Six months in and a definite pattern is forming. When we first got hold of our Nokia N97 we were a bit spoilt for choice. The Ovi Store was (and indeed still is) packed with apps to cover every occasion, and even the basic stuff that shipped with the phone was enough to keep us occupied, trying to figure out how best to use our new toy.
Day to day, we use our N97 for social networking (mainly Twitter - the QWERTY keyboard makes banging out quick tweets a breeze) and light web browsing, but often find ourselves needing to work while on the move. The office app listed below is great for quick edits, but if we need to bust out the netbook then Joikuspot makes getting a 3G connection stupidly easy. For the dull tube journeys that start and end our days, being able to carry a small library around in our pocket is invaluable.
Check out our Nokia N97 firmware update review
We have therefore come to rely on certain apps more than any others. These are the ones that we either use daily or find useful enough that they will always find a home on our phone's internal storage.
Essential Twitter client:
Gravity
There are a range of Twitter clients available for the N97, but Gravity is so far ahead of them all in both features and presentation that it is almost insulting to compare it to them.
Packed full of features like support for image posting via Twitpic, Yfrog and similar sites, multiple accounts, draft posts and posting on a time delay, Gravity has a slick user interface and is ridiculously easy to use. If you own an N97 and use Twitter, you need to use Gravity - it's that simple.
Price: £8.00
Essential Web Browser:
Skyfire
Let's be charitable and describe the built-in Nokia web browser as 'a bit basic'. Skyfire, alongside Opera Mini, are two very credible alternative browsers that offer a desktop-like browsing experience at blistering speeds thanks to clever use of web caches. Skyfire just edges out in front, we reckon, with a clean and clear interface and great support for Flash apps and video. If Nokia has any sense they will snap this gem up and make it the standard browser on S60 - it's that good.
Price: Free
Essential wifi app:
Joikuspot
Joikuspot is one of those "Duh, why didn't I think of that?" apps. Rather than messing around tethering your phone to a laptop via Bluetooth or a USB cable in order to use it as a modem, Joikuspot turns your N97 (or any other supported S60 mobile) into a secure wifi router. Just fire up the app and any wifi-capable device (such as an iPod Touch, a laptop, or several laptops if need be) can connect and share your 3G link. Standard networks rates apply, of course, but if you need a connection in a hurry this is by far the simplest way to get one. Even if you don't need it every day this is an essential app to have handy, just in case.
Price: Free (premium edition £8.00)
Check out our Joikuspot review
Essential for ebooks:
eReader Pro
It's not perfect, but eReader Pro is probably the best ebook reader app available for Symbian 5th Edition. You can purchase books direct from the eReader site or similar sites such as Fictionwise in PDB format or convert your own texts using a free Windows app. Text is clear and readable, and the display can be fine tuned to suit your needs with different fonts and even 'paper' types.
Price: Free
Check out our eReader Pro review
Essential for Office:
MobileSystems OfficeSuite 5
A great mobile office suite for S60 just got even better with the addition of Google Docs support. Now you an access documents stored in Google's 'cloud' and both read and edit in any format Goole Docs supports. Natively, the app can handle all versions of MS Word and Excel including those tricky DOCX files from Office 97. With the N97's hardware keypad, you can genuinely use your mobile phone to do real work while on the road. We wouldn't want to write a novel on it, but for amending spreadsheets and light word processing this is a brilliant choice.
Price: €19.99 (30-day free trial with nag screens and saving to Google Docs disabled)