The new Eseries (E66 and E71) bring a surprising new idea from Nokia that is Mode switching. Modes are one more proof that Nokia has finally understood that business users might need to have more versatility in their devices, allowing them to also use them efficiently after work.
Out of the box, the E66′s and E71′s last icon on the Home Screen allows you to switch between the Business and the Personal modes. Of course all the settings can be modified and found in the Personalization tab of the General Settings, where you see:
1 – Switch Mode: allows you to switch the mode on the phone and hence access the settings for the said mode
2 – Mode Name: to change the mode name, the defaults are Business and Personal.
3 – Home Screen applications: this is where the best personalization options are. The section is divided in sub-sections:
a. Enabled Applications: allows you to set which applications have access to your home screen. This includes 2 email inboxes, application shortcuts (the line of 6 shortcuts, and yes you can remove it if you want!), SIM services, Radio, To-Dos, Music Player, Organiser, WLAN, Search as well as the Missed Call, Messages and Voice Mail notifications.
b. Application shortcuts: this lets you customize the row of 6 application icons that show on your screen.
c. Email 1 and Email 2 notification: these only show up if you have enabled them in the “Enabled Applications”. Each one allows you to set up the inbox for each one, and how the notifications show up (header only, header and pop-up, header and notification)
4 – Theme: lets you select a specified theme for each mode
5 – Wallpaper: lets you select a specified wallpaper for each mode
Personally, I totally LOVED this new idea from Nokia, and I would’ve never thought I needed something like this until I saw it on the E66. And though it is an ingenious idea, I would’ve loved if Nokia took it one step further than this. For example scheduling the Modes would’ve been awesome, like let’s say 8am to 5pm it’s Business, then it switches to Personal. Also associating a mode with the Calendar would’ve been great, like automatic switching to Business mode when you have a Meeting for example. Another good addition would be to add Profiles to the Mode setting, allowing you to go from a loud profile with Personal mode to a more discrete one with the Business mode.
These improvements I hope Nokia would bring in the next firmware updates for these Eseries, and I also hope they bring this functionality to Nseries, after all, Nseries users do have a job too!
