I like to be different, often spending an obscene amount of time customizing my personal belongings. The most apparent customization is my computer which I spent almost 10 hours daily on it. (I know, I’m a geek!)
Customization done ranged from hand picking my hardware components, to the appearance of the unit and even the software interface. Whenever I’m using my own computer, I feel right at home, tranquillized and relax. Besides, there is also the element of pretentiously showing off my ‘toy’ to gather some ‘’wow’ and ‘ah’ which makes me proud.
Same goes for the phone; change its housing, pick a nice theme and download some catchy ring tones. It won’t be the newest and most expensive but it certainly is unique in my point of view.
MP3Cube 
Developer : HugeMatrix,Inc.
Function : Audio Processor
Platform : S60 3rd Edition
Available at : http://www.hugematrix.com/
Price : USD8
Unfortunately, last month while attending a friend’s wedding party, I was embarrassed that my ring tone is the same with someone else. No more uniqueness! To others, this may just be a coincidence, but to me, it is a sign telling me to overhaul the phone inside out.
First, the ring tones, instead of buying them from operator or phone’s contents provider, I decided to make some myself using MP3Cube developed by HugeMatrix,Inc. MP3Cube is a mini and powerful audio process tool dedicated for Nokia S60 3rd platform. It lets users make MP3 ring tones with their smartphone; by extracting parts of existed MP3 located in the memory. Whenever my ring tones clashes with others, I can easily extract another part of the same MP3.
Besides that, this software can also act as a MP3 explorer enabling users to view MP3 info such as duration, sample rate, bit rate and channels. It can also convert these MP3 into different sample rate, bit rate and channels. Using down sampling, one can easily double his MP3 storage capacity on phones; though scientifically speaking, a bit of fidelity will be loss in the process.
Since not every one of us got an 8GB smartphone coupled with a 2GB memory card, so such MP3Cube features is indeed a practical solution to music lovers, besides I didn’t realize any differences in my music. MP3Cube goes for USD8, feel free to download the trial version at http://www.hugematrix.com/.
Theme DIY
Developer : Zensis Ltd.
Function : Nokia’s Themes Creator
Platform : S60 3rd Edition
Available at : http://my-symbian.com/main/index.php
Price : USD19.90
The second task on phone customization is through theme. Theme DIY by Zensis Ltd. let user create their personal theme right on the S60 3rd Edition smartphone. Anybody can easily customize and install a great new look for their Nokia baby in within minutes as the process is simple.
First, pick a photo you like. Then choose a matching theme template out of 6 available ones. Finally, press the OK button. This software enable users to store up 12 personalized themes, a new look can be instantly call upon to match the occasion at anytime, anywhere. Compare to ready made downloadable themes, every art piece constructed from Theme DIY is special all thanks to its features of being able to incorporate personal pictures.
Other features of this software include Fade Out/Blur function for the menu background. Users can read menu text easier especially in the occasion where background image is dark. For newer Nokia phones users get to choose another optional background to be used while playing music. Other standard features are multi language support for theme naming and theme ring tone selection from phone memory.
I personally love the software but it falls short on the numbers of templates available. It will be great if user can customize their preferred template from scratch, starting with font type to colours and even style. But then again, this is a phone, not a PC so maybe I should not be too harsh on this tiny software. Anyway, Theme DIY costs USD19.90 at my.Symbian.com under the genre of UI customization & Themes.
AutoThemes 
Developer : SymbianGuru
Function : Theme Scheduler
Platform : S60 3rd Edition
Available at : http://www.symbianguru.com/
Price : USD9.99
To go hand in hand with the 12 themes created from Theme DIY, there is cool software named AutoThemes developed by SymbianGuru. This application is solely dedicated for S60 3rd Edition Nokia phones and is a cute theme scheduler. It will change themes automatically, according to 2 rules; the active profile (invoke changes when certain profile is activated) or time (invoke changes at the exact time chosen).
These two rules need to be set by user during initialization but once it is up and running, themes change smoothly and silently, without mobile reboot. AutoTheme is very user friendly as rules are totally adjustable and customizable, with ability to activate or deactivate, edit time or conditions of theme changes using only one key press. This software is available at http://www.symbianguru.com/ for a price tag of USD9.99. Check out the free trial if you are interested!
My phone internal content is forever unique with this 3 software, hopefully. Now what is left is to customize the lousy housing.
|
