A guide for selecting useful mobile apps

Applications take up a lot of space in your phone’s memory. That’s why it’s important to select the apps which you can fully utilize, for work, entertainment, health and for helping you do your daily tasks. But how do you know which apps are truly useful without having to download them? To help you select the best app, Nokia invited top Philippine bloggers to review the most useful apps available from the Nokia Store. Here’s a compilation of the apps they chose:

MMDA- traffic navigator

This app helps you easily plan your route and avoid traffic jams. Annalyn Jusay of Ajay’s Writings on the Wall (www.annalyn.net) describes it as a brilliant app for letting us know in real time the road situation in the city before we venture out. Very useful.” Raffy Pedrajita of Digital Spidey (www.digitalspidey.com) says “It’s a must for a regular commuter and it’s only 0.37 MB so it is very light.” Calvin Lo of Pinoy Tech Blog (www.pinoytechblog.com) described the apps as “an easy-to-understand real-time report of traffic situation in major thoroughfares within the metro.”

GMA News

GMA News offers the latest updates of the day’s events in and out of the country no matter where you are, be it business, showbiz, lifestyle, sports, opinion and technology. Jerome Ancheta of JAM Online (www.jeromeancheta.com) said, “Almost anything and everything that you want is there. It’s very informative.” Be in the know with the GMA News app.

Facebook/Twitter

Access your favorite social networking sites, anytime, anywhere. Stay connected with your family and friends using your Facebook and Twitter applications. Jason Cruz of JSNCRUZ.com attests that “the app provides a utilitarian and efficient user experience without long page loading times.” Philippe Louis Villareal of When In Manila (www.wheninmanila.com) says the app is a no brainer. Social networking is one of the popular reasons why people get smartphones in the first place.”

Line

Who wants to use free calls and text messages? The Line app will give it to you, anytime, anywhere with wi-fi. Line is one of the popular apps used in over 230 countries in the world. Line sets the bar in modern mobile communications. With internet connection, talking to your friends would be easier and faster. “This app allows sending messages, sharing photos and stickers using your mobile phones,” says Nico Aguila of Techpinas (www.techpinas.com). Communicate with ease using the Line app.

WeChat

WeChat allows you to connect to one or more friends using your phone. Just keep the Wi-Fi or mobile data connectivity on and keep the conversation rolling. “It’s easier to communicate and connect with people using WeChat. It helps save on your precious prepaid load,” said Mark Milan Macanas of Techpinas (www.techpinas.com). It also includes sharing photos that will make the conversation interactive for the users.

Ityphoon

Weather information is accessible in just a few clicks and swipes with this app. According to Flow Galindez of ASK by Flow Galindez (www.angswariko.com) “It gives a real time update of Philippine weather. They include the typhoon signals with descriptions in layman’s terms.” Know the latest weather updates through Ityphoon and prepare for the unexpected rain or inclement weather wherever you are.

Youtube

Mobile phones are a great way to pass the time. Online videos are now more accessible with the YouTube app. Watch the latest music videos, movie trailers and TV episodes you missed and enjoy the perks of a free app for your phone. RV Cuarto of Nokia Revolution (www.nokiarevolution.com) shared his thoughts, “It provides easy access to the watch videos on YouTube without launching your mobile browser. It’s a decent app for those running the Symbian platform.”

JoikuSpot Wi-Fi Hotspot

Nowadays, wi-fi is a must-have to access the internet world. Unfortunately, wi-fi is sometimes unavailable while on the road and especially the time when we need it the most. But with Nokia’s free apps, you can download JoikuSpot Wi-Fi Hotspot to quickly connect you to the internet. Neil Ross Goco of Mister Jon Jon (www.misterjonjon.com) said, “The application is very straightforward and easy to use. Just tap the Start button and you instantly have a roving Wi-Fi hotspot!”

Cluedo

Mobile phones won’t be complete without any game applications. A thrilling and exciting game like Cluedo comes handy when you are stressed at work or bored at school. Alexei Rivera of The Technoclast (www.thetechnoclast.com) had this to say about it, “The game in itself captures the imagination and suspense of a mystery novel and budding Sherlock-holmes CSI-types would find it fun to play.” Greg Revelo of Scratch e-Pad (gregg003.blogspot.com) also mentioned, “The game fits perfectly for individuals who love mystery, crimes and challenges. You would really enjoy it to your hearts desire.”

QuickOffice Pro

Do you always need to create or edit documents from your mobile phone? Quick Office Pro is the app you can rely on when you need to work while on the road or at home. You can open your Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other office documents from your mobile using this app. Jonathan Novencido of XpressMusic Music Connects (http://xpressmusic.wordpress.com) knows this is the app for you, “The intuitive controls and straight forward user interface opens up new doors to mobile office work while on the road.”

All these apps are available for free from the Nokia Store. For more information on which app is compatible with your Nokia phone, you may check http://store.nokia.com/ and find out more about what you can download for your mobile needs.

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Nokia Store App: SkyFiles, A SkyDrive Client

SkyDrive is a cloud hosting service that allows users to upload and sync files online of up to 7 GB free storage space and then access them from a Web browser or application client of computers, laptops, tablets, among the rest of the supported mobile internet devices. Files uploaded could be kept private, share with other contacts, or make public for everyone to access.

One of the aforementioned application client is SkyFiles, the one and only SkyDrive client for Nokia Symbian phones. Created by INFOTECH, the client provides an easy upload and download of images, photos, videos and documents to your SkyDrive. All users have to do is choose the source and destination folder on both tabs (Phone memory and SkyDrive) and click the Download or Upload button. Their is a double tap to open the file.

It has a free version with limited number of supported file formats for upload and without the ability to save password making it burdensome, and a Pro version worth PhP20.00 locally, that provides password saving; 3 views - detail, tiles and large icons; the ability to upload of all file types with unlimited file size; file operations like copy, move, delete and right side scrolling bar.

The application is one of my most used on my Nokia N8 at the moment, the phone having been used as my primary camera, gorge a lot of images both personal and for the blog, with SkyFiles, I can upload and save these pictures directly to the web so it won't take more of my phone's memory. From the SkyDrive cloud, I can access the pictures later to my laptop and sparing me effort to use the USB pc connector.

SkyDrive also became my primary storage device lately, since I had enough using USB flash drives since my last one got corrupted losing all my work files. Now, I can access all my files instantly on my mobilephone via SkyFiles.

Developers just needs to improve the user interface more, its not as slick and intuitive like other apps and that upload seems to be disrupted with the phone goes to standby mode. They somehow need to access the phones system so the phone stays active until files gets totally uploaded.

But even with this drawbacks, the app is still worth downloading. It has all the features that would make every SkyDrive user happy. Meanwhile, if you don't have a SkyDrive account yet, create one via this link. Download SkyFiles HERE.

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Apps I Wish Symbian Have

Having use several mobile operating systems (OS), I could say that I’m already a bit verse with applications floating around the mobile gadget space, and from the looks of it, Symbian lacks quite a few good and usable ones to its stable. Well, no OS is perfect of course, their were also countless of good apps that can only be found on Symbian but nonetheless a complete system could be achieve and strive for.

I'm really yearning for the following apps to complete my mobile connectivity and productivity needs, hopefully, Nokia or any freelance developers could read this blog post and respond to my requests.

1. Flipboard – A news and magazine client found in Apple iOS and Google Android. I like this app so much that I wrote an entire blog article about it before and wants it primarily installed on my Symbian phone. The main core of the app was simplicity, users get to enjoy a swift and fluid interface in browsing through web based news and magazines, Facebook or Twitter by just flipping up and down the board page.

2. Get Glue – Being a huge fan of movies and television shows at the same time a social network fanatic, this application became a necessity since it combines both worlds. It became a venue for me to express my admiration or displeasure on a particular movie or TV show. Its also a good social place to meet fellow fanatics or haters, earn badges of coolness, or simply brag your prominence.

3. EZ PDF Reader – One of the biggest drawbacks of Symbian at the moment is the absence of an efficient and smooth PDF reader and editor. There were some apps capable of doing so like Adobe or QuickOffice, but they were not as fast and savvy as that of the EZ PDF. Try reading one on a Nokia Belle smartphone using the aforementioned apps and you'll get nightmares being ragingly slow. Also, the EZ PDF Reader allows annotations on the files like highlights or side notes making it very ideal.

4. Super Video – Do you like to multitasks, like maybe watching a movie at the same time doing something else on your mobile phone, well, the Super Video handles that leisurely. Its like a self-regulating app that floats above your screen allowing you to do something else like web browsing or playing games while watching videos. You can even watch multiple videos all at the same time, that's how superb it is.

5. Instagram - Though I couldn't see the reason why I should be using this app since all my pictures were directly published in this blog or on Twitter or Facebook, it cannot be denied that their were sizable number of people who loves the social network site and would prefer a fully dedicated application of it in their mobilephones. In fact their were even be some who prefer to buy phones because of its Instagram compatibility. With this scenario going on, Nokia should strive hard to create one for Symbian, every buyer counts.

With the fierce competition in the smartphone space at the moment, every aspects and details are important, Nokia and Symbian should seriously find ways to make these apps available to the users, their should be no stones unturned. Anymore apps you want to include in the list? Feel free to write them on the comment section below.

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Social photo sharing app Molome hits the one million download mark

Molome, a photo editing and sharing app, has surpassed the one million download mark at the Nokia Store.

The application is not just your regular photo editing application; it also includes several photo filters and effects that are user-friendly and very easy to use.

Molome provides an instagram-like platform for Nokia users. However, the photo sharing app adds a twist for the social photo sharing community: Sittiphol says Molome also has a gaming aspect to encourage its use. “The game aspect of Molome allows users to collect badges when they upload photos as a reward and also join in a monthly campaign.”

Molome is currently available in Symbian^3, Symbian Anna, Nokia Belle and S60 5th edition Nokia smartphone platforms. The photo sharing and editing app will soon be available in the Windows platform that is also supported by Nokia phones.

The constant development of the application is driven by its large number of users that provide constant feedback. Moreover, the development team is constantly engaged with the community and keeps an open ear on bugs, feedback and suggestions.

For the Molome, there are four main reasons why this application has reached the one million mark in less than a year; choosing the right platform, utilizing social network capabilities, listening to users and great support from Nokia.

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Symbian Apps I Cannot Live Without

I recently reset of my 2 year old Nokia N8 Luscious Green to factory setting because it had slowed down through the years. My depleted phone memory might be the culprit as a result to numerous installed apps and blotwares which force me ponder on the apps I truly need and those that I cannot live without. It was quite an easy task actually because I’ve noticed that I only use a few set of apps over and over daily.

Well of course we use our smartphones uniquely, I was more on social media being a blogger and the greatest and the latest information’s must be within my disposal to write about, other than these, I also need apps that makes my mobile use cooler and easier to use. So which among the 200 Thousand apps made it to my elite lists?

Here we go:

1. Gravity – Due to my socially centered lifestyle, the application provides me with no less than the best mobile twitter client in smartphone world, unparalleled and unabated even across iOS or Android. Mobileways created the award winning application which focused on simplicity and intuitiveness. Users will enjoy smooth and fast browsing across Timelines, Replies, Messages, Friends and Followers by just swiping left or right and push notifications which were missing in most of other Twitter clients. Gravity also allows you to connect to Facebook, Google Reader, Foursquare, YouTube, App.net, StatusNet and Sina Weibo, making it a very abled all-in-one social media client. But being the best in its class will cost a tidy sum, currently, the app is being sold for PhP150.00 on Nokia Store but very much worth every penny spent.

2. SWYPE – One thing I hate most in touchscreen phones is its seemingly limited and difficult typing mechanism. Virtual QWERTY is a pain to use while virtual T9 defeats its purpose, but SWYPE change everything as it offers an adaptive continuous system of writing messages making it so much easier to compose messages on a touchscreen device. Just swipe through the virtual QWERTY keypad and the system will identify the pattern and gives out the word you would like to type. Adaptive because it allows you to create and save your personal vocabulary to the system.

3. Fascinate - As much as I love Gravity as a twitter client, it falls a bit short compared to Fascinate when it comes to Facebook. The application offers a richer interface by adding images and videos to Facebook’s News Feed. Dedicated separate icons for Friends, Messages, Chat, Birthdays, Notifications, My Wall, Photos and Events were nicely laid through the apps main menu drawer. Users can add photos directly to the shout-out box or check-in to places. It also have push notifications which could directly show Birthdays, Feeds and New messages accompanied by notification light, sound and desired times. Fascinate is being sold for PhP20.00 in Nokia Store.

4. T. Clock – The most capable talking clock among Symbian Apps. From the name itself, what it does is announce loudly to users the current time per hour via loudspeaker, but unlike other apps where you still need to press buttons for it to work, T. Clock is automatic and users will only need to set the time frame. I like this app a lot because it will remind me what time it is without looking on my phone.

5. Swipe Unlock – One of my most loved feature in the Nokia N9 is it’s lock and unlock system, the Swipe Unlock emulates Nokia N9’s swipe up or down unlock mechanism, the best there is in the smartphone world. Currently, unlocking Symbian Belle involves the pressing of buttons, well swiping is more interactive and cool besides the fact that you can customized the locked background photo.

6. Tong-its Tournament – It wouldn’t be called Filipino’s most favorite pastime game for nothing, it definitely hooked me up in a healthy way. I even had a workmate who bought a Nokia Symbian Phone just for the game, that’s how huge the game is here in the Philippines. Pastime means fun, and the game offers it indefinitely.

7. Foursquare – My being a Foursquare user had something to do with my travel sorties, every ones in a while I travel to places I never been to and the best way to track my travels is through the app. It also serves as a guide for me since I get to know some of the exciting places near me. Rewards system like Mayorships and Badges also adds to the boast.

8. Toshl Finance – Managing my daily finances is as important as brushing my teeth that’s why the app is one of my most used on my Symbian phone. Earning a below average salary makes me want to track my expenses religiously because I don’t want to spend more than what I earn. There were several app’s offering the same function on Nokia Store but among the app’s, Toshl is a cut above the rest being spontaneous and easy. It also had cool visuals and sound effects so it’s more fun to use.

9. Opera Mobile – No other internet browser in the Symbian world could offer the fastest and the pc-like experience yet other than Opera Mobile. There might be some claims like that of Nokia Browser with its compression technology that allows faster and cheaper web browsing but I have not seen or felt it on the current version, Opera Mobile still opens webpages faster with an easy navigable interface. 

10. Blob – Not that I like this app but being the only Blogger client in the Symbian world makes this app indispensible. In fact I even brought this one for PhP20.00, a price not worth spending because of its boring interface, limited features and most specially, its inability to attached images on the blog post. It merely became a mobile draft creator when I had something in mind that I want to write about. How I wish there were developers who could create another blogger client or for the Blob creators to further improve the app.

How about you, what were the Symbian apps you can’t live without. Share your picks in the comments section below. 

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HandyGames now available for free on Nokia Asha Touch

Enjoying your fun and affordable Nokia Asha Touch smartphone? Wait till you hear about the 35 new titles released by HandyGames and Nokia to ensure an even better mobile gaming experience for you. 

Based in Giebelstadt, Germany, HandyGames is a developer and publisher of mobile games and has been producing award-winning games on various platforms since 2000. Through its partnership with Nokia, HandyGames hopes to continue expanding to keep everybody entertained in the future.

To whet your appetite, here are some of the 35 new titles that you can now discover and download for free from the Nokia Store:

Aporkalypse

According to an old prophecy the four Pigs of Doom should proclaim the end of the world in a distant future. But something went terribly wrong and the gates of heaven and hell have already opened! Now it is up to the greedy Hunger Pig, the heavily armed War Pig, the contaminous Pest Pig and the ghostly Death Pig to stop this madness.

Arcadius

Stardate: 3024. The Earth has been attacked by hostile individuals and has been entirely destroyed; few survivors managed to board freight ships to safety. You are a spaceship fighter pilot. Avoid the security drones and pick up energy sources to upgrade your weapons. Prepare to fight for your life or to the death against the galactic invaders.

Cyberlords – Arcology

It's the year 2173. The power of government is in decline and the world is controlled by gigantic megacorporations. People may have no political power, but they still have control over their own bodies. Powerful NanoGear implants grant superhuman abilities and transform bodies into deadly weapons.

Guns’n’Glory

What would the Wild West have been without its charismatic villains? Boring! So take a walk in the cowboy boots of Billy the Kid, Jesse James or Butch Cassidy to become a real, low-down bad guy! Form your own gang by recruiting cool cowboys, crazy Mexicans and brave Indians.

IQ Knights

Enter a chivalric fortress and face the challenging tasks that await you within each area of the castle! Solve all puzzles within these halls to convince the nobles that you have what it takes to be their new king! Arm yourself with your ancestors' dice and use logic to win the day!

My Model Train

You always wanted to become a train driver, but never had the space or the money for your own model railway in your hobby room? Then download My Model Train, the first highly detailed mobile train-simulation, to your handset! It’s your task to solve logistic problems as fast as possible by operating switches, signals and reversal-tracks.

Panzer Panic

War has broken out on your notepad and your leadership ability is needed to beat the enemy in ferocious tank battles! Make use of the environment and move various obstacles to protect yourself from opposing ink fire or to block your enemy's path. Destroy all opposing panzers by accurately shooting your ink bullets while making sure that you don’t run out of ink fuel!

Romans and Barbarians

Render Rome a service and build up your own realm as a mighty emperor! Set up a powerful army and become a great general because of the threatening menace at the horizon: Wild barbarians are moving towards Rome to destroy your city and to steal your precious Sucus! Be well prepared for their warriors, shamans and hungry wolves

Tattoo Tycoon

Look behind the scenes of the tattoo culture and build your own tattoo empire! Set up a perfectly furnished studio and prove your skills at handling your employees and tattoo machine!

The Egyptians

After an immense earthquake the land lacks a ruler and discontent leads to bloody battles among the tribes! An ancient god awakens and sends the lord of the scarabs, Khepera, back to earth! It’s time for an alliance of the tribes to fight together against the forces of evil and to free the land! It’s up to you to lead them and to accomplish a victory by using constructions, inventions and tactical warfare.

Townsmen 4

The dark age has cast a spell over you! You find yourself in a small monastery, surrounded by pagan settlements and hostile monastic orders. Besides brewing and baking bread, it’s your daily task to convert as many souls as possible. You deal with sacred writings, say masses and recruit enough monks, who will help you lead the  monastery to wealth and prestige.

Voodomino

Learn black magic and play for your life! Voodomino spices up the traditional game of Dominoes with dark rituals and deadly curses. Play against your friends and lure them into sneaky traps. With luck on your side you can influence your future. Each tile has its own motif, from poisonous snakes to powerful Voodoo dolls. Can you acquire all the magic tiles?

So if you own a Nokia Asha Full Touch device, such as the: Nokia Asha 305, Nokia Asha 306, Nokia Asha 309 and Nokia Asha 311, visit the Nokia Store (http://store.nokia.com/) today and download these great and exciting games.

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