One of the shining features of S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2 and S60 5th Edition is Access Point ‘Destinations’, which is a baffling name for Access Point Prioritization, which is another baffling way to say that the phone can automatically try to connect via WiFi first, and then fall back to 3G/EDGE if no WiFi is available. Most other smartphone platforms do this with ease, but we Symbian lovers still have to configure it manually, at least initially.
Things are worse off for S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1 phones, such as the uber-popular N95 family, the E71, and my steadfast little E63. These phones do not support Destinations, and thus we’re forced to deal with the silly ‘Which access point do you want to use?’ question each time *any* application connects to the internet. No longer, though, thanks to Birdstep’s SmartConnect application.
Birdstep SmartConnect replicates the Destinations feature, allowing you to group 3G and WiFi access points into a custom access point, which you then tell all of your applications to use. Thus, you’re able to achieve nearly-seamless connectivity (at least alot less naggy) on your older handset.
Even better, Birdstep SmartConnect is FREE for most S60-powered smartphones, such as these listed below:
Nokia E-Series:
E50, E51, E51(no camera), E52, E55, E60, E61, E61i, E61i China variant, E62, E63, E65, E66, E70, E71, E75, E90
Nokia N-Series:
N76, N78, N79, N81, N82, N85, N86 (8MP), N95, N95 (8GB), N96
Brilliant. You can download it here. Thanks to NokiaAddict.com for the heads up.
