Nokia N97 Fanatics » N97 Tips & Tutorials

How To Remote Lock Your N97 Smartphone From Anywhere In The World

Mike Macias — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 14:38:35 +0000

Let’s say you leave your Nokia N97 at work and don’t want your buddies seeing those luvvy-duvvy text messages you send to your girlfriend. Or maybe you can’t find your phone and don’t want anybody using it. Even worse, it might be stolen. The N97 has a great security feature called Remote Lock built in. Many people overlook or don’t notice this feature, but I think it’s a must-have for everyone with an expensive smartphone and sensitive data.

What does remote lock do? It allows you to send a unique message to your phone from another phone, allowing it to be locked so nobody can use it.

How To Setup Remote Lock On The Nokia N97

The steps are very easy. You’ll eventually reach the screenshot below.

Settings > Phone > Phone Mgmt. > Security Settings > Phone & SIM Card > Remote Phone Locking.

You need to create a special phrase like “lockn97” or anything you can remember. Once created, you can send a SMS with the phrase you created from any phone to your N97 and it will completely lock up immediately. The only way to unlock it is to use the phone’s lock code that you will create if you haven’t already.

Be sure to make a lock code that you can remember. The default code is 12345 if you have never set one up before. If you forget your lock code I do not know how to unlock the phone. Try at your own risk! Maybe someone here knows better than I do.

Advanced Device Lock Pro

Recommended by commenter netborn

My choice is Advanced Device Locks Pro, besides remote lock you have remote activate alarm, and remote wipe. Also secure storage, secure applications too, and the price is not too high.

Seems like a good 3rd party app if you need MORE security than the built in remote locking feature. Although the $30 price might turn off some of you. I decided to look into it. Here is the description:

What can ADL Pro do for you?

ADL Pro protects important information and personal data on your phone. With ADL Pro you can restrict access to certain applications, protect sensitive information and delete it remotely in case your phone is lost or stolen.

With ADL Pro you can rest assured that if your phone is lost or stolen, you will be notified of any unauthorized attempt to use it and trace it back. You can lock the phone remotely, switch on an alarm or delete your personal information by simply sending a text message with a predefined keyword.

Try the free trial: Advanced Device Lock Pro for N97

Does anybody already use this feature? Has anyone ever needed to use this feature?

Memory Reorganizer Helps To Clear Up Space On Your C: Drive Instantly

Mike Macias — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 13:47:43 +0000

Is the C: drive on your N97 being crunched for space? Thankfully Nokia released a software update that quickly reorganizes some system files and throws them on the mass storage drive. The update can be found in the Software Update application along with a few other updates that you might want to install.

Once you install the update all you need to do is run it from the Apps folder. The process took about 10 seconds for me and then the app removes itself when the task is completed. I managed to recover about 6mb of space on my C: drive. That doesn’t sound like much but it helps considering I was already down to about 11mb remaining.

Some people are also reporting more free RAM. I haven’t noticed this in my case, but the smartphone does seem a little more stable.

I’m curious to see how much space is recovered from everybody else’s Nokia N97 C: drive.

Nokia N97 Firmware 2.0 Is Out! Update Now & Use These Tips

Mike Macias — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:56:59 +0000

The new firmware version 2.0 for the Nokia N97 is finally out. You know – the topic we’ve been covering tirelessly the past few months.

As of right now you can only update via Nokia Software Update on your PC, however Over the Air updates are supposed to be coming in the next 24 to 48 hours. Follow the tips below to have a safe & happy update.

Firmware Update Tips:

The update is showing about 142mb for me so be sure to have a fast and secure connection before updating.
Always backup your important data before a firmware update.
I (actually EverythingBlaxx) recommend hard resetting your N97 before this update just to start fresh. Be sure to backup your important data like contacts, messages, & bookmarks before the hard reset. Follow the tutorial by EverythingBlaxx to learn how to hard reset the N97.
Do not bump the cable or disconnect your N97 until the firmware is completely installed.
Be sure to use a full battery.

Updates:

The entire UI is much snappier, bringing it up to power with the E71. Opening system apps is instantaneous.
The new firmware allows you to put your clock & profile widget anywhere on the screen. You cannot remove it, however. Screenshot…

New message reader app reads messages out loud to you. I guess that was already there in v12.
This firmware version is only available for unlocked and unbranded devices right now. Branded devices usually take a few weeks to get the new firmware. Read how to debrand your N97 posted at this site a few months ago if you can’t wait.

I am currently in the process of updating my N97. I’ll update this post throughout the day with information about the new firmware. Be sure to share your experience in the comments below.

How To Take A Screenshot With The N97

Mike Macias — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:27:30 +0000

Need to take a screenshot of your N97? Sometimes you’re trying to get help with a problem and it’s easier to show what’s really going on. Or maybe you have your own smartphone website and you’d like to post screenshots like we do here at N97 Fanatics. Once you take the screenshot you can upload it to your server or social storage site like Flickr or Share On Ovi to share it with folks in forums and blog comment sections.

Whatever the reason might be, all you need is a free application called Best Screensnap by SmartphoneWare. Be sure to set the storage to mass memory or memory card to save space on your N97.

Overview:

With Best ScreenSnap you can capture screenshots on your smartphone, save them to a file or send them to friends or to your desktop computer.

Best ScreenSnap is FREE! You can download and use it absolutely free of charge. No spyware or adware inside.

Features include:

Configurable hotkey to make a screenshot.

Sound notification after taking screenshot

Supports true colour BMP, 256 colour BMP, and JPG

Ability to send image via Bluetooth, Infrared, MMS or email.

Auto-generated image name.

Ability to set up where to save screenshots.

Download

Click here to download Best ScreenSnap for your N97.

So You Want To Reset Your N97?

EverythingBlaxx — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:26:05 +0000

Although we have posted guides on how to keep the N97 running great, preserving free space on your C: drive and how to remove any useless apps, the best way to get the device running just like it did when you first took it out of the box (minus the v10.x.xxx firmware of course) is to perform a hard reset. Anyone who has followed my 4 months with the N97 knows that I am frequently performing factory resets on the device. So many in fact that I can reset the device and have everything I need restored within 15 minutes…even if I’m mobile. It sounds pretty daunting but in putting together this guide, I found that there really isn’t much to it. Now before you all go run out and hit *#7370# then say that Blaxx told you to, I have to give a word of caution. Neither I nor N97Fanatics.com is responsible to anything that happens to you phone if you do a hard reset and you don’t completely understand what it is that you’re doing. This includes the loss of built in applications, the loss of any of your sensitive data (contacts, calendar, notes, emails, text messages, what have you), or in rare cases, bricking your phone. This is not me telling you to reset your device, this is just a rundown of how I go about it.

I decided around noon that I was going to reset my N97 tonight so the first thing I did was uninstall all of the applications that I don’t use on a daily basis and remove any hacks I currently have employed. The only reason I do this is because I install everything to E: Mass memory and after a hard reset, not everything is available in your Applications menu. Rather than worry about whether or not a particular app is going to be available after the reset is complete, I’d rather just reinstall them myself. The hacks are self-explanatory, they aren’t going to work after the reset anyway so why bother leave em there. Keep in mind that if you haven’t reset your N97 yet, you may lose a preinstalled widget or two (Amazon widget almost always bites the dust). I believe we’ve already shown you how to uninstall all the preinstalled widgets from your C: drive and reinstall them on E: so this shouldn’t be of any concern to you but if this kinda thing is important to you, stop reading here.

Among the other things you’ll lose are your contacts, your calendar entries and your notes. Text messages and emails are entirely dependent on which storage location you’ve selected and/or which email solution you’re using. I’ve found that the fastest way to back up my contacts is with Ovi Sync which is already built into the device. You just need to head over to http://contacts.ovi.com, log into your Ovi account (if you have one that is, you really should y’know) and add your device. Follow the instructions and you should be ready to sync in 90 seconds or less.

It's a good idea to sync those Contacts

Contacts on Ovi can also sync your Calendar but ignore the other options on the screenshot above, they apply to PC Suite but not to Ovi.com.

If you’re anything like me, all you need to do is back up your Contacts and you’re good to go, more or less. I will sometimes connect to my PC and backup my Bookmarks, Notes and Text Messages (If you have Map Favourites, they should already be synced to your Ovi Maps account) using Nokia Content Copier (your phone already has a PC Suite sync profile built in but it will only allow you to sync over Bluetooth).

Ready to hit that # key

Once my device is all fresh and new again, the first thing I do after completing the Setup Wizard is reinstall Handy Taskman, Best ScreenSnap, Y-Browser and one theme (whichever theme I’m currently using at the moment). Nokia Messaging, Gravity, Shazam, Ovi Contacts, Handy Blacklist and re-adding my podcast subscriptions can wait until I’m done reconfiguring my settings (Display, Phone, Admin, Security, Call, Bluetooth, Clock, Destinations).

Just to show you the benefits of doing a hard reset, I’ve prepared 2 screenshots for you. One are my system conditions before the reset, and one of after.

Before

After

That’s all there is to it. I’ve regained almost 37MB of free space on C: that would be otherwise lost in just 15 minutes. If you have any questions, comments, concerns or you’re just unclear about something I’ve done here, I strongly encourage you to post them in the Comments section below.

-Blaxx

Did You Know? Tips For Nokia N97

EverythingBlaxx — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:03:20 +0000

I just wanted to throw some quick keyboard tips and shortcuts at you guys. Some are obvious and you might have already known but you might learn something new today.

Did you know…

…that by pressing any key on the top row of the keyboard (with the exception of Backspace) from the homescreen will bring up the Dialer?

…that by pressing the Shift key twice, this will allow you to type in CAPS LOCK but you can’t do this at the beginning of a sentence?

…that by pressing the Function key twice, this will allow you to type in SYM LOCK.

…that by holding the Sym key and pressing any vowel key or the ‘C’ or ‘N’ key, you will get accents above or below the letter? Pressing the letter key multiple times while holding the Sym key will cycle through the different accents (only vowels have multiple accents however).

…that the scroll key in the middle of the D-Pad functions like an OK/Options button?

Do you know of anymore keyboard shortcuts on the N97? Post them in the Comments below.

Your Complete Guide To Unbranding Your Nokia N97

benjezzy — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 11:00:04 +0000

(you can follow the author on twitter: twitter.com/benjezzy)

Whether it be “Vodafone”, “Orange” or “3″, we’ve all been subject to carrier branding on the software and sometimes on the hardware. Today, we take a stand and decide to go the “un-branded” way!

In this guide, we will show you how to unbrand your phone in order to get rid of those pesky carrier traces left on your phone’s sofware and how to update to newer firmwares much faster.

Note: By unbranding your N97, you will void your warranty since you are changing the product code. But fear not, if anything goes wrong, I will show you a way to revert to your original product code if you ever need to send your phone back to Nokia. I (& N97fanatics.com) take no responsibility if you are not able to follow simple instructions!

For this you will need:

- to know your Nokia N97’s product code (found under the battery, on the same label that holds you IMEI number) It should read something like “RM-505″.

-a full backup of your phone, just in case

- the following software: JAF & it’s emulator (link in the post)

-your Nokia Data/Charger cable

-between 30 minutes & 1 hour of your time

-some decent reading skills (better read through the post and comments a few times before you try it out)

Note: I’ve tried this method only on a Windows 7 PC. I have no idea how to do this on Mac/Linux. You could try using Wine/Bootcamp : let us know how it goes for you.

Note: For all of you using Vista/Windows 7, Ive included some OPTIONAL steps which should make sure you don’t run into any compatibility problems.

Step 1: Find out your Product code & Firmware version & the Product Code you need

To find your firmware version, type “*#0000#” in your phone. If anything else than “12.0.024″, you will need to update at the end.

To understand what we’re doing, we first need to understand what a “Product Code” does: its a serves as a way of identifying the specific phone model that we have, whether it was a special edition or not (remember the N73 music edition?), the default language, the “zone” in which it was purchased and finally if it is tied down to one single carrier.

Once you have both these details, make sure to keep a copy of them safe somewhere. If anything goes wrong, you will need them to revert the changes we are about to make.

Now, checking this website out, you’ll be able to find the new product code you should use. Only use a product code relevant to your area. I’m in the UK, hence I used this one “0570817″ which corresponds to this: “0570817: RM-505_EMEA_EURO_QW1 Black”. Not sure the colour changes anything but why take the risk?

Step 2: Install the software

Next step is downloading & installing the software bundled HERE.

Open the archive file and you should have these two files:

Install both of them and you should now have these icons on your desktop:

Step 3: Launch the emulator

Double click on the “OGM_JAF_PKEY_EMULATOR_V3.exe” program.

If you get this error:

Then go to the program path:

(Where ” Windows 7 (C:)” is your main drive)

and delete the WinScard.dll

That should sort it for you. If it doesn’t work straight away, try rebooting your system

Once the program opens up, make sure you have the same settings as below & click on “GO” .

Optional:

If you’re using Windows “7″ (and on sometimes Vista), you will surely get the following screen:

All you have to do is right click on the program, open the “Compatibility” tab and use Windows XP SP3.

Now you should have the same screen as in Step 3.

Step 4: Launch JAF

For the next step, your Nokia N97 should be plugged in and in “PC SUITE” mode.

Double Click on “Launch JAF” shortcut.

When the following box appears, click on “OK”

When greeted with the following screen, click on “BB5″:

Step 5: Changing the product code

Now tick “Prod. Manager” and click on “Service”

Now click on “READ VALUES “.

Now that the values are visible, they are also editable. Copy paste your new Product code and click on “WRITE VALUES”

Make sure you use the correct Product Code!

Step 6: Upgrade Software using PC Suite / OVI Suite to update

From now on, no more screenshots, you know the drill!

Open up the Software Updater and check for updates. If you had done this in order to get new firmwares faster, the new one should be waiting for you, its time to update. If not, perform a restart.

Step 7: If anything goes wrong…

After debranding my N97 and restarting it, my screen went completely crazy & epilectic on me with red, green and yellow stripes appearing (and No, I was not on acid! ) All you have to do is perform a hard rest:
While pressing “delete”+”spacebar”+”ctrl” switch the phone on. It will delete your phone memory drive but not your “Mass Memory” drive.
Even if your phone doesnt want to start up for some reason and I can’t help you sort your problem, you should know that this method also work when your phone only switches on without displaying anything. Using the same method, rechange your product code to your original one and send it to your nearest Nokia Customer Service Center.

The comment section is yours, post any of your problems and I’ll do my best to help out. Your best chance of finding me is to follow me on twitter ( twitter.com/benjezzy) and ask me a question.

General Knowldge:

The JAF program is NOT infected with a trojan, its just a false positive. In order to acces the phone’s data, it uses code that ressembles the protocol used by viruses.
Don’t be tempted to play around with the other settings! Its hard to reseist, I know, I know.
Since I unbranded my phone & updated to v12, it hasnt crashed on me once, unlike before. This is no miracle solution but it sure does help.
If this was helpfull, please retweet and spread the word (and the love)!

Sports Scores On The N97: ESPN Mobile Does The Job

Mike Macias — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 04:22:48 +0000

Finding a good sports scores app for my precious Nokia N97 has proved to be a real pain in the ass. I want something that shows me the scores for a particular team or sport in a simplified member, and I also need the user interface to be big and finger friendly. So far nothing has really caught my eye in terms of an application, but I recently browsed over to ESPN.com from my N97 and was pleasantly surprised with a beautiful – finger friendly mobile version of the most popular sports site in the world. It features news, scoreboards, stats, just about everything you need. The website looks like it was designed for the iPhone but works perfectly with the N97. If you create an account you can even customize your “favorite teams & leagues” so that you can have them on the first page when you arrive at the site.

Right now it’s baseball season obviously so I’m paying attention to the Dodgers. With the live updates feature I get all the in-game stats including who is up to bat and who is pitching, all the way down to balls and strikes. The use of AJAX (enhanced javascript) is widespread throughout the page and implemented perfectly, making for less need to load another web page.

Enough talk from me, how about some action.

Check out a handful of screenshots I compiled from my N97. Keep in mind they are scaled down a bit so the site will look even better on phone’s huge screen.

Left: Tap any game to reveal more details instantly like I have on the Dodgers game.
Right: View details of a particular game.

The Dodgers page on ESPN.com. Most of those blue bars below “add to favorite teams” are ajax and do not have to load a new page to view. For instance I can tap “scores” and it will be phone instantly.

Batter vs. Pitcher in the current game.

It’s Good, But I Want More

While I’m very happy with the mobile site, oh how I wish this was a real application. I long for a customizable N97 homescreen sports scores widget, where I can see the scores from certain teams or leagues. A ticker would be great, updated at a given interval. I’m still shocked that no developer or company has created something like this for Symbian smartphones, especially with the N97’s homescreen widget feature. I’m surprised Nokia hasn’t assisted a company with creating this application, it would be perfect for commercials and ads for the N97. I want a complete application, with notification sounds (optional) and all when my team scores. I would be willing to PAY for such an application. You would make a killing if you threw it in the Ovi Store and charged $1.99.

For now we are stuck with mobile versions of websites, and ESPN.com is the best I can find. Please let us know your thoughts and if you find a better solution.

Visit ESPN

Update: You must visit this link first from your N97 to make site think you’re on the iPhone.

http://m.espn.go.com/wireless/?w=18p6s&e=AWA&iphone

Visit ESPN.com Now From Your N97 or S60v5 smartphone.

How To Sync Your N97 With Google Contacts & Calendar

Mike Macias — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 10:04:59 +0000

I’m a huge fan Google services such as Contacts, Calendar, Gmail, & Tasks. In this article I’ll show you how to synchronize your Nokia N97 with Google Contacts & Calendar. There are a few different ways to do this. The method I’ll show you in this article is the official way as instructed by Google. This sync method is completely free.

First off, let’s get a rundown of the features as described by Google.

Synchronize your contacts. Get your Google contacts quickly and easily to your phone. With Sync, you can have access to your address book at anytime and place that you need it.

Get calendar alerts. Using your phone’s native calendar, you can now access your Google calendar, and be alerted for upcoming appointments with sound or vibration.

Always in sync. Your contacts stay synchronized whether you access them from your phone or from your computer. Add or edit contact information right on your device or on your Google account on the web.

Video…

How To Setup Google Sync

1. BACKUP YOUR DATA (contacts & calendar) on both your phone and Google account. To backup your phone use the Nokia PC Suite software.

2. Download Mail For Exchange software.

3. Follow the instructions found on this pag e.

If you follow those instructions closely you shouldn’t have any problems. My pal Mark from The Nokia Blog recently created a video demonstration showing his N97 sync with Google Contacts in nearly real time.

Click here to read his full article.

Let me know how this works out for you. If you’re looking for a way to get your Gmail on your N97 check out this link.

N97 OEM Housing Replacement For Scratched Screens

Timi Cantisano — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 05:25:31 +0000

While I know lately there has been a lot of discussion/posts about scratches on the N97’s here at N97fanatics.com and we’ve had coverage on what can be done to protect against this. But what happens if you were one of the many eager N97 owners that cruised nude without a protector? While there weren’t many options for repair, now there is! CNN.CN has a replacement housing (currently only available in white) for those willing to replace the entire casing. It might not be the most economical fix (142.99 without tax and shipping) but its great that they are offering a solution. This does offer hope that in the future they will offer just the front case. But for now those that are in dire need can order a replacement and be sure to protect the new screen with a protector