New hardware, especially new phones, may come and go but the cloud (they should just have called it the matrix) is definitely here to stay. The way to go then is having your data in the cloud. However, setting up and using my Nokia E51 to access the cloud wasn’t so straightforward, so I’m listing down some tips that might help.
Browser – the traditional way of accessing the Internet. The E51’s built-in browser is capable enough but if you want full access to Web 2.0, you’ll need Opera Mobile. Unfortunately, there’s no way to make it the default browser.
Mail – forget about the “e”, traditional mail is dead. I use GMail for my personal mail.You can use the E51’s built-in mail client which can be easily configured for GMail and is quite functional. But it’s sometimes it’s a bit kludgy so you might want to use the the GMail mobile client.
Contacts, Calendar, and Tasks – I try to use the Google address book as my definitive contact list and calendar. To sync the E51 with them, you need to install Nokia Mail for Exchange and set it up with Google Sync. No Tasks syncing unfortunately.
Instant Messaging – Fring allows you to connect to your contacts in Skype®, MSN Messenger®, Google Talk™, ICQ, Yahoo!™, AIM®, etc.
VOIP – Fring allows you to make SIP, Skype®, Google Talk™ calls or even its own fring VOIP service. Less charges by your telco service provider.
Social Networking – other than the browser, you can also directly access Facebook and Twitter via Fring.
Photos – todo
Music – todo
Videos – todo
Games – I have Assassin’s Creed on my E51! It’s just a 2D side-scroller though :P Looks like gaming still has some way to go before phones can go massively multiplayer online games. But you have quite a few choices of mini-games, including some online ones.
Hope this helps! Let me know if you have problems and I’ll be glad to help.