Nokia smartphone owners have a wealth of third-party program to choose for. There are thousands of Symbian apps to help you work, play, communicate or get informed, but which ones are actually worth installing ? Yet despite of massive choice, recent research has revealed that most of us still stick to using the same few apps every time we pick up our phones. Your Symbian device will be so cooler and useful once you’ve loaded it up with the right apps. In this feature, we pick more than 40 essential Symbian mobile apps that can make your life easier. Our list include apps for productivity, entertainment, reference and utility, social networking and more.

Social and Communication Apps

1. Facebook for Nokia
Free, http://www.facebook.com/mobile/

The official app is the best version of mobile Facebook. Your Nokia smartphone will most  likely have a pre-installed Facebook app, if not, you can head over to www.facebook.com/mobile/ on your mobile browser to download the latest app. The app gives you access to almost everything Facebook has to offer.It takes full advantage of touch-screen devices. It lets you browse profiles or pages, walls, access messages, post updates, run searches, upload photos, or call up any friend with his or her number posted.

However, you needn’t be limited to just using the one that came with your handheld device as there are plenty of alternatives to choose from Nokia Store. For many hardcore Facebook users, a popular choice is fmobi, which has a more responsive interface than you expect.

2. Twitter App For Symbian
Free, http://store.ovi.com/content/49452
Trill is the best free Twitter mobile client we’ve seen. It covers all the Twitter basics of updating your status, following or following friends, running custom searches and reading direct messages. It also offers location-based tweets and trending topic information. Twimgo is another free Twitter app for Symbian that gives Trill a direct competition.

3.Socially
Free, http://store.ovi.com/content/22906
Socially is a respectable all-in-one solution for social networking with an intuitive interface. This support social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn as well as location-based-services such as Foursquare.  This app is fascinating and astonishing in equal measure. Read Socially review.

4.Emoze
Free, http://store.ovi.com/content/31078
Checking email while on the move is something the elite normally do. Email on the go reaching the masses and is now easier to use than ever before, thanks to Emoze push mail service. Without Emoze, being in touch with one another has never been easier. Read Emoze review.

5. Skype
Free, http://store.ovi.com/content/66121
Skype lets you make free voice-over-IP calls on Nokia smartphones information to your Nokia handset. If your friends also use Skype, you can see if they’re online and chat with them though Skype’s network. This app can be a real boon if you use it in a Wi-Fi zone while travelling.

6. Nimbuzz
Free, http://store.ovi.com/content/16638
Nimbuzz is our favorite Symbian-based IM program. The Nimbuzz app, like several other multi-client IM apps,  lets you chat with friends and family over into Google talk, Yahoo messenger, AIM, MSN messenger, and  Facebook. Along with usual chat, it also supports sending files and VOIP calls. Read Nimbuzz Review.

7. JaxtrSMS
Free, http://www.getjar.com/mobile/254574/JaxtrSMS-Beta
JaxtrSMS is a SMS app and has ability to send free and unlimited SMS. Users who want to save money on SMS messages will find this a very solid alternative to dipping into their mobile budgets.

8. WhatsApp Messenger
Free, http://store.ovi.com/content/62616
WhatsApp Messenger lets you exchange messages with friends over Wi-Fi, GPRS or 3G in the form of speech bubble chat and include audio, video and image files. You get a year’s free use, then pay $1.99 for the following year.

City Guides and Maps

9. Google Maps
Free, http://m.google.com/maps
Google maps is a free mobile mapping program which can be installed on almost any Nokia smartphone. If you ever leave the house, this app is a must have. You will get walking, driving or transit direction with voice guidance, satellite view and street view, depending on what phone you’re using. The new layer feature let you view Wikipedia entries, where as Latitude tells you where your friends are. Nokia maps and OVI maps are consider best alternative for Google maps, but our only grouse with Nokia and OVI maps is that these apps does not support low-end Nokia Phones ( like 5233, 5230, 5800 etc. ).

10. Here and Now
Free, http://store.ovi.com/content/29773
Here and Now is a useful local information service. The app automatically detects your location to help you find city’s best restaurant, places to shop, movies to watch, weather info and event to attend in your area, which it display in an eye pleasing interface. Burrp is a good alternative but it is limited to few major cities of India.

Tools And Utilities

11. Opera Mini and Opera Mobile
Free, http://m.opera.com
Most Nokia phones come with a browser installed but opera is still the best way to surf the web on mobile. Its Mini and Mobile version has a clean, intuitive interface which load pages speedily and offers handy tool such as infinite tabs browsing, pinch-to-zoom, bookmarks synchronization and browsing history management.
The two browsers use different rendering engines but their features are virtually identical. Mini uses Opera server to compress, reformat and optimize data for small screen, which results in faster page transfer and little processing power required at your end. Whereas, in Opera mobile , your mobile does all the processing and page rendering. So, Opera Mini is good to use when your network connection isn’t optimal. I barely get 15-18 KBps over my pathetic GPRS connection, but still do everything with Opera Mini which provide more than 1Mbps surfing speed. Just head over to their website and your mobile device will detect the best browser for you.

12. Smart Office
Price- $ 2.6, http://store.ovi.com/content/44983
One of the frustrating things about Symbian is its weak support of Microsoft Office files. Smart Office aims to remedy this by letting you view, edit and create office documents. As a document viewer, it display almost all types of documents including PDF.

13. JoikuSpot
http://store.ovi.com/content/7499
JoikuSpot turns your phone into a wireless router. Tethering your data connection will significantly decreases your phone’s battery life but it’s a godsend when you need it.

14. Layar Reality Browser
Free, http://store.ovi.com/content/75190
Layar Reality browser is a augment reality app, which lets a user see live data about destinations over live camera view. It uses your phone GPS to establish your location then turn on your camera & applies a “layer” on top of the image that show you useful info such as nearby restaurants,bars,cashpoints,train stations and much more.

15. App Stop
Free, http://store.ovi.com/content/92945
This app lets you close multiple running apps at once to reclaim mobile memory and stop your battery running down. This task-killing app can free up valuable megabytes of memory and plenty of processor power.

16. Dropian
Free, http://store.ovi.com/content/125322
Dropian lets you access your personal files residing on your Dropbox account. The app allows you to view documents,spreadsheets, presentations, and some videos and photos that you’ve put into your personal file space. It has a simple interface, easy uploading and swift syncing across all accounts.

17. cnlab Speed Test
Free, http://store.ovi.com/content/105078
This app checks your download and upload speed over mobile or Wi-Fi networks. The app match you up to the different test server ( preferably the nearest one) and put your Internet connection through its paces, so you can see if your ISP’s reported speed the actual speed. It presents the results clearly, in a neat interface.

18. UPCode
Free, http://store.ovi.com/content/2956
UpCode is a free QR and Bar code reader for Nokia Smartphones. Just point your smartphone camera at a Code box and it will scan the graphic and show you a web link where you can find further information about the product.

19. 2do Lite
Free, http://store.ovi.com/content/151725
This powerful task organizer will help you manage your workflow and get things done. You can add new tasks, tag tasks, set priorities, add text or voice note and assign dates and several levels of reminders. It’s hard to beat 2do robust interface.

20. Best Screen Snap
Free, http://store.ovi.com/content/1540
Screenshots are great for when you are trying to illustrate a problem or a program on your phone. For an easy way to make screenshots, try Screensnap. It’s a free app which lets you make full-screen screenshots.

21. Battery Extender
Price-$1.94, http://store.ovi.com/content/8124
If your Nokia phone runs out of power in few hours, install this app to extent your battery life. It extends standby time of your phone by up to 30% by automatically tweaking the settings of your phone such as reducing your screen brightness, disconnecting from Wi-Fi and terminating background process.

22. NetQin Mobile Guard & Security
Free, http://store.ovi.com/publisher/NetQin/
Most of us are pretty vigilante when it comes to our PC security. but, we’re not as careful when it comes to protecting our smartphones. With a Nokia smartphone, having Mobi gard is key to protect yourself. Mobigaurd will protect your Nokia phones, against malware and other security threats, improve performance and minimize the damage from loss and theft. We can simple say that Mobiadd provide valuable safeguards for your personal information by an extra layer of protection.

23. Nokia Drop
Free, http://store.ovi.com/content/187328
Nokia drop is an innovative app which provide an easy way to send files and bookmarks to your smartphone. See, how Nokia Drop works.

24. Nokia Battery Monitor
Free, http://store.ovi.com/content/61776
This is the perfect battery monitor app for your Nokia smartphone. It display battery details such as battery status (expressed in percentage), charging time, estimates of remaining usage and energy usage historical data.

25. Nokia Big Screen
Free, http://betalabs.nokia.com/apps/nokia-big-screen
This application is a kind of  powerful media player that you can install on Nokia smartphones such as N8 and E7.  With Nokia BIg Scree, you can connect your mobile to high-definition TV for easy media sharing.

26.Wellness Diary
Free, http://store.ovi.com/content/77537
Get a healthier lifestyle with this popular fitness app. It provides you a daily routine for diet, exercise, sleep, and stress, that you can follow to keep yourself fit and healthy.

27. Vlingo- Virtual Assistant
Free, http://store.ovi.com/content/16544
Vlingo is about using your voice for everything. It lets you search web, send email, update your Facebook status and of course dial the phone by voice.

28. Swype
Free, http://store.ovi.com/content/58438
Do you want to type text more faster ?  Swype provides an ultra-fast input method for texting on Nokia touchscreen phones.

Business

29. Moneycontrol Market
Free, http://store.ovi.com/content/217993
It is the best free business app and is the most trusted source for economy and financial information about Indian as well as Global market. It provides news, real-time stock quotes, market trends,trading and investment tips. Its pretty easy and fast to use, considering the amount of data its throwing at you. You can also give a try to QuickStocks which allow you to create a customize list of stocks and help you analyze the world’s markets.

Entertainment

30. Nokia Internet Radio
Free, http://store.ovi.com/content/57159
This smart free app lets you tune into more than 200 radio stations on your Nokia Phone. You can browse stations by genre, language and location. You can also “star” stations for easy access. The sound quality is variable. Audio quality depend on which station you are tuning to and your network speed. This app is easy to use and the choice of station it offer is vast.

31. Mobbler
Free, http://store.ovi.com/content/75692
Last.fm probably needs no introduction; it’s already used by millions of music lovers worldwide and Mobbler is a Last.fm radio player and scrobbler for Symbian phones which brings Last.fm within the reach of even more music fans. It allows you to listen to your Last.fm radio stations and to scrobble tracks played using the standard music player.

32. SBP TV
Free, http://store.ovi.com/content/93547
SBP TV lets you stream live TV broadcasts in your mobile. This easy to use service gives you instant access to more than 150 Terrestrial and Freeview channels. Mundu TV offers similar live streaming service, but it features only Indian TV channels and few popular news channels such as BBC world.

33.Shazam
Free, http://store.ovi.com/content/16725
Shazam is a free music recognition service that requires only a few seconds of a track in order to pinpoint the artist and title. Shazam helps you identify music by trying to recognize tracks picked up by your handset’s mic. It then recommends similar track to you so you can buy music tracks online.

Photos and Multimedia

34. QIK
Free, http://store.ovi.com/content/6942
This app turns your Symbian phone into video broadcast device, which can stream live to the web ( to qik.com) or to other phones. It’s easy to set up and use- as long as you have a good 3G or Wi-Fi connection. The app allow users to post videos on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social networking sites.

35. Molome
Free, http://store.ovi.com/content/113885
Looking for an Instagram alternative on Symbian, here’s the one. Molome lets you to take photo, apply different fun filters and share it on the service or a variety of other social networks such as FaceBook or Twitter. ‘

Look and Feel

36. Voyager Home Screen
Free, http://store.ovi.com/content/98878
Do you want to give you Symbian phone a touch of HTC and iPhone user interface, Try Voyager Home Screen. which is a free, powerful desktop UI app on Nokia smartphones.

37.  SPB Mobile Shell Lite
Free, http://store.ovi.com/content/61716
SPB Mobile Shell is just another desktop UI app for Nokia touchscreen phones. It trasform your phone dull interface into a eye pleasing visual interface and adds easy- to-use functionalities.

News and Reference

38. News App
Free, http://store.ovi.com/content/116054
If you are a news junkie, this superb app is for you. With News app, you get a stream of constantly updated news(complete with pictures) in every category you can think of. With this app, you get access to national and international news. You can also email stories to friends & refresh to read the latest headlines.

39. Mobile ESPN
Free, http://store.ovi.com/content/102135
This application is perfect for sport fanatics. The ESPN Mobile app brings all the latest sports updates including news, live scores, match reports, fixtures, results and much more from all your favorite sports including Soccer, Cricket, Formula1, Tennis and Golf.

40. AccuWeather
Free, http://store.ovi.com/content/10512
AccuWeather is one of the most accurate and advanced and accurate weather app.This app lets you monitor live local weather updates, provide current ,hourly and 15-day forecasts as well as detailed radar maps. The app update your location using your network  or GPS, and keep you informed if it’ time to get your umbrella out.

41. SPB time Lite
Free, http://store.ovi.com/content/106916
Its an app to view times of different places around the globe. It’s has an intuitive interface and more than 50 themes. It displays time in cities all around the world.

42. ClearTrip
Free, http://store.ovi.com/content/140594
ClearTrip is a mobile app by cleartip.com, the app caters to air and rail travel as well as hotel booking. ClearTrip makes booking a flight or train quick and easy.

43. Ebay
Free, http://store.ovi.com/content/211414
Ebay India is a splendid shopping app that lets you search for products, bid on items,update products info, read reviews, make purchase and much more. Power sellers and frequent bidders should consider this an essential app.

We tried to cover as many great apps as we could. If there’s a true essential you see missing from the list, tell us about it in the comments.