This is the second installment of the Email Solutions for N97 Fanatics series hosted here. We’ll be covering various email apps & solutions for the Nokia N97. Check bottom of article for exclusive 20% off discount code.
Hello again, Fanatics! MajorDouble7 here with a review on Lonely Cat Games‘ eMail app for the N97 called Profimail.
What does Profimail offer?
There are many benefits to Lonely Cat Games’ answer to the mobile eMail client, and many claim that it is their app of choice. Profimail provides several features that help the daily eMail user stay connected. Although there may not be Facebook support or IM of any kind, that’s okay for me. Although I’m sure it’s nice to have all of those services in one app, I need an eMail client to access eMail. One cool thing I noticed, is that the app has the ability to use the system font, which means that if you’ve changed the font on your N97, Profimail will display it as well. Profimail is available for a free trial that lasts 30 days. More than enough time for even the most critical user to try it out and decide if they want to buy. Even better? The 30 days isn’t consecutive. That means you can try it out at your leisure, rather than sweating about the trial period coming to an end. After the trial (or before–I purchased Profimail well before my trial was up) the cost is only 19.99 Euros…around 30 bucks in the states. It’s a one-time cost (think Outlook) so you don’t have to pay any monthly fees or anything like that. Some positive features Here’s a list of features from the Profimail webpage:
- Automatic synchronization of messages with the mail server
- IMAP folders
- Attachments – view, save, send
- HTML messages with images and hyperlinks
- Built-in File Explorer
- Push email – instant notification about new messages (using IMAP IDLE)
- Address book
- Signatures
- Support for POP3 / IMAP / SMTP mail servers
- Writing mails using T9 dictionary (if available on phone)
- Multiple email accounts
- Rules and filters allowing selective message download
- Opens and browses ZIP archives
- Support for various character encoding – Western, Cyrillic, Central European, and more
- Build-in image viewer for JPG, PNG and other popular formats
- Text viewer for standard text, HTML and Word documents
- Optimized for GPRS – get headers first, then download message bodies which you really want to see
- Scheduled message download
- Sound notifications
Although the list appears quite complete, I have a few more tasty bits to add that the daily user might find helpful:
- If you navigate away from a new message that you are in the middle of creating, the program automatically asks you if you want to ‘Delete’ or ‘Save to Drafts’
- If you delete a message from your Inbox (or other folders, for that matter), the message remains available for ‘undelete’ until your next Mailbox Update (POP3)
- You can mark single or multiple messages in the ‘list view’ by tapping or dragging along the left side of the header
- You have three years to transfer your paid Profimail app to another device (up to 20 times)
- Technical and customer support is available for two years after the purchase date of the product
- You can ‘Export Settings’ to essentially backup the numerous customizations of Profimail. You can then ‘Import Settings’ onto another device (note that this is not the same as the ‘Transfer’ option mentioned above)
- Aside from a ‘Sound Notification’ as mentioned in the above list, Profimail also displays a small icon in the upper-right corner of your screen (which is displayed over all other apps)
- Profimail appears to be a widley used app, therefore a lot of the great themers out there have an alternative icon for it (like tehkseven)
- Keep your C: drive clean; Profimail lets you choose where to store messages, attachments, rules, signatures, etc.
Below you can see numerous menus and configurations, as well as the ‘mark’ feature in list view
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This is my Sent folder. The buttons along the bottom are Update (fetch mail), New Message, Delete, and Reply. Notice that the subject line is scrolling on the message I have selected
So you can see that there are several positive advantages and uses with Profimail. What about some of the negatives? There are a few things that I think the Profimail team can improve on in the near future, but it’s worth noting that the app is available to a wide range of devices, so it is likely that device-specific tweaks are not at the forefront of the development team’s list. A few negatives… …that I’ve noticed with the N97 (and maybe we’ll see in future updates by Profimail):
- HTML support is currently not available in ‘list view’; you have to open the individual message to view HTML
- When the FM transmitter on my N97 is turned on or is in standby, the Profimail New Mail sound notification gets transmitted, rather than playing through my handset’s speakers like with SMS (I have a feeling that this is more of an N97 Transmitter issue, rather than a Profimail one)
- Although there is a Homescreen widget, it’s unattractive and poorly imagined. It will show as much of the header of a new message as possible, but if you’ve accessed Profimail (without reading said message), it will merely tell you that you have one unread message (no details). If you DO read the message, the homescreen widget will only tell you that you have no recent messages, rather than showing what is in your Inbox at the moment (read or otherwise)
- Although the UI is quite intuitive and works well, most people will complain about the size of the buttons not being finger-friendly. Although I can definitely see where they are coming from, I have had no problems with the small menus and buttons.
Final Thoughts
So what’s the final word on Profimail? It’s a great app for daily eMail use and performs very nicely. The price tag can be a bit of a shocker for those that are used to buying one dollar games, but when taking into account all that it does, as well as the other ‘monthly fee’ eMail clients out there, Profimail is a great deal. The only big negative for me is the lack of a great homescreen widget; but as you can guess, that’s not enough to keep me away from it. And as far as battery life goes, I consistently run Gravity and Profimail on my device all day long and have not noticed any significant battery drainage (aside from the fact that I’m on my N97 a lot more now!).
20% discount for N97Fanatics.com readers!
Download Profimail from www.LonelyCatGames.com and receive a 20% discount when paying by credit card and using this code! 1939413 Offer valid until the end of the year.
Until next time, Fanatics… MD 7
Related Articles:
- Email On The N97 Part 1: Nokia Messaging
- Get Gmail, Hotmail, Facebook Messages, Corporate Email, etc. On Your Nokia N97 With Emoze
- In Depth Review Of Gmail Application: Email On The Go!
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Bryan has written 6 articles for your enjoyment.
On The Web: http://www.twitter.com/MajorDouble7
About: My name's Bryan and I'm an N97 Fanatic living in Cabo San Lucas. I contemplated my N97 purchase for close to two months, debating whether or not I should go with the N85 or the N97. Needless to say, the N97 prevailed. I wasn't too happy about the price (when converted to Mexican pesos it's pretty damn expensive), but I knew that I had to have one. I am forever a Nokia user, ever since my first Nokia almost ten years ago ('member those things? You 'member). There were a few times through the years that I was almost seduced by competitors...whether it was a hot new Sidekick or a business savvy Blackberry...but Nokia won out and has remained my permanent choice ever since. I am excited to be a part of the N97Fanatics group, and will try my best to keep you up-to-date and informed on all things N97. By the way, if anyone should visit Cabo San Lucas with their N97 in hand, I'll buy you a beer (or a glass of the best orange juice in town...your choice). MD 7
