I was expecting a great file utility when I started working with FExplorer Pro. I was not expecting the best screen capture utility I have used. FExplorer Pro from Tel Aviv-based SBSH Software LTD provides more than just a great way to see, copy, paste, and manage files on your Symbian OS – S60 3.x / 5.0 device.

FExplorer Pro v 2.1 is compatible with Symbian OS – S60 3.x / 5.0 devices.  The current release includes several new optimizations for touch devices. I tested it on my N97.

First, let’s talk about file exploration — that’s what the app title promises. The main Files screen now includes guages that indicate how much free space remains on each of your drives. You can see that my C: drive is rather packed, but D:, E:, and F: are fine. (The Z: drive is the read-only memory so of course it registers as full.) The default display theme makes it difficult to read the information about the highlighted drive (C: in the following screen shot) but I can fix that by changing text colors from the Settings menu.)

At one glance see all your drives and how full they are.

Navigating is a breeze — just double tap on a drive to work your way through the directory structure. Move back up a directory with the top row of the display (left arrow icon). In the following screen shot you see the set of directories that hold my photos.

Double-tap your way through your directory structures.

The developers handle a lot of details that you never think about until they “just work”. For example, exit the program while you’re browsing files, and you’ll return to the same directory when you re-launch the app. It does not remember which file you had highlighted when you left, but it remembers the directory.

FExplorer Pro remembers what your are doing when you exit.

If you want to always start the app with the default screen, turn off Settings / Save last path. This is also the screen to use if text is hard to read in your current theme.

Set your own preferences from the Settings menu.

You can do much more than merely navigate through your directory structure. Use the Find feature when you can’t figure out where you or that new app decided to store something. Or do just about any file manipulation you would expect from a desktop OS — cut, copy, paste, and delete files or entire directories.

Cut, copy, paste, and manage your files.

As I mentioned at the top of the review, I came to this app expecting great file services, and I got them. I did not expect a basket of additional utilities. Check out the developer’s web site for a full feature list and for what’s new in FExplorer Pro v2.1.

Here are three sweet tricks I did not expect:

1. From the Task menu, select a currently running task and click Options / Information to see the security capabilities assigned to the task.
   

   Check capabilities of current tasks.

2. Monitor the remaining memory as you launch new apps (see the upper left corner):
   

   Monitor memory ...

   

   ... as you launch more apps.

3. Capture screen shots even in processor-intensive apps. Most screen capture utilities have trouble working when the app you’re monitoring is working hard. Here are screen shots of Fling in mid-movement and Oscilloscope while actively graphing sounds. My favorite screen utility was not capable of capturing either when I wrote my reviews. That’s some serious coding mojo.
   

   Successful screen capture as a fuzzball is flung off the top of the game surface.

   

   Successful screen capture as Oscilloscope graphs sound waves.

Check out FExplorer Pro for everything you want in a file management utility. And a whole lot more. The app is available for $6.99 (USD) in Ovi Store.