First up, the five from Nokia were ForecaWeather, eFestivals Survivor, Shazam, Handheld Mirror and PhoneTorch, all from the Ovi Store, of course. So I’m not going to choose any of those five.
Neither am I going to choose the bespoke application for the V-Festival from Virgin Mobile and Nokia, because that’s only for a specific festival, but I do want to point it out as a really neat idea and if you are heading to V, it’s a good application to have to hand.
Glastonbury, by Geordie Barker, Flickr.
Festivals, specifically the huge outdoor ones with thousands of people, provide a unique challenge in terms of the environment. If I were you, I would recommend picking up the Nokia 5230 for the event to temporarily replace your normal handset (assuming it’s not already a 5230!) It’s under £100 on pay as you go in the UK (with a similar price worldwide); pick this up, chuck on a bit of credit and some internet bandwidth and you’re both set for your festival, and it’s not a huge loss if it gets lost, broken or stolen.
Pick up the Virgin Mobile version, and it’ll have the V-Festival app pre-installed as well.
Right then, what applications are you going to put on it to join the Nokia Blog’s five for the festival-going music lover??
Gravity
It started out as a Twitter client, but the application that seems to be the go-to application in every list also provides you with simple one touch photo upload (“look, it really is Belle and Sebastian singing with Rolf Harris!”), Facebook integration (news and status updates only, mind you), Foursquare and Google Reader. All in one package. What’s not to love?
Mobbler (Last.FM )
The noted client for Last.FM support on your Symbian smartphone, Mobbler has two broad functions. The first is to record what music you listen to, to profile your tastes, and the second is to stream music you like, or that Last.FM thinks you will like. It’s the latter feature that I’d recommend for the festival goer, and specifically the ability to take a “tag” and find audio, e.g. “chilled” “loud” “russian death goth”(honestly, go find Welicoruss on MySpace,) to play you through the night. Bandwidth-willing.
Touchnote
The whole point of being at a Festival is to say “I was at a Festival and saw She & Him before anyone else knew they existed.” Bragging rights are as much part of the experience as mud, cold tea, and over-priced water. What better way than sending your own pictures as a postcard to your friends? No need to even leave the audience, just snap the picture, run the Touchnote application and they’ll print and post the card for you from their office in London.
Download Touchnote – AAS Review
Nimbuzz
Trying to find all your friends at a gig is never easy – spread it out over a few days and it becomes a major challenge. SMS is always an option but still requires some co-ordination. Nimbuzz acts as an IM client for a number of the popular platforms, including Skype, Yahoo and AOL Messenger. It’s far easier and faster to get online and have a two-way chat, and it doesn’t matter where you are in the campsite!
Dance Fabulous
And now for a bit of relaxation. Nokia’s entry into the rhythm game genre, originally on the N-Gage and now available for all in the Ovi Store, takes the music you already have on your phone, and asks you to dance along with it. Unlike Guitar Hero it’s not a fixed pattern, but more free-form dancing with special dance moves triggered by key combos (just like in a beat 'em up fighting game). This, coupled with the ability to have your audio collection makes this a winner, and gives you a great way to enjoy your music!
Download Dance Fabulous – Ovi Gaming Review
Honourable Mention: Spotify
If you’re a premium member of this music service, then it’s a must have – allowing you to stream or download to your handset any piece of music in their catalogue. Found a new band at the festival’s newbie stage? Go grab an album from Spotify for the trip home!
So, what am I missing? [Ed: what about one of those Proporta chargers to keep your smartphone chugging away? You can even get solar chargers these days if you're really keen and fancy taking a chance on the UK weather!]
-- Ewan Spence, Aug 2010.