Nokia Communication Center: new simplified concept for Nokia PC Suite

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Nokia Communication Center: new simplified concept for Nokia PC Suite

Wed, 2008-05-07 09:52

After successful Text Messenger beta pilot (also updated today), the team behind Nokia PC Suite got all excited about co-creating stuff together with you here at Beta Labs. Today, they released a sneak preview of the new simplified concept for managing messages and contacts in Nokia PC Suite. For the beta trial period, we call the concept Nokia Communication Center. Depending on your feedback during the beta trial, this will be soon integrated as part of standard Nokia PC Suite.

Download Nokia Communication Center here.

Key features:

Create and send messages easily

Receive, view, forward, and reply to messages as they arrive

Compose multimedia messages effortlessly with easy access to the images on both PC and device

Manage messages, and sort and group them to quickly find what you are looking for

Display all your messages in a timeline

Manage all the contacts stored on your device

Add new contacts with ease

Create contact cards complete with thumbnail images

What do you think about the concept?

Also, feel free to report any bugs you might bump into. You can contribute by sharing your thoughts at the comments section of this post, or privately using the feedback form.

(note to self: we really need to improve our feedback

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Comments

Submitted by on 08-05-2008 09:19.

The messages do not load at all.
I have left it for 30 mins and still nothing
The contacts load in approx 2 seconds (500+ contacts)
I am using a 9500
Is it supported?

Submitted by on 09-05-2008 07:09.

adding to the wishlist... How about a conversation view for sms?

Submitted by on 10-05-2008 12:56.

How about adding a protocol handler for Windows? A URI beginning with "sms:" could be used to automatically spawna new SMS message to a number, much like "mailto:" or "news:" do for e-mail and NNTP newsgroups. This could be a standard that goes well beyond Nokia into the real world. But with this new release, "sms:5135551212" could spawn the Communication Center with a new message destined for that number.

Submitted by on 07-05-2008 10:42.

I genuinely like the concept of a desktop application that does all this, but honestly would much prefer if this were put into a service form on Ovi, that I can reach on the web.

Something like this also desperately needs to be created for the internet tablets.

Submitted by on 08-05-2008 03:14.

What I liked:
This is AMAZING. Exactly what I need. Potential to create a new folder to store and sort out my messages? Sweet!

Real easy to access contact information/details and drop-down menu of contacts suggestions when creating a new message is really, really helpful.

What I did not like/can be improved:
I can't open it from the PC Suite.I have to find for it myself.

I can't rename the the new folder after I created and named it.

I can't sort out my messages! Dragging into the folder doesn't store it in there and neither does the copy/paste function work. (I tried to copy from my inbox to the new folder)

This drops the bomb: The folder goes MISSING once I restart the Communication Center!

End note:
I see a lot of potential in this one. I'm really looking forward to an upgraded and improved version of this. However, I shall still use this one for now because it's awesome!

Submitted by on 09-05-2008 05:17.

To add to the feedback. Nice polished UI, steamlined and targetted rather than trying to be a do all application - I like it.

Other feedback, slow/sluggish - to be expected for an early release but in particularly initial retrieval or refresh of messages is slow (over bluetooth) compared to same refresh of contacts.

Incomplete matching of phone number ot name in inbox list as pointed out by several commenters

Message time stamp wrong. For example message stamped 12.52pm in phone lists as 4.47am in communications center. Time stamp is correct in PC suite though so it looks like a localization issue within communications center.

Sending message. Would be nice to reduce clicks/acknowledgements which is a trend also used in PC suite. I would like prefer just to be notified if message send failed. Right now its click to send message. watch the progress window then click ok again to acnowledge that it was send. Would be much more intuitive to be able to bang out quick replies and not sit around waiting on the UI.

Refreshing Inbox. Appears messages arrive and you must manually hit reload to retreive it (or is this a bluetooth issue). In any case as it works now its much faster to pick up the phone and type the reply than hit refresh...wait...type reply...wait....hit ok.

Submitted by on 11-05-2008 14:31.

You may want to check http://www.bloove.com, it tries to be pc suite via web. Btw it became Nokia Mobile Rules'08 competition finalist.

Submitted by on 13-05-2008 14:53.

@Ricky.

Some people like to retain their messages either because they have jokes, pictures and other stuff or stuff you need to like plans or messages from partners. If you have a good working relationship with suppliers in a business sence you may also communicate by phone. Our office doesn't go though

Submitted by on 07-05-2008 15:35.

Silly me, this *looks* like one of the many apps in the Nseries PC Suite family, so clearly I was dumb in thinking that it would support it as well as the standard PC Suite.

Please explain to me why there is no Nseries PC Suite support here.

Seriously guys, desktop SMS support is severely overdue for this product.

Submitted by on 07-05-2008 22:02.

Oh another thing...

When will Nokia EVER do ANYTHING of any sort that allows "Caller Groups" management other than on the phone - surely this is YEARS overdue, and an ideal candidate for this kind of application.

It never ceases to amaze me that after all these years, there is still no real support in PC Suite for proper Contacts Management (hence application betas like this one), and that even now, GROUPS support is still a PHONE ONLY area.

Submitted by on 07-05-2008 21:25.

Am i right in reading this does not work alongside the nseries PC suite? I tried the pc phone app and it caused conflict with the nseries suite (sync issues mainly) so I am loathe to run this one. Can you Nokia; confirm its suitability to run alongside nseries suite.
I cant reiterate strongly enough that no sms app for the nseries suite is a big let down. Sharpen your programming pencils and get one written or at least bring the side bar app for vista down to XP as that operating system is here for a long time to come.
Good to see Nokia continue to enhance and deliver new products this way though, keep it up.

Submitted by on 07-05-2008 21:57.

Just to add to some of the Issues already listed:

1) Messages are listed by NUMBER, not by name - the application is not matching up the number with the contact and thus displaying the name. This is similar behaviour to the early Nokia PC Phone application, and makes it a "TESTING" tool for me, but not something I could or would EVER use mainstream, until this is fixed.

2) Contact Images... This has ALWAYS been a major issue for me where Nokia is concerned in that guidelines are NEVER ever given on what the best size to use for Display Images should be. Consequently, I use 48x64 myself, and they look good on the contact list in the phone at this size, but distorted when a call comes in. Re-size them to look good on an incoming call, and they are then distorted in the contact list. This is not an issue of THIS application - this is a critical failing of Symbian Series 60 itself.

In terms of THIS new application however, no guidance is given on what size to use. Worse, whatever ratio image you use, the application then re-stretches it to make it almost square. This means that it's a waste of time using the application for Contact Pics, as the vast majority will get skewed, and those that are the right ratio for this application's liking will then NOT be the right size for the phone liking that much.

And of course, yet again, when FP2 reaches us, with Full Screen Caller ID's this will make things even worse for the application then.

Hope this info is helpful guys.

Submitted by on 07-05-2008 22:47.

When u write a new SMS and then choose Recipients and then write the name u search for it would be nice if it jumps directly to the position were the contact has been found, sometimes u have more numbers which u can choose.At the moment u search for john and press enter, john is added as a receipment, but what if john has more numbers and u would like to have the chance to choose which one is the right :)
u can combine that if u write "jo***" that it directly jumps to all contacts which began with "jo".

next thing would be nice is if the name would be displayed instead of the number if the contact is in your adress book
some contacts are displayed with name, most not

it also would be great if u enter a contacts birthday to have the option to copy it directly to the calender as a every year event.

i have a mms in my inbox and when i choose the message @ communication center the picture isn't displayed but if i make right click with mouse and press "save image" the picture can be saved on the computer.preview should be improved of the mms.

The View:

Arrange by: should have the options "Name","Date","Message Type"

SMS Inbox:

If u have more messages from one contact make a group where it displays: "John - 5 Messages" fr example

Will test, so far :D

Heiko

Submitted by on 08-05-2008 02:08.

I think it might be a good application.

I think a shortcut should be placed in PC Suite (like Video Manager) rather than having to find the shortcut on the desktop.

I also noticed that the date details are wrong. SMS that are in the phone display correct Day and Time but if I send and receive an SMS in Comm' Centre the Day is not displayed and the Time is wrong. I sent an SMS at 11.37AM and Comm' Centre shows no Day sent and shows the time as 1.37AM.

Center is also wrong. It should be Centre. I might be wrong but I think there is only one country in the world that spells it that way.

None of my messages show the persons name, just the number.

Submitted by on 08-05-2008 04:40.

Will it allow dragging of messages from phone memory to memory card? To elaborate further, can we move a single message from phone memory tomemory card without havbing to move everything?

Submitted by on 08-05-2008 08:22.

What a nice little application - almost makes the monster application PC-suite redundant (which would be a good thing)

Some initial comments..

** SMS Cache
Looks like there is no cache on the PC for the SMS

Submitted by on 08-05-2008 09:36.

Very nice app!

Submitted by on 08-05-2008 11:03.

I have to concur with what Rafe and Shadamehr said, the fact that there isn't a way to manage groups on anything other than my devices makes me not use that feature.

Please include grouping or tagging of people.

Submitted by on 08-05-2008 12:00.

Please fix the Arabic support!

Messages and contacts containing arabic letters are not showing properly.

Submitted by on 08-05-2008 12:11.

Categories for contacts, to do lists and calendar enties a MUST. I come from a Windows Mobile background and find this aspect of Nokia/Symbian a big problem.

Submitted by on 08-05-2008 12:54.

Why is is that Nokia have once again ignored user created folders on the phone.

Who keeps all their messages in their inbox? The Inbox is their for messages that haven't been deleted or filed and not one offering of pc suite or other has allows me to mass move or view and organise messages in user created folders!

Its one of the main let-downs of the suite. Other than that the concept is good! Messaging has been vastly improved in later flavours of Pc Suite.

Submitted by on 08-05-2008 13:46.

@Robin - on the same note, I'd say WTF organizes text messages? I mean, are you really conducting business with them? I think for most they're little more than transcribed voice messages.

Submitted by on 09-05-2008 02:05.

Well that was expensive! Sent an SMS to two contacts, Comm' Centre said the SMS were sent just fine but the phone showed them as defered in the Outbox. Comm' Centre was showing no messages in the Outbox or Sent folder. Then decided to disconnect an no sooner had I done that one of my mates called to say that he received 14 (not a typo) SMS from me. He was trying to call me but was receiving a busy signal, until I disconnected. The other contact received multiple messages but didn't say how many. The good news is we agreed to meet at the local for beers but I am not sure if I can afford it now lol. Its annoying that the numbers show (phone & Comm' Centre) rather than the name.

Submitted by on 09-05-2008 12:12.

Developer guys: Learn from http://www.fjsoft.at/en/downloads.php
and make a worthy competitor representing nokia interactiviy with PC.

fjsoft's MPE got everything + more. You never need to touch your phone while sitting at the computer. Never been simplier to write/receive SMS / call / make schedules +++. I know nokia phones supports the same features + even more, so please! I know you got the resources and the money for it!

I got Nokia n82 and SE w890. Would like to use only one phone.

Submitted by on 09-05-2008 21:06.

The interface of the suite is great but then, I think it's better to include modules that manage transfer of sms from Phone memory to SD, vice versa.

And it's very much indeed important for Nokia to figure out a new method for storing SMS on phones. Now, storing SMS in a single file .dat isn't effective for managing SMS and as SMS accumulate, the speed for opening message is slow!

Submitted by on 10-05-2008 05:00.

All I need is a full CONTACT GROUPS support! Is it so hard to realize???

Submitted by on 25-07-2008 02:29.

This is fine though the time displayed is wrong by my UTC (GMT) offset.

However, I would really prefer to have the PC Suite synchronisation function for Outlook extended which would allow me to create, send and receive and store messages into Outlook. The Contacts function is already there.

(and if you spell synchronise correctly, the spelling of "centre" is wrong).

Cheers

Submitted by on 10-05-2008 10:28.

can nokia people develop a mobile in which we can connect USb "PEN DRIVE" through mobile directly and browse all data from mobile itself.... n also if possible edit some MS word, excel and powerpoint...!..it would be really a good option for businessman like us...atleast in your high end communicator model...!!!

Submitted by on 18-05-2008 04:20.

Nice App for small business/personal.
+ve
Running well on Vista Home Premium to E90 via BT
SMS toolbar app is a good sidekick to this.
-ve
Message Timestamps are in UTC and need to be set to local timezone.

Well done guys, running rings around Winmo now. Nice to see the communicators back on top.

Submitted by on 07-05-2008 10:40.

Now this is more like it! Many of us are chained to our desks both at home and at work. To have communication tools at the desktop greatly improves speed and efficiency.

The good:
the search rocks.
easy to sort.
looks like filters will be in.
Writing SMS is a smooth process, choosing contacts is easy. And unlike the Text Messenger gadget, you can switch windows without losing the SMS.

the bad:
Incoming SMS are only listed by number, not by name, in many cases. SOME are listed by name.
MMS viewer only plays the sound for incoming MMS.

Questions:
Does the SMS get sent right away or do you have to use "refresh" to send it? I sent and SMS and noticed it ended up in the "outbox" for a while until I used the refresh button.

Why does your 6220c show up with a picture while my E50 doesn't? :)

I <3 Nokia beta labs and software. Brings a joy to my otherwise non-technical day.

Submitted by on 07-05-2008 12:16.

I would like to be able to open the 'new message' window from the command line (so I can open it from Launchy). It's much better than the current 'new sms' that comes up with the Suite. Also, I would like this window to close upon *successful* send with no OK dialog.
And last, if you really want to make it perfect, if I click CTRL+ENTER inside the message input box, send the message and save me clicking on the send button.

Submitted by on 07-05-2008 13:09.

I like the concept of a desktop application that does all this, but honestly would much better if this were put into a service form on Ovi, that I can reach on the web.

Submitted by on 07-05-2008 17:01.

I really like this idea and think it will appeal to a lot of people (perhaps more so than some of the edge users here). Nice to see some thought put into the extras such as the context menus. I haven't run into any major problems yet (though it took a restart and a half to get messages working).

Might be nice if we could manage Contact Groups on the PC too? Printing support is good too, but could would be improved if items were wrapped (i.e. not have an item per page).

Will report back after further use.

Submitted by on 07-05-2008 21:15.

Bad: caaaarpy Arabic support! and i think there is error with export to .csv when open it with excel

Good: supporting MMS

Submitted by on 30-05-2008 09:25.

Dear sir.

Again i am. i would like to buy two grain original silver nokia 6310i and two grain original ultraslim reserve battery.
i searched all country of the world. i already know that your product nokia 6310i isn't in the markets.
i contacted nokia distributor of the Turkey.
Don't call Nokia Distributor of the Turkey or Don't send this message nokia distributor of the Turkey please...
i am demanding your produce Nokia 6310i again.i would rather 6310i than all phone of the world.it is do product 6310i instead of
new production colourless phone. This is not risk for a nokia company.it was such a good phone that everybody enjoyed it very much.
i be sure of favorite of the customers.you do think to this please...
i know, very compulsion, but this is very important for me.Everyone has dreams they follow. this is my dream.
i need to be cared by nokia company. it is do nokia corporation. i believe that i have rights to do this.
Thank you for reading. i will for your answer.

AHMET B?

Submitted by on 14-06-2008 18:15.

Nokia PC Suite 7.0 beta includes the Communication Center

http://thinkabdul.com/2008/06/14/download-nokia-pc-suite-70-beta-with-co...

Submitted by on 05-06-2008 10:04.

Am desperate to find a product that will enable me to select pre-formatted sms messages saved on a network drive that can be sent to Contacts Groups. This would save the embarrassment of my support guys (36 of them using Nokia 6230i on W2K platform !!) sending messages with typo's, using phn spk and seemingly using a scattergun to update management. Was hoping that Communication Centre was going to be my salvation !

Submitted by on 29-06-2008 00:16.

Any idea when this will work with the nseries pcsuite? This, for me, is the only thing sorely missing from the nseries suite.

Submitted by on 29-07-2008 22:02.

SMS Date + Time -> WRONG

In previous versions of Nokia PC Suite it was possible to drag and drop all messages from

Submitted by on 01-07-2008 11:31.

http://www.finanznachrichten.de/nachrichten-aktien/nokia.asp

Submitted by on 02-08-2008 18:19.

Chinese support problem while exporting SMS to CSV file.
I am using English version of E51, but all the messages in the phone is in Chinese.
I am also using English version of Vista and MS Office. I set to coding for none Unicode to Chinese so it support Chinese completely.
When I export the SMS messages to CSV file, all the Chinese character become question mark (?). English characters are ok.
Please solve this problem.
Thank you!

Submitted by on 13-10-2008 20:08.

Hello,

great work, really. You guys added a group funktion.

But can you add a column so that you can see what item is not in a group? would be really nice.
Thanks for your work and keep going...

Submitted by on 06-11-2008 08:49.

I have a strange problem, i have 1730 contacts in my mobile but when i connect with nokia communicator i get only 776 contacts, can anybody help

Submitted by on 14-11-2008 17:46.

Hi All,
Why is the access to sim-card not possible?
Also the advanced contact details are not selectable for being viewed. So the fast access to relevant numbers is not possible - so it is required to use the advanced switch. wouldn't it be useful to integrate these fields into the customize function?

Best regards

Marcus

Submitted by on 14-11-2008 19:05.

Please fix Farsi font support.
the characters are not showing properly.

Submitted by on 16-10-2008 20:45.

Why do I have to refresh to get messages, could the phone not automatically notify communication centre when the message arrives and not wait for me to remember to sync every 5 minutes.

Submitted by on 04-12-2008 03:34.

I would like to be able to have messages sent from PC suite saved under sent messages on either the phone or the PC - preferably both.

Submitted by on 18-10-2008 12:21.

I saw yesterday that it had been updated to version 2 and downloaded it. However when I installed the prog. it said version 1 still!

Submitted by on 05-11-2008 00:49.

Nice app. I'm using N73's "My folders" for SMS templates, forwarding them on demand. Would be greate accessing them from Comm. Centre also.
Wrong name recognized if phone number if differs just 1 digit, e.g. +xxx620yyyyy and +xxx610yyyyy - does not recognize sender correctly.

Submitted by on 13-12-2008 16:45.

why i cannot install nokia pc suite on windows 2008 server in default setup file?
only extracting exe with 7zip and manual install works or using orca msi tool.

but i like it! keep work with this tool.

Submitted by on 10-02-2009 03:43.

You have to work around some bugs to use this. When you type a name into the "To:" field it pulls the name from your contacts and enters the phone number but then it fails to send a text message and gives an error saying it is an invalid number. Here in the USA it is common to put parentheses around the area code and that is the way the phone book enters the number automatically. I have to manually replace the parentheses with dashes to get it to work.

Submitted by on 04-02-2009 22:30.

I Just received my new Nokia 6220 Classic...

I installed the software... fantastic...

There is only one thing which is really missing... A Mozilla Thunderbird integration!!!

Paolo

Submitted by on 13-01-2009 18:49.

nokia communication center is not reading my personal folders!!! i need to read the sms folder i created on my N82, but the software is not reading it neither the option to create a folder is avaliable. i created folder on my N82 device and the communication center still not reading them.
otherwise, in my 6131 everything is working fine. i need to import the old sms to the nem N82 device in a personal folder... it is sucha normal thcing, why it can not be done??

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Nokia Communication Center: new simplified concept for Nokia PC Suite

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