Using SIM Directory Contacts by default on a Nokia S60 smartphone

SIMply troublesome

It has been a convenience to store my contacts on the SIM card since this allows me to swap phones without worrying about maintaining consistency of contacts on any make of phone. The way the contact list is stored on the SIM card is standard and any phone is able to access it readily. Having used phones from Motorla, Samsung and Sony Ericsson, I have never encountered any problem with my contacts until I switched to a new Nokia S60 smartphone.

SIM versus Phone contacts

It is good that Nokia have included some basic copy features so you can manage the contacts between the SIM card and phone memory and even backup to the memory card. However they have also deliberately made accessing the phone's memory the default and tucked away the SIM directory access in one of the menus. There is no option to choose whether you want to use the phone or SIM card memory by default; you MUST use phone memory. Nokia probably thinks that forcing us to use the phone's memory to store our contacts is the only way to take advantage of the PIM features of a smartphone which is quite true since it allows more fields to store PIM related data such as addresses, birthday and more phone numbers.

I have searched through a number of Symbian forums and the general consensus is that you cannot run SIM directory as default. There are workarounds which generally requires you to either copy all your contacts over to the phone memory and updating the SIM card's contact list every time you add or delete contacts or go through the menus to reach the SIM directory every time you need to make a call. Other then that, I guess the obvious least troublesome solution is to force yourself to use the phone memory. But there is actually one other way; write a program to load the SIM directory. And that's what I did.

A SIMple solution

Having spent some time playing around with Python for S60, I happened to find out from the developer forums a way to access the Sim directory. The SIM directory is actually a native executable app that can be launched except that there is no icon to load it directly. The code is so trivial and contains only 2 short lines that I am a bit embarrassed to post it here. :P

I have included the SIS which you can install. Python for S60 interpreter is mandatory.

Download Sim Contacts SIS (for S60 3rd Ed)
Download Python for S60 interpreter.
Choose "PythonForS60_1_4_1_3rdEd.SIS" assuming you are using a Symbian S60 3rd Edition phone.

Install both SIS files into your phone memory using PC Suite or other means. After installing, you should see the Sim Contact app in your phone where new apps usually reside. You can then set it to your softbutton or Active standby buttons for quick access.

The drawback to using this is that the SIM directory is only able to perform voice and video calls. There is no direct access to send SMS or messages. This is yet another feature Nokia conveniently omitted.

The storage cost to get this working is quite heavy considering the required Python for S60 package itself is almost one megabyte in size. Somebody with Symbian C++ programming skills would be able to do this more efficiently.

Anyway I hope this app will be useful to somebody.

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.

Google and friends reveal Android

Google and partners announce the Open Handset Alliance and introduce the mobile Linux platform named Android that will be the foundation for these new mobile phones. With some of the top names in mobile equipment like phone manufacturers HTC, LG, Motorola and Samsung supporting this alliance, this may be the next thing to shake the mobile phone scene.

Google's cutesy intro video on Android Official Google Blog: Where's my Gphone?

Hotsync and internet connection with Palm OS device to Linux via Bluetooth

After much persistence, I am finally hotsyncing and surfing the Net on my Zodiac through Ubuntu Linux via bluetooth. The main references I followed are the following:

Howto: Internet on your palm via bluetooth from scratch
bluetooth and Linux
Surf the Web with Bluetooth

These settings worked for me: Run scan for bluetooth:

$ hciconfig
hci0: Type: USB
BD Address: 00:10:60:A7:27:5F ACL MTU: 192:8 SCO MTU: 64:8
UP RUNNING PSCAN ISCAN
RX bytes:41356 acl:533 sco:0 events:1462 errors:0
TX bytes:277041 acl:2258 sco:0 commands:108 errors:0
$ hcitool scan

Create /etc/ppp/peers/dun:

debug
57600
noipdefault
proxyarp
# IP address of PC : IP address to be assigned to Palm
172.31.64.12:172.31.130.67
# My DNS server
ms-dns YOUR_DNS_ADDRESS
ktune
noauth
local
nodefaultroute
noipx

Use ifconfig to check for the IP address currently used. If possible, set it to a static IP. Substitute the IP address of your DNS server for YOUR_DNS_ADDRESS. You can find it out by looking into the file /etc/resolv.conf (look for 'server aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd' and write ms-dns aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd into the above file.)

Run test for connection:

dund --nodetach --listen --persist --msdun call dun

Set the bluetooth device to connect to internet. If test successful, insert line into /etc/default/bluetooth

DUND_OPTIONS="--listen --persist --msdun call dun"

If it connects but there's no data, check that firewall tools like moblock/blockcontrol are not blocking it. Disable to confirm.

J-pilot is a good replacement for Palm Desktop on Linux. Pilot-link is one solid program for transferring files between the Palm and PC though it needs to run from the terminal. Now its really good riddance to Windows. There's one minor quirk on my Zod though -- I need to get it connected to the network before I can hotsync or else it will crash.