BillDay.com

11-Jul-2004

Everything about my Nokia 7610

Filed under: Personal, Photography, Recommended, Wireless — Bill Day @ 7:35 pm

Nokia 7610

I recently purchased a Nokia 7610 and went through the process of moving all my most important mobile bits over from my old smartphone to it. Inspired by Russ’ “What’s on my Nokia 6600″ blog entry, I thought I’d compile and publish an entry on all the software I’m using on my 7610 in addition to other useful information such as user guides, development info, etc. So here goes…

During the “Should I buy a 7610?” investigation phase, you’re going to want to read up on the device and its capabilities. The best resources I’ve found for this are:

Once you’ve decided to buy a 7610 and have it in hand, you’ll probably want to transfer your contacts, calendar appointments, notes, and other data from your previous handset. For me, this meant copying everything off of my Nokia 3650. Because both devices came from Nokia I could use Nokia’s PC connectivity software, PC Suite, to do most of the transferring. The other thing which made my life much easier was the support for Bluetooth file transfers in both phones. If you have devices from different manufacturers, check their documentation for methods of transfering data to/from the handsets.

The steps I went through to transfer my data from the 3650 to the 7610 and get the 7610 set up included:

  1. Synchronizing my 3650 with my PIM software on my laptop via PC Suite for 3650 (supported PIMs include Outlook, Schedule+, Notes, and Lotus Organizer, plus you can import Palm data into the 3650, then export via another PIM if needed)
  2. Copying all of the contact, calendar, and related information from my PIM to the 7610 by synching again, this time with the 7610 version of PC Suite
  3. Transfering images and videos from my 3650 to my laptop, then into the 7610 (again, using PC Suite)
  4. Copying notes from 3650 to 7610 via a Bluetooth connection between the two devices (there are other ways of doing this but I only had a few notes and so this was just easier)
  5. Using either the downloadable Settings Wizard (SIS file) or the online settings tool (click your region for settings: EMEA, the Americas, or Asia Pacific) to configure WAP/GPRS, MMS, and other settings (I used the online tool which sends selected settings via messages to your phone)
  6. Copying XHTML and WAP bookmarks from old phone to new
  7. Configuring other system settings on the new 7610 (use the EasyGuide if you have any questions)
  8. Backing up the 7610 using the Nokia Content Copier included as a part of PC Suite

Note that I had the use of two SIMs, one in each phone, simultaneously. This let me have both handsets running at the same time, enabling things like the Bluetooth connection to transfer my notes. It’s definitely a good idea to have at least two SIMs handy when you’re dealing with multiple GSM phones, especially if the phones don’t contain an “offline” (aka “flight” or “hospital”) mode.

Helsinki harbor at midsummer

After the above steps I had my 7610 up and running including all of my phone numbers and addresses, calendar items, etc. It was also configured to access the Net for Web and WAP browsing, download Java and Symbian native apps, etc. Time to check out the built-in apps, which for me boiled down to one main point of interest: The cellcam features.

The 7610 is Nokia’s first megapixel cellcam (photos are 1152 x 864 pixels). Though it doesn’t have a built-in flash, at least an add-on flash is available. Even without the flash module, though, the built-in night mode allows the 7610 to take fairly good low light photos. Example: Look at the quarter scale harbor image I took late at night near midsummer. The colors and quality of the full size image (click the quarter scale one to load full resolution) are good enough for a reasonably sized print (say, 4 x 6 inches). For more sample pictures, refer to my JavaOne 2004 photos.

Even better for us imaging nuts, the 7610 significantly ups the ante to allow you to take much longer 3GP format videos, up to 10 minutes per video at the maximum resolution (176 x 144). It’s H.263 encoded low bitrate video that’s not going to replace my dedicated camcorder just yet, but once you’ve used the recorder to capture impromptu video magic a few times you really begin to see how far mobile video can go. Vidcams instead of cellcams, anyone? BTW, RealPlayer is included as the default video and audio player (supports 3GP, MP3, AAC, and several other formats).

Once you’ve tried out the built-in capabilities and gotten comfortable with the cellcam features, the next natural thing to do with this emminently portable mobile computer is to load it up with software. Picking a list of favorite apps is always going to be a personal thing, so YMMV, but the software that I consider “must have” includes:

  • Nokia One Exec Connect (available as part of the Nokia One Business Server package), a J2ME-based email client which allows me to access my corporate email anywhere I have a GPRS or GSM circuit switched data connection, plus even when I’m not connected, I can still compose messages to send the next time I’m online
  • Nokia Wireless Presenter (available for 39 euros from the Nokia Software Market), a Series 60/Symbian app which allows me to control Powerpoint presentations on my laptop via Bluetooth (very handy for someone who speaks at conference as much as I do, in fact I used this at JavaOne in my “J2ME at Five” BOF)
  • First Aid Guide (free from midlet.org), thankfully I haven’t had to use this yet but it’s nice to have a guide handy in case you get caught up in the moment and forget something (btw, if you’re not CPR and first aid certified, why not get prepared?)

Nokia One Exec Connect First Aid Guide

Russ reviewed a number of other apps which I use, too. I’ve provided brief comments and a few screenshots on them below, but you can also access Russ’ more detailed reviews and screenshots for all of them from his post:

PuTTY SkyForce SkyForce

Other places you can search for applications:

Got suggestions for software I should have listed? Please post via the Comments section of this entry. Questions about the 7610? Visit Nokia’s 7610 Phone Support page for consumer device questions and/or Forum Nokia for developer questions.

PS I bought the silver and white model, not the black and red one. :-)

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