Unduly Noted

Don’t get me wrong, this is a great phone. But of course EVERYTHING that AT&T get’s their hands on has to be saturated with whatever BLOATWARE they feel useful.

Let me also start by warning you. Symbian apps can be expensive (if you came from the iPhone app store, and are a whiner). But here’s the difference…you will actually use them more than once. ie: they are worth it.

For starters, make sure you have the latest firmware in your E71x (or if you have the version below stop there, unless I take away this warning)
Hit the Home button once, Go to Settings, Go to Device Manager, Choose Options, Choose Check for Updates (check both servers Cingular or Cingularlab). As of this post the latest (and only update yet) was V 03.28. Knowing AT&T (no the E71 firmware won’t work with this) it might never have another update.

FOOTNOTE: Whenever using the internet on this device I choose the MediaNet connection instead of Proxyless, it seems a bit faster.

Tethering (Via WiFi)
After updating lets go ahead and do the most important thing. Make the phone a tether wonder boy (or girl).
Enter Joikuspot Preimum (Joikuspot Light if you only want http and dont care about a landing page)
This software by FAR surpasses anything I have ever used on the iPhone.
There are several ways to install software on symbian phones.
1. Connect your phone to the computer via bluetooth and send file to it. It will show up as a text, install from there.
2. Use the PC Suite software (Windows only) that came with it. I never use this as I am on a mac.
3. Connect your phone via bluetooth and drop the file in the phone internal or external memory. Then open it up with the great X-Plore software. X-Plore is a very nice, and much more than just a file browser. Just highlight the Joikuspot file and click it to initiate install.
Once the program is installed reboot the phone. Open Joikuspot (in your applications folder)
It will ask if you want to allow sharing. Choose Yes. Next it asks which connection, I have the best luck with MediaNet. Give it a few seconds and you are good to go. Open your laptop and choose the wifi Joikuspot00:00:00:00:00:00 network. The numbers at the end of that are your phones wifi card mac address. Once in Joikuspot feel free to change the network name and even put on some encryption (options/settings).
The only problem I ever have with this app is that the damn thing wont shut off sometimes even though it says it is closed. You can download a task killer or just reboot your phone. For now I do the latter.

Threaded SMS
If you came from an iPhone you are going to hate non threaded SMS. It’s ok, Free-iSMS (DOWNLOAD) is here to the rescue. BUT, and it’s a big but, this damn app isn’t signed.
Two things we can do (I have done both, and they work).
1. Make a $5 donation to the Hello0X2 developer and get an invaluable tool that will enable to you install and run unsigned apps.
Go to the developers website and fill in the info. Donate $5 and wait. It took a few hours to get the download link after paying. Run the software and follow instructions. After it is installed go into your applications folder and open ROMPatcher+. Click “Installserver_FP2 and Open4All_RP+” this should make them green. Exit out and run the i-sms installer successfully.
2. This is a 1 time fix, I recommend the above method in case you need to install unsigned apps in the future. Go and get an account from OPDA. After creating an account login and click on “My Certificate”. Now choose the big orange button “Apply cer”. Fill in all the details. Now for all you impatient bastards this takes a good 12 hours for them to process, it’s worth the wait. Go back to “My Certificate” in 12 hours and check to see that it has a green check next to you IMEI. You can download the cer and ket files and sign it from the phone with an app, or just have them sign it (faster). Click on “Signing Softs”. If you uploaded more than one EMEI choose which one you want. Next choose the i-sms file you downloaded earlier. Submit & Upload. They will give you a download link in a few seconds. Go ahead and install your newly signed app. NOTE: If you don’t feel like paying for Hello0X2 you can download the unsigned version from the site and then sign it just like we did with isms. I prefer supporting the developer of a great tool.

NES SNES Emulator
Once again. These cost money, but, unlike the iPhone these run amazingly well (flawless with the sound off).  VNES and VSUN. $9 and $19. Might seem a little steep, but these puppies are very well made and thought out. I choose the SNES because of super mario all-stars. After you procure your ROMS, just do a sendfile from the mac (bluetooth) and this program automatically adds them after opening it. How cool is that! Once in the program saving and restoring game states are insanely fast. You can also remap the buttons to your comfort.

AUTO GPS (Tracking the phone in case it is stolen)
Phonelocator. A very cool free app that updates your phones GPS location automatically at an interval you choose. With some of the smart battery options enabled I honestly don’t notice a difference in battery drain. After installing the app, set it up to your liking. IMPORTANT: The first time you run the app it needs to open Medianet to link the phone to the account. If this does not happen, try again or remove the app and reinstall. After linking the phone open your computer and login to see it on a map.

Other apps worth noting
Google Maps. Installs and runs great. I have used it for trips and to get me out of a bind.
Skyfire. Installs and runs great. Point your phone browser to this. Good if you want to watch some video sites where the flash lite in your MediaNet browser wont work. (No Hulu, they, as in Hulu Suits, killed it…Super BS)
Opera Mini. Super fast (image compression on their servers) web browser.
Opera Mobile. More of the full web experience, but slower than Mini.
JoikuBoost. Not available for the E71x yet, but keep an eye out for it, will be amazing.
RoadSync. $49.99 but kicks the pants off Nokia’s exchange client.

Tips
Get rid of the stupid demo’s and bloatware here.

Transfer Music, Pictures and Video
I will host the app here on my site as I see it was removed from the European site. Nokia Multimedia Transfer for Mac OS X. If you are on windows feel free to enjoy/not the Nokia PC Suite (and use those instructions) that came with your phone. I happen to like the Mac version better. Very self explanatory. Lets you sync via USB or Bluetooth. Sync all your stuff or create albums/playlists to sync.

First of all i recommend you going with a cheaper faster internal SSD than what I describe here. This was done solely for convenience/fun.

What: 17 inch MBP 3,1 and a 48GB FileMate SolidGO Express Card

Be careful when buying express card drives. Make sure they actually use the Express Card bus and not the USB.

Pop this baby in and it sits perfectly flush.

Installing OS X is a breeze (and rather quick). Boot from a USB/Firewire image or use a good old fashioned DVD. After you choose a language hop over to Utilities and Disk Utility from the menu bar. Go ahead and Partition your Express Card Mac OS X. Choose Extended (not journaled) and then click options and make sure you make it GUID (Intel). After formatting just quit disk utility and it will return you to the main installer. Go ahead and start/finish the install, nothing special.

*note. i did not enable journaling because I was concerned with it shortening the life of my drive for more than one reason.

Booting doesn’t seem all that faster. Of course I forgot to time the original drives performance.

The good: I can now use the internal drive that came with my computer for a time machine backup or MP3’s and Video’s.

This things is pretty fast. Their Benchmarks: 65MB Write - 115MB Read (Sequential). My benchmarks: 65MB Write - 89.6MB Read with a 128MB file. A little off on the read but still fast enough for me. With the same benchmarking software my original drive gets 23.3MB Write - 23.9MB Read. So you can see by the numbers how much faster it is. The standard drive till outperforms with sustained write. A 1GB file on the SSD 22.9MB Write - 77.9MB Read. Original drive 38.5MB Write - 38.4MB Read. You will only notice this slowdown if you work with large files. But that is why we left the original disk attached inside.

All applications open drastically faster. Photoshop uncached is a second or two. Safari 4 is open before the damn thing even bounces.

One good thing about this is that at a moments notice I can rip it out of the mac bringing all my files with me rendering it unable to boot. All that a thief will be left with are my videos and movies, no personal information.

The bad: If you work with the lid shut connected to an external display this puppy will get HOT! And when it does…Spinning Beach Ball of Death. This has happened twice in the 4 months of ownership. Also once in a rare while it will get hung up for about 5 seconds. Usually happens in Safari, so who knows if it’s even the drive.

Overall I am very happy with this drive. Bad price compared to the internals that are now out there and slower as well. But a good boost of storage and speed that won’t make you rip apart the pain in the ass MBP.

Iphone modem 3 just came out and it seems to be working great. No need to proxy anything (works similar to pdanet). For those of you who have problems with pdanet in 3.0 this is your answer. No disconnects so far. And you don’t even need the helper app.

Install iphonemodem3 by addition in cydia (make sure you uninstall pdanet or iphonemodem zsrelay first)
Create an adhoc network on your computer.
Connect to it with the iphone.
Start iphonemodem from the iphone.
Enjoy surfing. Pretty easy.

So as of today pdanet and iphonemodem by addition still totally suck under iphone OS 3.0 (for both my 2G and 3G)
Of course like usual there is no email support for additions iphone modem (what’s new) and pdanet (une fabrics) says disconnects are reported by only a few in 3.0.
My solution is to go back to the roots, the beginning.

Enter the original iPhoneModem by zsrelay. This uses a modified version of srelay which was the old dirty original hack for tethering in 1.0.

(Jailbreak your device of course)

Step one is to remove pdanet or iphonemodem(addition) and even jay’s socks srelay if you have it.
In cydia search for zsrelay and install with all dependencies.
Reboot the iphone.

Create a wireless network in whatever (windows, ubuntu, mac os x)
i won’t explain this for each system but give that connection an ip of 192.168.1.2
Make the subnet 255.255.255.0 and router/gateway 192.168.1.1
You can dill in DNS with open DNS if you like - 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220

Now back to the phone.
join the adhoc network you just setup.
click the arrow to the right of the network after joining and then click static.
Assign the following:
IP: 192.168.1.1
Subnet: 255.255.255.0
And again DNS with the above if you like.

Now go to your main setting page on the iphone and scroll down. You will see iphonemodem. Click it.
turn on all options (drains battery so i would recommend shutting off when not hooked to the wall or using)
Click advanced and turn on icon.
Exit out and make sure you can load a webpage still with safari on the iphone.

Go back to you computer and the easiest thing to do is download and install proxifier. (costs some dough but 30 day trial)
This will give you a systemwide socks so that any game or protocol will tunnel through it. And yes World of Warcraft or anything else.
After opening proxifier go to options menu and choose proxy options.
click add and type in 192.168.1.1 and port 1080.
Check the Socks v5 box and hit ok.
Now make sure in the proxy options that the check box next to 192.168.1.1 is checked and hit ok.
Lastly go to Options in proxifier and choose name resolution. set it to enable and hit ok.

Relaunch anything that uses the internet and you should be online. You always have to leave proxifier open when using this method. And typically launch it before anything else.

If you dont want to shell out money for proxifier you can individually set your apps to proxy, but this is limited to the app only and isn’t system wide.
In mac os x go to you airport settings (advanced) and click the proxies tab. Check socks proxy and set it to 192.168.1.1 and port 1080. Hit ok.
In firefox you have to set it in the actual preferences.

This works fairly well and at times seems snappier than pdanet.
Let me know how it works for you or if you have any questions.

EDIT: Although I’m sure this would still work remember it is a few months old. You should be able to get the real 3.0 firmware from a google search and not have to download the gold master version. Same goes for the ATT carrier file, google it. The rest of the instructions should still work fine.

Let me start by saying this is on a macbook pro 3,1 but will work for anything else.
You will need iTunes period. So go find a friend with mac or windows.
Part of this guide is taken from the iphone3g-mods.com site.

First off let me tell you the limitations. I have only gotten this to work with Network Manager (not wcid). This means that wireless pretty much SUCKS for the macbook pro but will be fine for anything else that can use NM. So it’s a trade off. In my case I can be wired at work and tethered at home so I went for it.

The common method is to install a beta version of itunes 8.2 but thankfully a poster at the forums gave the following advice:
(Mac OS X Only) Shut down iTunes 8.2. Open the terminal and type the following and hit enter, this will prep itunes to deliver one of the  the new files:
defaults write com.apple.iTunes carrier-testing -bool TRUE
If you are on windows (all links) then download the beta version here. Read below for registration/password.

Download the iphone carrier file for USA AT&T here (you may have to right click save as).

UPDATE: - You should now be able to do this with the normal 3.0 from itunes/apple instead of the gold master version below…
You will need to download the 3.0 Gold Master Final for the iPhone firmware. Head over to the member section of iphone3g-mods.com (easy and fast registration). After registering and activating download the proper image for your phone here. The password for the download is in the forum, if you can’t find it email me and I will send it to you.

Hook your iphone to Mac OS X via USB. It will appear in iTunes. Click on it and you will see the information page. Hold down the “Option” key and click “Update” and you will be prompted for the firmware image. Point it to the version you just downloaded (*.ipsw) and sit back while it installs.

After it is all set it will remount in iTunes and you will see the familiar home screen on the iPhone. Click back on the iphone icon in iTunes and “Option” click the Update button again. This time select the ATT carrier file (.ipcc). If you can’t select the file then you didn’t enter the command correctly in the terminal from above, so just go ahead and install the beta version. It will only take a few seconds to install this .ipcc file and it won’t have a confirmation.

If you are running a mac you are now done. Just go to Settings on the iPhone, General, Network and you will see Internet Tethering. Turn it on. If you wan’t to just use use the USB open network preferences on the mac and a new port will appear. Hit ok or apply and you are good to go. You can also turn on bluetooth on the phone and pair it via the icon in the menu bar. Open network settings again on the mac and you will see the PAN (bluetooth) port appear. Fairly straight forward on the mac.

Ubuntu:
Why oh why does apple hardware suck so hard with linux. You will get constant disconnects if your phone is more than a few feet away from the computer. But alas, it is still faster than pdanet or iphonemodem2.
If you are not on a mac congratulations, you have had fewer headaches.
Open the terminal and type:
sudo apt-get install blueman bluez-compat

This will remove wcid which hopefully isn’t a problem for most of you.
It will ask you to restart, please do.

Once Ubuntu is back up click on your bluetooth icon in the upper right (which is now managed by blueman)
IMPORTANT: Right click on the bluetooth icon and choose local services. Make sure to click the radio box that says “Network manager” instead of “blueman” under the network pane. This will allow Network Manager to take over the controlling of your connection (which is good). REBOOT AFTER THIS STEP!
Go to the bluetooth settings in your iphone (Settings > General > Bluetooth) and make sure they are on.
Hit the search button in blueman and you should see your iphone after a few seconds.
WARNING: This is where it gets flaky on the macbook pro. Best results I have has is to highlight the phone in blueman and hit “Bond”
Choose to auto generate a pass on the next option. Next. Now wait for the iPhone to ask you to type in the passphrase. Type in the 4 digit one that blueman gives you. VERY IMPORTANT. While they are joining eachother keep you eye on the computer. It will ask you if you always want to trust the iPhone (device name). Hit Always or else you will have trouble.
Always initiate the connection from the iPhone. In the bluetooth settings on the iphone you will now see your computer name listed and the words “not conencted” next to it. Click it. Wait a few and it will hopefully say connected. Look back to blueman and you will now see status bars on the iphone. Right click on your iphone in blueman. Choose “Setup”. Network access point is click by default so just hit “Next”.

Now head over to Network Manager and you should see “Auto benp0″. Click it to connect and give it a few to generate an IP. DONE enjoy surfing the internet through your data plan without jailbreaking. I have noticed quite a few speed gains over pdanet. Also, i noticed I got better results when i used openDNS’s servers (208.67.220.220 and 208.67.222.222).

If you have done everything correctly and Network Manager won’t take over the connection of you can see it and it says “not managed” or something of the sort you need to check out the following:
Open terminal and type: sudo gedit /etc/network/interfaces
see if you have bnep0 located there. if you do, comment out or delete that line. and reboot your machine.

This was late at night so please let me know if there are any crazy errors!