Since I use my phone for everything, I like to customize it. So far here is the list of all the applications I am using. I won’t be needing anything beyond these I guess. Most of these applications are freeware.

1) Opera Mini – Although Webkit is inbuilt but Opera Mini is still better & faster then Webkit & most importantly it saves lots of bandwidth & money when using over Pay-per-KB usage model usually available with Indian GSM Carriers. When I need to browser websites with a desktop like experience I use Opera 10. I use the Official GMail App for checking my GMail, and also the inbuilt mail client to check mails when I need to download attachment, send attachment etc.

2) For text chatting I use Slick & for Video Chat or Voice Chat over Skype & Google Talk I use Fring

3) For personal expanse management I use Best Expanse. It costs $12.

4) For downloading torrent files in the phone itself over Wi-Fi I am using SymTorrent.

5) I found a great application called WordMobi for managing WordPress blogs. I can write new posts, moderate comments, Delete comments, & reply to comments. It lacks the best UI out there but better then visiting the Dashboard using the inbuilt browser which is very small for this task.

Word Mobi & some other applications require the Python Runtime for Symbian S60, however, installing Python runtime on Nokia N79 is tricky so I recommend either using the inbuilt Nokia App update to download the latest version or downloading Python runtime 1.9.6 fixed or above from Maemo Garage. Keep in mind that all python applications should be installed on the same storage  where the runtime is installed.

6) Although I convert videos to native H.264 AVC based MP4 file before copying to phone, I still have CorePlayer installed in case I have a DivX encoded video to play.

7) Since I was having trouble installing unsigned applications, I installed SignSis & registered at symbiansigned.com to get my own certificate & published ID for my phone’s IMEI. Now I can sign any application in my phone itself, for my phone only.

8 ) The file manager of Symbian OS is good enough for my needs but I have also installed Y-Browser, just in case I need it.

9) For task manager, I use Handy Taskman. It’s quite good & simple & takes over when you press the Symbian menu key for some time. It costs $15.

10) Since N79 already has inbuilt search, I use it to search for information anywhere I am either on GPRS or Wi-Fi. It support searching on multiple search engines but I prefer to use Google.

11) To upload images & videos to Facebook & Twitter, I use Furtiv. It allows me to upload from the inbuilt Share online app of Nokia

12) I use Screenshots for Symbian to capture screen shots of my Mobile phone’s screen. Its quite simple & easy to use. Just start it & press the camera key for sometime & it takes a picture & saves it in memory card under a folder by the name screenshots.

13) For watching YouTube videos I use the official YouTube app for Symbian OS which can be downloaded by going to m.google.com from your Nokia phone’s inbuilt browser.

14) If you want to use a picture with your contact which you will see when they call or you call then use Full screen caller.

You need to have good resolution pictures of all your contact if you want to use them. The screen resolution of N79 is 240X320 so ideal size which I have found for the picture is 120X160 pixel. Convert your contact’s picture to this dimension then use Nokia Ovi suite to attach the pic to a contact. On the next sync, all the contacts in your phone will have the pic associated.

15) When it comes to video conversion I use MediaShow Espresso on my PC to convert video with the following settings…

Video size = Keep the aspect ratio same, but reduce the size to 320X240. 16:9 Videos look contracted when converted to 4:3.

Video bit rate should be 384 kbps, H.264 AVC, keep the frame rate as original.

Audio = 128 kbps MP4 unless the source is having lower bit rate.

16) For Music sync, I simply use Windows Media Player 11 which automatically syncs the song to the phone when connected in Media transfer mode.

17) Using Vectir 2.0 beta I am able control my PC over a Bluetooth connection & control Windows Media Player, Media centre, Desktop etc. There is no need to buy a Media Centre remote now.

18) There is a great handy software called JoikuSpot Premium using which we can connect a PC to 3G internet of a Mobile phone. JoikuSpot turns your phone to a secure mobile WLAN HotSpot. No need for USB dongles, cables or Bluetooth. The light version is pretty much useless so premium is all you should buy if this is what you need. However, if you have Nokia ovi Suite, you can also tether the connection.

The end of 2009 is here, another year gone & we are older by one more year. This year was different as lots of good things happened along with bad things but the number of bad things were less compared to 2008.

Year started with me trying to get away from old kiddish life and following on the discipline of dad.

I joined SlideShare, New Delhi in 2009 & have been working here so far. Its good to work in SlideShare as you are able to learn a lot and work in a good environment under the guidance. Some problems are there, but I am trying to overcome them.

I got in a serious relationship finally.

I joined Twitter

First time in my life of using mobile phones in 8 years, I lost my Nokia N79.

I gained weight, lost weight, gained again & lost weight.

Some friends made a deep position in life, friendship grew more with Ibrahim, Praveen, Aakriti, Pranjali, Suchita & Sukirti.

I became Local Guardian of my cousin sister. Her teacher said on parents teacher meeting “I called your big brother, not friend”

Started taking programming more seriously & improved upon designing skills. Learning C# now.

There were a lot more things, but this is all I will mention.

I haven’t finished setteling down in New Delhi yet. Most of my cloths, stuff isn’t here yet & we still have to buy a dustbin & another water bucket. I hope a trip to Amar Colony Market will solve these problems, over the weekend. I might have to go to Lucknow over the weekend next month to get my bike to New Delhi. Spending Rs 25-30 everyday one way on traveling is costly.

The first day I joined SliedShare I was told to give an Inaugeral speech on “How can geeks score girls”. Well, the team here is good, helpful & helps in learning a lot…. but comon, I am sure everyone is well versed in this area already. Oh! & we got 3 Saurav here including me, so we are having an Identity Crisis here. When Boss calls from Saurav, its confusing who he is calling. I told them to call me “GX” but then GX is not a professional name (it never was)… so I m still trying to figure out nick name. “Rake” might work out too.

First 2 days were used in configuring my workstation here only. I hope I will soon get a bigger LCD Monitor as reading text on a CRT is giving me headache as I am not habitual to CRT anymore. I might also get a laptop from SlideShare as my primary machine.

I started learning HTML, XHTML & CSS using W3schools & htmldog by the guidence of our Tech Lead, Kapil Mohan. He teaches good. I am not giving my ideas of UI here yet as that I would prefer to give after 1 or 2 months only.

I will be bringing my workstation here only after 3 months. Till then I will work on my phone only. It was a good decision to buy Nokia N79, it no less then a small PC itself.

Today is the weekend at SlideShare, but my week never ends.

This is to inform everyone that I am leaving for Delhi & will be working with Slideshere, New Delhi office now under the supervision of Amit Ranjan & Kapil Mohan from May 2009 onwards.

I will be out of touch of internet for some days till I am able to get a new SIM. I won’t be taking my PC with me so the only way of communication will be my new number & will be accessing internet through my Phone & GPRS.

I needed this job, needed a reason & way to get out of Lucknow again. This time I hope I won’t do the mistakes I did last time & life will be better. Compared to the last time when I was working in Delhi, I know about Web 2.0 , about 100% more which my work speaks.

I am over the relationship crap now. The emotions switch is off. I lost some people but gained few people too. Divy Prakash was right, there is no point crying for someone who treats you like shit, leave him/her & move on, I did & I sure found better people.

Its like a new beginning with new people, new job, new relationships which I am more serious about this time as being a Casanova will spoil my name only in the long run.

It was a pleasure working at Infranix with the fellow member & the team.

Everyone is on Twitter & no matter how much I find it pointless, it is a good way to communicate to many people at one time, or announce something to all of them etc etc.

I joined twitter today & integrated it to my blog. You can follow me at http://twitter.com/gx_saurav

Here is the thing, don’t expect me to write everything I do in my life on Twitter, its for announcements, queries etc only. I even disabled Facebook Integration with Twitter as it looks pathetic when my Facebook page is filled with friend’s twits.

After using many Twitter clines, I am settled at Blu. It is a really good looking WPF based Desktop client. I also tried Witty which is equally good but Witty doesn’t support TinyURL while you are writing, while Blu will automatically convert your link. Now I wish I could get Witty’s notification system & minimize to tray feature in Blu.

I tried Twhirl, Spaz etc too but didn’t like them. Adobe AIR applications have very small font. Twhirl was somewhat good though as it had custom font support but the icons then were very small

On Mobile phone I am using Tweete recommended by Manan. Its good, I don’t need any mobile clients either. Its a browser based service which works beautifully with Opera Mini.