Top 10 Freeware for the Samsung S60 phones (e.g. INNOV8)
Published by Steve Litchfield at 21:52 UTC, January 27th 2009
The strongest freeware contenders in the S60 world are quite well known. But, as you may know, there are certificate issues on occasion when installing this freeware (often created by Samsung-rival Nokia) on a Samsung INNOV8 or i7110 (etc.) There are also issues to do with differences in OS version (they use S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2, which is new enough that not all software runs OK).
In this feature, I'm going to be looking at ten top picks that won't cost you a penny and are also guaranteed to install and work properly on your Samsung S60 smartphone. Think of them as a good and interesting selection for new users who don't want to have to go through some of the trial and error that I've been through!
Before getting started, it's worth noting some of the free applications which are already built into the Samsung S60 phone's firmware. This is good because it saves users having to go looking for them, but it's also bad in that these can often not be upgraded to latest versions except by (perhaps) updating the device firmware:
- Google Maps 2.2 (latest is 2.3, of course, with StreetView)
- ShoZu (photo and video uploading, 4.0 is built-in, 4.01 is the latest build)
- Fring (chat/VoIP)
- Yahoo! Go (Java-portal for Yahoo email, weather, news and maps, v2.0 built in, latest is 3.0)
- GyPSii (GPS-driven social discovery tool)
- RoadSync (Microsoft Exchange syncing)
A good start then, in terms of adding to the baseline S60 app package. This feature is about going further. Which third party applications can be safely added, i.e. no install certificate problems? In no particular order, here are my top 10 suggestions.
- Calcium: the original keystroke-minimising calculator. And the model for imitations ever since. But this is free and works perfectly.
Download
- Google Translate: yep, Web Runtime widgets work fine on the INNOV8 and i7110. This one, for example, leverages Google Translate to provide translated text that can be copied and pasted.
Download
- Worldmate: the well known time, currency and weather utility for travellers. This works fine on the Samsung phones, including the 'Pro' features of satellite images and flight data. Download it onto the phone via m.mobimate.com
Download
- Nimbuzz: it's chat time, with interoperability links to all the major chat systems, including Skype, plus VoIP functions as well. You can download it on the phone by going to www.nimbuzz.com
- Mobile Weather: perhaps not up to the standard of the commercial Handy Weather, but this does the job when you just want a quick weather fix for any specific location. Keeps track of multiple locations, too.
Download
- Y-Browser: the best file manager for S60 is also one of the most regularly updated. Here working fine on the Samsung INNOV8 and i7110.
Download
- S-Tris 2: the classic Tetris clone, freeware for every platform under the sun.
Download
- Bible Reader: Bible apps are always popular, Olive Tree's free reader works well, with numerous bible translations and commentaries all available for free as well.
Download
- BeatEd: a flexible drum machine for budding musicians to practice with. A wide range of drum 'kits' are also available, all for free and all working well on the INNOV8 and i7110.
Download
- Dictionary 2.0: Simon Judge's nifty English dictionary, a no-frills but still very handy reference and working well here.
Download
In addition to the 'native S60' freeware applications above, Samsung S60 phone owners should note that Java applications obviously also work well. So Google's
GMail client and the web browser
Opera Mini are both must-haves, as are more niche Java apps like the location and photo geo-tagger
GPSed and Twim, reviewed recently, a lovely little Java-hosted Twitter client.
Of the freeware applications that I considered for this list but rejected for certificate or compatibility issues, they include Mobitubia, Sports Tracker, Internet Radio, Nokia Calculator, Podcasting and Python for S60. Note that this isn't a comprehensive list though, as neither is the top 10 itself of those that actually do work.
I'll be keeping this list up to date regularly. Do please email in if you'd like to add to it or report an issue.
I'll also be doing a companion article looking at the best commercial applications that work well on the Samsung INNOV8 and i7110.
Steve Litchfield, slitchfield@gmail.com, All About Symbian, article last updated 29 Jan 2009
Categories: Comment, Software
Platforms: S60 3rd Edition
Feature Discussion
Unregistered
Escarpod S60 is nearly done. It is a superior substitute for Nokia Podcasts. I hope to get it out within a month or so.
Teknolog
ashu
I downloaded two of these, S-tris and dictionary but not of innov8, my n82 ;)
hansheinerT
Thx for the article Steve. Downloaded BeatEd to help me practice my Guitar.
Cheers
Rafe
Quote:
Originally Posted by Unregistered
Escarpod S60 is nearly done. It is a superior substitute for Nokia Podcasts. I hope to get it out within a month or so.
Teknolog
|
Great I really look forward to seeing that. If you drop me a line when it's done I'll do a story on the front page.
G-Izzat
Was just wondering, what really happened with the i7110? Only two reviews seem to be up and that's on mobile-review and here at AAS. Odd.
stuclark
i7110 is being released in the Asia market first, then making it's way to Europe later this year.
Unregistered
Thanks - though I don't have a Samsung, it was an interesting article.
I downloaded the drum machine BeatEd to my Nokia N82. It's really easy to use, very intuitive. I'm having a blast with it - my wife insists I use headphones...
richardyates
Have I missed the in depth review of the INNOV8?
suckho
Thanks for the AAS guys for having my BeatEd on the list and thanks for all positive feedback from all you BeatEd users.
If you are running BeatEd on Samsung device, please report your device model and possible compatibility issues to the BeatEd homepage, I just started a new thread for that. I havent done much testing on Samsung devices but I'm very interested to know the list of devices it is running on.
Keep on drumming!
-Saku, the author of BeatEd
PS. I don't understand either what's wrong with all those wives and girlfriends who don't get the fine art of making drum beats..??? :con?
Unregistered
nice theme on the last pic, anybody know what it is?
Unregistered
Quote:
Originally Posted by Unregistered
nice theme on the last pic, anybody know what it is?
|
One of the standard themes of Samsung Innov8.
Cheers.
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