Ovi is a very competent Nokia to PC Sync program that allows your Nokia Device to easily share information with your Windows Mobile PC, and soon with your MAC OS. This article examines the basic functionality of OVI.
| Requirements | Rating  |
At the time I'm writing this article Ovi will only work with Windows based PC's, however an Ovi Mac version is in the works and i'll update this article as soon as its available. In terms of current requirements here are specs as set forth by the developer.
- Microsoft Windows® Vista, or Windows® XP (Professional or Home Edition) with Service Pack 2, or later
- For Windows XP, the installation of the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 or later
- 500 MB of free hard disk space for installation
- 1 GB of free hard disk space for storing your photos, videos and music
- 512 MB RAM memory
- 1 GHz Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor
- 32 MB display memory or graphics card
- 1024 x 768 resolution and 16-bit colour
- USB cable, Bluetooth or infrared connection between your mobile device and PC
In most cases you'll have all of this avalable since Nokia devices come with the USB Cable and most computers over the last 10 years or so have offered the required information listed above.
I would have given the requirements a perfect 5/5 but the lack of MAC support at this time is a little bit annoying. Otherwise its a great application with more than reasonable requirements.
| File Sharing | Rating  |
Even without Mac support the program is nearly flawless, I would put it on par with Microsoft ActiveSync (Windows XP), and Windows Mobile Device Manager (Windows Vista). The program installed in less than a minute and another minute was used to create my Ovi Suite online user account, overall it was a simple install that any Nokia phone user should have no program with.
Once I had my Ovi account created I was able to easily upload and share, store and transfer my photos and videos with myself and other users. This is basically the "Social Networking" aspect of Ovi. Its easy for users to direct their friends, families and co-workers to their Ovi site and find the information they've gathered from their devices.
Users can also share their PC files by sending them via their Mobile Devices, this is a great option for a user on the go who needs PC access.
The best part of File Sharing on Ovi? No space limitations apply, you can literally store as much as you require. Plus you can choose to make your file sharing private with one person, assign a group of users to view your files, or make it publically available.
| Navigation Abilities | Rating |
The Ovi Suite does more than just share and download files, users can also use Ovi Maps along with their devices GPS receiver to find their way to their favorite destinations. Users can use Points of Interest, or type in a business name or address and the mapping software easily navigated them to their destinations.
I liked the Ovi Maps, they offered very clean lines and the POI's were easy to look up and access from all of my locations.
I also liked that I could save my own favorite points of access and use them at a later time, or even send them to a friend for their own quick navigation purposes.
Overall a very competent Mapping application for Nokia phones.
| Calendar And Contacts | Rating |
These options are my favorite part of Ovi, its easier than ever to store your contacts which means if you're device fails, or you buy a new Nokia you can easily transfer your saved contacts to your new device with ease, no worry about storing info to your sim cards or using carrier provided programs which I quite frankly find bulky and useless in alot of cases.
I also like the calendar option, it makes it easy to store all of my appointments and then access them, delete them, and add new contacts from both my computer and my mobile. Whether the add, edit or delete is done from your PC or Nokia phone you'll be able to access those changes from both locations.
Overall the Calendar and Contacts abilities are on par with ActiveSync while offering the extra abilities of OVI on top of these abilities.
Conclusion
If you need an application that can do more than just sync your device then Ovi is the way to go, from Nokia's own form of Social Networking, to the ability to sync files, contacts and calendars the Ovi Suite is a top notch program. Ovi Maps adds to those abilities and shows why so much press coverage has praised the competent application. There's plenty of more uses that Ovi offers, much too many to list here, so be sure you check out Ovi.com for more info.
I just have one question for Ovi Programmers. Where is my MAC support?