II. SOFTWARE   (Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3)

4. Phone

Telephone application on the PDA side looks the same and offers the same functionality as in 9200 series. Phone module on the cover gives access to all telephony functions as well as Messaging (receive, create, send, browse folders), Call Register, Phone book, Profiles and Camera.

5. Messaging

Messaging application is the messaging centre for all kinds of supported messages: SMS, MMS, fax and email. It consists of several standard folders: Inbox, Outbox, Drafts, Sent, Mail, Remote Mail and PC Suite Profile folder containing Remote Inbox and Remote Outbox subfolders. It is also possible to create own folders for storing messages. Message store is located in the internal memory and there is no option to move it to the Memory card, but given the capacity of the internal drive such an option is no longer needed, anyway.

Messaging application provides access to SMS, MMS, fax and email editors but, of course, it is also possible to create all kinds of messages in any other application and send them directly from there by choosing "Send as" from the menu (e.g. you can quickly select an image or video from the Camera folder and send it as MMS or you can fax a document directly from word processor without switching to the Messaging application).

Unfortunately, it is still not possible to schedule retrieving emails without using 3rd party applications like Active Mail. Good news is that the 9500 fully supports SMTP authentication and secure connections (SSL/TLS) and login (APOP).

The unit we tested didn't support sending MMS messages nor email from the Phone side and there was no T9 for text input (multitap only) but this may change as the device is still a work-in-progress.

6. Contacts

Contacts application from the PDA side is exactly the same as in the 9210(i). The only difference seems to be enhanced Search options that let you choose which fields will be checked when searching for contacts.

Databases in the internal memory, on memory card and on SIM card are still totally separate, which means that contacts from one database are not available when using other database. Fortunately, now the phone checks all databases on incoming calls, which means that contact name (and not just the number) will be correctly recognized and shown no matter which database is currently active. Switching between databases is possible from both PDA side (Contacts and Telephone application) and Phone side (Phone book settings). It is possible to add/edit/remove contacts from the Phone side as well as checking all fields of a contact card, including displaying contact pictures. Unfortunately, contact pictures are not shown on Phone display on incoming calls (but, again, this may be added before the phone becomes available).

7. Calendar

Calendar is another application that looks exactly the same as before. There are no visible changes or enhancements but one: setting of preferred views. This lets you quickly switch between favourite views by pressing the Calendar button several times. There are also two new field types: location and notes. Calendar is not accessible from the Phone side.

8. Office applications

Office folder contains the following applications: Documents (word processor), Sheet (spreadsheet), Presentations, File Manager and Calculator.

All applications are now in ROM memory - there is no need to install them and they start and work much faster. Documents and Sheet are very similiar to their 9210(i) equivalents with only a couple of cosmetic changes and just one new menu function providing access to recently used documents/workbooks. Both applications are compatible with Microsoft Office applications. Documents can also be saved as plain text.

Presentations, contrary to the 9210's Presentations Viewer, is now a presentations editor, which means that you can create Powerpoint-combatible presentations directly on the 9500. The editor supports following object types: picture, text box (formatted text, bulleted and numbered lists), autoshape (line, line with one arrow, line with two arrows, rectangle, rectangle with round corners, oval, block arrow right, block arrow left, block arrow up, block arrow down) and table. Of course, Presentations also allows showing slideshows prepared using Powerpoint on PC.

File Manager is identical as the one known from 9210(i). The same applies to Calculator.

9. Media folder

Media folder consists of the following programs: Web (Opera browser), Images, Voice Recorder, Music Player and RealPlayer.

Our opinion about 9500's Opera browser is simple: the best mobile Web browser ever made, with only one competitor: the same Opera browser on the unreleased Nokia 7700 media phone being even better because of 7700's larger screen. The key to its power is its Fit to screen mode. Opera dynamically resizes web pages to fit screen's width so that no horizontal scrolling is necessary. And it does it simply great, without changing the layout or any detail. The browser is very fast and it has no problems with even very large or badly designed contents. Opera supports HTML 4.01, XHTML, WML, Javascript and frames and it allows opening up to 10 windows at the same time (thanks to 9500's large RAM memory). It supports plugins: Shockwave Flash, OMA Download and RealMedia plugins are installed by default and futher plugins can be added later. Built-in Downloads manager is of great use when downloading large files.

Images provides access to all pictures stored on the device or taken using its camera. You can copy/move/delete/rename them, send them via email, IR, MMS, Bluetooth or Remote mail, view images with various zoom levels or on full screen, add them to contacts or set as Desk or Phone wallpaper.

Voice Recorder allows creating voice notes and recoring phone conversations. Recording time is limited only by free space on disk. Users can choose between internal memory and MMC card as well as between AMR and WAV file format. Recording quality is very good. When recording phone conversations the application periodically generates a silent beep (this is required by law in many countries). Recordings can be sent via email, IR, MMS and Bluetooth directly from the Voice Recorder application.

Music Player supports MP3, WAV, RealAudio, MIDI and AAC (MPEG-4) file formats. You can select multiple files for playback as well as enable Repeat All and Shuffle options from the menu. Sound quality is very high. Using stereo headset with PopPort-compatible plug you can listen to your songs in high quality stereo.

RealPlayer is compatible with RealMedia and MPEG-4/3GPP movie formats. It supports full screen playback mode and allows streaming video.