Nokia’s current 3rd edition Series 60 devices have by now loads of software made for them. Some really good stuff already comes with the phones – especially the latest models. For example, the #1 application on the phone is still the browser (it’s great), but a bunch of useful stuff will still need to be installed by the user. The only problem is that lots of the other stuff is crap and finding the good applications is a pretty lengthy process, especially when people often don’t know what’s out there and what are the possibilities.

To perhaps aid in this search for these valuable applications, below is a list of my favorites along with screenshots. Most applications are free, which I prefer, but there are a couple which are so good that I consider them worth the money. If you get these, please buy them from clicking the links on this page to support this site!


For older applications that run on the older S60 platform, refer to my older post for these devices.

Recent updates to the list

Update April 2008: Related to the Location Tagger-application; the new firmware versions for N95 and N82 support automatic geotagging from the camera application itself, thus obsoleting any additional SW. Highly recommended if you can upgrade the FW; go to Nokia Software Update at nokia.com/softwareupdate

Update February 2008: Redid most of the screenshots as to reflect the latest versions of the applications. Added more screenshots as well as displaying all in “real life size” now. Updated descriptions. Added Location Tagger and Sports Tracker.

Update January 2008: Added EmTube, an application for playing YouTube videos. Changed Smart2Go Maps to Nokia Maps. Removed Raccoon as I really didn’t find good, lasting use cases for it. OggPlay works again with an updated certificate, but has an annoying bug causing the phone volume buttons not to work – I’ll add it back here once those work as it’s a vastly superior music player to the included one.
Update November 2007: Google Maps now has GPS and cell-id based location support


Calcium

The calculator that comes with Nokia phones sucks. Its user interface is quite inconvenient and I’m pretty sure you’ll agree after trying Calcium. It’s a basic calculator with a wonderfully usable UI.

Download from: http://www.mtvoid.com/calcium/index.html

Price: free



Handy Weather

Handy Weather is an excellent application for everyone interested in the weather. It automatically updates the weather forecast and current conditions for cities of your choice. Beautiful graphics make taking a quick peek at the forecast a pleasure. The latest version also includes a screen saver, displaying the immediate weather forecast when your phone idles.

Price: €19.95 for one year subscription – click here to buy!
(Note that unlike many applications, this is NOT bound to a single device or IMEI code – when you upgrade your phone, you don’t need to re-purchase it)

More screenshots: [Screenshot 2]



Handy Clock

Handy Clock supplies some of the “missing” essential applications; in addition to the nice day/night map pictured here, it has a set of alarms, countdown timers and stopwatch functions that are extremely convenient e.g. in the kitchen. There’s also an elementary time log for logging project durations.

Price: €24.95 – click here to buy! (Note that unlike many applications, this is NOT bound to a single device or IMEI code – when you upgrade your phone, you don’t need to re-purchase it)

More screenshots: [Screenshot 2]



Nokia Podcasting

Nokia has made a nice podcasting application that supports most N- and E-series devices. It was only after this application that I really “got” podcasts; you can set it to download your favorite podcasts at set times and using a specified network. For example, evenings using the home WLAN is a good choice, especially for those without a flat-rate data plan – video podcasts or vodcasts can easily take few tens of MB each. Then listen or watch to your favorite podcasts on the move the next day.

Price: free

Pre-installed in many new handsets. Also available for download from http://www.nokia.com/podcasting



Nokia Search

Nokia Search now comes pre-installed in at least the new N-series devices, but if you don’t have it yet, get it here. This is basically a search application for both Internet and your own device. The on-device search may not sound very useful, but once you accumulate gigabytes of stuff on your phone it suddenly becomes clear why such an application is needed. It’s most useful thanks to its ability to connect to local yellow pages-style directories so searching for services and businesses is easy. Plus there’s a convenient map that shows you where everything is.

Price: free

Now comes pre-installed in new handsets. Also available for download from: http://mobilesearch.nokia.com/



Internet Radio

Internet Radio is another Nokia-project. It consists of a Shoutcast engine and a front-end – you can listen to streaming radio stations available on the Internet. The quality is not always flawless, but most of the time it works nicely. This is another easy way to rack up your mobile data usage, so a flat-rate plan might be a good idea.

Price: free

Now comes pre-installed in many new handsets. Also available for download from: http://www.nokia.com/internetradio



Screenshot

Screenshot is, as the name would imply, a simple application that allows you to take screenshots of applications running on the phone – something that has been extensively used in making of this post, for example.

Price: free

Available from: http://antonypranata.com/screenshot/screenshot-symbian-os



Google Maps Mobile

Google’s own version of their Google Maps for mobile phones. An excellent map application that now comes with GPS support. What’s more, since late November 2007, Google Maps now uses cell-id based location which means that even handsets without GPS (or outside GPS coverage) can get a rough location estimation based on the cell ID. Very convenient with a nice UI.

Price: free

Available from: http://www.google.com/gmm (visit the URL with your phone)



Nokia Maps 2.0

After Nokia’s acquisitions and movements to mapping space, the Nokia Maps application has become one of the best mapping applications out there, at least in terms of usability and price/quality ratio. The software and maps itself are free but the navigation support is a chargeable add-on feature (GPS support is free, only the navigation feature costs). Still, a very useful and well-functioning piece of software that’s quite useful when one is abroad. The new 2.0 version adds some nice features and more local information.

Price: free / charge for GPS navigation.

Old version pre-installed in many new handsets, 2.0 coming later. 2.0 Beta available for download from: http://www.nokia.com/betalabs/maps

More screenshots: [Screenshot 2],
[Screenshot 3]


GMail Mobile

Google Mail or GMail is one of the most usable webmails out there, so it’s no surprise they came up with a really good mobile client also. This definitely trumps the built-in mail client. I have two minor annoyances: the ok/cancel-button order is reversed as compared to most other S60 apps which takes some getting used to. Also, it doesn’t handle very long mails well but rather truncates them. Still, it’s very usable for reading your GMail on the move.

Download with your phone’s browser from gmail.com/app

Price: free


DivX Player

One of the worst deficiencies with the 3rd edition terminals are their terrible media players; the RealPlayer is really not up to snuff especially for playing local media and thus needs to be replaced with something better. There are several options out there, but some are rather expensive and not so great – luckily DivX player will save the day. After appropriate conversion if necessary, this players makes it possible to really enjoy videos, movies and TV shows on your phone.

Download from http://mobile.divx.com/.

Price: free

More screenshots: [Video being played full-screen],
[Another full-screen video]


emtube.jpg
EmTube

One annoying thing about S60 terminals has been their inability to play YouTube clips. The Flash Lite included is not good enough for FLV videos (support coming in Flash Lite 3.0 but that’s not installed in any new phone as of yet) and the available applications have only shown a small part of the YouTube contents. That all changes with EmTube, a great little application that nicely displays all of YouTube contents. On N95 and N82 it even auto-rotates the video when you turn the phone. The best part is that it’s free!

Download from http://www.emtube.yoyo.pl/emTube_S60_3_0_v_1_0_10.zip (the site seems to be down at the moment, though this direct link to the file still works)

Price: free



Location Tagger

Many recent phones are equipped with a GPS receiver and a camera, so it’s quite amazing that these two haven’t yet been fully combined – that is, the phones don’t automatically embed location information to the image metadata (EXIF). Location Tagger from Nokia Beta Labs corrects this omission; keep it running on the background, take pictures as usual and your photos will be geotagged. Very useful. Includes a timeout counter so it doesn’t drain your battery by keeping the GPS always on.

Update (April 2008): The new firmware versions for N95 and N82 support automatic geotagging from the camera application itself. Highly recommended if you can upgrade.

Download from Nokia Beta Labs at http://www.nokia.com/betalabs/locationtagger

Price: free



Sports Tracker

Sports Tracker has a really nice idea – it maintains a comprehensive log of your exercise; speed, route with GPS, distance, elevation changes and everything you can think of. Later you can look at the routes you traveled on a map or whatever. Perfect for walking or biking trips and a good sparring partner if you’re after an improved time in a certain route.

Of course, the one downside is that it’s not useful for all kinds of sports – I for one prefer to leave my phone home when going swimming or running :)

Download from Nokia Beta Labs at http://www.nokia.com/betalabs/sportstracker

Price: free


Bonus applications: P2P stuff

A couple of great P2P apps have made their way onto the Symbian platform also. Check out Symtorrent and Symella.

Other stuff

If you’re looking for free themes for your S60 device, check out http://symbian.mobilethemes.com/ – plenty of good quality themes are available from there and all free of charge!