Nokia? PC? Sweet! (Nokia Data Suite)

Member Name: The Duke

Product:	Nokia Data Suite
Date:	08/06/05 (10232 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Enables you to make better use of your phone, Easy to use, Free

Disadvantages: Issues with the actual cable, Some applications fiddly to use.

My mobile phone and my fingers are much happier now. Having recently purchased a Nokia DKU-5 cable, I have been able to connect my Nokia 6610i phone to a USB port on my PC and do all kinds of cool things without giving myself "SMS thumb".

In order to be able to do cool stuff with your phone, you have to make sure that you choose the correct connection method. Depending on your phone model and PC, you can choose between a cable connection, infrared and Bluetooth. Nokia offer two kinds of cables - DKU-2 and DKU-5. Obviously, if you desire to use infrared or Bluetooth, then your PC must be infrared or Bluetooth enabled. If you are unsure which connection type to use for your phone, you can find a compatibility table (including system requirements) at Nokia.com. PC Suite supports all three types of connection methods.

Once you have your connection method installed, then it's simply a matter of installing the PC Suite software package. My DKU-5 cable came with a CD of software including several versions of PC Suite, but I chose to download the latest compatible version for my PC and phone from the Nokia website as later versions usually provide better stability and functionality.

The range of features available to you through PC Suite will, of course, depend on what your phone is capable of (each application is shown in the compatibility tables for your phone). Upon loading the main PC Suite screen you are greeted with a range of different icons, indicating the programs that are available to you. First of all, though, you have to create the connection to your phone using the easy-to-use Connection Wizard.

If everything's been done correctly, then this should be fairly quick, and your phone will show up as "connected". Of the eleven applications in the PC Suite available for my phone, I've only used five of them. That's not to say that the other applications are poor, but just not of interest to me.

Certainly one of the most important uses of PC Suite (and one that I don't think you can do without PC Suite or similar piece of software) is the ability to backup your phone. A few simple clicks of the mouse and the entire contents of your phone can be saved to your PC in case your phone gets stolen or damaged. This saved information can be reinstated to another phone if ever needed.

The synchronization feature was something I found to be incredibly handy to use, but also incredibly fiddly to set up and get the results I required. It copies information from your phone to your personal information manager (Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes etc.) and vice versa. Using PC Suite with Outlook 2003 eventually copied my entire contacts folder to my phone and all my contacts from my phone to my Outlook Contacts folder. This took quite a while to collate any data into one place and to delete all the duplicate entries that this created. However, now my contacts list on my phone is well organised and each person listed in my contacts has entries for multiple phone numbers, email address and postal address.

The synchronization feature can also copy things like "To do" lists or Calendar events should you choose to enable that option.

There is also a file manager application available which should enable you to copy files to and from your phone. Files available for movement would be 'wallpaper' files, and photos taken with a camera (if applicable) and ring tones. This is as easy to use as Windows Explorer on your own PC.

My favourite feature is the ability to send SMS messages via your phone, but type using your PC. Even with predictive text, SMS messages are a pain in the arse, so being able to type messages using a proper keyboard is helpful. I suppose it also encourages me to be a bit more verbose and use all 160 characters rather than send the briefest messages possible.

The other applications deal with adding or removing music, installing or removing Java applications on your phone etc. I've only used the installation application, but this is extremely easy to use. If you're used to using a mouse around Windows and copying and pasting files in Windows Messenger, then most of PC Suite will be second nature to you.

Apart from the problems getting my phone connected to the PC, which is a separate issue not related to the PC Suite, I've found this to be an invaluable collection of tools. I've already started to make more use of my phone simply because the connection enables me to type stuff normally on my PC (contacts, calendar entries etc.) and move them across to my phone rather than fiddle around with small keys while squinting at a small screen.

As stated previously, I bought my cable off eBay at around £10. I am quite happy with this price, but I am not sure if I would feel the same way if I'd paid the full retail price (around £25) from a high street shop. In general, the applications are easy and straightforward to use, but could certainly do with a bit of tweaking here and there, but you can't quibble with free software, especially when it's this useful and enables you to get more out of your phone.

The most recent version of PC Suite is 6.5, but the version you will require will depends on your phone.

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