TURN YOUR DUMBPHONE TO A SMARTPHONE

After taking over the S40 Nokia 6151 from my wife, I have fallen in love with the phone due to its simplicity and size. However to fully utilize the phone, i need to install softwares which will help me to do my daily work. In my Treo 750v, the common applications which i used are emails, web browser, calendar, SPB finance, Vehicle manager, quran, prayer times and IM. Due to this I have searched the suitable replacements for these applications.

a. Emails: Since all my emails are using Gmail, installing the GMAIL java app (m.google.com) is the solution of my email woes for Nokia S40 device. The Gmail 2.0 allows multiple emails account via the same application. It is very fast and allows you to type email even when there is no phone signal around.

b. Web Browser: Opera Mini (mini.opera.com)is well known to be a great web browser for any smartphones. It works very fast on the Nokia S40 device. The good thing is that it allows you to sync your bookmarks with your online account.

c. Calendar and contacts: For calendar and contacts, i sync the Nokia S40 phone with my Macbook using Isync. However to sync with Microsoft Outlook, you can also use the latest Nokia PC Suite.

d. IM: Fring is the best application for a unified IM for a S40 device. Just download the application from m.fring.com. You can have all your IMs such as MSN Messenger, Yahoo, AIM, ICQ and Google talk within the same account.

e. Prayerminder: For prayertimes, Azan 2.6 from SearchTruth.com gives you qiblah and prayertimes of all the cities in the world. It is free too.

f. Quran: For a complete quran, Quran 1.0 or Pocket Quran gives you a mobile quran. However it still cannot replace Pocket Islam.

g. Encrypted Notes or Password manager: Enigma is quite good for you to keep your bank account numbers and etc. However i am not sure about the level of encryption of this software.

The two application in which i could find (a good one) is the replacement for SPB finance and Vehicle Manager.

But as for now, these application had make my Nokia 6151, a S40 phone a smartphone minus the size. The advantage of Nokia 6151 over Treo 750v is the small size and the battery which lasted for at least 2 days. It also has a FM radio, which my Treo 750v hasn't. However to type long emails using the Nokia 6151 is a no no, very very slow.