Two weeks with the 6630

The price for mobile data has dropped significantly in the last few months with prices now sitting between 49c and R2 per meg, depending on usage. With dialup being astronomically expensive, it is therefore now reasonable to use the cellphone networks as a primary internet access medium. (And if you need any convincing as to why one would like to do this, maybe you should visit the forums at http://www.myadsl.co.za)

With 3G being rolled out, and EDGE available in many areas, speed should also not be a huge issue. So, cellphone upgrade time prompted me to purchase the Nokia 6630.

Applications

I've now had this Symbian Series 60 smartphone for 2 weeks, and I've played with everything from 3G access to 3D gaming. I use it for ALL my personal internet access (my Telkom line will be culled shortly), and I've loaded quite a few useful (and some useless) apps onto the phone. Here's a list of my favourites:

• SmartMovie

Compress AVI movies on your PC, and play them back on your phone. Perfect to catch up on last night's comedy or to keep you busy while travelling. The quality of the video is also nothing short of impressive!

Realistically, to get watchable quality, this application will compress video down to roughly 1MB/minute. Therefore, if you plan to encode movies to your phone, plan to get a bigger DV RS MMC card - you're going to need it. (I purchased a 512MB model shortly after getting the phone.)

You can get this from Lonely Cat Games.

• Nokia Field Test

3G coverage is patchy where I live, and I'm just on the border of EDGE coverage, so I do not always connect to an EDGE cell. The phone's firmware also does not allow one to force 3G mode, only GSM and DUAL. That's where this little application fits in.

Firstly, it allows you to lock the handset onto specific towers, and it also allows you to force 3G mode. Exactly what I need - I can now manually select the best connection medium for the task at hand, and not have the phone spoil my selections.

Note though - this software is not intended for non-experts. If you're not sure what you're doing, then don't do it.

You can find a good tutorial at the following link:
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=20914

• Agile Messenger

If you're on the move, and need access to your IM - this is the application to get. It used to be free (still is in South Africa), but even at a cost it is still well worth it. This enables you to connect to most IM services, including MSN, Yahoo and Google Talk.

• MXIT

This one is even better - a "server-based" IM service, it uses next to no data. You can run this in the background for hours on end and still use less than 50kb's of data.

The only problem with this one is that the servers sometimes get a tad busy, and then you might struggle to log on. Otherwise though, I would recommend this one above Agile Messenger for casual use.

• Opera

Excellent browser for mobile phones. Now bundled with newer Nokia models like the 6680 and N-seriues.

• FExplorer

Easily explore your phone's file system, including ares where you would generally not want to scratch.

• PicoBlogger

When I'm not at a PC, I can use this to keep this blog up to date. Allows you to post photos, movies, sound clips, and even some text if you really wanted.

• Torch

Need light?

• Oggplay

Excellent replacement for the Nokia's built-in MP3 player. Also supports OGG file format and a few others.

• TaskSpy

See hidden tasks running on your phone, kill tasks. Excellent replacement for the built-in task manager.

• ClickSMS

Sens SMSes using www.clickatell.com. Buy bundles and lower your SMSing cost significantly!

• Xedious

Game from the 80's - if you grew up in games arcades or around a ZX Spectrum or similar, you'll instantly recognize this one. Get it!

• QuickPoint/Sheet/Word

Quick viewers for the most popular Office documents. To be fair, I've never used these. Most XLS files won't open because they're too big. But I'm keeping them just as well.

• Adobe PDF

PDF Reader

• YFTP

FTP client to download files etc. Useful sometimes.

I will update this post over the next few weeks, adding short reviews for some of the above apps (and possibly for a few others as well).

Nokia's also released a new version of the PC Suite - apparently with better support for Series 60 smartphones. I will install this in the coming week and drop some feedback.