I recently aquired a Nokia e61 (Symbian ‘s60‘ Smartphone) which I have been growing more and more fond of every day. If your not farmiliar with this phone let me summarize, the e61 is a Quad Mode (GSM 850/900/1800/1900 + UMTS) phone, includes 802.11g WiFi and Bluetooth, has a suite of M$ capable doc/xls/ppt viewers, RealPlayer (I want a version of QuickTime player for s60!), Flash, MP3 player, VoIP, IM, J2mE and whole slew of other utilities that make it a very punchy device. After I played around with it for a day or so, I got the itch to get some warez for it, so I immediately went out hunting for cool apps to test out the s60 v3 OS, and I was not let down.
AgileMessenger
Turns out that the built in IM client for the e61 is a Nokia propritary app and only works with their own IM system, so the first app I went hunting for was a new IM client. I looked at OZ, IM+ and tried to get my hands on the Cingular All-In-One app (but it did find a freeware copy anywhere), then I found AgileMessenger and it rocks! First off it supports all the major IM players MSN, GTalk, AOL, Yahoo (no Jabber support yet). The UI is well thought out, its fast, responsive and has a wide range of user configurable settings (incl. changing your IM alert sounds). The best feature is its built in PTT functionality, there is a little mic icon and you press the center button down and it makes a squak like a walkie talkie, you say your thing and then click the button again and off the file goes to yout IM buddy. Then at their end they hear the audio message you recorded right away! This is pretty spec. The one drawback is that AgileMessenger has a monthly/annual service fee which ends up being about $30 a year for use. I presume its due to the PTT functionality and use of their IM relay servers for IM.
View: AgileMessenger: IM for Mobile
Truphone
While on my hunt for cool software, I remembered a friend told me that there was a BETA available for Skype on s60, and that I could use my own personal login information in the same manner as I did on my desktop computer. Turns out that after a bit of digging online there is only a private BETA available for developers and that Nokia did a demo in the EU at one of their mobile conferences (something like CeBIT I think). Apparently from reading through the Nokia and Skype forums and this post on MobileCrunch its coming soon! I cant wait for it, so I kept looking for a VoIP solution and somehow out of the blue I stumbled upon Truphone. It is a TRU cool piece of spec for a phone. First off the TRuphone site has some very useful FAQs and installation documents, and the best part was they have a special page for us e61 users! I installed it right away and within a few minutes I was testing out the voice call quality. Note that in order to use the VoIP capabilities you need to have your e61 linked up to WiFi. I have an Apple Airport Extreme and it worked like a charm. The audio quality was as good as normal cellphone quality and they even throw in a US phone number and voicemail (with a brit accent to boot!). The best part about this app is that its totally integrated into the Nokia UX so when your ready to make a phone call, its literally dial the number, press your ‘options’ menu and there are two call types, mobile and internet. Make your choice and thats it! I saw if you have an e61 go get this app right away! They are running a special until the end of the year FREE calls nationwide US and internationally!
View: Truphone: Mobile VoIP
