Hartti Suomela's Forum Nokia Blog

Supernovas 7210 and 7610

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 01:24:16 +0300

Last week Nokia announced four new Series 40 devices:

Supernova 7210
Supernova 7310
Supernova 7510
Supernova 7610

After Bill Perry from Adobe asked me about the details of the new 7210 and 7610 devices, I realized that our devices specs are missing that information. As I do not know exactly when that information is going to be inserted on our site (this week is a "holiday" week after all) I thought I need to chip in with some facts before also biskero starts harrassing me...

Both 7210 and 7610 are Series 40 5th Edition FP1 devices (which means that for Java specs, check the table in here) and they have Flash Lite 3.0. As I am not as used to dig out this information as a couple of my colleagues, I cannot guarantee the facts, but I am pretty sure I got this right.

6131 NFC supports RFID tasg, not VisualTags

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 19:58:16 +0300

This is likely old news for some people, but after finding this out myself only recently through this thread on the FN Discusion boards, I thought a wider notification is in place to reduce further confusion.

Even though the SDK for Nokia 6131 NFC, contains the full Javadoc for Contactless Communication API (JSR-257), the Nokia 6131 phone itself does not contain VisualTagConnection. The phone's JSR-257 implementation supports only RFID tags.

Content Handler API on Series 40

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 19:49:08 +0300

Some people have likely already noticed that Content Handler API (JSR-211) is listed in the device specs for a couple announced Series 40 phones. Namely 6500 Classic and 6500 Slide, which should be out during the third quarter of this year.

The inclusion of CHAPI is not a typo. This API is a required API for MSA (JSR-248) and hence it is making it's way to handsets and it will be available more widely in the future as MSA compliant phones become a commonplace.

If you want to start developing and testing a MIDlet utilizing JSR-211, you should use Sun's WTK for now.

Some comments on Series 40 5th Edition SDK

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 20:30:18 +0300

The Series 40 5th Edition SDK (Java ME, of course, and Flash Lite 2.1) is finally out. Yes, and in case you were wondering, we skipped the 4th edition.

A couple of comments.

This SDK supports the JSR-248 Subset plus a couple of additional APIs, including JSR-177 (APDU and CRYPTO), Web Services, and AMMS.

The SDK has been tested with the following Java ME IDEs

Eclipse 3.2.2 with EclipseME 1.6.6 or higher
Sun NetBeans 5.5 with Mobility Pack 5.5

There are already a few devices announced belonging to this platform. Additionally there are a number of devices with a subset of APIs from 5th Edition, including 2630, 2660, 2760. You could use the 5th Edition SDK to develop applications for those devices, as they support MIDP 2.1 (instead of MIDP 2.0 like in the previous Series 40 SDK, which BTW was 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2). Note also the limited JAR size and heap memory for those three devices!

Read also the release notes document for this SDK. It contains a few additional details on the SDK

Friday ramblings: Battery covers and SIM card holders

Fri, 15 Jun 2007 22:07:32 +0300

There are almost as many battery cover lock mechanisms and SIM card holder mechanisms in Nokia phones as there are different phone models. I might be exaggerating a little, but still the variety is astounding. As I have to change SIM cards between phones almost daily (and sometimes even more often), I have also become intimately familiar on how to open the battery cover, remove the battery, and replace the SIM card. Trust me. It is not always a walk in a park.

To start with there are two models (ok, there might be more, but I only remember these two) which allow you to remove the SIM card without removing the battery first. Nokia 6111 and N93. Pretty cool (if you are geek), but quite unnecessary feature for a normal user with one SIM card and phone only.

On other phones you need to remove the battery cover and battery before being able to change the SIM card. On most of the phones this is really simple. Many phones have these sliding covers, which just require you to press them from one side and slide them open (sometimes finding the sliding direction could require few guesses...).
There are a few challenging ones though. At least N71 and E90 come to mind. They have small, pretty stiff lock buttons which you basically have to press with your fingernail. Unfortunately I am nail-challenged person (in other words nail-biter) so opening these covers is sometimes a frustrating experience.

With my short (non-existing) fingernails I do not even try to use them to take the batteries out. I just hit my other palm with the opened phone and the battery pops out.

The last challenge is getting the SIM card out. This is usually very easy step, but again my short fingernails cause problems on phones, where the SIM card is in a tight place - like in N75. I almost need tweezers (or at least patience) to get the SIM out from this baby.

The best open-the-phone experience? There are many to choose from, but 6131 is close to the top of the list. The battery cover is a easy slider and there is extra room for index finger to take the battery out.

What is your favorite or least favorite phone what comes to battery covers and SIM card holders?

Notes for Java developers targeting new Series 40 entry-level phones

Fri, 04 May 2007 03:37:58 +0300

Nokia announced seven entry-level phones today. Java applications can installed on three of those seven phones. The model numbers of those Series 40 phones are 2630, 2660 and 2760.

The set of Java APIs on those low-end phones differ a little from the mainstream Series 40 devices as there are fewer supported APIs on those devices than for example on Series 40 3rd Edition FP2 devices, but there are also some APIs supported, which are not available on Series 40 2nd or even 3rd Edition devices.

For example there is no Mobile 3D Graphics API (JSR-184 or SVG API (JSR-226) on these newly announced devices. On the other hand the APDU package of SATSA API (JSR-177) is supported.

So when targeting these phones, make sure you are not trying to use an API which is not available. Also note that because of limited available memory, the max JAR size is only 256 KB and heap size for those apps is 512 KB.

Checking out the API access settings on Nokia devices

Fri, 30 Mar 2007 00:45:34 +0300

I have touched the security settings of operator branded phones on this blog in the past (China Unicom, Sprint, Hucthinson 3G, T-Mobile U.S. and AT&T/Cingular). However I have been pretty light on details about the API access settings on generic (non-branded phones). Time to change that.

Attached is an PDF file (created from an Excel sheet) containing a small sample of API access settings for a number of Nokia phones and the recommended settings from the various JSR specifications (MIDP2, MIDP2.0.1, MIDP2.1, JTWI, MSA). Note that even the recommendations from different MIDP versions are different. And the settings on generic Nokia phones differ from those. And sometimes even the firmware versions seems to affect the available settings. Oh, what a mess.

Yes, I know. This blog is not the optimal place for publishing this kind of info, but I was wondering if people would have some comments on how to present this information so it would be most useful to the developers. One possible, and final resting place for this stuff as well as the operator specific settings information is Forum Nokia Wiki. I was thinking of one page for each different API access settings, and listing all the devices having those settings. Is this kind of table good, or does someone prefer the tables from JSR specs (which to me look confusing)?

Any other suggestions?

Installing MIDlets on Series 40 and S60

Sun, 03 Dec 2006 21:19:47 +0200

The MIDP specification allows quite a lot of variance in the installation procedure of MIDlets. The spec basically only states what the AMS (Application Management System) needs to take care of but not how it should be taken care of. So it is no wonder that installing MIDlets on Series 40 is different from installation on S60 phones.

First of all, when you transfer MIDlets to Series 40 phones, they will get installed "on the background". The user does not need to start the installation procedure and walk through the installation - after the user navigates to the Application menu, the MIDlets is already there. On S60 phones the user has click through an installation before the MIDlet is installed on the phone. If the MIDlet was downloaded using the browser that process starts automatically. In other cases the user has to go to inbox and start the installation by clicking the JAR or JAD file. On Series 60 phones the destination of the MIDlet varies across the board. On some devices the MIDlets are installed in "My Own" folder, or in "Installations", or...

On Series 40 phones the destination of the MIDlets has changed a little through the different models, but mainly the MIDlets can be found in the "Games" subfolder.

One might ask how Series 40 phone user knows which of his/her MIDlets are untrusted and which are signed as no installation notifications are displayed to the user. The answer is that the user has to select the MIDlet in question and check the MIDlet settings using the Options menu.

One thing to remember on Series 40 phones is that when upgrading a MIDlet, JAD files need to be used. If one intends to upgrade an existing MIDlet using JAR file only, the MIDlet does not get replaced but the new MIDlet gets installed next to he old existing version.

And lastly a reference to information on JAD and manifest files...

Series 40 and network configuration

Thu, 09 Nov 2006 19:04:34 +0200

Once again I got inspiration from FN Discussion boards after reading for umpteenth time about Series 40 network configuration issues for MIDlets.

There is a technical note on this (updated this link on Oct 10, 2008), which tackles this issue pretty nicely, but I still would like to write a detailed explanation on how I have done the network access settings on generic Series 40 devices. I have to note that the following explanation works only with the 3rd Edition and newer devices as well as some 2nd Edition devices (see the group 2 on the technical note).

It is notable that even if the browser might be able to connect to the network, your phone might still need some additional configuration to get the network connections for MIDlets to work. If your browser works but MIDlets do not, please skip to step 2.

Also note that I have used Nokia 5300 to write down these instructions. The menu names might be different on your phone, but the general idea should become clear.

1) Get the generic network settings for your operator and save them on your phone. I usually browser to another site while waiting for the settings to arrive and hence forget to write down / memorize the pin code needed to install the settings. Do not do the same mistake :-)
However at this point your browser should be able to connect.

2) Go to Menu->Settings->Configuration and choose "Activ. default in all apps."

3) Next you need to create an access point which you can then use in your MIDlets.
Staying in the the same "Configuration settings" menu, select "Personal config. settings". Press "Add" and select "Access point" from the list. Go to "Access point settings"->"Bearer settings"->"Packet data access point" and write the correct access point name here. For me, using Cingular network, the correct one is "Cingular WEB" (that's the name of the settings I received from the online settings service).
I know that this create access point using a packet data access point seems confusing, but bear with me.

4) If you want, you can also name this access point, but also the default name "My access point" works well. Do this before returning to the Configuration settings menu.

5) In the "Configuration settings" menu, select "Preferred access point" and select the access point you just created (in my case "My access point")

6) Test your MIDlet. If you set up the Data access point correctly, the MIDlet should be connecting to the network just fine.

Another issue related to Series 40 network access is the "KNIEXT _NewGlobalRef failed" error some people have experienced on some Series 40 phones. The cause of this problem is that some previous network connection was not closed properly. This issue can be cured by taking the battery away from the phone for a little while.

MIDlets, System.out, and Series 40 phones

Wed, 18 Oct 2006 19:42:00 +0300

There is a document on Forum Nokia web site describing how to redirect the System.out and System.err on newer S60 phones. I dawned only recently to me that this similar functionality is quite easy to achieve on Series 40 phones.

By "debug" I simply mean here that one can see the System.out stream on a connected PC while running your midlet on Series 40 handset. I have not yet had time find out for sure which handsets support this, but works at least on newest handsets like 5300.

How did I got it working? I first installed PC Suite on my PC (yes, running Windows here). I also created a test midlet printing messages during execution with System.out.println() and installed it on my handset.

Then I connected the phone with a USB cable (selected the mode to be the default) and waited the corresponding drivers to be installed. I went on to check from the PC Device manager what was the com port assigned to my phone.

"Control Panel -> System -> Hardware -> Device Manager -> Ports (COM & LPT). You should see something like: "Nokia GSM Phone USB" there.
Select Properties -> Port Settings -> Advanced. The port should be something between COM1 and COM10 for the Terminal program to be able to access it. Change it if necessary."

If you changed the port it is always a good idea to disconnect the phone and reconnect it, to make sure the port change is updated.

Open a terminal program and connect to that port. HyperTerminal works, but the output gets messy with the linefeeds. Instead you could use some other, more configurable terminal program, like Terminal.

Run your midlet and enjoy the stream of messages displaying on the terminal screen.