Change Address
This blog is moving in… The new address is:
http://s60.pblogs.gr
See you there with a lot of new posts and services. Thank you a lot.
New N73 Firmware
Nokia has released a new major firmware update for N73. The updated version is the 4.0723.2.0.1 and it is already available for installing through Nokia Software Updater.
The new firmware has a lot of updates and improvements but fixes a lot of bugs as well. Some of the new characteristics are:
- FOTA (Firmware updare Over The Air) abilities included. Really important.
- Replace the music player with the one of the music edition (by far better)
- No more snakes
- Some minor things improved.
- People claim that it runs faster. Still needs to be confirmed.
The update is only for N73 and not for the music or Internet edition.
If you have any other information on the new firmware, please share it by posting a comment.
RAM issues in S60 mobiles
After had installed Handy Taskman in my mobile, I am spending a lot of time looking the behavior of the RAM memory in my Nokia N73 ME mobile. After a month (maybe a little less) of experiments I came up with some really intresting results! Nokia should improve memory handling.
Let’s take things step by step. First of all, maybe it useful to mention that my mobile has 44 MB of RAM. I never switch it off (only if it is extremly necessary) , so after some hours (around a day), the free RAM is 9,6 MB (picture 1) with only the music running (and the application that takes the screenshots – I can not close it because I won’t take the screenshots). By closing music as well, we have 11 MB of free RAM (picture 2). So, only the stand by mode uses 33 MB of RAM (44-11=33) minus the RAM used from screenshots application.
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| Picture 1 | Picture 2 | Picture 3 |
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So far so good (in a way). The funny part comes now. If I restart my mobile and check directly my free RAM, without having opened any application (but the screenshot one, in order to take the screenshot), there are 19 MB of free RAM (picture 3).
This means that after a while 9.4 MB are trash (19-9.6 = 9.4). Mainly, this trash is because of the mobiles’ applications (such as messages, contacts, etc). I think that this is an issue that Nokia should really take a look at… as soon as possible.
Mobile Virus
A new spooky virus was discovered the last days. It seems like you install NetCompressor (see picture), but you are actually installing a program that sends SMS without your permission.
This is a Trojan like virus that sens SMS to Russian numbers. Just to mention that only S60 second edition phones are threatened. Everyone that has a Nokia smartphone (s60 third edition) should relax but not too much since dangers are everywhere!
Video Call
Yesterday I had my first Video Call experience. I have a mobile that supports Video Calls since two months, but until now, I couldn’t find someone with a mobile serving video calls to practice. By the way, I have a 15 minutes of video calls for free per month, so I gave it a try.
The experience was quite good, but to be honest, in order to benefit the most, you have to try it a couple of times. First of all, the others’ camera wasn’t as good as mine, as a result, the video I was watching wasn’t as good as expected. This wasn’t too much trouble since still I was able to understand what I was watching. Ok, the quality was bad, but not too bad!
The most irritating thing was the phone changing hands all the time (because no one had seen a video call before), which almost caused me a headache if not a nausea, because what I was watching was a continuous moving thing (could not figure persons or objects because of the speed).
To sum up, it was a good experience and an interesting enough idea, so I am going to try it again! The only thing I am expecting now, is a drop in the prices because in two months time, my free video calls will be over
Handy Taskman Application
Recently I installed in my S60 mobile a very useful application to handle applications and memory stuff. It is called Handy Taskman and it actually replaces the default application that shows you all the running application in a S60 mobile. It opens as usual, by keeping pressed the menu button.
This application shows you which applications are running at the moment (see picture 1) (it can be that they are more than you think). Apart form that, on the right side of the screen, you can see useful information about the free RAM of the mobile, the free phone memory space and the free card space (see picture 1 again or picture 2).
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| Picture 1 | Picture 2 |
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By pressing the right “button” of the joystick you change the view into the recently opened application (see picture 2). There, you can see the applications that you have recently closed and you can open them by selecting them.
Beside that, there is a very useful menu that provides you with more options. Hitting options will bring up the menu shown in picture 3.
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| Picture 3 | Picture 4 |
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This menu provides you with the following options:
- Go to (go to the selected application)
- Close
- End (the selected application)
- End all (Ends all the applications)
- Find and Start (finds the application you want and opens)
- Memory Information
- Configuration
- Help
- Exit
The configuration menu is very intresting (see Picture 4). It reveals an options called “Close all exceptions”, which I am still trying to discover what is actually doing!!!
Anyway, Handy Taskman is a very useful application, at least it helped me a lot. Personally, I find it useful because I can handle ram issues better and be sure that whatever I close (Contacts for example), it is closed. Give it a try.
P.S. Sorry for the pictures being in Greek, but you still can get the message by both seeing the pictures and reading my comments.
Introduction
This is my new blog, related to S60 mobiles. Recently I bought a Nokia N73 mobile and I became addicted to this operating system because it is really the best thing I have ever seen in “common” mobiles.
This blog while be updated with S60 issues, such as news, themes, applications, games, etc… I rely on your passion about S60 (and not only) phones and I ask for your participations (via commenting and ideas) in order to make the S60 experience bigger and better.
Thank you very much.
