Nokia Smartphone Hacks

Chapter 6. Exchange Data with Computers

Hacks 33–39: Introduction

Smartphones are most useful when they work together with desktop or notebook computers. Computers have powerful software for storing and managing data, and mobile phones provide data access anytime, anywhere. This winning combination has been proven in the real world. But for the phone and the computer to work together, first they need to exchange data with each other.

In this chapter, I’ll explore how to exchange and synchronize files, contacts, and other personal information items between Nokia mobile phones and desktop computers.

Exchange Files

You can exchange files between a Nokia mobile phone and a computer in a variety of ways, including via the Nokia PC Suite, Bluetooth file transfer, infrared beaming, email, MMS, and web downloading and uploading.

In this hack, I’ll discuss ways to send and receive files to and from a mobile phone. Why do you want to do that? Well, here are some example scenarios:

• If you have a camera phone, you probably want to download your pictures to your PC or web site for editing or sharing [Hack #67] .

• You might want to customize your phone with wallpaper [Hack #46] and ring tones stored in media files [Hack #45] .

• You might want to enhance your phone with additional software [Hack #16] and [Hack #17] .

• You might want to exchange contacts (i.e., business cards) and calendar items between the computer and the phone via VCF-formatted files. The native Personal Information Manager (PIM) ...