Symbian hacks alive and kicking: Norton, DrWeb, TrendMicro, and UMU let you hack your Nokia or SonyEricsson without certificates

Hacking Symbian used to be so easy. You'd download a hacking app, sign it with a certificate that you could pick up from many Symbian forums and other sites, and your phone would be all yours.

But then Nokia cracked down on developer certificates. If you still have an old developer certificate you can use it, but since they're tied to your IMEI you can only use it on the phone for which the certificate was originally created.

Of course the hackers always win. You can flash your phone with hacked firmware, or can can use a loophole in Norton Security, DrWeb, TrendMicro, and UMU.

Yes, that's right. Antivirus programs let you break and enter Symbian! Just download the Norton hack (or one of the other hacks), apply it, and then install ROMPatcher to get into the parts of your phone that Nokia doesn't want you to enter. You don't even need to sign the hacked sis files, just install and run and you're in.

So if you found an old Nokia in the basement, blow off the dust and hack it back to life. S60v3, S60v5, Symbian^3, anything goes. If you found an old SonyEricsson then the UMU hack is your friend.

The antivirus hacks for Nokia:

• Hack Symbian with Norton (CODeRUS)
• Hack Symbian with Norton (symbian freak) UPDATE: This link is dead. And so is Symbian.

• Hack Symbian with DrWeb (CODeRUS)
• Hack Symbian with DrWeb (symbian freak) UPDATE: This link is dead. And so is Symbian.

• Hack Symbian with Trend Micro (CODeRUS)
• Hack Symbian with Trend Micro (symbian freak) UPDATE: This link is dead. And so is Symbian.

The antivirus hack for Nokia and SonyEricsson:

• Hack Symbian with UMU, SonyEricsson too (CODeRUS)
• Hack Symbian with UMU, SonyEricsson too (symbian freak) UPDATE: This link is dead. And so is Symbian.

More hacks:

• index of Symbian hacks (symbian underground)

What to do if maps make Nokia Maps crash?

I got an email from christian who pointed out a problem with his version of Nokia Maps. It may bite other versions too.

If you run Nokia Maps v3.04 and you download the latest maps through nokiamaps.site666.info, the maps app may crash. It may be because of maps/app combo, or because the latest maps are not compatible with the old Symbian S60v3.

Workaround: use one of the other map versions for Nokia Maps 3.x.


Hi,
thanks for this great site that makes downloading maps to mobile very easy.

I have a small remark:
I own a Nokia E52 which runs Symbian S60v3. On this platform the latest available Ovi Maps version is v3.04 10wk17 b07 (this is not the latest version, but Nokia offers only this version for download if you choose E52). This maps version will crash when accessing cards downloaded from your "Maps for Ovi Maps 3.0" page (maps00_02_42_122.html), but work just fine with Maps from "older maps for version 3.0 (also work with some newer versions, and with test version 3.0 beta)" (maps00_01_22_103.html). This had me scratching my head for several days (and reformatting my SD card ;)) until I finally figured out what was wrong.

I think it would be cool if you can put a remark on the page that says that the "Maps for 3.0" do not work with 3.04 maps version, this would help other people not making the same mistake that I did.

thanks and best regards,
christian!


Thanks christian for pointing this out.

Do you have some problems or solutions? Please share them by commenting on this blog post or clicking the email link on the bottom of this page.

• Nokia Map Loader alternative

ActiveFile offline

File manager ActiveFile has some great extras. It's also a task manager, and it can reboot your phone, make screenshots, and make fake messages too. What really sets ActiveFile apart is that it can backup and restore your SMSs.

Unfortunately its website is down. Alietan.com expired on July 30, 2011. Maybe Alie Tan will renew it, maybe he moved on to Android and said goodbye to ActiveFile.

Since legit app sites point to the defunct alietan.com for their downloads, the only way to get the program is from forums of ill repute like iP-mart, noeman.org etc.

Or you can download it from here:

• Active File 1.44.5 (basic and manufacturer capabilities versions) hosted by symbian underground

Nokia Maps on Android, sort of

Android would be much better if it would run Nokia Maps. It doesn't, but maybe that will change?

If your phone runs Froyo or newer, fire up any Android web browser that supports HTML5 (stock browser, Dolphin, etc.) and go to http://maps.nokia.com to get a preview of what Nokia Maps on Android could be like. It also works on iPhones.

If you allow your browser to access your location it will show your position on the map. It can calculate and display routes, together with a rough estimate of how long it will take you to walk or drive from A to B. It also shows public transport lines, and you can search for tourist attractions, bars, restaurants, banks, brothels, etc.

It doesn't do voice navigation (yet?), and you'll need to be online to search for places, calculate routes, and see the map. In its present state you're better off with Google Maps for online navigation or a real (but usually expensive) offline navigation app like Navigon or CoPilot.

But that might change. Maybe we're lucky and the future will bring us a true Android port of one of the few apps that makes me keep my old Nokia as a backup phone. A Symbian emulator might also do the job.

• http://maps.nokia.com

crossposted from android underground

Symbian Signed certificate change kills the HelloOX2 hack for Symbian^3 (and Just HackIt! too)

Update: new hacks for Nokia and SonyEricsson phones with S60v3, S60v5, and Symbian^3. No certificates needed!

Symbian has a long history of hacking methods. Manual hacks, HelloCarbide, HelloOX, HelloOX2, firmware flashing, Just HackIt!

As long as Symbian lives (which won't be long), it will be hacked.

But Nokia keeps trying to stop the hackers from entering the system folders on their own phones, and sometimes they manage to close the doors for a while until the hackers develop a new lock pick. They can't lock you out of your old Symbian S60v3 phone, but they've managed to shut the doors for owners of Symbian^3 phones who didn't get their own developers certificate yet.

The HelloOX team is having problems with the latest version of HelloOX2 (v2.11) because Symbian Signed closed a hole in their certificates. HelloOX2 is back to v2.03 now, which opens Symbian S60v3 but not Symbian^3.

The problem: the new "17 capability" developer certificates generated by Symbian Signed since 27 June 2011 no longer sign HelloOX2 in a way that makes it work on Symbian S^3 phones.

Because HelloOX2 hacks Symbian^3 with code "borrowed" from Just HackIt! they closed the original Symbian^3 hack too.

So if you want to hack your Symbian^3 phone but you didn't get your own developer certificate yet, you'll have to wait until the hackers find a way around Nokia's certificate restriction.

• Just HackIt! by CODeRUS
• HelloOX2 UPDATE: This link is dead. And so is Symbian.

Update: new hacks for Nokia and SonyEricsson phones with S60v3, S60v5, and Symbian^3. No certificates needed!

Got my money back: EU revokes Symbian subsidy

Last year the EU decided to give the makers of Symbian a €11000000 to help Nokia increase its profits.

Not much later Nokia decided to join the dark side (Windows Phone) and dump Symbian.

The EU used Nokia's decision to kill Symbian to revoke the Symbian subsidy. A subsidy that shouldn't have been handed out to begin with.

Now let's hope they won't repeat their mistake. My tax money is NOT meant to subsidise operating systems on commercial products made by commercial enterprises. Not Android, not Windows Phone, not Blackberry, not Symbian.

Just HackIt! hacks the remains of Symbian

Update: new hacks for Nokia and SonyEricsson phones with S60v3, S60v5, and Symbian^3. No certificates needed!

Nokia is ditching Symbian, but the obsolete operating system still tries to fight hacking attempts as if its life depends on it.

Needless to say, Symbian is losing the fight. CODeRUS released a new Symbian hacking app in the tradition of HelloCarbide and HelloOX.

The latest crowbar to force your way into the system folders is called Just HackIt! It lets you install unsigned programs through a modified installserver.exe just like all the other hacks, so once hacked you don't need to worry about signing and certificates. And CODeRUS made a version of ROMPatcher for Symbian^3 too, so say goodbye to noisy camera clicks and other unwelcome Symbian limitations.

• Just HackIt! from CODeRUS
• ROMPatcher for Symbian^3
• ROMPatcher patches for Symbian^3 (Open4All, remove recording beep, and more)

Note: Symbian^3 is not the same as Symbian S60v3.

• more about Symbian hacking on symbian underground

Update: new hacks for Nokia and SonyEricsson phones with S60v3, S60v5, and Symbian^3. No certificates needed!

Nokia Map Loader Alternative: links fixed, countries added

The latest version of Ovi Maps 3.x lets you download maps to your memory card straight from the app itself, so there's no need anymore to use Nokia's clunky Ovi Suite that won't run on Mac and Linux.

But if downloading maps straight from your phone doesn't work, there's a manual method: the Nokia Map Loader Alternative, which works with any web browser on any operating system.

Nokia changed the location of their map files, and the map loader alternative changed so that it points the right way again.

New countries added to the list: Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Iran, Kenya, Lebanon, Moçambique, Nigeria, Peru, Réunion, and the Virgin Islands

If the links stop working in the future, feel free to post a comment on this blog or click the email link on the bottom of this page.

• Nokia Map Loader and Nokia Maps Updater Alternative


Ovi Maps 3 doesn't work on older Symbian phones. Check the Ovi Maps site to see if your phone will run Ovi Maps 3. If it doesn't, try Nokia Maps 2.0 instead.

• Ovi Maps and Nokia Maps Updater from nokia.com
• archived copy of Nokia Maps 2.0 (with free voice navigation) on Mobile Castle UPDATE: This link is dead. And so is Symbian.

Idea for Nokia: Run Windows on a Symbian phone

Nokia may move to Windows, but they still expect to sell 150 million more phones running on the dying Symbian. Something just doesn't sound right here.

Would you buy a Symbian phone in the knowledge that even its maker doesn't believe in it anymore? Even if Nokia keeps updating the operating system the stream of updated 3rd party apps will dry up, and don't count on anyone making new Symbian programs in the knowledge that they'll be obsolete tomorrow.

But what if you could buy a Symbian phone, and then install Windows Phone on it when it's ready? PCs can run Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. The iPhone can run Android. And Nokia will tweak Windows to run on hardware that has been tailored for Symbian for many years. So why not offer the buyers of the 150 million Symbian phones that Nokia still expects to sell the option to switch to Windows without having to buy a new phone?

Nokia could ask 3rd party application developers to offer a free switch from a license for Symbian to a license for Windows Phone. Nokia has the power to negotiate such a deal. After all, they hold the keys to the Ovi store.

An emulator that lets you run your old Symbian apps on the new Windows system is another way to ease the transition.

Not that I really care, because I ditched my old Nokia for a new Android phone. So expect to see an Android version of this blog in the near future.

By the way, isn't it a little fishy that Nokia announces to kill Symbian after pocketing millions of tax euros from the European Union which they're supposed to spend on Symbian development? I wonder if I will get my money back.

ActiveFile fixes old bugs but comes with a new problem

X-plore is the best file manager for Symbian if you want to manage files. But file manager ActiveFile has a few extra features beyond file managing that make it a great program.

ActiveFile is also a task manager. And it can reboot your phone, make screenshots, back up your SMSs, and it can make fake messages too.

The file manager gets the job done. The two pane layout makes it easy to move files between folders. Unfortunately ActiveFile lacks the "tree view" option of X-plore. The # key selects and deselects files and folders, unlike previous versions of the program. Unfortunately the selection marker is very hard to see on white file icons.

The screenshot tool of ActiveFile usually needs to be triggered with the C (delete) key, unless you have a very old phone that still has a pencil key. The camera key can make screenshots in theory, but on my phones it keeps launching the camera instead of making screenshots.

The option "turn light on" is probably meant to light the led so you can use your phone as a flashlight, but this didn't work on any of my phones. If you want to use your phone as a torch, use BrightLight.

SMS backup and restore is the best feature of ActiveFile. You can back up and restore every message folder, including your custom message folders. Better yet, ActiveFile can restore your messages in a non-destructive way: if you restore a backup, new messages that arrived after you made the backup stay on your phone. If you send a backup from one phone to another, the two SMS folders are merged perfectly. Not even Nokia's own Ovi Suite will do that for you.

You can choose whether the SMS backup file should be stored on your phone's own memory or on your memory card, but you can't select the folder in which ActiveFile should store the backup. ActiveFile doesn't even tell you the location of the backup file, and the SMS backup screen has no options for copying backups to your computer, storing them online, or sending them to other Symbian phones to merge different messaging folders. Of course there's a workaround to do all that: just navigate to the backup files in any file browser to copy, send, move, or delete 'em. ActiveFile stores your backups in C:\Data\Others or E:\Others, depending on whether you choose internal memory or memory card as backup location.

ActiveFile may crash with an out of memory error when you restore backups with a lot (many hundreds) of messages, so don't rely on ActiveFile as your only SMS backup method.

ActiveFile can create fake SMSs. Unlike other fake SMS creators like Free-iSMS and Fake Messages (which can only fake incoming messages), ActiveFile can fill your inbox and sent folder with fake incoming and outgoing SMSs. Old versions of ActiveFile would get the date and time of your fake messages wrong, but the latest version gets it right.

The latest version (v1.44.5) fixes some other bugs (details here UPDATE: This link is dead. And so is Symbian.) too. It works well on my phones except for one: on my old Symbian S60v3 feature pack 2 phone the program shuts down whenever I try to open the options menu. On this phone I'll stick with version 1.44.0, which fortunately is still available on the ActiveFile website.

• ActiveFile from Alie Tan UPDATE: This link is dead. And so is Symbian.

Nimbuzz uses less data and can make you invisible, but watch your SIP and connection settings

VoIP, chat, and twitter program Nimbuzz talks to SIP, GoogleTalk, Jabber, MSN (Windows Live), Yahoo, AIM, ICQ, Gadu-Gadu, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, orkut, and Hyves.

The latest update promises to use 70% less data, which sounds good if you use Nimbuzz over 3G. Keep in mind that 70% means "up to 70%." Your mileage may vary and will probably be less. You can now also log into your chat networks in invisible mode, and block chat attempts from anyone who's not on your contact list.

The previous update reset my notification sounds and vibration alerts to default, but this version left them the way they were.

So far, so good. But...

...unfortunately the latest edition still behaves badly. I installed version 3.01 on top of the previous version, but my preferred VoIP provider was reset from SIP to NimbuzzOut without any warning. Maybe Nimbuzz doesn't like competition? So don't forget to go through the settings again when you install a new copy of Nimbuzz on top of the old version.

Another annoyance: whenever I connect over 3G, Nimbuzz stores that connection as "preferred carrier" without asking me, and there's no way to switch this unwanted behaviour off. Worse yet, at next launch Nimbuzz automatically tries to use this connection, and hitting "cancel" shuts down the application instead of asking you how you want to connect. Nimbuzz should definitely fix this in the next update.

• Nimbuzz
• fring (the main competitor of Nimbuzz)

Skyfire for Symbian is really dead

Skyfire was never a good mobile browser. It was slow, ate lots of data, only worked in North America and Western Europe, and it sucked your battery dry real quick. But it did let you watch Flash and QuickTime movies where other browsers failed, and because of its american proxy server Skyfire allowed those outside Germany, England, and the USA to listen to last.fm without having to buy a subscription.

But not anymore. Skyfire for Symbian was pulled from Skyfire's own website and the Ovi store a while ago, and all the copies on forums and other sites stopped working. No version of Skyfire connects on my Nokias. Skyfire for Symbian is really totally dead now.

Maybe I'll meet Skyfire again on Android. Sure, Android can do Flash by itself, but bypassing the geographical restrictions of last.fm through Skyfire's proxy server is a good thing too.