Harper Reed's Blog

Harper Reed's Blog

Musing from a normal person doing normal things

11 Apr 2006

38 S60 tips and tricks

Please note: This post was written some time ago (18 years ago). My perspectives, knowledge, and opinions may have evolved significantly since then. While the content might still offer valuable insights, I encourage readers to consider it in the context of its publication date.

So now that everyone is finally interested in getting a symbian phone - i decided to unearth some tricks and what not for symbian phones.

I have tried most of these. I am not quite sure where i got this list - probably from some yahoo group or some site years ago when i got my 7610. Most of it works on my N70 so it should all be still current.

Tip 1 - Do you know how to use the edit button (abc or pencil button)? Heres how... in the inbox for example; you wanna delete multiple SMS, simply hold the edit button, scroll down, and then, press c to delete the marked SMS. The edit button can also be used to copy and past text in SMS, simply hold it and scroll across, choose copy.

Tip 2 - How to reset your password Press *#7370#, then enter the lock code, which is the sec code of the phone. NOTE: battery must be full, else if format is disrupted by low battery, consequences will be disastrous

for 6600 users, to format the phone, theres an alternative way. Press and hold <3>, <*>, and the buttons, then power on phone, keep holding on the 3 buttons, till you come to a format screen. this method ONLY works on 6600, and need not enter the sec code. BUT sec code won’t be reset to default 12345.

Tip 3 - installing .sis files simply using the cable Just plug it in, place the .sis file anywhere on e: (the MMC), not in any folders, root of e:, disconnect, then look for it in manager.

Tip 4 – Task Menu Save on battery and system memory being used by regularly checking the task manager which can be accessed by holding down the menu button!!

Tip 4a - Set the screen saver to a short time out period to prolong battery life.

Tip 4b - Avoid restarting the phone, or repeatedly turning it on and off. This helps increase battery life.

Tip 5 – IMEI Number Type *#06# to display your IMEI serial number, very valuable for the unlocking your phone to other sim cards

Tip 6 – Firmware Version Type *#0000# to view which firmware version you are running

Tip 7 – Avoid being bluejacked If you would like to avoid being “blue jacked”, keep bluetooth turned off, or set your phone’s visibility to hidden.

Tip 8 - Make your phone a watch Don’t want to carry a watch and a phone? Set the screen saver to show date and time, then you can ditch the watch.

Tip 9 – Save memory while installing apps Save memory when installing apps, by installing over bluetooth. This can be done using the nokia phone suite and a bluetooth serial connection. Only works with .SIS files, so java still has to be sent to the phone, but will save space when using .SIS files.

Tip 10 - Operator logos Use a filemanager like FExplorer or SeleQ to add the folders: “c:/system/Apps/phone/oplogo”. Add a .bmp picture to folder “oplogo” and restart your phone! The .bmp picture size needs to be: 97 x 25 pixels

Tip 11 - Check if the recipients phone is on Delivery reports or Type *0# your message in the message composer window space then write your message, the recipient will not see the star zero hash bit - just the message When they read it it will relay a message back to your phone showing the time they received it. (haven’t yet tried it myself though)

Tip 12 - BlueJacking First up, you need to know what Bluetooth is. There are lots of types of modern devices that incorporate Bluetooth as one of their many features. PDAs, mobile phones and laptops are a few of these modern devices. Bluetooth means that Bluetooth enabled devices can send things like phonebook/address book contacts, pictures & notes to other Bluetooth enabled devices wirelessly over a range of about 10 metres. So, we’ve got past the boring part. Now, using a phone with Bluetooth, you can create a phonebook contact and write a message, eg. ‘Hello, you’ve been bluejacked’, in the ‘Name’ field. Then you can search for other phones with Bluetooth and send that phonebook contact to them. On their phone, a message will popup saying “‘Hello, you’ve been bluejacked’ has just been received by Bluetooth” or something along those lines. For most ‘victims’ they will have no idea as to how the message appeared on their phone.

Tip 13: Gallery Shortcut Keys While you are viewing a picture in your phone’s gallery, press one of these shortcut keys (definitely works on 6600, not sure about other symbians) 1 - turn image anticlockwise 3 - turn image clockwise

    • toggle on/off of full screen 5 - zoom in 0 - zoom out

Tip 16: A soft and Hard reset A Soft-reset - the process of resetting all the settings of the phone to the factory default! No applications are deleted! A Hard-reset is like formatting a drive! It does format the memory. Everything that has been installed after the first use of the phone is deleted! It will recover the memory of the phone to the state you purchased it! It is done by inputing the following code: *#7370# NOTE: The battery must be full or the charger has to be connected to the phone so that it does not run out of power and make the phone unusable.

Tip 17: Formats of images supported ones: JPG UPF GIF87a/89a WBMB MBM TIFF/F PNG EXIF How to copy & paste text in your Nokia 3650: Press and hold the pencil key and select your text using the scroll key. Left function key will change to ‘Copy’. Press it to copy the selected text to clipboard. You can paste the clipboard contents the same way: press and hold the pencil key and press ‘Paste’. Or, press pencil key once and select ‘Paste’. Press and hold the Menu key to open the application switching window, where you can duh switch between applications.

Tip 18: Hanging Program If a program hangs and you can’t shut it down, select the application in the application switching window and press ‘C’ to kill it. It’s also a faster way to exit programs.

Tip 19: Quiet your camera shutter Turn on/off the “click” sound made by the camera by selecting the ‘Silent’ profile or by turning warning tones on/off:

Menu > Profiles > “select your activated profile” > Personalize > Warning tones > On/Off. (This also effects the sound of Java games and apps).

Tip 20: Background Image To change background image go to: Menu > Tools > Settings > Phone > Standby mode > Background image > Yes > "choose an image". The best size for background images is 174x132 pixels.Tip 21: Contact Image Display an image when someone's calling: Menu > Contacts > "select a contact card" > Options > Edit > Options > Add thumbnail > "choose an image".

Tip 22: Contact Ringtone Add a personal ringing tone to a contact: Menu > Contacts > “select a contact card” > Options > Open > Options > Ringing tone > “choose a ringing tone”.

Tip 23: Delete all messages in your inbox Delete all messages from your Inbox at once: Menu > Messaging > Inbox > Options > Mark/Unmark > Mark all > Options > Delete.

Tip 24: Hide Caller ID Send or hide your caller ID: Go to: Menu > Tools > Settings > Call > Send My Caller ID > ‘Yes’, ‘No’ or ‘Set By Network’ to follow the default settings of your home network.

Tip 25: Copying large files? If you often copy large files to your MultiMedia Card, I recommend a card reader. E.g. With a card reader it takes only 12 seconds to copy a 10 MB file!

Tip 26: Record a phone call Record the sound of a phone call using the (sound) Recorder. Menu > Extra’s > Recorder > Options > Record sound clip. Note: short beeps are audible during call registration. But there is a 60 second limitation so if you want unlimited sound recording get this app: Extended Recorder.

Tip 27: Switch dictionary On/Off While writing text, press “#” to switch between upper and lower case and Dictionary on/off (predictive text input).

Tip 30: Switch between alpha and numeric mode Press and hold “#” to switch between Alpha mode and Number mode.

Tip 31: Keyboard shortcuts for zooming and rotating images in Images: 1 = zoom in 0 = zoom out, press and hold to return to the normal view 2 = rotate anticlockwise 9 = rotate clockwise

  • = full screen

In standby mode, press and hold the right soft key to activate voice dialing.

Tip 32: Add a voice tag To add a voice tag to a phone number, open a contact card and scroll to the phone number and select: Options > Add voice tag.

Tip 33: Customize soft keys You can customize both soft keys located below the screen (in standby mode): Menu > Tools > Settings > Phone > Standby mode > Left/Right selection key > “select an application”.

Tip 34: Standby Mode -> Contacts In standby mode. press scroll key center (joystick) to go directly to Contacts.

Tip 35: Standby Mode -> WAP Home Page In standby mode, press and hold 0 to launch your wap home page.

Tip 36: Launch a specific application based on space In Menu or any subfolder, press numbers 1 - 9 to start the application at that location. 123 456 789

Tip 37: Dial a specific number In standby mode, 45# + dials the number on your sim in memory slot 45. 50# + dials slot 50 and so on.

Tip 38: Turn on back light while keypad is locked If you have your keylock activated just press the on/off button to turn on your backlight to look at the time when it’s dark without having to unlock the keypad.