Nokia N96 App Review – Personality Psychology Pro

Name: Personality Psychology Pro

Description: Personality analyzer

Summary: First this application is only for fun it has no purpose, I say its fun but really its the funnest application available for your Nokia N96. Personality Psychology Pro asks you questions all about yourself and your life style and after all that it give you a graph and explains the results. When I call it “the funnest application” I mean it will keep you entertained the longest. Personality Psychology Pro has over 1,000 questions as well as games and images. The most interesting thing about this application is the questions which have about 32 categories which range in questions that will either make you laugh or think. With Personality Psychology Pro you can set up different profiles for your friends so you can compare and joke around.

Overview: This application is still making me laugh, it will ask you ridiculous questions that you would never expect to be asked. The controls are easy using simple keypad shortcuts but when ever you have to put in text a qwerty keyboard pops up. Personality Psychology Pro cost $9.95 but it is one of enjoyable application out there. I would recommend you check out the trial to see what I’m talking about. In the full version you will be surprised with all the little extras like stories and your favourite animal or colour. Read more

Nokia N96 app review – DivX Mobile Player

Name: DivX Mobile Player

Description: video player

Summary: The DivX Mobile Player has been around for a while now yet it is still one of the best movie players out. The key to this applications success is in the name “DivX”, as you probably know this is a very popular digital video format.

DivX is also very good quality and able to compress the file without much loss of quality. Since size doesn’t matter to us when we have 16GB laying around to play,  it also supports AVI and MPEG which in my case would be the majority of  video formats that I would work with it.

This application is very simple to use and it will automatically scan your phone for compatible videos. Many will argue that it doesn’t support that many formats but I think that they are missing the point of this application. The point is to watch movies which were designed for not all little recorded clips and received videos so why support them.

DivX Player’s party piece is that its able to organize your media by sorting files by name, file size and duration. There are loads of settings to mess around with, like the brightness, contrast, color saturation, and it allows you to play around with the soundtracks.

Overall: Well, personally I love it, it’s always one of the first applications I install. If you’re still not convinced, then how about this: It’s free, so give it ago!

Rating: 9/10

Nokia N96 App Review – ShakeSMS

Name: ShakeSMS v1.04

Description: Enables you to view a new text message by simply shaking your device, as opposed to pressing buttons.

Summary: ShakeSMS is another in the series of applications being made compatible for the N96 and other newer devices.

Its purpose is simple and effective, making it even quicker to view an incoming text message. Simply shaking the phone will unlock it and open the message. Another shake and the phone will go back to the previous screen and lock again.

Once you have read your message you can also set the application to reply or delete a message by tilting it in the selected direction. You can also set it to do nothing if you so wish.

Here are some of the options available:

• Sensitivity
• Shake-New SMS (view SMS & Unlock or View SMS only)
• Screen Left, Right, Forward & Back gives you the choice of – Reply SMS, Back & Lock, Delete SMS, SMS list, Do Nothing
• Autostart (Yes, No & Hide)

Quite a nifty application but I wouldn’t say it is a must-have.

ShakeSMS is freeware but does require signing.

Rating: 7/10

Download: ShakeSMS v1.04

Enjoy!

Nokia N96 App Review – FlipSilent

Name: FlipSilent v1.06

Description: Turns incoming sounds silent by turning the phone on its face.

Summary: Slowly, these older accelerometer-based applications are having their codes re-written for compatibility with the the new S60 sensor framework which is present in newer devices such as the N96.

FlipSilent is a popular application that mutes ring tones and alarms on your phone by simply turning it on its face.  There is no need to press any buttons or use the slider to make this work, simply turning it on its face will mute the ring tone or alarm. When you turn it back over, the previous profile will be returned, or not, depending on your set-up.

There are various settings to get it running for your preference, including:

• FlipOver-Profile (changes your profile to the selected once flipped)
• FlipOver-Call (either mutes or hangs up the call once flipped)
• FlipOver-Alarm (turns the alarm to snooze or stops it)
• FlipBack-Profile (selects the required profile once the phone is turned back over)
• AutoStart (important feature of selecting whether or not to have the application start automatically when the phone is booted up)

If you decide to have this on all the time you need to make sure you never place your phone face down or have it face down on your thigh in your pocket when sitting at your desk!  If you do, you will not hear any incoming calls or alarms!

FlipSilent is freeware but does require signing.

Rating: 8/10 – Very handy

Download: FlipSilent v1.06

Enjoy!

Nokia N96 App Review – Light Control

Name: Light Control v1.30

Description: Controls device keypad, screen and LED lights

Summary: Light Control does exactly what it says on the tin, controls lights!   Designed for saving power and helping you find things in the dark!

I consider this a very handy application that allows you to control every aspect of your devices illuminations. The main functions include:

• Primary screen on & off
• Brightness
• Primary keyboard lights on & off
• Secondary keyboard lights on & off
• Light timeout
• Flashlight

I use this application frequently but mainly for the flashlight. The other functions are purely for power saving. The flashlight has 3 options:

• Use flash lamp (switches on the duel LED lights of the N96 to make a powerful torch)
• Switch on (turns the main screen into pure white light)
• SOS (gives an SOS signal using the main screen!)

Whilst this application comes highly recommended there are some improvements that could be made. Mainly, I would like to see a shortcut for accessing the flashlight. As it stands you have to launch the application, got to options, scroll to flashlight then select one of the 3 options.

The application must be running in the background for it to take effect and requires you to start it up when needed.  Light control is free but does require signing.

Rating: 8/10

Download Light Control v 1.33

Enjoy!

Nokia N96 App: Mobile Antivirus

We all have anti virus software for our computers, but what about our phones?

Mobile Internet has taken off with the advent of Wi-Fi, but are phones at risk to all PC viruses? Well, the short answer is that phones are at risk, as phones contain lot’s of sensitive information, and “hackers” are always trying to get this information.

So what can we do? Well, first while online try avoiding unfamiliar links and emails, but you’re never going to be completely safe unless you install anti-virus software. Some PC anti-virus software have mobile counterparts and I tested the highest rated one – Kaspersky Anti-Virus – and the lowest rated one – NetQin Anti-virus for S60 – to see how they compare.

Both worked fine and happily they found no viruses, and were quick and easy to use, however, Kasrpersky seemed more secure, and I guess the biggest difference is that NetQin won’t connect using Wi-Fi, which Kasrpersky can.

Cost wise there’s quite a difference between them:

Kaspersky costs £14.00 here;

Whereas Netqin is free

Overall, I’m sure both these application work against viruses the same, but if security is needed then i would recommend Kaspersky mobile security.

If you are looking just to keep peace of mind, get NetQin.

Nokia N96 App Review – Rock-N-Scroll

Name: Rock-N-Scroll

Description: Miscellaneous applications

Summary: KEYnetik is a worldwide company that specializes in motion input technologies. They have recently updated their great software “Rock-N-Scroll” so that it supports FP2 devices (v1.0.4.).

Rock-N-Scroll uses the N96 accelerometer to control the navigation arrows, much like Nokmote. However, unlike Nokmote, it calibrates its position when the application starts, as well as x and y tilt bars to aid you no matter what angle you are at, it will work.

Check out the video:

Features:

• Screen/Image Rotation,
• Tilt-based Progressive scrolling for: Web Browsing, Scrolling through lists (Contacts, Songs, Pictures, etc.), Media player controls,
• Game Mode ,
• Single-handed menu navigation.

Altogether the application works far beyond expectations, easily customised and very responsive. Unfortunately, this application comes at a price of 14, 95€.

Even though it’s a great application, it has no real purpose, therefore it deserves a reasonable 8/10.

Nokia N96 App Review – Opera Mini

Name: Opera Mini Version: 4.2

Description: Mobile web browser

Summary: If you haven’t heard of Opera Mini or haven’t got round to installing a different browser on your handset, now is the time to do so. Opera Mini is, as their website puts it, built for speed. It increases speed by compressing web pages by up to 90% of its original size, making your mobile browsing a pleasure.

When compared to the built-in browser on the N96, the difference is easily recognised. The layout is simple and user friendly, offering a range of settings to tweak for your preference.

One of its best features is the way it automatically adjusts the screen to fit the text displayed on the web page, reducing the need for constant scrolling. Other features include speed dial, which assigns shortcuts, and Opera link, which allows you to synchronise your bookmarks if you have Opera running on your PC. This browser is completely free and is available for download from the Opera website.

  

Rating: 9/10

Download: http://www.opera.com/mini/