2:41PM Sarah Stokely | Bloove is an online mobile phone management application which supports newer Nokia and Sony Ericsson Symbian and J2ME phones (full list
here). The app lets you use your web browser to edit address book contacts, speed dial settings, messages and logs – and even send SMS and initiate calls. It’s aiming to be simpler to use than the management software which comes with your phone, and at first glance it seems to be working.Once the Bloove app is installed on your phone, you can manage it from the web (no application required on the desktop). The signup process is very easy. Navigate to www.bloove.com/m on your phone and download the Bloove application. Now use your desktop computer to sign up for an account at Bloove. It will ask you from the ID from your phone – you just need to open the Bloove app to get the number, type it into the form and you’re signed up. Your phone will automatically synch and you’ll see your contacts and SMSs appear on the Bloove the web page on your desktop.Unfortunately, one big drawback of Bloove seems to be the ridiculously small allowance of only allowing you to archive 15 contacts with the free plan. Most people would have many more contacts than that. They will be adding a paid service which has a higher number of contacts allowed, but I think that the limit of 15 is just too low for the free service to be useful.They allow an archive of 100 SMS messages, which is better, but I suspect that most people would be more keen to backup their contacts than their SMS archive.The SMS management looks pretty fully featured. It automatically backs up your Inbox, Sent and all other folders. They are searchable across folders and you can archive any messages and folders using the web interface -
archived items will be deleted on the phone and will be kept on the
server. There is also an option to delete messages permanently from both the phone and the Bloove archive.In addition, a small blue balloon is displayed near a contact name if there is message
or calls history for it. Clicking on this balloon will show the history.The other major limit on the free account is that you can only have one phone associated with your Bloove account. Otherwise it would be a great tool for migrating your contacts from one phone to another when you upgrade. Again, this is a feature they’ve promised for the paid service.
[via
Laurel Papworth - who also offered up the tip that if you have access to wireless internet you can use that to synch your phone rather than chewing up your mobile provider's data allowance]
After the jump, you can read 5 tips from the Bloovers on cool things you can do with Bloove.
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