10 Free J2ME Apps That Will Keep You Connected

[VelMurugan]

10 Free J2ME Apps That Will Keep You Connected

India is a nation of mobile users. Unlike a few years ago, we see just about anyone and everyone using a mobile phone today. Also, the mobile phones they use are more often than not, internet-capable and furthermore, service providers bundle internet capability (read "basic GPRS") too, in which you pay only for what you use. But most of us are plain ignorant about the potential this has or rather, how to use this internet capability to stay connected no matter where you go.

An overwhelming majority of mobile phones can run J2ME applications (as against Symbian applications, which can only run on Symbian phones).

We have, therefore, rounded up a collection of ten useful mobile applications that run on such phones, but the catch is that all of these applications use the mobile internet for different tasks. We have left out the obvious ones such as Opera Mini, eBuddy, Google Maps, etc. as these are pretty popular and are known to everyone. What we are going to write about today are applications that are tremendously useful and yet, have been fairly unnoticed. So, read on and we will show you how to transform your simple mobile phone into something you would never have thought possible. So here is the list, in no particular order.

Source : techtree

[VelMurugan]

1. flurry

You can hardly find anyone without an email address today. In fact, email addresses have become more recognized than postal addresses simply due to the fact that they are very simple and easy to remember. Since most of us have email addresses, we would like to remain connected even when on the move. It is a free mobile application that lets you send and receive emails, amongst other services, using your mobile phone. It is effectively an email client that brings emails straight to your mobile phone.

To download and start using flurry, just point your mobile browser to www.flurry.com or go to www.flurrymail.com from your PC. Here, you can add the email addresses you wish to use along with their individual passwords. You can add any email regardless of the domain and regardless of whether it uses POP3, IMAP or Web mail. You can also add RSS feeds and receive news directly into this application. In addition, there is also MOBS, which is messaging to a group of friends or share videos, pictures, favorite feeds, etc. There are shortcut keys for everything and the built-in help informs you about these. This application comes in two versions - the Basic one which is for older phones and the Plus version is heavier and for newer phones. The features remain similar in both, while the interface is livelier in the Plus version. With a nice and easy to use interface, flurry is one application you will definitely thank us for introducing you to.

[VelMurugan]

2. UCWEB

The Chinese are already in control of a lot of our utility electronics market. After capturing the mobile market, they seem to have set their eyes on the mobile browser segment too. Yes, we are talking about the UCWEB mobile browser, which is a tough competitor to Opera Mini and has certain features that may make Opera Mini look pale. You can open WAP as well as full internet websites using UCWEB and use either the popular Chinese BAIDU search or Google search. Just like Opera Mini, web pages are compressed and reformatted by the UCWEB server before it is sent to the mobile screen. The first thing that you might notice is that it has tabbed browsing unlike Opera Mini. Remember, tabbed browsing was, until recently, available only in Opera Mobile, which is a paid software available only for Symbian phones.

It has a download manager that even lets you resume downloads if they are interrupted. You can add RSS feeds to keep abreast of the happenings around you. This browser is even multimedia capable, supporting streaming audio and video, right to your mobile screens. You can also save web pages to view them offline later. The interface is pretty good and the navigation is intuitive with shortcuts for a lot of functions. While it does not look as polished as Opera Mini as yet and web page layout is not always correct, we must say that we have seen huge improvements even in consecutive minor version updates and this is one web browser to keep an eye on. To get UCWEB, point your mobile browser to wap.ucweb.com or open www.ucweb.com/English/download.shtml and download the version for your mobile phone.

[VelMurugan]

3. Nimbuzz

Most of us chat on IM clients and we often use more than one of these. Unified IM clients would be an ideal solution for such people, and though there aren't many for the PC, there are several for the mobile phone. Nimbuzz is one such unified IM client that can run on any J2ME mobile, but it is different from other unified mobile IM chat clients - it supports VIOP calling. VOIP calling is currently not available in India, but with the introduction of 3G, we think that it will be available in the future (provided DoT and TRAI approve it).

Nimbuzz supports Skype, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, AIM and Google Talk for IM, while it supports Skype, MSN, Gtalk and Nimbuzz for voice calling. The Internet Call option will let you call an IM buddy for free, while Local Dial-in option will call a local fixed line number and connect you to your IM buddy. You can also connect with communities such as AIM, Google Talk, Hyves, ICQ, Jabber, Skype, Windows LIVE (MSN), Yahoo!, Gadu Gadu and even create and manage chat rooms. Voice messaging, sending files, etc. are other features worth noting. You can get Nimbuzz by opening get.nimbuzz.com in your mobile browser or by opening www.nimbuzz.com/en/mobile/pc/download and download the version for your mobile phone. You can also receive the download link it as an SMS to your mobile phone by entering your mobile number on the site.

[VelMurugan]

4. Mwah (formerly Reporo)

Touted aptly as "The UK's favourite mobile social network", Mwah, formerly known as Reporo, is little known outside the UK, but that doesn't mean that it does not deserve a better international exposure. Mwah is something like a MySpace, Orkut or Facebook on your mobile phone and lets you form a group and then a community of friends or groups of friends with similar interests, lifestyle, etc. With an active community worldwide, Mwah is always awake, no matter when you access it.

You can put up your profile on My Mwah Space and meet new people, share ideas, feelings or even files and photos. You can also access news from popular news portals such as BBC and tabloids such as The Sun. There is even an inbuilt IM client that lets you chat with your buddies using Google Talk, MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, ICQ, and AOL. There are a lot of other things, but for those, you must log on to www.reporo.com. You can register and get Mwah by logging on to https://m.mwah.com/mw/register.jsp from the PC, or simply opening m.mwah.com from your mobile browser. Have a look, we guarantee that you will not be disappointed.

[VelMurugan]

5. Squace

Squace is a unique mobile internet browser with an aim to simplify surfing the mobile web and avoid typing to visit the often-visited websites. The unique and intuitive interface of this browser consists of the phone's screen divided into squares, with each square representing a popular website. You can simply move the cursor to a square and click to open the associated website. This effectively lowers the time needed to go to your favorite website. Squace has been in beta and currently, the open beta is closed, but you can still check out information at www.squace.com and signup with your name and email to get notified when the final version is released (and this is expected soon). If you want to download it, you can visit http://www.getjar.com/products/15521/SquacethenewmobileInternetbrowser.

[VelMurugan]

6. Wattpad

We all have read e-books at one point of time or another and have enjoyed them as well. Now you can read them on your mobile phone using Wattpad - a mobile e-book reader. Wattpad connects to the huge online repository of e-books at www.wattpad.com, which has just about every e-book from Project Gutenberg and more, including contributions from users. You can search for e-books using the mobile application and opt to either read the e-book of your choice online or download it to read later. The downloaded e-book gets added to a list inside Wattpad. Wattpad reader interface is pretty simple, with just text and a background.

You can use shortcut keys to scroll and also customize the text and background color along with the scroll speed if you choose to auto-scroll the pages. Wattpad can be downloaded by going to m.wattpad.com from your mobile or by going to www.wattpad.com from the PC browser.

[VelMurugan]

7. MobiCast

Cricket is not just a game, it is a religion in India. Well, in this nation of cricket-lovers, a mobile application that lets you stay updated with the latest scores is a definite must have. Cricinfo (the popular cricket portal) and Plusmo have got just the app for your mobile. MobiCast gives you a ball-by-ball update and even live scorecards right to your mobile screen. There is even an animation that plays whenever there is some event such as a wicket or when your favorite batsman has hooked one for a six. What's more? You also get cricket match schedules and even news associated with cricket in MobiCast. You can download and start using MobiCast just by opening ci.plusmo.com in your mobile phone.

[VelMurugan]

8. ngpay

E-commerce is fast gaining grounds in Indian and ngpay is a mobile application that can make you realize the potential of it using a mobile phone. ngpay is essentially an online service that lets you achieve several commercial tasks using just your mobile phone.

Believe it or not, you can not only buy movie tickets at Fame, Fun Cinemas and Inox, but also view and select the seats. You can buy e-tickets for airlines, railways and even RedBus services. You can shop on online shopping sites such as FutureBazaar and Landmark or gift articles from Archies and Ferns N Petals to anyone, anywhere in India. Since HDFC Bank is also an ngpay partner, you can do everything you do through NetBanking such as checking your account, ordering account statement or check-book and even funds transfer on your mobile phone. ngpay allows you to pay utility bills such as telephone bills, mobile top-ups, electricity bills and insurance premiums of partner organizations. Last, but not least, you can make charity donations to CRY, Cancer Patient Aid, etc. Soon, you will also be able to order food through ngpay.

To get ngpay, go to www.ngpay.com and enter your mobile number on the site, the link will be sent to your mobile as an SMS. You can then register through the application and decide a 6-digit PIN. Remember, this PIN is as important as your debit card PIN. This application cannot be used in an unauthorized way unless your mobile gets stolen and the PIN is known to the person who has your phone. In such cases or in a case where you happen to forget the PIN, you can call up the help desk at ngpay and they always help you out. ngpay uses 128-bit end-to-end security, so all your transactions are secure. Furthermore, the PIN is not stored in the mobile, but on the ngpay server.

[VelMurugan]

9. ShoZu

A lot of mobile phones have a camera and while these cameras used to be awfully unusable some years ago, the quality has increased considerably with advancements in technology and today, rivals that of basic digital cameras. For those of us who like to click away, we like to show off our photography skills and we usually do that by uploading to photo sites such as Flickr and Photobucket. ShoZu is a mobile application that lets you upload photographs clicked by your mobile to sites such as Flickr, Photobucket, twitter, etc.

Since the mobile phone also lets you record videos, ShoZu also allows you to upload such videos to sites like DailyMotion, Facebook, or Youtube. If blogging is your passion, you can do that too as ShoZu allows uploads to blogging sites such as Blogger, WordPress, LiveJournal, etc. Lastly, you can also send the images and videos to your email address or a mailing list or even ftp. To get ShoZu on your mobile, open m.shozu.com in your mobile browser or simply log on to www.shozu.com, select your mobile phone model and download the version suitable for your mobile phone. You also need register online to add your Flickr, Photobucket, DailyMotion, etc. accounts and then you can upload photographs directly from your mobile. You can read comments on your photos and videos and reply to them too.

[VelMurugan]

10. GMJ Weather

GMJ Weather is a very tiny and handy application that lets you know not just the weather conditions of a place, but also the weekly weather forecast for that place. You get details such as temperature, cloud cover, rain, snow, humidity and even wind speeds. There is even a graphic icon that conveys this information at a glance. You can search for cities across the world whose weather you wish to know and these get added to a list so you do not need to search for them again. To download this nifty application, open wap.2gmj.com on your mobile phone or click here if to download on your PC. There are other applications on www.2gmj.com too and a notable one is GMJ Mobile News, which is an information portal of sorts on your mobile phone, so do not forget to check that too.

We have tried each of the above application on a 3 years old Sony Ericsson W800i and found that it did not have any problem running them. Now that you have the list, you can start using these applications on your mobile phone and unleash the power hidden within.