10 Free Applications For Your GPS-Enabled Nokia N95 Smartphone
Written by Glenn Letham
Friday, 21 September 2007
The Nokia N95 is in my mind one of those must-have devices. Sleek, powerful, packed full of memory, GPS-enabled, a 5 megapixel camera, high quality video recording, Bluetooth enabled, I could go on and on. Ideal for the outdoor enthusiast, a dream device for the business user. The Nokia N95 is now available to North American users and may finally be positioned to start making headlines... do you want one? If you've picked one up or plan on getting one then here's a handy list of must have applications that will run on your Nokia N95 or other Symbian S60 3 smartphone. Did I mention that these applications are all free?
Read on for a hand-picked list of some of the best applications you'll find to help you be more productive with your Symbian Smartphone. Best of all, most of these applications enable you to take advantage of the GPS positioning provided by location-aware mobile devices like the Nokia N95... did I miss something? Please tell me about it!
fring - If you have access to Wi-Fi or a 3G network from your mobile then fring is for you. the application enables live chat, skype, MSM Messenger, Google Talk, ICQ, Twitter, etc... from your mobile... think mobile VoIP. What's VoIP and why should you care about it? If your concerned with those nasty roaming charges when you leave the country or perhaps your missing your IM connections then VoIP is for you. This client enables you to call or IM people anywhere on the Globe regardless of where you are... for free. See http://www.fring.com/
shozu - shozu is one of those "must have" apps for your mobile device. Simply put, it enables once-click access and upload of your media (images, video, files etc...) from your mobile device. Shozu crunches the file so you can save data upload charges, it also enables you to easily post your photos to flickr, upload a video to youtube, post to a blog like blogger, send media via email etc... you get the picture! Beyond the productivity enhancements, shozu also enables you to keep a constant backup of your mobile contacts. Finally, another part of shozu you may not be familiar with is the ability to subscribe to zucasts. Zucasts are photos, shows, news etc... automatically delivered to your mobile device. How about a photo of the day, top ABC news headlines, CNN marketplace updates, or maybe the babe of the day! See www.shozu.com
Mosh - This is a relatively new service from Nokia.. aka. MObilize & SHare. Using mosh, users can create a profile, upload songs, videos, images, games, wallpapers, even a fully function evaluation of your mobile application. Users can discuss and share their favorite applications with the other community members... think social networking for the Nokia device user. Create, Collect, and Share is their mantra. See mosh.nokia.com
locr - This application boasts to solve the what, when and where. I find this app particularly useful for those Nokia N95 users having difficulties working with the GPS, in particular to geotag photos. Install and load locr, then invoke the GPS, upload your photos to your locr gallery or send them to flickr... the GPS tagging actually works!! Users can create their own locr image gallery and then view photos on a Google Map or as a KML within Google Earth. Users can also view Another MUST have! http://www.locr.com
sports tracker - This very popular app comes out of the Nokia Research Labs. Designed for the sports enthusiast, users can manage and track their progress suing the sports tracking application. Create a work-out, plot your route, track it using GPS, export your route to Google Earth as a KML, monitor your time, direction, location etc... Users can keep a workout diary, save routes, and map their GPS log... did I mention its totally free! Requires S60 3 devices. See http://research.nokia.com/research/projects/SportsTracker/
Zurfer is one of those addictive social networking applications that you MUST have! This one actually comes out of the Yahoo! research labs and takes advantage of your position to share photos, see other photos around you, and take advantage of you flickr photos. Idea for the frequent traveler, Zurfer enables users to update their position, then they can see photos that are captured near them. Likewise, you can view and share your flickr photos with other Zurfer users or view your contact's photos while your away. Follow your contacts and take your photos with you using Zurfer. See http://zurfer.research.yahoo.com/
yahoo! Zonetag is another fantastic application from Yahoo! Research - this application makes using the GPS capabilities of the N95 (or other GPS-enabled device) a snap. Simply activate the GPS, take a photo, upload to flickr, share with others, view it on a map. Zonetag tags your photos with a cell location tag, and other location-centric tags - users can optionally decide not to share the location tags with others. A cool but perhaps unknown feature is that photos that are zonetagged can be shared with the upcoming service (See http://upcoming.yahoo.com) For details on Zonetag see http://zonetag.research.yahoo.com/
twibble - The location-aware twitter client for the smartphone. Do you twitter? If so then twibble is the perfect add-on that enables you to easily twitter from your mobile regardless of where you are. Simply grab the app, link it to your twitter account, then start twibbling. See http://www.das-zentralorgan.de/twibble/
Yahoo! Go - Think mobile search, mobile web and more. a must have for those of you with a yahoo! user profile, Yahoo! Go enables you to have instant and simple access to the latest news, local search, maps, and email provided via yahoo! Check or send from your Yahoo! email account wherever you are... I use this to forward my email while on the road.. very nice! Hands-down, one of the best mobile search portal clients around. See http://mobile.yahoo.com
Widsets - are you addicted to news? If so then widsets is for you. Subscribe to loads of popular news feeds or simply create a feed of your own by grabbing an RSS feed. Very simple but very useful. See http://www.widsets.com
BONUS APPLICATION - a reminder!
Bonus tip... Nokia Maps - updated with a new UI and a better search utility, Nokia Maps is a must visit for the N5 user and traveler. Download Maps from 150 countries and take them with you. The latest software release for N95 includes the Assisted GPS service (A-GPS) enabling quick GPS fix. Of note, Nokia Maps is being integrated into Ovi (ovi.nokia.com) , the door to Nokia's Internet services. See http://maps.nokia.com
As a fan and user of the Nokia N95 I frequently post news, tips etc.. focused on the N95. To help keep tabs on things I've created a blog where I maintain some useful bookmarks and resources to share with other N95 users. See the Glenn 95 Blog at http://nokian95user.blogspot.com/. Looking for official news and PR of interest to the Nokia N95? See this section on the LBSzone
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