At least that's what says this story run by Engadget Mobile:

App certificates have long been a bane to S60 users and developers alike, causing pain, frustration, and an almost obligatory cash outlay to get your hard work certified to run on the very platform Nokia is so quick to call "open." Finally, it truly is, thanks to the hard work of the Symbian hacking community that has developed an easy (or easy sounding, anyway) method of "jailbreaking" the Symbian 9.2 device in your life (S60 3rd Edition FP1 users, that's you). After that, installed apps won't need a certificate at all -- let alone an invalid one -- to do their dirty work. Open, indeed.

It points you to this site where instructios are given to unlock a single phone using AppTRK and a couple of Python scripts. The hack isn't permanent, which means after a reboot your device gets back to normal. They say they're working on a permanent hack, which would allow iPhone-style jailbroken firmwares running unsigned applications at full capabilities.

I haven't tested it myself, but it seems it works at least on Feature Pack 1 devices. I will test with my N95 with an application which requires all capabilities (including manufacturer-given) to see what happens.

Anyway, I would advise nobody to do it to their own devices, since this opens up the possibility of you installing apps whose authors you don't know and can do real damage to your phone if they are making use of sensitive capabilities whose use is protected by the whole signing scheme.

As I mentioned in my last post, I have been thinking a lot lately about how to extend applications that run on sandboxed environments, such as Java ME, Flash Lite and Widgets, using some powerful native technologies such as C++, Python and Mobile Web Server.

I did my research and turns out some people have already been thinking (and doing) this for a while now, so I wanted to share this with you, for a reason I will explain later:

- Our very own Sr. Technology Expert Petro Soininen has created a widget that's able to send text messages and read the SMS inbox of an S60 device, using a creative combination of Widgets, Python, PHP and the Mobile Web Server. Here's the link for the article with complete source code: http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.php/How_to_utilize_device_resources_from_a_WRT_widget

- Forum Nokia Champion Felipe Andrade and his company have been working for quite some time in the Flyer Framework, a server application written in Python for S60 whose goal is to provide enhanced native functions to Flash Lite applications. It looks pretty mature, and I wonder if it could be used with Widgets as well with some adjusts in connectivity (full HTTP vs XML sockets).

I mentioned these two ways of extending widgets and Flash Lite apps because of the Global Code Camp Contest. I figured that an application/widget with enhanced functionality has more room for being innovative and delight users in many different ways. 

As nothing was mentioned in the contest rules, I asked the Forum Nokia team responsible for the competition whether applications produced with these extension methods would be valid or not. An the answer is that these turbo web widgets and Flash apps are allowed, so you have a lot more options to introduce cool features in your apps via sweet Python and PHP scripts.

So take a look at them both and make your widgets and Flash apps fly higher than ever!

If you have been reading Forum Nokia web site regularly, you've probably noticed the big Win 15k Euros! posted on the main page since March 18th. If you click the link, you'll be redirected to the Forum Nokia Code Camp Competion we're hosting. It's all about you developing a winning Web Run-Time (WRT) or Flash Lite application and raking in a lot of nice prizes from Forum Nokia.

Registration has already begun, so come up with your bright idea for either platform and enter the competition!

If you have a concept but don't have a command in any of these technologies, a good idea would be to register for one of the Forum Nokia Regional Code Camps happening worldwide and get started with both WRT and Flash in nice hands-on workshops.

Yours truly will be probaly hosting a Flash Lite somewhere in April, stay tuned.

If you're more into widgets, you can also get started by checking out this article I wrote back in November 07. It covers everything you need to know to develop your first widget, including SDK and live testing with our Remote Device Access service:

Widgets on S60: Web Runtime

* * *

I have been thinking a lot about Python for S60, Mobile Web Server and how to extend Flash and Java applications using the former technologies. I wonder if it would be possible to extend Widgets as well, having a C++ or Python light web server running on the phone while a widget makes local XMLHttpRequest connections to this service, thus getting more native-related functionality. Mobile Web Server seems like a good candidate for this type of experimentation. I may give it a try soon. (evil laugh)

Hello all,

This is my first post at Forum Nokia's Blogs, and certainly won't be the last since I like to talk a lot. 

I have been working with Forum Nokia since 2005 and with Nokia technologies since 2000, and it's been a pleasant journey I can say. I am based in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where we Forum Nokians have the mission of building awareness for Nokia technologies and platforms and of course help the developer community (which is huge) grow interest in mobile software development. 

As one of the lucky people (according to Hartti) to attend BOSSA 08 Mobile Open Source Software conference held in Recife, Brazil. I gave a lengthy workshop on everything you need to know to get started with Python for S60 application development. I had a lot of fun preparing the workshop, since until 2 weeks ago I knew very little about the technology, and after reading all of the project's material and the amazing Mobile Python book from Forum Nokia Champion Jürgen Scheible, I became sort of an expert on it (at least compared to myself in the beginning of March). It always nice when you can have the opportunity of learning something new, specially when it makes your life so easy as Python for S60 does.

For those interested on it, the material I've presented is linked below so it's free for you to download and enjoy. It contains a .ppt presentation about all things PyS60 (from downloading to start developing and running apps on the phone) and some source code examples, many of them written by my, others taken from the book cited above. 

Here are the links:

python_pres.pdf (pdf document containing the presentation)

python.zip (source code)

Of course, your feedback is always appreciated!

[]s
Daniel