My favourite S60 app right now – Handy Shell

I’m a big fan of the Symbian s60 (series 60) platform. This has been the case since I first got introduced to it via my Nokia 3650 yonks ago. What I love the most about it is its flexibility and the power it gives the user to customise a phone, from looks (on-screen, that is) to functionality. Handy Shell is what I’m currently raving about.

Handy has released some of the best s60 apps around, many of which I’ve demo’d. I got bored of demoing things on mobile but when that s60.com newsletter popped up in my inbox last week I thought I’d give it a shot. So glad I did!

Handy Shell basically allows you to customise your Today page so you’re able to see a summary of events or shortcuts without having to navigate elsewhere. It also has 2 other standby pages, viz. Contacts and Applications, both of which are organised in an eye-friendly 3×4 grid. In addition to the usual app shortcuts on the Start page you’re able to add phone settings (Bluetooth, messaging, e-mail, etc.) shortcuts, a calendar summary (shows next appointment) and the weather.

The weather functionality is a whole blog post on its own but trust me when I say that it’s very handy (pun intended). One other thing I love is that you can start typing (using T9) a contact’s name, number or app name from any screen and it will automatically do a search until you pin-point what you’re looking for. Very cool feature!

Now all this stuff may make a Windows Mobile users yawn – they’ve had this for…ever! Well Windows Mobile makes me yawn so I’m super glad that the one feature I care about on WM is now on Symbian – no temptation to ever cross over.

Visit s60.com to try it out and see if it does it for you as it does for me.