Send and receive text messages using the Nokia Ovi Suite

If you don't enoy typing long text messages on your phone's keypad or touchscreen, you can use your computer with Nokia phones with the Nokia Ovi Suite software.

You can connect your phone using Bluetooth or a cable. We prefer using a cable as it tends to be more reliable and phone updates will only install on a cable. However, Bluetooth has been more reliable with Nokia phones than other devices we have used.

Connect your phone and it will appear in the bottom left-hand corner of the Ovi screen.

Click on the messaging icon that looks like an envelope at the top of the window and all the synchronised messages will appear. Click on the folders in the bottom section with the title 'Messages in Nokia XXXX' to read the messages on the phone itself.

To send a message, click on the Add recipient button at the top right of the screen, enter the number and then click on close. Now type your message into the box. The numbers at the bottom show the characters remaining in that text message as well as the total number of messages that will be sent. So you can send messages that are longer than the normal 160 character limit.

Click on Send and the message will be sent through the phone.

You can also read the messages that have been sent to your phone by clicking on the inbox in the bottom section.

Once a message has been selected you can see the whole conversation thread and can send a reply by clicking in the message box at the top and typing. There is no need to enter the recipient number this time.

The beauty of the software is that it will also alert you with a small pop-up window when new messages arrives.