The Nokia Ovi Suite Services

What is it?
The Nokia Ovi suite is a range of web based applications developed to integrate with Nokia mobile phones. it’s storing all the information in the cloud and the information can be updated from the Internet and from the mobile phone with the help of synchronisation software embedded in the phone.
In plain English: data you on your phone is getting backed up online, where you can easily access it.

Which applications does it contain?
The suite contains the standard applications like a Address book, Calendar, Task and Notes.these are transferred directly from the mobile phones. in general you can find a sync application within the tools folder.
then as extras you can share as well your pictures and videos with the share online service. then there is as well an email application online which works great with the messaging application what you can download from Nokia. and then at the end, there is the maps application what brings GPS navigation to your mobile phone.

The apps
Address book

This is probably one of the most useful parts of the services, due to the fact that you can make a back up from your contacts and have them always at hand if you are browsing on the internet. The sync is happening over the air via the build in Sync application on your Nokia mobile phone.

It is syncing as well photos and all kind of details from your contacts online, basically all the same information what you have stored in your Outlook Contacts as well.

As well you can divide your contacts as well into groups, which are then again synced back into your phone.

Calendar / Notes / Tasks

The calendar application from Nokia Ovi Suite takes the information from your phone into separate applications online. The Data shows up in the Calendar part within the different tabs. The first tab is the calendar view, with all the options to view (Daily, Weekly, Monthly and list) view what has become a standard for any calendar application. Furthermore on the left side you can quickly add a new appointment with extensive options available by clicking on the more options button.

The Notes application is located on the third tab and is displaying all the notes you have made on your phone and you have the ability to make a new one as well, which will be synchronized back again. This is the standard notes functionality what you can find as well in outlook, but don’t expect an innovative program like Evernote.

The tasks manager is the second tab and is basically the same as a task in outlook and you can add easily new notes on the web. This is basically the same as what I’ve written over the notes, it has the basic functionality included but don’t expect more, for example what you could do with Remember the Milk.

Email

One of the interesting apps is the Email application. It does sync direct to your phone with the new Messaging application from Nokia and has a very clean interface. It is opening directly with the view of your email and on the left side the options to Write a new message, Check the Email and Address Book. Below that you can find Folders wherein can store your email’s.

In total you can store for 1 Gig on email, what is quite paltry in comparisation with Gmail and Yahoo, but will do for text email’s, don’t start to send out large files!

If you click on an email you see the email and then with a nice novelty touch, on the left side you can see the latest email’s. So you can click quickly between one and the other, or skipping a few email’s. This is an option I would like to see in more email programs.

The maximum attachments size is 10 MB and you can send almost everything. Furthermore the Spelling check contains the most used languages and some asian as well.

A disappointing point is that the Address book isn’t synced with the main address book application, but uses a separate one for the email. Since it’s not possible yet to import rapidly addresses, this is a major pain in the ass.

Maps

The maps application takes on directly the Google maps function and I have to say that they are doing a very good job. First it is more accurate, I’ve found already several times that Google maps was quite off, while Nokia Ovi Maps got it right directly.

Furthermore there is as well the option to have 3d buildings and views. You have the classic maps view, the satellite and the terrain view.

Another good point is that since Maps 3.0 you can as well synchronize your places and routes, so that you have always the correct data everywhere. The synchronization happens within the Ovi Maps application within your phone.

Share

The Nokia Suite Share application contains Photos and files.

The photos application is one of the eldest application within the Nokia Ovi Suite and you can see that as well. It has the most options and you can store as many photos and videos as you would like.

Furthermore as well to share the photos is up to the latest possibilities with the embed and the share function. Only disappointment is that there are no statistics visible. It took Picasaweb long enough as well, so I do have faith in the future that it will be implemented here as well.

The file share function is a bit more hidden but has some nice options.

You can find it on http://files.ovi.com and on the right side of the Welcome screen on Ovi.com

It has the option to synchronize your files from your computer to the mobile phone and that with a free capacity of 10 Gigabyte. You can see the files on the web, on your phone and from your computer.

The whole system is good implemented and it will only be improved in the future.

Conclusion.

In short the Nokia Ovi Suite applications is a very powerful services suite, as long as you have a Nokia phone. It can definatly rival Google and Apple with the options, specially because of the price (free) and free of Advertising.

The integration between the apps can still be improved and as well the import and export functions.

The stars are the welcome screen, the colours used, the Email and the Maps application. The Calendar and Address book functions are well implemented but basically a copy of the Outlook possibilities and implemented online. Here it’s a shame that you cannot share anything, what would make it a much more social environment.

If you have a Nokia mobile phone, use it, and you will be surprised, if not, use some applications like the email and the photos applications, which are powerful, even without the mobile phone.

Written by JaapWillem for http://www.jaapwillem.com

Nokia Ovi review comments??

I’ll be publishing soon an article about the Nokia Ovi services.
Is there anyone who would like to share comments and or experiences with these services with me?
I know, this post is so short that it could be coming straight from Twitter or Friendfeed, but it will be much longer soonish

Nokia 5800 Review

My Nokia 5800 review

Just would like to write a short review of the Nokia 5800 mobile phone, since I’ve been using it for the last 2 weeks.

Let me first explain a little bit my background and my experience with Nokia mobile phones.
I started using Nokia mobile phones more then 10 years ago and have been always switching back and forth between Nokia and Sony Ericsson for 8 years, while the last 3 years I stayed firmly with the N-Series of Nokia.
Started with the N73, then moved to the N82 and now I thought it was time to move to the 5800, as well because of the Touch Screen, Ovi Store and the Ovi services in general.

I’ve been very happy with the N82 and have been using it extensively for the last year and a bit, but now I’ve passed it to my wife.

So when I obtained the 5800 I was really happy, the design is nice and as well the screen is a big advantage.
Furthermore I was really interested in the new menu system, as it has many more optimisations in comparison with my N82.

Sync
So the first day I was all happy to try out and to sync the new bad boy. But until now I haven’t found a way to sync my calendar from the Nokia Ovi service on the Internet. The Address book I could sync very nicely but the calendar isn’t a go for me.

The screen and the Keyboards,
I love the screen, got me all happy with all the Real estate, and the colours are really nice for me. That’s the great thing of having such a nice screen. For on a mobile phone.
But that is the beauty part of the phone, the Beast and the ugly and I don’t know is the keyboard.
It’s really nice to have 4 options for input, but let we just start with one which is working fine, shall we.
First the hand writing version isn’t working at all for me, it doesn’t surprise me since I have one of the worst handwritings, so no worries.
But then are coming the standard input ways for touch screens. The normal ABC way, with the numbers, is working fine in the beginning but sometimes it’s missing out presses. Specially if you want to type a bit faster.
Then the small Qwerty version I thought I would like it a lot, since I’m using it all the time on my iPod touch. But no, not in this version, the screen and the keys are not collaborating the way they should be collaborating and so missed and wrong typed keys are normal events. It takes me longer to write a message to a friend in this way than on a standard mobile phone.
The wide screen Qwerty is the best input method in this way, but still it becomes very frustrating to write more then 5 lines of text.

GPS
I started to love the GPS system of Nokia Maps on my N82 and thought I would love the bigger version in here. I thought wrong. Definably it looks better, but there is one major problem, it doesn’t rotate.
For me that’s a deal breaker because I don’t have a fixed car, so I don’t have a Carkit. This means that I have to put the phone horizontal, what is normally resulting in that the screen auto rotates into the correct way. Not with the 5800, it just keeps the same way.

The Menu system
A lot have been written about it, I think it would really excel in non touch phones with this version, in touch it’s a bit more cumber-stone.
I could really well get used to it and it looks very nice but with the combination with the horrid integration of the screen, I can’t say that I’m happy with it.. Far from that.

Design
The design of the phone is nice, it’s not to big and quite a good shape for me. It’s maybe a bit chubby but it’s ok, I could get used to it.

Other points.
Furthermore the camera is quiet fine, not up to N82 standards but I would say about n73 quality. The video is in the middle. Then the mp3 player is fine, it takes only a long time to load for 4 GB on music songs the first time, but that’s once and it’s fine.. I’m happy with the occasional use of music for that, but I will keep on using my iPods for primary mp3 players.

My conclusions.
It’s a capable phone but rendered worthless by the screen input ways. That is the main reason why this phone for me will be collecting dust and I gonna save money for the N86 or the new iPhone