The Register’s Top Ten Essential Symbian Apps makes for a good list. I’m sure we could argue that there are some apps that should be there which aren’t, but that’s always the fun of these lists. The question might be what are your top ten apps? Let us know in the comments.
Read on in the full article.
I can't take seriously any list of symbian apps that doesn't include gravity. pfft.
Well I have a few from the list, but it's obviously a somewhat subjective subject as it's dependent on the user. I don't use Skype a lot except on PC or may try it abroad if I can find wifi, but as a non-jetsetter with unlimited calls and txt on my contract it doesn't really hold a high priority for me, so my top ten are:
1) Opera mini
2) Snaptu
3) RamBlow
4)Nokia Communities Facebook and Twitter widget
5)Nokia Maps with navigation
6)Google Maps
7)BBC iPlayer
8)Nokia Bots (didn't like it originally, but the latest one works superbly, setting my favourite contacts to my location, and adding my most used apps to the home screen widgets, most impressed )
9)Nokia Photo Browser (just because it's 'cool' compared to the standard one, and I like the magnifying glass effect LOL )
10) X-plore for symbian, just so I can keep a better eye on what's going on inside my phone !
Will be interesting to see other peoples choices, as I think a lot depends on the handset, and a couple of mine are simply needed with my N97 😊
Skype wasn't their top pick - the list wasn't ordered.
I tried commenting to say that Nimbuzz and Opera Mobile should be on the list.
For me it is not possible to select only 10 applications (and I mean applications, not tools such as X-Plore, ...). I use the following apps very frequently on my N79:
1. Handy Safe Professional
2. Handy Calendar
3. Handy Weather
4. Sports Tracker
5. LCG Jukebox
6. Garmin MobileXT
7. Nokia Maps
8. PhoneTorch
9. Geocache Navigator
10. ProfiMail
11. Handy Alarm Pro
12. Handy Converter
phessler wrote:I can't take seriously any list of symbian apps that doesn't include gravity. pfft.
Whilst Gravity is a nicely programmed (though battery hungry) app, it is after all just a twitter app. And twitter is like the candy of the app world. Sweet but essentially useless and unnecessary. Twitter is one of those things that everybody can easily live without, so it should never come high on any app list.
Instead of PDF+ he should have mentioned AlternateReader (http://sourceforge.net/projects/alternatedjvu/). In my experience it's a lot better than PDF+ and it's free.
Plus, on a general note, social networking apps are highly overrated and shouldn't top the charts everywhere I look. I would include at least:
*Sportstracker
*Dilbert 😊
*AlternateReader
*X-Plore
*Handy Profiles
*Freecell
And although I know Ovi maps is included in the firmware I think it indispensable and should therefore be mentioned.
Unregistered wrote:Whilst Gravity is a nicely programmed (though battery hungry) app, it is after all just a twitter app. And twitter is like the candy of the app world. Sweet but essentially useless and unnecessary. Twitter is one of those things that everybody can easily live without, so it should never come high on any app list.Ah, but you see, it's not only a Twitter app. The official "release" version is, but if you download the (usually very stable) Alpha builds, it also fetches Facebook status and pictures (which is, by the way, a great way to keep in touch with people on Facebook without having to deal with the other crap on it), takes care of Foursquare check-ins and more importantly is a Google Reader client. And it can send data to Read-It-Later or Instapaper. IIRC, the programmer's also working on Flickr integration.
guizzy wrote:Ah, but you see, it's not only a Twitter app. The official "release" version is, but if you download the (usually very stable) Alpha builds, it also fetches Facebook status and pictures (which is, by the way, a great way to keep in touch with people on Facebook without having to deal with the other crap on it), takes care of Foursquare check-ins and more importantly is a Google Reader client. And it can send data to Read-It-Later or Instapaper. IIRC, the programmer's also working on Flickr integration.
How remiss of The Register not to include alpha software in their list.
Never mind Gravity. Like somebody else here said: it's a resources hungry app on already underpowered symbian phones. dabr.co.uk does the trick for Twitter.
Boy, these 'best of' applications lists are definitely retro. It's like I'm back in 2005.
1. x-plore
2. OVI maps
3. Stadtplandienst (with Prague map)
4. Skype
5. Opera Mobile
6. Nokia Internet Radio
7. Nokia Audiobooks (must have)
8. Nokia Photo Browser (must have)
9. sypftp (FTP server)
10. World Traveler
------
11. Sportstracket
12. S60 SpotOn (Torch)
13. FreeTimeSync (NTP)
14. PuTTY
15. Alt. reader (PDF reader)
16. Font router
17. Profile Scheduler
@Jimmy1
Really? What's your top 10 then? Any mobile phone platform will do. Enlighten us.
As for me, not sure I use 10 apps but...
1. Snaptu - excellent app that links to the features and readers one uses and ican be customised too.
2. Ovi Maps. Brilliant. Doesn't require an internet connection and you can download your own maps.
3. DJ Playlist - nice little tool for playlists. Can repeat itself after a while though.
4. Shazam - great for settling drunken arguments in the pub.
5. Converter - a really nice and slick unit converter app.
6. Forth One - because you can't beat a bit of Boogie in the morning.
7. Y Tasks - a nice little performance monitoring tool.
8. Sports Tracker - great when cycling but does eat the battery.
9. Solitaire - For the train and the bog at work.
10. Pixelpipe - really nice way of uploading stuff.
Then there's Quick Office, Ovi Files, Opera, Skyfire, MTorrent, eBuddy, Skype...
Hmm. I maybe use more than 10 apps after all!
Doesn't it have a big 10 against it?
Unregistered wrote:Never mind Gravity. Like somebody else here said: it's a resources hungry app on already underpowered symbian phones.
And if you've used any other Twitter or Facebook client on Symbian, it's easy to see why people love Gravity (p.s. the "alpha" versions of Gravity, which adds Facebook, Google Reader, etc, are almost always release quality. They're far better than Nokia's own IM & social network app offerings!).
Anyway aside from Gravity missing, Sports Tracker is missing!
And then they love Skype, yet it's a pointless bloated software when most WiFi based Symbian phones have SIP VoIP built in. Just sign up for something like sipgate and you get the same with less bloat and all integrated instead of being an extra resource hogging app to run (not to mention Skype's resource hogging P2P architecture).
essential app for n series - lights on
if you use your phone in the car you need this - keeps display on when plugged into charger -great for navigation and music player or just illuminated phone for nightime use