Tag: handango

Ovi Store Blues

I love the Ovi Store for simplifying what used to be an exhausting method of purchasing Symbian apps. Before the Ovi Store, purchasing a Symbian application was an exhausting cycle of:

  1. Searching for your app online and with luck, landing directly on the developers website or the many online marketplaces which include Handango, PenReader, or Handmark, etc.
  2. Purchasing that app using their payment processor of choice. Remembering to keep that email invoice safe by printing out the receipt or permanently storing in your e-mail inbox in case when you replaced your phone and needed to reinstall the app. With Handango, you would get charged a download fee if 30 days have passed since your first purchase so you not only have to keep your invoices, you have to save a copy of the installation file (.sis or .sisx).
  3. If you’ve replaced your phone, installing your purchased app involves the following:
    • Email the developers with your purchase details and IMEI number.
    • Wait anywhere from 24hr – 4 days for a response with a link to the new installation file
    • Unfortunately for Nokia users & developers, there are 3 “versions” of Symbian that they may have to support if they wanted to cater to all markets.If you’re lucky, you might not get charged extra if you moved from a non-touchscreen phone like the Nokia E71x to a touchscreen phone like the Nokia N8.

Needless to say, I’ve become a digital packrat with copies of (almost) every Windows (Mobile), Android, Symbian application I’ve ever purchased. So, I was very relieved when the Ovi Store came out because I finally had a source that would *always* be available for me to download from. When you purchase an app on the Ovi Store with either a credit card (you’ll have to pop out your SIM for this option if you are in the USA) or operator billing (i.e. you get billed when you get your monthly phone bill), you get an email receipt of your purchase and the Ovi Store stores this information so that reinstalling your app is as easy as clicking the “Download” button that will appears on apps you’ve purchased or downloaded before.

Unfortunately, there is a fly in this ointment. Did you know that if you click the “Download” button 5 times, you will be prevented from further downloads of the app that you paid for? I experiment with my phone a lot by using a lot of Nokia Beta Labs applications and other .sis/.sisx files that I find online. Rather often, I run into issues that I have no idea of troubleshooting and for me, reformatting is the easiest option. With my latest reformat, I was greeted with this message when I attempted to download Angry Birds, the $1.99 application I purchased and blogged about here:

Exhibit #1: Angry Birds
Blocked from Downloading Angry Birds on Ovi Store

Exhibit #2: SoundHound
You need to update this application to a newer version that is compatible with your current phone mode

The notification reads: “You need to update this application to a newer version that is compatible with your current phone model“. For crying out loud, SoundHound was one of the first applications I bought for my Nokia N8 and I freaking blogged about that in this article about Ovi Maps Improvements and Some Recommended Apps on the Nokia N8!

Before I did the kneejerk “tweet about how horrible the Ovi Store is and threaten to blog about it” thing, I did the following:

  1. I opened up a support request here: http://support.ovi.com/osc/home
  2. Then, I sent a tweet to @NokiaCareUS and asked for their intervention.
    .bbpBox32208253072965630 {background:url(http://a1.twimg.com/profile_background_images/70457218/twitter-janetalkstech.png) #9AE4E8;padding:20px;} p.bbpTweet{background:#fff;padding:10px 12px 10px 12px;margin:0;min-height:48px;color:#000;font-size:18px !important;line-height:22px;-moz-border-radius:5px;-webkit-border-radius:5px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata{display:block;width:100%;clear:both;margin-top:8px;padding-top:12px;height:40px;border-top:1px solid #fff;border-top:1px solid #e6e6e6} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author{line-height:19px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author img{float:left;margin:0 7px 0 0px;width:38px;height:38px} p.bbpTweet a:hover{text-decoration:underline}p.bbpTweet span.timestamp{font-size:12px;display:block}

    @NokiaCareUS I reformatted my #N8 2x in the 24hrs and I’m getting a “max # of download attempts reached” msg for Angry Birds!less than a minute ago via TweetDeckJane Ullah
    janetalkstech

To Nokia’s credit, @NokiaCareUS got back to me and shortly afterwards, sent me a direct link to download my Angry Birds installation file! As for my SoundHound app, I couldn’t find my email invoice. Expecting the trust bar to be raised higher for a $4.99 app, I went ahead & re-purchased it. This time, I printed my email invoice. 🙂

.bbpBox33283858484961280 {background:url(http://a1.twimg.com/profile_background_images/161868893/nokiatwitter.jpg) #C0DEED;padding:20px;} p.bbpTweet{background:#fff;padding:10px 12px 10px 12px;margin:0;min-height:48px;color:#000;font-size:18px !important;line-height:22px;-moz-border-radius:5px;-webkit-border-radius:5px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata{display:block;width:100%;clear:both;margin-top:8px;padding-top:12px;height:40px;border-top:1px solid #fff;border-top:1px solid #e6e6e6} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author{line-height:19px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author img{float:left;margin:0 7px 0 0px;width:38px;height:38px} p.bbpTweet a:hover{text-decoration:underline}p.bbpTweet span.timestamp{font-size:12px;display:block}

@janetalkstech Just resent your content to you. Sorry for the inconvenience. U might get the link again if u already sent a care request.less than a minute ago via SpredfastNokia Care US
NokiaCareUS

Moral lesson of this very late blog post: Hitting the “5 installs” limit on the Ovi Store is not a death sentence. Open a support ticket or send a tweet @NokiaCaresUS (make sure you follow them so you can provide personal information privately).

Installing Nokia Maps 3.0.1 on the Nokia E71x

  1. Update: it appears that using the Ovi Suite software, you do need to go to the trouble of downloading the older version 2.0 Ovi Maps .sis files. Follow the instructions on installing version 2 first and then, installing version 3 per the instructions in my post. When that succeeds, download & install the Ovi Suite (to your computer) . The Ovi Maps application on your Nokia E71x phones should now be detectable and updated by the Ovi Suite software! Let me know in the comments if you aren’t able to install Ovi Maps on your Nokia E71x phone. See the latest comment from SkyWorker that prompted a revision.

Wow! The visits to my posts on tweaking the Nokia E71x, some apps for the Nokia E71x and my recommended gear and more applications for the E71x are insane by my very modest standards. This blog is a labor of love and at most, I get ~ 15 visits daily (5 of which are from Bots). So, seeing something in the neighborhood of 60 visits/day is pretty huge and no Bots there! 😀 It tells me that this is a market that can be tapped into and by Jove, I aim to please! I’m on Twitter as @janetalkstech and make sure you subscribe to my blog here and keep track of my Nokia E71x related postings.

So, what else have I discovered about my new Nokia E71x since I’ve had it? Well, here goes:

  1. The question  is not if your phone will get scuffed up, it’s when. Get a Otterbox case for E71x now or see the black beauty get scarred.
  2. Google Maps will not work without a data connection. If you obtained a Nokia E71x without signing up for a data connection AND you are able to use Google Maps, guess what? You are making a data counter at AT & T very happy. I’m dreading my phone bill because I didn’t realize that Google Maps didn’t work with Wifi and I had been playing rather heavily with tracking myself via Google Maps. Oy vey. Painful and expensive lesson learned.
  3. Nokia Maps 3.0 (now Ovi Maps) works on your Nokia E71x device. The road to getting it installed is painful, but it can be done. The best part about it? Nokia Maps 3.0 will work on your device without needing a data connection. For driving directions to work, you will need to purchase a license from Nokia. You don’t need Wifi connection for the turn-by-turn directions to work. Here’s I went through to get it working on my device:
    1. Download Nokia Maps 2.0 and 3.0 onto your computer using the files (Nokia_Maps_2.0_0701_3.2_u.sis> and Nokia_Maps_3.0_0302_3.2_u.sis which are actually for 6650 device, but apparently works on the E71x) from this website (here originally at http://tamale.pwnij.com/e71x/). FIRST, make sure your microSD card is in your phone. We will be dealing with a lot of data so check yourself. SECOND, install Nokia Maps 2.0 on your device via the Nokia PC Suite software and run Nokia Maps 2.0 once. Reboot your device after the install successfully completes. Ensure you are doing the installation using your USB cord. THEN, install Nokia Maps 3.0 onto your device through PC Suite and run it once as well. At this point, you may run into the “low memory” message and all that is needed is for you to go to your C:/ or E:/ drive and delete the Cities/ folder and a ‘qf’ file.
    2. If you don’t know what C:/ or E:/ drive means, I strongly recommend you get an AT & T data plan. If you do, thumbs up. Keep reading.
    3. After deleting the Cities/ folder (if you had a problem starting up Nokia Maps 3.0 in the first place), then start up Nokia Maps 3.0 again. Success! Restart your device to ‘clear its head’.
    4. Visit Nokia’s website and download two files: (i)Nokia Map loader for downloading the maps (ii) Nokia Map Updater for updating the Nokia Maps software. Hint: your device selection is the E71 in order to access the Nokia Maps Updater software.
    5. Connect your Nokia E71x phone to the computer in Mass Storage PC Suite mode and start up Nokia Maps Updater software. It should detect your device and prompt you to update your Nokia Maps 3.0 software to Nokia Maps 3.0.1. If you get this far, you’re looking mighty fine. 😀
    6. Then, fire up the Nokia Maps Uploader software (Hint: do the actual map downloading at a time when your network is least congested. I did the download at ~ 2am so that about 1.4GB didn’t take 2 years to download).I opted to download the entire US maps to my device. I’m hoping you realize that you must already have your microSD card (8GB or more) in your device because the US maps are ~ 1.4GB in size.
    7. When the download is done, exit and you are free to fire up the Nokia Maps software. In my experience, it takes a couple of minutes to get a GPS fix, but I’m not complaining because it’s free, right? You get what you pay for. In this case, I hear AT & T’s Navigator software is quite good, but again, I am averse to paying for convenience. lol.
    8. PS: Based on comments, I’m putting up a link to this site that points directly to the maps files for Ovi Maps 3.0 that reside on Nokia’s servers (in case the Map Loader software is not working as it should).
  4. Games:- Handango is pretty pathetic in its selection of games for the Nokia E71x device. However, I discovered that Gameloft has a mobile site and as I write, I’ve got Prince of Persia on my device!  However, their online payment system has hiccups. Something I’ve also discovered is that Handango is like an aggregator which makes resolving issues more complicated than it needs to if you need a refund issued. So, I’m trying to hunt down the actual game developers for the applications I purchase and get them from their website directly if they have an option to purchase online from them!.
  5. Thus far, all my paid downloads have been for useful applications like the Handy Converter and the Handy Expense tracker, Merriam Webster 3rd International Unabridged Dictionary with a Sound module, a paid KJV bible (along with 2 free readers from Olive Tree Bible Software and Mobipocket E-Book Reader), Call Recorder, Mobiola Screen Capture software, Twittix, X-plore, Quickoffice Premier 6, Adobe Reader LE 2.5 and Emoze Pro.
  6. Lastly, my entire series of Nokia E71x posts will not be complete without mentioning the guys at Nokia Experts who have been a key factor in getting me started on my way to emancipating myself from AT & T’s shackles. Go visit them and encourage them to keep posting more Nokia E71x tips and tricks!!

PS: Check my series of posts on Tweaking the Nokia E71x phone, more apps for the Nokia phone, recommended accessories and yet more applications for the Nokia E71x phone. Cheers!

My recommended gear AND applications for the Nokia E71x phone

So, it’s been close to 3 weeks since I have had the Nokia E71x in my possession. What have I learned?

  1. For starters, get a good case for this slippery phone because it has slipped from my grasp more than once. A skin AND a case would be the recommended because your phone may slip out its case (like mine did).
  2. A good 2.5mm set of ear phones is hard to find so when I read online about the Planktronics Stereo Mobile headset, I was hooked. They arrived yesterday and I’m in hog heaven. 🙂
  3. Invest in a large microSD card. The Nokia E71x officially supports cards up to 8GB, but someone online has a 32GB card in their Nokia E71x phone. Use at your own risk. As for me, I have an 8GB Transcend microSD card and I’ve put a lot of music on it with ~ 5GBs left to spare for applications, files and whatever else. It’s a no-brainer. However, if you refuse to spend any more money on little gizmos, the phone has a generous 140MB of space.
  4. Download the Nokia PC Suite software. I’ve been a Windows Mobile user for a long while and I thought that I had seen all that there was to see. Well, this piece of software from Nokia syncs nicely with versions of Outlook 2003 to the Outlook 2010 technical preview!! I’m using the Outlook 2010 technical preview and that’s how I know. It is essentially a manager for your phone and I can’t sing it’s praises enough. Using the Nokia PC Suite is highly recommended for managing your phone. It’s free and what more could you want? You can choose to connect to the Nokia PC suite via USB or Bluetooth. Hint: use the USB cord for intense work like video transfers, etc. I use Bluetooth when I can’t be bothered with the cord and have time to spare.
  5. Don’t want to spend money on the XM radio application bundled with the phone? Nokia has a free Internet radio application! I’m serious: check it out at Nokia’s website.
  6. Don’t want to spend money on those solitaire apps? Well, I’ve got the ticket for you. Nokia has a free Solitaire application called Top Hits Solitaire. I’ve used it and I can’t see myself spending any more money on games if Solitaire is your thing.
  7. Can’t be bothered to spend yet more money on AT & T’s Navigator software, get Google Maps for Mobile here and if you’ve borked your connection settings, visit this help page on configuration by Google.
  8. Don’t want to plunk down money for a fancy schmancy E-book reader? There are two free Ebook readers available for the Nokia E71x device that I know about and have written about. There are hundreds of free Ebooks available as well for use with the Ebook reader. I will recommend getting a dictionary application if you are like me i.e. wanting to read old texts and realizing that they use a lot of ‘big’ words. Speaking of dictionary applications, I would recommend you pony up for the Merriam Webster Third New International (Unabridged) Edition which is the costliest of all versions on Penreader website, but it’s worth it because of the sheer number of words present.
  9. Don’t feel like using the trial software that ATT loaded this phone with, use X-plore to get rid of the applications and see this post on Nokia Experts for more details. You will save yourself the trouble of accidentally subscribing for something and free up a lot of memory. You’ll be glad you did.
  10. Don’t forget to spread the love by supporting the development of quality software by purchasing mobile software from the developers. My main sources for mobile software are: Handango, Handmark, Penreader and other developers talked about on blogs or websites.
  11. For more information, get product support and software from Nokia’s website here and visit here for Nokia E71x support. Nokia can be reached on mobiles by going to http://nokia.mobi on your device.

I hope this monster post was of use to you. Please leave questions or comments on this post and I’ll attend to them as quickly as I can. Cheers!