N95 Best Tips and Tricks

Best Tips and Tricks for Nokia N95

2007-09-28T21:14:00.348+01:00

Classic/ Mobile/ Download BookMark

I started this blog back in 2007 since then Nokia have released many new phone like the N96, N97. The N95 however still remains an excellent phone with many similar features to the new phones. I really enjoyed creating this blog and hope you find all the tips and tricks useful for customizing your N95 or N95 8GB. I now have a new blog 5800 BEST TIPS & TRICKS

2010 News & Updates
Well i haven't posted on this blog for quite a while, but i do keep my eye on your comments. You may have noticed that i periodically update the site correcting broken links.

N95 Menu Bookmark NOW Working!

with improved .sis version from Getjar

Oct 2010

Good news for anyone who uses the N95 menu bookmark its working again!
I've changed the link to the Full website version and i've stopped the mobile version.
Also if you have a very blurred old .jar version of the app i would uninstall it and get a new version from getjar HERE. The .sis version uses a 64x64 pixel icon rather than a up scaled 16px which means the button is much sharper, it also loads quicker too.

Well i also added a "Donate" button underneath my Profile image in the sidebar. I don't usually like donation requests but i donated to a guy who had a fix for 'Windows 64Bit Adobe Reader Thumbnails' recently. I was so pleased he had done so much work (that adobe hadn't even done) that i felt inspired to show my appreciation.
My personal feelings on donating in general are "Never" do something out of Obligation just do it cos you feel inspired too.

N95 Best TT visual bookmark no longer working!

My apologies to anyone (over 31,000 downloads) who has tried to use the Visual bookmark to view the mobile version of this website. The page loading is now so slow it basically doesn't work! so i contacted Mofuse, they no longer give free accounts, so i would need to pay a subscription to get better bandwidth which will fix the problem.
I am looking into a new version of the Mobile bookmark and hope to have some good news soon!

BBC iPlayer for N95

Oct 2010

The BBC iPlayer received an update a while ago and the old version did not update properly for me. For those of us who live in the UK BBC iPlayer is a great way to watch live BBC tv and radio as well as watch 'catch up' tv and radio. You can download the latest version of the BBC iplayer from the OVI store.

In 2009 Nokia launched Ovi Suite which effectively replaces the Nokia PC Suite. It can install applications, music and transfer data for different Nokia Phones, just about everything you need for your phone. It also can update your software and is an alternative to the Nokia Software Updater. The Ovi Updater feature also will Update your Ovi Maps and automatically removes old map data before replacing in with new info. I have found it very useful and simple to use and importantly it is Windows7 compatible something that the current NSU is not.

Firmware Update for N95 & N95 8GB
To my amazement Nokia released Firmware updates for both N95 & N95 8GB late last year 2009. The New Firmware for N95 is v35.0.02 and N95 8GB is v.35.0.01. I have not been able to find an official Changelog but many people have found improvement in performance and previous faults with Cameras and Alarms.
I recently found an interesting Website shows Firmware Update Timelines for nearly all Nokia Phones. More Details at hunajatehdas.net

N95 & N95 8GB Resources

OVI Suite PC Suite OVI Store N.S.U

N95 Handbooks

If you have lost your Handbook or just cant be bothered to find it! no problem, you can view and download a PDF version from the Nokia website. Just click on correct image N95 (N95-1) and N95 8GB (N95-2) to link to the Pdf.

Desktop Icons

I have created two N95 icons for your computer,
A Silver and Black version. They are both in 3 formats XP/Vista/Mac.

download Silver download Black

Additional Pages and Tutorials
I have created Additional pages with tutorials with Freeware etc. as well and links to other tutorials. Click on the image below to view other Pages.

There are currently four versions of the N95, The N95 Classic (N95-1), the N95 8GB (N95-2) the U.S version of N95-NAM Classic (N95-3) and the U.S N95 8GB NAM (N95-4)

Do you know, What are their differences?

Click on either each image to see their specifications.

The Main differences are :

Internal Memory - The main difference is of course that the N95 8GB has an 8GB internal memory compared to the N95 Classic & N95-NAM that have 148MB. This means you can store a lot more videos, music etc on the Internal memory.
RAM Memory - The N95 has 48MB RAM whilst the N958GB and N95-NAM /NAM 8GB all have 128MB RAM which gives its a lot more power for running applications.
Screen Size - The N95 and N95-NAM both have 2.6" QVGA screen (240x320 px) while both N95 8GB have a slightly larger 2.8" screens but with the same screen resolution (240x320)

Battery Size - The N95 has the 950mAH BL-5F whilst the other N95 8GB's and N95-NAM all have the larger 1200mAH BL-6F
Camera Shutter - Due to the increased size of the Battery Nokia removed the Camera shutter on the N95 8GB and both NAM versions.
Firmware - All 4 models have different Firmware versions, the N95 and N95 8GB both have "On Demand Paging" whilst the US version at present dont have this feature.
External SD Memory Cards - Nokia only recommend External micro SD cards up to 4GB on the N95 classic and 2Gb on the N95-NAM. I have been running a 4GB SD card on my N95 since the start when they only recommended 2GB. The current Maximum SD card available is 8GB. Both the N95 8GB's do not have a external memory card slot.
Network - The U.S version supports Quadband GSM, 3G 850/1900 for North America whilst the other 2 versions support Quadband GSM, 3G 2100 for Europe and the rest etc.

For a Further analysis of all 4 versions see The NokiaBlog and Howard Forums

N95 Top Tips & Tricks

1. Speed up your N95

Here are my Top 10 tips improving the performance of your N95

1. Update your Firmware!

If you have just got an N95 "Updating the firmware" is the main tip i can give. Every firmware release made improvements and fixed bugs in the previous software. Version 20 added "On Demand Paging" and version 30 added Auto-Rotation to the N95. To quickly check which firmware version you have press *#0000# on your keypad.
The Nokia N95 firmware v.20 introduced have "On Demand Paging". Demand Paging is a more efficient way of loading data into RAM; Code that does need to be executed is not loaded into RAM" which means its faster and uses less Ram Memory which leaves more free Ram making applications open quicker. For more details in updating your firmware see section 2.
Below is a chart showing the gain in free Ram after updating to the v.20 firmware based on results from my own N95 phone.

2. Remove unwanted Applications.
You can remove applications from your phone by using the Application Manager located Menu/ Tools/ App. Mgr. The N95 comes with a few pre-installed applications that can easily be removed, as well as any other applications you may have installed and stopped using. You can remove "Welcome" app., SRE demo game, Demo games, also i personally never use the "Search" app, which used to be removable but is not removable on later firmware.

3. Install applications onto the Internal Phone Memory.
This is important especially for Themes as the internal memory is faster than the SD external memory card. My Internal memory is 147.3MB and most applications range from 2MB down to only 20kb so there should be plenty of room.

4. Close Unwanted Open Applications
Don't leave applications running by accident, check by holding down Menu key, select the unwanted application then from the Options select Remove. My N95 has 48mb Ram and uses around 70% (with the old v.12 firmware) of that on N95 background processes all the time. Which leaves only 16mb free. The "Global Race" game running in the background (Not Playing) will use 7.6kb of The "MusicPlayer" running in the background (Not Playing) will around use 1.4kb of RAM. So close what you don't need.

5. Close applications that appear stopped and save 2-3Mb.
Well this may appear similar to the section above but it takes the principal further. There are a few system applications like 'Menu' that once opened stay open and wont appear in your phone Task Manager.
I have noticed that with firmware v.20 even the Gallery stays open. The screenshots below show that i only have two applications Standby and Screenshot (just to take this image).
But when we look at the tasks list using Active File, we can see Menu, Contacts, Log and Gallery all still open, although this is useful if you want to reopen them quickly (as they are still running) you can save around 2-3Mb by manually closing them. If you use the on-screen memory monitor you will see the increase in ram memory as you close each application.

6. Reboot to remove Memory leaks
My N95 has a 48Mb ram (memory power) and uses around 60-70% on background tasks (less with v20 firmware), but when using various applications (often 3rd party freeware) some ram is lost by applications not fully releasing back the ram when they are closed, this is known as "Memory leaks". The two screenshots below show a "before and after" rebooted phone with the same tasks running.

The first image shows 12.7Mb of free ram which means 76% of my Ram is in use. The second image shows 20.2Mb free ram which means only 58% is being used!
The second image was taken after i rebooted my phone and shows i gained back 7.5Mb (around 18%) from memory leaks.
Considering the camera application uses 8.4Mb of ram,(See section 21 for more details) it would almost be like leaving your camera on all the time! (Not exactly but i'm sure you can see the point).
Therefore its well worth rebooting your phone from time to time, when is up to you but be sure, you will gain back valuable Ram which will speed up opening of applications and general internal processes.

There are a couple of good freeware Memory analysis programs around that can show you how much Ram you are using and how much specific programs are using (by testing). If you like technical stuff these programs are will help you waist countless hours.

ActiveFile v1.23 without_allfiles_screencapture.SISx.
I used this application a lot . You can run an On-screen Memory Monitor by selecting Options/ Tools/ Start memory monitor. This screenshot show background tasks running (except the top two) on my N95.

Y-Tasks
There are 8 application in this set but you ony really need Y-Tasks, Memory Status and Trace to analyse your memory.

7. Defrag your External SD Memory Card.
Although it is quicker to access data from the internal memory it is obviously not possible to store everything on it especially if like me you use your phone as a MP3 Musicplayer. I store all my music over 2gb on my external card. So i recommend periodically defragment your external card by putting your card into your computer and Defraging it as an external drive. Defragmenting your Drive re allocates the file chunks in a sequential order which improves read performance, even if you can't actually notice the difference. My defrag analysis showed it could achieve a 48% improvement on "Time to read fragmented files".
It depends on how much and how often your remove data but once every 3months should be adequate for defrag periods.

8. Turn off active standby,
I like a clean screen so i always turn off active standby, internal n95 functions dont use as much Ram as larger power hungry games etc. but turning off Active standby will gain you around 400kb of Ram, its not a lot but unless you use it a lot, i would get rid. To turn off Active Standby go to Tools/ Settings/ General/ standby Mode/ Active standby and select Off

9.Turn off the Media Background Video/ Animation that plays when you use the Media applications, press the Multi Media key once and select Options/ background images/ and select graphics and select theme. Also you can set Image effects, Menu sounds, Start-up animation all to OFF

10. Set the Phone Log to 10 days.This is a simple way to reduce the number of call details the phone access. You will of course loose and caller details (dialled numbers/ missed calls/recieved calls) over the 10 day period. To change the Log go to Menu/ Applications/ Log/ Options/ Settings/ Log duration set to 10 days (default 30 days).

Note:
Turn up your screen brightness to Max. It does use more battery but for such a short time that you won't notice and it doesn't use more ram (not noticeably) and its improves really improves screen. To change settings Go to 'Tools/ Settings/ General/ Personalisation/ Display. Adjust to highest setting

2. Firmware Updates & How to Change Product codes to get Latest Firmware

Nokia latest firmware for the N95 classic is version 35

Nokia released around 5 firmware updates for the N95 & N95 8G with each release they made improvements and fixed bugs. To check which firmware version press *#0000# on your keypad. With firmware v.20 nokia added a feature called "On Demand Paging" and version 30 added Auto-Rotation to the N95. Demand Paging is a more efficient way of loading data into RAM; Code that does need to be executed is not loaded into RAM" which means its faster and uses less Ram Memory!!

If you have never bothered with updating your firmware because its a hassle, or a bit worrying loosing
some data or can't be bothered reinstalling application well this is the time to do it!!

Now there are a few basic things you need to understand before you should undertake a Firmware update!

1. You may need to "Debrand" your N95 to get the very latest Firmware. Debranding does theoretically invalidate your phone warranty.
2. You may loose some data Calendar entries, although you can back them all up using the PC Suite, i have found that the PC Suite doesn't always return all the data !!
3. You will have to reinstall all your applications and phone settings as the phone memory will be completely wiped .

How to Debrand your N95
This is a lot simpler that it first might seem and although it invalidates your warranty you could always reset the code before taking it to a dealer.
Debranding changes your phones product number to a generic area code ie Europe and removes some Network provider detailing ie My "Web n Walk" became "Web" loosing any reference to T-Mobile.
A full list of product codes is available here

A very good Debranding tutorial is available at: NOKIA DEBRANDING

Nokia Software Updater
It is possible to upgrade your firmware without changing your product code, But it may not be the very latest version depending on your product code. The Nokia software updater will check what firmware you can receive. Click on the NSU logo (left) to the to download the application. The Nokia software updater (NSU) does however come within the Nokia PC suite package now.

Back up your Data

Nokia PC Suite
You will also need to back up you data, Contacts, Calendar entries, Notes anything that is stored on the Phone's Memory card, but anything on your External memory card will not be effected (although some applications that have user data located on phone memory do often have problems and will need to be reinstalled), for safety its best to remove the external card just for peace of mind!!
Your Sim card data is safe also, so i usually back up my contacts to my Sim card and retrieve them to contacts later. The Software updater will ask that your sim card is inserted during firmware updates so you will have to leave it in your phone.

Updating your Firmware Tutorial

Nokia Software Updater
Once you have debranded your phone, then backed up your data, crossed your fingers it all goes back !! Now you can start the Updating your firmware,

1. Use the Nokia software updater shown above and connect to your phone to your PC via your usb data cable, Make sure your battery isn't low or plug it in during update.

2. Start the application on your PC, the software will first assess your phone type and any updates that are available, if it says version.11 or version.12 are only available you will need to change your code as i mentioned above.
The updater will then remind you to backup your data and then start downloading the updates as shown below:

3. It will automatically install the update to your phone, so that's it!! You phone should now be faster than its ever been!!, i just upgraded mine and it does appear quicker, more details to follow

4. Oh yeah now the boring bit of reinstalling your old data, settings and applications!

3. How to Sign "Unsigned" Freeware Applications

Unsigned Freeware Applications
There are 2 basic ways to sign applications:
1) Sign yourself via OPDA certificate
2) Online Signing via Symbian Foundation

As you may well have noticed some applications (freeware) are Unsigned? Like Rotate Me, NeoReboot and RockNScroll. This means you have to sign them yourself and the signed certificate is specific to your phone.
The previously slow process of submitting applications to Symbian Signed has lead some developers to release Unsigned versions of their applications to the general public, rather than waiting for the verification by Symbian Signed.

1. Sign Applications yourself via OPDA Certificate

Thanks to the OPDA developer website you can now sign applications yourself in the same way as before the current system was introduced.
Firstly i have to give the credit to The Nokia Blog who highlighted the fact that OPDA are issuing Signing certificates and Keys as Symbian once used to before they changed the system. These Certs/Keys are specific to your Phone so you will need your IMEI/Serial number number (*#06#). OPDA is a Chinese Developer website so understanding the website isn't easy but The guy's at The Nokia Blog have given good instructions.
I know a lot of people will be very happy to avoid the online signing process. I tested the whole process and it really works, i can now sign applications for my N95 and 5800.

2.Sign applications with Symbian Foundation:

1. Download the freeware you want like RotateMe and save it on your PC (the desktop is always a useful location).

2. Go to Symbian signed

3. Fill in the details on the page: Click on the Image to see the full details in Red
IMEI number can be found on your phone by pressing *#06#
Email address can not be a Hotmail ,Yahoo or Gmail account.
Application should be on your PC where ever you saved it.
Capability Info: You can tick all boxes.
Security code are letter A-F letters numbers 0-9, so it is a zero not a "O" and its a one not "I" :)
legal agreement : Dont forget to tick it. then SEND!!

4. You should now see a new page with "SUCCESS" that states you will get a conformation email, which you will need to accept before the application is processed.

5. Once the email has arrived, Follow the link and confirm the email.

6. Now just wait for the application to be sent to your email address. When the email arrives usually within 24 hours follow the link and Save it to your pc. Then later you can install it to your phone via USB cable/PC suite

NB: Originally i had problems uploading the application using Vista OS. Although this may be sorted out by now if you dont see a "Success" page i recommend using a XP or 2000 OS to send the email.

4. Remove your N95 operator logo

This tweak allows you to change your operator logo with a blank image but you could place another image of your choice, there are some free design logos in the zip "logo" folder.
I have adapted this tutorial as the guides given (zip folder) & other people do not work effectively on N95.

The main changes are:

• If you use the memory Card as your Default message folder you cannot connect your phone via "Data transfer mode". Therefore it is better to temporarily select default memory card to save the logo then switch back to phone memory for default message folder. no need to understand just follow the tutorial
• You will need to find you specific Operator code from the lists. You may need to use the format XXXX-XX rather than XXXXXX. I have provided 2 list of GSM operator code in case you find some dont work.

Change your operator logo tutorial

1. Download the NokiaLogo v.071220 Zip folder by Jarod. He has also provided Chinese, Italian and Russian installation guides but they are not specific for N95. Unzip the folder.

2. Connect your Phone to PC via "Data transfer mode". The open the NokiaLogo.exe. You should now see as small application box.

3. To load the 'Blank logo' double click on the JAROD image and navigate to the Nokialogov.071220 folder/ logo and select the blank.bmp. (for other logos select alternative logo from the folder)

4. Now select your Operator code. There are a few pre-sets in the drop down box otherwise look in the Nokialogov.071220/GSM operatorcode1 or 2 for your code. You may need to use the format XXXX-XX rather than XXXXXX.

5. Now select your SDcard from the Options (left of the Export button)

6. Now select the Export and the logo will be sent to your Memory card. Disconnect your phone from the PC.

7. Now you just need to Open and SAVE the New logo The easiest way is to temporarily make your Message default folder the Memory Card. To do this select Messaging/ Options/Settings/Other/ Memory in use and select Memory card. Copy messages across if it asks and back again later (just for safety)

8. Now go to your Inbox and you should see your Blank Logo as a message. Open and SAVE the logo (it will automatically save the location).

9. You can now Reset your Message default folder to Phone Memory (otherwise you cannot use the "data transfer mode" with the usb cable in the future)

10. That should be it you should now see your operator logo gone!!

Logo still visible? if you still have the operator logo 2 things may be wrong :

1. The operator code is wrong, you will need to try another or use fromat XXXX-XX
2. You need to check Menu/Tools/Settings/General/Personalisation/Standby Mode/Operator logo select ON

5. Nokia N95 codes
Here is a short list of useful codes. They are very simple to use, just type in the code and the details will show on your screen.
*#0000# To view Firmware version.

*#06# (*#0M#) To view Serial number, IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity).

*#2820# (*#BTA0#) To view Bluetooth device address.

*#62209526# (*#MAC0WLAN) To view the MAC address of the WLAN adapter. This is maybe necessary for wlan encrypted setup.

*#92702689# (*#WAR0ANTY#) To view the life timer information. This is the total time of phone calls in minutes.

Warning : All old data will be lost when hard reset is used. Ive not tested tthe codes below take no responsibility for any problems arrising from using them.

Soft reset (*#7780#) : Restores ini files from rom but preserves user data (photos, 3rd party apps etc).The phone will ask you a confirmation, enter a security code (12345 by default)

Hard Reset (*#7370#) : This reformats completely the C: drive. All applications and files stored on this drive will be lost and clean default files will be rewritten. The phone will ask you a confirmation and enter a security code (12345 by default)

There is another key combination which is used to hard reset the phone (similar to #*7370#). It is useful in some cases, for example when the phone cannot reboot. The trick is by switching off the phone then press and hold Call key (Green key) + * key + 3 key + power button for a couple of seconds.

*0# If you want to know when someone has received your text message on their phone use this code start your message with *0# This is similar to "Delivery Reports" feature available on most phones but you will receive a details text rather than a confirmation note on screen.It will not show up on their message and a text will be sent to your phone when it has arrived in theirs. Best to leave a space before you start your first word in the message. You wont know when they read the message but you will know when they received it!
NOTE : This feature has only been tested on UK phones Networks.

N95 product codes for updating firmware if you have a problem getting the correct firmware version here

6. N95 Mobile website & Menu Icon

UPDATE 2010: I launched a mobile version of this website back in May 2009. I used Mofuse.com which was originally a free service, it is no longer a free service although my account is still valid. It has lead to very slow bandwidth allowance and the pages no longer load properly. I am looking into a new Mobile version.
You can still download the Visual Bookmark from GetJar.com but the page load is TOO slow to use.
I will remove the GetJar Bookmark soon and hopefully have a new improved mobile version soon. The Visual Bookmark was created for free by GetJar.com . If you want to create V.Bookmark for your website, you can learn how to do it from WapReview . Over 2500 have already downloaded the Menu VB via Getjar that's is the reason why i exceeded my Fileden bandwidth last week.

7. Themes

The N95 and N95 8GB use themes to show content on the phone interface. There are around 4 default themes pre installed in the phone. If you use a photo image as the theme wallpaper you will end up with an image like the one on the Far left, which may stretch the photo to fit the window as well as leaving large top and bottom area of theme background. To avoid this and get a full screen image (left) you will need to create or download a theme.There are three basic ways to get themes for your N95.

1) You can download free themes from websites like
Mobile9 Zedge Symbian themes Rannat BabiNokia Mmc Forums

2) You can create your own Themes free online with
Ownskin.com
Its completely free and makes creating themes pretty easy, you can upload your picture, change the colours of the text and battery bars etc. under the advanced options. It creates a .sis file which you can send to your phone via cable etc. You can also share your theme with other users. Its an easy way to make themes, and well worth trying, though i do find it a bit basic

3) I have made a tutorial for creating themes with the Nokia carbide theme program, which deals with creating transparent navi panes, and handle key pair certificates.
To view the tutorial click here.
Well the best way make your own themes is with Nokia's free software. Its not the easiest program to use but once you have mastered it its pretty simple, my advise is start with the default theme and just alter the active /inactive background. Use the Nokia PC suite to transfer the .sis file to your phone.
Nokia Forum For Carbide Theme Studio 3.4
This link above has more details on the Theme Studio. I recommend reading and downloading the free tutorial Getting Started is the basic starter guide

Here are some themes i have created, Now with WideScreen improved image and music player changes for Firmware v.20,you can download the Themes from my Tutorial page or click the images.

8. Symbian 60 3rd Edition Freeware
There are a few feature missing in symbian phones as far as i am concerned. There is no stopwatch and the calculator is disgusting and no torch! so download some freeware for your phone. I really don't like "shareware" so i have concentrated on freeware.

I have created a separate freeware page with more applications, Click on the image to the left the view the new page.
Below are a few of the applications featured on the page.

Active Notes
This freeware application is basically 'Notes' on Steroids. Its a really good app. that allows you to save a text notes and add an Image, Sound clips and also add any note to a contact. It can even do more. . . Read Here

Timebar
Timebar is a very useful freeware application that can show the time on all screens whether you are in the menu, music player etc. It can also play a tone or voice alert every hour on the hour (You can turn off particular hours in the settings) . There are only English and Chinese voice tags. The original English Voice Tags were missing 11am,12am,11pm and12pm, so i have edited them and also created new cleaner English Alerts.
You will need to place the 'Timebar' Folder in your Phone Memory/ Data/ Sounds/ Timebar (Folder) to get the hourly alert to work. You can change the location and colour of the clock in the settings. If you want to make Voice tags in other languages you can get Text to speech here

I have created new sets of Timebar Voice Alerts:
They both use a Robotic voices and actual sounds from the movie and game. You will need to replace the existing timebar folder to use the new sounds and adjust the volume level as they are reasonably loud. There is also a new 24 hour timebar set by Trek. click the images to download

9. Keypad Shortcuts

Here are some Keypad & Shortcut Basics you should know for your N95 and N95 8GB

Hold down Right navigation key to launch Voice commands (Contacts name or Application name)
Press the MultiMedia Key to open MultiMedia Menu
Hold down the MultiMedia key to start Music player
Press the Menu key to open Main Menu
Hold down the Menu key to start Task Manager
Hold down 0 to launch Web Browser
Hold down # to Switch between General and Silent Profiles
Hold down "little pencil" key to activate Copy or Paste (Text) mode
Press the "c" key to Delete or Backspace details
Hold down key 1 to activate Voicemail retrieval (most networks)

Some useful side action keys are:

Press Gallery Key once to open Gallery (Fullscreen)
Press Gallery Key twice to open Gallery Images & Video (Small)

Press the Camera Capture Key Half down to focus the Camera
Press the Camera Capture key down full to take shot or Start Video Camera

10. Change your N95 & N95 8GB Font Easily

I have found a way to easily change your N95 font. In the past it was possible to change your font, but it was a rather complicated process of changing files, making copies, renaming other files and after that i could never get it to work properly!!
Now using FontRouter the process is simple,quick and free to do. I have created a tutorial because although it is quite simple it can get a bit complicated the first time you do it.

One good thing is you can use any .ttf font from your PC but avoid wide or thick fonts as they cannot be fully viewed on the phone in most cases.

Here are some fonts i tried out on my N95, Click on the image to see full size

I have provided these fonts for you to download and use.
Download Font Sample Zip

WARNING

I am currently using the Eurostile font without any problems on my N95.

Please take care when carrying out any tutorial, If you are unsure and concerned about any possible damage to your phone, DONT do it.

Change font on N95 tutorial
1. You need to download FontRouter20071109 .sis here. This applications need to be signed you can do this via the symbian signed website details in Section 3.

2. Install the application into the PHONE memory. You will not find any application icon in your Menu but there will now be a folder in C:/data/Fonts (As shown below).

Now to choose a font: Go to your PC and in Control Panel you will see the Fonts folder you can use any .ttf font, so rightclick on one you like (or use one i provided) and copy the file to the desktop.

3. Now connect your phone to your PC via usb cable and move the .ttf file to your phone directory C:/data/Fonts, ONLY move one file in to the fonts folder. As shown in the second image above.

4.Disconnect your Phone from the PC and Restart your phone , the New font should be working straight away

Removing or Changing New font
You will probably want to try a few fonts and some are quite bad in small text size, or decide that you want to go back to the default nokia font.
It is possible to edit the .ini file to disable the new font but it is simpler to copy/move then delete the .ini file, then there is no need to editing tools.

1. All you need to do is copy the FontRouter.ini file in the fonts into another folder and delete the original .ini file. You cannot delete the font .ttf file as it is still in use.

2. RESTART your phone and the default font will be back, then delete the font.ttf file that was previously put in the fonts folder

3. If you want to try another font, put the Fontrouter.ini file BACK (that you just copied) in the Fonts folder with the new .ttf file and RESTART your phone again

4. I recommend putting the Font Samples folder i provided in C:/data/ so that you can copy the new fonts into the Fonts folder as you try them, it saves having to connect to you PC to get new fonts each time.

Changing your N95 8GB Font
The main problem here is i don't have a N95 8GB to test the process on, so i have to rely on information written by other people. Guides for installing this application mention installing onto the mass memory (no memory card) but i dont think this is correct and i recommend using the PHONE memory. Follow the tutorial for the N95 classic but if you have problems you could follow the details below.

If you install to the mass memory you will need to make a folder in C:/data called "Fonts" and place the Fontrouter.ini file in the fonts folder. Then put any .tff file into the fonts folder and RESTART to see the changes.

You can follow another Installation guide for N95 8GB by barbioxdogg his instructions are :

I had problems when installing .ttf fonts on my N95 8GB but now i have finally found the solution.

1) Install FontRouter in your mass storage in N95 8Gb
2) using the x-plore app, make a folder in PHONE (C:/) named fonts
3) move the fontrouter.ini and paste in c:\data\fonts
4) edit the fontrouter.ini file with x-plore like this
5) search at:
;Extra font files to be loaded
ExtraFontFile=\Data\Fonts\*.*
and change to
;Extra font files to be loaded
ExtraFontFile=C:\Data\Fonts\*.*
exit and save the file
6) Copy your *.ttf font to c:\data\fonts

11. Multi-Media, Album Art and Mp3 Editing

Radio
You can turn your N95 into a Mobile Radio by simply inserting your Headphones and Pressing CANCEL instead of selecting any of the other options. This will leave the sound playing from the stereo speakers in the N95. There are FM aerials available on Ebay for around £6 but any headphones work as the aerial, it makes a very handy Radio which you can use where ever you are, as long as you have a signal!

MusicPlayer
The N95 has a really good MP3 player with an 8 band graphic equaliser, loudness function, stereo speakers and of course the 3.5mm headphone socket that means you can use your normal headphones. The phone also can hold memory card to a least 4GB which makes for a very useful MP3 player, so take advantage of this feature and get yourself a good memory card.

Album Art
There are two ways to show Album Art on MP3 files.

1) You can embed your MP3 tracks with an image tag, This works fine if you are transferring an Cd or downloaded Album. You will a program to embed your MP3, i recommend Mp3Tag. You can also use WMP11 to embed Album art into MP3 files transfer.

To learn how to easily import image tags to Mp3 files click here.

2) You can manually add Album Art to albums within your N95, but you can only add Artwork to individual tracks or Albums not playlists or Artists. The advantage of using this manual system is that you can create or edit your own image rather than the original Album cover artwork. First create album art images 160px X 160px (smaller images are degraded when viewed, around 20Kb size).Transfer to phone.
Select: MusicPlayer/MusicMenu/Albums/(ie)TheStrokes/Options/AlbumArt/Options/Change/ Select Image/Yes(for all songs in the Album)

Mp3 Ringtones and Message tones editing
If you want to make music clips from MP3's the best freeware program is

I have created a Tutorial on making Mp3 Music Ringtones/ Message tones here.

You can download it from the PCSOS freeware page . It's a brilliant tool to cut up any music or sound clip, so u can make a ringtone of text message sound.
screenshot:

What's your message tone? we've all got our favourites. Ive found some cool websites with free sounds everything from StarWars, Homer Simpson to alligator grumbles.

Movie Wav Simpson Crazy FindSounds Amazing Sounds

SimplytheBest Ultrasonic Ringtones RetroJunk

You can save most of the MP3 files directly to your PC or Use Rightmouse and select "Save Link As" then save to your desktop. You can use the "Super" freeware program (in section 13. on MP4) to convert .wav files into MP3's.

Add your Favourite logo to your N95
If you have a favourite Football team badge or logo of anything at all, that you want to display on your Phone, it really very easy to do.
You dont have to create a Theme all you need get a copy of your logo and make the background transparent using Adobe Photoshop etc., then add it as you wallpaper.
For more info on creating the image or download the Man. Utd or Porsche Badges
Go to my Theme page (Middle of the page)

I have split N95 best tips into 2 parts to avoid the page being too long and improve loading times. To view part two just click on the text image above or click here

In section two you can find details on Nokia Maps, GPS set up, More Freeware Games & loads more!

Themes tutorial for Nokia N95

2007-07-29T11:20:00.073+01:00

Updated: 29 Sept 2009

This tutorial will show you how to create a Symbian S60 3rd edition theme for Nokia N95. I used the Nokia Carbide.ui S60 theme edition 3.1.1. (latest version 3.4) to make the theme and Adobe Photoshop CS3 to edit the Backgrounds.
The finished theme is shown right.
In this example we will be creating "Handle key pairs" certificate, adding Active/Inactive backgrounds, Creating "transparent Navi pane" and adjusting colours to match the theme.

Note: All images can be enlarged by clicking.

Download & Details Of latest Nokia Carbide Theme Creator below:
NokiaCarbide

For a basic starter guide:
Getting Started

Getting Started
You will need two images which you use for the theme.
The Inactive screen will be your image or picture that will be displayed when the phone is in idle.
The active screen will be shown when you are using applications like text messaging, gallery, music player, therefore it is probably best to be a faded or plain image otherwise it will detract from the application you are using.
The images are best edited before you create the theme with a program like Adobe Photoshop and cropped to 240pixels X 320pixels. To achieve a clearer image in landscape view it better to use a 320 x 320px image. (Thanks for this tip form the comments section).

1) Install the carbide program and select
"Create a new theme", then name it, Keep "Base graphics" selected this is the default for S60 3rd edition.

2) You will now see a default theme which you can edit. the first thing to do is edit the Active background.
Select "Background" from the Resources tab on the left, then select the top grey rectangle next to the panel.
Right click the background in the "Active background" tab in the centre bottom of the screen, and select "Convert and edit in bitmap editor" (which should have been set up in the installation) as shown below.

3) Now your bitmap editor (Photoshop etc.) will launch and you can move your saved image on to the theme background, Then flatten the image and SAVE, then return to Carbide and your new background should appear.

4) Repeat this for the Inactive screen, and you should end up with an image , shown right.

5) Now you will notice that there is a blue line across the Clock symbol. This is the navigation pane and is better to be set it to match the background rather than being blue. To can be a little tricky so follow carefully.
First select "Areas" from the resources panel on the left, then "Status Area" then select the bottom of the three rectangular images next to the panel,
Then select the Navi pane from the "Navi pane background" panel.
Now right click the box and select Edit/Animate, this will change the details to a layers shown below,

Now you can edit the "navi pane layer" layer tab, right click on the layer1 and select "Add background".
Then remove the old blue layer by right clicking on the layer one again and selecting "delete layer"
as shown right.

6) Now you can edit the colours to match your theme, this is done from the "Colours" section in the resources tab on the left. There are a lot of colours that you can change, so try whatever you like, i changed the text colour and main title to light grey as well as a few other alterations , shown below

7) Now that the Theme is finished remember to "save" it. Now we need to create a "handle key Pair" which is your certificate/owners rights. The carbide program can create one for you.
First select Tools from the Menu bar, then select Handle key pairs, A dialog box will open select "New" it will prompt you to enter an title , it can be anything , like "Theme cert" etc. then select "Make keys"
Now a new dialog box will appear, as shown right, fill out your details, then select generate.
now it will return to the earlier box and now select "SAVE"

8) Now you have your certificate you can use it for every theme you create, all that is left is to create a .sis file
Go to Tools in the menu bar and select "Create new sis package", a dialog box will appear in which you can change some Information/settings, Then select next, in the new box the Key pair should be highlighted, then select finish
The program will ask you if you want to transfer to your phone now, that's up to you just remember where the .sis file is saved, most likely C:Program Files/Nokia/carbide.../workspace...

I use the Nokia PC suite to transfer .sis files, When installing to the phone a message that the certificate is untrusted, but as you made it , it's OK!!

5800 Default Themes For N95

Yan Flahorn has released a N95 Theme based on the 5800 default theme. He says he spent 3 months working on it! and the amount of detail is impressive. There are 600 New icons most based on 5800 icons and .svg images which sort out the problems with landscape mode. The themes (Blue and Red) were highlighted over at the SymbianFreak. You can download the for N95 and N96 from his website at deviantart.com. For N95 use Touch Blue by Flahorn.sis & Touch Red by Flahorn.sis not the FP2 versions.

Adding Badges and Logos to your N95 & N95 8GB

If you want to add a football team badge or any other logo to your Main idle screen you can easily do it without having to create a theme.
All you need to do create an image with a transparent background.
You will need a PC application like Adobe Photoshop to create the image.

Here are the basic tips for creating the Image
1) Download an Image, logo or Badge from the Internet
2) Remove the background & Edit the image with Photoshop or similar program.
2) Make the image 240 x 235 pixels
3) Save the Image as a .png
4) Transfer to your Phone
5) Find the Image in the Gallery and "Set as wallpaper"

There are 2 small problems with using this system to display logos

1) The image will be stretched in Landscape Mode
2) The Phone display shows a slightly darker shading to the area that is transparent. The visibility of the shading depends on your themes colour.

Alternatively you could just make a complete theme with the logo to avoid both of these problems.

Here are a couple of Transparent logos i made which you can use. To download click the image to open full size then right click and "Save Image As".

Sending Themes via bluetooth
If you want to send a theme to a friend via bluetooth, you will need to zip the file to send it as the N95 does not let you send Theme .sis files via bluetooth. This is quite easy to do using the Zip Manager inbuilt in the N95 & N95 8GB.
Here is a quick guide on how to send themes via bluetooth:

Create the Zip

1. You will need to transfer the Theme .sis file to your phone (rather than opening it and installing), you can store it in any location, just remember where you put it.

2. Now go to Menu/ Applications/ Office/ Zip. Open the application and select Options/ New Archive. Now name you New zip folder, then select Options / Add Archive and select the theme .sis file. As shown in the screenshots below

Send the Zipped Theme

1. Now to send the Zipped theme use the file manager to locate the Zip archive folder you created and select Options/ Send/ via Bluetooth

2. If you haven't already turned on your bluetooth, it will prompt you and start bluetooth and then locate other devices. Then find your friends phone and SEND.

To Extract and Install the theme

1. Once the Bluetoothed Zip folder is saved on your friends phone they can located it from your Inbox and simply open the zip folder which will launch the Zip Manager and then start the install process or:

2. Go to Menu/ Applications/ Office/ Zip. Open the Zip application and locate to Zip Archive Folder, then open the Zipped Theme. Which will start the theme Installation. As shown below.

My Themes

Sullivan's Travels
This is a screenshot from Sullivan's Travels, a classic feel good comedy made in 1941. It was directed by Preston Sturges and if you haven't seen it and like old Movies you're going to love it ! Joel McCrea and Veronica lake at their best!
I used the base template i created for Hollywood 1940. I had to rebuild a lot of the image to fit nicely on the screen and i have rectified the Music player notes error (black on very dark grey) as well as improving incoming caller i.d colours.
Download

Blue Ice Sheet
This is my favourite of the four i have just created, mostly because the blue looks great on the phone. If you view in landscape you can see more of the image. I used to use this image as a desktop a while ago, if you want the full image email me and i'll send it.
Download

Hollywood 1940's
Well i've been meaning to use this image for a while now, finally i got around to it, Its taken in the USA around the 1940's, if you recognise where or when it is or you can tell from the cars let me know. I used sepia tones for the signal/battery indicators.
Download

Blue Water
This is a simple Coast scene. What i liked about the image is that you actually seem to be in the water, and its sharpness of course!
Download

Maserati Ghibli
Updated - I have been using this theme i created for screenshots. Like all the later themes i have created it works in landscape mode without blurring the image.
Download

Beach Scene
Updated - A simple theme with wide screen image.
Download

Gold Circuit board
Updated - This theme continues my personal interest in Circuit boards!
Download

Porsche 911 2.2s
Updated - Classic porsche, no fancy bumper or fins, just early 1970 class!
Download

Sandtroopers Wide Theme
Updated - Whats better than stormtroopers ? . . . . Sandtroopers! just ask my Nephew.
Download

Stormtrooper Wide Theme
Updated - Now with wide screen and Music player updated background for firmware v.20
Download wide

Lamborghini Miura SV
Updated - This theme shows the rear of the classic late 1960's Lamborghini. Download

Defender Wide
Updated - This is a theme based on the Classic arcade game Defender. The colours are based on the original artwork. The Zip folder includes the .sis file and various .wav sound from the original game which you may want to used a message tones. This theme is not designed to be used with active standby as it will obscure the other graphics.
Download

Hard day's Night Album cover - The Beatles
This themes certificate has expired, you can still install it if you first set your date back 1 year, install the theme then set the time back.
This theme is based on one of the most iconic album covers of all time, A Hard Day's Night by The Beatles. As usual with my themes the active screen is just plain colour so that it doesn't interfere with the open applications.
Download

Taito Space Invaders 1978 theme
Updated - This theme is based on the Original Taito Space Invaders arcade game made in 1978.
As with most of my themes the Operator logo is the same colour as the background so if you haven't removed the logo it will not show up on your screen.
Download

Green Motherboard
Updated - This theme is based a very busy image of a MotherBoard.The Indicators appear almost hidden amongst the maze of dots on the inactive screen, but that is the point. As with all these themes the active screen (Menu etc.) is a plain colour so not to interfere with your applications on screen. All the themes i have created do not have any Icon packs in them so your phone will automatically use the default N95 icons, which are much better quality than most basic phone icons.
Download

Album Art, AudioBooks & Creating Ringtones

2007-07-29T11:20:00.072+01:00

Updated: 25 Sept 2009

Downloading Music from the Internet, Part 1

Here is basic guide to downloading music from the Internet. Let me first say, I do not endorse illegal downloading, i offer any details purely as information on current practices on the internet.
The reason i haven't mentioned it is because most of it involves copyright infringement making it illegal.
In the old days there was Napster, Kazaa, Limewire, and for the last few years Bit Torrents and more recently Rapidshare Blogs. As you might know to download music you need a Bit Torrent client like Utorrent, Transmission, Bitcomet that can convert files from websites like IsoHunt, Mininova, Pirate Bay or BitJunkie.

What you might nor know is that there is a Website for legal downloads called Legaltorrents offering a host of free audiobooks, Music etc. What you need then is a Bit Torrent client for your N95 or 5800 and SymTorrent for S60 is just that!

SymTorrent for S60
Click on the application name above to visit their website

I have to say that i would recommend downloading using a PC rather than a phone, purely for size and connection principles. I tested it on my N95 and Syntorrent works and is capable downloading the same files as any other Bit Torrent clients. The ability is there but the ease and stability of PC performance not to mention battery life makes downloading to PC a practical idea.

Editing Mp3's using iTunes

Apple iTunes can be used to edit Mp3 for N95 and N95 8GB, i personally prefer to use MP3tag but many people already use iTunes so i have created this simple tutorial to show how easy it is to edit Mp3 info and add album artwork.
You cannot edit the N95 directly using iTunes therefore you will have to edit the albums in your "iTunes Library". There is no need to register with apple to get artwork but you will have to manually search for the Album Covers, this allows you to create you own picture if you want.

Editing iTunes Library

1. First use Google Image Search to find the Album Artwork you want and save it on your Desktop (Make sure it is a exact square but cropping in photoshop if necessary) I recommend using images of 256x256 pixels or more and they must BE .JPEG or .JPG NOT .PNG files.

2. Open iTunes and select Library / Music from the left hand panel, there are 3 views formats List, Album and Cover flow (my preferred). I have used Cover flow as it easy to see the images.

3. Highlight the Album you want to edit by selecting all the tracks (Select one track and use Shift Key and select bottom track) then right click and select Get Info, as shown in the images below:

4. Now a Mp3 edit box will appear, Check that the Info is correct and if no Artist name appears it is because there are differences in the name. iTunes has a few categories which are useful to clear avoiding albums fragmenting.
I would tick the box but leave blank "Album Artist", "Compilation" and "Disc number"
Then double click on the Artwork box and locate the image you saved earlier.
Then click ok to complete

5. If you are adding a new image to an album with artwork, i have found it is better to remove the old image first, by checking the box and leaving blank, and then redoing the process with the new image.

6. That's it you should now be able to connect up you N95 and move the Tracks from your music library to your phone via the PC suite or Nokia Phone Browser.

Nokia Default Ringtones
Do you miss your old polyphonic ringtones? Well probably not that much, But if you want to find an old favourite or just a bit of phone Nostalgia, here's something for you.
The default ringtones on Nokia phones are stored on the internal memory and are difficult to extract but thanks to Gizmogates you can download loads of Nokia default ringtones, from N97 to 6220.

More Nokia Default Ringtones
For More Nokia Default Ringtones can download this Nokia Tones Zip file

AudioBooks Tutorial

Nokia AudioBooks
Nokia AudioBooks has now been Achived by Nokia but you can still download it from their website. It is an application that allows you to listen to audiobooks on your N95. On of the advantages of is that Audiobooks are around 10 times smaller in size than a low quality Mp3 of the same length.
You can Download Nokia Audiobook Player for S60 3rd Edition FeaturePack 1
You will also need to get the Nokia Audiobooks Manager which can convert .Wav files into Audiobook format.

Converting Mp3 files into .Wav
You can convert Mp3 files into audiobook format but you but the Audiobooks manager can only convert .Wav file so you will have to first convert the Mp3files into .Wav .This is simple to do using Super.
1. 'Drag and drop' the Mp3 file into the box below the Output settings, Then select the output Wav from 'Output container box' drop down menu in the top left.
2. Then press Encode, the files new files can now be converted into Audibook amr-wb/ amb format .

Converting .Wav files into AudioBooks for N95
1. First download the Nokia AudioBook Manager from here
2. The unzipped folder can be placed in C:\Program Files or and place of your choice,
3. Run the NokiaAudiobookManager.exe and you will see the interface as below
4. Give your book a Name in the top blank box then click on the 'Select files' tab to add your files
5. You can also add a jpeg image of your choice usually the book cover by clicking 'Select picture' this is optional.
6. Now press 'Process' and the manager will convert your files into a folder with all the necessary info.
7. The application will if you want to transfer the folder to your phone, but you can manually transfer

Manually transferring Audiobooks to Nokia N95
Audiobooks need to be transferred to your external memory card in an Audiobooks folder, if one has not been created by the application you can manually add a new folder to the root folder eg.
E:/ Audiobooks. Place the new converted folder as such E:/ Audiobooks/James Bond-Live and let die.
When you open you audiobooks on your N95 you should now see the book listed.

Free AudioBooks at LibriVox
You can download some freeware AudioBooks at LibriVox, click here to search their Catalogue

Creating Ringtones and Message Alert tones from Mp3 music

This tutorial will show you how to create a short music clip to use on your phone as Ringtone or Message tone.
You will need an Mp3 music file (song), Mp3 editor (MP3direct cut), Pc or Mac to edit and transfer the file to the Phone.
Most Ringtones only need to be up to 20 seconds in length as an Answer phone will usually cut in at around 17 sec. Message tone length is your personal choice as you will be the one listening to it but usually they are less than 10 sec in length.
1. Download Mp3DirectCut from the PCSOS freeware page and install on your Computer.

2. Start the program and Select File/ Open ... and select your Mp3 music file

3.You can now edit your song. Use the Play/Stop buttons to listen to the track, then select the Start of the track by using the Left mouse click and the End by using the right mouse click. As shown below left. Now go to Edit from the Menu and and Select Crop .

4. Now you have your music clip you can create a simple start Fade in and Fade out for the end of the Track. This can be easily done by selecting a short segment at the start of the track then go to Edit on the Menu and select Create simple fade. You can listen to the new edit by pressing the Play button. As shown Above right. Repeat this at the end of the track to create a simple Fade Out.

5. To save your new Clip go to File from the Menu and select Save all to save your ringtone. Now you just need to transfer to your phone via Nokia Pc suite or by bluetooth etc.

Two other useful features on Mp3directcut are:
To remove a portion of a track, just simply highlight the part you want to remove and select 'Delete' on your computer.
If the sound level is too high or too low, highlight your selection and Go to Edit / Gain here you can increase or decrease the levels (It is best to lock your left and right channels).

Here are two Short Mp3 files i created whilst making this Tutorial. download by clicking on the image or right click and 'Save Link As...' (depending on your browser set up)

Personalised Album Art using MP3TAG and MP3 EXT (For PC)
If you want to embed Personalised Album Art into MP3 tracks before you transfer them to your Phone you can easily do this with MP3TAG, but first i want to show you a great freeware program for viewing MP3 files on your PC. This hasn't got anything to do with N95 it only works when viewing on windows PC, but its so good i had to mention it!

MP3 ext
This program was last updated in 2004, so its not new but its so under-used, i Love it!!. Below is an screenshot of part my MP3 music collecton. (Yeah they are all icons the album art work)

When i view and Album details using MP3ext i can see the Bitrate quality of each track, below we can see that there are a few different quality rates.This is because they are downloaded from different sources. The program works on XP and Vista, you can choose different icon themes, but i have created my own, which you can see below, if you want a copy of the icon set. Click either icon below. I have updated the icon set and put some Install notes in the zip file as it can get a bit complicated to set the theme.

Adding Personalised Album Artwork with MP3TAG
MP3TAG is a freeware application for Windows PC that allows you to edit MP3 info which includes adding album art, which will show up in your N95.

Applications like iTunes and Windows Media player 11 can add artwork to Mp3 tracks that you buy online but other music you may have download usually doesn't have any album art or has artwork on some tracks or poor quality images. Below you can see that the Thriller album has already has some album art, but strangely its of the cd back? and two other tracks have nothing, but using the MP3ext i can see the bitrate quality as an icon, rather than just showing a MP3 symbol.

Once you have downloaded and Installed MP3TAG you can rightclick on any MP3 folder using the shell extension and select Mp3tag.
Now select all the tracks ( Ctrl A) and in the Tag panel (which i undocked) right click on the Album Art circle symbol and select Add Cover

This will open a dialogue box where you can navigate to any image you have saved. I have found that the optimum size of an image for the N95 album artwork is 160x160px, although i make mine 256x256 because i view most album art on my PC, the larger image is compressed slightly by the phone which reduces the quality. I have downloaded 2 images of the Thriller, one traditional cover and one alternative take of the cover.
I simply select the image i want, adjust any other tags like Comments and Genre (Don't get me started) and select Save.

Now you can see that when i view the albums on my laptop In List and Details view you can see the Mp3 info and it shows the MP3ext bitrate as an icon (rather small), but when i increase the size in Tiles, Icon (Small, Med. and Large etc) i can see the album artwork i embedded earlier.

Now all you need to do is transfer it to you phone and the Artwork will now appear in your music player when you play the tracks.

Embedding Album Art Images into Mp3 files

End Result

The first thing you will need is a program to embed your Mp3 files. I recommend Mp3tag its is excellent and FREE. MP3TAG

1) Once you have installed the program, start it up and located an Mp3 album you want to embed.

2) Then highlight all the tracks and Select from the tool bar the World/ internet logo, Then select "Amazon. de" (usually works the best)

Click image to enlarge

3) A new dialog box will appear and you can choose the correct album, As shown below

Click image to enlarge

4) Then another dialog box will appear showing the files new infomation and Album Art. Click OK. As shown below.

Click image to enlarge

5) Thats it! you can now transfer the Album to your N95 phone and the Album Art will show up Automatically.

Best Tips and tricks for Nokia N95

2007-07-29T11:20:00.071+01:00

I have created a list of N95 Best tips and tricks for this phone after being disappointed with other Internet articles on customising your N95. If you have any other tips i haven't mentioned let me know and I'll add them to the list. I hope you enjoy this N95 Blog and find them useful.

The N95 is a Symbian 60 phone like the N73, N80 and N70 before it and so some of the tips are based on ideas from these phones.Some of the tips will also work for Nokia Symbian 60 phones like N90, N91, E61 and the E70.

I have used Freeware applications for the N95 and avoided shareware although there is a lot out there.

THIS PAGE HAS NOW BEEN UPDATED. TO VIEW THE NEW PAGES GO
HERE

I have created two N95 icons for your computer,
A Silver and Black version. They are both in 3 formats XP/Vista/Mac.
download Silver download Black

Tutorials: I have created tutorial pages and links to other tutorials. Click on the image to view tutorial.

Top Tips

1.Get Rid of your operator logo easily! ***Changes 04/02/2009***
The website listed below is now unavailable and therefore the tip does not work, If the website is reinstated i will post the new links.
All networks make it difficult to remove the operator logo from the Inactive background screen. It is possible to remove it using S60 freeware FExplorer but its a real pain and quite frankly unnecessary, the easiest way is to download a blank logo from a website like http://www.free-ringtones-free-logos.com/ its not free but only costs the price of text and lets face it most of us with N95 will have plenty of free texts. Type in blank logo in the search box on the left of the web page and follow the instructions, When the blank is sent to you save it and your logo will disappear. This works for all Nokias from 6230i to N95. I have found that i have to sent texts to both numbers shown on the page, which seems to be a ploy to get u to send 2 texts, but its by far the easiest way to remove the logo.

2. Themes
There are three basic ways to get more and better themes for your N95.

A) You can download free themes from websites like
Mobile9 Zedge Symbian themes Rannat BabiNokia Mmc Forums

B) You can create your own themes free online with
Ownskin.com
Its completely free and makes creating themes pretty easy, you can upload your picture, change the colours of the text and battery bars etc. under the advanced options. It creates a .sis file which you can send to your phone via cable etc. You can also share your theme with other users. Its an easy way to make themes, and well worth trying, though i do find it a bit basic

C) I have made a tutorial for creating themes with the Nokia carbide theme program, which deals with creating transparent navi panes, and handle key pair certificates.
To view the tutorial click here.
Well the best way make your own themes is with Nokia's free software. Its not the easiest program to use but once you have mastered it its pretty simple, my advise is start with the default theme and just alter the active /inactive background. Use the Nokia PC suite to transfer the .sis file to your phone
Series-60-theme-studio.en.softonic.com/symbian
This link above has more details on the Theme Studio.
Nokia forum general info on theme creating
Getting Started is the basic starter guide

3. Symbian 60 3rd Edition Freeware
There are a few feature missing in symbian phones as far as i am concerned.There is no stopwatch and the calculator is disgusting and no torch! so download some freeware for your phone. I really don't like "shareware" so i have concentrated on freeware

Tevero Stopwatch
Finally a freeware Stopwatch for N95 !! It doesnt look as "pretty" as other non freeware apps. but it works well, and was designed for low power use, You need to download the Jar/Jad file zip file and Install to your phone via pc. Install from the .Jad file.

TalkTimer
This works as a Stopwatch, with very big numbers, but was not designed as a full stopwatch, it only shows Minutes and Seconds, and the sound timer function doesn't work properly, but it's an alternative never the less.

Calcium s60
A good calculator is Calcium, It looks great and works well, my favourite

cCalc
For a scientific calculator get

XCalc
Another Calculator, not so simple to use but (note the equals button is Options/Calc) but has other features including Trigonometric functions and graphs, Don't ask me what they mean, I don't know.

SpotOn
Want a torch? well not really a torch just uses the white backlight, but its pretty bright at night,

Dictionary
For a Dictionary, try

Screenshot
For a screenshot, try

Divx Player
To play .AVI video files rather than the mp4.Tutorial for creating .AVI video files here

Y-Browser
For viewing files not shown by the Standard Phone's File manager. Essential if you want to change your Phone's Font etc.

4. Keypad shortcuts
If you have read your handbook then you shouldn't need this one but useful shortcuts are:
Hold down Right navigation key to launch Voice commands (based on contacts name or application name)
Hold down the Multimedia key to start Music player
Hold down the Menu key to start Application manager

5. Sent Message Info / Received report
If you want to know when someone has received your text message on their phone use this code start your message with *0# This is similar to "Delivery Reports" feature available on most phones but you will receive a details text rather than a confirmation note on screen.It will not show up on their message and a text will be sent to your phone when it has arrived in theirs. Best to leave a space before you start your first word in the message. You wont know when they read the message but you will know when they received it!
NOTE : This feature has only been tested on UK phones Networks.

6.MP3 & Album Art
The N95 has a really good MP3 player with an 8 band graphic equaliser, loudness function, stereo speakers and of course the 3.5mm headphone socket that means you can use your normal headphones. The phone also can hold memory card to a least 4GB which makes for a very useful MP3 player, so take advantage of this feature and get yourself a good memory card.

Album Art
There are two ways to show Album Art on MP3 files.
1)To embed your MP3 album with an image tag, This works fine if you are transferring an Cd or downloaded Album. You will a program to embed your MP3, i recommend Mp3tag.
You can download it from Pcsos Freeware page

To learn how to easily import image tags to Mp3 files click here.
You can also use WMP11 to embed Album art into MP3 files transfer.

2) You can manually add Album Art to albums, but you can only add Artwork to individual tracks or Albums not playlists or Artists. The advantage of using this manual system is that you can create or edit your own image rather than the original Album cover artwork. First create album art images 160px X 160px (smaller images are degraded when viewed, around 20Kb size).Transfer to phone.
Select: MusicPlayer/MusicMenu/Albums/(ie)TheStrokes/Options/AlbumArt/Options/Change/ Select Image/Yes(for all songs in the Album)

Mp3 Ringtones and Message tones editing
If you want to make music clips from MP3's the best freeware program is

I have created a Tutorial on making Mp3 Music Ringtones/ Message tones here.

You can download it from the PCSOS freeware page link at the top of this blog. It's a brilliant tool to cut up any music or sound clip, so u can make a ringtone of text message sound.
screenshot:

What's your message tone? we've all got our favourites. Ive found some cool websites with free sounds everything from StarWars, Homer Simpson to alligator grumbles.

Movie Wav Simpson Crazy FindSounds Amazing Sounds

SimplytheBest Ultrasonic Ringtones RetroJunk

You can save most of the MP3 files directly to your PC or Use Rightmouse and select "Save Link As" then save to your desktop. You can use the "Super" freeware program (in section 13. on MP4) to convert .wav files into MP3's.

7. Google earth and GPS
Well I have created 3 tutorials here on:

1) GPS activation on N95
2) Nokia Maps installation and use on N95
3) Mobile GMaps using internal GPS and GoogleMaps

In the detailed tutorials i have found Workarounds for Nokia Maploader v.1.1 XP/Vista errors, Google Images restrictions on MgMaps, and details on how to use the free Nokia Maps.

8. Phone Recommended Settings
Well this may seem obvious, but there a few useful adjustments that i think are worth making to enhance your N95.
a)Turn up your screen brightness to max. It does use more battery but for such a short time that you won't notice. to change settings Go to 'Tools | Settings | General | Personalisation | Display. Adjust to highest setting
b)Turn off Active Standby. I prefer a clean screen so its usually the first thing to go. Tools | Settings | General | standby Mode | Active standby and select Off
c)Turn off the Background video that plays when you use the Media applications, press the multi media key once and select options / background images / and select graphics and select theme

9. Multimedia messages
It is very simple to sort of your Picture messages on your Nokia phone, If you are getting a text message asking you to go to your operator Wap address and view a picture message then you are not set up to receive mms. All you need to do is go to the Nokia website on a PC and activate your phone . They will send you settings via text message which you save. Once you have saved the settings you MUST send one picture message first to activate the system.
Select Step1 Get standard settings from the link
http://www.nokia.co.uk/

10. Using WLAN Wireless connection for the Internet
It is quite simple to use the WLAN wireless connection on your phone. Obviously you will need a wireless router and know any password set. On your phone select Menu, then select your browser Web 'n' Walk (T-mobile) or Opera which ever you have. A message "Connection to server needed, connect?" appears select yes and you should see a list of Access points. Top of the List you should see "Search for WLAN" press yes a list of available networks will appear with a signal strength indicator on the right, select your choice and it will ask you for your password if needed. That's it !
If you don't have the choice of Access points and you connect immediately to WAP then you just need to change it by selecting Options/Settings/General/Access point and select Always ask.
Using the WLAN is faster than WAP and of course free.
NOTE ; Make sure you have turned off your Browser when using WAP connection as you maybe charged extra (depending on your contract) check to see if it is still running by holding down Menu key. If it is then select/open it and under options select exit!

11. Battery Life!
Well by now I'm sure u realise that the battery life on the N95 is pretty poor, Its fine if you only send the occasional text but as a multimedia device! Well its a joke!
There is no way around it find your old N70, N80 chargers and leave one at home,at work, in the car etc
First off don't waste your time buying a slightly larger battery which are available on the Internet,
The N95 comes with a standard BL-5F Li-Ion battery with 950mAh other non Nokia batteries have 1000mAh but this increase in size is so small u will never notice it and more importantly these batteries are mostly Li-Poly and have had problems in the past with exploding!

There are a few good basic tips however to get the best from your battery, Most are common sense but its worth checking you've done them,

1. The best power save is by turning of 3G network searching (based on U.K reception) To do this Tools / Settings / Phone / Network / Network mode, Set to "GSM" not Dual

2. Packet data connection set this to "when needed"Connection" To do this Tools / Settings / Connection / Packet data, Set Packet data connection to "When needed"

3. Wlan scanning, make sure your Wlan scanning is turned off, To do this Tools / Settings / Connection / Wireless Lan / Show WLAN availability , set to "Never", dont worry you can still connect to wireless routers at home, it will do it automatically when you select "web and walk" for example.
If you use Wlan a lot the its a good idea to turn down the Wlan transmit power to 10mW To do this Tools / Settings / connection / Wireless Lan / Options(top left key) / Advanced settings (Ignore the warning select yes) scroll down to TX power level and select 10mW

4. Animated Screensavers, i don't see much point in having them running when your not there anyway, and u can save a bit of battery just selecting Date and time, To do this Tools / Settings / general / Personalisation / Themes / Power saver and select "Date and Time"

5. Reduce screen display times, To do this Tools / Settings / General / Personalisation / Display / Power saver time set to 1 minute (minimum)
Reduce Light time out To do this Tools / Settings / General / Personalisation / Display / light time out, Set to your preference.

6. Turn bluetooth off , Its really easy to turn bluetooth On and Off, just use the preset voice command, just hold down top right key and say "bluetooth" when prompted repeat to turn off, to search for devices you will need to locate the application from the Menu

7. Don't leave applications running by accident, check by holding down Menu key, select the unwanted app. then from the options select exit.

8. Don't leave the camera on unless you are using it, obvious but its better to open /close than leave open.

Thanks to keffa for some good info on battery life.

12. Games, The Best freeware games?
I must admit i don't play games on my N95 that much, i really don't get the time, and i prefer to play on PC when i do play games. I have listed Freeware games which now includes Space Invaders (like), Free flight, Global Race, Chess, Sudoku, Tetris, Same Game, Quake and The Journey.

S-Tris 2
Well its Tetris, It got a good options features, You'll need them to stop the awful music. All in all simple fun
Download the S-Tris 2 v1.40 S60 v3 (Symbian 9.1) 240x320 QVGA portrait here

Quake
PC game which is possible to use on N95 but you need follow difficult install directions. If you can get this one to work, i'll be impressed.
Instructions Simply Symbian

RealReplay
This freeware game allows you to create your own race track (by using gps) and race people who are not there? visit there website here all will be revealed.

The Journey S60 3rd Edition
A Virtual Game for N95. Follow the Clues, to solve a Mystery detective style story, you have to actually move around yourself to activate the game??
Download from Official Site here

13. MP4 Video Clips For N95
Converting and transferring Video Clips to your N95 is pretty easy.
1) The first thing you need is a Video clip, this can be an avi, mpeg, wma, vob etc. you may want to edit a dvd to smaller clips but for this you will need to use a dvd ripper, i haven't found any good freeware extractors, i did used Ahead dvd ripper in the past but its not free.
2) Now you need to convert it to MP4 so the N95 can play it. i have found a good freeware program for this though i did have problems in the past with 3gpp clips having problems of lip-sink but it's much better when converting to MP4. The program is
Super

It has detailed settings which you can adjust, my preferred settings are shown below:

Nokia do also have there own video converter called Nokia Video Manager . I haven't tried it, but its basically the same.
3) Now you just need to transfer to your phone , The Nokia PC Suite is pretty good for this, I use the 'File manager' and just 'drag and drop' the MP4 file into my Videos section in my External memory card, as below,

That's IT!, Find the clip in your gallery and enjoy, dont forget you can view clips in full screen by pushing the slider down.

14. Camera Tweaks
Turn Off the Camera Capture tone, Well if you dont want people to know you're taking a picture of them or you just don't like extra noises, there are two simple ways to remove the sound the camera makes when taking a picture.
1. In your Profiles Menu/ Profiles/ General/ Personalise/ Warning tones/ set to OFF. The obvious drawback is that you will no longer receive warning tones like Low battery alerts.
2. The other way is to select the Silent profile or create a profile called "Secret Camera" etc. and adjust the Warning tone to OFF.

The camera has 4 basic capture sounds which are changed by activating the camera and selecting Options/ Settings/ camera tone. There is a program available to turn off camera tones but for me it easier to turn off the Warning tones.
It is possible to change the camera tones but it is a complicated procedure requiring additional software.

To stop the Automatic flash : Activate Camera, scroll down the side icons to Flash mode and select off, the automatic setting is useful but often unwanted in lower light levels.
There was a bug in the earlier firmware version 10.0.0.018 that set the picture sharpness to HARD. To check your setting is Normal: Activate Camera, scroll down the side icons to Sharpness and select Normal.

15. Nokia N95 codes
Here is a short list of useful codes. They are very simple to use, just type in the code and the details will show on your screen.
*#0000# To view Firmware version.

*#06# (*#0M#) To view Serial number, IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity).

*#2820# (*#BTA0#) To view Bluetooth device address.

*#62209526# (*#MAC0WLAN) To view the MAC address of the WLAN adapter. This is maybe necessary for wlan encrypted setup.

*#92702689# (*#WAR0ANTY#) To view the life timer information. This is the total time of phone calls in minutes.

Warning : All old data will be lost when hard reset is used. Ive not tested tthe codes below take no responsibility for any problems arrising from using them.

Soft reset (*#7780#) : Restores ini files from rom but preserves user data (photos, 3rd party apps etc).The phone will ask you a confirmation, enter a security code (12345 by default)

Deep Reset (*#7370#) : This reformats completely the C: drive. All applications and files stored on this drive will be lost and clean default files will be rewritten. The phone will ask you a confirmation and enter a security code (12345 by default)

There is another key combination which is used to hard reset the phone (similar to #*7370#). It is useful in some cases, for example when the phone cannot reboot. The trick is by switching off the phone then press and hold Call key (Green key) + * key + 3 key + power button for a couple of seconds.

N95 product codes for updating firmware if you have a problem getting the correct firmware version here

16. Barcode Reader
The N95 come with a free application called "Barcode" (located in Applications). It reads using the camera QR codes (Quick Response) a matrix type code created in Japan in 1994 . You can create text messages, URL's, phone numbers even SMS messages and send them to friends or anyone who can read them. Webpage addresses can even link directly to the website.
Online QR code Generator here , and more info here

17. Video calling, Video centre, & Life Blog Tutorials
Here are Tutorials on :
Video Calling Setup
Using the Video Centre
LifeBlog Setup

All the tutorials are provided by 'KnowyourMobile'

Back from the Dead !
My phone's screen finally died during this week, after trying to fix it myself (and invalidating my warranty) i took it to a Nokia repair centre who replaced the screen free of charge THANK YOU!!
During my searching i found useful information on Problems, Repairs and Fixes for the N95, so many so ive posted a new page for them here

DivX Player, Creating .AVI files

2007-07-29T11:19:00.074+01:00

Updated: 25 Sept 2009

The DivX Player

The Nokia N95 supports video formats: MPEG-4 (MP4), AVC(H.264), 3GPP(H.263), RealVideo 8/9/10 but not .avi format.

The Divx Player however can play .AVI Video files.You cannot play .avi files used on a PC directly into a N95 , they first have to be converted with the correct codex, Further details below
The latest version is Divx 0.91

There are various settings from Screen mode, brightness, contrast which make it a really worth while player to have. The Version 0.91, 0.90 & 0.89 have a new start screen which allows you to easily see your .avi files (not MP4). To get the Fullscreen with only the time showing i have used the Options settings shown below.

Converting Videos into .AVI

If you want to convert Video files into the correct .AVI format you can use Super (complicated download page!) freeware program. You need to select .avi as the Output container and follow the settings i have used Below. You can alter the Video bitrate and Frame per second (30 is the Maximum frame rate for the N95 phone). You can alter the Audio settings depending whether you have a music video or film.

1. Install Divx Player to your N95, via the Nokia Pc suite, Go to the Phone Menu/ Applications and move the DivX player into the Root folder for convenience by selecting Options/ 'Move to folder'.
2. Transfer any .AVI files to your Phone via Pc suite, or data transfer ( You could remove your SD external card and transfer directly to that if you prefer).
3. Start the DivX player on the phone and select Menu/ Browse Files any compatible files will appear in the File browser, Select the .avi you want and press the center key (or menu/ Play). The volume is usually set high and can be turned down with the navigation keys.
4. Adjust the Settings from Menu/ Options to your personal preference. That's it!

I have converted a couple of small Mpeg files to .avi for you. They are just intended to be used as test examples as they are taken from old footage from 1957 and 1942!! rather for their high quality. Click on the image to download

Elvis Presley & Frank Sinatra b/w 1957

The Blue Dahlia b/w 1946 ,Taken from YouTube

Movie Sound Clips

I have uploaded some of my personal favourite Movie sound clips, mostly because its fun for me. I will keep the full set here rather than filling up my main page.

Click to download

GPS, OVI Maps and Mobile GMaps Tutorials

2007-07-29T11:19:00.073+01:00

Updated: 25 Sept 2009

OVI Maps

Nokia have relaunched Nokia Maps as OVI Maps. The latest version being OVI maps 3.01. If you still have the Maps 1.0 on your phone and are unsure whether to upgrade to Maps 2.0 or OVI Maps 3.0 this guide and may help you. It is a comparison i posted a while ago when the Maps 2.0 was still in beta.

Nokia Maps2.0 and Maps1.0 Comparison

Nokia Maps 1.2 Screenshots

Maps 2.0 beta Features
One of the main developments is Walk - pedestrian navigation, as well as the Drive navigation. An obvious visual change is the Black colour and Search bar on the main screen. The GPS indicators are slightly different and there is a useful feature to "Turn off GPS" which should help memory use. I found the "GPS current location" worked well better than previously but it really depends on your location.
The Selection Key has different features to the Left selection key. The Selection key open the Navigation Options, While the left selection key give the usual options for Search/Favourites etc.
The main Keys work the same like */# keys (zoom in or out) and Nokia highlight the fact that they have 15 million points of interest available on the maps from the 48 categories.
The maps tutorial didn't work on my phone and I found the 2.0 Routing navigation confusing. I had got used to the Maps 1.2 Walk navigation and i really liked the free non assisted routing feature.

I am not a heavy user of Nokia maps but i really like having Maps and "Points of Interest" are really useful. I have always found Maps1.2 worked well for me and the additional options on the Maps 2.0 didn't add a great value. Maps 2.0 is still a beta version and i am sure they will improve its features making 2.0 well worth getting when the full version is released in the coming months.

Find out more about OVI Maps and get help on Routing, City Guides and much more.

Click Below

Download and Details below

If you hate the new version, i have hosted a couple of old Maps v1.0 Click below

How good are Nokia Maps?

I wrote this piece back in 2007 using Nokia maps1.0, since then OVI Maps 2.0 has been released, but i have kept the article for the example it gives.

How well can you trust a navigation system on a N95? Can you trust them to have The Force and get you where you want to go?

A few things to note all the navigation tips i used are free to use on the N95, You can buy Licensed voice activation which would have cost me a bit but i didn't need to use it. So you can disable network connection (Internet GPRS) for the Maps (Not GPS) as there is no need to use an internet signal unless you going to use the voice activation feature. The GPS connection is free.

Well i put Nokia Maps to the test in the USA, First they were very useful in finding where all the shops were in areas that i didn't know, as you can see below, It made it simple to find the main shopping street once i had selected the Shops Category in the Maps settings.

Using On Foot Navigation for free on N95

I used the By Foot navigation setting rather than By Car.

1. Open the Nokia maps application and then create a route by using the Find Place or Use This Place feature.

2. Then you can create a Route from or Route to and select the locations.

3. Now from the Options Show route, you will now see the route but for me it's much simpler to use the Show on Map feature from the options. Once you have worked out which way round you are! You can use the Navigation Key Up to move through the marked points, as shown below.

In the images above, the Process Bar shows you how far you have walked (in this case) which is really helpful, if you don't know exactly where you are going!

Can Nokia Maps to find a location over 5 Kms away through trees and hills?

I set off on a 5km walk to a ferry port, and trusted that, Nokia maps could get me there, It took me through main roads, small streets and over hills, which would have been quite complicated to plot not to mention needing a details local map. I was amazed how accurate the information was on individual shops, odd hairdresser's and Garden Centres.
After two hours or so of walking i arrived at the ferry port, extremely please with myself and Nokia maps for getting me there.

Obi-Wan would have been very proud of Nokia Maps for having THE FORCE and getting me easily to my destination.

A view from the top a a hill, showing how complicated it was to navigate without Nokia maps

Above a complication of 3 images taken on my N95, never mind about the joints, its not ART!

GPS, Nokia Maps and Mobile GMaps Tutorials

I have created 3 tutorials for:

1) GPS activation on N95

2) Nokia Maps installation and use on N95

3) MgMaps using internal GPS and GoogleMaps

1) GPS Data

The N95 has of course an internal GPS Global Positioning System. This means you can locate where ever you are in the world (in theory).
This Gps position is shown in latitude /longitude coordinates and does not shown your position in a maps image.
You will therefore need to install some maps or software to view an image of your position.
Many people have experienced problems acquiring a satellite signal , so this tutorial will show you how to check your global position.

Nokia's tips on getting satellite signal can be found here.

A) First Open the GPS data application in your phone menu. It may be in Application folder. A dialog box will appear saying "Searching for GPS satellites".

To view the connection status Select Position/ Open/ Options/ Satellite status.

You will see white bars appear, it should take from around 2 minutes to 5 minutes for the gps to lock onto your signal. remember to follow nokia's tips , keep the slider open, do not cover the #key and you need to be outside.
when connection is established your bars will start going black (At least 3 bars needed)

You can now select "Back" and your position coordinates will appear on the screen.

Now you will need to decide how to view your position using a Map or satellite image (Google satellite)

2) Nokia Maps (formerly Smart2go)

Nokia Maps is a pre-installed application in your phone, But the actual Maps of the world need to be download usually via PC for you to see your location (street names etc).

NOKIA MAPS ARE FREE TO DOWNLOAD & USE BUT THE NAVIGATION (Voice Activation,SatNav.) IS NOT FREE

The Nokia maps contain information like Street Names, Airports, Hotels, Parking and therefore can be quite large in size, England is 90mb and Spain is over 192mb. The data is transferred to your Memory Card, so the bigger your card the better!
Once you have downloaded the the maps to your phone you can use the Nokia Maps and integrated GPS to find your location and plan a route to another destination as well as view points of interest, shops ATM machines etc all for free, without a need for Internet connection. BUT you will have to pay if you want to use it as a SatNav application.

Nokia MapLoader 3.0.28

Nokia provide free software called Nokia MapLoader to install to maps to your phone. The latest version 3.0.28 works much faster than the earlier versions. I would recommend updating your MapLoader if you haven't done already as many people have experienced problems especially v1.1 with error messages saying "Connection to Storage Medium interrupted...". So i have left an earlier version 1.0 and a stable v.1.3.5 incase anyone has any compatibility issues.

THE LATEST VERSION NOKIA MAPLOADER v.3.0 IS AVAILABLE HERE

EARLY MAPLOADER v.1.0 AVAILABLE HERE

A) First download the Maploader from the link above and install on your PC/Mac.

B) You will need to connect your phone to your PC either by USB cable or by removing the memory card from the phone and connecting it to the PC.

C) Run the Maploader program and select the Region and location you want ie. England, PRESS the + button, then select "Download". If you have not connected your memory card it will prompt you otherwise it will install it directly on to the Card. As shown in the image below .Click to enlarge

Now the maps are loaded return the card to the phone or disconnect the usb cable.

D) Open the Maps application located in your Menu. The application will open to the last saved location you can skip the intro and go straight to the maps.

To view you GPS location Select Option/ View/ Satellite Info. This will launch the gps data app. as seen in the earlier tutorial. It will take a few minutes to locate the signal when its done it should show your location on the screen.

You can change the colour of the Map, angle of View, Add or remove Categories ( Hotels, Hospitals etc.) to suite your preference.

You can "Plan Route" from one location to another and change the transport mode from "By Car" to "On foot".

3) Mobile GMaps

This is an excellent freeware application that allows you to use Google maps, Yahoo maps and other maps with your internal GPS to locate your position anywhere in the world (just about)

GOOGLE HAVE STOPPED MGMAPS USING THEIR MAPS DIRECTLY (From 31/7/2007) more info here

I don't blame Google for stopping MGMaps using their images because it much better than their own product GoogleMobile!! The latest version v1.36 doesn't use Google Maps but earlier version do still work with Google, Available here

MGMaps uses an Internet connection to source the Google/Yahoo images which means you can access images where ever you are without having to have downloaded them earlier. It does though cost you for the Internet connection depending on your contract.

MGMaps can use saved maps which means you don't need an Internet connection. The downloading of the maps are quite complicated and (i have had problems getting the images to work) a good tutorial on how to setup MgMaps is available here

I will concentrate on setting Mobile GMaps for Internet connection and leave the Offline Maps to Reef Reid!!

A) Download the MGMaps Jad/Jar files for N95 here. I have used ver1.35.02. in this example. If you are never going to use offline stored images you only need to download the jar file

B) Install the file(s) to your N95 either via Pc suite application manager or by transfer through memory card reader.

C) Open MGMaps from you phone menu. A dialog box will appear asking for access to Internet.
Select the correct type, usually Provider's Internet or WLAN

D) The internal GPS needs to be activated. Go to options (left or right top keys) 7.Settings/ GPS / Select Device/ Internal and remember to SAVE (Top left)

E) When you restart the application you will get a request to use GPS data. I find its better to get a GPS signal before you start MGMaps by using the GPS data application as shown earlier Tutorial.

Now you can find your location quickly by Selecting Option 6. GPS/ where Am i?

F) There are a lot of settings you can adjust,
You can find other locations by using postcodes etc.
You can use Key * Zoom in, Key# to Zoom out,
Key0 to switch between favourite map types Googlehybrid, Yahoo Maps etc.
Key7 to switch rotation

N95 Problems, Repairs and Fixes

2007-07-29T11:19:00.068+01:00

Classic/ Mobile/ Download BookMark
Updated: 25 Sept 2009

The screen on my N95 became faulty and needed to be replaced and in the process of trying to find out what was wrong i came across a Fixes that might help people.
If you have found some useful fix's let me know and we can use this space to help others. Opening up your phone will invalidate your warranty and any repairs are done at your own risk if you are unsure i recommend just take it to a Nokia repair centre!

Opening up your Phone will invalidate your warranty!

Nokia Device Status is an application that can monitor your system (phone and pc) and allows you to send this data to nokia to help with any problems you may have. download

1. N95 Screen Ribbon Problem
Many people have had problems with their N95 screen, which can invert in colour, appear upside down, the colors can also appear distorted with high pinks greens and finally a multi coloured noise speckle.
The N95 screen is attached to the phone by a Ribbon, on my phone i had to replace the whole screen (with ribbon) but for some people reconnecting the ribbon maybe all that is needed.

Examples of this problem: N95User Allsym. NokiaEurope

Spyda has produced a very useful Tutorial on Removing the phone covers If you are brave enough to attempt it.
Here

My Tips for removing Slider cover
I tried to reset the ribbon but found that it didn't entirely cure my problem , So i took it to a Nokia repair centre who did it free of charge. But in the process i found some useful tips for removing N95 covers.

A) The Four Screws are located on the underside of the top slider. you will need a Torx6 screwdriver to remove them.(Image 1)
B) To remove the Top Slider cover it helps to gently push one edge inwards as you lift the cover off then push then do the same to the other side. (Image 2)
C) To lift the Button Panel put a small screwdriver in the top righthand corner and pull back.(Image )

D) The ribbon is the gold like coloured strip and is connected by a Clip which lifts up from the bottom, as Spyda says the clip will move 180 degrees.
E) Now the screen can be removed and replaced or reset.

2. Micro SD Memory Card, Fix Errors and Defragment to improve Read Time.
Quite a few people have contacted me regarding problems with the SD memory cards. They have been getting error messages on the phone or the phone just crashes and restarts.
So have written this tutorial to help people with some of the basics for keeping their External memory cards in good shape.

2GB, 4GB or 8GB??
The N95 classic come with a 512MB and occasionally 1GB micro SD memory card. Nokia only recommend upto 4GB for the N95 and 2GB for the N95-NAM. You can buy cards upto 8GB , i have had a 4GB sandisk card from the start in my N95 and i have never had any problems with it, even though at that time Nokia only recommended 2GB for N95.

8GB Problems
Some people with 8Gb card have noticed Error Problems once the card is over 4Gb full, especially with older firmware pre v.20. If you are having this problem i would suggest updating your firmware the v.20 or above (soon to come). Otherwise it would be worth reducing the data to below 4gb's and see if any problems subside.

Micro SD Card Error checking and Defrag tutorial
If you have been getting Error Messages or Crashes whilst using your Music player or Gallery it is possible that there is something wrong with your memory card. In many cases a good "tidy up" will resolve smaller issues and improve read speed from the phone to the card.

I will show you how to check for Errors and defrag using the data cable which comes with the phone although if you have a memory card reader you could take the card out of your phone and connect it via a smart card reader.

1. Install the Nokia PC suite (this will include the necessary drivers for the data cable) from the nokia website or from your cd that you got with your phone.

2. Connect your phone to a PC via the USB cable and Select Data Transfer on the phone's pop-up screen. A warning message will appear after, but there's no need to be concerned.

3. Now Navigate on your PC to My Computer (XP & 2000) or Computer (Vista), There you should see your Memory Card. It will probably be called SD card with the size shown.

Now right-click on the icon and select Properties, In the new tab select Tools, then under the section Error-Checking select the button Check Now. In the new dialogue box tick both the boxes, then press start as shown in the screenshots below.

4. The Error checking will take some time depending on the size of your card and your PC but it should be completed within 5 minutes. A dialog box will appear with some basic results. It may have recovered some lost data which used to happen on my old MP3 player fairly often.

Now you can proceed to the defrag, To complete a defrag the computer need 15% of free space on your card, so if your card doesn't have that much space i would copy some of the data, video s etc to the PC's hard drive then continue with the drefag.

5. Now Right click on the SD card in My Computer again Select Properties then under Tools select Defragment Now from the Defragmentation section.

With XP the defrag application will start, select the SD card and select Defrag. A Display and Process bar will show you how fragmented your card is, and it will probably be very fragmented.
With Vista there is no process bar or display which means you are left wondering how long it will take or even if it is working. It took my PC around 15 minutes to defrag my card so be patient. I have Diskeeper Defrag application on my PC which gives better info on the process, and below are the before and after screenshots with analysis.

6. Once the defrag is complete close any exit windows and safely disconnect you phone from the PC. Now your Phone will be able to read the data from the memory card quicker even if you may not be able to see any difference and you will know that if your card could speak to you it would say: THANK YOU!!

3. N95 High Pitch Noise Fix. Original Souce: minhthn here
Well after looking through forum and forum. I realize that the high pitch noise is very common among n95 users and many have send back a few times and still have to same high pitch noise unfix. so instead of sending mine I decited to find out what the problem is myself and found out that it was the screen that is making noise when ever the light turn on (try putting your ear to the back on the screen when you open it, that is where the high pitch come from). So here is what i've done to get rid of the noise. more. . .

4. Fix loose slider Original Source: http://www.n95users
Basically this modification consists of compressing the nylon grooved slider-rail by a fraction, which is all that's needed in even the loosest slider.
The nylon moulding with the groove that locates the sliding rail of the top screen is held in place by a metal bracket on each side of the phone. The following instructions detail how to access this bracket, remove it, modify it and replace it. more . . .
or another basic way here (In Italian)

5. Microphone not working during a call? Original Source: http://myn95.com/?p=16
Saw this and thought it might be useful.
I’ve seen a few people post on forums to say their microphone appears to be dead when making a call.
A temporary fix until new firmware is released is to turn on the loudspeaker and then switch back
to microphone mode.

This seems to give the phone the kick it needs to get the mic functional.
Currently the problem seems to be isolated to the 10.0.0.18 firmware.

6. Contact name not showing when your phone rings? Original Source: http://myn95.com/?p=40
There is a simple fix to this particular problem.
On the Nokia N95 (and other Nokia’s) when you have an identical contact in phone memory and also on the SIM card the phone isn’t able to successfully display the contact name when the phone rings.
Delete one of the contacts and you should get the display name back.

7. Unable to play MP3’s or any music files Original Source: http://myn95.com/?p=44
Some people have reported problems with a corrupted music folder that wont play sounds/music files. There is a solution and it involves tracking down the \Private\100012a5 on the memory card. The file causing all the problems is named something like DBS_101FE031_mcv7.mpd

The simple solution here is to delete the entire \Private\100012a5 folder. You could try just deleting the offending index file, but no guarantee’s as to how that will work.
After you have deleted/removed, be sure to go into music player and refresh your music selection so it can rebuild the index.

8. TV Out - Picture won’t display correctly Original Source: http://myn95.com/?p=49
If you have a problem with your TV picture out not working properly (rolling or in black and white) on your N95, try this.

Tools
- Settings
- General
- Enhancement
- TV out

Try changing TV System from PAL -> NTSC and vice versa.
You should be rewarded with a more stable picture.

9. Multimedia key not working Original Source: http://myn95.com/?p=70
If the multimedia key on your N95 has stopped working, you can fix it by doing a simple restart of the phone. Failing this, a hard reset should definitely do the trick.

One reason for this happening is a bug in the clock application, specifically with the recurring alarm. If you set a recurring alarm, once it has activated, the key will no longer be working.
There is also speculation that using photographs taken by the user with the N95 as the background in the multimedia menu, then deleting them, also triggers the bug, but this is yet to be proven.

10. N95 Audio Hiss Fix Original Source: http://myn95.com/?p=73
I've been chatting to some people who have been having hissing issues through their headset when using their N95’s. I was confused as A LOT of people complained of this, yet my phone didn't seem to have the problem.

After some thinking, a light bulb went off in my head and I realised that I had turned Keypad tones off, as I dont like my phone to beep each time I touch it. Sure enough, when I turned my keypad tones to any level above OFF, the phone would hiss in my ears.

So just a heads up, that this MAY be a fix for the hissing coming from peoples phones. Turn your keypad tones off!

11. #HotKey Fix with Firmware ver.12 Original source: N95 Best Tips and tricks
The #key on most Symbian 60 Phones would switch the phone between the General and Silent modes when held down. Many N95 users found that their phone #key didn't work in this way including mine.
There was a lot of talk about different manufacturing locations being the reason which were later disproved, but i am glad to see that with the Firmware version12 this feature is now working on my phone.

12. Hacking your N95
Firstly i would like to thank TonyJ for highlighting this Feature to me.
It is possible to hack your N95 to:
*Allow unsigned applications
*Allow old applications
*Change default standby applications as well as many other things.
Nokia have known about these issues and released some firmware updates just to close the loop holes allowing people to do this.
Hacking your phone is not an easy process but there are step by step guides offered by many websites. I have avoided hacking after trying a few early hacks that didn't work properly.
But for those who love to customise there phone or who want to avoid the unsigned .sis process this could just what you want.
Here is a YouTube Tutorial which gives you a good idea of what is possible .
Here is a link to Phutse's Weblog where there are tutorials and downloads for tools to hack your phone. The tests were originally on N82 & N73 but they were found to work on N95 too, but this does depend on the firmware you have.

Please Note that Hacking your phone is not easy and could cause problems, that is why i didn't mention it before, You do this at your own risk.
If you have any questions on Hacking please contact the websites directly, I cannot help you on this subject. Enjoy your Hacking !!