Symbian in Motion

I’ve come to realize over the past few days that there are still a lot of people who aren’t familiar with all of the different options with regards to using Skype services on s60 3rd devices. Well I’m going to do my part to remedy that. I’ve already told you about fring which is a great app that I use all the time, and it’s great for users with 3G coverage and/or access to WLANs. iSkoot on the other hand is an app that approaches Skype in a completely different way and allows you to make high quality calls to your Skype contacts (and SkypeOut calls) over your GSM voice network. Best of all, it’s freeware (for the time being). Users with an X-Series phone from 3 UK have been using iSkoot for quite some time and most of them probably didn’t even know it because of the branding.

iSkoot provides users with Skype voice calling only and does not support IM via Skype. Once you install iSkoot (you can download it here and install using your PC or receive a link via WAP) you are asked to enter your Skype username/password and then you are logged in. Future log ins are done automatically when iSkoot is opened as long as the relevant option is enabled. Your Skype contacts are displayed on the main iSkoot screen along with their status (note: the status takes a LONG time to update so if you want to call someone, best to give it a try rather than waiting to see the ‘online’ icon appear). iSkoot uses GPRS to load your contact information and updates the info via GPRS every so often.

To initiate a call to one of your contacts, simply highlight the contact and press your green Send key. iSkoot then places a call to a server in your region (you pick your country before downloading the app) via your GSM voice network. The iSkoot server quickly connects you to your Skype contact via VoIP and the call quality is very impressive although I’m sure it will vary at times if there is high iSkoot traffic in your region.

Placing a SkypeOut call is also very simple. Just press [Options] and scroll to Dial. Enter the phone number (including country code) that you would like to call and then press [Dial].

Within the Options menu you can also check your Skype credit to ensure that you have a SkypeOut balance on your account and toggle your Skype status between online/invisible/etc.

Receiving calls is also possible in theory but I have yet to successfully receive a call. In order to enable this function you must select “Set to receive calls” from the options menu and enter your mobile number.

In the end, iSkoot is a good app on its way to being great. I can already see that it’s well on its way to becoming a subscription-based service so it will be interesting to see what that will do to iSkoot’s market share with the various other Skype solutions available. I must say though that once a few minor bugs are ironed out this will likely become one of my most used apps.

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SHAPE Services S60 3rd Applications, part 1 - IM+

There is little doubt in my mind that if you’re reading this you have probably already heard of IM+ by SHAPE Services. IM+ is the application that won Handango’s “Best Application for Life” award in 2006 and beyond that it is currently the best selling s60 3rd application on the Handango site. Track record and Handango Champion award aside, I had to ask myself, “Is it really that good?” Well after getting a chance recently to play with this app along with a few other SHAPE products I got to see first hand what all the fuss was about.

There are several IM solutions out there for s60 3rd; some freeware and some payware. The simple fact however is that no other IM solution currently available is as well-made and user friendly as IM+. IM+ is also compatible with more IM systems than any other solution, offering access to MSN®, AOLâ„¢, Yahoo!®, Google® Talk, ICQ® and Jabber®. That’s right - you can be logged into six different IM accounts and actively hold multiple IM sessions on each of them at the same time! If you can manage that then you’re far more skilled than I am, but it’s nice to know that the option is there…

Setting up IM+ is extremely easy and the layout is ideal. When opening the app you are greeted by the main screen as IM+ automatically logs into your configured services (only the ones set up for auto-connect of course, others are listed on the main screen but will remain offline until you log in manually). Icons across the top of the screen are always present to indicate which services you are logged into. From there, the Services option within the menu sets forth a variety of options and allows you to manually log in and out of your accounts and set your online status for each account. You can also access individual account settings from within the Services option.

Once logged in to one or more IM services, your contacts are displayed under the IM service name along with their status. Despite the fact that you can have up to six contact lists being displayed at once, the display on the main page is very logical and easy to read. IM+ uses a file tree structure and gives you the ability to maximize/minimize each IM service, and then each contact category (ie Friends, Coworkers, Family, etc) if you have categories defined. If you look at the first image above or the image below you can see that each IM service is designated with a red marker and each contact category is designated with a green marker.

Chatting with your contacts is quick and easy. Just click on a contact to open a chat window. As you start typing (with T9 support) a new message box opens up automatically and then closes once you’ve sent your message. This allows you to see as many lines of your session as possible. You can also quickly insert emoticon graphics while typing a message by pressing Options or simply by pressing the joystick select button.

Sitting on both ends of the chat session above, I was amazed at how fast the response was from IM+. It’s just as real-time as any IM client is from PC to PC! Chat history can be stored if desired on the phone memory or your memory card (the number of sessions is configurable). IM+ also allows you to send files such as pictures and audio clips to any of your available contacts by pressing Options with your contact highlighted.

There really are too many options and features to cover everything in one short review but suffice it to say that SHAPE has covered all of their bases. Even the zoom levels of the contacts screen and the dialogue screen are individually adjustable.

SHAPE Services gives you unlimited use of IM+ for a one time purchase fee. Their main competitor on the other hand, charges the same amount for just one year of subscription to their IM service. When you consider that IM+ also offers more IM services, features, and options then their competitor, that’s quite a bargain! If you don’t want to take my word for it, a full featured seven day trial of IM+ is available on their download page.

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Skype users can start to relax now that fring is available for the N80 - with ‘preview’ versions available for other S60 3rd devices. As if you don’t already know, fring (beta) is a free app that allows you to use the VoIP and IM functionality of both Skype and GoogleTalk on your mobile device. Unlike most other Skype solutions for S60 3rd, fring does not require Skype to be running on your PC. There has been a great deal of buzz on various forums since the first S60 3rd version was released early last week. Discussion has gone back and forth but the big question is, “does it work”? Well I’ve been testing it for over a week now and on my N80IE with 6.032.0.38 firmware not only does it work, but it works very well!

To get the app you must fill in some simple info on the fring download page and you will quickly receive an sms with a link to download the app. A few things to note with regards to the installation: First, you should close all other apps while installing, setting up, and using fring. Also, I’ve had the best results with installing fring to my phone memory and I expect that you will find the same. When you run fring for the first time it will walk you through each step of the setup process. Once you’ve finished the setup, I recommend that you exit fring and restart your phone before trying to make any calls.

Upon opening fring it will connect automatically if your preferred connection type is available otherwise it will prompt you to select an available connection. You are automatically logged in to your configured services and your contacts are displayed along with their current status.

For testing purposes, I created a Skype account called “Fring Test” and you can see in the image above that fring sees me currently logged into my PC by displaying the green logo to the left of the user name. From there it’s quite simple to initiate a call by selecting [Options] and then [Call] or just pressing the select key with the appropriate contact highlighted.

Beginning a chat session is just as easy and while typing on both ends of the conversation below I found that fring loads new messages quite quickly.

Options for the app include displaying or hiding contacts in your device’s phonebook, a contacts search function, the ability to change the connection type without having to restart the app, and the option to dial a SkypeOut call (SkypeOut credit required).

Although it is recommended that fring is used with WLAN and 3G, I’ve also had fair experiences using fring over EDGE. The voice quality is not quite as good as WLAN of course but it is usable. I could not test over 3G as my phone does not support US 3G networks but the voice quality over WLAN is very good - about as good as most VoIP services that I use with the integrated Internet Telephone app on my phone.

All in all, I’m very impressed with fring. This is still an early version and of course there are a few things that need to be ironed out on versions for various devices. I should note that the fring support team is very good and very responsive and helpful. The ease of setup, ease of use, and functionality of this app are top notch and it will only get better as new versions are released - and it’s free!

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