on your keypad. Any of those can be changed and re-arranged. Besides applications you can also make shortcuts to documents, apps & docs, and selected tasks that might be open on the left side. As you can see my first shortcut is the Menu. This will take me to the root of my normal S60 menu.

You might ask... Why would you need that as a shortcut when you already have the menu button on the N82? Well under Jbak's settings I have changed the Menu button to first take me to the screenshot above instead of the root S60 menu. I could have elected to make it a long-press of the Menu button but I figured why? I can have pretty much best of both worlds right with just a nice easy press. I personally hate having to long press the menu button to see open tasks. Now if I need to get to the S60 Menu I just push one after the menu button. Very simple. There are plenty of options to choose from under Jbak's settings. To get this setup in Jbak go Menu (left softkey) > Settings > Key Menu Settings > In System Keypress > Main Window. Here you will find all the other options as well for the Menu Key settings. Let me know if you'd like to know how I have all my settings.

Application Launcher
Another great feature is the Application Launcher. Once I have Jbak on my screen I can simply press pound and start typing the name of the application or task that I want. There are also a few settings that you can play with for the Application Launcher. The screenshot below shows what comes up when I'm looking for the applicaton "VibrateCall" (I'll tell you more about this application in aother post). As you can see all applications that have the word "call" are shown.



Don't forget if you don't like to use the application launcher you can always go to the S60 menu instead and find your application. All in all I go to my S60 menu maybe once a day now since I have my most useful shortcuts in the Jbak shortcut list. All of those are besides what's already on my Active Standby screen.

Extra Features



Up on top of the application you can see the memory status of all your drives. The first one tells you the RAM, second is your phone memory and third is your memory card. You can also elect to show the time at the bottom of the screen.

When you have an application highlighted you can push Menu and view the Task Info which gives you details of where it's stored and how much Ram the program is using.

Under the Tools option you can see processes, threads, chunks, etc that gives you even more details of what's going on with your phone. Most of that stuff I would never use. Here you can also lock your keypad and reboot your phone. Thats right. Not just turn off your phone and manually turn it back on. This will do the whole process.

Under the Settings option you will see a plethora of things you can tell Jbak to do. You just gotta see it for yourself.

Best of all this application is free and already signed. No need to sign it yourself. Just download the right version and install it.

Click here to download Jbak Taskman for your Nokia N82. The version I'm using is .99 on the bottom of the page. It says "JbakTaskman9_099_SymbianSigned.zip". That's the one to use if you don't want to sign anything. If you already have a hacked N82 or a Symbian Certificate you can download a newer version of the application.

Hope you enjoy this application and if your already using it let me know if you like it.

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Freeware: mConnection - Keep Track Of your Data Usage & Connection Speed

I know a good handful of readers here are from countries that don't have good data rates with their carriers. A lot of you don't have the luxury of having unlimited data plans like myself. This application is useless to me, but for many mConnection will become one of your most useful appications installed on your Nokia N82.

What mConnection does is keep track of exactly how much data you use. You can have a small box show on every window of your N82 so your always informed of what amount of data you've used. It also tells you have fast your data connection is.

The following is text taken from the developer's website:

How often did you have a low account with a thought in your mind “Ha, with two minutes internet browsing my account would not get empty”. And how often did you have to switch on a preinstalled connection manager to check the amount of megabytes used? How often did you meter a speed of your connection? Think about it - it is uncomfortable, isn’t it? That’s why we have developed a freeware application for Symbian 9 Series 60 devices, which shows the amount of used traffic and current speed of your connection. The application is named mConnection. This program can work with any Access Point of your device.


Information is shown in a popp-up window on-top of the other windows. Current version uses about 300 kb RAM and consumes power about 15 seconds of whole phone work in ICQ.

Application has a lot of different options and functions:
- monitor your current connections;
- show information about your traffic and speed in top op all windows.;
- window placement options;
- window size options;
- window colour options;
- font option;
- text colour option.;

Apparently the upcoming version will offer an option to sort data by each network connection on your mobile in a daily, weekly and monthly view. You will also be set a cost parameter and look at the charges incurred till the current date.

Download mConnection for your Nokia N82.

Keep in mind this application needs to be signed or installed on a hacked phone.

Like I said peeps I have no use for this. Let me know if you guys like it or not. Oh and the first number is your data used and the second number is your connection speed.

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Deal Alert! Quickoffice Premiere 5.0 For $1 - Today Only

A pal over at Howard Forums brought it to our attention that today only you can buy Quickoffice Premier 5.0 for only $1. This has to be one of the best application deals I've ever seen. Pretty much the best $1 I've ever spent.

If you didn't know Quickoffice Premiere allows you to:

Quickoffice Premier 5.0 is the FIRST and ONLY mobile solution to support Microsoft Office 2007® on S60 3rd Edition devices. Enjoy all of the great features of Quickoffice Premier 4.5 + the ability to edit and create new Microsoft Office 2007 documents on your device. Unlock the full potential of your smartphone and turn your device into a powerful mobile office. Quickoffice preserves documents during editing preventing document corruption and loss of formatting.

Key Features
Complete Editing of Word®, Excel® and PowerPoint® files
Advanced Editing of text, lists, tables, style, and formatting
View documents in multiple views
Performance optimizations for handling documents
ZoomView™ lets you pick the display size that’s best for you
Support For complex formulas
Complete graphical editing
Advanced email integration with Mail for Exchange 2.0
Free spell check dictionaries available in multiple languages
Add images to Word and PowerPoint documents

Supports the following file formats; DOCX, DOC, XLSX, XLSM, XLS, PPT, PPS & TXT
Microsoft Office version support; 97, 2000, XP, 2003, & 2007
Compatible with all S60 3rd Edition Devices

So what are you waiting for? I just bought mine and everything went smoothly. You can use Paypal or a credit card and you must give them your IMEI number.

Click here for the link.

Thanks again to Paracha from Hofo.

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Freeware: Conversation - Get Threaded SMS Messages On Your N82 Similar To Gmail

I can't believe it's taken me this long to talk about the Conversation application by Nokia. It's been out for awhile but I just never got around to using it. Now that I have it installed on my N82 I am addicted. Basically it threads your text messages based to on your contacts. So you can text your contacts back and forth and read it just like you would a conversation in Gmail or on the iPhone. I posted a video below of how it works on my Nokia N82.

As you can see it's not integrated with my messaging application, but instead with Contacts. Conversation adds an new tab to the right of your contacts so you can scroll over and see all your threaded text messages. Right now it's still in beta so hopefully more improvements are coming. It's really a huge bummer that this doesn't replace your built in message application. For instance when you get a new text and push read now it takes you to the built in messaging, not the Conversation application. I find that really annoying. But for starting a new sms message I now go straight into Conversation. You can also make it a shortcut in your active standby or left/right softkey which is really handy if you don't want to go through the Contacts.

Click here to learn more and download Conversation for your Nokia N82. Once again keep in mind it's in beta and you might see bugs. So far I haven't, but if you do go report it to Nokia Beta Labs so they can work on a fix. Download the version under Feature Pack 1, it works just fine. Also make sure you install the "Internet Services Support" file that is on that page.

Let me know what you think and I'm curious to see how many are already using it and if you like it or not.

p.s. - I'll be using video screenshots to review applications from now on. Hopefully you all will enjoy this.

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Quick Update: EmTube Works Again: Watch Youtube On Your N82

This is probably one of my shortest posts ever. Just want to let the EmTube fans that apparently the application is connecting to Youtube just fine and and is once again usable. Thanks to Finest Fones Blog.



Mr-X says it's working on the Nokia N95 8gb, so it should work just fine on our N82's as well. A few people from Howard Forums are reporting that it works with their N82. If not, just keep using Mobitubia (my favorite way to watch Youtube).

Click here to download Emtube on your N8 2.

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Must-Have Applications On My N82. What Are Yours?

I have a nice collection of Symbian S60 applications on my Nokia N82. Some are must-haves, others are just there for rare use, but will be needed. I'm curious to see what other N82 users have installed. Check out my list of applications...

Here is a rundown of all the must-haves with a short description, in no particular order. Click the link to see articles about each application where you will also find a download link.

Google Maps. I can't leave home without it. Literally. I get the great privilege of fighting Los Angeles area traffic on a daily basis. Nothing comes in more handy than Google Map's traffic conditions. With the latest release you can now save favorites for quick reference to certain locations. Also your 'Places' are imported to Nokia Maps automatically, and vice versa. Nice job Google! Free

Calcium Calculator. Nothing scientific here. Basic calculations are all this simple little applications does. And somehow does it 10 times better than the built in S60 calculator! Free

CalSyncS60. Keep your Google Calendar and phone calendar on the same page. Warning: It's still a little buggy, in the beta phase. Free

Screenshot. Take screenshots of any screen on your phone. Free

Themes Icon. Get an icon to take you to your theme settings. I put this in my root menu. This is much easier than digging into your phone settings just to change your theme.

Y-Browser. Get a real file browser on your phone. Does ten times more than the built in file browser.

Slick IM. I have to say this instant messanger beats the hell out of some commercial applications. Google Talk, AIM, Yahoo, MSN, Jabber, are all supported. A message alert shows up next to the battery on your homescreen when you have a new message. The colors and sounds are all customizable. I simply love this application. Watch out for the battery life though, it kills it if you leave it running all day. Free

Mobitubia. My one-stop solution for everything Youtube. You have the full Youtube library, with the ability to create favorites and save clips to your memory card. It loads pretty fast even over an Edge connection. Free

Nokia Internet Radio. Talk radio, classical, jazz, rock, blues, rap, whatever gets you dancin is here. A great application for streaming internet radio to your N82. Also works great over Edge! Free

Shozu. Take alot of photos? Upload alot of photos? Have lots of destinations. This applications is for you. Facebook, Flickr, Blogger, Ovi, Wordpress, Youtube (yes videos), Blip.tv, Picasa, and many more are all supported. Send your photos to multiple destinations all at once if you'd like. Free

Sports Tracker. Great for recording GPS locations, tracking your place in the world, recording steps, distances, altitude, photos & videos, etc. I recently went on a hike and can now see my entire route. Free

Opera Mini. Great alternative to the Web Browser. If I'm to do some real heaving internet browsing, I always pop open Opera Mini. The websites load faster and I love the interface. One of the only non S60 native applications I use. This one is java. Free

Symella Peer To Peer. Once in awhile I just need to hear that song or get a certain file. Use Symella S60 to see if a fellow p2p user my let you borrow it. Free

Active Notes. The regular Notes application but ten times better. Gotta check it out. Free

Flixwagon. Stream live video to your Flixwagon account where others can see and leave comments. I love this service.

Thats all I can think of for now. I'll try to add to this article every month or so to keep you all updated.

I'm extremely curious to see what everyone has installed on your Nokia N82's. Do you enjoy any of these applications that I use? Any good recommendations? I'm all ears.

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Shozu: Upload Photos & Video To Picasa, Flickr, Youtube, Ovi, Photobucket, Twitter & Many More

I've been a huge fan of Shozu for awhile but have never got around to talking about it here. It's like the Share Online applications times ten. Shozu allows you to upload photos and videos to most popular social networking and media sharing websites. One click uploading and multiple destinations at once are supported with Shozu. You have the option to tie it in with your camera application, allowing it to ask if you want to upload after each photo is taken or automatically upload every photo. What really made me fall in love is they recently added Ovi (I don't use Flickr anymore) as a destination. Check out more destinations...

What destinations are supported?
Flickr, Facebook,Youtube, Twitter, Photobucket, Friendster, Bl