BBC Radio on your WiFi Nokia

Streaming radio to my N80 was one those things I just had to try, but strangely is a little more complex than you might think. I'm a big fan if BBC radio, but being overseas means the only way I get to listen is via the web sat next to my pc or laptop.

There are some fairly good radio streaming apps out there which make a good job of delivering live broadcasts over WiFi to your phone. Sadly though, however good these internet stations are, to listen to mainstream radio a little tweaking is required.

Series 60 phones come with Real Player as standard, which is great as most radio stations beoadcast over the web in the .ram Real Player format.

First off you need an understanding of a frustrating bug in the Real player settings. Regardless of whether you are connected or not Real Player requires you to manually change the preferred connection every time you wish to stream media. This is a real annoyance, but one which we have to accept until fixed in a later release.

So assuming I have a wireless network at home called 'home' then before beginning I need to open Real Player settings and change the network to 'home'.

Then it's off to the web browser to type in the address of a popular radio stream and off I go.

That's it, BBC streaming to my N80. I should note that it is also possible to add your streams via the web streams link in the gallery.

Finally some popular radio links to try:

BBC Radio 1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/realaudio/media/r1live.ram
BBC Radio 2 http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/realmedia/fmg2.ram
BBC Radio 3 http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/ram/r3g2.ram
BBC Radio 4 http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/realplayer/media/fmg2.ram
Five Live http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/live/surestream_int.ram
World Service http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/ram/live_infent.ram
1Xtra http://www.bbc.co.uk/1xtra/realmedia/1xtralive.ram
6 Music http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/ram/dsatg2.ram
BBC 7 http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/realplayer/dsatg2.ram
Asian network http://www.bbc.co.uk/asiannetwork/rams/asiannetwork.ram
Five Live Sports Extra http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/live/surestream_sportsextra_int.ram

TV on your series 60 phone

If like me you've been eagerly anticipating the arrival of mobile TV the possibility of receiving this on your series 60 device now seemd quite tempting.

ROK TV (http://www.rok.tv/) offers 22 channels streamed to your handset over 3G or WiFi. The choice isn't too bad either - from FOX news (US version) to National Geographic to cartoons and an assortment of genre specific channels.

The TV application is fairly neat and makes use of the series 6o built in realplayer to connect and stream content. Thankfully the software also sorts out the irritating bug in real player that requires you to manually change the access point when streaming media.

Once set up you get 2 months of trial access to all 22 channels (you have to sign up and provide card details) thereafter the cost is £9.99 per month.

Where the service lags however is in the quality. The image is full frame rate and live TV works well over either 3G or WiFi however the image retains the grainy heavily pixelated look you expect from a rather poor quality mobile video. All said and done this is a good innovative service that once improved upon would be well received. For now though the price and he quality are not enough to tempt me.

For those of you still wanting the gimmick without the hefty price tag there is also the free version at http://freebe.rok.tv/ or even radio at http://www.rok.tv/radio.html

Must have Series 60 freeware

Spend any time trawling through Handango (www.handango.com) or similar software purveyors and you'll soon realise just how far series 60 development has come. There's no shortage of applications of every variety to fill just about any need. If like me though you are reluctant to part with your hard earned cash before checking out the freeware alternatives, here's my list of killer apps that won't set you back a penny.

Calcium
Probably the most basic addon available - the humble calculator - get's a makeover in this incredibly simple to use yet versitile app. Download it here

The competition

• Best Calc by Smartphoneware $7.95
• Nicecalc2 by VerySoft $9.95

Y-Browser
Forget the built in file manager. Y-Browser does more and does it better.
As well as a standard file browser you have the option to rearrange your files, delete, copy, and pretty much everything else you would expect from such an app. Download it here.

The competition

• Extended FileManager by Psiloc $18.14
• SFManager by SMTSoftware $6.29

Clock Screensaver
Get rid of that awful tiny screensaver and replace it with this full screen clock . With several built in options such as analogue/digital and date format this along with basic phone status such as battery and signal strength indicators makes the screensaver feature far more useful. Download it here.




Nokia Podcasting
While this app is more podcatcher than podcaster further funtionality is promised by Nokia in future releases. For now though this app makes searching, downloading and updating your favourite podcasts a synch. Just remember to do this over WiFi or at least with an all inclusive data plan. Download it here.

The competition

• AudioBay podcast player by Acro Design $5.95

Nokia Wellness Diary
Keep track of your health with this handy little app. With both list and graph view you can track your progress in everything from excercise to sleep quality and even stress. Download it here.

The competition

• Ascendo Fitness by Ascendo $19.95
• Health Tracker by Infodev $19.99

Nokia Team Suite
Now available for all S60v3 devices this excellent app is great for team communications. Organise your teams along with their numbers and/or ema il addresses, add a conference number if you wish and away you go. Download it here.





Fring
Finally a true VoIP app that really works. Incorporating Skype, MSN Messenger and Gmail this little app is bound to make waves. With support for both voice and chat over 3G or WiFi this is not only free it's also the best. Download it here.

The competition

• UltraIM by Mobisophy $11.95
• IM+ for Skype by Shape $12.95

Your S60v3 device in landscape mode

Trudging through the posts yesterday I came accross this interesting app for S60v3. Currently unsigned and unreleased this app promises to allow simple switching between portrait and landscape mode while retaining full functionality.

Though unsigned it IS still possible to try and use as I found out. You can download the unsigned app from here and follow the application signing instructions found here.

Once you've done that the installation is simple and the result is really quite surprising. Not only does the app work but it works well. The advantages of a screen in landscape mode become apparent as web browsing becomes much more enjoyable and use of certain apps is improved.

I should point out though that as the app uses quite a lot of memory when in landscape mode there are certain apps that won't work - TomTom for example.

All in all though for those without the benefits of FP1 this is a good compromise. Hopefully a future release will resolve the memory issue.

SKYPE now available on series 60

One of the more frustrating issues with the N80 is the lack of support for VoIP - particularly Skype. OK so thre are several applications that claim to offer this service but most are simply callback VoIP services or require your pc to be turned on with skype logged in.

Thanks the to FRING (www.fring.com) for going all the way - and even further - to provide a single application that provides full skype services (chat & VoIP calls) as well as Gmail and msn Messenger chat all in one.

The best thing about this is that it is completely free!
The app works on all series 60 3rd edition handsets and requires a 3G connection (make sure you have an all inclusive data plan) or of course WiFi is even better.

Testing on my N80 I was able to use all functions straight off with no messing about or configuration issues. Changing between screens was a little slow but the functionality alone more than compensates.