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This page is for anyone thinking of migrating to the Nokia
6630 with a view to using it as their main smartphone, communications and
entertainment device.
And see also my short ebook, Smartphones for Beginners. To buy a 6630 at a subsidised
price, see
here.
- Open up your device
By default, some 6630 and
other modern Series 60 smartphones come 'locked down' in terms of the
applications they'll accept, installing only those that have large companies
behind them, able to afford the expensive 'signing' process. But there are
hundreds of other great applications, many of them free, that are 'unsigned'.
Don't worry about this (see my malware article to put
your mind at rest). Just go to 'Tools | Manager | Options | Settings' and turn
'Software installation' "On". (While you're in this dialog, make sure 'Online
certif. check' is 'Off'. You can now install any compatible program without
being blocked by spurious security warnings!
 Treat Yourself
If you're in any way serious about using a
Nokia 6630 (or any other Symbian smartphone) as a business and productivity
tool, treat yourself to a Bluetooth keyboard. The
ThinkOutside one works a treat and
will see you typing at up to 60 words per minute on your smartphone. There are
several others, including
one from Nokia. Go
on, you know you want to...- The latest and best (1)
Make sure you keep up
to date with PC Suite. Yes, there's a version on the CD that came with your
smartphone, but Nokia are fixing bugs and adding bits and pieces all the time.
Most useful is the image archiving function and the way you can explore your
smartphone's folders from within Windows Explorer. Very cool. Keep an eye on
the PC Suite home
page and stay current!
- The latest and best (2)
Perhaps even more
important, make sure you keep your device's firmware up to date (i.e. the
operating system in flash memory). Previously this would have to mean a trip to
your local Nokia Service centre and a wait, but you can now do this at home,
yourself, as long as you're on broadband. See
Nokia's
Phone Software Update page.
- Music all day long
With a suitably large
memory card, why not double your music and make the switch from MP3 to Ogg
Vorbis format music? 16 hours of stereo music on one 512MB
DV RS-MMC (MMC Mobile) card? More
details on getting the music on...
- Ignore those 'Exit' buttons!
Yes, the 6630
only has 10MB of execution memory (i.e. RAM), but you can still have most of
your Series 60 apps running at the same time, which means no delays while
applications are launched. The trick is to ignore those 'Exit' buttons. When
you need to switch to a different application, press the Menu ('Applications')
button and select it from there, leaving the current app running. Or use the
tip below to switch between running programs directly.
[Caveat: watch out
for intensive apps like navigation programs, games or music players, which can
eventually drain your battery if left running all the time. For these, you
definitely should press Exit!]
 Must-have
managers
The two utilities every computer user needs are a system task
manager (i.e. what's running) and a file manager. The first is easy: just press
and hold the 'Menu/Applications' button (for more control, grab
DevMan). For a file manager, run,
don't walk, and download FExplorer.
- Share your photos
Never mind the Kodak Online
(or similar) services usually bundled with your smartphone, why not share your
photos with others for free? Apart from GPRS transmission charges, you can
moblog very easily from a Symbian OS smartphone. Read on
for details.
- Pump up the brightness
Make sure you increase
the screen from the default brightness to its maximum. Yes, there's a tiny hit
on the time between battery recharges, but in the meantime you'll see some
glorious colours. Go to 'Tools | Settings | Phone | Display | Brightness' and
adjust away. Of course, for night-time use, your smartphone can double as an
emergency torch or, if you're actually reading from the screen, you can use the
same setting to turn the brightness right down to save being dazzled.
- Pump up the brightness (2)
Another good way
to increase the visibility of many screen elements in S60 is to tinker with the
'theme' being used. If, like me, you're not that fond of novelty backdrops that
just detract from the clarity of the text and graphic elements from the
programs themselves, then download and install this
simple white theme (for more themes, if
you are into novelties, see Symbian Themes).
- Steer clear of MP4, OK for DVD
When preparing
video clips for playback on the 6630, make sure to use the standard H.263 codec
and not a variant of MPEG-4 (as used in some other parts of the Symbian world).
If you're not sure, simply stick to using the free
Nokia Multimedia
Converter 2.0. Did you know that Series 60 on this smartphone includes a
full-screen option for video? After starting a video clip playing, press '2'.
How cool is that?
And if your video source is a DVD rather than a
home-brewed AVI or MPEG, use DVD-to-Mobile, whose Series 60 version is
quite excellent.
- Keep it secret!
Yes, there are dozens of
Series 60 password/PIN/secret info databases, but I've yet to find one that
satisfactorily syncs fully across to the desktop/PC (essential, both for
initial input and for accessing your data should you lose or break the phone).
My workaround is to keep confidential information in a text file in an
encrypted ZIP archive, see here for details. On
the 6630, this file opens happily using ZipMan and Notes (or YEdit, if your
file is quite large).
- Speed launching applications
On any Menu
(applications) screen, you can press any of the numeric keys to instantly
launch the application or shortcut in the corresponding position on the 3 by 3
icon grid displayed. For example, pressing '7' actions whatever's in the bottom
left grid slot.
 The mobile Web
The web browser built into
Series 60 is very competent at handling simple HTML sites and you can keep your
GPRS bill way down by restricting yourself to mobile-friendly pages. Start your
browsing journey at the 3-Lib web guide and all
should go well. - Imaging basics
Within the Camera application,
you can use navigator up and down to zoom in or out smoothly, although the
zooming is all in software and it does an appalling job of the final capture.
Just say no - don't use digital zoom! - you're better off leaving the camera
zoomed out and worrying about cropping the image later on.
Viewing images is
a staple function of nearly all Series 60 smartphones, but make sure you know
all the shortcuts. With a photo on-screen, press '5' to zoom in by 25% in
increments. To zoom out, press '0' in the same way, or press and hold it to
zoom out fully. You can rotate the way the photo is viewed anti-clockwise by
pressing '1' or clockwise by pressing '3'. And, for impressing friends, '*'
will switch to full-screen mode.
- Scrap the silver!
The default silver cover
looks a bit trashy, in my opinion. Why not treat yourself to replacement? There
are 6630 covers for sale in every town and on the Internet for onle a few
pounds. Personally, I prefer something unobtrusive: search for "nokia 6630
rubber cover" on eBay, for example. Matt
black, rubberised, not that I have a fetish or anything...
- Faster numbers
Whether it's entering a PIN
number into a security app or entering a phone number, it's right pain to have
to multi-tap each number key to get past the assigned letters and onto the
numbers. Much easier is to hold down a number key for half a second or
so - you'll find the right number is entered directly.
 The ones you love the most
If you get fed up
scrolling down the Menu screen lookng for your favourite applications
again, why not shuffle things round so that the apps you use the most
are clustered right at the top? Highlight an icon and use 'Move', and you'll
find you can re-insert it anywhere in the list. If you have lots of favourites,
make the most of the folder system (e.g. 'Games') and then put these folders
near the top of the list, for speedy access. |
