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Especially when you just got a Nokia N95 (or planning to buy one), it is good to know what applications there are to extend your multimedia computer.
In order to get you started, I have compiled a list of must have applications that should enlighten the use of your Nokia N95 and give you even more pleasure.
So here you go, in non-specific order (with my own experience/comments quoted):
1. Fring
fring™ is a free mobile VoIP application that enables free mobile internet calls and live chat (IM) to other ‘fringsters’ and PC-based services including Skype®, Google Talk™, ICQ, MSN® Messenger and Twitter, using free Wi-Fi or your 3G or GPRS internet data plan instead of costly mobile airtime minutes
Since September 3rd 2007, fring delivers Fixed-Mobile-Convergence (FMC), auto-connecting to Wi-Fi and 3G networks without manual user involvement. Furthermore
Have this installed on my N95 and it works like charm: Now I actually use Skype while walking through my house… sweet, especially taking into account that I do not own a regular phone.
[visit fring.com]
2. SlingPlayer Mobile
Offering a familiar SlingPlayer Mobile experience, this version lets users
- Conveniently switch among video input devices ranging from basic cable, digital cable or satellite receiver, to DVR and DVD players
- Fully control programming via full menus and intuitive icons
- Watch TV in different viewing modes such as Full Screen and Audio Only, and adjust video screen size/ aspect ratio
- Enjoy stereo audio and listen via Bluetooth headset where supported by mobile device
- Stream from Slingbox with advanced connectivity such as 3G and beyond cellular connection (e.g. HSDPA) or WiFi where supported by mobile device
Not installed, here in Holland I have not seen much of SlingMedia. More important: I do not own a TV.
[visit slingbox.com]
3. The Filter
The Filter for mobile phones is a clever application that makes navigating the music on your mobile phone quick and easy. Once you have loaded the application onto your phone, simply pick an artist you want to listen to, hit the select icon and in seconds The Filter will create a great playlist for you.
- Create instant playlists on your mobile phone
- Enjoy smart music navigation
- Free download for Nokia
Not installed, I mainly use the audio part of my N95 for its radio feature. The idea behind these playlists appeals though, I do something alike on my iPod.
[visit thefilter.com]
4. emoze
- Receive your emails and Outlook data anywhere, anytime
- Handle your schedule and meetings via your mobile device
- Enjoy synchronized Personal Information Management (PIM)
- Access information about your Contacts, anywhere, anytime
- Data is pushed automatically to your mobile handset or PDA with no need to connect to a service or click send\receive
- Military-grade secure, encrypted transmissions behind your firewall
- Totally free accessibility with no costly packages, specific hardware or software platforms
While I was considering to add a Blackberry to my mobile gear for business purposes, I came across emoze. As it does what it says and does it very well, I see no need for a Blackberry anymore.
[visit emoze.com]
5. Nokia Sports Tracker
Nokia Sports Tracker is a GPS based activity tracker that runs on S60 smartphones. Information such as speed, distance and time are automatically stored to your training diary. To be able to use application for real, you need Nokia S60 3.0 or 3.1 phone with Bluetooth GPS device or Nokia S60 3.0 or 3.1 phone with integrated GPS.
Already reviewed when it was still a research object, this little app stays on my phone. It kept me from buying the Nike + iPod combi. Works like charm and gives broad information. Together with Google Earth a killer combi.
[visit Nokia Sports Tracker]
6. WWIGO
wwigo (pronounced ‘vigo’) stands for Webcam Wherever I Go. With wwigo, a camera phone can be used as a webcam with PC or Laptop using bluetooth as the transmission medium.
It consists of two software components:
- mobile component that resides on phone and streams video to PC.
- PC component that recieves video.
When at work (Window$) and in a Skype chat with video, WWIGO does a great job for me. Although the camera in combination with bluetooth does ask for some batterylife, the ability to freely move the camera around does have many advantages and brings some extra fun to the conversation.
[visit Motvik’s WWIGO]
7. Movino
Movino is a collection of open source applications for streaming and broadcasting live video from smartphones. The main applications are the following:
- A client for Symbian Series 60 smartphones
- A client for J2ME camera phones
- A GUI application and a QuickTime component for OS X
- A video server for Linux
- A web interface based on the Drupal CMS
Totally sweet! Having “just” an old Apple 15″ Powerbook without the integrated webcam, Movino took my videochat possibilities to a next level, especially after Skype launched its video enabled Mac version some time ago.
[visit Movino]
8. Calcium
Calcium is a fast, easy to use calculator for your S60 phone
Doing basic calculations on your phone is now only a couple of clicks away.
So how fast is it? Try this simple example: start the standard calculator and do 2/3 x 7. It takes 13 clicks. Using Calcium it only takes 6!
One of those apps where simplicity is the keyword. Nothing special: it is just a calculator. It only does the job quicker!
[visit MTvoid’s Calcium]
9. LifeBlog
Lifeblog is a digital photo album tool designed with mobile phone photographers and bloggers in mind. Lifeblog phone and PC software automatically organizes your digital media between your mobile phone and PC so you can view, search, edit, and share your images and messages.
Lifeblog automatically builds an organic timeline as you take photos and videos and send and receive messages. Just open Lifeblog on your phone and scroll through your images, videos, and more. Save your best shots in the Favorites timeline for quick access.
Lifeblog is both phone and PC software. Clear up space on your phone by connecting to your PC and saving files on that larger hard drive. From there you can browse, edit, and blog through the Lifeblog PC interface. You may want to keep your favorites on your phone to show off when the mood strikes
Oh yeah, just another way to digitally share your life… Every now and then I scroll through the mobile version on my N95, just for fun’s sake.
[visit Nokia’s LifeBlog]
10. Shozu
With ShoZu, you can post your photos and videos to multiple sites with just one MMS and the best part – you only pay for that one upload! It’s easy, instant, and it saves you money.
Simply MMS or email your photos and videos to ShoZu and we’ll post them to your favorite web sites like Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, your blog and more.
Shozu started of as a battery draining application with a great expectations. It learned quickly and I think it still is one of the most appealing applications to many N95-users.
[visit the Shozu website]
11. Gizmo
Save money making Internet calls with your WiFi Nokia phone. It is easier than ever, simply download and install the GizmoVoIP plug-in and choose “Internet Call” when making calls. Your calls will be connected via the Internet, not the cellular network, so you save money on international calling, roaming fees and use less mobile minutes.
Have this installed on my mobile, but I guess I have not ever been able to convince any of my close friends to get rid of Skype… Anyhow, I did do some test-calls and must say that the quality good. Another plus for Gizmo: It has many additional services, like a landline-number for your Gizmo account. Yes, like Skype-in, only does Skype-in not (yet) provide this for Holland… Still, it costs tooo much.
[visit the GizmoProject]
12. Jaiku Mobile
> Live contact list - See what your friends are up to right in your phone’s contact list
> Browse Jaikus from your contacts - Browse the latest updates from your contacts, add comments
> Post Jaikus - Post new Jaikus and have them instantly show up on the Web and in your friends’ phones
> Share presence - Share your availability, location, and calendar publicly or with selected contacts only
I love Jaiku. I never got into Twitter and preferred Jaiku from the beginning. So when this application for S60 became available, I added it immediately. And I like it a lot. The only lack it has, IMHO, is the fact that it connects over anything except WIFI. That aside, it is a great app for staying up to date anywhere, as it even can act as your RSS reader. 
[visit Jaiku Mobile]
13. Mystrands
> Browse and play your music by track, artist, album and playlist.
> Get recommendations for great music.
> Link to our extensive mobile web site for detailed information.
> Find out who’s playing your music now. Find out what other music they’re listening to. Add them as a friend and message them.
> Discover new music through your friends.
MyStrands is a great application that offers also quite some extras. I was quite amazed by the services they offer during parties in clubs, that asks for an interesting interaction.
[visit the MyStrands website]
14. Handy Taskman
> Find and start the desired application by typing the first letters of its name.
> Create shortcuts in the Favorites list to start applications, call or send SMS to the Contacts with just one click.
> Run Handy Taskman by pressing and holding Menu button (like the built-in Task manager).
> Get full information about running programs and free memory left on the phone (RAM, Phone memory and Memory card).
> Switch to, Close, Kill any application or Close them all in one click.
If I say that I hope that Nokia buys this application and adds it to all its devices, I think I make clear how much I appreciate this application. You have seen before in earlier posts and although this is not freeware, I would definitely recommend it.
[visit Handy Taskman @ Epoware]
15. RotateMe
RotateMe is a freeware application for symbian OS 3rd edition devices, which allow you to switch your phone screen from portrait to landscape and vice versa.
On Nokia N95: Auto rotation: when you turn your device, the screen automatically rotates.
I donated to Samir and beta-used different versions of RotateMe. The application does its purpose well and by releasing different always improving versions of the application, Samir has shown to be a worthy and listening S60 app developer.
[visit the RotateMe website]
16. Screenshot for Symbian
Screenshot for Symbian OS is a FREE program to take screenshot on your Symbian OS mobile phones (UIQ or S60). You can capture screenshot and save it to a file in JPEG, PNG, BMP or MBM format. The screenshot can be sent directly to a PC via Bluetooth or infrared and another mobile phone. Furthermore, you can customize the shortcut key, file name and delay of capturing. It supports continuous mode that allows you to capture screenshot every a few seconds.
Where would I be without Screenshot for Symbian? Every screenshot you see nt this sitehas been taken with this wonderful app. Anthony Pranata has done a wonderful job and keeping it freeware has only contributed to its quality.
[visit Screenshot for Symbian]
17. Emtube
> emTube is an application for Symbian S60 3rd edition phones that allows you to: Search and browse videos on YouTube.
> Download selected videos onto your phone.
> Stream FlashVideo files directly from YouTube.
> Play local FlashVideo files.
EmTube does totally improve the way to watch YouTube vids on your mobile… yet it still could do with some improvement. I personally look forward to the release of MobiTubia, where the user interface looks really appealing and integrates even further with S60!
[visit EmTube’s website]
18. Opera Mini
Opera Mini 4 enables you to take your full Web experience and digital lifestyle with you — everywhere you go. Whether you want to access your mail, RSS feeds or bank information, Opera Mini is a quick and secure way to get your data on the go. Opera Mini 4 also delivers several new features for quicker scrolling, navigation and page rendering.
Opera Mini has many advantages over the built-in S60 browser. Speed and navigation being the most important. I truly hope that Nokia learns from Opera Mini…
[visit the site of Opera Mini]
19. Flip Silent
A small software which makes you use your phone in a more natural way:
When you are in a meeting or dating, and a call is coming in, you can flipover your phone to make it go into the silent profile and hang up the phone call or mute the ringer — without touching anything on the phone, just flip it over, your phone will go into silence!
Did try the first version, think it is a great application. Will need to donate to get the current version, but will do so soonly. Everybody who creates applications like these (and who is a NokiaForum Champion) deserves much credit.
[visit Tong Ren’s Flip Silent page]
20. ShutUp
ShutUp is a very simple application: When the phone is ringing (alarm, call…), silence it simply by physically flipping the phone over.
ShutUp was announced already some time ago, has not been released yet and I think it has been bypassed in attention by above mentioned FlipSilent.
With the quality Samir has delivered with RotateMe, I still think he will deliver a great application and thought it only worthy to mention it here in this list.
[visit the (future) site of ShutUp]
21. Wavelog
Wavelog is a blogging client application developed for S60* phones. It allows posting of the content as text, image, audio or video, to a Web log (blog) directly from the mobile phone using any type of available network (mobile phone or Wi-Fi network). The application allows saving the work for later posting in the case there is no available network.
Will soon be reviewing this application, in the meantime you can check a review by All About Symbian. They say they are not impressed, I hope that I can bring another opinion.
[visit the website of Wavelog]
22. Dr. Jukka’s Inclinometer
Just install it, put your N95 in your cars dashboard and you are ready for an off road experience… Your Nokia N95’s built-in accelerometer will fuel this inclinometer with the information it needs to translate your car’s movements and tilting to your phone’s screen. Note that this is only for Nokia N95, and only available at the MOSH.
This is more for the fun, but still a pretty neat application.
[visit the inclinometer page @ MOSH]
23. Qik
Qik is a little piece of software that enables you to stream videos directly from your phone to the Web. Use it to stream engaging videos to your friends in Facebook, Twitter, etc. or as your camcorder to capture entertaining and special moments.
Have not tried this yet, but came across the site and the mobile possibilities during Steve Jobs Keynote presentation… more people were trying to use Qik to broadcast the live event. This has sweet possibilities!
[visit Qik’s website]
24. Nokia’s Internet Radio
> Choose from a large variety of stations and shows, including news, sporting events and music.
> Explore the most popular stations and stay in touch with the mobile internet radio community.
> Browse for your favorite radio programs by genre, language, or country, or search by station name.
> Nokia Internet Radio service is supported by both packet data and WLAN connections.
If the FM stations are not enough for you… I have not installed this, simply because I do not have a dataplan that would allow this. And at home, well I have either a regular radio or Last.FM…
[visit Nokia’s Internet Radio page]
25. ExtGPS
Symarctic ExtGPS allows you to use your phone’s built-in GPS module externally on laptop via Bluetooth. It is mainly targeted for Nokia N95, E90, 6110 Navigator handsets, allowing you to use existing, more sophisticated GIS applications.
Next to FlipSilent high on my list of applications to test… Its purpose is simple, yet is does open up many possibilities. Definitely worth the mention.
[visit the downloadpage of ExtGPS]
Quite a list… hope you enjoy! In case you miss some applications, please leave your essential apps in the comments.
