Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Nokia Developing A New Enhanced Calculator For The N82 - Download Now


One of the weird quirks about Nseries phones like the Nokia N82 has been how crappy and weak the calculator is. As many of you here at the blog already know, Calcium Calculator is one of the first applications installed on my device to replace the built in calculator.

Nokia is finally realizing they need something new. Introducing Enhanced Calculator for S60.

Not to my delight, this application is being made in Java rather than the great .sis version that should be standard for all Nokia made applications. But they are using a version of the calculator from older Nokia S40 phones, which is why it is simply being ported over to S60 using Java. I guess they didn't want to start from scratch. So what does a Java version mean? Well the startup time is slightly slower than a .sis application. Other than that there isn't much difference.

So then what does this new Nokia calculator bring to the table?

Better Basics
First off it's easier to use basic functions like add, subtract, multiply, and divide. It works the same way as Calcium. Each d-pad directional button serves as one of those functions. This is much better as apposed scrolling around for the plus sign in the default calculator application.

Scientific Calculator
Functions like Cos, Sin, Log, Ln, square root, and a few others I don't know. It's about time that a free scientific calculator is available for the N82.

Loan Calculator
I like this one the best as I'm currently searching for a new "used" car. Mine is crapping out and hogs too much gas. Here you can input the months, interest, loan amount, and monthly installment. Whichever one field is missing will be calculated when all the others are filled out. Very handy.

Check out some screenshots...

Screenshot0106 - Share on Ovi Screenshot0107 - Share on Ovi
Screenshot0108 - Share on Ovi Screenshot0109 - Share on Ovi

Like all new Nokia applications, it will first have to pass through Beta Labs. This means it's still in the early testing phase and you have the opportunity to try it out. Any problems you find or things you want improved be sure to tell them at their comments section. It's great that Nokia allows this.

The developer of Enhanced Calculator says,

The original application was made for certain devices with certain screen sizes. So, I have made changes mainly to the UI of the application. Currently there are some limitations in using this application. It runs properly only in devices with QVGA screen (240×320 or 320×240 pixels), in other cases you should get an error message and the application will be closed. I have tested this in several S60 3rd Edition, 3rd Edition FP1 and 3rd Edition FP2 devices, those with QVGA screen should be ok for this application. However, if you have any problems with the application, post your comments here!
Click here to download Enhanced Calculator.

Personally this won't replace Calcium Calculator for my everyday use, but will come in handy for those more complicated equations. Not to mention the loan part of it will be a godsend.

Enjoy!

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