Making the most of NOTES in Nokia

You may not think much of it, but the NOTES application in most nokia phones is worthy of keeping as a shortcut key on your phone. You can make different notes for various lists. I came across a webpage which talked about 12 lists that will help you get things done. Here they are and you can consider opening a note file for each and keep it handy on your phone. One list I keep is a "places to go" which is useful when you are stuck for ideas and you've forgotten the restaurants that you have been meaning to go to, or you can't think of a place where you can get a good steak. 

1. Task lists: Naturally, the most obvious is the task list, a simple list of things you have to do. A running list of the tasks you have to get done can make your life significantly easier, provided you use it religiously. For more information about task lists, check out my “Back to Basics” post from last year.
2. Project planning: Creating a list of tasks associated with a projects can be a great way to wrap your head around the project, as well as a prompt for what to do next when you finish a task. And a list of projects will help you make sure you’re keeping up with all your commitments.
3. Wish lists: A wishlist is a list of things you want to buy but don’t need right away. For example, I want a new electric guitar, but I’m not going to run out and buy one. When you have the money, or the time, you can take out your list and see what you want most of all.
4. Grocery/shopping lists: One of my most effective lists is a simple one-page list I made of all the groceries I regularly bought, arranged in the order I’d find them at my local store, with a few blank spaces every so often for one-off additions. Every week, I’d print it off, cross off anything I didn’t need, and add anything that wasn’t on the list, and go shopping.
5. Gift ideas: Nothing’s worse than the approach of Christmas with no idea of what to get someone close to you. Keep a list of odd, attractive, or just-right-for-you-know-who items throughout the year to help make Christmas, birthday, and anniversary shopping less stressful.
6. Checklists: Any recurrent multi-step tasks – like packing for a business trip, arranging a presentation, or winterizing your home – can be done more easily and with fewer errors if you write up a simple checklist of all the steps involved and equipment needed.
7. Reading journal: A while back I suggested that students (and other readers) keep areading journal. Basically, this is a list of books you’ve read with notes and adequate information to recall the text later.
8. Links and logins: In these days of proliferating web applications, almost everyone has dozens, if not hundreds, of websites they need to log into on a regular basis. Keeping a list of all these sites and your login info can be a lifesaver! Also, if you keep a list online, you can have active links to each application, making a pretty useful start page.
9. Life lists: A list of your short- and long-term goals can be a great motivator, as well as a trigger list to help generate new projects. I also like to have a list of areas of focus, the different roles that I play, each of which comes with a different set of tasks and goals.
10. Reference: Any information you find yourself referring to often can make a useful list – metric conversions, file types, software registration keys, birthdays, the names of your children, whatever.
11. Logs: Broadly speaking, a log is a list of events tied to specific dates/times. Keeping a list of your exercise achievements, food consumption, words written, or other set of data appropriate for your projects will help you measure your progress as well as identify problems (like if your output drops on certain days of the week or month, or you seem to crave certain foods on certain days).
12. Daily summaries: A one- or two-line summary of the day’s events can help to remind you of problems that arose as well as how you dealt with them, as well as track behavioral patterns that might point to illness, conflict with certain people, or other issues.

Nokia revolutions... Cityman to Nokia N97

Recently, Nokia sent me what they call the Nokia N97 anti-theft device. In fact its just a replica of the Nokia Cityman, which was the first hand-held mobile phone that Nokia came out with in 1987. This giant Cityman replica came with a housing to put the Nokia N97, to show the size comparison with a phone 12 years older.

Thanks to Nokia for the laughs but I think I will stick with the E series :)

(photos coming soon)

Best Profiles giveaway @ MyE63

Just to let you all know that we are giving away Best Profiles, a program that also works on the Nokia E65. Go to the Nokia E63 blog to enter by promoting or contributing to the blog.

Nokia PC Suite Calendar - the hidden gem for GTD

Are you an organising freak? Love getting things done efficiently? Nokia Calendar is your friend. Much of the action has recently been on MyE63 but today, we'd like to look at the Calendar for Nokia PC Suite. In one word, it's awesome! The recent update to Nokia PC suite was already mentioned here but we didn't do justice to the features of the in built Calendar.

The Calendar now looks like Microsoft Outlook's calendar which is a big step for Nokia. You can right click any day and add a new meeting, call or memo.

• Views - You can view the calendar in a monthly screen, weekly screen or a day overview screen. Just like Google Calendar, they also have an Agenda view (called List view in Nokia Calendar) which allows you to see all your appointments line by line. This is especially useful to
• Duration Selection - If the appointment that you are adding runs for for a certain length, you can select the timeslots that the appointment will take up and press enter to add details of the meeting. eg In the 7 day view, select 4 timeslots in a row to create a meeting 2 hours long.
• Double-click to edit - To add or edit any entries, just double click the date or timeslot and the details screen will pop up for a new appointment.
• Immediate update to phone - As soon as you are finished with your update and you save the entry, it is now in your phone. Saves a lot of thumb work entering new meetings etc via PC suite.
• Sort calendar entries - In the list view you can also even sort calendar entries by appointment type, subject, location, description, start date, end date, alarm state, alarm time or even whether the entry recurs.

So what are we missing? One problem with the Nokia Calendar which stops it from replacing Outlook is that you cannot print the screen that you see. For example, you can't just print out the agenda for the next 10 days because there is no print option. You need to screen capture it and print it out that way... not sure why this was not built in but maybe in the next PC Suite build.

Google Maps on Nokia E65 now with layers

Have you ever tried to do four things at the same time on your mobile google maps and failed miserably as a result of its "one-tracked mind"? You may search for a restaurant but when you work out the directions, you think about searching for a close petrol station along the way, suddenly your customised directions are gone! You pull over to the side of the road and start again...

You may have gotten used to using customised maps on Google Maps and creating your own "world" which shows favourite restaurants, friends' houses, places you want to go etc. Well now with the latest Google Maps for mobile you can see these customised maps when you are using your mobile phone!

Read more here.

FREE SMS Diary to 10 contributors to MyE63

We've reviewed SMS Diary in the past and this month is your chance to get it for free. Just leave your comments and / or contributions to the Nokia E63 blog at www.mye63.blogspot.com to be one of ten faithful followers to get a free copy of SMS diary.

You can also be in the running by posting a link to the blog in your circle of influence whether it be facebook, twitter, your blog etc. Be sure to report your efforts back to mye63blog @ gmail.com. As the blog has only recently begun, your chances of getting SMS Diary at the end of July is pretty high. Make sure you are following on twitter so that you can send your IMEI if you win.

Sports Tracker Now Broadcasting your Workout LIVE

With a GPS enabled device, you can be cheered on by your training buddies as you are running around the Swan River and they are sitting in an office in New York. What really surprised me is that even in my sleepy town of Perth, Western Australia, there are people already logging their workouts on the Sports Tracker website (see below). The map shows people are joining up to Nokia Sports Tracker to broadcast where and when they ran/walked/canoed/cycled.

With the website, you can also:

• Upload what photos or videos you took along the way
• See where you reached your purple patch and ran like crazy
• Share with people what you were listening to during your run on your mobile
• Add training buddies to your sportstracker.

Just a word of caution: Don't broadcast your live workout if you are alone and if you are running from your home for obvious safety reasons.

Going on a run has never been so interactive and this really shows you what era we all find ourselves in. Check out http://sportstracker.nokia.com and be ready to cheer on MyE65 the next time I take a run, or rather, walk along the river.

Three Australia offering more time to talk to other 3 customers

We're starting to wonder what's going on with Three Australia. They are now offering the Nokia E63 $29 cap with a bonus 150 minutes of talk time between you and your 3 friends and family for every month of the 12 month contract. Maybe its because of the missing = sign on the E63? Just kidding, but if you want to take advantage of this, you will need to get someone to refer you to Three. Details at our Nokia E63 blog here or read more about the Nokia E63 here.

Why blog about mobiles? Part 2

It was quite a while ago when I first wrote about why I write about Nokia tips. Another question is, how do readers keep bloggers sharing their thoughts and experiences? Well, one obvious way is to subscribe and read the blog in the first place.

Time poor benefits Many people who read this blog are from professional backgrounds who do not spend hours in one place exploring every facet of the phone. They like the convenience of just googling their problem and get the solution in seconds. If you are being paid $150 / hour in your usual profession, why waste money on find a solution to something when it has already been discovered?

Contribute! Blogs like this one also benefit a lot from your own contributions. Its a way of returning a little of what you got from the blog itself. That's why many people like myself started a blog. How much do we gain from the interconnected world of the internet just from the free contributions of others.

New programs / accessories Some people are so excited about the program that they have created or discovered that the only thing keeping them from becoming a millionaire is their ability to share it with the world. One thing we do allow here is for programmers and companies to offer NFR (not for resale) licenses to trial their application. Also, nothing gets the publicity ball rolling like giving away ten copies of your program to readers of the blog.

M.... What about financially? As you can see, a blog like this has not been paid for by a company (no, surprisingly its not paid for by Nokia). The only financial means is through advertising revenue if you click on the ads and donations. In the two and a half years this blog has been up, only one donation was received for an amount of $5. Do you have any idea how exciting that was for me? Anyway, hope that helps you get an insight on the blogger's perspective on blogs.

PS. a new blog has been started as I've just started using the Nokia E63. You can find it at www.mye63.blogspot.com and don't forget to follow me on twitter.

Get the most out of Nokia PC suite - update to 7.1.30.8

As always, we have just sensed a Nokia PC suite release and currently downloading and installing it. Follow this link to ensure that you don't end up downloading 7.1.26.0 instead.

New Nokia PC Suite 7.1.30.8 here.

All I can see is a Nokia Music Store icon added to the PC suite.
Did anyone else notice any new features of 7.1.30.8?

Best of all Worlds - Nokia E63

If you are a fan of the Nokia E71 but you want to get it on a budget, the Nokia E63 is looking right at you and saying, I'm yours.

The Nokia E63 is almost exactly the same dimensions as the Nokia E71 except its more like an E71 after a buffet dinner, with an extra thickness to it - probably to accommodate the 3.5mm headphone jack which now allows mp3 users to bring one set of earphones for their ipod and their E63.

Form factor One thing I liked about the E63 is the feel of it. The matted finish is much preferred over the stainless steel backing that comes on the E71 which collects fingerprints like an ex-FBI agent. One great annoyance of the E63 is that they've moved the power button from the top to live with the hang up button. Now, if you are like me, this may cause you to turn off your phone accidentally because one press of the hangup button brings up the menu to turn off the phone etc and the nokia thumb quite often then moves to the OPTIONS key which quickly

sends the phone into shut down mode. Dont worry if you don't get it now, you will when you play with this phone. The keypad has a rubbery feel but it is surprisingly easy to type messages and dial numbers using one hand, despite the closeness of each key to each other.

Surprises One thing MyE65 users love are keypad shortcuts. Like the E71 and E66, the E63 introduces the LONG PRESS selection which allows you to hold down a button and get to one thing, whereas a short press of the button takes you to another. Let's call them double function keys.

Also the phone has a breathing light which starts pulsing like crazy when you have a missed call or message. One thing it doesnt have is the ability to hold down the navi key and see an illuminated clock when you are groping in the dark. All these are discussed in the review on the E66 and the Nokia E71.

Another nice surprise which the E71 does not have is the torch which is activated by pressing and holding the spacebar on the bottom of the QWERTY keypad. It uses the LED for the flash on the camera as a torch and needless to say, photos taken turn out very well.

Another useful feature is being able to access the address book from the standby screen just by starting to type a contact's name on the keypad. That is more useful than you realise.

E63 with PC Suite - There are no incoming call notifications when connected with PC suite (unlike the E71) but the PC Suite can show the length of the call while you are on the phone.

Overall - The only main thing that is lacking in this phone is a GPS and like many people who are faced with this decision, I would say that this phone is worth getting and with its idiosyncracies, some people may find it a better choice than the E71 as an upgrade from their E65. For those looking for an easy to use phone that will last them two years, this is a good choice.

Update: Three now giving away the Nokia E63 on a $29 cap 12 month contract! It is now cheaper to buy the Nokia E63 from 3 than to buy it outright... plus you can get $64 cashback. After 12 months, even if you spent nothing on calls, you would have "bought" your E63 for only $284!!!

Get around $64 cashback for your purchase from THREE Australia by signing up to Moneybackco BEFORE you sign up to 3. See this post for more details. Get an extra $25 credit if a three customer like me refers you first (ie email mye65blog[at]gmail.com).

Nokia E63 blog has begun here.

Secret tips and hints for the Nokia E63. Users of E63 will love it :)

First Look: Nokia E72 adds iphone-esque revisions to Nokia E71

Its so new, the only pic we have is from the Nokia page. :)

The Nokia E72 has just recently been announced by Nokia. According to the Nokia Europe website, the Nokia E72 adds very little to the Nokia E71 but these could be what Nokia fans have been waiting for.

Just like the iPhone S comparisons to the iPhone, the E72 will look very much the same as the Nokia E71, but boasts a more longer lasting battery adding roughly 60 extra hours standby time and 1.5 hrs talk time over the E71.

The other major change is the resolution, going from a 3.2MP on the E71 to a 5MP on the Nokia E72. Internal memory on the phone is up 140MB which is not much in today's world but still much better than the 110MB limit on the E71 (of course, you can always add micro-SD cards to increase capacity - up to 16GB now with the E72). Active noise cancellation has been included in the E72 as well as a 3.5mm headphones jack like the Nokia E63. More on the E72 can be found here.

Included with the phone is a 4GB micro-SDHC card, which didn't come with the E71. One of the fun things about Nokia phones are that they often pack features that are not advertised so we're eagerly awaiting an opportunity to get a closer look at the E72 and discovering the features for the more discerning Nokia user.

Application won't load up, what's wrong?

We all understand that phones trying to be computers can sometimes run into their limitations. Sometimes you may install a program and when you try to run it, you are rejected back to the applications menu. "Great, the program doesn't work... I'll blog about how Nokia Email is a fail". Before you do that, try closing some applications. Some programs are polite to report that the reason why they are not opening is because of a lack of memory. Some just act as nothing happened. You may be surprised how much memory even just the Web browser can take up. Once you have closed some other applications, try opening the program again.

This may seem to be an obvious tip but for many of you out there, this may explain why your favourite app is working for other people and not for you.

To see a list of pretty good applications for your nokia E65, go to this post. Its an old list so feel free to add more applications in the comments.

Getting online quickly on the Nokia E65

Wiki how to do CPR

You are in a rush to look up something online via your phone. Here are some tips to get you online in the quickest possible way with the Nokia E65.

Go directly to 0 (zero). As many of you may already know, there is the shortcut key to get from your standby screen to your internet browser on the Nokia E65 and most other Nokias. Press and hold down zero on the keypad to load up the internet browser.

One strange anomoly which after two years I still haven't figure out is why doing this will give you a different set of bookmarks than when you go through the Menu --> Web option. Any ideas?

Go to address. Strange thing about opera on the Nokia E65 is that it won't let you select Options and Go To Address until your home page is completely loaded (if you have one). To hurry this along, press the right selection key which cancels the download of the page. Now you can press the right selection key and type in the web address that you are dying to get to.

Turn off images. If you are using a WIFI point or you have a very stingy data plan, one way to save money is to turn off images in Settings. This will also make surfing much faster and also much less interesting.

Shortcuts for web browsing on your phone

Press 1 for bookmarks.
Press 2 to search for keywords in the current page.
Press 3 to go to the previous page.
Press 5 to show all open windows.
Press 9 to enter a new web address.
Press 0 to go to your homepage.

Here are more tips about browsing online on your Nokia E65.

If you are looking for some must-bookmark websites for your mobile, have a look at this post.

Using a GPS bluetooth adaptor for your E65 or E63

Recently, Gamma asked about my experience using the GPS bluetooth receiver with my E65. I have found it to be extremely convenient, particularly because the GPS receiver I am using is so small it fits well on a key chain. I have it mostly in my car which is where i usually need to use the GPS features. One flick of the switch, open Google Maps and in minutes I can see where I am and find out how to get to where i need to be. 

The GPS is also a useful way of finding out random things like which direction you are facing (of course you could rely on the sun but who does that?) and what the nearest pizza place is. With Google maps packing street view, and the ability to broadcast your location to a group of close friends, I believe having a GPS feature is essential to the enjoyment of a smart phone. 

If you are budget conscious and went for the non-GPS Nokia E63, you can buy the freedom keychain GPS for much less than is required to get a Nokia E71.  Some other GPS applications available from Nokia for free include Nokia Sports Tracker, Nokia Maps and these are discussed here.

If you are interested in getting a brand new Freedom Keychain for less than this, email me. I have  two available because I got them pretty cheap recently.

Do you need internet to use the GPS? 

No, not if you are using Nokia Maps and you have your local map installed on your phone. You will not need internet for Nokia Sports Tracker either. 

Yes, You will need internet connection on your phone (even if its wireless) if you want to use:

- Google Maps for Mobile

- Google Latitude (broadcasts your location to friends) 

- Amaze maps and voice navigation mobile software.

Signed up a new Nokia E63 with Three - 12 months on $29 cap

Over the weekend, the two year contract with Optus and the Nokia E65 ended and it was time to find its replacement. Firstly, lets say that the Nokia E65 has served me well. Its been on for the most part of two years and its only signs of aging include suffering recent "blackouts" where it would reset for no apparent reason. This has only happened recently, being a reminder that it was time to retire this reliable workhorse.

Just in time, the Nokia E63 was offered free on the $19 cap plan for 24 months. However, it was the 12 month $29 cap plan that had me sold because:
* This would be like purchasing the Nokia E63 @ $348
* 12 months later I would be able to find a replacement phone, probably the Nokia E71
* $19 cap plan didn't provide enough call credit for my "normal" usage

I added $8 per month to get on the X series which is Three's internet package. This gives 100mb of download, free usage of unlimited Three email and free news and weather.

The Nokia E63 was finally chosen after considering the various factors:
* It does mostly what the E71 does at almost half the cost
* I have a GPS dongle which enables me to use GPS on the Nokia E63 (more about this here and here)
* Seems more durable than the Nokia E71
* Includes a handy torch
* Enables editting and reviewing of documents with QuickOffice
* Can use multiple internet applications at a time like MSN, Fring, Skype etc
* User interface is very fast and responsive, much faster than the E65
* 12 month contract!! I can have my E63 AND my E71!!

Now the wait for the Nokia E63 to be delivered.

I'm not looking forward to:
* Reinstalling all the applications I use
* Transferring contacts, address book and calendar entries
* Reconfiguring a new phone to have the least possible hops to every feature I use

Of course, I also got $64 cashback as week by signing up to Moneybackco BEFORE signing up to 3. See this post for more details. Make sure you log in to moneybackco and follow the link to 3 in order to get the moneyback.

Excellent value Nokia E63 with Three $19 cap

In February 2009, the Nokia E63 was on the Three $49 cap for 24 months ($1,176 min commitment)

In March 2009, the Nokia E63 dropped to free on the $29 cap for 24 months ($696 min commitment).

Now, the Nokia E63 has dropped to being offered free on the $29 cap for 12 months ($348 min commitment).

Alternatively, the Nokia E63 is free on the $19 cap plan with a Three 24 month contract. However, the $29 cap is an excellent option if you see yourself considering a new phone in a year's time.

We've discussed earlier how the Nokia E63 is a very good alternative to the best smartphone, the Nokia E71. To make the E63 a GPS phone, you only need a GPS adapter discussed here.

There is a good chance that the reduction in price on the nokia E63 is a temporary one to test the market so if you are like me, considering an upgrade from the Nokia E65, this may be best time to lock in a new phone at a good price if you are in Australia.

Interesting to note, it costs around at least $AU387 to get a Nokia E63 outright.

Edit: Tips and tricks for Nokia E63 now has a separate blog at http://www.myE63.blogspot.com

How old is your Nokia E65? or E71?

I was recently quite amazed to see that my phone carrier was still offering the Nokia E65 as a free phone if I would like to subscribe for another two more years with them. This made me wonder how old each of your phones are?

Also if you are finding the tips on this website useful and you are currently using another Nokia phone, please let me know what phone you are using. It will take less than 30 seconds to do this, can you imagine how many hours this blog has taken to put together? Contribute and make Mye65 a better place :)

MyE65 replacement.. which phone and from where?

Followers of MyE65 will know that I'm currently looking for a replacement for the Nokia E65 as the contract is running out soon. The question is, which phone will last another two years and under which plan?

First of all, let's look at some current alternatives to the Nokia E65.

Nokia E66 - Earlier we have reviewed this phone. The main things that attract me to this phone is its size and feel. The display is sleek and its build is while plastic, feels quite sturdy. It packs a GPS which is essential nowadays and has similar trappings to the E71. More about the Nokia E66 here and why it fits in a suit pocket at a business meeting. 

Nokia E71 - This was reviewed as the CNET best smartphone available, receiving a 9.5/10 in a review. It has a qwerty keyboard, quick GPS, and very similar to the E66 but with a better battery. With so many features to play with, battery life will be a big determinant and currently, I'm favouring the E71 because of the GPS factor and these reasons.

Nokia E63 - Almost a Nokia E71 but not quite. It looks just like the E71 but doesn't have the GPS and a few other things discussed here. Advantages include a 3.5mm stereo plug for your earphones and a very reliable battery. Love the torch and the the keyboard aesthetics too.

Nokia N85 - Small keys, weight distribution seems wrong and too much of a media phone for my liking. I prefer organisers over multimedia phones and the battery life is not all that good. It packs a 5MP camera but its still a camera phone.

Then which Australian phone carrier? Assuming the Nokia E71, Vodafone Australia is offering $150 off their $49 cap plan, which for $10 extra a month, includes 200MB of data. Included is $350 worth of calls which isn't bad but quite standard. If you have friends with Vodafone this would be a good choice.

Three is offering $75 off their $49 cap plan currently for the Nokia E71 but their included calls are $350 to anyone and $300 to three users. Again, if your friends are with three, this may be the way to go. YOu can also get the E71 on a $29 cap for $10 extra per month for the handset repayments. Add another $8 per month for 100MB data per month.

The E71 on Optus is on their new plans which we have already discussed in an earlier post as ones to avoid but if you didn't benefit from "yes" time and you don't mind billing per minute, this may be the way to go.

One startling omission in each plan is DATA. If any of the above actually included some data, I'll be in. Hopefully in the coming days, this author will benefit from some price competition. For now, here's hoping that some of the newer E series phones will come onto the Australian market, at least to look at. Otherwise, it might be good to be 3 for this future E71 owner. Or just go cheap with the E63 minus GPS plus GPS dongle.

Nokia E75 and E52 - your thoughts?

As this blog is more aimed at being a community of users rather than an expert website (if you want more professional reviews there's always CNET.com) I'd like to hear from those who have played with and tried the Nokia E75 and the Nokia E52. We'll have a review up later when we get to play with it but for now, if you have played with either phone, give us your "gut reaction" response to the phones. Don't worry about dimensions or features (again, people can find that at nokia.com), let's hear what you think and what you feel about the phones.

Quick comments.. Nokia E52 has apparently 672 hours of standby battery life and 9 hours of talk time!! According to CNET, battery life is the big fail for Nokia E75.

Alarm On Silent Does NOT work on Nokia E65

PC Suite Bug Alert: For those that upgraded from the Nokia 6230 to to Nokia E65, you will remember fondly a feature that the Nokia E65 does not have - silent alarms. This is a feature which allows you to have a pop-up reminder which doesn't audibly sound. 

On the Nokia PC Suite calendar, it is good for E65 users to realise that the Alarm On Silent does not work. If you select this option, there will be no alarm reminder for your calendar item. The time will pass by like nothing happened. No pop up. No alarm sound. Good to know before you miss a meeting by selecting Alarm on Silent. 

The anomoly is that if you look at your phone, the phone shows that an "alarm" has been set for that calendar item. It just won't happen. However... if you editted your calendar item on your phone, say, change the time, it is now set to be an Alarm With Sound item. On the PC Suite, even after your item has been changed to have an alarm with sound on your phone, it will still show as an Alarm on Silent item... which we've discussed above is no alarm at all. 

MyE65 says no to Optus Monster Cap Plans

This week, Optus released new "monster" cap plans, but it didn't take long for the internet community to realise that Optus was not aiming to shake the market up, more like shaking people away from Optus.

Here are the essential details of the new Optus Monster cap plans
- Yes time (free calls between Optus customers for 20min during 8pm-12am) scrapped
- Per 30 second billing is replaced with per minute billing
- "Optus2Anyone" and "Optus2Optus" caps included
- Can only use "Optus2Optus" cap AFTER you run out of "Optus2Anyone" cap
- Unlimited SMS & MMS on $59 cap and above
- 5 second call on a $49 cap will cost $1.15
- No data has been included in the caps
- iphone, blackberry and HTC plans not affected *yet*
- Nokia E71 free on the $49 cap
- Nokia E63 unavailable

On Whirlpool, Australia's biggest online bulletin board, around 87% of users were unimpressed with the new plans. More than half of these people also said that they will tell other people that the plans are not good. What do you think? Personally, the Three $29 and $49 cap plans for Nokia E63 and Nokia E71 respectively look more attractive.

Stay away from Nokia E65 Firmware upgrade 4.0633.74.0

I am not sure why after all the bad reports of phone batteries draining out very quickly, nokia has not released an updated firmware patch for the E65. In an earlier post from December last year, I highlighted some of the problems people were having with 4.0633.74.0. Amazingly, this phone update is still out there, seeking to drain out unsuspecting Nokia E65 users' batteries. Here are some of your comments following that post.

Moshe Basanchig said...
Thanks for the tip. I'll wait for fixes before upgrading.
December 22, 2008 7:19 PM

Anonymous said...
my phone went for service this week. I wonder how it will return...
December 22, 2008 10:30 PM

thxsmileys said...
Thanks for the heads up. Otherwise i would have just went through with the new update. I for one do not care about new features on the e65 now. I am more for the speed and responsiveness of the phone. The usual hangs and restarts take forever.
December 23, 2008 3:45 AM

Redy said...
Thx man, me too i will not upgrade to v4, i am very happy with this one.
December 24, 2008 10:10 AM

orion said...
I've upgraded to the new firmware and the only the problem with the annoying popup occured. In the previous version there was a setting for this, that is no longer available... :(
December 25, 2008 12:52 PM

Aleksandar said...
I have uprgaded before I read this tip and now I must recharge battery every second day. Pop up notice is totally unnecessary. If i knew what the result will be, I would not upgraded
December 27, 2008 4:47 PM

Anonymous said...
I updated before I got to reading this post.. T_T Now my keypad backlight is not working! You think there's a way to revert to the old firmware?
December 28, 2008 9:13 AM

northpole said...
Well, I already upgraded my E65 to 4.06.x couple of weeks ago. Another issue with is that Nokia does not have a compatible version of BlackBerry connect...
December 29, 2008 5:43 AM

MD said...
- Annoying popup message on top of standby screen with ‘Show’ and ‘Exit’ optionsfix it with handy shell soft- Significant battery drainReally, very significant battery drain :(advise: dont upgrade.
January 13, 2009 2:09 AM

Deki StraïBoss said...
It's a joke or what ? Mine is working good with this firmware , everything is ok.
February 26, 2009 9:21 PM

Anonymous said...
4.0633.74.0 firmware drains battery within 36hours ! brand new battery same issue :-(
March 3, 2009 1:13 PM

Anonymous said...
My battery drains in around 5 hours!! This is totally ridiculous, and I also lost my contacts. The only backup that worked was one back in October. I'm really starting to hate nokia. My E65 has had pretty bad sound quality since the start as well. I'm even starting to consider a crackberry or a sony phone.
April 30, 2009 4:20 PM

Increased stability under Nokia PC Suite 7.1.26.0

Not much has been released about the updates from Nokia PC Suite 7.1.18.0 to 7.1.26.0 except that you can now 

- Take backups of contact groups and restore them to a different device model.
- Stability and usability improvements
- Support for new Bluetooth stack versions

The new version can be downloaded from here. The Europe Nokia website does not have this 7.1.26.0 version available yet. 

For those not familiar with the Nokia PC  suite, you are not getting the most out of your Nokia device if you are not linking it to your computer using the Nokia PC suite. From the user guide which most of you won't end up reading, here is a list of things you can do with the Nokia PC suite: 

With Nokia PC Suite you can (using)

Backup (Nokia Content Copier)

Back up personal data from your phone to a PC.

Restore personal data from your PC to any supported phone.

Synchronise (Nokia PC Sync)

Synchronise personal data between a phone and a PC.

Connect to the Internet (One Touch Access)

Use your phone as a modem to connect your PC to the Internet.

Organise your Contacts (the Contacts view of Nokia Communication Centre)

Create, edit, and view the contacts stored on your phone.

Share business cards by multimedia messages or email.

Messages (the Messages view of Nokia Communication Centre)

Read, Send and Reply text messages and multimedia messages from your PC.

View and organise messages into folders.

Edit your Phone Calendar (the Calendar view of Nokia Communication Centre)

Edit and manage calendar entries on your phone.

Browse your phone files (File manager)

Transfer files between the phone and the PC. View your phone files and folders on the PC.

Note that you can manage your mobile phone in Windows Explorer as a Windows Portable Device or with Nokia Phone Browser, depending on the operating system and Microsoft software installed on your PC.

Transfer music (Nokia Music Manager)

Rip CDs, create and organise music tracks on a PC and transfer them to your phone.

Convert music tracks into a format that can be played on your phone.

Store images (Image Store)

Store images and video clips from your phone on a PC.

Transfer videos (Nokia Video Manager)

Transfer video files between your PC and phone.

Install applications (Nokia Application Installer)

Install games and other programs from the PC on your phone.

Update phone software (Nokia Software Updater)

Download Nokia Software Updater from the Internet, and update your phone software for additional functionality and improved performance.

Download maps (Nokia Map Loader)

Download maps from the Internet and preload them onto your phone for the Nokia Maps application. For example you can download the whole map of Australia!

Nokia E63 on Three down to $19/month for first 12 months

Just a quick post to let everyone know that you can now get the Nokia E63 in Australia with Three for free on the $29 cap for 24 months with $10 off each month for the first 12 months (ie $19/month or 4 months free). 

Have a look at this post where we review the Nokia E63 and how it is a good alternative to the Nokia E71. The other day, there was an article about how to add GPS to a Nokia E65 or E63 and overcome the lack of GPS.

What is it like to have a GPS enabled Nokia E65?

When I first purchased the Nokia E65, the biggest decision holding me back was whether I wanted to get a phone with GPS or not. I decided to get the Nokia E65 which doesn't come with GPS because

• Not having GPS may save battery life
• I wasn't going to spend $200 more just for GPS
• Nokia N95 was much chunkier than a slim-line Nokia E65
• GPS can always be added later with a GPS receiver

Over the past year or so, I've asked you all to keep an eye out for possible GPS receivers that work well with the E65. However, it was only last week that I finally purchased a GPS receiver. When I saw the Freedom Keychain GPS 2000, I was quite impressed with the size of it. It looked pretty sleek and with some quick googling, it seemed to be coming from a pretty reputable brand which also makes bluetooth keyboards.

How does it charge? How long does it last? It charges via a mini USB cable, or a car charger, both of which come included with the GPS. Lasts about 10 hours connected to a device apparently, I haven't tested that though.

So how does it work? You connect it to your E65 via bluetooth by opening up Nokia Maps, Google Maps or Nokia Sports Tracker and "Search for GPS device" or something to that effect. Turn on the GPS receiver and once the phone and GPS are paired, they connect when needed. To pair it, your phone will ask for a code, it is 0000.

Google Maps I have tried on my Nokia E65 Google Maps and Nokia Sports Tracker with the GPS receiver. Both worked very well and for a E65 user, it was quite exciting to see this humble little device speaking to satellites now! Google Maps allowed me to search for a destination and map out how to get there. Then I could just watch for the red marker move along the mapped out route. Search for various posts about Google Maps on the right of this window in the Google search bar.

The Nokia Sports Tracker also worked well. Truly this is one of the best applications Nokia has ever come up with. It is best if you are part stats junkie and part fitness junkie. This application records EVERYTHING about your workout, distance, altitude charts, pace, time, the route you ran etc. Then it records the details of the "workout" so that you can compare your progress to previous workouts. More about Nokia Sports Tracker here.

Nokia Maps I also tried Nokia Maps with the GPS, but not on the Nokia E65 as I was not sure whether the little one could handle Nokia Maps. I used the Nokia E63 and it worked perfectly, locking on to 9 GPS sattelites to keep me in check. Unfortunately for me, I don't have the voice navigation license so I couldn't tell you how that would go. More about Nokia Maps in my Nokia E71 review here.

Finally, I have to say that the Freedom Keychain GPS has been fun playing with it, and without the Nokia GPS receiver to compare it with, I can at least say that the Freedom GPS worked. Anyone know more about GPS devices compatible with Nokias? Leave a comment.

Enabling GPS on a Nokia E65 or Nokia E63

This has been a question on my mind for the last 2 years since I got the Nokia E65. The marketing geniuses in Nokia put GPS programs on the Nokia E65 and E63 causing users to frantically check whether their phone actually has GPS built in. In fact many of you come to MyE65 first by looking up whether your phone as a GPS which you didn't know about.

Let's just make this plain statement - Your Nokia E65 and Nokia E63 does not come with GPS. But it doesn't mean your phone can't have a GPS receiver connected to it.

A GPS receiver is a device that connects to your phone, via bluetooth usually, and allows your phone to receive GPS signals. With programs like Nokia Sports Tracker and Nokia Maps, you can be on your way by buying a GPS receiver costing around $100 Australian dollars.

I have been looking for GPS receivers on and off since I got the Nokia E65. Today, finally, I have purchased a non-Nokia GPS receiver called the Freedom Keychain GPS. Its so small it fits on your keychain. We'll see how it works when I receive it in the coming days.

MyE65 Users Have the Best Websites

Since we have over 100 subscribers who have loyally followed MyE65 over the many months and now year we have been up, here is your opportunity to share with the world your little website. What do you do in your corner of the world? Leave a comment about your website with why people should check it out. Just make an effort to mention MyE65.blogspot.com on your site in return :)

Mobile Websites You Should Bookmark on your Phone

It's good to have the internet on your phone but many of us don't see the point. Others only use it for the first few weeks of their phone plan and then realise that it is better to wait till you get home than to watch youtube on your phone. Some websites are small enough to keep you within your download limit but yet are extremely helpful when you are out and about. Bookmark this post if you are from Perth otherwise, find the equivalent useful websites for your local city.

Perth Traffic report: Find out how busy the Kwinana or Mitchell freeways will be as you walk from your office to your car. One annoying thing about the traffic reports on the radio is that usually when you need them, you just missed it. Cut out the middle jock and go straight to this website, which is where the radio stations get their road and traffic report data from.

Perth Bus/Train timetable: Check your smartrider credit as you walk to your bus or find out what time the next train or bus is.

Perth Rain Radar: Will it start to pour in the next 15 minutes or can you take advantage of a gap in the rain clouds in 20 minutes time? Find out by following this link. I've used this to check whether I should walk to my car or wait. It is updated every 15 minutes.

Perth Fuel Prices: You can check the fuel prices for the day on your phone before you fill up at this website. Alternatively, if you don't like having to load the website, subscribe to the daily emails and access the prices on your gmail application to your phone - prices will display in text only and save a heap on download charges.


Flight details - Qantas: Qantas and other airlines have WAP or mobile websites which you can use to check whether your friend has landed yet or whether your flight is delayed.

Mobile email - iiNET: Not with Gmail? Many of the mail providers will give you access to your email via a webmail feature. For example, iiNET mobile email website is http://ii.net/m (How short is that website address!!!) This will also provide WIFI locations around Australia and the world where you can access free internet with your iiNET login.


Am I getting ripped off? Staticice: I've checked the price of a product two minutes before I bought it using a website such as staticice, looking up the price to see whether it was reasonable or not. Worst thing is to get home and realise that you could have bought the product 20% cheaper so make sure you have a price comparison website bookmarked on your phone.


Is the product dodgy? Google: Google is a good way to quickly search the item you are about to buy and check whether any reviews have blasted it or praised it before you swipe your credit card. I hate the hassle of returning products so this is especially good for me. Save fuel and buyer's remorse with your mobile.

Got any more favourites? I'll add more as they come to mind.

Nokia Address book - Phone number in name line

Some people like to make life easy for themselves even if it means saving them one keystroke so if you are one of those people, continue reading. If not, go to the next post.


Some of us may use the address book occasionally to look up a number to give it to someone else or to use, say, a landline to call them. One effective way of storing local numbers since they are generally shorter than mobile phone numbers is to save the number as a phone number as well as add it to the name field. For example,
NAME: James Bong 6456 1007
PHONE: 6456 1007


When you look up your address book, you will see the number displayed straight away rather than having to press one more button.

Reader Question: Autolock won't go off

I received an email a week ago from Jason who had a question which left me stumped as well. Do you have an answer?

"I have a problem with my E65 I was hoping you could help with. Seemingly out of the blue, my autolock feature has been turned on and I can’t turn it off. I say “out of the blue” because I didn’t enable it and I’ve been using my E65 for months without even knowing about this feature."

How do I speed up my E65?

Just to give you an idea how many people wondering this, could everyone who came from google, please reply with a short comment below? I am quite sure that most E65 users have posed this question. 

Here are some ways to speed up your Nokia E65. 

Applications Don't have unnecessary programs running in the background. For example, I hardly ever use my wireless keyboard but having this program in the background will take up memory as it waits for a connection from my keyboard... so there is no point having it on all the time.

Uninstalling applications that you tried once but never will use again would also help.

Restarts I am not sure whether this will work but generally, if you always have your phone on, your phone may accumulate a lot of "temp" files which slows down the phone. You should make an effort to turn off and turn on your phone every few days. 

Lots of SMS? Someone may want to comment on this but I am quite sure that if you delete your inbox of SMS dating back to 2007, your phone will run much faster with texting. There are programs which will speed up your SMS retrieval such as SMSDiary which was reviewed a few months on here. 

Picture backgrounds Looked great the first few days but after a while, picture backgrounds get a little passe and just use up memory for questionable gain. 

MP3 Ringtones See picture backgrounds. This may also be another way of saving memory, though like the other suggestions above, these are merely suggestions. 

Your experiences? What has helped you speed up your E65?

How to Avoid Data Charges and "Bill Shock"

A major area that users of mobile phones get caught out is the mobile internet costs. Many unwittingly run up huge bills by letting their phone connect to websites without them knowing. In Australia, mobile data rates are very expensive so here are some tips and hacks to stop Optus, Three, Virgin, Vodafone and Telstra from robbing you blind. Many of these tips will also apply to users in other parts of the world.

Unplug your internet. If you have a phone but just dont want to ever accidentally or deliberately use the mobile internet, go  to MENU --> TOOLS / SETTINGS --> CONNECTION --> DESTINATIONS/ACCESS POINTS --> Internet. Delete all the access points. 

Take out Mobile Data Usage insurance. There is no such thing but many of the phone providers have options to add $8 or $5 to get say 25mb data allowance. This means that if your phone accidentally connects to the internet, you have 25MB of free data allowance to "use up". Considering the potential cost of not having such a bolt-on feature added to your plan, this is one way of insuring yourself against data costs.

Complain. Tell your mobile phone provider that you are not happy with their taking advantage of your inability to stop accidental connections to the internet with your phone. 

Be careful how your mobile applications connect to the internet. One example is GMAIL. It can be programmed to only connect to the internet using, say, your WIFI at home. Search on the right for more about this. 

Watch out for the SIM Swap. When you turn off your phone and switch sim cards, sometimes the "default" settings of your phone provider will be reinstated. So if you deleted say an Optus Internet access point, it may suddenly appear again and next time you are using Google Maps, you realise you are boring a hole through your wallet. So when you swap your sim cards around, check your access points. 

Delete internet "shortcuts". Hutchinson 3 are notorious for this. When you get a phone from 3 Australia, you end up with so many keys and shortcuts programmed to take you to an internet website. Reconfigure your shortcuts and keypad shortcuts to make sure your phone doesn't connect to the internet "accidentally". 

Use your free WIFI If you are at home and you have a wireless router, why are you using the mobile internet??? Use your free access points as much as possible. There are plenty of free wifi hotspots around - look up the search on the right with "free wifi" and you will find a google map of some in Australia. 

Download, don't stream When you have access to free internet, download what you want to watch or listen to on your phone and take it with you rather than wait till you are bored on the bus and surf youtube.

Hope those help you curb your mobile internet bill..

The Nokia N85 Looked Good on Paper

Planning an upgrade from MyE65, one phone I have been considering and trialing is the Nokia N85. My initial excitement about the N85 was over the new FM transmitter which is built in to the phone. This allows you to play music on your phone and have it transmit wirelessly to a FM frequency on your car radio. Apart from that, much of the features offered in the N85 are very similar to the N95 and N96.

The body of the N85 is very similar to the N96. Some people don't like the plastic build as it seems quite vulnerable. When the phone vibrates, the loose slide mechanism makes the phone vibrate even louder. Great if you are usually one that misses calls because of the soft vibration but not good for those easily startled. The slider is quite solid.

The keypad is of the sort I don't like. There are some instances when you would like to sms or dial without looking at the pad and the flat keypad makes that quite hard to use. The buttons are a little laborious to operate as Nokia has started to part with the traditional button, working almost with the ipod style hovering and light pressing of buttons. Its hard to say but for some reason, its quite tiresome operating the phone with one hand. SMS warriors may find the keypad quite frustrating as it is easy for fat fingers to press more than they intended.

Speed The Nokia E63, E66, and E71 seem to be faster to operate than the N85. GPS seems to lock and run as well as the Nokia E71, even picking up a signal for the GPS indoors. The camera on the N85 is a powerful 5 megapixel camera, producing photos that are quite clear and impressive.

So what do you like about it? The Nokia N85, being a multimedia device packs a pretty powerful loudspeaker and provides stereo sound output if that is your thing. As mentioned earlier, the FM transmitter turned out to be quite a nifty little inclusion for the N85. If you are a sound critic, the FM transmitter may disappoint but if you are not too fussy and just love the convenience of playing your music over your (and your nearby car's) radio (assuming they are tuned into the right frequency) car / radio system, then the N85 may be an early adopter's choice.

I personally will continue to look for a suitable E65 replacement (though currently my eye is still on the Nokia E71...

There is a lot more that I could have explored about this phone but didn't have time. There are features like linking to your Home network MP3 library and other media related features. If you have played with this phone and found some must mention features, leave a comment.

E63 v E71?? What CNET users say

The battle rages on in many people's minds wondering what phone to upgrade to. I found this review by isaac976 from the CNET website which sums up my observations as well regarding why some may choose to go with Nokia E63 even with the power of the E71.. I'll add comments in brackets where appropriate:

Rating: 9 out of 10 (Spectacular)
Pros: I really give thumbs up to this phone, I feel its even better than the E71
Cons: there is nothing, unless u consider not having GPS as a con, Singapore dont bring this in

Opinion:
Before you go saying why I say this is better than the E71, I have both and I have used both so here is my review on the E63, short and simple

Feeling: very nice hold and feel, its because I compared it to my blackberry curve, nearly the same size but this is longer SLIGHT bit, I didnt like my E71, but its actually the same phone

Battery : dont even mention it, superb battery life, have been downloading app for the new phone using GPRS, have been trying the radio for about 10 mins, tried internet radio etc..etc.. and after like 5 hours with my MSN still turned on.. there is still 3 quarter left. Will load movies in and see how long it will last, I am guessing pretty darn long (yeah longest battery life I've tested except maybe E90.. certainly better than E65 :P)

Camera: impressive better than the E71 which sucks and have that problem of the purple haze tint when you take pic, will upload and see how's the quality turns out (not the best camera I agree)

Keyboard: feel abit plasticky and not really rubber, has that sqeaky feel when fingers move on the keyboard, but I am ok. (its good though)

Why I used this phone to my E71: its because of the 3.5mm jack. I listen to music all the time and watch movies, the E71 has its own proprietry jack and i hate those, and about the GPS, who use's phone gps anyway, go get a real Garmin or TomTom, if budgets the problem there is the local brand call Shinco, works relatively good as well, You will know the difference of using a phone GPS and a Real GPS. Phone GPS is just a gimmick and novelty for those who dont use GPS (GPS is quite useful though.. you don't realise how good it is until u start using it all the time.. but if that isn't your thing.. go for the E63 and its 3.5mm headphone jack)

Read more about the Nokia E63 here.

Two Day Bug - Google Maps keeps asking/forgetting which access points

This is a tip for those with Google Maps and Gmail problems on your Nokia. Some Nokia phones keep asking for access points to be defined, even though you told the program 10 seconds ago which access point. After hounding me for two days whilst trialling a new Nokia phone, the solution is this:

Go to MENU --> TOOLS --> SETTINGS --> CONNECTION --> DESTINATIONS. Go to Options (left selection key) DEFAULT CONNECTION -->  Choose whatever access point you want programs to use by defauly. When you run Google Maps for Mobile after this, it should load the map without problems. 

This solved one of those bugs that you can't just let go until its fixed. Anyone else spent days on this problem? :)

Australian Nokia E63 FREE on $29 cap

If you have come to the conclusion that the best phone for you is a Nokia E series, and you can do without the GPS, the best alternative out there for Australian users is the Nokia E63. Recently it has suffered a price plunge and is now being offered for free on the $29 cap with $150 worth of non-three calls, and $160 of calls to three customers.

Three is also offering Nokia E71 for FREE on the $49 cap, dropping the $10/month handset fee today but if you want 1GB data a month free, get the $69 cap or just add $8 to your $49 cap to get 100mb /month which is sufficient for Google Maps and Gmail use.

As reported in PerthHacks, you can get paid $64 for signing up as well. Find out more here.

If I've saved you $64, maybe you can shout me a coffee by clicking on the donate button, thanks :)