Make the most out of Ovi: Chat tips and tricks

Hello Chat fans!
My name is Fran and I look after Ovi digital marketing and social media for Email, IM and social networking products. Based in Montreal, I help the product team there and in California stay connected to customer feedback real-time through discussion forum and blog participation.

Want to learn some cool tips and tricks in Chat? Well, first grab your Nokia phone, open up the Chat application and let’s check out some tips and tricks you might not know the application is capable of!

Subsequent Sign-Ins

Once you have signed in to an IM community for the first time, your phone displays the last view you were in before you hid or exited Chat. Your phone will display one of the following:
Select an account view: Is displayed if you have signed out of all accounts within a community. Select the account that you want to access. Then enter your sign-in credentials and password—if they have not been saved—in the Sign In view.
Contacts list: Is displayed if you closed Chat without exiting the account within that community.
Sign In view: Is displayed if you have not saved your sign-in credentials for any account within the community or you have never signed in

Changing your Avatar

In the Ovi community, you can associate an image with your display name. This image is displayed on the main IM view; your contacts will also see it when they chat with you.

To select your avatar, do the following:
1. In the Ovi community, select Options > My Status > My Profile.
2. Scroll to My avatar, select the image, and then select Change.
3. Select from the following:
Media from Gallery: Select a media file saved in your device. Files too large to be sent are not displayed; this is a limitation that is set either by your device or by the IM community.
Media from Camera: Use your device camera. To capture an image, select the Capture > Yes > Apply.
Do not show image: Use the default icon for the IM community. This is the same as removing a media file inserted as an avatar.
4. Select Options > Save profile.

Send a message to a contact not in your friend list

You are not restricted to sending instant messages to contacts that appear in your Chat contacts list. You can send a message to anyone who is using the same IM community and for whom you have a valid user name or e-mail address. You can even decide whether to add the person to your list or to ignore messages from that person, once you have sent the message.

To send a message to a contact not in your Chat contacts list, do the following:
1. In the Chat contacts list, select Options > Send IM to…
2. Enter the person’s user name or choose Other address and enter their email address in the User ID field.
3. Select Options > Send.
4. Send a message to the person.

If you entered an invalid user name or e-mail address, you are notified that the message was not delivered.

During an active conversation, select Options to add the person to your contacts list or to ignore the person.

Insert Quick Text in messages

The application allows you to quickly insert commonly used text from a list of preloaded phrases and sentences.

To insert Quick Text in a message, do the following:
1. In the text box of a conversation view, select Options > Quick Text.
2. Select the desired phrase.
3. Modify the text, if necessary.
4. Select Options > Send.

Customize quick text

To edit Quick Text phrases, do the following:
1. In a conversation view, select Options > Edit Quick Text.
2. Scroll to the phrase you want to edit and select Edit.
3. Edit the text as desired.
4. Select Save.
5. Select OK.

Save a conversation

Some IM communities allow you to save a conversation for future reference. You can save a conversation from either the active conversation itself or from the Chat contacts list. Conversations are saved in the mobile device memory.

To save a conversation, do the following:
1. During an active conversation and select Options > Save Conversation. You can also save a conversation from the Chat contacts list, scroll to the conversation and select Options > Conversation Options > Save Conversation.
2. Accept the suggested name, or enter another name.
3. Select Options > Save.
4. Select OK.

Thanks for tuning in!