Today I got the honor of testing out a new application coming to S60 handsets called Smart Settings by MobiFun Software. This application was actually a big hit for s40 users, but is just barely making it's way to S60. This application is still in beta and should be released in March.

What does Smart Settings for S60 do? Basically it provides three major functions.

1. Auto Lock options. You can tell the phone to auto lock only in certain profiles. Set the auto lock period, set the phone to lock on any screen or just the standby screen, and set the auto lock exceptions for certain applications.

For example, I have a profile called Car. I keep my phone on a mount that sites in the middle console, facing me. Volume is all the way up, and the lock is set to off. This way I can easily access the functions of my phone like calling, maps, or reading a text (when I'm sitting at a read light of course). I also usually set my auto lock application exceptions only for the Music Player. Handy for when the phone is sitting at my desk when I'm at work and jamming the tunes. No need to fiddle with a lock when it's just chilling there on the desk.

2. Easy Unlock. Here you can change your lock combo buttons. Instead of the standard lock combos, you can change it to whatever is more comfortable for you. You can change the locks and unlocks to separate combos which is pretty cool.

3. Start Menu. You can make your left or right softkeys into a start menu, sorta like the start menu in windows. Push the softkey you choose for this application, and a small window pops up with up to ten shortcuts that you select to any applications installed on the phone. Each application is numbered, so if you have "settings" as your fourth shortcut, then you just have to push five on your keypad instead of scrolling all the way down to it. This I guess would be handy only for candybars since you don't have a slider to worry about. You can easily change the order of your applications as well.

I'm happy to report that I haven't found any bugs while using this application, but I'll keep you updated if I do. This will for sure become one of the must have applications installed on your N95 or any S60 3rd Edition phone.

How many of you are looking forward to this?

Thanks to Phoneboy, I just read some news over at Howard Forums about a new mobile browser for Symbian S60 devices that brings you a true desktop browser experience. Skyfire will use the same idea as Opera Mini, in which it a backend proxy server to process the website to work on your Nokia phone. It will feature full flash support for websites such as Youtube and Espn.com. The latest Nokia N95 8gb firmware update already gives browser flash support, but people still run into out of memory errors. Hopefully this new 3rd party browser can solve that problem. I think it's great that Nokia will have new competition with 3rd party web browsers, it will only push them to make the built-in one better. Best thing is this application will be FREE!

Even better is I'm hearing that this will work on older models such as the Nokia N73, but don't quote me on that. If that is the case, Skyfire can possibly become one of the most popular S60 applications.

The picture to the left is a screenshot of Skyfire Browser on a Nokia N95. I dropped a screenshot I found over the Nokia N95 8gb screen using Photoshop. I'm not sure that there is even an actual beta version being tested right now.




I actually found a video of Skyfire mobile browser being tested on a Windows Mobile device. See below...it looks absolutely amazing.


This application is slated to be released for S60 sometime this quarter. Click here for the original article at Phoneboy's blog.

Ok so I installed Adaptxt yesterday, which I talked about a few weeks ago before it was released. After using it for a day, I am really starting to love it, and find that it's saving me a ton of keystrokes. Over time, it learns what you talk about a lot, or words or phrases you say, and it offers them to you as your typing. Like at my job, I'm pretty much on call. I'm always texting my buddies "do you think we'll work tonight?". With Adaptxt, as soon as I start typing "do you", it offers me to complete the rest of the sentence, or I can just go word by word. I find it extremely accurate and easy to use. There is also an area in the application called Statistics, and it's showing me that Adaptxt is saving me 46% on keystrokes, almost half. Thats pretty good, especially since I've only been using it for a day, and it gets even better over time.

It can be disabled quickly as well, not as quickly as I like, but it's not a painful task. I've found a few applications that it doesn't work with, like Google Maps and Palringo Instant Messenger. It's a real bummer Adaptxt doesn't work with Palringo, that would be perfect, especially for those long conversations.

The best thing to do is use the "learn" tool for the first day or two whenever typing a long message. If you do that, it learns your habits faster and you'll have a better time typing out a similar message next time. The learning only takes a few seconds.

Here is a video sample of the Adaptxt I found doing a quick search on youtube:


As you can see, it saved the user a ton of keystrokes.

Here are a few videos made by Adaptxt:





You can also find a handful of videos made by Adaptxt showing off the application by clicking here.

Check out Adaptxt at their official website. You can get a free 7 day trial, then if you like it, purchase it for $20. Not too bad, especially since this is becoming one of my most used applications.

When I got my Nokia N73, which is also my first Symbian device, the first thing that bugged me was how long it takes to get a text message started. You have to first click Messaging, then New Message, then Text Message, then click the To area and bring up the phonebook, the scroll to select the person you want. Way too much.

Well, the guys from Mind Flip came up with an application called TextQuick. Basicly, with one click, you get a list of your most "texted" contacts, and you just select the one you want, and start typing your message just like you would in the regular messaging application. The look and feel is exactly the same. It saves you a lot of clicking and scrolling. And if the contact your trying to text isn't on your popular list, just scroll or start typing the name, and it will show up. Also, if you hit the green call button, it allows you to call the contact instead of sending a text. So essentially its a CallQuick application also.

I find this application to be one of the most used 3rd party apps I have, and keep it as my right softkey as you can see to the left. For only $10, you can't go wrong.

Head over to Handango's website to purchase this extremely essential S60 text messaging application.

Best Taskman is one of the most essential applications I have installed on my phone, and since it's a Task Manager, I use it most often. I know, a lot of people swear by the other task manager Handy Taskman, but I think Best Taskman blows it out of the water. Not to mention its half the price. Main reason I like it over Handy Taskman is the Quick Start button and the Hotkey Switcher.

The Hotkey Switcher
There are many reasons why I love this application, and the main one being you can assign a hotkey to act as your Switcher, like "Alt-Tab" on your Windows PC. Thats right, in any application or screen, use just press a hotkey that you assign, and a small window pops up with Icons of all your applications that you are currently running in the background, and it allows you to scroll through and switch to that application immediately.

Using the Switcher Hotkey, I can see all of applications I am currently running while I'm using Google Maps. On my N73, I use the Music (aka Multimedia) button as my hotkey.


The Quick Start Feature
Another awesome feature is the Quick Start Menu. You can go into the main Best Taskman Menu, and add whatever applications you want to the Quick Start menu. These are applications that I want to be able to access quickly at any time on any page.

While checking out out the latest Southern California traffic with Google Maps, I can quickly push the Quick Start Hotkey to launch any of the programs I want, and it will open the program over the original, while keeping the original in the background. I use the Gallery Button on the side of the phone for this hotkey, and if you hold down the button, whatever application you have listed first, will open. So essentially, this key is also my Music hotkey.


Other features include Close All, Memory Status (for the Ram, Phone, & Card), view hidden tasks and applications, auto start, and much more. Holding down the default menu/switcher key will bring up the following screenshots, pretty much similar to Handy Taskman.

A rundown of the currently open applications. If you go to options or press the Clear button on your phone, you can close down each application. You also have the option to Close All, and view detailed application info.


This is where you setup your Quick Start applications.


And where you view the memory status of your phone.


For only $9.95 at SmartphoneWare, I think it's a great deal and a must-have application.

Click here to check it out.

If you don't like Best Taskman, or if it's not working right for you, you can check out Handy Taskman by clicking here.

Update (11/30/07) : Thanks to the readers, apparently this application isn't working for the N95-3. I'm going to contact the developer and let them know. Hopefully they get back to me soon. It's working fine on my N95-1.