New resolutions coming to S60!

I've got some info that proves that there will be atleast 2 new resolutions coming to(or atleast supported by) Nokia devices running Symbian 9.3 (FP2).

OK, this is gonna be a nice quick post. The new resolutions are:

1)320x480 (This is the resolution that the N85 will almost certainly use)
2)640x480

Yup! VGA is coming to S60... Finally!

Now I know you're all wondering where I got this info from and just how credible it is, but let me just say that I've had my "hands" on some upcoming devices and explored them...

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New hack available; E90, 6120c and N95-3 users rejoice!

FCA00000, you are so good to us. Just a matter of days after Nokia released new firmwares for their devices blocking the hack, FCA00000 has delivered once again. This time, the hack even works with the N93! Guide after the break!.

OK, first of all, download THIS zip file, extract it and copy the 'Hacks' folder to your phone's memory card.


1)Open your file browser of choice and then keep it in the background by hitting the menu button. In this guide I'll be using Y-Browser.

2)Open HelloCarbide from your Applications folder.

Press Options
Select Menu1 and a message will pop up saying "done...probably", just press yes.


3)Open up your file browser again and navigate to the Hacks folder that you copied over. Depending on which phone you have, either copy the file inside installserver 9.1 or installserver 9.2 into C:\sys\bin. Tip: If you don't know which version of Symbian your phone is running, refer to my Devices list.

4) Restart your phone.

5) Now install ROMPatcher.

That's it! Now whenever you need to gain access to C:\('hack' your phone), just run ROMPatcher from the Applications menu and select 'Disable caps' from options.

Now you can install unsigned applications and activate handy patches! Enjoy.

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Nokia are the world's largest maker of digital music players

The people at Nokia Conversations recently uploaded a poster of Nokia's music related milestones onto their share on Ovi channel. Something that particularly interested me was that Nokia sold 146 million music playing devices in 2007, putting them at the top in terms of units sold, even surpassing Apple's iPod range. Quite the achievement.

Let's not forget that Nokia are number one in camera sales aswell, beating the likes of Kodak, Nikon and Sony. Oh yeah, Snakes is the most played computer game and the Nokia 1100 is the most sold consumer electronics device... Ever.

Don't forget to click the image at the top to see it in full size.

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Eldar speaks: FP1 devices to be upgraded to FP2?

Many current S60 users already know about Feature Pack 2 and some of the new features it will bring to the table for new devices. However, word around the street has always been that Feature Pack 1 devices will always stay just that, Feature Pack 1. This of course annoyed many people(including me, at one point). So, what's this post about, you wonder? Well, Eldar has once again hinted at something big. Really big...

Awesome_Aleks of Mobile Review picked up on something mentioned in Eldar's 'Spillikins'. Talking about the 6220c, Eldar said:

"All in all, I don’t feel excited about the pared-down edition of the N82. Things will get really interesting when the original device’s OS will get kicked up to FP2."

What does this mean? Will the N82 be the first device to have an update to FP2? Will other devices, like the N95 8GB, follow? Is there any truth behind Eldar's statement? So many questions, but only time will tell!

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FieldTest/Netmonitor arrives onto liberated devices

FieldTest, an application that is supposedly for Nokia engineers only, is now available for all who have freed their phones. To be honest, I don't really know what the capabilities of this app are and exactly what new doors it opens for us but there seems to be a lot of excitement over this development over at IPmart and Symbian Freak.

Currently, the application can only be installed manually. This means all the files must be copied and pasted into their correct directories. I'm sure there'll be a convenient .sis file soon enough.

NOTE: You WILL need to have a hacked phone for now!

Here's the file containing everything you need. Just install the .sis file, making sure you either sign it with a certificate with all capabilities or simply hack your phone.

If anyone knows what types of cool stuff we'll be able to do with this app, please leave a comment below!

Enjoy!

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Symbian Signed now undisputedly and totally pwned.

Can you see what you've done, Symbian Signed? Because of you taking away our developer certificates, Symbian 9.2 was cracked wide open, something that I thought was impossible. I believe that if developer certificates hadn't been revoked, we would still be waiting for the likes of FCA00000 and Zorn to come around and save us from our evil overlords. Anyways, today I bring you news of yet another development from the hacking community, this time from SWmail. This new (stupidly easy)hack allows us to now not even need to sign an app at all. Just install unsigned applications at your discretion. Video guide after the break!


NOTE: To have the necessary access to C:\Sys\bin, you will need to hack your phone! Use ROMPatcher to achieve this.


If you have a Symbian 9.2(feature pack 1) device, download THIS file.

If you have a Symbian 9.1(pre feature pack 1) device, download THIS file.

Symbian 9.1 devices:


Nokia E61i
Nokia E65
Nokia N93i
Nokia E62
Nokia E50
Nokia N77
Nokia N93
Nokia N73
Nokia N80
Nokia N71
Nokia N92
Nokia E70
Nokia E60
Nokia E61
Nokia N91 8GB
Nokia 3250
Nokia 5500


Symbian 9.2 devices:

Nokia N82
Nokia E51
Nokia N81
Nokia E90 Communicator
Nokia N76
Nokia N95
Nokia N95-3 NAM
Nokia N95 8GB
Nokia N81 8GB
Nokia 5700 XpressMusic
Nokia 6110 Navigator
Nokia 6120 classic
Nokia 6121 classic
Nokia 6124 classic
Nokia 6290

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N95-3 can now play fair with the big boys: V20 update out!

This thread on Howard Forums confirms that the new V20 firmware for the US3G N95 is available on NSU NOW! It's even earlier than Nokia themselves predicted by a good few days!

Early reports from Goldskin and Mrweiser say that the phone is now much faster in booting up, starting the camera(and saving pictures) and in general use which implies that demand paging is now present on the N95-3.

The search application has now been integrated into the standby screen AND Flash Lite 3 is now added to the browser meaning that flash videos from sites (NOT just YouTube) will play beautifully without the need for any 3rd party software.

So, to my North American readers, go and get your update!

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Patch: Get rid of your unused active standby elements

I personally love the 7 shortcuts to applications on the standby screen of my N95 8GB. I do not have a use for the Search, Calendar and WLAN scanning elements below the application shortcuts. Luckily, for those of us who have seen the light and have freed our phones from the hands of the evil dictators that are Nokia, there's a way to get rid of the elements of the active standby that you have no use for.

YOU WILL NEED TO HAVE ROMPATCHER INSTALLED. READ MY GUIDE HERE.

You'll first of all need to download this rar file and then transfer the .rmp files to the patches folder on your memory card.

On your phone:
1)Turn off the active standby.
2)Open ROMPatcher and then scroll down to the patch you wish to apply whether it be No Calendar, No WLAN scanning, No to-do notes, no search or No active standby elements apart from the application icons.
3)Apply your patch of choice.
4)Turn your active standby back on and enjoy!

See the difference for yourselves....

From this:

To this:


NOTE: Patches are NOT permanent. You will need to re-do this process if you restart your phone.

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Nokia N95 8GB 'replacement' coming in April?

Eldar Murtazin is a highly respected man in the Symbian world, he always lands devices before almost everyone else and regularly sees phones still within their early proto stages. Yesterday, on the mobile review forums, he hinted at many things coming from Nokia.

In response to Awesome_Alek's question of whether he had seen the supposed 16GB N81 successor due out at the end of the year, Eldar replied "not right it will be N95 8 Gb replacement - but not the end of the year, think it will out around April".

An N95 8GB replacement in April 2009? That's too far away! Maybe something half decent will actually come out this year...

Check out all the other ramblings from Eldar throughout this page in the Nokia announcements threads, there's other little hints.... Including Kastor UI!

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Nokia has blocked the hack in the E90

One of my readers has informed me that the Nokia E90, which recently got an update to V210, has now been made(for the timebeing)unhackable.

Nokia have prevented appTRK,a crucial part of the hack, from being able to install onto the E90. The given error is that the component is built in.

This probably means that from now on, all new firmware updates given to devices will block the hack, sending S60 users back to being forced to use their phones how S60/Nokia demands that they be used.

Despite all of this, I still hold my faith in FCA00000 the mighty... Hopefully he will be able to free us from these tyrants a second time.

So, a warning to all of you out there... If you like your phone being 'Open to anything' as it's advertised, don't update... Yet.

EDIT: It has come to my attention that this is the same error given in Feature Pack 2 phones.... It seems that Nokia are willing to backport limitiations from FP2 into FP1 but refuse to bring back the many other improvements (apart from Demand paging and FL3) to our FP1 devices.

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Longing for multi-touch on your computer? Use your S60 device

As I was checking Nokia Conversations today, I saw that their video of the day was titled 'Multitouch surface with N95 as a webcam'. Intrigued, I clicked through to the YouTube video.



As you can see in the above video, it's possible with the help of Mobiola Webcam to use your N95 or other camera equipped S60 device as the webcam needed for the home-made Multi-touch pad.

I'm planning to create a set up like this but instead of using the USB, I'll be using bluetooth to create a wireless touchpad. I'll post a video up here when I'm done, stay tuned!

Instructions for the build can be found here.

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ROMPatcher: The easiest way to free your phone

ROMPatcher is a cool little application from Zorn that opens up new doors for the progression of S60 as the ultimate Smartphone OS. Not only does it allow you to 'hack' your phone with the push of a button, it also allows you to run patches on your phone. I'll soon be posting up lots of great patches so it's required that I also post up a guide on how to install ROMPatcher.

Before everything else, you'll need to download a rar file containing everything you need depending on what type of phone you have. If you have a Symbian 9.1 device, download THIS file. If you have a newer Symbian 9.2 device, download THIS file.

If you're not sure what type of phone you have, check out the list below. Once you've downloaded the appropriate archive, extract it to a location of your choice.

1)Connect your phone in PC Suite mode and then install the correct appTRK for your phone, if you're not sure whether your phone is 9.1 or 9.2, check out this list:

Symbian 9.1 devices:


Nokia E61i
Nokia E65
Nokia N93i
Nokia E62
Nokia E50
Nokia N77
Nokia N93
Nokia N73
Nokia N80
Nokia N71
Nokia N92
Nokia E70
Nokia E60
Nokia E61
Nokia N91 8GB
Nokia 3250
Nokia 5500


Symbian 9.2 devices:

Nokia N82
Nokia E51
Nokia N81
Nokia E90 Communicator
Nokia N76
Nokia N95
Nokia N95-3 NAM
Nokia N95 8GB
Nokia N81 8GB
Nokia 5700 XpressMusic
Nokia 6110 Navigator
Nokia 6120 classic
Nokia 6121 classic
Nokia 6124 classic
Nokia 6290

Open AppTRK on your phone and press cancel when it trys to connect via bluetooth. Go to options>settings>connection and change it to USB. Go back and press options then connect. This is what you should see:

2)Go to Control Panel>System>Hardware>Device Manager>Ports OR in Windows Vista it's Control Panel>Hardware and Sound>Device Manager>Ports. Once you're there, look for your phone, in my case it's called 'Nokia GSM Phone USB (COM3)'. Make a note of the number after COM, you'll need it later.


3)Double click on the RPInstaller application and you'll see a window like this:


Change the number in the box to your com port and then press install, now just wait for ROMPatcher to do its magic... Once it's done, you'll have a nice shiny ROMPatcher icon in your applications folder. Tip: If you don't know your com port, just keep trying different numbers up to 19 until it works.

4) Create a folder called patches on your memory card, this is where you will place the actual patches you will use.

That's it!

How to use ROMPatcher:

ROMPatcher uses .rmp files for patches. To use a patch, just copy the .rmp file into your patches folder on your memory card, open up ROMPatcher, scroll down to the patch you want to activate and select Options>Patch>Apply. I'll be posting patches that interest me so stay tuned!
To hack your phone with ROMPatcher, just go to Options>Disable caps and you'll now have access to the hidden directories.

The patches that you apply are NOT permanent, after a reboot your patches will need to be applied again.

Enjoy!

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Rumoured V30 firmware brings new UI to the N95

Rumours have been spreading around Symbian Related websites that the Nokia N95 will be getting yet another firmware updater, bringing the N95's firmware up to version 30! The supposed change log sounds VERY interesting and there's one feature that stands out...

Joelcito of Tododsymbian posted that these new features should be arriving in the proposed V30 firmware:

• Full NGI
• Video content
• Maps 2.0
• Kastor UI
• Share online 3.0 with Ovi
• Nokia search with Google plug in
• Changes to music Shop and player
• Automatic screen Rotation
• Download 3.1

I'm sure most of you are asking yourselves "What's full NGI and Kastor UI?" Well, I don't know what full NGI is either but there is some info on Kastor UI available... Check out this video:

Impressive, isn't it? You can find more info about Kastor here at TAT's site.

Could you imagine this sort of UI on your S60 device? I for one would love something like this on my N95 8GB. However, none of this is confirmed and there are some things that lead me to believe that this firmware update doesn't exist or atleast won't include Kastor...

1)This Kastor UI seems too good to be true, so good in fact that it looks even better than the FP2 UI... Surely Nokia wouldn't allow their old devices to have superior UIs to their new flagships such as the N96?

2) That video above seems to have been made all the way back in 2005, I even checked TAT's site using the wayback machine and there were mentions of Kastor and Symbian back in 2005! Why would Nokia wait a whole 3 years to implement Kastor?

I may of course be wrong and the firmware may truly exist, but we'll have to wait and see...

If anyone has any more info on Kastor or the firmware update, please let us know!

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Want to play with the latest S60 devices? Forum Nokia holds the keys

Forum Nokia provide a Remote Device Access service for its users. This allows people to connect to and control devices that may be thousands of miles away from them, through the internet. RDA can be used by developers who want to test their applications on different models, ordinary consumers who just want to get a feel of the latest device's software and of course many other things.

To get started with RDA, you will need to have a forum Nokia account, you can sign up here. Once you're registered, head over to the RDA page over here and click on 'start rda' which will take you to another page where you can make reservations for the times at which you'd like to use a device.

To make a reservation, just click on the reservations tab, find the device you want to use and click on an empty slot in the chart which will take you to a new reservations page. Reservations can last from 30 minutes to 3 hours, which should be plenty


Once your reservation has begun, you can hit the 'start RDA' button, this will initiate the download of a small java app which when opened will show you the available devices with your reserved device marked with a green tick:

double click on it and you'll be presented with a screen like this:

From here you can navigate through the device, install applications etc.

Things to note:
RDA works on a credits system, for a half hour reservation, 2 of your credits will be deducted. I believe that each user gets 40 credits per day, but I'm not 100% certain on that figue.

Enjoy!

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iPhone-esque browsing on your S60 for free AT&T WiFi

Today on my neverending journey for S60 gratification, I stumbled upon this post by N95 8GB in the Symbian Freak forums that mentioned and provided a download link for an app that will allow you to browse on your S60 phone whilst fooling websites into thinking that it's an iPhone. Of course, the S60 browser(atleast the one on the N95 8GB) is technically superior to that of the iPhone but MANY more sites have been optimised to allow for easier browsing on the iPhone and in turn, S60 phones. There was a similar app to this released a few months ago but that didn't seem to work. Read on to find out how.

You'll need a hacked S60 phone with the Mobile Signer hack installed and ready. Check out my guides here and here to get this done.

Download the iPhonesque app HERE.

Now all you need to do is sign the application using Leftup's mobile signer, install it and enjoy!

Here's some proof that websites now really think that your N73, N80, N95, N82 etc is an iPhone:

That's the BBC iPlayer site recognising my N95 8GB as an iPhone.

That's Amazon.com recognising my N95 8GB as an iPhone

That's ueber-mich.com recognising my N95 8GB as an iPhone.

If you want to bring your browser back to normal, just go to the application manager on your phone and uninstall 'iphonesque'.

For my American readers: Just saw intomobile's post that says that AT&T will be giving free WiFi to iPhone users. This should work with your S60 phone with the help of this hack! Anyone willing to test it out?

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