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< Esato Forum Index > Sony Ericsson / Sony > Symbian phones > Utility guide for UIQv3.x. (still work in progress). Bookmark topic

A few people have mentioned the need for a faq of some sort a few times before. So, well.. I don't know. Please fill in whatever you think should be in it - and maybe don't worry about writing a new more concise or correct version of a point someone already made. Or about adding something to it. I.e., quote the paragraph and add a sentence or two.

Ok, then (not sure if the formatting works, sorry about that )..:

..
Utility guide for UIQv3.x. Work in progress.

Contents:
1. Battery Life.
2. The backlight is fading out!
3. Opera shortcuts:
4. IMAP idle (aka. IMAP push- mail).
5. Contacts management.
6. Programs keep on trying to install!
7. Read The Farking Manual.
8. The statusbar- icons and the fonts look like crap.
9. Use the LED as a torch
10. P1i Disassembly Guide.
10.1. P990 Disassembly Guide.
11. Corporate lock trouble.
12. The background in the outgoing call screen does not match my current theme.
13. What's a "SEUS", anyway? (How to upgrade firmware)
14. Wifi- speeds. (Wifi- myths begone.)
15. How to set up wifi on the phone, and how the connection- priorities and groups work.
16. Is 802.1X dangerous when inhaled?
17. Any neat software out there?
18. Can I kill my phone, my cat, and become a terror- suspect after using the hack?
19. "CDAs? Firmware updates? Organiser versions? OMFG - WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN!!??!! "
20. "Tips for avoiding suicidal frustration brought on by repeated failed attempts to sync the phone".
21. Speed increase for all UIQ phones.
22. Jot gesture chart (several "omitted" shortcuts in SE's manual).
23. How to get jot "notes" to the pc. (An exercise in futility).
24. Album art on the phone's media- player.
25. Ways to access the service menu.
26. VPN client..



1. Battery Life.

http://www.esato.com/board/printpost.php?post=2239471



2. The backlight is fading out!

http://www.esato.com/board/printpost.php?post=2163467


3. Opera shortcuts:
+,- (comma, z) - zoom in/out 10%.
7 (alt, x/c) - switch between tabs (confirmed on p1,..).
shift + select link - open link in new tab.

Opera shortcuts on P1:

ALT 1: new address
ALT *: Search in Google
ALT 2: Boomarks
ALT 9: Add to bookmarks
ALT 8: Settings
ALT 5: Load/Not load pictures
ALT 3: Close page
ALT 7: Switch between pages
ALT 4: Homepage
ALT 0: Reload

(thanks, doministry)


4. IMAP idle (aka. IMAP push- mail).
http://www.esato.com/board/printpost.php?post=2239866


- The inbuilt messenger client has imap idle. Imap idle is not an external push- service like Blackberry connect or activesync - but it's an implementation that gives push functionality over imap. So it does not have separate support from either service- providers or phone- manufacturers - it's a service that can be used on your external mail- server. It requires a constant data- connection of some sort to work (gprs with the scheduler, wifi works on manual).

To enable it, click on the accounts-> settings, and check the "push- mail" checkbox. Then accounts->"push- mail always on", and check "push- mail always on". Apparently it works like this: if push- mail is always on and you automatically connect to gprs, the scheduler works. If you turn on the phone during the up- period, the service will automatically connect, and disconnect elsewhere.

(I'm not sure whether it connects indefinitely or not if you connect manually outside the scheduled push period).

If you're not automatically connected to a gprs- account (see internet-accounts->alternatives->preferred mode), the scheduler and the periodic check won't work. If you connect manually, you'll stay connected until you manually disconnect, if the "always on" is checked.

5. Contacts management.

http://www.esato.com/board/printpost.php?post=2291942

1. you can move or copy the contacts to the phone in the contacts (contacts->show folder/SIM-> mark all -> copy to contacts). You should as well - you can edit more fields, it's quicker, and so on. And you can backup the contacts to the mem- stick afterwards (contacts->contact management-> backup. Output: standard vcard file in MS:/backup/contacts/).

2. if you have access to a sync- server of some kind (later horde- builds.. and some mail services have syncml points), you can use the remote sync application (and extend it with Swim from the bergamot project).

If you don't, you can register with zyb, or any of the similar semi- free services like that, and sync over the net. (By connecting the other phone with remote sync, and then doing the same on the p1 the other way.)

"- btw, you can send your contact via bluetooth too "


6. Programs keep on trying to install after insert of mem- stick, use of USB cable, and on reboot.
http://www.esato.com/board/viewtopic.php?topic=166573

Delete the files in /private/10202dce/
on the mem- stick (connect with the cable).


7. RTFM

If you can find it. It's called the "Web Guide". Available here (the "quick and easy" button hidden at the end of SE's support- pages), and on your phone's browser (with bad scrolling) via one of the permanent bookmarks.


8. The statusbar icons and the fonts look really bad.

The status- screens, the main menu, the stand- by screens, and so on - are all UIQ programs (written by SE, and fused onto the phone's ROM). Therefore, being UIQ programs, they have certain default ways to store information. And it turns out that mirroring the directory- structure on the ROM over on the mem- stick overrides some resource- files - which makes it possible to change the fonts and system- icons. (Note that it does not take magic to implement a less problematic way to change either fonts or system- icons - perhaps one that would be a bit safer - if one had access to, and ability to compile THE SOURCE CODE! �¤%!).

Step 1. Copy files from the rom- drive, over to the mem- stick.
Use x-plore or SwissManager. Remember to tick off "show system, hidden, ROM drives..", etc. in the settings. Then browse to z:/Resource/Fonts/
or, z:/Resource/ZSBLIB/
...for example, and copy the contents and the directory structure. (You might have to create the directories. If you have created the directories before, you won't have access to write in them from the phone, because they are system- directories as long as the memory stick is mounted to the phone OS. In that case, copy the files to a temporary directory, and fix the directories by connecting with the USB cable later).

Step 2. Edit the resource- files.
The system icons are stored in mbm- format, or multibitmap. Typically, every icon will have one bitmap with the picture, and another bitmap with the mask (which is used to make the icons transparent, or to draw only the meat, so the icons float on top of the bar, etc). Most mbm- files contain several sets like this. And you can edit those sets by substituting the files in the mbm- file.

Easiest way to do this would be to copy the files to your disk. Then extract the mbm- file into bitmaps. Then edit and substitute those files. And then compile the files back into the mbm- file (with the same names as before). Easiest way to edit the files is probably to use this tool (heaps of credit to the one who wrote it).. based on the mbm-extractor in the UIQ3 sdk. Also remember to check that the colours are assigned the right way (icons should be 24bit colour, masks should be 8bit monochrome).

As an example, the battery- icon is made up of eleven bitmaps - ten stages, and one mask. The mask must be 8bit monochrome, the rest must be in 24bit colour.

One more thing: the default sizes on the icons. It seems that you're not actually restricted to the original sizes - but the icons are centered on the status- bar, for example, so larger icons than that will drop outside the screen, and so on.

For the fonts, they are stored as ttf, so it's possible to overwrite the content of the file without any ceremony, and then put it back. I.e., rename a different font- file to the names on the rom- drive, and copy it over. Ideally, you should have a font that's stored with italic/bold/regular/italic and bold separately (loads of free fonts on the net are stored like that). But apparently it works if you copy a combined font to all the names (..have not confirmed that - I think that will mean you won't get bold on new messages, etc.). After renaming, you should have your new font in four files like this:
Sans-Serif_Latin-Bold.ttf
Sans-Serif_Latin-BoldItalic.ttf
Sans-Serif_Latin-Italic.ttf
Sans-Serif_Latin-Regular.ttf

Also, see here:
http://www.esato.com/board/viewtopic.php?topic=161231&start=45
..for tips about missing characters, and (excellent) screenies with other fonts installed.


Step 3. Copy the files over to the memory stick again.
This will have to be done with a card- reader or an USB cable, since we need to unmount the mem- stick to have write access on the system- files. So - copy fonts to:
d:/Resource/Fonts
And icons to the appropriate folder, such as ZSBLIB. Presumably it's case- sensitive for the most part.

Step 4. Reboot.
And pray it works. If it doesn't, and you're on a w950 or w960, which have to boot before you can access the mem- stick - and where there's apparently no way to disconnect the mem- stick.. - then you're screwed. And there's no way to fix it. The software- update won't reset the mem- stick, and you need to boot before formatting the stick. ..There have not been reported any problems by switching out icons, though. Typically you'd just get icons that look wrong. But the fonts apparently may be a problem because of memory- limitations, at least on the w950.

update: the solution to w950/w960 problems with this was simple - install the hack, then use the c- drive folders instead (i.e., c:resourcefonts). Since the c- drive will be wiped on a re- flash. (Thanks to fulga23 at ipmart forums ).

If you're on any of the other phones, just take out the mem- stick, reboot, insert the mem- stick again, and plug in the USB cable - then check spelling, fonts, sizes etc, or delete the files that cause the problem.

For an example of an icon- pack - here's a status- bar set (the iphone icons floating around), with a long- drink battery indicator I never got to polish up, for the p1 (for the r6G04 firmware).
http://files.myopera.com/fleinn/uiq/Resource_iphone.rar

Unfortunately, there are changes between the firmwares, so it might not fit completely on the next one (or with phones on different firmware, such as the w950, m600 and the p990. So it's probably best to take your original mbm- files, and insert the icons you want from other packs manually


9. Use the LED as a torch
http://www.esato.com/board/viewtopic.php?topic=166812



10. P1i Disassembly Guide
http://www.esato.com/board/viewtopic.php?topic=167681
- chlee for president!
10.1. P990 Disassembly guide

11. How to disable corporate lock
http://www.esato.com/board/viewtopic.php?topic=158687

12. How to fix the outgoing call background.
http://www.esato.com/board/viewtopic.php?topic=165803

13. What's SEUS, and why don't I have the latest firmware?


SEUS, or Sony Ericsson Update Service, is Sony Ericsson's update service for all their phone- models, which can update your "firmware" over the intertubes. "Firmware" is a leftover term from back in the.. long- long ago when all software was specially fitted by the manufacturer through some arcane, hidden process, with special cables and equipment, in order to protect the information on the device, and ensure noone would mess with it.

So to upgrade your firmware, you need to go to SE's support- pages and download the installation file for SEUS (or launch it from the cd. It's self- updating, so barring any trouble with the flash- component, or with the pc- drivers, you should be able to follow the on- screen instructions. If you have trouble with the flash- component, you need to install the native, Internet explorer upgrade for flash available at adobe).

"But," I hear you say, "how do I know which is the last version, and when there's a new one out"? The answer is, you don't. SE has no changelog, and no official notification whenever there's a new firmware. "But," I hear you say again, "that means I have to log on periodically to check, and that I have to do it on a windows- machine, which needs to be updated in all kinds of ways, just to tell whether there's a new firmware! And I don't even know if they know about the hangs I keep having!". And that's entirely true.

Furthermore, the latest firmware version is dependent on region. WG1, or "world generic one", is the reference version, and will be available first. The other versions for the various regions typically come out a few weeks afterwards.

After all that, we have the branded firmwares (which was the point of the entire rant, my apologies), which may or may not be launched with the latest version. For example, O2 is one of the few telephone- companies to have adopted the p1, and it's apparently up to them whether they would want to maintain the firmware- updates, and whether it's even worth the trouble.

So far, they've been several firmwares behind (so call your operator about any trouble ).


14. What sort of wifi- speeds should I expect?

This paper goes through the possible speeds in ideal conditions on a wifi g- modem (with theoretical speeds up to 54Mbit/s) on a few phones.

The p1i has a wifi b compliant modem, and can theoretically go to 11Mbit. But apparently the modem is set to stop at 5Mbit, which means the practical throughput will be around 2.5 Mbit, or 320kb/s. In practice, because of processor- speed, programming solutions, bugs, external setup, general radio noise, and so on - it seems it's reasonable to expect peaks towards those speeds, in very good conditions. But mostly the average will stay lower, and reach about 200Kb/s at best.

15. Allright, so how do I set up this wifi- thing, then?
1. Open the wlan panel (shortcut from statusbar->connections->wifi, or create a shortcut to the wifi- app).
2. Search for wlans.
3. Swear because the Access- point(AP) is invisible, and move closer to the antenna. If you know the Service- set identifier (SSID) of the wlan, and it's hidden on purpose - create a new connection, and fill in the details manually. Add the account to a group.
4. Or just click connect. Enter passphrase.
5. Wait.

If you add the account manually, you'll be asked to add the account to a "group". You need to do this, since all UIQ apps requesting data will connect throught the "group- account" system. Typically, unless there's an option to choose otherwise, the apps connect through the "preferred group", which you can assign in - more->internet accounts - on most screens dealing with connections. By default, it's called "internet", and should contain the standard gprs account. Any new accounts connected to with the wifi wizard (i.e., connect, enter passphrase) will be added to the top of the preferred group automatically. (update: If you add it manually, the account will end up at the bottom of the group *shrug*)

So, to run through the list of available lans, before using gprs, add the accounts to the preferred group, and place the gprs account towards the bottom.

If you connect to the wlan just fine, but don't add the account to a group the internet- browser will use (i.e., the preferred group), nothing will happen.

Also be aware that due to a bug that won't be fixed, java- applications still can only use the first account on the preferred group. So using opera mini on the wlan can be a bit of a pain. But:
http://www.esato.com/board/printpost.php?post=2107000

(Be advised that the scheduler for checking e-mail will stop at the connection- dialogue, stupidly asking for which connection to use, when that option is enabled).

When WLAN/WIFI doesn't work, several things could be the problem.
1. The AP is old and weary, and struggles with using RTS/CTS, power- saving and so on properly. Try disabling power- saving on the phone ->internet accounts-> [wifi- account] ->advanced->power- saving.
2. The radio- noise is very intense around your AP, and you have several hidden nodes (read: bastard neighbors on the same or close channels who think setting their beacon interval at 20ms will net them more kills on battlefield2). Decrease the RTS (request to send) limit (and in theory increasing the chance of a frame coming across uninterrupted, with less overhead because of less resent frames (..frame: package of fragmented info between the device and the AP)). Or - change channel, and disable RTS/CTS altogether (because introducing an rts/cts session may severely impact some half- way implemented modems and driver- modules on other units on the network). Either of those may or may not solve the problem (yes, I know, really helpful..).
3. You require a certificate for authentication that cannot be automatically verified or downloaded to the phone (i.e., a private or custom certificate of some sort). Contact your support- department and have them send you an issuing- certificate you can install on the phone manually before trying again.
4. You need to log on to a domain on the local lan to be authenticated. Type "username@domain" in the username box.
5. Your network- admin loves Winmo, and says "it should work, you know!". I'm sorry, you're out of luck.

16. The p1 doesn't support that 802.1X stuff that Apple invented last November, right?
http://www.esato.com/board/viewtopic.php?topic=165592

And then uses the authentication service on that secondary server to validate you - on the primary server. Which means that any device that supports one instance of this type of connection- scheme - by definition supports "802.1X". Which is a generic connection scheme (..and was not invented by Apple).

The UIQ units with wlan support several of those connection- schemes, unlike certain other phones we don't mention. That may support perhaps the most common one, with future updates.

17. How much software is there for UIQ, anyway?
And is the selection really as bad as some say?

UIQ notably does not have a light- saber application. Or a profile application for all the phones (available only on Z8, Z10). Which is due to SE's burnt earth policy on development and support. But to promote the programs that are available:

http://gruiq.net/
http://www.uiqblog.com/
http://www.p1iblog.com/
http://my-symbian.com/uiq3/software/index.php


18. The hack - what is it? What does it do? Is it dangerous?
In the sense that it will do permanent and irreversible damage to your phone - no. You cannot destroy the ROM (read only memory) with the hack. The only thing it does is to replace an area of running memory. Any future hacks that might wrap the memory- areas to replace the ROM file references in running memory - will also be volatile hacks (or, they'll disappear after a reboot. Unless they're automatically run again).

Also, the hack does not cause blindness, has nothing to do with the flash- driver in windows, and won't put you on the terror list.

(Until you see the way it's all put together, I guess.. but hey - two out of three ain't bad..)


19. "No, really, the CDA thing still doesn't make sense - try again."
http://www.esato.com/board/viewtopic.php?topic=164362



20. "Sync software, helpful pointers for when it just won't work".

http://www.esato.com/board/printpost.php?post=2345540

(Thanks, AD)


21. The speed increase "hack"? What?

Turns out that on this page:
http://developer.symbian.com/wiki/display/pub/P.I.P.S.
...you can download an installation package for an implementation of POSIX on Symbian (called P.I.P.S., which is an acronym that.. probably doesn't make sense). As well as a pipe for routing standard io calls to the PIPS libraries.

If you install those, you will get a noticable boost on the usual file- operations, multitasking, context- shifts, list- rendering operations, and so on. Anything that reads data in run- time will flow more smoothly.

There doesn't seem to be any noticable drawbacks to installing this - but it's possible that sis- packages compiled with PIPS (there will probably be more of those distributed soon) might cause some sort of conflict.
(edit: the problem with any pips- compiled programs conflicting with the "console" app was fixed in version 1.3)

In any case, it seems obvious that this is a lot better than what was installed on the phones in the first place.


22. Jot gestures.

In the really long, long ago, a company named CIC made a handwriting recognition program for PalmOS named Jot. Apparently, that program was picked up and embedded in UIQ.

And, it turns out that, in spite of a very good attempt by SE to hide this fact in their documentation, there actually are gestures for copy, paste, and undo implemented on the phone.

(Undo works like this: if you mark and erase something, or overwrite it, you can do a one- step (only one step) undo, if you do it before writing another character).

Here's the jot chart.

edit: *cough* nevermind *cough*

23. Yeah, I'm trying to sync the notes, and it doesn't work.
On the pre g- series jot, the note- program allows you to send the note in various ways you don't want. But if you "send as e-mail", the notes program splits the note into a gif attachment, and fills the mail with the note text.

On the g-series note app, you will instead send a jot- file (usability not exactly known yet).

So far, there seems to be no sync- solution available that will sync notes completely.


24. Getting the album- art thing to work.
http://www.esato.com/board/viewtopic.php?topic=171079


25. Accessing the service menu.
http://www.esato.com/board/printpost.php?post=2388221


The other way:
(See the other faq):


26. There's a vpn client available...
..from SE's "fun & downloads" section, accessible through the web- browser's default start page (otherwise it should be in one of the permanent bookmarks.. or else it's "wap.sonyericsson.com/downloads").
pnf1973:


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(Will update after a while - please suggest something clever in html for styles and so on.)

_________________
The p1 Whiki - report bugs and write your feature requests here.

"Brothers and Sisters, believe! Believe in the salvation of Demand Paging, 'eah!"


[ This Message was edited by: Nipsen on 2008-07-10 19:11 ]

[ This Message was edited by: Nipsen on 2008-07-10 19:14 ]

[ This Message was edited by: Nipsen on 2008-08-15 20:08 ]
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Posted: 2008-03-15 16:46:54
Edit : Quote


please add explanation about how to stop apps from self-installing over and over again...that´s a question that keeps being made
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Posted: 2008-03-15 19:45:55
Edit : Quote


Maybe we should add a tip: RTFM!!!!!


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Posted: 2008-03-15 21:46:27
Edit : Quote


Added stuff.
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Posted: 2008-03-25 15:19:12
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P990: use the led as torch || UPDATED: now yo can record with the led ON




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Posted: 2008-03-25 15:26:52
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masseur...make this sticky
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Posted: 2008-03-28 12:29:03
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does no one say please any more?
anyway, its done, but it could probably use a better title (please!)
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Posted: 2008-03-28 12:33:01
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lol. I thought it was fine! (Thanks, masseur.)

So.. should it say "Esato FAQ", or something like that? "Symbian forum FAQ"? "Esato Utility guide for UIQ3.x"? I mean - it's basically info from the forum.
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Posted: 2008-03-28 14:48:43
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nice!!
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Posted: 2008-03-28 15:08:54
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@Nipsen
Nice. But the Opera shortcut for switching between tabs does not work at least on P990, so.... Or I'm missing something?
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Posted: 2008-03-28 15:39:42
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