The Guru of all that is Symbian reviewed a shell replacement application for S60 devices. (it is currently in beta from Epocware, and you can download it here). The shell is basically what you see on the screen when you first turn on your phone (or, in the case of an N75, when you open the clamshell). As I wrote in my last installment of Unbranding the Nokia N75, the most recent version of firmware for the N75 effectively rebrands the phone, and installs a god-awful tabbed view for the default. (see pretty house image on the right).
The tabbed shell replacement by AT&T is not only less functional than the default one by Symbian, but it is a huge resource drain. While running the tabbed view, I got less time out of my battery than before. What's worse, the "main" tab (pictured) has no information other than the time. There is all that space where upcoming appointments or whatever could be placed, but the tab remains empty. If you have installed and configured a theme, you will not see it until you hit the S60 (yin/yang) button to take you to the deeper menus.
You can turn off the tabbed browsing, but it does not give you back the standard Symbian Active Standby. Oh, no Charlie, it gives you a completely blank screen, as shown on the left. You can configure this screen with shortcuts for the up, down, etc. arrow, and for the selection buttons, but you will not have any clues for 5 of your 7 shortcuts. What is worse, you do not get the nice overview of information you would normally have, such as the calendar, reminders, e-mail, etc.
As you can see, this is a pretty useless screen. It takes your high- dollar and useful smartphone, and basically turns it into a cheap phone. The functionality is still there, but the notices and useful at- a-glance information is simply missing.
Thankfully, Epocware's HandyShell, when released, will really make my N75 a viable phone again. Currently, I only use it when I need 3G speeds when tethered to my laptop, but with a decent standby screen, and the release of Nokia Chat for slightly older phones like the N75, most of what I use on a daily basis is on there. Nokia Chat works really well on the N75, however, the typical memory issues get in the way. The N75 has such a low amount of memory that it often runs out. Not that one needs a reason not to use AT&T's ugly tabbed interface, but it is a memory hog and should be avoided at all costs.
You can turn off the tabbed browsing, but it does not give you back the standard Symbian Active Standby. Oh, no Charlie, it gives you a completely blank screen, as shown on the left. You can configure this screen with shortcuts for the up, down, etc. arrow, and for the selection buttons, but you will not have any clues for 5 of your 7 shortcuts. What is worse, you do not get the nice overview of information you would normally have, such as the calendar, reminders, e-mail, etc.As you can see, this is a pretty useless screen. It takes your high- dollar and useful smartphone, and basically turns it into a cheap phone. The functionality is still there, but the notices and useful at- a-glance information is simply missing.
Thankfully, Epocware's HandyShell, when released, will really make my N75 a viable phone again. Currently, I only use it when I need 3G speeds when tethered to my laptop, but with a decent standby screen, and the release of Nokia Chat for slightly older phones like the N75, most of what I use on a daily basis is on there. Nokia Chat works really well on the N75, however, the typical memory issues get in the way. The N75 has such a low amount of memory that it often runs out. Not that one needs a reason not to use AT&T's ugly tabbed interface, but it is a memory hog and should be avoided at all costs.As you can see on the right, my N75, with HandyShell installed once again has a decent information screen, and if you close the clamshell with the screen up, it will be there when you open it again for a quick check of that meeting, todo item, etc.
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