1. I dont know about you guys but I notice recently if you go to http://touch.facebook.com using your Symbian Anna Web browser, you’ll experience a new Facebook Touch experience.

2. Previously, visiting the same URL will present the basic Facebook mobile website.

3. Now, there are more than just simple access to status updates, and inboxes. There are more functions and the user interface is also refined and more touch friendly.

4. I am not a heavy Facebook user. But it’s good to see Facebook implementing something as a standard accross all mobile smart platforms. The decision to use HTML5 as the framework is very welcomed. You can be read some mumbo-jumbos about it HERE.

5. Previously, iOS and Android devices receive the most advanced Facebook mobile experience while Symbian only have the option to use the most basic Facebook mobile interface.

6. I believe the current iteration is standard across all mobile smart platforms? No?

7. It’s true that at the moment, there are many ways to access Facebook using Symbian devices. Among them are :
- Gravity
- Facial
- fMobi
- Borg
- Nokia Social
- Kasvopus

8. And with this enhanced Facebook Touch also available for Symbian, it makes us Symbian users feel great again.

9. How about you? Have you experienced the new Facebook Touch at http://touch.facebook.com?

10. Enjoy these screenshots!

- Asri al-Baker
- for i-Symbian.Com
- October 12th 2011

1. I waited eagerly for Symbian Anna. One of it’s promised of many enhancements is the improved Email app. Is it?

2. On all my Symbian^3 smartphones, I did not use the Email app at all. I hate to say that it never worked as good as what Nokia folks believe it is. I use Visiarc’s Mobile Documents. Waaaaaayyyy better than the built-in Nokia Email app.

3. I know. With Symbian Anna, the Email app has been redesigned, restructured, and streamlined. It has slicker interface with excellent inline HTML support and it performs faster than any of it’s previous versions.

4. But in terms of usability, I personally think that it has not been improved at all. Infact, I feel the Email app in Symbian Anna has become worst.

5. For the record, my main email address is using Google Apps. Hence, the configuration is similar to normal Gmail account.

6. The auto-configuration doesn’t work properly with Google Apps. It will set a POP3 email account. This is annoying.

7. Using Mail For Exchange, will set an email account that is very slow in getting emails and I need to pull email manually by using “Send and Receive” command from the menu.

8. Using another method to decline Nokia’s terms and condition, I can get an IMAP account setup inside Email app but similarly like the above, it doesn’t push my emails. I need to get them manually.

9. I have tweaked the settings by going to Advanced settings and change many parameters to my liking but emails are still not pushed.

10. The most annoying and stupid thing about Nokia Email app in my personal opinion is the fact that there is no way to subscribe to email folders (Gmail labels). For example, using Mail for Exchange, if I want to check the contents of the folders, I need to do a lot of clicking.

11. I use some filters in my Google Apps email. When emails arrive, they will be automatically labelled and moved to the defined labels, without going to the Inbox. Hence, I need this to work.

12. But Nokia Email app doesnt allow me to subscribe to any folders under Mail for Exchange. There’s no command to select which folders to be synchronised with my devices.

13. I have used many mobile Email app on many platforms, they allow folder subscription. This is one feature that I think needs to be addressed by Nokia.

14. Another feature that needs to be fixed, in my opinion, is the push function. During my experience with Nokia Email app on Symbian Anna, the push function doesn’t work properly. I always receive my emails on my desktop but they NEVER gets pushed to Email app.

15. Please Nokia, improve the Email app more. It’s 2011 not 1911 you know. An email client that doesnt work properly in your devices doesnt give you a good impression you know…

- For i-Symbian.Com
- September 6th 2011
- Asri al-Baker

2. Option 1 : Using the stock Symbian Web or Opera Mobile, or Opera Mini, you can access your Google Plus account using http://m.google.com/+. BUT, this URL will open the basic version. And sometimes the pages are not displayed very well.

3. True. You can use the basic version of mobile Google Plus but the basic page is too… well… Like the name suggests, basic…

4. Option 2 : is using Opera Mobile or Opera Mini to visit the HTML5 mobile version of Google Plus but the layout is effed up.

5. Option 3 : is to use the latest Opera Mobile 11, change the user agent to Desktop, go to http://plus.google.com. This opens the full desktop website of Google Plus with all bells and whistles. It’s very heavy on RAM and clunky to navigate on mobile.

6. Option 4 : designed for HTML5 enabled advanced mobile web browsers. It offers a better Google Plus mobile experience because it offers more than just basic html.

7. The full URL for this HTML5 version of Google Plus for mobile is https://m.google.com/app/plus/?force=1

8. Try typing that URL on your Symbian touch smartphone on the alphanumeric virtual keypad. Your brain wil pull a stunt and synchronising your thumb is painful.

9. Therefore, for all Symbian touch users all over the world, I developed this Widget launcher. Go download this Zip file, extract the “sweetgplus.wgz” file inside it and install. There will be an icon called sweetGplus in your Application folder.

Here is how it looked like :

10. Do take note that Google Plus is a new service and it requires registration before you can use it.

11. If you like what I do, and want to see more cool WebApps for Symbian, send me some PayPal love will ya!

Download the file HERE!

- Asri al-Baker
- For i-Symbian.Com
- July 21st 2011

Donate to us

If you like what we do, please help us to maintain the Independent Symbian Blog.

2. It’s the User Agent changer. Though limited to Desktop and Mobile only, it opens a lot of possibilities to Opera Mobile 11.1 users because when the Desktop User Agent is selected, Opera Mobile turns almost to Opera Desktop.

3. For bloggers who use self-hosted WordPress, and happen to be a Symbian user at the same time, this is a great option to blog using Symbian devices. Why? Because it’s better than anything else on Symbian currently.

4. There’s an official WordPress client but I hate to say that it’s almost useless. It’s buggy, always crashes and doesn’t have copy & paste function (a bug in Qt text implementation).

5. With Opera Mobile 11.1, you can do almost everything to your WordPress blog that you normally do on desktop web browser. Things like creating new posts, managing plugins, approving comments, uploading and embedding photos to your posts and more.

6. Opera Mobile 11.1 has an extensive support for Javascript and it’s the only web browser on Symbian currently that can comfortably load WordPress Admin Panel without a choke. Try that with the stock Symbian Web browser.

7. For me, I’ve been waiting for this day to come for years. Mobile blogging is something I do very often.

8. Here’s how :

- I write the text using the stock Notes app on my Nokia E7.

- The hardware qwerty on Nokia E7 is really good. Making typing texts so easy. For example, this post is written entirely using Notes on Nokia E7.
- I copy the texts using Ctrl + A (Select All) and Ctrl + C (Copy)

- I log in to my WordPress Admin using Opera Mobile 11.1

- Create a New post

- I paste the texts into the text field using Ctrl + V (Paste)

- If I want to add screenshots or photos, I can use WordPress’ upload function.

- Screenshots were taken using Smartphoneware’s Best Screensnap.
- All posting options like Categories, Tags etc can be configured using Opera Mobile 1.11

- Publish!
- It’s just like using a desktop web browser!

9. I cant say enough on how I love Opera Mobile 11.1!

10. Get it if you havent tried it!

http://m.opera.com

2. Of course there’s a built-in method to sync Google Calendar to Symbian^3 smartphones, it’s called Mail for Exchange, an implementation of Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync protocol by Nokia. But in my experience, it drains battery faster, not in a significant amount but my experience taught me that leaving Mail for Exchange in the background to sync data, does have an impact on battery life.

3. So, if Google Calendar is very important to you, and you dont want to use Mail for Exchange (for whatever reasons), what will be the options? To sync Google Calendar to your Symbian smartphones?

4. There are a couple of methods, free and paid. You can use GoogaSync, an app that syncs multiple Google Calendar to Symbian smartphones. Or you can use GooSync, a paid service that utilises SyncML capabilities. Or you can choose Memotoo, another powerful commercial solution which also uses SyncML.

5. But they are all commercial, either one-off payment or annual fees.

6. So, how? Isn’t there any free solution to sync Google Calendar to Symbian smartphones without using Mail for Exchange?

7. Before I proceed, please take note that I am not a Windows person. Yes. I’m aware that there are methods to sync calendar to PC or Mac (which syncs to Google Calendar) via Bluetooth or USB cable but I’m not going to write about that. I want to sync Google Calendar to my Symbian smartphones without using any intermediary local agent or PC. In a nutshell, cloud-synching without PC.

8. After digging, and googling, not to mention testing one after another, I came accross a free service offered by Lorenc Consulting Inc. It is called SyncMe.

9. You can visit the website http://www.syncme.se to find more information.

10. This is the method that I use to sync my main Google Calendar (I use Google Apps For Domain) and it works without problem. I dont have multiple calendars, nor using complicated calendar functions such as invitation, or adding recipients. I also dont use Tasks (todos). My calendar is simple. It’s a place for my appointments and meetings, reminders and some important notes.

11. This method has been tested to work on Symbian^3 smartphones namely the N8 and the E7. It might or might not work with older Symbian smartphones.

***DISCLAIMER***

If you are worried about submitting information to 3rd party service provider who lives 3 million miles from you, then DONT use this service. We at i-Symbian.Com are not responsible for any data loss or any other bad consequences if you use this method.

Step 1

Go to Settings – Connectivity – Data Transfer – Sync

Step 2

Options – New Sync Profile

Step 3

Write the name of this sync profile. I use Google Calendar. You can use whatever name you want.

Step 4

In Server Version, select 1.2

Step 5

In Applications in Sync, select “Calendar” only.

Step 6

In Calendar database, write Calendar with Capital C.

Step 7

In Data bearer, choose Internet

Step 8

In Host address, write https://syncme.se (Note the https)

Step 9

For Server ID, write syncme.se

Step 10

In the Username field, write your Google username. It’s your full Gmail address. Something like yourname@gmail.com. If you are a Google Apps For Domain user like me, write your full email address . After that, click Next.

Step 11

Write the password for your email address that you use in Step 10.

Step 12

Click Next. It will notify you to Activate the profile you just created. Select Yes if you want to. Otherwise, select No.

You are almost done. If you want to activate automatic synching, you need to configure the auto-synching parameters. Please refer to my previous article, jump to number 16 to set auto-synching.

Done!

Remember, only one Sync Profile is allowed to use auto-synching. For me, I set my Google Calendar to sync automatically using this method because I am more comfortable to check and enter my appointments and calendar entries using my trusty Symbian smartphones. I move around a lot. I sync my contacts manually once in a while if there are changes I made to my contacts database.

There you go. A free method to sync Google Calendar using SyncML to your Symbian smartphones. If you have tried this, share with us your experience.

Cheers!

@asrialbaker

1. The Menu / App launcher button could have been made easier to use. Like on the Nokia N8. I am not talking about the location, but about the physical feel of the button. It is too recessed and very near to the surface. Too flat.

The volume button, or should I say, slider... very hard. And I mean, literally and technically... fail!

2. The volume button is hard to use, need more pressure to push or pull. When using it in camera mode as zoom in/out, the camera shakes. Hard to stay still.

3. The 3.5 audiojack is loose. It doesnt grip earphone plug very well.

The speaker hole/grill. It is visible now. But look at the photo below. When using the E7 with the QWERTY open. The speaker sound is very quiet...

4. The speaker’s hole, at the back of the phone is covered by right hand’s middle finger when the E7 is used with the screen slided out. Covering sound.

5. The camera button should be more visible and can be felt easily. Too flat…

6. Micro-SD card slot should have been included. This is unacceptable.

Eight megapixel EDOF camera with Dual-LED... fail!

7. Eight megapixel camera without Carl Zeiss! LED light? Come on!…

8. What is your experience with the Nokia E7? Do you think there are things that could have been better, hardwarewise in it?

*** Other noteworthy mentions are :
- no rubber grip at the bottom, making it slip when using it on the desk to type
- the SIM card tray can be very dangerous because if the tray is loose, the SIM card goes with it…
- the curvy sides on the left and right of the QWERTY can be dust magnet…

- Asri al-Baker
- For i-Symbian.Com
- March 23rd 2011

With it’s huge 4 inch screen and best-in-class hardware QWERTY keyboard, can we use Nokia E7 as a mobile blogging tool? Lets find out.

By installing some apps, it can be used to write short blogpost while on the move. However, at the moment, only WordPress has developed it’s dedicated blogging app to Symbian. If you are using Blogger or Typepad, you’re out of luck.

- WordPress Beta app (To get the latest version, always visit the official developer website at http://dev.nokia.wordpress.org. At the moment (March 2011), version 0.87 is the latest one)
- Best Screensnap (Very useful tool for blogger. It is free and can be downloaded from Ovi Store)

However, WordPress Beta app does have some shortcomings. It’s not feature complete and some functions might not work at the moment. The biggest flaw in my opinion is the lack of Copy and Paste support in this app. It might have something to do with Qt, which this app was developed on.

Putting the lack of Copy and Paste aside, WordPress Beta app is actually a joy to use. It feels very WordPress-sy .

Attaching photos and screenshots is also supported. Which will make posting short blogpost look more complete.

Another important function of this app is the Comments moderation. If you are using the default WordPress commenting system and want to manage readers’ comments easily, this app is for you. Comments can be easily approved, deleted and viewed. And if you think some of the comments are spam, you can mark them as spams.

In all honesty, Nokia E7 can be used to manage WordPress blogs, but not for writing long post with multiple embedded media. It is also useful to quickly approve comments.

If you are using WordPress, the combination of Nokia E7 and WordPress Betaapp for Symbian will help you manage your blog easily on the road.

Asri al-Baker
For i-Symbian.Com
March 20th, 2011

1. One of the assignments for me to complete in the Maxis10 program is to invite a fellow blogger to write something about the E7.

2. A good friend of mine, Nazley, agreed to write his piece. So, I met him last week and lend him the E7 for a couple of days.

3. Nazley is not a newbie in the blogging and gadget world. He is one of the few folks behind http://www.palmx.org, one of the most active Palm usergroups in Malaysia in the early 2000s.

4. He’s also a busy man and has his heart on gadgets. Other than phones, digital camera and computer-related stuff, he’s also into bicycle-riding. More about this at http://nazleypixblog.wordpress.com/

5. Anyway, his close-to-one-thousand words summary of the Nokia E7 can be found at : http://nazley.wordpress.com/2011/03/20/a-couple-of-days-with-the-nokia-e7/

6. And to make this more special, all the words were written (err… typed) on the Nokia N8 using Quickoffice application. The photos too, were taken using his Nokia N8.

7. Here are some examples of his words about the Nokia E7 :

When inserting a SIM to check out the phone functions for the first time, I liked the design of the SIM tray. I just need to pull out the whole SIM tray, place the SIM card and push it all back in. I was impressed with the ease to insert the SIM. However, on second thought, if the SIM drawer did not latch properly and fall off, I’d lose the SIM drawer as well as my SIM card. So, it is harder to insert or remove SIM card on the N8, but I like the mechanism better, because if at all I lose the cover, the SIM is still locked in the “bay” with a spring mechanism. Or, under the phone’s battery like most other phone. It’s almost impossible to lose the SIM unless you lose the phone as well.

8. Thank you Nazley for spending some time and wrote about the Nokia E7!

Asri al-Baker
For i-Symbian.Com
March 20th 2011

Disclaimer : I am not responsible if during using this method, your Symbian devices acted weirdly, or even explode. I use this method safely and did not experience any problem.

1. Google Documents is heavenly once you have a lot of documents hosted in it. In my case, it is my saviour after my laptop was stolen. I keep many important work-related documents in it for easy accessibility anytime anywhere with internet enabled devices. No need to carry thumbdrive everywhere I go.

2. There is no Google Documents (GDocs) app for Symbian. Contrary to what is available on iOS and Android. For example, there are many ways to connect to GDocs using iPad e.g. using Dataviz’s Documents To Go or Quickoffice or GoodReader.

3. When using GDocs on mobile devices, it is not about to edit or to do anything that we normally do using our desktops or laptops. But it is about enabling access to our file archives on GDocs. We can access information, vital information that we need to make decisions, anytime anywhere. In short, we can view them, at least.

4. I spent some time trying to figure out how to access my GDocs files on my Symbian smartphones. I want to be able to download, as well as upload some files on the move.

5. Using the built-in Symbian Web browser is a no go. This is because the UI is not optimised for Symbian. The fonts are small, the navigation is clunky and all the bad ingredients, made viewing GDocs files on my Symbian^3 smartphones a pain in the arse.

6. Just take a look at these screenshots of GDocs in action on Symbian^3 Web browser. It’s a pain to behold and more painful to use. Fail!

7. Symbian supports WebDAV, a series of extensions to the HTTP protocol and defines how basic file functions, such as copy, move, delete, and create folder, are performed across HTTP.

8. And I found this website : http://dav-pocket.appspot.com/ which offers WebDAV access to Google Docs for free. Yep. Gratis! Not even need to register.

9. Those who are concerned about security and so on, please read the disclaimer carefully. This service is brought to us by third party. They took the step because Google has yet to release WebDAV support for Google Documents.

10. For daredevils, follow the instruction below to access your GDocs using your Symbian^3 smartphones WITHOUT any third party apps!

Step One : Open/Launch Filemanager

Step Two : Options – Map New Drive

Step Three : Fill the informations :
Name : Any name you want. e.g. Google Docs 1
Address : https://dav-pocket.appspot.com/docs (***note the https ***)
Access Points : Select your preferred Access Point
Username : Your Google Documents username aka your full Gmail address
Password : Your Google Documents password

Step Four : Connect

Voila!

Once you are connected, you can do many operations. You can manage files and folders as if it is a local connected drive like what you can do with microSD or USB-On-The-Go.

You can set more than one GDocs account and connect them at the same time to move/copy file around easily between accounts without downloading them to your Symbian^3 smartphones first. Direct move/copy from Google Docs 2 to Google Docs 1!

Well… You get the point!

11. Please let me know how this method works on your Symbian^3 devices (N8, C7, C6-01 & E7).

12. If you want Dropbox, we have covered this as well at http://www.i-symbian.com/the-easiest-way-to-use-dropbox-on-symbian-smartphones/

- Asri al-Baker, March 12th 2011.

1. In my blogpost dated November 28th 2010, entitled “Funny Things About Qt for Symbian^3″, I mentioned something about Ovi Store 2.0 installation failure :-

“10. But that is not all…

12. Even with the correct Qt 4.6.4 installed, you will never be able to install Ovi Store 2.0 after a factory-reset on Symbian^3 devices. The ONLY way to get Ovi Store 2.0 back is via reflashing from your nearest Nokia Service Center. Or using Navifirm and Phoenix to reflash. How did I know? I HAVE TRIED

2. Ovi Store 2.0 installation failure will happen to you if you do “three-fingers-salute” i.e. the “real” hard reset i.e. the “real” format. Not soft-reset, not user data deletion. Not *#7370#.

3. Three-fingers-salute is by pressing the following combination on your Symbian^3 smartphones :
- Menu button
- Camera button
- Volume down
- All of the above must be pressed together, and then, press the Power button.

4. But. Today, February 26th 2011. I felt I need some adventure. And I decided to give my N8 a treatment it deserves and went to apply this procedure. I know, I wont be able to use Ovi Store on it. But that is not a big deal to me because I kept a number of SIS/SISX files inside the microSD card, which I can use to install all my favourite apps later.

5. And the journey begins! 1, 2,… 3,… Boom!

6. Wiped out all data inside my N8. Phew….

7. After the process, I switched on the N8, blablabla… and the first thing I did was to check SW Update. Lo and Behold!!! Ovi Store is there to be downloaded. The size of the file is 15 MB but hey! I’m on unlimited data plan so it’s nothing!

8. Downloaded it, took a couple of minutes. After installing Ovi Store downloaded from SW Update, it prompts me that there is an update, and asked me whether I want to install it or not. Yes please…

9. So, another few minutes and the latest Ovi Store is now installed. I wont use it that much but for completeness sake and also once in a while, I just want to know what’s new, I use it.

10. Thank you Nokia for finally making it possible to install Ovi Store 2.0 on Nokia N8 after hard-reset, WITHOUT the need to use Phoenix, or bringing it to the nearest Nokia Service Centre. \

Cheers!

*** Some weird thing happen to my WordPress. I cant upload files to my server. Can someone assist?…

Asri al-Baker, February 27th 2011