Review: This Week’s Top S60 5th-edition Applications
Most Innovative Application: JoikuSpot Premium v2.5
JoikuSpot is an innovative application that can convert any 3G-enabled S60 device into a mobile Wi-Fi router. Developed by JoikuSoft, a Finnish company, the application is the winner of the Navteq LBS Challenge 2008, bagging a cash award of US $ 275,000.
The application combines a very easy-to-use interface with various customization options to configure the ad-hoc Wi-Fi hotspot. By default the hotspot is decrypted, but users can set a password to prevent unauthorised usage.
Available in two forms: Light is a freeware, and Premium offers certain value-added features. The Light version supports standard web browsing and sets the default homepage to JoikuSpot's official website. The Premium version is priced at €15 and offers advanced features such as VPN, SSH, and HTTPS.
While the Light version should suffice for most basic users, advanced users can rely on the premium version which is a very cost-effective solution, considering the featureset offered.
JoikuSpot Premium and Light versions can be downloaded from our forum.
Review: Sony Ericsson C903 Cyber-shot
July 1, 2009 by Meraj Chhaya
Filed under Coverage, Events, Manufacturers, Mobile World Congress, Reviews, Sony Ericsson
BARCELONA, Spain - Unveiled in London a week before the Mobile World Congress 2009, the Sony Ericsson C903 Cyber-shot is designed to be a powerful, yet easy-to-use camera-phone.
With a 5 megapixel camera which has autofocus, dual LED flash, video recording, picture and video blogging, SmileShutter and BestPic technologies, face detection, image and video stabilizer, and connectivity to the Snapfish online service, the C903 is indeed a powerful imaging tool.
Among the main specifications of the phone, one can find a 2.4" TFT display with 240x320 pixels of resolution, triband HSPA and quadband GSM connectivity, Bluetooth, TV-out, A-GPS, connection to the TrackID service, and USB connectivity.
The C903 is not a smartphone, although it does offer many desirable applications, such as Google Maps, Wayfind Navigator, YouTube, and others.
The phone has been released in many parts of the world in a version for the North American part, and another for the rest of the world; depending on regional availability, the C903 will retail in three colours: Lacquer Black, Techno White, and Glamour Red; all these are pictured in this review.
Review: Nokia N86 8MP
June 29, 2009 by Meraj Chhaya
Filed under Coverage, Manufacturers, Nokia, Reviews, S60, Software, Symbian OS
STUTTGART, Germany - Following from our review of a prototype Nokia N86 8MP at the Mobile World Congress 2009, we were presented with a production unit of the Nokia N86 during our Carl Zeiss tour in Germany. The phone contains the highest megapixel count in any Nokia, and is the flagship of camera-phones for the manufacturer.
The N86 features a dual-slider design resembling the N85, while its position in the camera market shows continuity from the N82; the N8x series is one dedicated to high-end camera phones.
In terms of specifications, the N86 contains a 2.6" AMOLED display with QVGA resolution (240x320 pixels), a microSD memory card with 8GB included in the package, Bluetooth, HSDPA,DLNA-certified Wi-Fi, A-GPS, a 3.5mm audiovisual jack, an FM transmitter, Ngage gaming platform, and a kickstand.
The kickstand is comparable to that of the Nokia N96, a phone which was also used in this review for comparison purposes. The N96 unit was kindly lent to us by Dan Carter from World of Nokia.
Note: Further Nokia N86 images are available at our sister project, Nokia N86 Blog.
Review: This Week’s Top iPhone OS Software
June 28, 2009 by Sushant Ghargi
Filed under Coverage, Reviews, Software, iPhone OS
Best Password Manager: Wallet Pro
With the advent of online shopping and with some of the stores offering dedicated iPhone applications for shopping from their portals, login accounts, credit card numbers and other crucial personal information are a common sight in many applications.
While it is not advisable to store this sensitive information on your iPhone, memorising them is no feasible option either. This is where a dedicated password manager which not only stores all the crucial information, but also encrypts it to prevent unauthorised access comes into picture.
Wallet Pro by Memengo is a password manager which uses 256 bit encryption, the highest level of encyption today, which cannot be cracked even by supercomputers. In addition, the application also provides online backup of encrypted data and synchronisation with online account, making it easier to migrate between different iPhones.
The application uses easy-to-use "wallets" that contain folders and cards that store sensitive information entered by the users. Wallet Pro provides three levels of security to each of the wallet's contents, and there are several ready-made templates for wallets and cards that can be used for entering organized information stored in the application. Users can also store phone numbers and links in this application, which can later be accessed with a single tap.
Priced at US$4.99, Wallet Pro is the best password manager for iPhones, and can be downloaded from iTunes.
Review: This Week’s Top S60 5th-Edition Software
June 28, 2009 by Sushant Ghargi
Filed under Coverage, Reviews, S60, Software, Symbian OS
Best Widget: Blogger
There are very few widgets in the market today that do more than linking to the default browser and sourcing some information from the web. Rarer are the widgets that combine usability and functionality in one seamless package. Blogger is one of these rare breeds and the best part is, that it is free.
Developed by PhoneyTunes, Blogger is a widget that acts as a standalone client for blogging from Symbian 5th-edition devices. The widget supports basic blogger functions such as creating and publishing a new post, editing a post, and viewing blogger posts.
Although the widget performance is not as breezy as some of the other widgets in market today, Blogger excels at usability and with a well designed interface; blogging from mobile devices is a much easier task now.
While most commonly used blogger features such as uploading pictures/videos, editing in HTML mode, embeding links, and scheduling a post are not yet supported on the widget, the basic features offered are more than satisfactory for a free widget.
Blogger widget can be downloaded for free from the Ovi Store.
