Free software for our smartphones has never been so abundant. From Nokia's stream of useful freebies to technology demos from big companies to small utilities from home developers, everything now seems to be free. With so much freeware around, is there still a market for paid-for software? And which would be the top picks of the All About Symbian team, for both S60 3rd Edition and UIQ 3-powered smartphones?
Read on in the full article.
1) I think any software above 10 dollars or euros is too expensive for personal use for the speed with which I swap smartphones. Mobile software does not allow you to change phones, you get software that does works below drm-level. Remember the troubles with changing the PC for Microsoft Windows.
2) Few commerical software add anything ESSENTIAL to my phone. S/MIME support for e-mail I'd go for. PPP-VPN or ssh-tunneling would be one very useful thing, QuickOffice for some (not me). No way I am going to *edit* office documents on my N95. Then again anything work related should be paid by my boss...
3) A large amount of above applications could be proxied through mobile webservers. This concept has been heavily pushed by Apple with their iPhone.
snoyt.vox.com
I'll make a shout for RemindMe. This is invaluable on an hourly basis for me. This kind of functionality is built in to the E51 but the E90 suffers without. Great app worth the few quid.
Secondly, and I've just discovered this yesterday, is GSync. Fiendishly simple backup SMS tool to one's GMail account over WLAN (or any other connection) which outstrips any other local solution. Psiloc's product for just a few quid.
On the previous point about about changing devices regularly, yes I do that too, but I think when it's just a few quid it doesn't really hurt - helps encourage writers to write more, and is usually only the price of a couple of pints. Same argument for N-Gage titles. Keep the price low and people won't mind multiple purchases so much. After all, if one can afford to buy a new device so regularly...
Tim
As a seemingly unbiased news site, have you ever considered promoting software that is not sold by you (or handandgo)?
"As a seemingly unbiased news site, have you ever considered promoting software that is not sold by you (or handandgo)? "
The above selection was people's personal picks from non-game commercial apps. I didn't restrict them to software in the AAS shop. As can be seen by the DreamLife inclusion.
But something like 95% of all commercial apps are sold through Handango and thus through the AAS shop as well.
And I've lost count of the number of freeware/indie articles we've run. This is the first focus on pay-for software for absolutely ages.
We'll also happily look at any software that gets sent in or is suggested to us by readers - so please do make suggestions and give feedback.
I'd be interested to see others top picks too. We also tried to keep things general so there would be a wider base of interest. I'd also second Tim's suggestion to look at some of the PsiLoc's portfolio - they have some supper applications (some on Handango and some not).
On the previous point about about changing devices regularly, yes I do that too, but I think when it's just a few quid it doesn't really hurt - helps encourage writers to write more, and is usually only the price of a couple of pints. Same argument for N-Gage titles. Keep the price low and people won't mind multiple purchases so much. After all, if one can afford to buy a new device so regularly...
As far as Nokia's told us, N-Gage titles don't have to be re-purchased if you change phones. I believe the reason N-Gage prices are so low is to compete with other phone game prices, which are set by Java titles (which tend not to have any phone-locking either).
You should be able to get the games transferred for free to your new phone along with your N-Gage account. We'll be testing this procedure very soon.
Any call recorder is invaluable, because you don't have to messing around to jot names, numbers, addresses, schedules down during a call, just replay the record later without hurry and take notes then delete the record.
i'd be happy to say for emTUBE, but it looks line YouTUBE have killed the tasty little app. All links from emTUBE now go to a HTML page. At least for me. Can anyone confirm?
@Unregistered: you're missing the point. This feature was talking about commercial software, NOT freeware. Which emTube is/was.
@ slitchfield. I grasped the point just fine thank you. 😊 The point I was making, which you may have missed, is that I would be happy to pay for the likes of emTube. (I'm quite aware it's freeware). Certainly up to and/or around the �20 mark. The second point I was making, to follow on from my first point, is that unfortunately, it appears the software has been blocked from accessing YouTube.
I do agree that Dreamlife is a great PIM manager, but it has one HUGE disadvantage. After sync with external source it won`t work properly. End Dreamlife, sync with external source (like Goosync, ZYB ....), start Dreamlife. It won`t work properly because the phone`s database is corrupted by the sync. Most professional user need to sync, so this is not good enough, in my opinion. When this is fixed it is the best PIM for UIQ without doubt!
I agree with Guess Who a good call recorder is absolutely essential, it is so convenient not having to bother with details during the call.
Another positive effect that I am now much more careful with what I promise people because we both know that it is recorded and that could easily be checked!
I have tested all call recording apps I have found and I think that how they handle the beep is the most important factor, it is so annoying that an app that can't handle it (read:remove it) is all but useless. But I found that the later version of Ultimate voice recorder works OK on my n95 8gb. Anybody got some other suggestions?
I don't understand the need to keep lists of anything, I keep it all in my head and find it quite easy. Perhaps people get so used to depending on a gadget for their memory that their own gets weaker.
I agree with much of the software you guys selected but I thought I'd add my list:
1. QuickOffice - I use my E90 extensively for business and need something that lets me read and modify Office files. I routinely review documents and have even created drafts from scratch.
2. Mail for Exchange - I know that you guys perfer RoadSync but M4E has served me and my small business well. RoadSync const $50 and does not offer that much more than the free M4E. It works well and I have not experienced any stability issues.
3. Best Profiles - I am in and out of meetings all day and having this program automatically silence my phone is a must. Again, it works well and I like that it works as a system app.
4. Interactive Voice Call Master - this app was not mentioned by anyone but it is extremely powerful and allows me to use my E90 as a mini-PBX. Calls come in and I can re-direct them to my partner automatically when I'm not available and I can easily block or send to voice mail other calls.
While I have a few other applications on my phone (GSync, SmartLight, Tracker, etc.), I consider the above the "must have basics".
Mark
My favorite software for Symbian based phones:
Advanced English Dictionary:
http://jdictionary-mobile.com/products.php?req=aed
It's a really cool app, I simply can't live without it. It was reviewed here at my-symbian, I heard about it here 😊
and The World Factbook (from the same company):
http://jdictionary-mobile.com/products.php?req=factbook
Total Recall is a solid Call Recorder without the beep on most devices, including your N95 8GB - give it a whirl!
Regarding paid apps - WayFinder w/ Mexico maps was a recent commercial purchase of mine. One of the only direction apps that has maps of Mexico beyond the big 3 cities.
Linux is worth paying for. Many Symbian phone users would be willing to pay �400 or more for a Linux distribution that runs on their phone and is preloaded and fully supported by Nokia. Although open source software often has a lower cost, it is worth more. Trolltech has an interesting business model selling open source software like Qtopia worth paying for.
A community developer has ported Linux's KDE desktop environment to Nokia's Internet tablets. The port appears to run on both the N800 and the very inexpensive 770 tablet (One 770 per Child). It purrs like a kitten, believe it or not. Priceless. KDE, tabbed browsing and open source. That is worth paying for.
http://linuxdevices.com/news/NS8623627920.html
Eventually we may have to run VMWare on our phones so we can run Linux but a better optimization would be to gradually (or quickly) shift Symbian over to the Linux kernel and step by step adopt full Linux.
Other handheld software worth paying for is Fennec. While it does not seem possible to direct donations specifically to this project at Mozilla, after the Linux version is released it may be ported to Symbian. It is already working on Maemo. And NoScript (NoScript.net) is already working.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080409-first-look-mozilla-fennec-targets-handheld-browser-market.html
Some of the apps I have not regretted paying for are Agile Messenger (I know there are better messengers available now, but it was the best when I bought it, IMO), a bunch of apps from epocware (Handy Calendar, Handy blacklist, Handy Expense Manager), MSDict (I am humble enough to admit that I do not know the meanings of all the words :tongue😊, PDF+ (I find it much better than the built in pdf reader).
I am using worldmate too, but the features offered by the free version suffice for my needs and I really do not need the premium features.
One particular epocware app I am really fond of is Handy profiles. It helps me automatically switch to the silent mode with vibrator in meetings and it can also switch to a particular profile when your phone comes in contact with a particular cell tower. I have set my phone to automatically switch to silent whenever i come in the vicinity of the movie theatre that I frequent. Now I dont have to remember to switch to the silent mode everytime before a movie. 😊
Unregistered wrote:I do agree that Dreamlife is a great PIM manager, but it has one HUGE disadvantage. After sync with external source it won`t work properly. End Dreamlife, sync with external source (like Goosync, ZYB ....), start Dreamlife. It won`t work properly because the phone`s database is corrupted by the sync. Most professional user need to sync, so this is not good enough, in my opinion. When this is fixed it is the best PIM for UIQ without doubt!
Thanks for the compliments.
Hopefully DreamLife 1.10 has fixed this syncing issue. I sync with GooSync daily (or more often), whether DreamLife is running or not, and I haven't had any problems since I've been doing that (about a month). We fixed a range of issues that I think caused problems.
Check it out here. You can re-trial it if you haven't already purchased a copy.
Regards,
Malcolm.