"Gnubox in use" error

Gnubox corrupted and stuck in BT/Auto mode.

Solution: "Delete records" under Install option from Gnubox. Create new Access point named "Bt". Run Gnubox and change mode.

FreeCaller - a free full screen caller photo app

A good free app to make incoming calls display a full photo of the caller.

FreeCaller is an open source symbian application for Nokia S60 3rd Edition phones, that displays a full screen caller photo on incoming calls. It uses pre-attached photos, and its own incoming call screen, that replaces the native nokia "bubble". The screen displays a full scale photo of the caller, its name and phone number.

Get it from freecaller.wiki.sourceforge.net This is one more addition to my freeware for S60 collection.

Youtube goes native for S60

Youtube has released a new Youtube app which is now a native S60 app and is 90% faster than its previous Java version. Use your phone and download from http://m.youtube.com. You may also download the SIS file from here.

Read more [Youtube blog]

I have tried it out and it is really much faster at streaming Youtube video on a S60 device with this new app than before. The menus are very responsive and not sluggish like the previous Java version. However I still prefer emTube which unfortunately has been broken due to Youtube site changes and the developer has been MIA.

No more missed calls and messages

I have lost count on the number times I have missed calls or SMSes on my Nokia phone. I finally found a free missed call/message alert app called Total Patrol via Symbian Guru. The app needs to be Symbian Signed to work which is easily done with the old developer's method of signing or with Open Signed online.

With Total Patrol, you can set the time interval, the sound to use for the alert as well as the choice to enable the vibrator. It also includes a low battery warning alert option which you can set to alert you when your battery level reaches a certain percentage. This is a must have app for all Nokia S60 3rd Ed users since Nokia totally forgot to include such an important feature.

You can download the latest version from the Russian site here [betep.allnokia.ru].

Nokia Beta Labs' enhanced calculator for S60

Nokia Beta Labs has released an Enhanced Calculator for S60. This is ported from the old S40 calculator which users have found being more intuitive than the current version on S60 devices. Its standard calculator is similar to Calcium by using the direction pad to input operation. It also includes a scientific calculator and a loan calculator by switching modes via the menu.

Sadly this port is a java app and startup on S60 takes four seconds to start. I'll stick with the default S60 calculator, Calcium and cCalc for now.

Google Maps for mobile devices

Google recently updated their Google Maps for mobile devices on Symbian S60 and Windows Mobile to version 2.2. For those no using such platforms, the Java version is also updated. One major new features is Transit which is available to around 50 cities at the moment.

The preferred way to download download the app is with your phone directed at google.com/gmm. It will check your web browser useragent and serve the corresponding page for download. There is no direct page to download with your desktop browser. For those who prefer to download to their PCs then transferring it to the phone, you can easily bypass this with the User Agent Switcher Firefox extension with the appropriate useragent info (search google for it) and download it with Firefox. The following are some of the links for the major mobile platforms.

Download Google Maps for: Symbian S60, Java Micro Edition, Windows Mobile
The Palm version is version 2.0.2.0: Palm OS devices

Symbian does an Android

Nokia recently announced its offer to acquire the shares of Symbian from its partners. Nokia intends to consolidate the various iterations of Symbian, namely S60, UIQ and MOAP, into one single platform under a newly established Symbian Foundation and to open source Symbian in the next 2 years.

This is not too dissimilar to Google's Android initiative which many would view as the reason for Nokia's bold direction. The rise of open source Linux on smartphone devices like Android poses a serious challenge down the road.

As a major shareholder of Symbian, Nokia has all this while been the main purveyor of Symbian OS even though it started out as a partnership with a few other well-known mobile phone manufacturers such as Sony Ericsson and Motorola. Symbian has made little impact in terms of being a smartphone OS brand unlike RIM, Windows Mobile and iPhone which dominate the enterprise space; Symbian is generally treated as a mainstream proprietary OS for low to mid range phones with little to no emphasis on smartphone features. By making this strategic move, Nokia will prevent Symbian from becoming obsolete and evolve into an accessible platform for all mobile device manufacturers to incorporate into their hardware.

Oh, and also Happy 10th Birthday to Symbian.

MP3Editor for Python S60

I found this Russian MP3 Editor that's based on Python S60. It can trim and join MP3 files and even edit some info of the ID tag. I found it very useful when trying to trim music already in the phone to create ringtones. The great thing about it is that it always saves the edited copy without overwriting the original file. I poked around and found the source packaged within so I decided to translate it from Russian into English with some help from Altavista's Babel Fish translator and removed the time wasting splash screen on load.

Things to do if I have the time: Translate the original manual from Russian to English.

Update: (21/1/2008) I have repackaged the files to include the icon. Due to my previous poor handling of the program's UID, please remove all prior versions before installing the latest else you will have duplicate copies of the installed app.

Install BOTH of the following .sis files:

MP3Editor 0.3 English localisation

Python S60 interpreter. Download and install the file PythonForS60_1_4_3_X.SIS where X corresponds to the version of your Symbian OS.

You need to place the MP3 files for editing in E:\Sounds directory in your memory card prior to running the program; the program will quit if it is unable to locate the directory.

The basic keys to crop files are as follows:

Use left soft key for menus and right key to cancel or exit. 1/3: Move start point to right
2: Reset start position
4/6: Move end point to left/right
5: Mark end point at current position
7/8: Adjust timing steps
Up, down keys: Volume control
Left, right keys: Move position mark

Test out the keys and it should be quite obvious what they do. For questions or feedback, post them in the comments of this entry.

After trying this app on some MP3 files, I found that it has some accuracy issues when handling sound files at certain bitrates on my phone. It happens on my Nokia 6120 so I am not sure if this occurs on other Symbian phones. The bug is prevalent when saving a cropped file; it will offset ending mark of the track by a few seconds. The workaround is to manually offset the crop by the amount missing from the track.

Symbian programming doodle

I decided to play around with the Carbide.c++ IDE from Nokia during the weekend to mod a few open source apps I found. I used the basic Express version since its free.

Having absolutely no prior programming experience with C++ though I did dabble with very simple C programming stuff, I found that it was quite easy to use the Carbide IDE which is based on the Eclipse IDE. The included tutorials are pretty useless and I think I learnt most of it through trial and error. I never did get far with Palm programming even though it was using the same IDE though.

The first program source I tried out was CMans SaySMS. This is a Flash SMS app where the SMS message will display immediately on the recipient's phone like a nag screen. I had two major nagging problems with this app that need some changing.

First is a cropped icon when viewed in the task manager which I had to compare the SVG graphic file with a Carbide sample app. It took a while before I found it was missing the viewBox attribute. This wouldn't be considered as changing the code since I could have extracted the original sis package and done it without the source. The other irritating thing is that it loads "Hi" as default in the input area and I have to clear it every time. I only had to search for the "Hi" string and remove it. I also tried to find a way to increase the font size for the SMS input text since they were ridiculously small but I couldn't locate the appropriate settings for these.

The next app I tried was horlogeParlante or simply a talking clock. It speaks the time when you press the volume key but the app is in French. This too was quite straightforward as variables used by the author were very clear which made localising it to English an easy task.

You can download my versions here:
Say SMS
Talking Clock
Both are S60 3rd Edition programs.

Note that you will have to sign them with your developer certs in order to install successfully. Since the codes are released freely by the original authors and one is even licensed under GPL, you may request for my source code of the changes by posting your request in the comments. All requests in the comments are moderated and will not be published so you do not need to worry about exposing your email address to spam harvesters.

Freeware for Symbian S60 3rd Ed

Being spoilt for choice with thousands of apps available for the Palm OS platform, its quite a chore to find equally fascinating titles on the Symbian S60 platform. I am a cheapskate who prefers not to spend a dime on software and especially not on a "throwaway" device like a phone. So it was quite frustrating in the beginning when I didn't know what exactly is available and wasted a lot of time searching the web.

After taking a while to become accustomed with my Nokia 6120 Classic and testing a wide selection of free programs, I've decided to make this list which I hope can serve as a starting point for new users of a S60 smartphone device. All the apps listed are legal freeware and native S60 apps. I have personally tried out each one and most have a permanent place in my phone. I have also included it with links so you can easily download the programs and even discover other apps on the respective sites.

Nokia software
Nokia has its own Symbian apps which may not be included on their phones.

Nokia Maps
Free vector maps on your phone with satnav capabilities using GPS. It works well even without GPS.

Nokia Search
Search your phone for almost anything using any keyword.

Nokia Energy Profiler
This program is meant for software development purposes but it can be useful to see if you have any rogue power hungry app installed.

Nokia Beta Lab
Nokia has its own beta lab where it lets users try out some apps they are developing for its phones.

Nokia Device Status
A self-diagnosis tool that allows you to collect detailed system information both from your PC and your S60 device. Your device configuration and phone settings are presented in a neat detailed summary. Available as PC and phone versions.

Nokia Audiobooks
Carry your audiobooks while on the go. The package includes a highly efficient audio compression technology optimized for voice (AMR-WB), a player application for S60 (Nokia Audiobook Player), and an audio converter tool for PC (Nokia Audiobook Manager). Whereas traditional music player applications are optimized for music, Nokia Audiobook Player is optimized for audiobooks, enabling you to browse chapters, set bookmarks, and automatically continue from where you last time stopped listening.

Wellness Diary
Monitor and track a range of everyday well-being parameters, including weight, eating habits, exercise, blood pressure and others. Works as a health journal for you to take an active role in the daily and/or long-term management of your health.
This is not really useful to me since I am not a very fitness conscious person. :P

Conversation
Enables grouping of messages in a threaded messaging view. I find that it doesn't display the sender names for SMSes received that have the country code prefix.

Third Party Freeware

Multimedia

Divxplayer
Playback your DivX or Xvid videos. This is however a limited time version. It has decent playback but still not as polished as Coreplayer. A signup is required at Divx site before you can download but you may be able to find the file hosted elsewhere.

emTube
Stream and save Youtube video or play your Flash video (.flv) files stored on your phone. The playback of stored flv video is very smooth and can only get better as the author has been actively improving this app. Now you can watch any lame Youtube video over and over while on that dull commute.

Mobitubia

Like emtube that can stream and playback Youtube videos but with nice eyecandy UI like a revolving menu. I prefer emtube to this since I like a simpler no-frills menu and I am not forced to turn my phone sideways just to use the menu. Some N95 users might prefer this though.

Phone tools

Call Filter or CallFilter
Filter your calls with blacklist or whitelists. There happens to be two apps with the same name. The first one you can get free from S60.com after you sign-up and the other one. I have yet to test both out but the former looks a bit more polished and does not have ugly icons.

FreeCaller
FreeCaller is an open source symbian application that displays a full screen caller photo on incoming calls. The screen displays a pre-attached full scale photo of the caller, its name and phone number.

Kaywa reader
Read those mobile barcodes with this app. It supports decoding and showing the text directly on the screen without connecting to the Net. This is one of the better readers since it can decode QR codes.

Screenshot
Capture screenshots of your phone. This app supports hotkey activation with the "C" or camera button so works well on my 6120c.

SaySMS
Send Flash SMS, an SMS message that pops up on your recipient's phone immediately. It is good for that one off blasts to a friend. It lacks integration with the built-in SMS app and loads with the word "Hi," which is quite annoying since you'll need to clear it every time you don't want to start out with that salutation.

SMS Export
Export your SMS to text files on your phone. Good for creating backups if you hate to sync with Nokia PC Suite.

Theme Scheduler and Profile Scheduler
From the developer of the excellent free file manager Y-browser comes these two scheduler apps for theme and profiles. You can now change themes and profiles as often as you like automatically.

Total Patrol

Nokia left out the missed call/sms alert feature. Now you never have to miss another call/message with this app.

Programming
Python for S60

Develop programs with the efficient Python programming language. This is an excellent rapid application development environment to create working apps with little effort.

Ebooks

BibleReader
I am not a religious fanatic but its nice to see a Bible on a phone. As usual, the more mainstream Bible versions like NIV and NKJV are not free but there are free ones available.

Biblereader, Mobipocket & Pydict

Mobipocket Reader and Qreader
Mobipocker reader is an elegant ebook reader and has better support especially ebooks purchased from its site. But Qreader offers more configurable options and find features. Install and use both if in doubt.

PyDict
A dictionary running on Python for S60. So far free dictionaries on the S60 are quite hard to find.

Internet

Flash Lite 3
This version is a beta release. I hardly use it since I have no need for Flash apps. However I find this is very neat as Palm OS doesn't even have that capability.

GnuBox
GnuBox is useful if you don't have unlimited 3G/GPRS or a free Wifi enabled phone but want to surf the web via BT to your PC's internet connect sharing. The setup is quite a challenge but worthwhile once it works.

Gnubox & Flash Lite 3

Tools and Utilities

cClock
Display a nice big clock when your phone goes into screensaver or powersaver mode. Very configurable and low power footprint. I never wear a watch; this is my watch.

cCalc
Add a bit more calculation function with this simple scientific calculator with basic programmable conversion functions. Now you can log and root your digits.

cCam
Some Nokia phones do not allow you to shut off the shutter sound for the camera for discrete photo taking. This camera app allows you to do that.

Calcium
A calculator with a gorgeous UI with simple and easy input. It is similar to the calculator found in Motorola phones where the four main operators are entered with the D-pad. If you need to perform fast calculations without a running list like the default Nokia calculator, you will love this.

Active notes
Create notes and embed objects like photos, audio and videos.

Y-Browser plus all plugins
This is by far the best explorer app to manage your files on your phone.

Games

Frozen Bubble
A Puzzle Bubble clone. 100 levels of gameplay. Its a great time waster and is quite easy to complete.

Snakes

An old Nokia classic game revamped in gorgeous 3D gameplay. Hours of fun to complete 42 puzzle levels in great music and sound.

The Snakes is a whole new level based world of gameplay, containing over 40 stages of complex mazes with colorful and brilliant 3D graphics, not to mention the impressive gameplay generated soundscapes. Quick reflexes are needed in making those sharp turns and collecting scattered power-ups, shields, teleporters, and other specialities.

Final notes

This is a non exhaustive list of freeware I have found. I may omit and include more apps in future as I discover them. If you have any good freeware to share, do post a comment.

First outing with Nokia 6120 Classic and Symbian

I got a $0 Nokia 6120 Classic for half a month now and so far its the most fun I have had with a phone packed with so many features. Powered by the Symbian S60 3rd Edition OS, it is essentially a smartphone since it can perform communications as well as PIM (Personal Information Manager) capabilities. The phone's processor running just above 300Mhz is snappy and responsive, almost as good as running apps on Palm OS. Multitasking is as straightforward as leaving an app without properly exiting, ie. by pressing the menu button when running the app, and switching apps by triggering the tasklist by holding down the menu button.

The included apps that come with the phone don't do justice to such a powerful device as there are quite a number of S60 apps, both free and pay, found on the web. It took me quite a while and some help through forums to finally find some good sites for good starting points to find apps. I will cover this in a later post.

Generally most of the more functional apps are payware since Symbian has this draconian DRM-ish developer signing process to access its more security critical APIs. Simple stuff like themes and basic apps like calculator or games do not require this hence are mostly free. To work around this signing barrier and to release apps fast, independent developers would release their code unsigned and users need to acquire a developer cert from symbiansigned.com to sign the apps themselves, ie. the user has to become a developer. Although there are abundant guides on developer signing, this may still turn off the less persistent and adventurous users who hate to dabble with such complications. Fortunately this is not a common practice and so far only those very experimental apps such as rotateme and gnubox require this. Developers who want to release production freeware have the option to release it via the proper freeware channel.

I have been a Palm OS user for quite a long time and I am delighted to say that Symbian S60 OS is as robust and feature rich operating system especially for the mobile platform as Palm OS have always been. Up till now, I have not had any crashes that require any battery removal.

Backed by a strong companies like Nokia and Sony Ericsson, Symbian has matured into something that Palm Inc. failed to accomplish. With competition heating up with the smartphone platforms like Google's open platform Android, Apple's cool iPhone, Microsoft's ubiquitous Windows mobile and Palm's update to Palm Linux, it will be an interesting time to see improvements in smartphone platforms.

Singapore Bus Guide for Isilo & Plucker

This is a simple unofficial electronic version of the Singapore bus guide for access on mobile devices supporting Isilo reader or Plucker. Both reader file formats are available in either PPC/WinMob and Palm OS Devices. Isilo is also available for Symbian S60 3rd edition devices (Isilo for Symbian S60 3rd Edition).

The bus guide has the full listings by bus numbers and road names for both SBSTransit and SMRT bus services. It also lists bus services at specific bus stops plying specific roads to allow easy cross-referencing when planning bus transfers.

Disclaimer: The data for Singapore Bus Guide is presented as-is. The author does not warrant the accuracy of the data provided or any failure resulting from its use. Use at your own risk.

The files are offered free-of-charge for personal use. Please feel free to share and pass it around.

Download the Singapore Bus Guide for Isilo or Plucker.

You will require the respective etext readers depending on the version you download. Follow instructions as per your device's OS for transferring programs and databases.

You may download the respective programs from the following sites.

Isilo format: Isilo reader, for both PPC/WinMob and Palm OS Devices. Non-free software.
Isilo for Symbian S60 3rd Edition. Non-free software.
Plucker format: Plucker, for Palm OS. GPL Free software.
For PPC Windows Mobile users, use Vade Mecum. Free software.

Tips for Palm OS users

For Palm OS users, you may pair it off with the Bus Guide for Palm. This Bus Guide app allows you to find the connecting buses based on your origin and destination point. Do note that this program has not been updated for a long time so it may not give correct results. However it can roughly help you to plan the general route you can take to you reach your destination especially for unfamiliar locations.

Singapore Bus Guide in HTML format

This version is specifically catered for 'the rest of us' who do not use Palm or Windows Mobile devices but have devices such as Symbian OS phones with web browsers that have the ability to read HTML files. It also provides a means for users to easily convert it to other file formats.

For Symbian S60 OS users

To use the HTML files, copy all the files in a folder on your phone memory or memory card. Use the file manager to locate the folder and execute busguideindex.html. It should launch the browser with the bus guide main page. Bookmark the current page so you can easily access it via the web browser. Alternatively, you can manually create the bookmark in the S60 web browser using the address "E:/yourfolder/busguideindex.html"(omit quotes) where yourfolder is the name of the folder where the files are placed.

Download the HTML version here.
Other useful stuff

For the MRT guide, refer to this excellent app called MetrO.

If you have any feedback or comments, click here.

Credits: Thanks to Ethan Tan, the developer of Bus Guide for Palm, for developing the original parser.

Changelog

Update (2 May 2010): General bus service updates. (354 buses, 781 roads, 5619 stops).

Update (8 June 2009): General bus service updates. (355 buses, 774 roads, 5610 stops).

Important note: There is currently no identifier for Premium flat fare services however it can be located for services with "0.0" for all fare stages.

Update (17 July 2008): General bus service updates. (360 buses, 771 roads, 5608 stops). Removed debugging comments from HTML code(road lists).

Update (4 November 2007): General bus service updates. (327 buses, 763 roads, 5555 stops).

Update (17 July 2007): General bus service updates. (325 buses, 769 roads, 5539 stops). Fixed broken StopID code caused by new fare calculation column. Removed debugging comments from HTML code(bus lists).

Update (16 May 2007): General bus service updates. (310 buses, 770 roads, 5573 stops)

Update (23 March 2007): General bus service updates. (317 buses, 767 roads, 5589 stops). Fixed missing road name for first bus stop in direction 2.

Update (29 January 2007): General bus service updates. (316 buses, 766 roads, 5610 stops)

Update (20 July 2006): General bus service updates.

Update (27 March 2006): General bus service updates. Tidied up data in road index. Removed bookmarks for Isilo, found to be redundant.

Update (16 December 2005): General bus service updates

Update (14 November 2005): Minor update for Plucker version. Added link to jump between route directions.

Update (26 October 2005): General bus service updates

Update (20 August 2005): General bus service updates

Update (28 March 2005): General bus service updates and correction of certain errors caused by poor code during compiling.

Update (11 March 2005): General bus service updates

Update (22 October 2004): High-res font support for Isilo(for supported devices). More detailed cross referencing by bus stops instead of roads. Separated individual alphabetized list of roads with bus stops for faster retrieval. Added bookmarks for quick access to index pages (for Isilo).

Updated (13 October 2004): Included cross referencing to road index for bus routes.

Updated (4 October 2004): Latest bus service changes. New reader version! Singapore Bus Guide for Plucker.