Great applications for Nokia 5230 & 5800

I recently bought Nokia 5230 and since then I have been trying to get applications (mostly free since I don't have a credit card :(  ) for my phone. Before I give my list of recommended applications, please note that many applications require a data connection (or mobile internet) so, you would be better of with an unlimited data plan. Anyways, you require a fast and cheap internet connection to bask in the glory of a 3.2" touchscreen ( See full review of Nokia 5230 ). Please contact your carrier for data plans.

Nokia 5800 and 5230 sport Symbian OS, version 9.4, Series 60 release 5. So if you find other phones having the same OS, you can be sure that these applications will be compatible with them.

Here goes the list of applications:

Who can forget the venerable Opera mini? Opera mini is for phones with Java but having Symbian as your OS has its own rewards like the Opera Mobile . Opera Mobile has everything (almost) that you can think of  in a mainstream browser like tabbed browsing, download manager, password manager, auto-completion and so on. Though I should mention that the default browser provided with the OS is real good and Nokia has done a good job with the browser.

Once browsing is taken care of, all one needs is a an IM client and believe me Nimbuzz rocks. It's the Pidgin for Symbian. Once you install Nimbuzz, you have to create an account in Nimbuzz and then you can sign into any of your accounts ( GTalk,Yahoo!, MSN, AIM, ICQ,facebook are included). The interface is very much like a regular desktop IM client. As far as Gtalk goes, you can make voice calls. VoIP is also supported through Skype, NimbuzzOut and so on.

Quickoffice is damn good at delivering what it promises. However you have to pay for it. The demo application works for 30 days. It also supports office 2007 formats and really well.

Quickoffice also sells Adobe Reader for Symbian. While Quickoffice is unopposed, you can also use pdf+ for viewing pdf files, but it's also a paid application.

Y-Browser is a file manager for Symbian s60 OS. Not to say that the inbuilt file browser is lacking in anyway but its always better to have choice.The site also has some other nifty applications, take time to try them out.( No, I couldn't try them out because I am busy writing this blog for you!)

We have all been through moments when we copied a file to phone and disconnected it from PC, only to discover that the file is actually an archive which has to be unzipped first. WinRAR for mobile will save you from the ordeal of going back to your PC ( apparently, WinRAR also comes for Java phones, so you can get it on Java enabled phones too!! )




 

I had mentioned that the default dictionary with Symbian series 60 v5 leaves out too many words. MDictionary is a worthy replacement, I have never come across a word not in the dictionary. You will have to install both the basic program and the database(you can install any number of databases). Unidirectional database provides English-to-English dictionary. The bidirectional databases provide well, bilingual dictionary, of great use if you are on a tour.

Everyone has heard about Google Maps. It's a free service+application from Google where you can find routes, get turn-by-turn voice direction and view traffic ( of course only if Google has mapped your area). Though now Ovi maps is also a free application, Google has a much better coverage. So next time you go to a metro, make full use of the GPS in your phone and don't get fooled by taxi drivers.

This one is just for fun. Don't hope for photoshop on a phone yet (remeber your Symbain phone is a phone after all !). You will get three brush sizes, limited colors and few shapes but it's lot of fun. After all an artist needs nothing more than a brush to paint his imagination. You can save your paintings as jpg image. Just this evening my friend drew a wonderful portrait (not exactly :)  using Mobile Paint .

SymTorrent , no rewards for guessing, is a torrent client. And yes, it's for Symbian!! So, if you have an unlimited data connection, why not give your service provider sleepless nights? SymTorrent can make simultaneous downloads and lets you view the progress of each download.