PhotoBook is digital photo viewer for smartphones by Lonely Cat Games, developers of well-known X-plore file manager for Symbian and Android.

With PhotoBook you can view images taken with your mobile phone or downloaded from your PC, upload pictures directly from the phone to an existing photo album and easily create photo galleries.Also you can upload pictures to several web-based photo services like: Google Picasa, Photobucket, Flickr, Smugmug and share your favorite images in social networks (Twitter, Facebook, MySpace).

PhotoBook Features:

• Photo viewer for Symbian, Android and WM phone
• Uploader of pictures to Facebook, Google Picasa, Photobucket, Flickr, MySpace, Smugmug, and Fotki services
• Easy create photo gallery
• Supported images format: JPEG, PNG, BMP, (animated) GIF
• GPS tags opened in Google Maps Mobile or in mobile phone web browser
• File management: delete file, rename file, create folder, copy file, move file
• Add images to contact
• Send image via: multimedia, bluetooth (Symbian only)
• Shows thumbnails in the current folder
• Zoom
• Show EXIF more details in list view mode
• Fast directory view: moving through directory
• Watch slideshow with time setup
• Search images on device (simple and advanced options)

‘IconHider’ is a nice little app for your Symbian phones which will allow you to hide icons from your menu. It’s nice and simple app which doesn’t have too many flashy options yet does it’s job pretty well.

Developer: SymbianToys / Version Reviewed: 1.03 / Compatibility: 3rd FP1, 3rd FP2, 5th, S^1, Anna, Belle devices / Score: 80 / Buy

First impression of this little tiny app was pretty impressive as it doesn’t stay in memory to do it’s job and very light on your phone’s resources. It’s pretty quick and the graphics look good to your eyes.

App handling is quite easy as well, except for a few glitches which I will explain later in this review.

Let’s first discuss about the app’s layout. After you open the app, you are presented with two tabs on top.

First tab will provide following options:

Status – By default the app is disabled so this option will allow you to enable or later disable it again. Disabling it will unhide all hidden icons through this app.

Ghost Code – Default code is *0000* which you can only change after you bought the app.

Hidden Icons – This option will provide you a list of available apps icons to hide. Top second tab does the same thing and provide you all available icons to hide.

Trial Version (Buy Full Version) – This option will open a web page where you can buy the app. You may sometimes get Service Unavailable error but that could be just a temporary error and if you try again after some time, it will work. This happened with me.

Register – If you already bought the app, pressing this option will provide you two options to register this app. Using License ID or Using Code.

License ID – Contains 16 characters and is provided when the IMEI is not known. In this case, to complete the registration process an internet connection will be required. During the connection the IMEI will be provided to the server and it will be paired to the License ID. Usually, the License ID is provided for reviews and free licenses.

Registration Code – Contains 8 characters and is provided when the IMEI is known. It is already paired with the IMEI and the registration process can be completed offline without any internet connection. Usually, the Registration Code, is provided to all the regular purchases.

Customers need to put their IMEI while buying the app on the product’s page. After the payment will be completed, they will be redirected on a webpage and they will receive also an automatic email containing the Registration Code and the instructions to transform the Trial version in the Full version.

I tried with License ID which use your GPRS/3G/Wifi Data connection register the app.

Check Updates – Check for the latest version with developer’s server from within the app itself.

About (Icon Hider) – Shows the version number and some other useful info like how to invoke the app in case you hide the app itself.

Second tab as I already mentioned, will show you the list of available icons you can hide with this app.

Each app can be ‘checked’ to mark it as hidden and once you close the app the list of selected apps will be hidden. App will show you a warning pop up reminding you about your ghost code if you select Icon Hider to be hidden in case you forgot and then later start searching for the app’s icon itself.

Missing for the moment are options to sort system apps and manually installed apps or the apps already installed in phone’s software (Rom Apps).

Let’s talk about how the app works now.

If you are using a Trial version, app will only allow you to hide a single application’s icon and won’t allow you to change it’s security code/ghost code. Select the icon you want to hide and exit the app, icon will be hidden. Pretty simple, huh?

More fun begins after you buy the app as then you can hide unlimited no. of application’s icons and set your Ghost code to anything up to 6 digits. You can hide the Icon hider application icon too. Now to run it again, simply dial your ghost code using the phone’s dialer putting a * in front and in the end and dial the code, dialing will stop and Icon Hider will open.

I highlighted few missing areas or bugs in this version so that they can be fixed or incorporated in the future coming releases of this app.

Help Option – There should be a help option in each and every app whether it’s a simple or highly advanced app which up to certain points explain the functionality of the app as well as explain the available options to user. E.g. there is no info about how long the Ghost code could be set by user which I guess is 6 digits as when I tried to set it for more then that, app crashed. So in such cases a help option or a pop up asking user to enter only a limited number as Ghost code could be useful.

Unwanted application icon comes up as soon as you close the app very first time – (This may happen on selected firmware versions or Symbian OS versions)

When you first run Icon Hider and set the options, as soon as you close it, there will be an extra app in your menu named Signal Boost which I guess it a system app and needs to be hidden always as it’s for no use for a normal user because as soon as you click on that, it will show you a system error and disappear. If you are using a trial version, you can only hide it or the app itself or any other individual app as that’s the limit of the app itself. What I would suggest is when app first runs, it will save the list of already hidden apps and let them hidden always until the user selects them to unhidden and that’s why I suggested to have a category based list view where System apps and user installed apps can be categorized.

In developer’s words:

In some devices, like N8, Nokia have hidden some apps icons (don’t know exactly why, those app are still in beta stage).

After you install IconHider it will show them and you’ll be able to hide them again by marking them in the Hidden Icons panel.

NOTE: The Trial version can only hide 1 icon, so, in some devices like N8, users will not be able to hide them all again…

Of course, it is not intended to force users to buy the Full version, they can just uninstall the Trial version and the original configuration will be fully restored and those new icons will be hidden again.

The device will appear exactly as it was before the installation of IconHider.

The only purpose of the Trial version is just to give to the users the chance to try the software to verify that it does what it claims to do…

One last suggestion would be to put only one restriction on the trial version, either it’s to hide only one icon or disabling of changing ghost code.

Thanks to Marco Bellino (Il.Socio) for making this review possible and nicesoni_ash for making it.

The greatest news to our members is that Marco Bellino also gave us 11 licenses to giveaway to our members! If you want to win one of these licenses, head to this Topic and read the Rules on How to Participate in this Contest!

There are times in life when you just need some sleep it doesn’t matter where you are, but sometimes the place is not conducive  to sleep enter what I like to call the “sleep combo pack”. 

The first app is called Bedside it is free and can be used on either your Symbian or Meego powered phone.  Simply put it transforms your phone into a digital clock, you can choose from various colors for the display and there is even a dimmer.

The second app is called Sleep Maker it cost $0.99 cents and it also can be used on either your Symbian or Meego powered phone.  This app is simply a sound machine, it has a nice array of sound choices and timer.  If you are running this app on a phone with less than 1ghz processor it is a little laggy but once it’s up and running it works just fine.

Here is a “combo pack” hands on that covers both of these apps.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=980DuRcU-ng

You can download Bedside here and Sleep Maker here.

Nokia has introduced today a new app for their Nokia Maps: the 360 Cities.

This app should be available at your Nokia Maps application (SR6 onward version) when you select the option “More” or go to “Guides” if you are using the latest version. This is what you will see:

What this app provides is panoramic pictures for more than 80 countries made by professional photographers, being 360Cities the world’s largest collection of geo-referenced panoramic photos. Each country features more than 50 views of the most emblematic points of interest.

The 360Cities is already available so check it out on your Nokia Maps app.

[Via]

Nokia Maps has released Live Traffic routing for their latest beta of the Nokia Maps Mobile client.  It is available in the UK, France, Germany and Russia, making life for those who drive on a daily basis much easier.

One of the main features allows users to turn on “Avoid Traffic” in the “Route Settings” which allows them to consider traffic conditions as they drive.  Users can also view the latest traffic information so you can watch live traffic flow in the UK, Germany, and France.  It provide you with the latest traffic data by refreshing the content every 5 minutes.  All major highways and main roads are covered so you can get home even quicker.

[VIA]

It is now even easier to stay connected, no matter where you are or how you access Facebook with Facebook for Every Phone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0CflZy9k6E

To get started, visit http://m.facebook.com in your mobile browser and scroll down to the download link, or enter http://d.facebook.com/install.

[Thx Jonas]

The Opera team updated the Opera Mobile and the Opera Mini browser today! You’ll love how fast and easy Opera has made browsing the Web on your phone or tablet. The latest version introduces great features that make it a snap to get to the webpages you want. Their improved compression technology also helps you save money on data charges. Browsing on the go has never been so enjoyable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvWOVpIaVaM

Whats new:

One field does it all

You can now type both web addresses and search queries in your browser’s address field. Or, if you prefer, you can still use the search field with your favorite search engines.

Auto-suggest saves you typing

Suggestions from Google search and your browser history appear as soon as you begin typing. Select what you want, and you’re done.

Address entry is finished for you

Domains such as .com, .org, or .net are added automatically when typing a URL. Now, they also learn more from the sites you visit—such as .gov, .edu, .co.uk or that of your country.

Easy and powerful text selection

When you want to select text, hold your finger on what you want. Handles appear around a word that allow you to select precisely. You can then copy the text or search with it.

Complex pages made simple

An option to have webpages laid out in a single-column view makes it easy to read large webpages with many parts on a small screen, without needing to scroll back and forth.

Special enhancements for Opera Mobile

• Opera Turbo, enhanced for speed: Enable Opera Turbo for a big boost in speed on slow connections and also lower your data use by up to 80%. We have taken Opera Turbo to the next level, making it significantly faster.
• More HTML5 and web standards support: CSS gradients and multiple columns are now supported. A rendering engine upgrade to Opera Presto 2.8.149 offers many enhancements and further support for HTML5, CSS and more.

Download the opera browsers from here

[Via]

HelloOX2 release new version of his Hack tool compatible with all Symbian phones. HelloOX2 is compatible for Symbian S60 3rd(FP1, FP2), 5th and Symbian^3 phone, including the Samsung and Sony Ericsson phones models using Symbian.

Read more

(NOTE: You may damage your phone using software like Hello0x2 so hack your phone at your own risk)

Unleash your productivity and digitize your documents! With DocScanner you can make multipage PDFs by taking photos of any documents, invoices, whiteboards, receipts etc.
DocScanner crops, sharpens, corrects the white balance and the distortions!

Scan any document to your phone and save it as a PDF-file, send it via email or upload to Evernote – all in just few seconds. No cropping or rotating needed, DocScanner Qt does it for you automatically! Just select photos of any document with the application. As long as the background is darker than the document, the DocScanner Qt will find the edges of the document. Application will crop, rotate and correct the perspective.

Download the app from Ovi Store (payware)

Heres a video showing the popular game angry birds running on Symbian S60V3 phone (In this video it plays on Nokia E5-00). Check out the video demo after the break.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2KQUv_EwFQ

[Via - Via - Thx Zero]