Internetling

Attention: This post is not open source related. For some FOSS goodness, check some previous posts.

I love my Nokia E71. I can listen to podcasts, browse the Web and navigate using the built-in GPS. But for a long time I’ve had an itch that needed serious scratching. When I wanted to make a quick note I always used the Active Notes app. So my ideas were safe. Unfortunately, Active notes were accessible only through the device. I wanted my notes to be available anywhere, just like the Evernote client. I’m a geek, I spend a lot of time on the computer. The notes on my computer are not in sync with my mobile notes. This is a big problem since the bigger players in the notes-anywhere market like Evernote refuse to do a Symbian application, forcing users of Symbian S60 3rd Edition devices (a HUGE user-base) to either use stripped-down version such as evernote.com/m or sync notes by cable/Blutetooth.

What I needed:

1. A note-taking app that works on my Symbian 3rd Edition device and syncs to the cloud (Active Notes – out)
2. This app should also work offline, since I’m not always connected (Evernote’s mobile site – out)
3. An interface for editing and making new notes on the computer
4. This interface should be cross-platform, preferably web-based

Enter Upvise.

“Upvise provides mobile on-demand sync & collaboration software and hosted services for small businesses and individuals. With Upvise, you can organize and share information with your co-workers, and sync data between all the mobile phones and web accounts in your company.”

A free user’s account gives you much more, but let’s just focus on the Notebooks application. You download the Java-based app here. You will notice you can set it for online/offline mode. I removed all other menu options and just left Notebook. Sync your notes when you are ready by pressing the space key. Signing in at Upvise.com and visiting the Notebooks page will get you a fairly usable online interface for organising and editing your notes.

Not much to it, is there? Well, while this is kind of true, Upvise remains the only application I know that currently offers this functionality, for free, and I’ve done a lot of research. All the current workarounds don’t satisfy my 4 basic criteria. Being able to create and edit notes anywhere, anytime is a huge productivity booster and helps me remember cool ideas. So I hope this helps all of you Symbian users who, like me, have been searching for a client with this basic functionality. It certainly made my day.