E-series vs. N-series - Download! App
So I’ve been using the Nokia E65 for about a week now and one of the first things I did was go explore the Download! folder. This thing is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get! Some have guessed that it has to do with the SIM card in the phone, but it also has alot to do with what phone it is. You wouldn’t BELIEVE the jackpot that is the E65’s Download! app!
For starters, there isn’t anything that I’m used to finding on my N-series devices. No Search, no Podcasting, no nothing. The first screen I see is the E-series Golf game, that pesky Reuters app, the Worldmate application, and 6 different folders. Oh, and the "Catalogs" thing that I’ve never found a use for. Interesting. The folders are: Trial Applications, Internet, Themes, Email, Updates and Links, and Sound Modules. Let’s explore…..
In the Trial Applications folder, we have Digitizer (no clue what this thing does), the useless F-Secure, Mobipocket Reader, Wireless Presenter, and ANOTHER folder called Wayfinder. Whoa, Wayfinder? As in, the GPS app? Yeah, that’s right. You get a free 14-day trial of Wayfinder with your E65. Fascinating. (Note there isn’t currently an "official" version of Nokia Maps available for the E65).
Back out and head into the Internet folder. Surely this will have some treasures to behold. Nope, this is just where they’ve hidden the Gizmo, Mobile Search, and Widsets applications. Moving on…..to the Themes folder. The E65 only comes with 2 Themes pre-installed. In here you can snag the rest of the "Dots" collection; Blue, Grey, Mocha, and Red. I have red, since my phone’s red. It looks pretty and it matches.
Tromping off into the Email folder, yawn, we find the Blackberry Connect client and Mail For Exchange, both, again, in their own folders. Very clean. The Updates and Links folder is full of just that - links. Joy. Sound Modules is for the message reader application, which can also be found on the N75 (hmm, what’s that? An E-series app on an N-series phone? The nerve…..)
So that’s that. Not alot to explore there, but there is something I want to point out about this particular device that I have yet to experience on another device: SMART DOWNLOADS. What I mean by that is when I decided to snag the Dots Red theme from the Download! App, after downloading and installing, it asked if I wanted to activate the theme. Why, of course I do, how kind and convenient of you to ask! And it was done. In like form, when I downloaded and installed the Golf game, it automatically opened the game for me, easy as pie! Granted, for an application I’d probably prefer it to ask like it did with the theme, but it’s still a marked improvement over other devices that just assume you had time to dig around in your folders to find the application you just installed so you can use it.
I, for one, could not be more excited about this reorganization that’s going down at Nokia in January. When the E-series guys meet the N-series guys, there’s sure to be some sharing of features, and this is one that I hope to goodness makes it across the finish line.
Ricky, if you want to get known what that Digitizer is, check out the website: http://www.realeyes3d.com/digitizer/learnmore_digitizer.php
Personally, I’ve never used this app but I have to admit it seems to be interesting.
Besides - nice post showing us that Nokia is starting to think more open ways. Keep up the good work, SG
For Nokia maps, I just downloaded and installed the N73 version (if I remember correctly) from smart2go website into my E65. Are they using some device specific hooks in the Nokia maps software? Shouldn’t the N73 version work for any S60v3 device?