Nokia E65 & E Series Tips Tricks and Reviews

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

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!





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Friday, April 24, 2009

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.

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Tuesday, April 21, 2009

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.

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Tuesday, April 14, 2009

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.

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Sunday, April 12, 2009

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 :)

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Monday, April 6, 2009

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.

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Sunday, April 5, 2009

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.

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Thursday, April 2, 2009

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."

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