Nokia vs. hackers 3-3: new firmware hackproof, certificate generator and repacked HelloOX won't let you in

Nokia vs. Hackers 3-3

Until a week or so ago all Nokia S60 3rd and 5th ed. phones could be hacked with the HelloOX method. But now there are a few firmware versions out that resist HelloOX.

The damage so far: N96 firmware version 30.0.33, E51 400.34.011, E75 110.48.125, and the hackability of other new phone/firmware combinations is not clear yet.

Here's a list of all phones and firmware versions that can be hacked.

JULY 27, 2009 UPDATE:
The hackers have taken the lead again. HelloOX2 opens up phones and firmwares that Nokia tried to lock down.

AUGUST 19, 2009:
Improved version of HelloOX2


HelloOX 1.05, nothing new?

There's a program called HelloOX 1.05 floating around on many Symbian forums. Some say it works better than HelloOX 1.03, others say it's exactly the same file with a different name. The maker of HelloOX 1.01, 1.02, and 1.03 apparently has nothing to do with this repacked version, so don't expect it to do things that HelloOX 1.03 cannot do. According to this discussion on the Symbian Freak forum (signup/login required) HelloOX 1.05 is a hoax just like HelloOX 1.04.

• "HelloOX 1.05" on Mobile Castle
• "HelloOX 1.05" on Symbian Freak (signup/login required)
• HelloOX 1.03
• HelloOX 1.03 for Nokia N96

JULY 27, 2009 UPDATE:
HelloOX2 opens up phones and firmwares that Nokia tried to lock down.

AUGUST 19, 2009:
Improved version of HelloOX2


Drakkarious Certificate builder

If you can't hack your phone with HelloCarbide, you'll need HelloOX. Unfortunately you have to sign HelloOX with a developer certificate (DevCert) before you can install it on your phone, and these certificates are hard to get.

The Drakkarious Certificate builder is supposed to make a DevCert for you without having to post your phone's IMEI on the web. But most people who tried it reported that it didn't work, and some people even detected a trojan in the program, although this appears to be a false positive.

• Drakkarious Certificate builder on Mobile Castle
• Drakkarious Certificate builder discussion on Symbian Freak (signup/login required)
• places where you might get a DevCert updated with new sites that provide developer certificates

Smser updated: threaded SMS and password protection

Smser shows your messages in threads similar to Nokia Conversation. In addition it can protect your SMSs with a password, similar to Active SMS Lock.

Smser only reads SMSs from your inbox and sent folder, it ignores messages in custom folders.

The latest edition can export your messages to text files, but it won't import them back. And the user interface can be tweaked little more.

When you uninstall Smser from your phone, it leaves files behind in c:\system\apps\smser, so delete that folder if you want to keep your phone memory clean.

• Smser 1.2 on Ziddu

Clear your mobile browser tracks with Cache Remover, download YouTube and RedTube movies to your phone

Cache Remover

Been surfing sites you shouldn't have been looking at and now you need to destroy the evidence? Cache Remover clears the cache of Symbian's built-in web browser, and it purges the cache of Opera Mobile, Ozone, and UCWeb too.

To make Cache Remover work, you'll need to install it on drive C (your phone's internal memory), not on your memory card. You also need Python and the UltraPyModulePack.

• Cache Remover


Download YouTube and RedTube movies to your phone

You can watch YouTube movies on your phone with Google's YouTube player, MobiTubia, vtap, SkyFire, and Opera Mini can send them to RealPlayer.

But what if you want to download YouTube movies to your phone for offline viewing later?

Just fire up your web browser and go to www.mfws.ro/m.youtube.com. This is a very simple YouTube search site that lets you save YouTube videos on your phone. You can choose between different file formats (mp4, flv, 3gp, and 3gp mobile).

If you can't find your downloaded videos on your phone, then have a look on your memory card in E:\data\download.

There's a similar downloader for adult video site RedTube, but this only downloads movies in .flv format. It comes without a search engine so you'll have to copy/paste the RedTube code into the RedTube downloader site.

• YouTube mobile downloader
• YouTube mobile
• RedTube downloader
• RedTube

UPDATE: The URL for the YouTube mobile downloader changed.

AnyView eBook reader updated (try QReader too)

(scroll down for QReader)

AnyView is an eBook reader that reads .txt, .html, .pdb, and .umd texts. It displays .gif, .jpg, and .png images too.

The latest update kills some bugs and adds cosmetic fixes. And it's a signed mobile Java application, so you can switch off all the annoying security warnings that often fill your screen when Java programs try to read your files.

So far, so good. But...

...AnyView crashed often on my phones, rendering of .html files took ages and was full of errors, and it couldn't open any of the .pdb files I fed to it. The latter problem may be because of the .pdb format itself, which comes in different flavours that share the same file extension.

If you can get AnyView to open your favourite books, you're lucky. But don't forget to check out some other eBook readers too. MobiReader opened all my eBooks in .mobi format (which AnyView can't read), and Book Reader by TequilaCat can turn many eBook formats into .jar files which open on just about every mobile phone that can handle Java.

• AnyView

Some sites with free eBooks:
• Project Gutenberg
• ManyBooks.net
• chuggnut

UPDATE:
QReader is another free eBook reader. It reads .txt, .tcr, .prc, and .fb2 files. It's supposed to read .pdb texts too, but that didn't work on my phones.
The QReader website just has a download link and the text "will be updated soon." There's a review with screenshots on reeed.ru. The list of supported phones dates from the early Feature Pack 1 days, but QReader also works on my FP2 Nokia.

Thanks for the tip, gediminas.

Free last.fm radio streaming everywhere with Skyfire, Run WMV Player plays Windows Media Video, Audials Mobile rips internet radio streams

last.fm free for all with Skyfire

You can listen to last.fm radio streams with Mobbler and fring, but you'll have to buy a subscription unless you live in the UK, Germany, or the USA.

But there is a way to listen to last.fm radio on your phone without paying. It's available for everyone everywhere. Just load the last.fm site in mobile phone web browser Skyfire. Skyfire is not a very good web browser for Symbian, but unlike other mobile browsers Skyfire can play streaming audio and video files, including last.fm radio stations.

Because Skyfire uses a proxy server located in the USA, last.fm thinks you're in America when you load their site in Skyfire. The result: it doesn't matter which country you're in, with Skyfire everybody can listen to last.fm streams for free!

As long as last.fm can't see the difference between Skyfire users from "free" and "paid" countries there's not much they can do about this loophole.

• Skyfire
Update: Skyfire doesn't work on Symbian anymore.


Run WMV-WMA-ASF Player

Run WMV/WMA/ASF player plays Windows Media files that other free players won't play. The previous english translation of this chinese program didn't play sound on many phones, and it was unsigned so it required a hacked phone or a trip to the Symbian Signed bureaucracy.

But now there's a new english version. It's signed, and the sound issues are gone. There's still some chinese in the user interface, but it's translated well enough to be useful anyway.

Tip 1: The player doesn't listen to the volume rocker. You can adjust the volume with the navigation button: left to turn the sound down, right to pump up the volume.

Tip 2: The program shows up in your menu as "run." You can change the name with Menu Editor.

The built-in media player of new Symbian phones may play Windows Media files, but if you have an older phone then Run WMV-WMA-ASF Player is a useful addition. Even if your phone is not very old installing the program is a good idea. On my Feature Pack 2 Nokia Run WMV-WMA-ASF Player beats RealPlayer 2-1: the built-in Real Player only plays the sound of the WMV files I threw at it, whereas Run WMV-WMA-ASF Player plays the sound and shows the video.

• Run WMV-WMA-ASF Player v1.0 (signed) in english on Mobile Castle UPDATE: this link expired


Audials Mobile

Audials Mobile is an internet radio stream ripper with a search function. If you're looking for the major hits of well known artists Audials usually finds them for you, but if your musical taste is a little off the beaten track Audials Mobile fails.

The makers of Audials Mobile (the same company that made audio ripper TuneBite) asked me to write a review about their program, and they offered me a free license key for my review. I told them I wouldn't do it, because their program is not freeware. Then Audials mailed me again to tell me that "the free version of Audials Mobile allows to download 2 songs per day," so I decided to give their program a try and see if the demo version is usable without buying the full version.

The free version lets you record two tracks a day, but not any two tracks of your choice, because many artists can only be recorded with the premium version.

Small bug in the program: I set the default internet access point to "always ask," but Audials Mobile keeps forgetting my choice and sets my last used access point to default all by itself. Major shortcoming of the program: you can't choose what bitrate you want to record. All tracks I got from Audials were only 128 kbps. The choice of artists, songs, and bitrates with Symbian P2P programs like Symella is much better than what Audials Mobile has to offer.

I didn't take the free license that Audials offered me. Keep in mind that reviews elsewhere may be a little biased because of the free licenses that Audials gives to bloggers.

• Audials Mobile UPDATE: Audials is dead. This link expired.

Here and now from Nokia: here yes, now no

Here and now is a location aware widget that shows weather and events, with more to be added later.

The latest update is supposed to fire up Nokia Maps when you click on a location in the events tab. I couldn't check this feature out, because Nokia's event page told me it is "temporarily not able to provide travel data due to technical difficulties."

The previous version of Here and now thought I was in Moscow when I was in Amsterdam, but the new edition got my location right.

Here and now still puts itself on top of your browser bookmarks without asking you first, and you can't delete the bookmark. If you have multiple internet connection options (for example, 3G and a few nearby Wi-Fi routers) Here and now just picks a connection without asking you how you want it to connect. Even worse, it changes the access point of your web browser without asking. So if you use Here and now near an open Wi-Fi access point and then move to another place, there's a good chance that your browser won't connect because of Here and now.

Want to get rid of Here and now? Then do so from the application manager in the settings folder. Here and now installs two programs, and hitting "remove" from your phone's menu only uninstalls one of them.

• Here and now

Nokia PC Suite bad, Nokia Ovi Suite worse

Nokia PC Suite has been changed a bit. Out: Nokia Music Manager. In: Nokia Music. The new gateway to Nokia's music store doesn't make PC Suite better, but it adds a boatload of extra megabytes to a program that was bloated to begin with.

PC Suite is still just a collection of programs held together with bubblegum, sellotape, and a worn user interface that shows how the program got patched together over time. And PC Suite still adds lots of things to your list of autostarting programs and services, so you'll have to do a lot of tweaking if you want to keep Windows on your PC lean and mean.

Nokia Ovi Suite is supposed to be the new, faster, lightweight, integrated program that combines the functions of the old sluggish PC Suite with Nokia Map Loader and Software Updater (the program to update the firmware of your phone). Of course it doubles as a shopping mall, because Nokia wants to make sure you don't ignore their music and software stores.

The beta test version of Nokia Ovi Suite shares PC Suite's requirement for Microsoft's .NET framework, and likes to crash often. A Mac version may be available somewhere in the distant future, but there's not much chance Nokia will ever port Ovi Suite to Linux. Nokia PC Suite does not work under WINE, but maybe Ovi Suite will? As for syncing mail and contacts, Nokia still believes that everybody uses Outlook. Too bad if you use Lotus Notes or Mozilla Thunderbird instead.

Nokia Ovi Suite requires a screen resolution of at least 1024x768 pixels, which may be a problem for netbooks, minilaptops, and other computers with small screens.

• Nokia PC Suite
• Nokia Ovi Suite

• trick to make Nokia PC Suite let you into the system folders of your phone memory

For those who don't want to use PC Suite:

• Linux programs with a little bit of PC Suite functionality
• DAO4Sync, a lightweight computer-to-phone-and-back synchronisation tool
• download maps for Nokia Maps with just a web browser
• backup options for hacked phones: access points, bluetooth devices, bookmarks, calendar, cookies, messages, notes, profiles, and T9 dictionary
• ActiveFile backs up and restores SMS messages much better than PC Suite
• Contacts Transfer backs up, restores, and transfers contacts including pictures and caller groups

Nimbuzz and fring: updates behind the scenes

Chat and VoIP program Nimbuzz connects to Skype, standard SIP VoIP, GoogleTalk, Jabber, MSN (Windows Live), Yahoo, AIM, ICQ, Twitter, Gadu-Gadu, and chat of social networking sites Facebook, MySpace, orkut, and Hyves.

Instant messenger and VoIP client fring lets you chat and call on Skype and standard SIP VoIP, GoogleTalk, MSN (Windows Live), ICQ, Yahoo, AIM, Twitter, and social networking sites like Facebook and orkut. Fring is also a GMail notifier, last.fm radio player, Facebook tool, Twitter application, and it includes WeFi, a tool to find free Wi-Fi hotspots.

Update: fring is no longer a multi-network messenger. They kicked 'em all out, fring now only works on it's own fring network. My advice: don't use fring.

The WeFi plugin for fring is a nice touch for those with Feature Pack 2 phones (Nokia N79, for example), because there's still no FP2 version of the original WeFi application.

Nimbuzz has a somewhat better user interface than fring, and the sound quality is better too. But fring has more features and it is sometimes able to connect through firewalls that Nimbuzz cannot pass. If you can't choose, just keep both programs on your phone.

Nimbuzz and fring updated their programs recently, but they didn't add new features, and the user interface didn't change either. The changes (bug fixes, stability improvements) are all behind the scenes.

• Nimbuzz
• fring

SigWatch monitors your mobile phone network signal strength

SigWatch plots the signal strength of your mobile phone network over time. This can be very useful if you're in a remote area, or in a builing with heavy concrete walls and bad network coverage. Just run SigWatch, walk around, and look at the graph to see which places have the best mobile network signal.

You need to have Python installed to use SigWatch. Install Python programs (and Python itself) on your phone's built-in memory, not on your memory card.

The SigWatch site on code.google.com is very programmer oriented. Mobile Castle has a more user friendly SigWatch page and download link.

• SigWatch
• SigWatch v1.0.0 at Mobile Castle

• Python (required to run SigWatch)

CalcMate, a minimalist calculator

CalcMate is a very simple mobile phone calculator. Add, subtract, divide, multiply, that's all it does.

Because CalcMate is so simple calculations take less key presses than with Symbian's built-in calculator. It works exactly like Symbian calculator Calcium, but because Calcium is not a Java application it starts a little faster.

If CalcMate (or Calcium) is too simple for you, try the excellent does-it-all calculator Calc4M.

• CalcMate (.jad file, requires mobile download of .rar file)
• CalcMate at GetJar (for the .jad file and the .jar file)

for more mobile phone calculators check the calculators label

Chats and feeds: eBuddy and FlyScreen

eBuddy

Mobile Java instant messenger eBuddy connects to MSN, Yahoo, AIM, GoogleTalk, ICQ, and Facebook chat. The latest update of eBuddy doesn't bring new features, but the user interface looks a little different now.

With Nimbuzz, fring, Slick and many other Symbian instant messaging programs it doesn't make much sense to use a mobile Java chat app on a Symbian phone, especially with newer Symbian phones that pop up one warning after the other request for permission everytime a mobile Java program wants to do something. And since eBuddy has turned into adware it displays a big, ugly advertisement on your contacts list. Nimbuzz, Slick, Palringo, and Talkonaut are still free of ads, and they can send files and voice messages too.

eBuddy wants you to do an on the fly install from your phone browser, but fortunately there's a way around that. Just go to get.ebuddy.com, select your phone brand and model from the dropdown boxes, and download the jad file that the site offers to your web browser. When you've got the jad file, you can open it with a text editor to read the location of the corresponding jar file, and then download it to your computer.

• eBuddy


FlyScreen: not ready yet

FlyScreen is an RSS feed reader with Facebook updates, Twitter, and the weather thrown in as well. You can leave FlyScreen running in the background so you'll always have your updated feeds at your fingertips. In fact, it's hard not to keep FlyScreen running in the background, because the exit option is hidden deep down in the settings menu. Of course you can force FlyScreen to go away with the task manager and delete button, but FlyScreen would definitely benefit from an exit button right inside its main menu.

FlyScreen doesn't do much more than showing links to websites. FlyScreen even launches your web browser when you try to edit your collection of feeds, and even though you're logged into FlyScreen through the FlyScreen program, you'll have to log in again on their website to customise your feeds.

Speaking of logging in, FlyScreen wants you to create an account with your phone number as your username, and they ask for your email address too. There's no need to give them those personal details, because any username that looks like a phone number works, and any non-existing fake email address will do.

The user interface of FlyScreen could be better. The standard 240x320 pixel screen of phones is not big to begin with, and FlyScreen's RSS feed box only fills part of it, with lots of empty space around. Switching between tabs often sends you back to your menu or standby screen when you least expect it. FlyScreen won't let you merge RSS feeds into a single feed, and all your custom feeds are called "Custom RSS" in the header without an option to choose a name yourself. The look and feel of FlyScreen is that of an early beta test application that has a long way to go before you can call it complete.

• FlyScreen

Not much new in new YouTube, Evan MP3 Player not suitable for Symbian

YouTube

There's a new version of YouTube for Symbian. At first glance there's nothing new in the latest update of YouTube for Symbian. For example, you still can't log into your YouTube account.

But on closer examination something did change: when you launch YouTube for Symbian for the first time, it asks you to choose your location from eleven countries, up from five in the previous editions.

Not that it really matters, because the program works no matter what location you pick.

Another thing that didn't change: the option to erase your search history and other private data is still hidden in the help menu of the YouTube player. It's about time this function gets a menu entry of its own, but don't count on this happening anytime soon. Google likes cookies, so they won't make it too easy for you to stop them from tracking your online activities.

YouTube for Symbian is distributed by Google as an on-the-fly installer, but if you want to download the program as a .sis file you can do so from Mobile Castle. This may also help if you can't download the YouTube player because your IP address is not on Google's list of supported countries, or if you want to install YouTube on a touchscreen Nokia that runs Symbian S60 5th edition.

• YouTube (official site, on the fly installer, download only works with the default web browser of your phone)
• YouTube v2.2.1 on Mobile Castle (downloadable .sis file for everybody, works with all mobile and non-mobile web browsers) UPDATE: this link expired
• MobiTubia, an alternative YouTube player UPDATE: this link expired


Evan MP3 Player

There are plenty of mp3 player programs for mobile phones. Evan MP3 player works on almost every phone, because it is written in mobile Java.

And mobile Java causes a lot of trouble. Before Evan MP3 Player can play any music it has to find some songs first. To locate music the player has a (not very intuitive) explorer-like menu. You have to guide it to every folder with songs in them, because Evan won't load all tracks on a drive (internal or memory card) in one go. It won't even load songs from subfolders unless you open every subfolder first.

Newer Symbian phones have an overly tight security system for mobile Java programs. As a result, you'll have to give Evan MP3 player permission for every folder it opens and every song it loads. You can't tell your phone something like "yes, you can read my music files, so don't ask me again." The security warnings will drive you crazy, especially if you have a lot of music. When one song ends, your phone will ask for permission to play the next track. And then again and again and again.

Once you've loaded your tracks it's time to play them. But you won't hear any music if you have warning tones switched off. And to switch to a profile with warning tones enabled just because you want to listen to some mp3s...

Most parts of the Evan user interface ignore the central navigation button, and the player doesn'thave an equaliser.

The verdict: forget about using Evan MP3 player on a Symbian phone. Evan may be OK on a Java phone, but if your phone runs Symbian you're better off with PowerMP3 or TTPod. Even Symbian's own music player is better, especially if you make it folder aware with this folder structure workaround.

• Evan MP3 Player at metlock.cz (in czech) UPDATE: this link expired
• Evan MP3 Player at Softpedia (in english) UPDATE: this link expired

• check the music label for PowerMP3, TTPod, and other Symbian music players

File manager ActiveFile now backs up and restores your SMSs

Symbian phone file browser ActiveFile opens folders that the built-in file manager of your mobile phone keeps closed and hidden. ActiveFile can send protected files over bluetooth, and comes with a screenshot function, task manager, battery and memory monitors, phone restarter, an option to send fake SMSs to your own phone inbox, and an SMS backup and restore tool.

The latest version of ActiveFile fixes bugs. The best thing about the update: backing up and restoring SMSs with ActiveFile now works!

The "send fake SMS" option had a problem with faking the "sent" date, but that's a thing of the past.

The SMS backup and restore option didn't work at all, but now it is functional. It can back up and restore your inbox, outbox, sent folder, and all your custom message folders.

But the SMS backup/restore function needs some more work. The "ignore duplicate" setting (which you can set to yes or no) always resets itself to "no" on my phones no matter how often I select "yes." And the "backup options" entry in the menu of the SMS backup tool doesn't do anything.

You can choose whether the SMS backup file should be stored on your phone's own memory or on your memory card, but ActiveFile won't let you choose in which folder you'd like the backup to be stored. It doesn't even tell you the location of the backup file, which doesn't really help if you want to copy the backup to your computer, store it online, or send it to another Symbian phone to merge different messaging folders.

You can move, copy, and send the SMS backup files manually if you know where they are, so I searched my phones for them. When I chose to store the backup in "internal memory" the backup file was stored in C:\Data\Others. When I selected "memory card" the file ended up in E:\Others. When I sent the backup file from one phone to another, the two SMS folders were merged perfectly.

A bug that may cause panic: when you restore a large number (hundreds) of SMSs, there's a good chance that Active File will complain about insufficient memory and crash, even if your phone has memory aplenty. Fortunately my messages were restored anyway, but having to close a crashed copy of ActiveFile with KillMe is not very reassuring when you're busy rescuing your messages.

The good news is that despite these flaws ActiveFile is able to restore messages in a non-destructive way, i.e. merge two message collections instead of overwriting everything when you restore a backup. Nokia's own PC Suite is unable to do that. Oxygen can backup and restore your SMSs too, but it's a complex procedure and you need a computer for it. And X-SMS only saves the messages from your inbox, not from the other message folders. Backing up and restoring messages with ActiveFile is much easier, and it backs up and restores all the message folders of Nokia's Symbian SMS application.

• ActiveFile from Alie Tan

UPDATE:
Good news! Alie Tan, the maker of ActiveFile, says he will improve the SMS backup/restore tool soon.

Maybe I should post some more requests on his forum? Oh wait, I already did ;)

New Nokia Photo Browser is faster, SilentPhoto may silence your camera, cam idle activity patch extends camera timeout to 10 minutes

Nokia Photo Browser

Symbian's built-in photo viewer is not a good picture browser, especially if you have a Nokia with the horrible "carousel" photo viewer. But Resco Photo Viewer is expensive and free alternatives Panda Image Browser and To The Point lack many features.

Nokia Photo Browser from Nokia Beta Labs is better than Symbian's built-in photo viewer, but the picture viewer from Resco is much better.

Nokia Photo Browser displays your pictures in a grid through which you can scroll with all sorts of 3D effects and other eye candy. It does face recognition too, but only on high contrast frontal shots, not on photos en profil.

The main flaw of Nokia Photo Browser was the long time it needed to generate thumbnail preview images: upon first launch the program needed ages to make thumbnail pictures. Thumbnail preview generation in the new version of Nokia Photo Browser is much, much, much faster than in the previous edition.

Other flaws of Nokia Photo Browser remain unrepaired. When you've scrolled to the last image of your collection, scrolling further will not take you back to the first picture. And "Image Info" still doesn't display Exif data, but only the file name and the date the picture was shot. The user interface is in landscape mode, without an option to turn it into portrait view.

For every picture on your phone Nokia Photo Browser generates three preview images which together take 50 kb or even more. If you have many pictures on your built-in phone memory or memory card, the previews can make you run out of storage space. When you uninstall Nokia Photo Browser it leaves the preview images behind in a jungle of hidden folders. To reclaim your storage space you need to launch a file manager like Y-Browser, X-plore, or Active File and delete all folders called _PAlbTN. Nokia's built-in file manager will tell you that those folders are empty, but they're not.

• Nokia Photo Browser


SilentPhoto

SilentPhoto runs in the background and automatically puts your phone in "silent mode" when you launch the camera. When you switch the camera off, your phone goes back to the previous (non-silent) mode.

Silent mode often suppresses the annoying shutter sound of your phone camera. But beware: with some Nokia product codes (a sort of region codes) your camera makes noise even if your phone is in silent mode. Fortunately there are many other ways to make your camera quiet, so if SilentPhoto doesn't work on your phone you can silence your camera anyway.

• SilentPhoto on Symbian Freak (links to file farm ziddu)
• SilentPhoto on Mobile Castle (with direct download link)
• the camera sound label with many methods to mke your camera silent


cam idle activity patch

Switch on your phone camera, wait for the opportunity to shoot that perfect shot...

...and miss it because your phone camera has gone into standby mode!

The camera of your Nokia will go to standby mode if it's not used for one minute. In standby mode pushing the camera button will not shoot apicture, but only gets your camera out of standby, and then you have to push the button again to make a picture. By then you may have lost the chance to make that once-in-a-lifetime picture.

But if you have hacked your phone and installed ROMPatcher, you can run a ROMPatcher patch that keeps your phone camera active for 10 minutes instead of one.

This patch only works on phones that use the camera application CamMojave.exe, like the Nokia N78, N82, N95, N96, 6220 Classic. It does NOT work on phones with z:\sys\bin\camcorder.exe, like the Nokia 6120 Classic, 6110 Navigator, N73, N95, E51, E66, E71.

• cam idle activity patch on Symbian Freak (for members only)
• cam idle activity patch (for everybody)

Write, read, and translate with DEdit, Book Reader, and BabelDict

DEdit: new test version

JBak DEdit does more than the built-in Notes application of your phone. It can handle large text files, has search & replace options, and you can use (and search) bookmarks to find your way in your texts.

The latest release candidate of DEdit makes it easier to navigate within texts and pages, and it remembers the last used font.

This version is so new that it's not on the official JBak site yet, but you can get it from Mobile Castle.

• JBak DEdit
• JBak DEdit v0.76 R12 on Mobile Castle


Book Reader by TequilaCat

Book Reader by TequilaCat is a Windows program that creates eBooks in .jar format (which work on almost all phones out there). You can make eBooks from many input formats, including DOC (MS Word) and PDF.

• Book Reader by TequilaCat


BabelDict

BabelDict is a mobile Java program that translates words between 8 languages: english, spanish, french, portuguese, italian, dutch, german, and hungarian.

The official site offers a .jad file, which fires up the mobile internet connection of your phone to download the corresponding .jar file. But you can download both files to your computer from the GetJar site.

Unfortunately BabelDict requires a mobile internet connection, so translating foreign words when you are abroad may be expensive due to high data roaming rates. If you'd rather have an offline dictionary, get MDictionary, or try DictionaryForMIDs, Dicts.info for Java, KODi, or JLearnIt.

• BabelDict (.jad file only)
• BabelDict at GetJar (.jad and .jad files)

Nokia Map Loader Alternative points to new maps for Nokia Maps (Ovi Maps) 3.0 beta (and to the old maps too, of course)

Getting maps for Nokia Maps/Ovi Maps on your phone without using a PC with Windows Vista or XP is much harder than it should be because Nokia thinks that they can ignore Mac and Linux users. They don't even have a Symbian version of their map download application! If you use Linux, if you have a Mac, if you want to load maps on your memory card straight from within Symbian, or if you can't install software without fighting with a system administrator (work, school, hotel, internet cafe, ...) Nokia Map Loader and Nokia Maps Updater are useless.

The Nokia Map Loader Alternative is a collection of links to all the maps and voice files on Nokia's very own Nokia Maps server. It works with any web browser, with any computer, with any operating system. It even works with your phone's web browser. Just download the maps you want and unzip 'em to the map folder on your phone's memory card. You don't need to install anything.

Nokia has new maps for Nokia Maps 3.0 beta, and now you can get them with the Nokia Map Loader Alternative too. Of course you can also get maps for Nokia Maps 2 (the latest non-beta version) and even for the old Nokia Maps 1.

• Nokia Map Loader Alternative

• Nokia Maps and Nokia Map Loader/Nokia Maps Updater
• Nokia Maps 3.0 Beta from Nokia (requires Nokia Maps Updater)
• Nokia Maps 3.0 Beta at E71Blog.com (does not require Nokia Maps Updater)

UPDATE: Nokia Maps 3.0 is out of beta testing, and is now called Ovi Maps 3.0.

Find music with YLLD Music Radar (not as good as Shazam iD), tune instruments with Chromatic Tuner

YLLD Music Radar

If you hear a song and you want to know its name and who made it, you can launch YLLD Music Radar and point your phone microphone to the music. YLLD Music Radar will record ten seconds of music, make a digital fingerprint, run it through an online database, and tell you what you're listening to.

Sounds familiar? That's because YLLD Music Radar does exactly the same as Shazam iD. YLLD Music Radar even uses Shazam's database. That's where the similarity ends. Shazam iD has a good and efficient user interface, YLLD only works in landscape mode so you have to twist your phone (or your head) to use it. Shazam iD has more options than YLLD Music Radar, and because YLLD is a mobile Java program instead of a real Symbian application it starts slower and bugs you with security warnings which you can't switch off on new Symbian versions.

My advice: forget about YLLD Music Radar untill they add portrait mode and port the code to Symbian. The only reason for using YLLD Music Launcher is if you can't install Shazam iD because your phone complains about certificate errors and changing the date doesn't fix it.

• YLLD Music Radar on SymbianTalk (you can download the program with login details from BugMeNot) UPDATE: this link expired
• Shazam iD


Chromatic Tuner

You can tune your guitar with Guitar Tuner Mobile, but what if you want to tune your piano, pan flute, or other instrument?

Then Chromatic Tuner does the job. It's an extremely simple program with a dial on your screen. If it points straight up you're in tune, if it points left or right you'll have to pull some strings. The latest program update fixes some bugs, works a little faster, and the user interace is polished up a bit.

• Chromatic Tuner UPDATE: this link expired

Nokia Maps (Ovi Maps) 3.0 beta test almost over, Google Maps bug fix update, new version of Metro

Nokia Maps / Ovi Maps

Nokia Maps 3.0 (now called Ovi Maps all over the Nokia Beta Labs website) is almost ready for the masses. The Nokia Beta Labs blog announced the last beta version before the program goes mainstream. New features in the final beta release of Maps 3.0 include weather, events, and movie info, faster zooming and panning, newer maps, better traffic info, and a lot of bug fixes. In contrast to the previous beta test versions, which were slow and kept crashing, the latest beta release works.

It works on phones with Symbian S60 3rd and 5th ed., so those with touchscreen phones can get it too.

Nokia Maps Updater is updated as well, and you need this program to install Maps 3.0 beta on your phone the Nokia Way. The bad news: Maps Updater only works on Windows. The good news: the Maps 3.0 beta .sis installer file is also available from an unofficial source, so those with Macs, Linux computers, or no computer at all can use Maps 3.0 beta too.

You don't even need Maps Updater to preload maps on your phone's memory card, because the Nokia Map Loader alternative works with any web browser on any operating system. It even works with the web browser of your phone, so you don't even need a computer to get maps for Ovi Maps.

Since this is a program from Nokia Beta Labs it is a good idea to back up your phone before you install Maps 3.0 beta, because going back to the old version of Nokia Maps may require a hard reset.

• Maps 3.0 beta with Maps Updater from Nokia Beta Labs (PC with Windows required)
• Maps 3.0 beta at n97geeks.com (for all operating systems)
• Map Loader/Maps Updater alternative (for all operating systems)

UPDATE: Nokia Maps 3.0 is out of beta testing, and is now called Ovi Maps 3.0.


Google Maps

Google Maps (with maps, satellite and aerial images, and street view) is updated. The changes are all under the hood (bug fixes?), because there ae no new features.

The most important missing feature is voice navigation. There's text navigation, but without a copilot to read the instructions this is a sure way to crash your car.

• Google Maps (on the fly installer, only works from your phone's built-in web browser)


Métro

The latest version of public transport navigator Métro (subways, trains, trams, buses, and ferry lines of about 400 cities) features new transport info for Lisbon, Porto (including night lines), Milan, Bangkok, Delhi, Dublin, Hong Kong, Frankfurt, Paris, Prague, Tokyo, Sydney, Venice, and other cities. The program itself is tweaked a bit as well.

• Métro from metro.nanika.net

PowerMP3 out of beta but test versions still free, Music Launcher improves, WMV player plays Windows Media Video, Mobbler gets alarm clock

PowerMP3

PowerMP3 plays music in mp3, ogg, aac, and mp4 format, and m3u playlists too. Other features include a sleeptimer, album art display (including the possibility to download album art), and several ways to keep your ringtones out of your music library. PowerMP3 sorts your music by mp3 tags and folder structure.

The latest asks for a registration code that costs US$25. The registration process is still in beta testing (Mobile Castle and Mobicreed have a version that doesn't require registration UPDATE: these links expired), and since the latest update doesn't add anything useful you may just as well use (or keep using) the last free beta version instead.

Just because PowerMP3 went commercial doesn't mean all the bugs are fixed. The most annoying bug that's still there: songs with characters like ã, é, ç, etc. in their names don't show up in your imported m3u playlists.

If you install the latest version of PowerMP3 on top of an older version and it doesn't work, uninstall the older version first. If the old version won't go away just switch your phone off and back on.

• PowerMP3 from MobiFactor (commercial version) UPDATE: this link expired
• PowerMP3 1.16 (last free version) at MobiFactor UPDATE: this link expired
• PowerMP3 1.16 (last free version) at Mobile Castle UPDATE: this link expired
• older versions of PowerMP3

Music Launcher

Music Launcher by Florin Lohan does what Symbian's built-in music player fails to do: it lets you select a folder and then plays all songs in it. Unfortunately Music Launcher is unable organise your music by mp3 tags. PowerMP3 does both, and with a workaround you can make the default Symbian music player do the same.

The latest version has less bugs and displays cover art stored as folder.jpg, but Music Launcher won't display album art stored directly inside your mp3 files.

• Music Launcher


WMV player

Finally there's a free player for WMV (Windows Media Video) movies. The english version of WMV player still shows lots of chinese, and it shows up as "run" in your menu (you can change the name with Menu Editor), but it's usable anyway. So if you have an older phone with a version of RealPlayer that doesn't support .wmv movies, give WMV player a try.

• WMV player (english translation) UPDATE: this link expired


Mobbler

Last.fm player Mobbler is less useful than it used to be, now that last.fm requires payment for music streaming in every country of the world except for three.

(UPDATE: You can listen to last.fm radio for free with Skyfire no matter where you are)

Mobbler has a sleep timer, it can display your last.fm friends, playlist, recently played tracks, recommended artists, track info, and shoutbox. There's gesture support (for phones with an accelerometer), and you can play last.fm radio with scrobbling switched off.

The latest version adds an alarm clock, better search, better album art, better connection options, and better controls for touchscreen phones.

• Mobbler
• last.fm

• fring can play last.fm radio too

• keep your tracks with the Last.FM Downloader for Windows UPDATE: this link expired

Free-iSMS now exports your messages (but doesn't restore them)

Free-iSMS by junnikokuki shows your SMSs in GMail- and iPhone-like threaded style. It can also schedule messages, and send fake SMSs to your inbox.

Free-iSMS threads messages from your in- and outbox only. It ignores messages in your custom SMS folders (Nokia Conversation shows them). The fake SMS option can only make fake incoming messages with the date set to 2009 or later. No fake outgoing messages, and no backdating to previous years.

The latest version of Free-iSMS can export your SMSs to a text file. Unfortunately it cannot restore them, so you can't use Free-iSMS as a backup and restore solution.

The new version is so new that it's not available from the official site yet. This always take a while with junnikokuki's programs, probably because the site contents have to be translated from chinese to english first. But you can get the latest update from Mobile Castle.

• Free-iSMS official site
• Free-iSMS v1.03 at Mobile Castle

Similar programs:
• Smser (threaded SMS with password protection)
• Nokia Conversation (also displays messages from your custom folders))

New english translations of UCWEB 6.6 beta, better server software for Opera Mini

UCWEB

Proxy-based mobile phone web browser UCWEB does tabbed browsing and compresses data for faster loading and less data traffic.

New beta test versions of this chinese program appear frequently, and english translations follow soon afterwards. The latest addition to the list is UCWEB 6.6.0.31 beta translated by Shashank.

New: support for Symbian S60 5th ed., improved access point selection (shows signal strength too), left softkey shows search history, better download manager, improved bookmarks menu, and bug fixes.

• UCWEB-6.6.0.31 beta translated by Shashank

The old official non-beta version of UCWEB is compatible with the patch by jbpseudo which removes the sponsored links from the start page, uses Google search without the limitations of the official program, and adds online synchronisation to the side panel.

• UCWEB 6.3 (the latest official non-beta version)


Opera Mini

Proxy-based, data traffic-reducing mobile Java web browser Opera Mini uses new server software with lots of bugfixes, faster javascript dialogs, and a better layout of feeds in mobile view.

The improvements are all on the Opera Mini server, so you don't need to update your copy of Opera Mini to get the benefits of the upgrade.

If you don't have the latest version of Opera Mini yet, get it at:

• Opera Mini

AutoSisInstaller automatically installs programs to your phone memory and memory card, now also for Symbian S60 5th ed.

Need to reinstall many programs on your phone because you switched phone, did a hard reset, or upgraded your firmware? That takes a lot of time and pushing of buttons.

AutoSisInstaller makes things a lot easier. Just copy your .sis, .sisx, .jar, and .jad installer files to E:\ThinkChange\c\ (to install them on your phone memory) or E:\ThinkChange\e (to install them on your memory card) and AutoSisInstaller deals with all the questions like "yes," "I agree," and "finish."

The old version would install everything on your phone memory. The option to choose between C:\ or E:\ is new. And AutoSisInstaller is now also available for the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and other phones that run on Symbian S60 5th ed.

• AutoSisInstaller by Tong Ren

Automatically run your programs from time to time with Timer switch

If you want your VoIP application to run every day from 9 to 5, or connect your instant messenger from 5 to midnight, or run any other program at a specific time without having to switch it on, then Timer switch will do it for you.

Timer switch is a very simple task timer: select the programs you'd like to run on your mobile phone, enter the start and end time, and Timer switch will start and stop the selected applications at the right time.

Unfortunately Timer switch just does times. You can't tell it to run programs on weekdays (or weekends) only. Maybe a future version will be able to add days as well?

• Timer switch official site (in chinese)
• Timer switch v1.0 on Mobile Castle (in english)

Browse system folders with File Manager

The file manager that comes with Symbian is crippled. It only shows you part of the contents of your phone memory and memory card.

But now there's a ROMPatcher patch for hacked phones that forces File Manager to show the contents of your system folders.

It doesn't give you full control over your system folders. It lets you browse the "private" and "sys" folders of your memory card, but not on your phone's built-in memory. And you don't get full write access to your system folders.

For full control you should hack your phone and use a real file manager like ActiveFile, Y-Browser, or X-plore. But if you only want a quick'n'dirty method to browse the system folders on your memory card without plugging it into a computer, the File Manager patch will do.

• File Manager patch on Symbian Freak (login/signup required)
• File Manager patch (open for everyone)

• all about hacking your phone to set it free

YouTube for Symbian fixes bugs, music identifier Shazam iD now also for touchscreen Nokias with Symbian S60 5th ed.

YouTube

YouTube for Symbian plays YouTube video without any extras. It won't let you log into YouTube, so you can't play any adult videos that require logging in.

When you install YouTube it asks you to choose a location from a list of 5 countries. Just pick any country and the program will work. If you can't download the latest YouTube for Symbian version from the official YouTube site, you can get it from sites like Mobile Castle. Tip: you can erase the search history and other private data, but that option is hidden in the help menu.

The latest version fixes bugs but doesn't add any new features.


• m.youtube.com (on the fly installation)
• YouTube 2.0.17 on Mobile Castle (downloadable installer) UPDATE: this link expired
• MobiTubia, an alternative YouTube player UPDATE: this link expired


Shazam iD

Shazam iD works like Sony Ericsson's TrackID. Start the program, point your phone to some source of music, hit "Tag Now," and Shazam will tell you which song you're listening to.

It's been available for Symbian S60 3rd ed. for ages (details here), and now there's a version for Symbian S60 5th ed. too, so you can use it on touchscreen Nokia's like the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic.

• Shazam iD for Symbian S60 5th ed. at MobiCreed UPDATE: this link expired
• Shazam iD for Symbian S60 3rd ed.
• Shazam iD official site (two-week trial, for english users only) UPDATE: this link expired

Text and numbers: new versions of DEdit and Calc4M

DEdit

JBak DEdit is better than the built-in Notes application of your phone. DEdit can handle large text files, has search & replace options, and you can use (and search) bookmarks to find your way in your texts.

The latest update lets you search in the file history.

• JBak DEdit


Calc4M

Mobile java calculator Calc4M for basic and scientific calculations has lots of conversion options, all the important physical constants are built in, and the user interface is simple and effective.

Conversions from miles per gallon to liters per 100 km were a factor 10 off. The latest update fixes that bug.

• Calc4M

Fring streamlines your contacts, Slick kills bugs

fring

Instant messenger and VoIP application fring lets you chat and call on Skype and standard SIP VoIP, GoogleTalk, MSN (Windows Live), ICQ, Yahoo, AIM, Twitter, and social networking sites like Facebook and orkut. Fring is also a GMail notifier, last.fm radio, Facebook tool, Twitter application, and it includes WeFi, a tool to find free Wi-Fi hotspots.

Update: fring is no longer a multi-network messenger. They kicked 'em all out, fring now only works on it's own fring network. My advice: don't use fring.

The new fring update lets you unclutter your contacts list by grouping similar contacts on different networks under one single entry.

• fring


Slick

Multi network instant messaging client Slick connects to GoogleTalk and other Jabber networks, and to MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, and AIM. It has file transfer but not voice chat.

The latest updates don't offer more features, but some minor bugs were fixed.

Slick is free while beta testing lasts. But with so many free alternatives it's hard to believe that Slick will ever cost money.

• Slick

PhoNetInfo now shows Wi-Fi details

PhoNetInfo displays your phone's firmware version, IMEI and IMSI numbers, Wi-Fi and bluetooth MAC addresses, network signal strength, how much RAM your phone really has and how much is available for your programs, which tasks are running (including those that Symbian's own task manager hides), and much more.

PhoNetInfo can restart your phone in less button push actions than switching your phone off and on. It worked on my Feature Pack 1 phones, but not on my Feature Pack 2 phone.

The latest update shows Wi-Fi SSID and security mode of your active wireless connection, and it displays correct processor speed for more Nokia phone models.

PhoNetInfo is unsigned. You can sign it yourself, install it on a hacked phone with certificate checking switched off, or you can download the old, signed version.

• PhoNetInfo

PowerMP3: more shakes, less noise

Music in mp3, ogg, aac, and mp4 format, and m3u playlists too: PowerMP3 plays 'em all. Comes with sleeptimer, exclude option to keep your ringtones out of your music library, album art display, and it can download album art for you. It sorts music by mp3 tags and folder structure.

PowerMP3 received two updates in the last few days. Version 1.15 has less bugs, shows album art stored as folder.jpg, and when you delete songs from the playlist you can wipe 'em off your phone in one go if you want to. Version 1.16 adds a sort option in the play queue, optional vibration when you click the buttons, and the annoying background noise when you play music at low volume is gone.

You can use the test versions for free, so get one before Mobifactor starts asking money (which may happen sooner than you think). If you install the latest version of PowerMP3 on top of an older version and it doesn't work, uninstall the older version first. If the old version won't go away just switch your phone off and back on.

• PowerMP3 1.16 beta at Mobifactor (this version may go offline soon)
• PowerMP3 1.16 beta at Mobile Castle (use this if the Mobifactor link is dead)

• PowerMP3 1.15 beta at Mobile Castle

Older versions of PowerMP3:

• PowerMP3 v1.14 at Mobile Castle
• PowerMP3 v1.13 at Mobile Castle
• PowerMP3 v1.11 at Mobile Castle
• PowerMP3 v1.10 at Mobile Castle
• PowerMP3 v1.09 at Ziddu
• PowerMP3 v1.08 at Mobile Castle
• PowerMP3 v1.07 at Mobile Castle
• PowerMP3 v1.06 at Mobile Castle
• PowerMP3 v1.05 at Mobile Castle
• PowerMP3 beta 2 at Mobile Castle
• PowerMP3 beta 2 at Mobifactor