Updating your phone despite Nokia Service Layer host error

Many users of Windows Vista have been plagued with errors whilst trying to update their phone's software. However, there are ways to overcome these errors and still be able to update your software without having to install a different OS or use a different machine.

First of all, when you're updating your software, you'll most likely get an error that says "Nokia Service Layer Host Process has stopped working".

When you do get the error, just press 'Close program'. Now open the task manager by hitting Ctrl+Alt+Del and then terminate the NSU process. Your phone now has a blank white screen and doesn't respond to any keypresses, don't worry or panic, it's OK.

Make sure you don't disconnect your phone from the computer or alter it in ANY way when it becomes blank!

Now all you have to do is open NSU and run the update again and everything should work just fine.

Enjoy your new firmware!

Happy Birthday N95, you've sold 10million!

April is the month that the N95 started selling in shops around the word. April of 2007 is when the revolution began. Unfortunately, April of 2008 has not been fruitful in the sense of groundbreaking new Nseries devices, but we can celebrate that the N95 has now been available for a year and has reached an impressive milestone!

Yesterday, along with Nokia's Q1 results, it was revealed that the N95 had sold 3 million(also in Q1). If you add this to the announcement earlier this year that it had sold 7 million it means that in total the N95 has been bought around 10,000,000 times in the past year.

Congratulations on the milestone, Nokia! Now that the N95 has sold so many, can we finally have a worthy successor to the phone that changed it all?

Code-names for upcoming Nokia phones revealed

Teo has shed some light on some of the S40/S60 phones he saw on his recent adventures. The information that he has given us is of course restricted to code-names only. Not in any particular order we have:

Up first is Tartufo

Next we have Polaris

After that there's Shakira which is apparently a music related device.

Following Shakira is Sapphire

And last but not least is Jasper.

OPK also released the codenames of some seemingly well featured Nokia devices today:

Leevi and Gadget

One has to wonder exactly who chooses these code-names and their reasoning behind them...

Thanks, Teo!

iPhone price cut in the UK £269 to £169

The iPhone's price has been slashed from £269 to £169! Amazing, right? No.

The iPhone is still far too expensive for the UK market. FAR too expensive, it needed to have been free from the beginning for any sort of success over here.

Why has this price cut occurred? I suspect it's because o2 are desperately trying to move those 1 million unsold UK iPhones to try to make room for the rumoured iPhone 2.

Just to put this into perspective for my American viewers, £169 is still about $340 despite the fact that I can get a N82 or N95 8GB for free. FREE.

I'm sure the iPhone 2 will be half decent! Well, this is Apple we're talking about... I might be pushing it a bit.

Note: there may have been some very slight exaggeration in this post

Nokia 6212 Classic with NFC hits the scenes

Nokia just announced the 6212 classic today. It resembles the 6220 classic but this time it's a S40 phone with NFC(Near Field Communication) bundled in.

The Nokia 6212 features a 2 megapixel camera, 2" QVGA screen, a music player and an apparently microSDHC compatible card slot which should mean it can take in excess of 16GB cards, though Nokia claim it can take up to only 4GB.

One of the main selling points of the phone is Near Field Communication(NFC) which allows users to transfer files between their phones or perform tasks like changing profiles by simply touching the devices together. Sounds cool, doesn't it? Along with the 6212 Nokia also bring the BH 210 with NFC support, meaning that a user can pair the two devices with ease. More can be found on Near Field Communication in this Wikipedia article.

The 6212 Classic will be available in Q3 at around €200.

Here's the full press release for those who are interested.

Improving the performance of your S60 browser

The default browser that comes with S60 v3 devices is in my opinion one of the best if not the best mobile phone browser available. Pages look just like they do on your desktop computer/laptop but of course, it's on your phone! With some tweaking the browser can become quite a bit faster; a faster browser means a better browser...Read on to find out more about these little tweaks.


Tweak 1:

The first tweak that I'll be performing is disabling Javascript and flash. Javascript and flash are used for alot of big adverts on the internet meaning that if you have them enabled in your browser, your phone will spend extra time rendering them and of course it will use more data. To disable javascript open up your browser and go to Options>Settings>General. Scroll down until you see Java/ECMA script and disable it by pressing your select(middle) button:

To disable flash it's Options>Settings>Page. At the top you'll see Load content, click it and then select Images(no flash):


Your pages should now load quite a bit faster!

Please note that some sites require that you have Javascript enabled for them to function properly so you may need to enable it from time to time.

Here's Windows Live Hotmail with Javascript and Flash enabled:


Here's Windows Live Hotmail with Javascript and Flash disabled:




Tweak 2:

If you use WiFi frequently for browsing on your phone, this tweak may interest you. It involves disabling the power saving option in your WiFi settings. Unfortunately, this means that your battery will take a bigger hit when WiFi surfing but this I personally feel that it's a relatively small price to pay for such improved performance.

To disable WiFi power saving, open the menu and go to Tools>Settings>Connection>Wireless LAN. From here press your left softkey(options) and then click on Advanced settings:

A message will come up asking if you want to continue, select yes:

Scroll down to the bottom and then change Power saving to disabled:
When you have power saving disabled, your browsing speed should increase, you'll also be able to discover your wifi network from further away than with power saving enabled. This tweak isn't restricted only to the browser... Most applications that make use of WiFi should be faster, for example EmTube which (for me)is much faster at loading videos. Don't take my word for it though, try it for yourself!

This is my real download speed with power saving on:
This is my real download speed with power saving off:


Try it!

New V20 firmware for N95 8GB; Not worth the trouble

The Nokia N95 8GB has received a firmware update. This one isn't as drastic and groundbreaking as the one we got last year...Infact, I don't even feel that its worth your time to update.

According to Teo from Symbian Freak, the main things to note in this update are ASR (Auto Screen Rotation) and Combo Memory.

Auto rotation is pretty self explanatory. Your screen will change orientation depending on the way in which your phone is positioned. We've been able to do this on the N95 for a long time now, thanks to Samir's RotateMe. To activate atomatic screen rotation go to Tools>Settings>General>Display and then set Rotate Screen to automatic.

If you were to ask me how I feel about this feature I would tell you that I'm dissapointed. It's too unresponsive and slow. You can't even adjust the sensitivity or select which applications or menus can be rotated - something that an application from a single freeware developer can do.

I don't know what Combo Memory is but according to Teo it won't benefit the consumer in any way.

So, what are the BAD things about this update?

1) Auto Rotation is crap and I feel Nokia were lazy with their implementation of it.
2) Still no user data preservation.

OK, what's GOOD about this update?

1) The platform hack still works!

I don't recommend the update, they only added one crap feature that can already be done using 3rd party software! Don't waste your time having to reinstall all of your apps again.

Need help? Add me on MSN now.

Alot of you still need help getting your phones 'hacked' using my guides...To try to help you, I'll now be offering help over MSN which should be quicker for all of you. My address is finestfones@hotmail.com.

N-Gage 2 FULL released for download!

The second iteration of N-Gage is finally here after months of delay!

Download it HERE!

How to install ANY applications using platform hack!

This guide is outdated. Please use THIS NEW GUIDE.

Nokia strikes again: FCA00000 hired

FCA00000 was a great man. He played a huge role in the Symbian community being able to now do anything they wish with their phones, something that Nokia aren't too happy about. So, what better way to stop the hack progressing and to prevent it ever happening again than to hire the man behind it.

This morning I tried to contact FCA00000 via MSN to see if there were any new developments with the hack. This is when he told me that he couldn't help me with that due to him now being under NDA. Naturally, I was shocked. He then continued to inform me of the details of his position at Nokia.

His role is as the Principal Software test Engineer, and he'll be moving to the UK for his new job. He also tells me that the agreed wages are amazing.

UPDATE: FCA00000 has sent me a video in which he says his final goodbyes and bids good luck to you all:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUcd-ksgOEA


It was good to know you, FCA00000.

R.I.P FCA00000, another man lost to the ongoing war in Finland.