Moving to Symbian S60: Creating a Mobile Office with the Nokia N95

After many years as a Palm OS user, at the beginning of this year I switched to a smartphone running Symbian S60. This is a big undertaking, and I know it's one plenty of other people are contemplating too, so I'm doing a series of editorials on my experiences.

My Nokia N95 has taken the place of my Internet Tablet and desktop computer as my main computing platform. To do this, it has to be able to function as my mobile office. This means, among other tasks, handling my professional emails and working with Microsoft Office documents.

Nokia's Active Notes has been among the applications that have seen the most use. Active Notes is an enhanced notepad for S60 which includes the ability to add images and other objects into the note item. It can then export those notes in HTML documents with the objects embedded into them. The user interface is still a bit clumsy for inserting formatting, but overall, it's simple and to the point, and hence has found a significant place as my writing application of choice.

• Active Notes (downloadable via the Download! folder on Nokia devices)

When life calls for a bit more than a simple note, Quickoffice 5 is able to step up to the plate as a very solid document editing option. This application is able to create .DOC, .XLS, and .PPT documents, as well as read the latest .DOCX, .XLSX, .PPT from Office 2007. This is one really powerful application, and has an interface that is largely similar to Active Notes.

While I don't get much out of the syncing option, Quickoffice 5 does include the ability to sync flawlessly all changes from the desktop Office applications to and from the smartphone. This comes in handy for when I'm sent documents and need to do any minor edits. It's a bit expensive ($70), but if you need a solution like this, there's not much on S60 that will beat it.

• Quickoffice 5

Back when I had a Nokia N75, email was handled with a combination of the built-in Messaging application and Emoze; the N95 being a newer device is able to use Nokia's Mail for Exchange and Nokia Email solutions.

Mail for Exchange is an ActiveSync-compatible client for all Nokia devices. It does Push or timed-emails, calendar, tasks, and contacts syncing, and handles meeting requests, flags, and contact lookups via the Global Address Book. Most impressive so far in my use with it has been its efficiency. It doesn't drain the battery, and integrates cleanly into the built in Messaging application.

Nokia Email, on the other hand, is a separate application for email. Recently upgraded to Beta 3, it ties into a service hosted by Nokia to provide Push or timed-based email to the mobile device. The latest version of Nokia Email also adds multiple account support and the ability to use self-hosted domains.

Mail for Exchange is compatible with all of Nokia's S60 devices. Nokia Email is only compatible with a few Feature Pack 1 (S60 v3.1) and Feature Pack 2 (3.2) devices. Both are free.

Between those two applications and the Messaging application, there are five email accounts served to my N95, and apart from the occasional beep for a new message, the device doesn't break a sweat.

• Mail for Exchange
• Nokia Email

An application that has helped out in some settings with a laptop is called JoikuSpot, which turns my N95, or any Wi-Fi equipped S60 device, into a wireless hotspot. This lets you take advantage of the N95's 3G access with your laptop. 

There are two editions of this application: JoikuSpot Light, a free version which supports light security and up to five concurrent connections, and JoikuSpot Premium, which supports VPN access and greater security options.

In those places where my N95's screen just isn't big enough to get the job done, it's ability to be a portable Wi-Fi hotspot was quite beneficial. And unlike Bluetooth tethering, there was no need to pair devices, nor was I limited to only one device.

• JoikuSpot