I’ve been using an S60 smartphone for years now, and the ability to add third party apps is the cornerstone of owning a smartphone. I wrote a “must-have” list a few years back but over time applications changed so this list needed to be redone. Let’s start with applications every phone can use because they are Java based:

• Google Maps for Mobile is the Java based version of the Google Maps site. It allows you to see maps of every corner of the world, satellite images, ask for locations, directions and even traffic reports. It also now supports GPS on a few devices, and is a must have for finding your way on the road.
• Google Mail is the other Google application I use all the time, although for Yahoo! email users you would prefer the Yahoo! Go client. I find these applications very integrated and useful to quickly access your web based mail.
• Opera Mini is the most popular third party browser for phones and is really a nice way to browse the web if your phone doesn’t come with a full featured browser. One of the nice feature of this browser is the Opera proxy which compresses full web sites into a mobile friendly format. Almost all content except Flash and some more complex AJAX sites can be seen with it.

Now to some programs that require a S60 smartphone:

• MWeather is a mobile weather program which uses the Yahoo! API to get forecast. It provides all the basic information on upcoming weather and can be configured to show multiple cities.
• Fring is, out of all the multitude of choices, my favorite IM client currently. It supports MSN, SIP and Skype VOIP calls.
• Nokia Podcasting is the open source software that Nokia developed to allow people to download and synchronize podcasts directly from their smartphones. It works very well, especially if your device supports wi-fi.
• Nokia Internet Radio is another Nokia open source application which allows you to stream radio from your smartphone. It does use alot of data so 3G or wi-fi is recommended.
• ShoZu is a recent project which integrates your handset with various online services like Flickr. You can upload software directly to Flickr as soon as you take it, and that site comes up with more features all the time.
• Metro is a very old application that first came out for original Palm platforms and provides maps and directions for subway systems from many cities around the world.

This site has been live for more than a month, and in that time I’ve had a lot of fun updating it and keeping up to date on the high end mobility news. I also had the time to review the traffic reports from over 10,000 users who came here on which stories people read and what topics are of most interest. It seems my original content such as reviews and editorials are by far more popular than the news items. Based on those findings, and the fact that keeping the news section takes 90% of my time, I’ve decided to remove the news items and keep the content people enjoy reading, and that I enjoy writing.