[slackline]

A while ago I got my hands on Nokia N95 and have been playing around with it for a bit.

I love the way you can write and install your own applications and given there are a few others with this phone thought I'd list some of the apps I've installed.  Here are the apps that I've installed and use, add your knowledge if you can be arsed.

Google Apps

http://www.google.com/intl/en_uk/mobile/nokia_smart/index.html

Obviously grabbed and installed Gmail (now on version 2, upgrade if you haven't already), Google Maps, Search and YouTube.

Not quite the full-blown Android quite of software, but I'm sure thats in the pipeline.

CalSync

http://s60addons.com/calsync/

This very handy application allows two-way synchronisation between your phones calendar and your Google Calendar (if you have a Google Account and use the Calendar, which I do  ).

Nokia SportsTracker

http://sportstracker.nokia.com/

Now this is a cracking application that I discovered the other week.  It uses your phones built-in GPS to track your movement whilst out walking/running/cycling/skiing/whatever, recording time, position (latitute and longitude) and altitude.  It calculates your average speeds, min/max speed/altitude and is pretty damn smart.  I believe you can sign up for an account and upload your stats to keep a training diary, although this can be done in phone as well.  One very smart feature is that you can export your data to Google Earth's kml format and then use that to embed a Google Maps applet in your web-site with the route shown on it.  I've had a go at that here but am currently having troulbe getting the map to initialise in the correct location, so it currently starts in the middle of the Indian Ocean, but zoom out and pan to west of Sheffield and you can see most of the walk I did on Saturday (until the battery ran out, had another hour and a half back to Edale from there!).

Very cool app, but eats battery life, lasted four hours on Saturdays walk.

Oggplayer

http://symbianoggplay.sourceforge.net/OggPlayMain.htm

I encode a most of my CDs using the open-source codec Ogg Vorbis which the default media player on the N95 doesn't support, so instead I've installed the

RotateMe

http://www.bysamir.fr/ (but lots of sites have links to various different version of the SIS, some signed, some unsigned)

I've not managed to get this installed correctly yet (an issue to do with certificates), but am keen to do so, it means that the screen is automatically rotated when the phone is titled.  Anyone with links to SIS files with valid certificates for this could post them up (or even blog/howto that they've succesfully followed, I've been pretty lax about getting this sorted, its mainly down to needing a Developer Certificate, possible solutions detailed in this post).

FrozenBubble

http://fb-s60.sourceforge.net/

A port of the Open-source version of this arcade classic.  A must for everyone, 'nough said. 

Fring

http://www.fring.com/

Handy meta-application that allows VoIP and IM to be made for free (the default Skype installation that came with my phone was rather crippled in so much as it charged you for calls anyway, even if you're connected to a WLAN, basically 3 trying to stop you from using VoIP and not lining their pockets with cash.

DivX

http://mobile.divx.com/login

Mobile movies for free that use the DivX codec.  Despite installing and being able to sign in on their web-page I can't get the application itself to sign-in, so haven't yet had an opportunity to use this application to the full.


Web-sites

A few useful sites...

n95users.com : Good, knowledgeable forums.
nokiasoftware.com : More people posting details of software.
BySamir : Prolific author of S60 software (although you generally have to pay for these apps).
OpenSignedOnline : Self-certify applications (handy for RotateMe installation).

[Bubba]

Handy post - cheers slacks

I've got a copy of rotateme that works but dunno if it would for you.

Another good place for stuff (lots of things a friend in prison might be intererested in):

apps / games

[slackline]

Not a problem.

Going to see if I can get RotateMe working over the coming day(s).  From what I've been reading this morning some of the 2.0Beta releases can be self-signed, will give it a go this evening.

Handy links too, I've a friend doing some time at the moment who will probably find them handy 

[Jim]

The auto rotate thing is standard on the N82 and is very annoying IMHO, I've turned it off. It also causes some apps like tomtom to crash

[Bubba]

It can be a bit annoying. If I want to use Tomtom in landscape mode I enable autorotate, rotate the phone, start Tomtom and then quit autorotate. Works ok then. I wish they'd just release Tomtom mobile 7 and iron such problems out...

[slackline]

The newer version of RotateMe has the ability to turn it on and off relatively easily (as opposed to going through menus).  I only really want this particular functionality for when I'm viewing pictures in the gallery as it'll save having to slide the screen to rotate the picture the correct way.

I vaguely remember reading somewhere that the autorotate is activated by default on newer N95-8Gb(-some version I don't have).

[slackline]

Okay, installing RotateMe-2.10Beta was a piece of piss (thanks to this thread).  Despite the filename indicating that the application is certified, I found this not to be the case and had to certify it myself before it would install.

• Grab the rar-ed (compressed) SIS from http://www.mediafire.com/?x7jmd4zlnmj.
• Unpack the compressed rar file (under *NIX its 'unrar e [filename]' under M$ you can probably use unrar/WinZip/PowerArchiver)
• Find out your phones IMEI number, simply dial *#06#
• Sign the package yourself using Open Signed Online
• Follow their instructions and re-download the RotateMe application
• Copy the application to your phone via USB
• Disconnect and go into your file manager and find the application, select and install [/url]
  

[slackline]

Useful tips on battery charging (and applicable to all Lithium Ion batteries to some extent)

[Jim]

intresting

I have run some tests on three N95s all purchased at the same time and all with batteries of approx the same age and they have had approx the same usage. I have charged each of three in different ways-
A. Was charged only every night (approx 6 hours) and nothing during the day, for a week.
B. Was charged when it went flat.
C. Was charged at every opportunity, day and night.
After the week, at the next opportunity when the phones all had an end of charge fall together, they were all unplugged and left without any use at all.
A, lasted for 50.5 hours.
B, lasted for 22 hours.
C, lasted for 58 hours.

[neil h]

very, my battery is shit, lucky to last all day. internet kills it mainly, I normally charge mine overnight as i use it as an alarm clock,

[slackline]

very, my battery is shit, lucky to last all day. internet kills it mainly, I normally charge mine overnight as i use it as an alarm clock,

Do you literally use t'internet all day?

You might want to change the WLAN settings so that it checks for available networks less frequently, particularly if you're wandering around the forest lots.

[Bubba]

Yes, WLAN scanning eats a lot of battery.

[Jim]

some good games for s60v3 phones:

scrabble
skyforce reloaded
mini golf magic series
lego racer

[slackline]

Handy Firefox plugin for signing unsigned SIS files.

Also theres a new browser called Skyfire that has the unique advantage that when you request a page it passes through the Skyfire servers where it is then formatted for your phone before you're phone actually receives it (handy if sites don't have CSS set up for screens with small resolution).

Tried it a few times and its okay, but seems to have trouble connecting sometimes, might improve in the future.

Also discovered Yell Mobile for when I'm in desperate need of my boiler repairing whilst I'm out boozing.

[slackline]

Seems Mozilla's porting Fennec (a small desert fox  ) to Symbian.

Project Page : looks like it'll be a few months before its available though, but hopefully worth the wait as I'm finding the stock browser a bit limited and don't really like Opera Mini.  The Skyfire I mentioned above doesn't seem to want to play despite a couple of re-installs, just fails to connect to the wireless network .

[slackline]

Discovered a new app at the weekend...

Eq-Alttab : a Russian application that allows you to customize keys to quickly switch between applications a la Alt+Tab in more conventional operating systems.

Needs to be self-signed which you can do here

Also came across a flash based version of Tetris its just like having a Gameboy again