Symbian in Motion

For years now I’ve wondered why my PC couldn’t replace my mobile phone while I’m sitting at my desk. Let me explain: When I’m at work, I’m sitting at my PC 90% of the time and it becomes my main method of communications. Whether I’m in Outlook, some form of instant messenger (I use four different IM apps unfortunately) or making calls using Skype. When my office phone rings, it annoys me. Convergence, people. I want one point of focus that handles all of my work and communications needs. I’m on my PC, I have a bluetooth headset in my ear connected to my PC, call me on Skype! Likewise, when people call or text me on my mobile it draws my attention away from my PC and forces my to use my handset if I want to interact. Sure I can forward my mobile to my Skype number and ignore my SMS if I so choose, but why should I have to? When I’m within range of my PC, I wish it would automatically connect to my handset and take over all communications. An email widget, an SMS / MMS widget and a voice comms widget - at least.

BlueText is a step in that direction. Like Nokia’s Text Messenger beta, it is a PC-based SMS interface that allows you to send and receive SMS via your mobile phone. Of course BlueText isn’t the first piece of software to afford users this functionality, but it is the first to do it with S60 3rd and Windows XP. As neat as Nokia’s Text Messenger is, it’s Vista only I’m afraid. If you’re like me then you avoid Vista like the plague so Text Messenger just isn’t an option.

The PC app is very Vista-like in terms of appearance. It has a nice semi-transparent UI that is nice and minimal. Sending an SMS is quite simple as shown above. Select your recipient, type your message, hit send and be on your way. Notifications will pop up directly on your screen when new SMS messages arrive and you can reply in just two clicks.

The device-side app is quite simple as well, as you can see above. After installation, license activation and set up, you’ll only access the app to enable and disable the service.

BlueText is the first app from Psiloc to make use of their new PC-based installation wizard which makes installation a breeze for inexperienced users. Psiloc’s new system is self-contained and once installed on the PC, it deposits the SIS and launches it at the appropriate time.

What will you need to use BlueText? An S60 3rd handset and a bluetooth enabled PC with Windows or Widcomm bluetooth drivers. Price of admission: Just north of $15 depending on the strength of the US dollar (price is 9.95€) and there is a trial period as with all Psiloc apps. SiMo readers are in luck however! Of course there’s no app like a free app and five lucky commenters will enjoy a free unlimited BlueText license code courtesy of Psiloc. Woo hoo! Just post a comment below and I’ll pick five at random on Friday March 14. Those selected will receive their license codes via email on Friday.

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Back in July I told you about a great app by Mind-Flip called TextQuick. To refresh your memory, TextQuick provides your contact list in order according to messaging frequency. Your most-texted contact is at the top of the list and then the order descends to your least-texted contact. Beneath that you will find an alphabetical listing of all contacts in your phonebook with whom you have exchanged no messages. The app gives you fast and easy access to your “most popular” contacts and you can initiate an SMS (with the recipient field populated) or a phone call with a few quick clicks. Sweet!

Now I’m happy to announce that this app has just received an update that you’ll all be very interested in. Really the only main barrier when it came to previous versions of this great app was that there was no trial available. Those who took my word for it often emailed me to let me know that they loved it, but it’s still hard to make even a small app purchase without being able to test the waters.

As such, Mind-Flip now provides a trial period. What’s more is that it’s the most generous trial period I’ve seen! You’ll now have one full month from the date of installation to determine if this app is right for you. It took me all of 5 minutes before I knew I couldn’t live without it but hey, better safe than sorry.

Click here to go to the download page and check out the trial or upgrade your existing version. Note that you should contact the developer for an upgrade if you’ve already purchased an earlier version.

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Wireless Labs have released Message Mirror for all S60 3rd Edition devices. Put simply, Message Mirror is a mirroring service for all incoming and outgoing messages. Upon installation and reboot of your handset, it will start to mirror all incoming and outgoing messages from your device. In the event you delete a message by accident or even on purpose you can retrieve it using Message Mirror.

Other features include the option to export your mirrored messages to another device using Bluetooth, Infrared or MMS as TEXT/HTML/CSV/XML file.

There is also an option to password protect Message Mirror giving you that peace of mind everything is securely protected from curious friends, spouses or even your parents.

The application is available in two editions, Lite and Standard. The Lite version is Freeware but does not support password protect, backup, detailed info and outgoing messages. The standard version is available for 8.50€ / $12.50 and includes updates to later versions and all aforementioned features.

For more information, to purchase or for the User Guide visit the Message Mirror website.

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With all of the buzz going around about the new Conversation app available from Nokia Beta Labs, I figured I’d review the app that I use for threaded SMS. Granted Conversation is still in beta but it has many, many holes that quite frankly are already filled by SMS Chat.

First and foremost, SMS Chat replaces S60’s integrated messaging app. In my opinion this is an absolute requirement for a threaded SMS app. What’s the point if you have to exit the new SMS pop up and open the app manually every time you get a new SMS?

SMS chat doesn’t disable the integrated new message pop up - instead it pops up it’s own notification over it (and over most apps as seen above) which includes the name of the sender! Once you select Show, SMS Chat will open straight to the threaded conversation with the newest message at the bottom. The contact name and number displays at the top and you can also see that the app translates emoticons for you. When composing a message it also allows you to select from a list of emoticons by selecting Options -> Insert smiley.

While viewing an SMS thread it’s very simple to reply to your contact by pressing New SMS on the right soft key. Once your message is sent it will appear at the bottom of the thread and a small check mark indicates that the message was sent successfully. You can also select from five different ’skins’ that will change the graphics and layout of the threads. The one pictured above is the default skin.

The main screen of the app is headed with a New message option that allows you to select a contact to create a new message for, or enter a destination number manually. It should be noted that unlike similar apps, SMS Chat does not list all of your contacts in the main view. At first this annoyed me but then I realized that I like it much better. To add a contact to the main screen of the app, you must either select them from within People or receive a message from them while SMS Chat is running. In either of those cases they will be added to the list and their SMS thread will be built (including any messages to/from them in your device history).

In order for SMS Chat to operate it does need to be running in the background. It doesn’t have a process that remains open when you exit the app which is of course the most desirable solution, but within the settings you can configure the red end key to reduce SMS Chat to the background. It only took me about three or four uses to get acclimated to this function but now it’s automatic for me. The app also doesn’t currently support autostarting but we all know that this can be easily remedied with Powerboot by Wireless Labs.

Navigation beyond scrolling within a message thread is a bit quirky, but the app gives you a good amount of useful functions. From within any thread you can quickly jump to the top or bottom of the thread, search, switch threads, view message details and even initiate a call to the contact.

The last function I’ll cover in this review is something that is sorely missing from S60 and to my knowledge, isn’t available with any other app at the moment. SMS Chat supports scheduled messaging - in other words you can type a message and have SMS Chat automatically send it at a later point in time! From the New message screen once you’re finished typing your SMS, simply select Options -> Message -> Schedule to define the time that your SMS should be automatically sent.

All in all this is an app that is very usable but still needs some work and a bit of logical reorganization. It is however, without a doubt the best option available for S60 3rd when it comes to threaded SMS. I still use TextQuick 100% of the time to send an initial SMS but for subsequent messages and incoming SMS I really do enjoy SMS Chat. Organizing your SMS messages into threads is simply a better way to handle messaging, allowing you to easily refer to older messages for reference. Symbianwave offers a nice long 15-day trial period so that you have time to get used to the app before you must purchase it. This is most definitely an app that you will miss if you let the trial period run out.

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It’s been a long time coming but it has finally arrived and I couldn’t be more excited! Today Palringo has announced that their Symbian client officially supports third-party IM platforms such as ICQ, MSN, Gadu-Gadu, Yahoo, AIM and Google Talk (as their WinMob and PC clients already do).

Now you can exchange IMs, photo IMs and yes even vocal IMs (PTT) with all of your buddies on most popular IM networks. Vocal and photo IMs are delivered as links that the recipient can click on to see the photo or play the vocal IM!

The best part… It’s all still free!! I’ve already uninstalled every one of my other IM apps and I highly recommend you go to www.palringo.com to register a free account and then do the same. :)

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