FExplorer, the free file manager for Series 60 phones

To gain full access to the phone filesystem, you need special software to get around the limitations imposed by the phone UI. For Series 60 devices, the freeware FExplorer, written by Dominique Hugo, does that for you. You can download the latest version of FExplorer, or make a donation to support its development, at http://www.gosymbian.com/. Alternatively, a commercial product called Extended File Manager, from Psiloc (http://www.psiloc.com/index.html?id=159), has similar functionality.

The filesystem naming conventions that the Symbian OS uses are similar to those in the Windows OS. The C: drive letter is for the storage space for the system-level files in the phone's internal flash memory; D: is the RAM disk that stores runtime information; E: is the MMC card, storing applications and media files; and Z: is the Read-Only Memory (ROM) for the device's system software. The FExplorer program lets you create, delete, and manipulate directories and files in the filesystem. It also allows you to send any file to remote devices via Bluetooth, IR, MMS, or email. Now, let's explore some common files on a Nokia Series 60 smartphone.

What about Series 40 devices, you ask? Series 40 devices use the closed Nokia OS. Hence, only native applications developed by Nokia can have direct access to the filesystem. Nokia has not released any such application. In the future, the Java runtime on Series 40 devices might support the J2ME File Connection extension API, which would support file access from third-party Java applications. But for now, there is no reliable way for you to access the underlying filesystem on Nokia Series 40 devices.

The Nokia Gallery Feature

On Nokia devices, the closest thing to the file explorer is the Gallery, which is available on both Series 60 and Series 40 devices. Inside the Gallery, you can choose to access either the phone's main memory storage space or the MMC card. In each storage unit are several folders with names such as Images, Sound clips, and Video clips. Those folders hold files and subfolders. They function just like folders on a computer. When you open a file in the Gallery, the phone operating system uses the filename suffix to determine which application should be used to open any particular file. For instance, a .jpg file is opened with an image viewer; a .3gp file is opened with a video player (e.g., the RealOne player), etc. You can rename, delete, and move files around from one folder to another.

On older Series 60 devices (e.g., Nokia 3650), there is no Gallery application. On those devices, the Images application is equivalent to the Gallery found on newer Series 60 and Series 40 devices. Despite its name, the Images application holds images, audio files, video clips, and other multimedia files.

The limitation of the Gallery, of course, is that you have no control over which files are saved in it. The phone automatically saves the following media files into the Gallery:

• Image files from photos captured from the Camera application
• Audio files captured from the Recorder application
• Video files captured from the Video Recorder application
• All media files of known formats downloaded via the Services browser
• All media files of known formats downloaded from the Messages Inbox

Non-multimedia files, such as installation package files (i.e., .sis and .jar files), text files, office documents, and executable files, cannot be saved into the Gallery.

Introduction on Series 60 Phone File System

Nokia devices feature PC-like filesystems. The Gallery application supports limited access to media files. But using special software, you can get around these limits and do a lot of cool things with the files.

With all the talk about how a smartphone is supposed to have PC-like functionality, it still does not quite feel like a PC. On a PC, the data and applications are separate; the data is stored in files in the PC's hard drive, and you can use any application to manipulate any datafile in the system. For example, you can use a text editor instead of the email program to open an email message and see what's going on inside. That gives you the flexibility to determine how to use your data.

A mobile phone, on the other hand, integrates the data with its handling application. For instance, the email messages are accessible only from the Messaging application and the contacts are accessible only from the Contacts application. However, under the hood, the phone still organizes data and executable programs into files and folders. In this hack, I'll cover the concepts of the mobile phone filesystem, the tools you can use to explore it, and what you can do with the raw files.

How to Use Voice Commands?

Finally, most Nokia smartphones have a utility application for voice commands. Depending on your phone model, you can access it via the Tools Voice commands menu, or the Extras Voice commands menu, or the Settings Personal shortcuts Voice commands menu. Using the voice command utility, you can map any voice recording to a selected number of applications. For instance, you can record yourself speaking the word camera and map it to the Camera application. The voice commands for applications work similar to the voice dialing tags. You simply press and hold the right soft key for the phone to pick your spoken command and launch the matching application.

How to Quickly Switch Applications in Series 60 Phones?

The slow response of launching applications is one of the major complaints among Series 60 device users. As most users have several frequently used applications, a neat trick is to keep those applications running in the background all the time, thereby saving on startup and shutdown time.

The background applications are possible only with the multitasking Symbian operating system. This feature is not available on Series 40 devices.

You can place a running Series 60 application in the background by pressing the red "End call" key (the key with the red telephone symbol) while the application is running. The next time you open the same application, it will pop up instantly and appear in the state exactly as you left it.


You can see a list of background applications by pressing and holding the Menu key. You can select any application from the list and bring it to the foreground. If you press the c key while you are scrolling through the list, you can force the background program to exit.

How to use Speed Launcher?

If you need quick access to a user-installed application on a Nokia Series 60 device, you can use the speed launch feature, which allows you to launch an application with just one touch of the keypad from the Main menu. To do that, first you press the menu key to enter the Main menu. All the applications and top-level folders are listed in a grid of icons in this menu. For the first nine applications in the grid, you can simply press their corresponding number key to launch them. Please note that the numerical shortcut works only immediately after you enter the Main menu. If you use the navigation pad (a.k.a. joystick) to move the highlight around, the shortcuts stop working. They will work again if you go back to the idle screen and get back into the Main menu.

The 0 key does not launch any application in the main menu screen. But in the idle screen, if you press and hold the 0 key, the phone's default web browser (i.e., the Services application) is automatically launched.

You can use the Options Move menu to move the icons around in the grid and hence, change their speed launch numbers. Naturally, the application icons near the top of the grid are easier to access since they require less searching and scrolling once you are in the Main menu.

How to assign softkey shortcuts?

You might install a lot of applications, and if you're on a Series 60 phone, you might run a bunch of them at once. With all this potential disorder, you need to be able to quickly launch and switch between applications.

Nokia smartphones can be loaded with applications both factory-installed and user-installed. However, to launch any application, you must go through multiple menu items (for Series 40 devices) or scroll up and down in a grid (for Series 60 devices). It is a slow process for busy people on the move.

Different phone users want quick access to different applications. For instance, a mobile photographer probably wants to start the Camera application quickly to catch a precious moment. The frequent instant-messaging user wants to keep the Messaging application available at all times, even though he might temporarily switch to other applications from time to time.

Assign Soft-Key Shortcuts
The easiest way to add a shortcut to an application is to assign it to a soft key in the phone's idle screen (a.k.a. the home screen). On a Series 60 device, you can use the Tools Settings menu and then select Phone Standby mode to customize the soft keys. On a Series 40 device, the menu path is Settings Personal shortcuts (see .

Some Series 40 devices, such as the Nokia 6230, allow you to customize the application shortcut for the right soft key only. The left soft key is always mapped to the GoTo menu, which contains a customizable list of applications and bookmarks for quick access, and the middle soft key is always mapped to the Main menu.

Notice that only the factory-installed applications can be assigned to the idle-screen soft keys.

On some Series 60 phones, such as the Nokia 3650, assigning the Call Forwarding application to a soft key is the only way you can launch the application.

How to Write Your Own Python Scripts for your Smartphone?

You can write your own Python scripts in any PC text editor and deploy them to the phone using the web or Bluetooth methods described earlier. But the key benefit of a scripting language is the ability to quickly prototype scripts. In fact, Python for Series 60 allows you to prototype Python scripts right there on the phone!

You can use the interactive_console.py script that comes with the Python runtime to open a text console for the Python interpreter (or, you can simply use the Options Interactive console soft-key menu). Then, you can type Python statements from the phone keypad and see them run! The print statement and math formula statement generate output in the console. The statements at the bottom of the last image in image below display a Series 60 style UI dialog box.

How to run scripts directly in the Python interactive console

Unlike full-blown programming languages such as Java and C++, which require setup code and non-code resources for even the simplest application, a scripting language such as Python actually allows you to write useful programs with only several lines of code. A great way to learn Python is through examples. The BigBold web community has a page for user-posted Series 60 Python examples (http://www.bigbold.com/snippets/tags/series60). There, developer Korakot Chaovavanich posted several useful snippets covering topics such as camera operation, Short Message Service (SMS) messaging, file exchange, and SQL database queries. Check them out, and share your own!

How to Write Series 60 Python Scripts on a Computer?
Programming Python with the mobile-phone keypad is not pleasant. Luckily, the bt_console.py script bundled with Python for Series 60 opens a Bluetooth console on the device, which can be connected to a console program on a computer. The computer console sends everything it receives from the keyboard to the device via a serial port emulated over the Bluetooth connection. In turn, the phone console sends all the response data back to the computer console. This allows you to type Python commands on a regular computer keyboard and have them executed on the phone in real time. Very cool!

Series 60 Python scripts do not run in the regular Python environment on a desktop computer, since they use Nokia-specific Python libraries for UI, messaging, and multimedia operations. The Series 60 Compatibility Library (http://pdis.hiit.fi/pdis/download/) ports the phone library to computers and allows you to run Series 60 Python scripts on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux computers. This library is developed by the Personal Distributed Information Store project at the Helsinki Institute for Information Technology.

On a Windows PC, you can use the console program bundled in the Nokia Python SDK to work with the Bluetooth Python console on the phone. Read the Nokia Python SDK documentation to see how it works.

The Nokia documentation does not cover how to run the serial console on Mac or Linux computers. But it is a straightforward process once you set up the Bluetooth serial port on the computer. Here are brief instructions for Mac computers, adapted from Erik Smartt's blog at http://www.eriksmartt.com/blog/:

1. Pair the phone with the Mac computer (see "Configure Bluetooth for Mac OS X").
2. Set up an incoming RS-232 port over Bluetooth using the Bluetooth Serial Utility program in the Applications Utilities folder. Give the serial port a name (e.g., PythonConsole) and remember it.
3. From a Terminal window (Applications Utilities Terminal), you can use the screen /dev/tty.portname command to redirect that port to the terminal. portname is the name of the port you assigned in the last step (i.e., PythonConsole).
4. On the phone, use the BTConsole application to search for available Bluetooth devices and choose your Mac from the list. You should see a Connected message in your Mac Terminal window, followed by some directions and a Python prompt.

After you are finished with console programming, you can press Ctrl-D on the Mac to exit the BTConsole and shut down the process on the phone.

How to install Phyton script in your Nokia smartphone?

Run Python Scripts
Click the Python icon to open it and then select Options Run script. You should see a list of installed Python scripts and applications. If this is the first time you've run Python, the scripts that appear will be the demo scripts from Nokia. You can try any of them. The filebrowser.py script is a good start. It allows you to browse the filesystem on the Series 60 smartphone, similar to what FExplorer does.

Install Python Scripts
Of course, ultimately you want to install and run your own Python scripts on the device. To do that, you can put the Python script (with the .py filename suffix) on a web page and download it using the Services browser, or you can simply send the script to the phone via Bluetooth. The phone recognizes the Python script and prompts you to install it. Once the script is installed, it becomes available under the Python script list and you can run it from there.


The user-installed scripts are placed in the C:\System\Apps\Python\my\ directory (or in E:\System\Apps\Python\my\ if Python for Series 60 is installed on the MMC card) You can delete those files to delete Python scripts.

How to prepare Phyton environment in your Nokia smartphone?

While Java and Symbian C++ are powerful programming languages, their learning curves are too steep for most smartphone users. Most users do not need a full-blown programming platform to develop small hacks for their phone. A scripting language is the perfect tool to automate simple tasks and perform simple logical processing.

Python is a widely used scripting language in the computer world. It is easy to learn and supports object-oriented program construction. Nokia provides support for Python on most of its Series 60 devices.

Speaking of running scripting languages on Nokia Series 60 smartphones, there is an unsupported Symbian port for Perl 5.8x and 5.9.x. You can find the installation package and usage instructions from this mailing list posting from a Nokia engineer: http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl5-porters/2005-04/msg00439.html.


The current Nokia phones do not come with the Python runtime environment preinstalled. You have to download and install Python yourself.
You can download the Python for Series 60 package from the Forum Nokia web site under the Series 60 Platform Tools and SDKs category. The download package is a zip file with the .sis installation files, documentation, and example code. Make sure you read the Getting Started document in the download bundle to choose the correct .sis file for your phone. Then, you need to install the extracted .sis file to the phone, following the instructions in "Run Symbian Applications". The .sis file installs the following components to the phone:

• A Python language interpreter
• The necessary libraries (DLL files) to run Python applications
• A plug-in for the phone to recognize Python scripts and Python libraries downloaded from the Internet or embedded in incoming messages

Once the Python runtime is successfully installed, a Python icon appears in the Main menu.

How to write symbian application?

If you are familiar with the C++ language, it is fairly quick to learn how to write Symbian C++ applications for Nokia Series 60 devices. Compared with regular C++, Symbian C++ requires a complex build structure with a lot of resource files and configuration files. A good IDE tool hides those complexities, and hence, greatly reduces the Symbian C++ learning curve. I can recommend two Symbian C++ IDEs:

The Borland C++BuilderX Mobile Edition is available at
http://www.borland.com/mobile/cbuilderx/index.html.

The CodeWarrior Development Studio for Symbian OS is Nokia's Symbian C++ development tool. You can download and purchase it from the tools section in the Forum Nokia web site (http://www.forum.nokia.com/).

How to register a Symbian Application?

Most Symbian applications are commercial software. To reduce piracy, they typically require that you activate the software after it is installed. If you do not activate the application within the specified trial period, it will stop working. The activation process ties the software purchase to a specific device. It works as follows.

Each Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) device is uniquely identified by a 15-digit International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) code. You can get your device's IMEI code by typing *#06# on the keypad

Write down the IMEI code of the device you installed the software on and submit it to the software store or the developer. The option to submit the code will be made available to you when you download or purchase the .sis file.

The vendor or developer then sends you back an activation code (usually within minutes, but sometimes within a few days). You bring up the Activate menu of the application and type in the code to complete the activation process.

The Symbian application uses a secret algorithm (probably a secure hash algorithm with a secret key) to calculate the expected activation code based on the IMEI code. The software store and the developer know how to calculate the activation code from the IMEI code as well. In the meantime, as the user, you do not know the secret and hence cannot calculate the activation code yourself. So, if you supply the correct activation code to the application, it "knows" that you have gone through the official activation process. If you need to use the application on a different device beyond the grace period, you might have to repurchase the product and get a separate activation code. However, you should contact the vendor and explain that you are switching phones. They might offer you a new activation code for little or no cost.

The activation process enables Symbian software developers to offer trial versions of their software. For most commercial applications, you can download and install the .sis file for free and try it out during the trial period. You need to purchase the software only after you verify that it works with your device and are satisfied with its performance. The trial period could last a number of days or a number of restarts after you first install the application. In fact, Nokia Series 60 devices often come with trial versions of Symbian applications preinstalled on their add-on memory cards. They typically allow you to use them 510 times before activation

How to install Symbian application?

Symbian application file is a file with .sis extension. The best way to install a Symbian application is by first download the file. It usually done by downloading the .sis installation file on your computer and then pass it on to the device. Unlike Java applications, which are usually distributed by the wireless operator, Symbian applications are available through software or independent stores, the developer's own website. You can access these sites through the browser on your computer and select the software product. Once you accept the license (or buy it), you will be presented with a direct link to the. Click on the link and opens your browser to download. In most cases, the browser does not recognize the extension or contents of the .sis file. So, you may see random characters in the main browser window. But do not worry, just use the Menu File Save As to save the file to a local file with the.

At this stage, you can run the Nokia PC Suite software to install the .sis file to the camera via a local connection. However, if you have an infrared or Bluetooth connection established between the computer and the device, it is probably easier to just send .sis file to the device. The file appears as a new message in the inbox of the device. Once you open the message, the system automatically installs the Symbian applications. You will be asked to confirm a series of choices to make sure you understand what's happening before the application is actually installed.

How to write your own Java Application?

If you know how to do it, Java is an easy way for writing your own Nokia smartphone applications by using J2ME. You can use the Nokia Developer's Suite for J2ME, which is a free download from the website of Forum Nokia (http://www.forum.nokia.com/). The Nokia Developer's Suite for J2ME is running under Windows, Linux, and offers the following features from a simple graphical user interface (GUI):

• An editor of Java source code
• A drag-and-drop user interface (UI) builder to generate classes of the user interface for the phone application from a visual designer
• Tools for compiling the source code of Java and construct the JAD and JAR for distribution
• Emulators to test your applications on the computer before they are deployed on the physical device. Nokia PC Suite for J2ME comes with a Nokia 6230 emulator and a generic Nokia Series 60 phone emulator. You can download and install other emulators free from the website of Forum Nokia. The Nokia Developer's Suite for J2ME manages all installed emulators.
  

If you are a Java developer and prefer to work with the Integrated Development Environment (IDE) tools, you can install the Nokia Developer's Suite for J2ME inside a popular IDE such as Eclipse. In this way, the J2ME development features in the IDE appear in the menu rather than a graphics.

How to manage Java application?

You can manage any application at the Application Manager and select the 'Option' to display the Management Menu for the application. With this menu, you can delete the application, access to the update history, and automatically update the application for a newer version if downloading web address is known. Via the Settings menu, you can change the way the application asks the user permissions before making sensitive actions. For example, you can configure the application to ask for confirmation every time it accesses the Internet or sends messagesAs noted above, on an old series 60 devices (eg Nokia 3650), you can access the MIDlet settings in the Options menu when you select the MIDlet Games or Apps. From the menu. Please note that these old devices offer less configurable options latest Series 60 devices such as the Nokia 6600, as they are in accordance with an earlier version of the J2ME/MIDP specification.

On a Series 40 device, application management functions are accessible from the Options menu associated with each request pursuant to the application or applications Collection Games menu. Instead of the Settings menu, you use the "App. Access" menu in the series 40 device.

How to install Java application in your phone?

Sometimes, you might need to install a Java application from your PC to the phone. You may have obtain the JAD and JAR files by email, download them manually from web site, or write it yourself or, perhaps your phone does not support General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) or WAP services to get the applications from internet. In these cases, you may use the Nokia PC Suite to install a pair of JAD and JAR files from your Windows-based PC to the phone. The Nokia Application Installer program in the PC Suite allows you to choose a JAR file from the local hard drive. Once you click the green arrow to install the JAR file to the phone, the PC Suite searches the directory the JAR file resides in for a matching JAD file of the same name. If such a JAD file is found, the JAD and JAR pair will be installed automatically. If the JAD file is not found, you can install the JAR file by itself (the JAR-only installation).

If you use a Mac computer or simply cannot get the Nokia PC Suite working on your computer, you can send the JAR file over to the phone via a local connection, such as Bluetooth or Infrared. The file shows up in your phone's messaging Inbox. When you open the message, the AMS is invoked to install the application . This method is one way to perform a JAR-only installation.

How to install Java application OTA (Over The Air)?

The quickest way to install a Java application is by downloading it through the Internet. This is called Over The Air (OTA) installation. In order to do this, you must use your phone WAP browser. You should then direct your browser to an Internet site that provide mobile Java applications, and then click the specified link to directly download the application you need to install. The browser downloads the file and load JAD Java applications management software (AMS) for installation process. The AMS will notify you to confirm a series of choices, after that it will automatically download the JAR file, and does the rest of the installation process. Please note that you cannot use any of the non-native Nokia Web browsers because they do not know how to invoke the AMS. To ensure OTA run properly, the web server that offers the download must map the .jad file suffix to the text/vnd.sun.j2me.app-descriptor Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) type and the .jar file suffix to the application/java-archive MIME type

You may buy or try Java applications from many websites. Your WAP browser's probably already bookmarked with a selection of these websites.

What is a Java application?

Any standard series 40 and series 60 phone has a built-in Java environment which allows you to run all sorts of fresh applications and games. The installation and management of such applications is easy, once you know how to do it.

A MIDlet is a Java application that conforms to the Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP) standard. The MIDP specification defines the Java Virtual Machine and API available on most Java-enabled smart phones, including all Nokia smartphones.

Java technology is widely used to develop mobile games and entertainment applications for Nokia phones. In fact, your Nokia was probably preinstalled with a few Java games (eg Golf and Beach Rally) and utilities (for example, and the converter Clock), courtesy of Nokia and your wireless operator. Here is a list of Web sites where you can buy or download MIDlets:

Handango is the largest online store for mobile software. It runs Nokia and Motorola online software stores. Visit to http://www.handango.com/ Handango.

The mpowerplayer website (http://www.mpowerplayer.com/) provides "previews" of mobile Java games right on your computer screen. You can download a game and play it on your computer. You just have to pay for the game once you choose to install on your phone. It is nice. Try!

The Midlet Review (http://www.midlet-review.com) publishes reports and evaluations of new MIDlets, especially games.

A Java application consists of two files. Java Archive (JAR) file contains the application executable code. Descriptor Java application (JAD) file is a text file containing the attributes of the application and the location of JAR file. During the installation process, the phone went to the JAD file, analyzes its contents, and checks whether the device has the required software and storage space to install the application. If everything looks OK, the camera follows the URL in the JAD file to locate and download the JAR file. Then, the camera compares the JAR file with attributes in the JAD file (for example, application name, vendor, size, digital signature, and so on.) If everything is, the application is installed and becomes the disposal.

How to do bluetooth pairing in Linux?

Pairing
Most bluetooth devices require pairing to be performed before a Bluetooth connection is established. Desktop computer or any remote device may initiate pairing to other bluetooth devices.

When the computer starts pairing, usually the outgoing connection is performed by pin_helper program (usually bluepin), which will show a graph of the dialog box asking the user to enter a PIN, which must match with the serial code on the remote device. If the serial code on the remote devices match, then the remote device is required to provide a PIN that match with the contents of /etc/Bluetooth/pin file.

In some Linux distributions, the PIN is set to the string alphabetical in the BlueZ. This is may cause inconveniences as many Bluetooth devices, including most cell phones are only capable of delivering digital PIN. It is therefore recommended that you change the contents of /etc/Bluetooth/pin to reflect a numeric code.

If pairing is successful, the hcid demon stores the resulting link key used to authenticate all future relations between the two devices involved in the /etc/Bluetooth /link_key database file.

Pinging a remote device
The ping command is a great useful utility to know if remote computers are able to be connected on a TCP/IP network. BlueZ has an analog to ping, called l2ping. Its name related to the fact that it creates a connection to the bluetooth device using the logical link control and adaptation protocol (L2CAP), the lowest-level link-based protocol in Bluetooth.

Therefore, before you feel despair because you cannot connect to a bluetooth device, you may check it with l2ping. There could be an error with software higher up the chain; l2ping allows you to check if a connection can be established with a remote bluetooth device. Here's an example of l2ping in operation (you must to run l2ping as root user):

# l2ping 00:0A:D9:15:CB:B4
Ping: 00:0A:D9:15:CB:B4 from 00:80:98:24:15:6D (data size 20) …
0 bytes from 00:0A:D9:15:CB:B4 id 200 time 54.85ms
0 bytes from 00:0A:D9:15:CB:B4 id 201 time 49.35ms
0 bytes from 00:0A:D9:15:CB:B4 id 202 time 34.35ms
0 bytes from 00:0A:D9:15:CB:B4 id 203 time 28.33ms
4 sent, 4 received, 0% loss

Initializing bluetooth-enabled phones and devices in Linux

The bluez-utils package as mentioned in the previous post contains the everything you need to configure and test your Bluetooth configuration. After you've installed the tool package, run the init script (/etc/init.d/bluez-utils start on Debian, /etc/init.d/bluetooth start on Red Hat) to initialize the Bluetooth subsystem. In latest kernels these scripts normally run on boot, so they may be started already if you installed from RPMs or especially Debian distributions.

The hcid daemon should now be loaded after your run this package. This daemon controls the initialization of Bluetooth devices on the system and handles the pairing process with other devices.

hci is short initial for Host Controller Interface.


Examine the local devices.
The hciconfig tool allows the configuration of the characteristics of your Bluetooth adapter. If you are used to modify configuration of network interfaces, you will find it to have many similarities in operation to ifconfig. Use -a to show detailed information about each Bluetooth device attached to the computer:

# hciconfig -a
hci0: Type: USB
BD Address: 00:80:98:24:15:6D ACL MTU: 128:8 SCO MTU: 64:8
UP RUNNING PSCAN ISCAN
RX bytes:4923 acl:129 sco:0 events:168 errors:0
TX bytes:2326 acl:87 sco:0 commands:40 errors:0
Features: 0xff 0xff 0x05 0x00
Packet type: DM1 DM3 DM5 DH1 DH3 DH5 HV1 HV2 HV3
Link policy: HOLD SNIFF PARK
Link mode: SLAVE ACCEPT
Name: 'saag-0'
Class: 0x100100
Service Classes: Object Transfer
Device Class: Computer, Uncategorized
HCI Ver: 1.1 (0x1) HCI Rev: 0x73 LMP Ver: 1.1 (0x1) LMP Subver: 0x73
Manufacturer: Cambridge Silicon Radio (10)

Scanning for remote devices.
The normal test is to see if your computer can detect other Bluetooth devices. You can utilize the hcitool tool to do this. Switch on your other Bluetooth device, and ensure it is in "discoverable" mode. Issue the command hcitool scan and wait. You don't need to be root to run this command.

$ hcitool scan
Scanning …
00:0A:D9:15:CB:B4 N 6600
00:40:05:D0:DD:69 saag-1


I tested this with Nokia 6600 and Bluetooth adapter, saag-1, are shown as discoverable.

BlueZ, bluetooth device management utility for Linux

First of all, you have to be sure that you have the newer Linux kernel release, the you need a set of utility programs for Bluetooth devices management. The table below shows the packages name and its purpose. You may install the versions of these tools that could be included with your Linux distribution or compile and install them from source.

Utility programs for managing Bluetooth devices

Package	Purpose
bluez-libs	The application library that all other Bluetooth tools require to function
bluez-utils	Main utilities that enable you to initialize and control Bluetooth devices
bluez-sdp	Service discovery protocol tools that enable the advertisement and discovery of Bluetooth services
bluez-pan	Tools that enable personal area networking using Bluetooth
bluez-hcidump	A debugging tool that permits the monitoring of Bluetooth packets
bluez-bluefw	The firmware for Broadcom chipset-based Bluetooth devices

If you want to compile the tools from source code, compile and install the by the order shown in the above table to avoid dependency problems.

You may obtain pre-compiled versions of the BlueZ for Red Hat Linux as RPMs, for Debian stable as .deb packages (current Debian releases are already include BlueZ), and as packages suitable for the Sharp Zaurus Linux PDA. You can download them, along with the source code packages, from the BlueZ download page at http://www.bluez.org/.

To determine whether your Bluetooth system is working, you need to install only the bluez-libs and bluez-utils packages, and also bluez-bluefw if your dongle contains a Broadcom chip (you can determine this from Marcel Holtmann's Bluetooth hardware page at http://www.holtmann.org/linux/bluetooth/devices.html). Install the rest when you have verified that everything is working properly.

How to connect bluetooth with non-SP2 Windows version?

Windows XP SP2 has complete set of drivers to connect your bluetooth devices, however if you have older Windows versions, including Windows 2000, you need to install the vendor-supplied package for the Bluetooth device. The software usually contains a device driver and Bluetooth service management tools. There are many different kinds of Bluetooth adapters available in market.

Each bluetooth adapter brand has slight variation of installation procedure, however the general steps are,
1. Once you install the software package, there would a new My Bluetooth Places shortcut in user's desktop and a Bluetooth icon to the system tray. My Bluetooth Places opens like an ordinary folder in Windows Explorer. The content in this folder are the devices in the network and the supported services available. The available Bluetooth services, such as new devices searching and commencing/terminating local services, are shown in the Bluetooth Tasks sidebar.

2. You can open the system Bluetooth configuration utility in system tray icon or by using the "View or modify configuration" task in the My Bluetooth Places browser. Through this configuration utility, you may edit the Bluetooth settings, searching for devices in the network, and pair with the devices. There are also a number of unique vendor tools for services with paired mobile phones, such as dialing numbers, exchanging files and business cards, and others.

Short codes for US network providers

Short # codes

Short code	Result	Operator
#MIN# (#646#)	Sends the minutes usage to your handset as a message	T-Mobile USA
#NUM# (#686#)	Sends your mobile number to you as a message	T-Mobile USA
#999#	Sends the balance of your prepaid account to you as a message	T-Mobile USA
#BAL# (#225#)	Sends your balance to you as a message	T-Mobile USA

Short * codes

Short code	Result	Operator
*MIN# (*646#)	Sends your minutes usage to your phone as a message	Cingular
*BAL# (*225#)	Gives you an update on your outstanding balance	Cingular
*NUM (*686)	Reads your mobile number to you with a voice recording	T-Mobile USA
*PAY (*729)	Enables you to make a free phone call to pay your bill	Cingular
*#100#	Sends you your mobile number as a message	Vodafone
*#1345#	Sends you your balance as a message	Vodafone
*#103#	Displays network time and date	Vodafone
*#147#	Displays the last incoming call, including time and date	Vodafone
*#105#	Displays cell tower information	Vodafone

Call codes for GSM networks

Command string	Result of command
#31#PhoneNumber	Masks your phone number from Caller ID (your call to PhoneNumber shows up as "Private Call").
*#21#	Checks status of call forwarding.
**21*PhoneNumber#	Forwards all calls to PhoneNumber.
##21#	Resets call forwarding to default.
*#67#	Checks status of forwarding for calls that arrive when you are busy.
**67*PhoneNumber#	Forwards all busy calls to PhoneNumber.
##67#	Resets busy call forwarding to default.
*#61#	Checks status of forwarding for calls that you don't answer.
**61*PhoneNumber#	Forwards all unanswered calls to PhoneNumber.
##61#	Resets unanswered call forwarding to default.
*#62#	Checks status of forwarding for calls that arrive when you are out of reach (when your phone is off or out of a service area).
**62*PhoneNumber#	Forwards all unreachable calls to PhoneNumber.
##62#	Resets unreachable call forwarding to default.

Verizon Wireless short codes

Short Code	Result
#MIN (#646)	Sends the minutes usage to your handset as a text message or voice message
#BAL (#225)	Gives account balance information as a text message or voice message
#PMT (#768)	Enables you to make a free phone call to pay your bill
*DWI (*394)	Reports a suspected drunk driver (might not work in all service areas)

How to unlock phone by calculating the code?

Locked phones are wasted investments

• If you change to a new service provider, your old locked phone is useless and you must buy a completely new phone.
  
• When you travel abroad, a locked phone cannot be used with local prepaid SIM card.
  
• Locked phone cannot be sold.

There are a number of freewares for calculating the code, however they often have a less-polished UI and require you to know more about jargons. It can be frustrating to calculate the code. You may find the list of unlock code calculator programs here. You might need to try a number of unlock programs because they run in different Windows versions.

You might also try NokiaFREE with its online calculator at http://unlock.nokiafree.org/, which does the same thing as the offline software.

Older Nokia models usually use the old DCT3 firmware, while, most of today's Series 40 and Series 60 phones utilize the DCT4 firmware, which is luckily supported by most calculator programs. Examine the list of DCT3 phones at http://www.unlockme.co.uk/softwareversions.html. If your phone is not listed in this table, perhaps it is a DCT4 phone.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/danluik/downloads/dct4nck.zip, is one of the simplest code calculator.

When it runs in DOS shell, it would display

DCT4NCK by jozso v0.0a

Usage: dct4nck locktype imei provider [boxserial]

In older phone locktype usually 2, but if you are using 3650 and 7650 above it is usually 5, also put your IMEI number and the provider code. You can get the provider code here.

This calculator would generate seven possible codes, however you only have 5 tries before the phone is locked,

Typically, you want to try the fourth one first, then the first one, and then the seventh one.

Locking mechanism is increasingly complex, this method will not probably work on newest phones.

How to most accurately get reliable information on account usage?

The best way to get reliable information on your account is by utilizing your telephone service operator. Some operators allow their subscribers to send text messages to obtain account information.

Some examples for operators in the USA:

• If you are a T-Mobile subscriber, you can call special service #646# (#MIN#) to check the account usage and service number #225# (#BAL#) to check the current account usage.
• If you subscribe to Sprint PCS, you can call the service *4 to know the current account usage.
• If you subscribe to Cingular, the number of service #2455 (#BILL) is available in some markets to check account usage.

The SMS based request may take form as sending a blank message to a service and acquire the account number via the message reply. It is most popular in Europe and Asia than in the United States most of these numbers are freely accessible.

Not all operators offer such services to their subscribers. The information provided may also very short, considering the limited size of reply. Your most up-to-date source of information is the customer service of your wireless network operator.

Call logging softwares for Symbian

If you use a Nokia Series 60 phone, you can substitute the built-in log feature with a commercially available in third-party programs. One of the is Moov Software's Minute Manager.

Minutes Manager tracks the minutes of airtime, data bandwidth, and email usage. You can configure it further to support the more complex services package. For example, you can configure it based on the different peak times and weekends periods used by the various operators. It would starts to register after two minutes the phone rings or after the called person picks the phone up. This application may also ignore call logging for toll-free numbers specified in the contract (for example, families members, 611 and 911 calls). It even handles important details such as whether peak minutes can be carried over to off-peak time and if the plan allows you to carry more minutes since the last billing cycle (for example, plans Cingular Rollover Minutes).

Minutes Manager resets itself at the beginning of each billing cycle. It displays the unused minutes left in the current billing cycle, both in the program and on the phone display slowed. This is a very handy feature that lets you know instantly available minutes, without the pressure of a button.
However, Minutes Manager, which made certain limits. For example, it is only available on Series 60 devices. Also, it cannot distinguish between regular calls made between the numbers inside the network, which can become free during promotional campaign.

Extended Log Symbian is another utility that analyzes the phone's call log and helps in tracking the account usage.

Use built-in log to monitor your call and data usage

Nokia Series 40 and Series 60 devices come with a small program to keep track of mobile phone use. In Series 60 device, it is called 'Log' this program can be accessed at main menu display. In Series 40 device, this phone features is called as 'Registry'. The log shows the total number of minutes of calls made and received, as well as data bandwidth GPRS redeemed. This log can be reset at the start of billing cycle to make it easier to track your monthly usage.

The problem is this feature is too simple to keep track today's complex service plans. -- The log cannot distinguish between the charged fee during off peak and peak hours. It counts free call services (for example, 611 or 911 telephone), family plan calls, and regular phone calls similarly. Once the call button is pressed, the log register that call at the same moment. At older Series 60 devices, this log does not count the number of SMS/MMS received and sent.

Watch your account to avoid costly fees !

Today, contracts for wireless services are developed by the operator . Consumer pay a fixed monthly fee to subscribe to an offered service plan. The plan may includes a number of minutes of voice calls and SMS / MMS, and a number of data bandwidth. Calls made at peak or off-peak time, from different locations (home or roaming areas), and to various destinations (family members, in the network of mobile numbers, etc.) are all calculated differently in the plan. If you exceed the limits of use of this plan, you will have to pay more. Due to these additional fees, many subscribers tend to choose plans that are somewhat more expensive than what they need to ensure that they do not exceed the limit. The unused portion of the service plan is wasted at the end of each month or billing cycle. That would mean a lot of extra profit for the operator and the subscribers throw that money needlessly

Some wireless network operators in the United States provide solutions to the problem of wasted minutes. Cingular lets you to transfer unused minutes from one month to another. Sprint proposes a different solution: a flexible service plans, you will be automatically upgraded to the next higher plan if your usage exceeds the limit.

You can do better! Let's beat the system and don't throw your money away by monitoring the use of your account regularly and adjust your usage habits accordingly. Well, if you are short of peak time minutes left near the end of month/billing cycle, you can make less important calls during off-peak hours, or even postpone to the next billing cycle. In a more aggressive planning, you may also reduce your month-to-month fluctuations of usage. This would allows you to choose an affodable plan that closely matches your need. The key to good planning is to research for accurate and real-time data on the use of your account at any time. I will show you how to do this in my next posts!

How to know your software version?

Another piece of useful information about your phone number is its software version. Devices with the same model number (for example, the same material), but different versions of the software may have slightly different behavior and features. Some of the tricks and advanced applications depend on the device software version.

Technical bulletins published by the Forum Nokia identify issues and bugs with version numbers of specific software. For the version number of your phone, enter the code *#0000# on your keyboard, as if you are calling a phone number.

If your phone has an older version of firmware, you can update the firmware by reflashing the main phone memory. You can send the phone to a phone store to make these upgrades.

Reflashing your phone firmware can damage the device in some cases. It is not covered by your warranty, so do this at your own risk!

How to know the IMEI number?

The International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) is a 15 digit code that uniquely identifies your mobile phone. It is a very useful code, for example, the wireless operator will use your IMEI code to relate to your account and identify stolen phones, locking them from using the network. Nokia Series 60 devices often uses IMEI codes to register the purchase of software. There are two ways to find out your phone's IMEI number:

The first method is to search on label. The IMEI number appear on the packaging of the telephone box. If you lose the original package box, it can also be found on the white label under the battery.

The second method is to type *#06# on your keyboard, as if you call a phone number (do not press the Send key green). Immediately after you type in these numbers, the phone will display its IMEI number.

If you buy a used phone from a third broker, it's a good idea to ensure that the IMEI number returned by the phone software is similar with the IMEI number on the inner label and the box. A mismatch may indicate that the phone is stolen or counterfeit.

How to know the model number?

Numbering for Nokia smartphones is somewhat cryptic, such as Nokia 9300, 3250, 3650, etc. Do you know the model number of your phone? Well, it is indeed easy to find the model number, even if you lost the box and purchase receipt. First, turn off your phone, and then open the back cover of the device and remove the battery. You will find the sticker which contains IMEI number and phone model number. Write it down, these number would be important for the optimization of your phone and would be used for tips and trick in this blog

Available data plan technologies

Wireless phone usually based on the data network operator to connect to the Internet. The technologies of wireless network is known as a data bearer of mobile data. Here is a brief overview of the data available to carriers today plans for wireless services. Given that the vast majority of Nokia handsets based on GSM, I refocus the topic of this blog on GSM-related technologies on this technology.

GSM
The GSM network provides access to the phone (call data). It works the same way as the modem on a PC. The advantage of this technology is that it is available anywhere you can get coverage. However, the disadvantages are the slow data rate (between 9.6 and 13.2 kbit/s) and phone dedicated to the connection. Since the call must be connected throughout the session data, it relies on your air time minutes. If you want to make a voice call, you must first disconnect the data call. All Nokia Series 40 and Series 60 devices support GSM data connection. GSM data connection is known as 2G (second generation).

GPRS
The GPRS network allows the phone to have direct access to the packet data network. The phone does not need to dial calls. This feature allows the phone, always on access to data without the use of airtime minutes. GPRS is known as the 2.5 G (midway between the second and third generation). The data speed of 2.5 G data carriers (between 20 and 40 kbit / s) is also faster than the 2G data carriers. All Nokia Series 40 and Series 60 devices supporting bearer GPRS data.

EDGE
The EDGE network works a bit like the GPRS network, except that EDGE has a much faster pace of data (up to 230 kbps).

UMTS
The UMTS network is the so-called third generation (3G) wireless networking technology. It offers data speeds broadband approximately 384 kbps and higher.

Which data plan that is available to you depends on your wireless operator, your location, and your service plan. GPRS service will be available from all GSM operators where you have the voice of coverage. If your service plan does not include data service, you can call your carrier wireless and added to a monthly fee. The data service is generally determined by the bandwidth you use in a billing period. Most operators also offer flat-rate subscriptions for unlimited data use.

Similar data bearers also exist in CDMA networks and are available on CDMA phones Nokia (Series 40). CDMA unique data carries Carrier Radio Transmission Technology (1xRTT) and the Single Carrier-Evolution Data Only (1xEV-DO). 1 xRTT is typical rates of 70120 kbit/s, and 1xEV-DO has typical downstream speeds of 300-500 kbit/s (with upstream speeds the same as 1xRTT).

About choosing data plan

With their full wireless support, Nokia smartphones are some of the most favorable gadgets available. If you are going to use your phone to connect to the Internet, make sure you choose the right data plan.

Your Nokia smartphone phone can connect to the Internet in many ways, but it will cost you some cash. Before you commit to the plan data, you must consider what you are going to do with the phone. Will you send and receive messages on the phone? Do you intend to send lot of pictures or video clips taken with camera phone? Publishing your blog? Do you use your Nokia phone to connect, your laptop to the Internet? It is possible that you use your phone for a lot of what the computer can do, and yes, there are many hotspot around the world for your WiFi and 3G device.

Data plans are divided into two versions: meter and unlimited. With metered plan, you get anywhere from 500 Mb to 10 Gb per month, or you can pay per kilobyte. There are two types of plans unlimited: handset plan and a truly unlimited plans, which allow you to use your phone as a wireless modem for your laptop or PDA.

What to do after signing up to a voice plan?

Most network operators give you a trial period of 15 to 30 days. Use these days to your greatest advantage! Go to your home, your office, anywhere you used to go and you need to expect good service. Call customer service. Call several times and talk to different representatives. In such cases, if the service does not perform as you wish, you can move out of your contract.

You can also get all kinds of scary stories about customer service of the various operators. Customer service needs to be improved in almost all operators. Customer Service Representatives (CSR) need to be better trained in general, and specially trained to handle complaints and issues of service. I think the general feeling is that they are yours for the duration of your contract, and that if you already become a customer for a while, you will become depended to the telephone number assigned to you, they, so that they are not scared of losing you.

However, the ability to port your number from one operator to another may cause some customer service department to rethink that assumption.

I know I can be annoying sometimes, but I will always notify a supervisor when a representative was particularly attentive, polite, and helpful. I think it's more important to give a high five to the CSR that really care to the customers.

Choosing the best voice plan

Network operators constantly change their plans and frequently offer attractive promotions. However, these promotions are generally based on two-year contracts, and the only thing you usually get is the agreement on the price of the phone. If you factor in the Early Termination Fee (ETF), which is usually $ 175 to $ 200, the situation is not very good. It can be difficult to find someone who is delighted with the signing of a two-year contract. As a result, many people break their contracts, opting to pay the ETF so that they can move to an operator who has a more attractive plan or data service.

So, look for a permanent promotion that includes greatly reduced the monthly rates. These plans do exist. When AT & T Wireless launched its GSM service, the $ 39.95 /500 minutes plan, it includes an additional 500 minutes, one of my friends was still active on this package until this day.

Many of these promotion plans disappear eventually, and you should switch to another plan. With regard to which plan to choose, consider a minimum of 1000 minutes package if you are a professional user who is going to use the telephone to a lot of calls during busy work day. If you use the phone for personal use, you can get away with a lot less minutes, between 300 and 600 minutes, especially if your operator promotion package flows into the night hours and weekends free calls.

Each operator has a different definition of the night and on weekends, and these definitions change from time to time. Over the years, operators have defined as nights from 9:00 pm and on weekends starting on Friday at midnight, which gives you only two days of weekend. On the downside, some have defined weekends from Thursday at midnight, and thus include all Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. In this case, a business user may be able to get away with a plan with a low number of minutes, assuming he can schedule all its conference calls on Friday.

Once you have choose a plan, it does not stop there. Keep an eye on the number of minutes you use and plans to move away if necessary. If you switch plans, make sure to know what is the requirement of contract termination.

How to conduct research in choosing the best voice plan?

In order to help you in doing a serious research on your market and the service is offered to them, www.WirelessAdvisor.com provides discussion forums. In addition, HowardForums (http://www.howardforums.com/) is the place where people talk about all things related to mobile phone. You can use the search function in HowardForums for example, to search for information on your market (just browse this forum and use the search box at the bottom of the page). Make sure you use the search function first, it is a very busy site, and I am willing to bet that the question you want to ask has been asked before.

HowardForums also has forums for all manufacturers of mobile phones available today, in fact, Nokia has a group of followers at HowardForums. It is also a good place to learn about new plans and promotions before the operator made an official announcement. In addition, all operators have several employees who read this forums regularly. I saw a lot of mobile users get help as if they are addressing phone's customer service.

How to pick the best cellular phone provider?

Maybe you really want to use a Nokia N-82 Smartphone. It is a GSM phone, you enter your Zip Code in the www.WirelessAdvisor.com search form, which will gives you all operators who have licenses GSM radio in that region.

At this stage, you need to start listening to other customers experience with the operator. Ask your family, friends and colleagues about the operator they use. They will tell us if they hate the service, and you know from personal experience that they drop calls all the time when we talk to you on their mobiles. This can be a sign of poor equipment, excessive use of the network, or low coverage in your area. I used one of the CDMA operators for years in the Washington, DC market. After decent services for a time, they quickly went downhill. I regularly received "network busy" messages on my phone and I had a very long and painful history call to the customer service. Despite using this operator for years (almost five, in fact), I could no longer believe it to be reliable network provider. Now, I made it very clear to anyone, I knew what I think about this company. For each network operator, I hear a lot of complaints, and we found that the quality of service depends not only on the operator, but also on how this system is implemented in a given geographical region .
So, you can pick a temporary operator for your service with the phone you want (or the one you already have). Go to the operator of the Web site and verify their coverage maps. Typically, these map are not very accurate, but it would give you a general idea about the coverage, check if you areas covered are the most common. If they are not, see another operator who can take charge of the same equipment. Otherwise, the options to reconsider your equipment or lower your standards.

How to pick the best smartphone based on voice plan?

CDMA operators are generally not very keen to let you go to them and bring CDMA device you bought from a rival operator, but still it can not hurt to ask. You will have a better chance of changing operator with a GSM mobile phone operator because you can usually swap a small card called SIM card from one phone to another, the SIM card identifies your unique account and you are allowed to access a specific network operator's GSM network.

After choosing a right phone, you will be able to determine from its description of what kind of network it uses (CDMA or GSM). Once you have determined what type of network you need, you can use WirelessAdvisor for what operators in your area operate such a network. Yo can go to http://www.wirelessadvisor.com/ to find which operators who have a spectrum in all major cities or in a specific US ZIP codes. It does not mean that these companies provide services; they may just only hold licensing radio spectrum. This site also list what type of network they are using, whether GSM, CDMA, iDEN, or TDMA.

What to prioritize when choosing a provider?

Those cool gadgets and new equipments are coming out each week. However, priority on gadgetry should not be your main determining factor when choosing an operator of wireless network (carrier). Unless you live in a major city with at least two million people and choices and coverage in abundance, there are considerations more important than the voice quality or the choice of downloading games. A mobile phone is simply not good without a quality service. You must first focus on the coverage and the spectrum available in your most frequent use markets. Use the Web site to search your home and office, and if you travel regularly to another city or town, check that too. Make sure that the coverage maps of the network operator covers your areas. Nothing is worse than discovering that you can not get a signal in the areas you visit regularly, or if you are subject to high roaming charges!

There is no such thing as a the best wireless operator. It is really not possible to be the best on all around factors, for many reasons, but I hope to give you the means to make informed decisions regarding the operator that you should use in your primary market.

Picking the right phone for the available network

All Nokia mobile phone works with either the GSM network or the CDMA network. Therefore, you need to choose the right model to match your wireless operator.

Unfortunately, not all Nokia smartphones work with all wireless operators everywhere in the world. Each wireless operators build their networks using different kind of technologies, and a phone model typically works with only one of the network technologies.

If you obtain your Nokia smartphone from the wireless operator when you signed up to a service plan, it can be rest assured that the device is compatible with the operator's wireless network in your current area. However, as smartphone power users and gadget lovers, many of us actually buy cutting-edge devices directly from electronics stores at bargain price and then use them with existing service plans. If that the case, you have to be a little extra careful to picking a phone that works correctly with your operator's network.

Purchasing a smartphone from a third-party electronics store without a service plan will often cost you more, because the mobile operator does not subsidize the cost of the device with service revenues in this case. However, you will have access to the latest devices available that have not been officially supported by the operator, and you will be freed from operator lock-in. Additionally, you get a handset unmolested by the mobile operator. Many operators apply custom firmware and branding to their handsets, such as adding new icons or removing functionality from the device. This would limit the full potentials of your smartphone. Even if you get a device unlocked from your operator, it will still have some customizations in place, and sometimes this can produce very undesirable effects in the long term.

Thse are the most common technology for cellular phones

GSM
The GSM technology was developed in Europe to provide digital voice networks. It has been now extended to support fast wireless data access via the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS; 2040 kbps), EDGE (40 230 kbps), and UMTS (384 kbps and up) protocols. GSM phones operate at frequencies of around 900, 850, 1800, and 1900 MHz. It is now become the most widely used wireless phone network technology in the world. All Nokia smart phones support both GSM and GPRS. Newer models, such as Nokia N-series also support EDGE and UMTS.

iDEN
iDEN is Motorola's proprietary wireless networking technology based on (but unfortunately not compatible with the prevalent) GSM. It attempts to combine the digital phone, two-way radio, alphanumeric pager, and data/fax modem in a single network. The iDEN network is only used in about a dozen countries. In North America, Nextel and Mike (Telus Mobility) are iDEN operators. No Nokia phones currently works with iDEN networks.

CDMA
The CDMA technology is developed and licensed by Qualcomm. It is based on the spread-spectrum technology which uses a single-frequency band for all traffic. Each individual transmission is differentiated by a unique code assigned by the network before transmission. CDMA supports wireless data at a peak speed of 153 kbps, about three times the speed of GPRS. Nokia's CDMA devices are not as technically advanced as its GSM-based devices, such as the lack of Symbian S60 OS.


Network availability is a prime consideration if you frequently travel abroad. For instance, most wireless operators in Western Europe use the GSM network. Your CDMA phone will have limited coverage there. On the other hand, South Korea uses mostly CDMA networks.

To get a complete list of GSM and CDMA devices from Nokia, go to the Forum Nokia device matrix at http://www.forum.nokia.com/ devices and choose GSM or CDMA in the "Devices filtered by" drop-down box.

What is a smartphone?

Casual mobile phone users use their phones only for voice calls. The phone's keypad and small screen are well designed for such kind of use. Modern Nokia mobile phone is a lot more than an ordinary voice communications device. In fact, the phone comes with a 200-page user manual, which explains many of the phone's advanced features.

Today, Nokia mobile phone is a voice, text, and multimedia communications hub, a personal information manager, a web browser, a multimedia entertainment center, game console, and an extensible platform for new applications all in one single hand-held device. In this blog, I will discuss tricks and tips on how to make the best use of those great features. However, before you start on these optimization tricks, you need to understand the Nokia phone's features and how they relate to network services.

A smartphone is defined as a mobile phone that has computer functionalities and integrated with an operating system, it provides features, such as a web browser, an email client, a personal information manager, a media player, and video games. Based on this definition, almost all Nokia mobile phones sold since 2003 are smartphones.

Official Nokia web site is the best place to find information about Nokia phones. However, the Nokia web site is hard to navigate and bookmark, since most links are generated dynamically. If you are curious about a specific model, you can just enter the word Nokia, along with the four-digit number of the model you're interested in (e.g., Nokia N-82), into the Google search engine (http://www.google.com/). The Nokia product page is typically the top-ranked search result. From that page, you can learn more about the phone, read the technical specifications, download the user manual, obtain additional software, and buy accessories
.

About Smartphones

Smartphones are one of the smallest computers and also the most connected computers. They interconnected with the voice telephone network as well as to the short and long-range digital data network, including the Internet itself. In its raw computing power, an ordinary smartphone in 2005 is roughly equivalent to a top-of-the-line PC of the middle 1990s in terms of both CPU speed and memory size inside a light handheld device. It combines all the most disruptive technologies of our times, including wireless networks, mobile phones, digital media, photography, PCs, and the Internet, smartphones have profoundly changed our lives and our social interactions. There is certainly a "mobility divide" similar to the "digital divide" in our societies: the people who know how to take advantage of smartphones will eventually have a strong competitive edge. If you are interested in learning how to make the best use of your smartphone, this blog is for you.

About This Blog

This blog is created to provide tips, trick and how-to's to the feature-rich Nokia Symbian Mobile Smartphone, visit often to get the most out of your smartphone.