How to: Use Nokia's Ovi Store on the Samsung i8910

Nokia's recently released Ovi Store allows users of Nokia devices to browse through a selection of content, including wallpapers, ringtones and most importantly, S60 applications. With a little help from the Nokia N97, it is possible to not only browse the Ovi Store but to also download and install applications without a hitch - all from the Samsung i8910.

What you'll need:
-A hacked Samsung i8910 (refer to THIS post)
-THIS text file (copy it to your phone's storage)
-ActiveFile (Download HERE - install it on your phone)

Step 1:
Open ActiveFile on your i8910. Navigate to where you've saved the 101F8731.txt file and then copy it. Now go to the C:\ drive, open the 'Private' folder and then enter the folder named '10202be9'; paste the text file in here.

Step 2:
Restart your phone. Open the web browser and go to store.ovi.com, you should now be greeted with this page:

Select 'No thanks, continue using the website'. The actual Ovi Store application does not work on the i8910.

Note: If you don't get that page, it probably means you've tried to access the Ovi Store before. Try clearing all your browser's private data by going to Options> Clear privacy data> All.

Now you can browse through the applications and install applications as you please.


How does it work?
This hack works by changing the browser's useragent string to that of the N97's. This means that all websites that you view from your i8910 will identify it as being a Nokia N97.

Do note that I haven't tried purchasing any applications from the Ovi Store yet, so I'm not sure if it'll work. Any feedback would be appreciated!

How to: Customise the Samsung i8910's 3D navigation applications

One of Samsung's many UI additions to S60 V5 is their so-called 3D navigation. This allows the user to simply swipe left or right to change from the TouchWiz homescreen to the Photo contacts application or the menu respectively. I personally think it's a great feature but I feel it's silly not to allow the user to pick which applications the 3D Navigation changes between. With this in mind, I sat down, cleared my head and started searching for a solution.

What you'll need:
-A hacked Samsung i8910 (refer to THIS post.)
-THIS text file. Make sure you DOWNLOAD it (right click, save target/link as)!
-ActiveFile (Download HERE - install on phone.)
-AppUidList widget (Download HERE - install on phone.)

Step 1:
Open the text file you've downloaded using a text editor such as Notepad. Replace the current application UIDs with the ones you want.

You can use AppUidList to identify the UIDs of all applications on your i8910.

Once you've edited the UIDs with the applications of your choice, save the file (DO NOT select 'save as', just 'save') and transfer it to your i8910.
Note: The text file I've uploaded has Shazam ID as the left application, as shown in the screenshot at the top of this post.

Step 2:
Grab your i8910 and open ActiveFile. Navigate to where you've saved the 20020607.txt file and copy it. Now navigate to C:\Private\10202be9 and paste the file in here. While still in the 10202be9 folder, open the 'persists' folder and delete 20020607.cre.

Step 3:
Restart your phone and enjoy :) If you have any issues, leave a comment and I'll get back to you.

Things to note:
The 3D navigation will keep the selected applications open in the background constantly. RAM consumption won't be an issue considering the i8910's massive amount of free RAM, but in the interest of maintaining the phone's excellent battery life, I'd suggest not to choose applications that remain connected to the internet.

Does the Samsung i8910 have a FM Transmitter?

While searching the internet for user accounts of the i8910, I found that the general consensus was that the i8910 was very close to being the 'perfect phone', scoring 9.7 out of 10 on TestFreaks, for example. So, what is it that the i8910 is missing? What could be done to make it please consumers even more? A FM transmitter, maybe?

When the i8910 was first leaked back in February of this year, the listed specifications included a FM Transmitter. This was proved to be true with Eldar Murtazin's preview of an early prototype of the i8910:


However, as you should all know, a prototype can vary greatly from the final product. The production i8910 features a host of changes from the prototypes, including a plastic back (instead of metal), removal of a number of software features and the apparent disabling of the FM Transmitter. Why did I use the word 'apparent'? Because it still isn't clear if the hardware needed for the FM Transmitter to function has actually been removed from production i8910s.

For example, while browsing the Samsung Mobile Innovator website, I found a table that seemed very strange to me:

That is a table, from an official Samsung website, which lists the i8910 as having a FM Transmitter. It is possible that the Samsung Mobile Innovator team have made a mistake, but I doubt it. Firstly, the website is regularly updated by Samsung, why haven't the staff changed it yet? Secondly, the website recently had a major overhaul, and yes, the table also received a makeover but the information displayed remained the same. Thirdly and finally, the rest of the information displayed in the table is correct and valid, so logic dictates that the i8910's data is correct as well. Could this be proof that the hardware inside the i8910 still remains?

However, it should also be noted that the above table raises another issue: the i7110. It's another of Samsung's S60 devices and it does feature an FM Transmitter. If Samsung have already released a phone featuring a FM Transmitter, what reason do they have for removing it in the i8910? Surely it's not due to legalities, right?

It has come to my attention that there are FM Transmitter configuration applications hidden within the system files of the i8910, as discovered here. As expected, 'enabling' the FM Transmitter via this method results in nothing. Some may say that these configuration menus are proof of the i8910 still bearing an internal FM Transmitter, but, is it not also possible that these are simply remnants from when Samsung were tweaking the firmware from the prototypes?

Unfortunately for owners of the i8910, it still isn't clear whether or not the Samsung i8910 will ever be able to transmit music using FM waves. If Samsung are indeed hiding the FM Transmitter, I certainly hope that they issue an official statement providing a reason and explanation, or simply enable the hardware through a firmware update.

How to: Disable the Samsung i8910's Startup/Shutdown sounds

Although the Samsung i8910 is arguably the 'best' S60 phone currently available, it doesn't come without its faults. One of these faults is what seems to be an issue that has been overlooked by Samsung: being able to disable the startup/shutdown sounds. Unlike Nokia's S60 phones, the Samsung i8910 will still make some noises even when warning tones are set to 'off'. This annoyed me, so I started hacking away at the i8910 until I came up with a solution.

What you'll need:
-A hacked Samsung i8910 (refer to THIS post)
-THIS zip file (extract it and copy all files to your phone)
-ActiveFile(already signed with Leftup certificate)

Video guide:


Text guide:
1)Copy the 101F8763.txt file to C:\Private\10202be9
2)Copy the Startup.mp3 and Shutup.mp3 files to E:\Sounds\Simple
3)Restart your phone.

This works beautifully with IG2 firmware. If you have any issues, please leave a comment and I'll get back to you.

Enjoy!

HelloOx2 opens more doors than Ovi

With the release of new S60 phones like the N97 and N86, Nokia made sure to close the holes used to make HelloOx possible. Unfortunately for Nokia, it was only a matter of time until Symbian's hacking community created a newer solution - HelloOx2.

You can download HelloOx2 from HERE

Simply sign the file with a Developer Certificate, install and enjoy.

It should work with all S60 phones.