Well, you actually can’t completely avoid it! But here is a way to make it a non-issue for your day to day use.
The most common complaint of S60 is the directory structure down to many levels, sometimes more than six. And one has to press the ‘back’ button several times to get to the idle screen. It’s not really a pain as it is made out to be.
S60 is a multi-tasking OS. Therefore several applications can run in the memory and it’s only limited to the total available RAM on the phone. Latest mobiles pack upto 70 mega bytes of RAM and that’s more than enough for several applications to run simultaneously.
Install Handy Taskman which will show all applications running on the mobile and also the list of recent apps. It can be invoked by long-pressing the Symbian Key or Home Key (recent E-Series mobiles have this in place of the Symbian Key).
So if you open a bunch of applications, just keep them running. Go back to the idle screen and make a call or whatever. All the apps are still running in the background!
You can kill an application from Handy Taskman and you can also start new application or recently closed applications from Handy Taskman.
There are also other tools that can show the running tasks – e.g. Tracker and Jbak TaskMan.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I believe the complaint about menu structure to not be related to the Apps Menu, but to the menus inside running programs, typically the left soft-key. For example, hitting ‘Options’ while viewing an email box inside of Messaging reveals 15 different options with 4 of them nested.
If you believe the problem to be in the Apps Menu, I would say a better solution would be to re-order the structure to your liking rather than leaving a bunch of programs running which can drain the battery.
side-note: one doesn’t have the press the back key several times to get to the idle screen – one press of the red/end key works just fine.
Hello Scynn,
Thanks for your feedback. Using the red/end key is also a quicker way. I tend to avoid using it because I may want to come back to the application later on and opening it on Handy Taskman is better since the menu is at the level where I had left it earlier.
The menu structure in email software or file explorer software could be complex but other programs have simpler structure. Nokia Email or X-plore applications could be a tough to navigate for the uninitiated
And you’re right, the battery drain is also something to watch out for. I guess its a trade off to quick access and finding a socket to recharge, while in a rush. But then, maps or 3G would drain far too much battery in comparison!
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