Nokia E65 & E Series Tips Tricks and Reviews

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Optus takes IOUs from Pre-Paid Customers

Optus has just started to offer Pre-paid customers who have less than $1.50 in their account an extra $3 emergency credit rather than requiring them to top up straight away. When the user recharges next, the $3 will be deducted from the credit.

How do you get the $3 emergency credit from optus? Text "IOU" to the number 468 and $3 will be added to your account.

Conditions:
* Only available if your credit is less than $1.50.
* Your $3 expires in 3 days
* SMS is free
* Only applies to optus customers (obviously)

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Monday, October 27, 2008

Gmail 2.0 Explains Mysterious Vibrations

Have you ever had the experience that you could swear you heard your phone ring or vibrate only to discover there were no missed calls or new sms? Perhaps its your newly installed Gmail 2.0 for Mobile. I've noticed that there is one feature of Gmail people don't seem to mention on other review sites, its the "notify of new mail" function hidden in the settings for Gmail. The unexplained vibrations could be your phone telling you that you have new gmail waiting. Of course this will only work if you leave GMAIL on.

So how do you leave Gmail running in the background on your phone? Press the HOME or MENU key to get back to the menu. Do not press the hang up button or else you exit Gmail.

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How to pick your own mobile phone number in Australia

An interesting thing i noticed in Dick Smith Electronics the other day is that Virgin sells pairs of sim cards for $2. This marketing promotion is to encourage you to buy a sim for you and a friend, even with the two sim card envelopes addressed to you and the other one addressed to your friend.

The interesting thing is that the pre-allocated mobile numbers are consecutive numbers for example:

0449 751 000 and
0449 751 001

This may only be applicable to Australian users but just something to keep in mind if you are picky about having phone numbers that are easy to remember and you would choose the phone numbers based on that. If you know how you can select your own number in your home country, share your strategy here.

If you dont like Virgin Mobile, you could probably buy those sim cards, load up some credit and then port the numbers over to your preferred carrier.

For some Optus and Telstra resellers, they will take out their pre-paid numbers in their shop and allow you to choose the number that you want.

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Friday, October 24, 2008

What? Gmail 2.0 Still Can't Save Attachment?

I've looked. You still cannot save attachments with Gmail for Mobile 2.0. The GoogleMobile and Official Google Blog both don't say anything about this but one wonders why attachments has been a deliberate omission in the Gmail applications.

One possible problem is the introduction of viruses when you can save files to your mobile. Excel and Word files can be viewed but not very well on the Gmail application. It would be easier if one could save (and then potentially edit) documents using QuickOffice. The only way of doing this is to ensure that you have another email application such as a webmail which you can access on your phone other than Gmail to download your attachments.

If we can get some response to the Google engineers, it would be good but for now just consider that they have our best interests in mind.

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A Nokia Look at Gmail Mobile 2.0

A new version of GMAIL for Mobile has just been released. The Official Google Blog claims that the new Gmail application for symbian is faster and more able to work offline.

Well I've tried it with an E71 and it is certainly faster. Loading messages is faster and the application allows you to scroll through a message faster than before by holding down the scroll down button on your Nokia.

The only new menu item I noticed was the Mobile Drafts which enables you to compose an email even when you are offline (say, in an aeroplane or something). However, with Nokia's cut and paste features, it isn't that much of a new thing as we could type an email out in the notes and then copy and paste it to google later. Nevertheless, its a new feature.

The other thing of great use is the support of multiple GMAIL accounts. You can use the menu to toggle between accounts as many of us now have multiple GMAIL accounts for various uses.

If you want to read more about the new GMAIL application, go to Google Mobile's post on the new application or have a look at the video below.

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Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Why NES? Discoverable, Easy Setup, Predictable Price

We've just come out of an online meeting with Andrew Mahon, Nokia Email Service's (NES) product manager and Davis Fields who works with feedback to NES. The Nokia Email Service, has recently come out of Nokia testing labs and into the world of great expectations. With BlackBerry curiously eyeing its new rival, NES was described by Mr Fields as discoverable - "people don't even know that their phones can get email, even though it's been on the phone for years"

Another cool feature is the "ease of setup". I only had to put in my email address and password and the rest of the information was found by Nokia. Many people using emails dont know what POP3 and SMTP and IMAP means. The Nokia Email Service enables users to get up and running in seconds.

Finally and most mysteriously, our friends at Nokia talked about the "predictable price" that will come with NES - that is, when the price is announced. Currently it is a free service but knowing the way Nokia works, the pricing should be quite affordable as their Music service has recently shown.

I've started trialing NES and its a promising application. If you want to have a go, follow this link and come back later for more Nokia news here.

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Shrinking My Location - Google Map for Mobiles

Google has just announced their latest initiative in making Google Map for Mobiles more intelligent in figuring out where you are (without using GPS). We've talked about Google's use of mobile phone towers to find out where you are (in Australia within 1.5km radius) but now it seems that Google will also use the WIFI hotspot that you are connected to, to find out where you are.

Question is... does it work with Nokia E65? I haven't noticed the change but I believe it is only relevant to Blackberry phones (but I could be wrong). Try it out today.. but if it still doesnt work for us, I can say I am so bad at directions that I'm quite content with knowing where I am within 1.5km radius..

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McDonalds Free WIFI Internet in Australia!

Keep your eyes open! Free wireless internet is coming to a McDonalds near you! Nokia E65 users and nearly all Nokias now have WIFI access so you may be able to surf on your phone at McDonalds soon. Apparently, McDonalds Australia has announced free wifi to be rolled out progressively and to be complete by March 2009.

Already Telstra offers PAID EXPENSIVE internet at all McDonalds in Australia but I don't know any suckers who are willing to pay the exorbitant rates that they are currently charging. It is a good move by Telstra to give people a taste of what its like to be on a fast network and with McDonalds in 720 locations in Australia, its not going to be hard to get free wifi soon.

Your challenge: As soon as you find a McDonalds store near you offering free wifi, leave a comment here to help your fellow readers know where to get their WIFI fix.

For now, you can go to this post to find a free wifi location in Australia near you.

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Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Why blog Nokia tech tips?

I do it when I look at other people's blogs so you must do it too. I wonder what it is that made the person start or continue the blog that they have? Well, if you are one of the 100+ people who are subscribing to this blog, you've probably wondered why I started MyE65.

First of all I'm a very fussy person and choosing gadgets such as mobile phones can be a painfully slow process. Reading reviews, talking to people, seeing what is coming out in the coming months, figuring out the optimal time to make the purchase without buying too early to get ripped off and buying too late to get something soon becoming irrelevant. When I finally buy a mobile phone, its after a lot of meticulous weighing up of pros and cons. Since I so much time thinking through the purchase, I thought I might as well let other people benefit from what I've learnt. Hence the blog. I bought a Nokia E65 last year and stayed quite happy with my purchase.
Another reason is that I like exploring my gadgets thoroughly so that I know every feature, bug, functionality, tendency and shortcut. Its a simple philosophy - if you paid for it, its wasted if you dont use it to its fullest capacity!

If it took me 20 minutes or two weeks to figure something out about My E65, why not share it so other people can save that time? Its about being a responsible member of the internet community. If I benefit from people's websites about a new digital camera or reviews on books, then I should either do my bit or support those people that are giving me advice. You pay an accountant for financial advice, lawyers for legal advice but everything online is free? Either trade in your skillset or support those bloggers and webmasters out there. Some of you save hours or days from trying to work out something that has been shared here. Maybe it was a problem with Youtube on E65, a problem with GMAIL for mobile that the Nokia site won't necessarily talk about, or maybe you were trying to find a password for your MMC card. If you have benefitted, maybe you can give back something to the internet community by starting a blog about something few people know. Add your blog to the comments below THIS post to show fellow readers how diverse we are here. The filter on shameless self-promotion is lifted for this particular post so promote away.

If you feel like you are already being paid for your skills, maybe as an accountant, plumber, journalist or doctor, maybe your contribution can be in the form of encouragement to the existing internet community in financial or textual form.. we'll talk about that in a later post.

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Saturday, October 18, 2008

Send to Bluetooth - More Useful than You Think

When you are rushing out of the house or you have a very important document to bring with you the next day, one thing you can do to insure against leaving it home is to bluetooth the file to you. In Microsoft Word as with many other programs, there is a SEND TO option which you can select BLUETOOTH DEVICE. Since the E65 and most Nokia phones now have access to QuickOffice, this means that you can read a document file on your phone and even make changes to it if you have a more recent Nokia phone (which come with the full license for Quick Office).

At your meeting or whatever, you might even decide that referring to the document on your phone is easier than on paper. Maybe in terms of bringing the document in or perhaps in terms of searching for the relevant sections of the document using the search function of the phone. Its almost like bringing your laptop with you. Hopefully with these tips, you can be more effective in using your Nokia E65 or other Nokia phones. Have you got an office hack that you use your phone for? share it in the comments section below.

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Friday, October 17, 2008

More to do with your TO DO

One thing you may notice when looking at your E65 phone calendar is that no matter what day it is, the TO-DO list items stay on the current day. This may be annoying when you have a task that you are perpetually putting off but there are some other uses you may not have thought about.

The most obvious thing to use the Todo list is to add things that you are intending to get done later. While it stays on the Todo list, it can never be forgotten - unlike a calendar reminder which you might get reminded and forget about it later. This often happens when the reminder comes at a time that you are doing something else important and you dismiss it "for the time being".

Also for example, let's say you keep a record of your expenses every day. you can use the todo list to list expenses that you are going to add in to your records later on. When you do add your expenses, clear the todo list items that you have recorded.

People who owe you money. No matter what day it is, you can use your mobile phone to remind you who is outstanding using todo lists.

People you have borrowed something off. This is one of those things that one can very easily forget. What else have you used the TO DO list for?

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Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Using Google Maps when you have a GPS dongle with E65

As you have discovered from mindless searching of the user manual and the phone, the Nokia E65 does not come with a GPS. However, to keep you guessing, Nokia included all the GPS programs that you would expect on a Nokia phone if you had GPS. Hence the continual searching for the GPS feature by E65 users. The only way you can get GPS going on your E65 is to buy a dongle. To this day, I am still not sure what is the best and cheapest way to achieve this. If anyone has a GPS enabled Nokia E65, let us know what brand model etc you are using.

Anyway, let's assume for a moment that you have made the GPS dongle purchase or you have a Nokia E66 or Nokia E71... The most exciting use of GPS on a mobile phone is using it in conjunction with Google Maps for Mobile. The downside: Google Maps for Mobile does require a mobile internet connection.

With that out of the way, let's look at the exciting things that are possible with Google Maps for Mobile:

  • Search for anything - If you want to find a street, restaurant, park etc there is a better chance you will find it with Google Maps for Mobile than with Nokia Maps. Once you search for the location you want, you can just select "directions to here" and the map will show you instructions for getting there from your current GPS location.
  • Watching you move -Its a bit of a geeky thing to be excited about this but just watching the blue dot moving along the street but that is all possible with Google Maps for Mobile.
  • Slow internet is still good - As you drive along, the map for the surrounding area is downloaded. This does not require too much data usage and loads up quick enough even on a slow internet connection to be of practical use.

There are many other uses for Google Maps which I will add in to this post at a later date, so bookmark this or come back later..

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Nokia E71 GPS Impresses and Excites

Nokia has entered their contender in the QWERTY smartphone market with the slim and and slick Nokia E71. Here is a Nokia E65 user's first impressions of the GPS features that come with the Nokia E71.

GPS - The inclusion of GPS in most smartphones seems to be the rule rather than the exception nowadays and the GPS on the E71 is quite practical although not the most advanced available (in terms of time taken to lock to satellites).

Using Nokia Maps with GPS - Nokia Maps is quite exciting because it enables you to pre-load the map of a whole country into your phone so that you dont need to download the map every time you run it. Nokia Maps also includes some points of interest such as cafes, restaurants, pubs, parks, hospitals etc so that you can search offline for these locations without using any mobile internet.

Also, as you drive along a street, the Nokia Map will show you the house numbers as you pass each house. You will no longer have to slow down and risk being rear ended by the car behnd you as you search for the right house. At intersections, you wont need to look for street signs, just look down on your phone and it will show you the street name that you are at.

Is Mobile data required for Nokia GPS operation? Many customers are told (particularly by three representatives in Australia) that the GPS does not work without using mobile data. It just takes a little longer to syncronise with the satellites. This is the difference between assisted GPS and GPS only.

Using Nokia GPS Applications - There are three applications that come with the Nokia E71. GPS Data has three programs within it.

  • Navigation allows you to see whether you are travelling North, South, East or West and what speed you are travelling at.
  • Position is another program just one right tab across from Navigation. This application allows you to know the Longitude and Latitude of where you are in the world, the accuracy level it is giving you, the altitude above sea level and the speed.
  • Trip Distance is the final tab on the right. When you start a trip, it will measure the distance travelled, time taken, your max speed and average speed. These programs can be useful on a holiday when you are traveling around but if you want a program which will allow you to have more fun on foot, try Nokia Sports Tracker (as discussed in an earlier post).

A new blog has started, which will look at hints and tips for the Nokia E71 at http://mye71.blogspot.com Leave a comment there to express your support.

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Monday, October 13, 2008

Fitness and Sports Workouts with your GPS Nokia Sports Tracker

This is definitely the most interesting program I have tried on the Nokia E71. This program can be downloaded from the Nokia website. It keeps an automatic work-out or training diary calendar of all your workouts every day. You can choose what type of activity you did (eg running, walking, cycling) and there are options for you to define a few other sporting activities (eg adding in martial arts, soccer, swimming etc).

When you start a workout, the program will map out using GPS the route that you took. You can choose to have your phone alert you for every milestone (or laps) you acheived such as every 1km or 2 miles etc by beeping. The program will record how fast you ran or walked over time and show you a graph of your workout speed. It also records how long your workout went for (you can also pause your workout for whatever reason), how far you traveled, max speed, average speed, max "pace", average "pace and how long you took for each lap. Speed v Distance and Speed v Time is also recorded and graphed out for you.

Trying this program on the E71 was quite amazing! It really helps one to motivate and get into doing more exercise. You can compare your past workouts each day and also export the results to XML or even to Google Earth! You can also replay the route that you took and zoom in on the map that was created by your movements. If you have a GPS enabled Nokia phone, it is definitely worth using Nokia Sports Tracker - free to download on any nokia website.


Add your Sports tracker login name in the comments below.

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Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Gmail as a Phone book for number search

Sometimes a person calls up and you don't know who it is. Their ID does not come up but it doesnt necessarily mean that you don't know this person. One of the fastest ways to look up a number is to email your GMAIL account with any list of mobile phone numbers that you may have. You may belong to a club, church, society or organisation where you can just email yourself the list of phone numbers. When you are in a situation which you want to find out who the mystery caller is, go to your gmail and do a search for the phone number.

So how is this a phone hack? Well, now that we all carry mobile phones which can use gmail applications, all you need to do if you have a data connection is look up the phone or details in your gmail application. Within minutes you can find out who called you or what street number that partywas on. Gmail has opened up so many possiblities for phone users.. there are plenty more. just search GMAIL in the search bar to your right or leave a comment to tell us what you use GMAIL for (other than email).

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Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Transferring SMS messages between phones

It is increasingly popular for people to carry two phones around with them. This leads to the problem of not knowing which phone has an SMS that you are looking for. I am not sure how many people have tried this but let's say you have two phones and you would like to amalgamate your SMS messages into one phone, is it possible? Here are the things I have considered, feel free to add in.

* Backup through PC Suite means that if you restor the backup onto the second phone, won't the existing SMS on that phone get wiped as well? This should only be used when you are transferring to a new phone with no existing contacts and SMS or restoring your contacts etc after a firmware upgrade.

* Transferring via Sync This is a tactic i tried but the two Nokia phones would not sync the SMS messages properly. For some reason, it worked when one phone was empty but after that the two phones refused to sync with each other the SMS messages.. I can see why this would not be very desirable as your friend could easily download ur sms messages to his phone and read it at his leisure.. but is there a way for those legitimate times when you just want to see all your sms in one phone?

Has anyone had a successful transfer of SMS from one phone to another?

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