S60 Open to new features

I remember when I first got a phone that featured a calendar and all that jazz, I really didn't think I could be bothered to put in the time to start using it. I don't know if I just got bored on the train one day or if I got insomnia, but somehow I accidentally started to play around with the phone's calendar, and I have to say I'm a bit of a devotee. My schedule, I would bet a hot dinner, features a complexity set to rival, say, the Secretary General of the United Nations, so I really need to be able to access my calendar whenever changes to plans come up. If I get really, really honest: I have a calendar on my phone, I use Microsoft Outlook at work, but I also have a Moleskine dayplanner (to match my Moleskine obsession) that goes everywhere with me, and a wipe-off-use-again-get-that-nice-ink-all-over-your-fingers wall calendar at home. Looking at just my friends and family, I'm sure I'm not the only one who has an elaborate system worked out, but whether you're looking for redundancy in your timekeeping system, or a way to actually simplify your calendar habits, consider using your phone.

The way I've found that works best with my phone's calendar is to make sure I synchronize with my PC calendar at work. If you don't use a calendar application for your work or to organize your life in general, then you can just rely on the S60 calendar and you're pretty much set.

The biggest advantage of the phone calendar is that you can get a reminder (set a reminder alarm for any time, any day) and you're sure to get it when you need it. A book doesn't do that for you, and a computer only gives you reminders when you're sitting in front of it.

If you have recurring appointments, you don't have to key them in every time. Just type it in once and set it to repeat daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly, or even yearly. This is great for birthdays—you get reminded to send someone birthday wishes and bingo, your phone's already in your hand. (I have a feeling this feature might even have something to do with why my brother actually remembered to call me on my birthday this year. It's either that or Facebook, surely, but I'm not complaining.)

One more tip regarding calendar reminders: the newer S60 versions, such as that in the Nokia N95, allow you to set multiple alarm clock times, but with older versions you only get one (plus the snooze button, of course). If I had a flight to catch or something else important that required a seriously early start, I'd use the calendar to set a backup alarm a few minutes later.