Empower your Nokia E51 Smartphone without spending a cent

One month after getting my Nokia E51, I've no doubt that it is my best PDA ever. What makes it so special are the 3rd party software that run on this Symbian S60 3rd edition smartphone. Here's the list (by the way, these are either open source or freeware).

1. lightnotepad from www.petnetti.net
X-factor:
Way superior to Notes and ActiveNotes if you have even tried those two
Supports quick navigation within a doc (page down, go to beginning, go to end)
Opens last 3 docs quickly
Finds text within doc
Zooms text
Landscape or portrait view
Doc can be saved to files and folders which can be easily backed up to any PC via ftp using Wifi without the need for Nokia PCsuite. By the way, I don't believe in Nokia PCSuite.

2. Olive tree bible reader from www.olivetree.com
X-factor:
Splits up to 3 screens to allow you to cross reference different Bibles and commentaries
Superb search tool
Choice of free ebooks to go with your reader

3. Avantgo from www.avantgo.com
X-factor:
All the news I need at my fingertips. What more can I say?

4. Sic ftp from www.sic-software.com
X-factor:
Handy tool to backup all my files, images, video, and even the backup of my phone memory. For ftp server on PC, i use open source Filezilla on my home any ftpgo java app on any other PC for adhoc use.

5. Ccalc by Chua Welic
X-factor:
Though Calcium is a popular calculator, I give this one the thumbs up because you can copy and paste the result into other apps. Of course, the programmable function keys is a bonus.

6. Screenshot for Symbian from www.antonypranata.com
X-factor:
For those occasions when you need to show others what you see on your screen, or perhaps take a picture when a video is playing. Only one of the key sequences to take screenshot can be used - the Cancel key.

7. FExplorer from www.gosymbian.com
X-factor:
Everybody needs a file explorer in an operating system. I use both Y-browser and FExplorer, but the latter shows you process, phone and network info. Y-browser has an advantage in that it can show the fullname of the file while it's truncated on FExplorer. By the way, you can't use the screenshot function on FExplorer as the combination of keys to capture screen is impossible on the E51.

8. Dictionary from www.simonjudge.com
X-factor:
Everyone needs a dictionary from time to time. Though not as comprehensive as paid versions, this one comes in handy for spell-checks.

9. Nokia Mobile Search 4.0 from www.nokia.com/mobilesearch
X-factor:
This is much better than the search that comes with E51 as the search interface is smoother. I don't use the feature to search from the web. One feature that's lacking is the ability to do full text search on files such as those created by LightNotepad.

10. Gmail
X-factor:
This is a fast Gmail client. The shortcuts makes it much faster to navigate and act on messages.

11. Mobile9.com
X-factor:
No phone is personalised until you put in a theme that reflects your style. For me, I created my own at www.mobile9.com. The whole process, including downloading and installing to my phone took no longer than 3 minutes.

While I'm happy with my E51, there's still room for improvement. Here's my wishlist of more free tools:

1. A tool to do full text search on text files
2. A version of RotateME that works on E51
3. A version of Vncviewer that works on E51
4. A utility that allows a key to be mapped as the Pen key and Ctrl key so as to allow more nifty operations and navigation such as cut, quick scroll to end of line, etc.
5. A database of course. No PC is complete without a decent database.

Thomas