While I'm quite a fan of the phone, I feel like there are two very useful features missing from it. And the most frustrating thing about this is that these features were present in the previous two models of Nokia phones I owned! (the 6280 and an older one I can't remember). Talk about technology going backwards.
Here are the two features I missed:1. Timed profiles: e.g. you set your phone to Silent for a certain period (e.g. 1 hour) and afterwards it reverts to the previously selected profile. This was great because you could go into a meeting knowing that you didn't have to rememeber to take your phone off silent when you came out. Before I discovered this I would often set my phone to silent and only remember hours later with multiple missed calls.
2. Charger profiles: your phone will change to a specific profile (e.g. Silent) when you plug it into the charger. As soon as you take it off the charger it reverts to the previously selected profile. This is great because you can plug your phone into the charger on your bedside table at night and not worry about a) being woken up by some idiot wrong number at midnight and b) forgetting to take your phone off silent in the morning.
So you can imagine my disappointment when I realised my new "smart" phone couldn't do either of these!
Thankfully I've found a way of doing this and more! It's an application called "Best Profiles" by Smartphoneware. It costs a paltry US$10.95 to buy and you can trial it for 15 days first. This is excellent value considering what it does. I would recommend adding this application to the list of "must haves" for the E63. (I almost consider it a "fix" or "patch", seeing as these features used to work before and are now "broken")
The application does even more than the two features I wanted. It lets you assign profiles based on:
- Schedule rules: e.g Silent between 9:30pm and 6:30am.
- Calendar rules: e.g. Silent whenever a certain keyword appears in calendar entries (e.g. add "#s" to any meetings you don't want to be interrupted in)
- GSM location: allows switching profile automatically if the GSM cell serving your phone changes. So you could have the phone automatically switch to a more discreet profile when you get near work! It lets you log these for a while so you can figure out which cell is which.
- Charger rules: e.g. silent when on charger
- Timed rules: e.g. silent for the next hour
All in all, a very necessary and useful application and a bargain for the price. I can't believe I've had to wait this long until my phone could figure out how to automatically go silent overnight.
Thanks to Peter for sharing this review. It made me curious so I approached Smartphoneware.com about getting us a few licenses to giveaway. Contribute your thoughts on this blog or help let other people know about MyE63. We have ten licenses of this program to give away at the end of September, thanks to the guys at Smartphoneware.com . You can go to the website to trial Best Profiles on your Nokia E63. I'll be playing with this program as well.
Thanks for this post! Having the option to schedule different profiles is a possibility I didnt even know existed. I, too, end up turning my E63 to "meeting" mode during my work day, and inevitably forget to turn the ringer back on. Missed phone calls are quite frustrating!
ReplyDelete"Best Profiles" sounds like an app I'm definitely interested in. Plus, the GSM location profile is especially useful while traveling. Sign me up!
This is fantastic. I've installed the demo. I hate dealing with Nokia's profiles... I wish I could delete most of the built in ones, I just don't need that many, and it's a hassle to have to scroll between the options when I only use 3 settings: General, Silent and Offline. I switch profile at least 3 times a day. If this program continues to work as expected, I should never have to do it again.
ReplyDeleteWhilst we are griping about missing features that we used to have, I have 2.
My minor gripe is missing the countdown timer that the 6300 had. You could put it on the main screen for easy access and viewing. I used it as an oven timer, and as a quick reminder for stuff at work (If I know I have to do some routine task in 10 minutes, but there is a danger I might get caught up with customers, I could quickly set a timer so I wouldn't forget.)
My MAJOR gripe is the lack of ability to set the 'snooze' time for calendar events and alarms. My 6300 had this as a global setting, and I was so relieved to find I could change it from a ridiculous 6 minutes to a more civilized 15 minutes. I don't know what you can achieve in 6 minutes... If I want to postpone an alarm I mean postpone... 15 minutes is a minimum. There is nothing worse than being on the car on the way to a meeting, and have that reminder go off every 6 minutes. It's almost enough to have me looking for a 3rd party replacement calendar, but I can't justify the expense atm.
i have install this program, and i felt this is very usefull for me cause i shall manage my cellphone profile..please sign me up..thanks..
ReplyDeleteWow what a great idea. Been busy with school work for a couple weeks and catching up on my favourite phone site and see this app idea. The number times i go into a classroom having turnt on silent and remember 5 hours and many missed calls later.
ReplyDeleteCurrently I use my e63 alarm to wake me up, and I agree with Matthew about the 6 minute snooze, it is a bit silly.
ReplyDeleteAt least it annoys me enough to get out of bed just to switch it off! :)
If there's an alarm app that allows the change to the snooze time please post here to share.
When I get the time I will trial the Best Profiles app and see how it goes, like the idea of silent on charge.
Hi all,
ReplyDeleteI've been using this program for about a month now and here are my futher thoughts:
- Schedule and charger rules:
All working as expected. It took a little while to work out how I wanted priorities to work. For example, the phone doesn't normally come off silent until 6:30am, or when it comes off the charger. But if I get up early one day, do I want it to stay silent until 6:30 or go onto General straight away? Thankfully all this can be setup using the Priorities function.
- Calendar rules: working very well. I have "#s" added to the notes of any of my meetings. Works especially well for recurring ones because now I never need to think about my phone when in church!
- GSM location: I thought this would be a bit of a gimmick but it's actually really useful. Here's how I've set the cells up. The cells at home and work I have set to General. The following locations I have set to the Outdoor profile:
- about 1km away from home at my bus stop
- about 1km away from work toward the train station
- at the train stations I catch
- about 1km from home on the main roads I leave home from
Now this doesn't catch every single situation, but it does mean that when I'm at home and at work my phone is on general and when I'm travelling it's on Outdoor so I can hear it ringing! The idea between the 1km distance is that often if you choose the one right next to your home cell the phone will oscillate back and forth between General and Outdoor depending on which cell signal is stronger.
- Timed rules: I like how many options there are:
- Activate
- Activate at
- Activate after
- Activate & lock
- Activate & lock for
And yet, with all this, there are still more features that I don't use! E.g. when a profile change occurs you can have it change wallpaper, make a sound, adjust the sound volume, toggle bluetooth, changle backlight level, run an application or change the theme!
I reckon this little app has got to be the best non-free thing you can add to your phone. :)
And I've already bought it, I'm not just raving on to get a free license :))
Great program. I used to use the timed profile option on my old nokia as well. I'd have it on silent at work and it would automatically switch to general mode at 4.00pm. I didnt realise how much I used it until I didnt have it anymore.
ReplyDeleteThis application is really awesome. The implications in a workplace environment are really cool. When in office a lot of people would like for their mobiles to just vibrate instead of ringing the hell out of everyone.
ReplyDeleteAt night, I would like it to be silent so that not everybody disturbs me!
Sign me up for a free license!
okay, tried out the application and it's really nice!!
ReplyDeleteThe best part is the feature of starting an application and that it can be closed after the profile is disabled. Just awesome! I can use it to enable something like fring when I get home and disable it when I leave for office.
This makes me look fwd to the free giveaway even more :D
These are features every phone should have. I've wanted the calendar option for a while, but some of the others (such as the cell tower option) blow it out of the water! That's awesome!
ReplyDeleteExcellent! This would be super useful indeed. thanks for posting on it!
ReplyDeleteAwesome screen, MP3 support, Easy to Navigate, Memory Expandable, Everything you could want in a phone, but Nokia has still kept it so simple. Best Nokia phone so far.
ReplyDeleteThe QWERTY keypad enables quick texting/emailing which is an advantage to most business users. The 4 types of message supported are-SMS, MMS, Audio and E-Mail. The messages can be stored onto the phone memory or onto a memory card.
ReplyDeleteNokia E63 Review